LOCAL Houston | The City Guide JULY 2015 | Page 72

TOOLS+GADGETS

NOVA BLUETOOTH iPHONE® FLASH
Taking smartphone photos with a built-in flash generally produces iffy effects. Many times the subject is too far away to be
illuminated or, if too close to the camera, can be washed out
with too much light. Nova is an ingenious wireless, Bluetooth
flash for iPhone that makes almost all close-up photography
look great.
This sleek accessory fits in a wallet and can go everywhere
your iPhone does. It has no buttons or switches and is always on
in low-power standby mode waiting to be enabled via your
iPhone. Its internal battery can be recharged using a regular
USB Micro cable. $59 | www.novaphotos.com

PROTO-X DRONE
Drones seem to be all the rage now but the quadcopter flying machines can get expensive and difficult to control. To
ease yourself into the growing hobby, I would suggest playing with the “world’s smallest drone” from Estes.
The inexpensive Proto-X runs about $30 and is about
the size of a large postage stamp. It weighs only 11.5g
(four-tenths of an ounce) and is perfect for indoor flying by beginners and pilots. LEDs make it easy to see
in low-light conditions and help you navigate in all
directions. It soars, hovers and levels itself with a builtin gyroscope. The 2.4 GHz radio allows for interference-free flying with multiple drones to fly at once.
$30 | www.estesrockets.com

by Michael Garfield | www.hightechtexan.com
72

L O C A L

| july 15

Obi200 VoIP PHONE ADAPTER
Making local and long distance phone calls has become
cheaper over the years thanks to Internet-based connections versus the old, copper telephone wires. The
Obi200 VoIP phone adapter from Obihai makes phone
calls easy and free.
The small-device can be had for a one-time fee and is
very simple to set up and can be used with Google
Voice. Customers sign in with their Google account and
add their device to the portal. In a few minutes, you are
making and receiving calls for free.
Once connected to your broadband router and a regular corded or cordless telephone, you can literally
replace your landline for the one-time cost of the Obi
VoIP adapter.
$48 | www.obihai.com