Review: Cerevellum Hindsight 35 Rearview Biking Computer

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We’re very lucky that the creator of the Cerevellum is even alive. Evan Solida was a competitive cyclist until a major accident in 2007 left him unable to ride. After years of plastic surgery and physical therapy, he was able to get back onto his bike and now builds unique cycle designs, does contract work, and just released his first product, the Hindsight 35.

This unique device is essentially a rear view monitor and race computer for cyclists. It connects to various sensors using ANT+ wireless technology and a small lens and light combo on the back of the bike gives you a full view of what’s coming up behind you in brilliant color. The device also records the scene in five minute bursts and stops recording when you (or your bike) are suddenly interrupted by a collision. In short, it’s a way for cyclists to find out what’s behind them and, if they run into a spot of bad luck, see who’s responsible.

The device itself is essentially a 3.5-inch screen mounted to your handlebar with a cable that connects to the camera. An optional heart rate monitor and speed sensor allows for on-the-fly measurements that appear on screen as you ride.

To be clear, the Hindsight 35 is a shipping product but is more of a beta product. Because Solida designed, built, and manufactured this product himself, it’s definitely not fully-featured just yet. Luckily, the device is fully upgradable and future systems will include a GPS chip – there’s a place on the circuit board but it’s not yet installed.

A bundle with heart rate monitor and speed sensor costs $363.50 and the device itself costs $299. It also lets you record rides – albeit in rear view – with the press of a button.

I tried the Hindsight in the crowded streets of Brooklyn and I’m happy to report that it really works and it makes me feel just a bit safer. Riding down 65th Street near my house is always a wild experience but this let me see who was about to pass me and where I was in relation to other cars. Sadly, the transflective display is great in sunlight but nearly disappears when you’re wearing polarized glasses so you either have to look around your shades or eschew them altogether. Regular shades work fine.

Cerevellum is a true hardware startup built by a guy who knows his stuff. His story – and his hardware – is inspiring and his rearview is well worth the price, especially for biking gearheads like me.












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Review: Graham Chronofighter Oversize GMT Watch

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If you’ve been following my weekend watch reviews, you’ll note that I tend to like bigger watches. But even this monster – the Graham Oversize GMT – is too big for me.

Graham is a British manufacturer of haute horology. Named after famed clockmaker George Graham, the company manufactures mostly in Switzerland and uses a combination of bespoke movements as well as some modified ETA pieces. The Chronofighter is a bit different and a bit more interesting.

What are you looking at here? First, this is one of Graham’s flagship watches. It contains an automatic caliber G1733, Graham’s first in-house movement with a big date at twelve o’clock and a large GMT hand. It also has a chronograph with a unique pusher/crown arrangement to stop and start measurements and a plunger-like pusher.

That big trigger stops and starts the chronograph and it also protects the crown. The case is 47mm in diameter and the watch is quite thick, with a signed, solid case back. It is ostensibly water resistant to 100 meters.

On the wrist, especially with a leather strap, the watch is surprisingly light. However, the trigger on the side is definitely an acquired taste and tends to dig into the flesh if you’re on the slightly slimmer side. While I wouldn’t count myself as svelte, I felt it was a bit too big.

But what fun it is to wear. Graham is a polarizing watch company that jumped into the big watch trend with both size 14s. The piece is bold and very eye-catching and the British pedigree and essential “tool-ness” of the watch makes it an interesting find. You can pick these up for about $11,000 brand new but the collectors markets often surfaces them for about $8,000, which isn’t bad for a hand-manufactured watch the size of a bundt cake.

Of all the big watches I’ve reviewed, this watch is the most difficult to recommend outright. I’m more inclined to encourage folks to visit the dealer and try this thing on to see for themselves how it fits and I worry that it is big for big’s sake – a concept watchmakers throughout the previous decades were falling over each other to promote.

Graham has a unique new vision and although they’ve been attacked by some purists as being garish I would say that they are instead bold. The Chronofighter is a huge watch for folks who like huge watches and, for the money, I haven’t seen anything beat it in terms of visibility, utility, and sheer cheek.

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And that’s the type of situation that Nabi 2 has been designed to solve. At first sight, you can tell that this tablet comes with some padding that would protect it from life accidents. However, what you may not expect is to find a Tegra 3 processor inside, which is the same chip that powers some of the newest high-profile smartphones. This means that Nabi 2 can run the most demanding applications, including games and HD content – and that’s a game changer in the “Kids computing” market.



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Review: The Buffalo MiniStation Thunderbolt HD-PATU3

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Reviewing a drive isn’t very exciting. What can you say? “It contains a storage medium, is small, and surprisingly light.” Thankfully, the Buffalo MiniStation Thunderbolt can add one important point to that litany of mundanity – a Thunderbolt port and cable that jacks the read and write speed up to amazing levels – thereby turning a ho-hum review into a real barn-burner.

This $229 1TB drive is no slouch on design, either. It has two ports – one USB 3.0/2.0 jack and a Thunderbolt port – and it’s clad in aluminum and white plastic, giving it a definitive Mac feel. The drive gets hot over extended periods of time but it’s entirely bus powered. It weighs a mere 9 ounces.

In my tests, I saw this drive hit RW speeds of about 97 MB/s, considerably faster than a USB 3.0 drive I tested and on par with what you’d expect from a standard Thunderbolt drive. The best thing, obviously, is the fact that Buffalo includes a Thunderbolt cable, a $50 value, right in the box. They also include a USB 3.0 cable for the technologically benighted.

A 500GB version will cost you about $195, but it really doesn’t make sense to buy a smaller drive in this case.

So, in closing, I wish to amend the MiniStation Thunderbolt review with one important point: “It contains a storage medium, is small, and surprisingly light and, most important, you get a $50 Thunderbolt cable for free. It’s also really fast. And pretty.”

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