It used to be that sunglasses were sunglasses. No matter what you picked you'd be 'OK'. Today though, we live in an age where the sun is something we need protection from and do so with sunscreen, UV clothing, and of course UV lenses. The sun is still our friend, but we need proper protection to help make things more pleasant so we can enjoy life safely. 

In the old days (not even 10 years ago!) it was simple, grab a pair of earbuds and you were set for listening to music. Today though, the options are limitless and major brands have dominated the market with audio products that are good, but frankly look and sound as if they were churned out of a corporate machine - rather than expressing the individual style of the wearer. That's where V-Moda comes in - and was designed by Val Kolton, a Chicago DJ who was inspired by the unique vibe found in Ibiza and the haute couture he found in LA.

Today, V-Moda products are designed to match both the discriminating style of the fashionista as well as the audiophile. Instead plastic parts, these headphones use industrial strength metal.

I travel a LOT and I have a bunch of wireless devices that I bring with me on each trip.

Over the past few months though, I've started to think more deeply about network security and who might be watching what goes through the network or who's connected to it. Additionally, I've started to see some hotels offering "free Internet" - for 2 devices and then charging more for multiple devices. Finally, even at the best and most trusted hotel it's simply frustrating to have to connect my devices each time I go somewhere. When you combine all three of these things together it's sometimes easier to simply just throw up a wifi hotspot on my phone and be done with it. Unfortunately, that tends to be slow and expensive - luckily, Netgear has created a solution with their Trek Travel Router.

My wife and I don't have kids - so our dog, Niki Belle, is our fur baby and child in probably more ways than a couple in a similar position might understand. When we first got her, we nervously prayed that she would be ok with doing road trips and were blessed that she indeed did not get car sick and was happy to curl up and relax or sit and look out the window. As anyone knows though, that's only part of the equation when it comes to taking care of your dog on the road. 

The classic bachelor party idea is certainly strippers or a sexy restaurant like Hooters or Tilted Kilt. However, one idea that is a blast for you and the guys would be to go to a shooting range. Shooting ranges can be found in pretty much any area around the country. While most shooting ranges offer "rental" guns, we think it would make a great present for the groom if the guys chipped in and bought him an awesome gun to fire off at the range. 

This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of TRUFUEL® for IZEA. All opinions are 100% mine.

TruFuel has a simple mission - keep our engines running better, longer, with less hassle. That's a good thing since no one likes yard work :) It seems like a cruel plot that for most of us we spend all winter dreaming of the warm days of spring and summer and all the cool things we'll be doing... and then we discover that those halcyon days are consumed by mowing the lawn and trimming the hedges. That's just not fair! While nothing short of a gardener can completely eliminate yard work, TruFuel can help make things a bit easier and more manageable.

The joy of a new car is something that most people only get to experience every few years, but as a blogger that thrill still exists even though I am privileged to be able to check out a new car at least once a month. That means that over the past few years I've had the pleasure of checking out some amazing cars and even though the feeling of getting a new car is only short lived it still gives me a new car face each time the next car is dropped off at my house!

Travel isn't always the most "green" of activities. The very definition of it typically involves spending tremendous resources to get there - by car, airplane, or ship - and once you get there how often do you consider the environmental impact of the water consumed to keep that green so beautiful or where the wrapper from your burger will go once you toss it in the trash. This isn't meant to be a "downer" article, but simply an opportunity for us to look at some of the easy things we can do to travel more green this year.

Way back in the day, "insurance" used to be something I chuckled at when they asked me if I wanted it. Things changed after I had a couple cracked screens including one that broke less than a week after I got it. While insurance is still something that I'd recommend people consider as an option on their electronics, the screen has become less of an issue for me over the past few years since I've been protected by something called "Corning® Gorilla® Glass". While I haven't stopped dropping my phones and the paint hasn't stopped scratching off, the screens have resisted breaking - something I can't say for two of my tablets that didn't contain this "magical" technology.

Back in the day, it was good enough to hang out with your buddies and watch basketball on TV and amuse yourselves by challenging each other with arcane trivia and stories of legendary games from the past. Today, we still do that but if you don't have a smartphone that has a super fast 4G LTE connection you are simply missing out on the action.

Don't worry though - if you think that requires a ton of money for the phone and plan each month, things have gotten a lot cheaper recently and you can even get the awesome LG L90 smartphone from Walmart for under $100 and plans start at only $29.88 including 500 MB of 4G LTE data (unlimited Talk, Text, and non 4G LTE data). 

Are you like me and have wondered what super secret information the mechanic knew about my car when he plugged his computer in to read diagnostic codes? I was and so I was excited when Lemur Monitors sent me a review unit to take for a spin. 

Gadgets like this make a great gift for guys who are curious about how their car is actually performing as well as a powerful new tool for those of us who like to take control of their car maintenance vs just blindly dropping the car off at the mechanic to find out what's wrong :)

As I look back at photos from Christmas of the past I realize just how much things have changed compared to today, a world where mobile phones are nearly ubiquitous, data plans are cheap, and even great handsets like the Samsung Exhibit from Walmart Family Mobile can be purchased for under $100 without a contract.

Choosing a new laptop is tough, but it used to be a lot easier - Windows or Mac right? Today there is a third option - Chrome but with all the great attributes (lower price, easy to use, light and portable, long battery etc.) comes one really complicated but sometimes hidden attribute... the processor that runs the whole thing. On the surface it would seem that wouldn't make much of a difference but this IS a laptop and you need a chip designed for that... not a chip designed for one thing at a time like on your tablet or mobile phone. Truthfully, this is a sponsored post on behalf of Intel but I've been wanting to write this for a while to share my story and why I love my Toshiba Chromebook with an Intel processor!

Watches - yeah, I used to have one back in the day... you know, those cheap plastic ones that we all had in school. Over the years though as cell phones have become ubiquitous there was less and less need to actually have a timepiece on your wrist. Pulsar Watches invited me to check out one of their latest watches and so I decided to give it a shot and see what it was like to wear a watch again.

Usually when I talk about wine here it is me traveling to find some or enjoying a glass at a fine restaurant. Today though I am going to share my experience with the NewAir AW-121E wine cooler. I have been thinking about getting something like this for quite a while but it was always one of those things that was "nice to have" but the money would be better spent elsewhere. However about 3 weeks ago I was lucky to have someone from NewAir contact me and ask if I wanted to check a unit out - so I said SURE!

Ok ladies - you tell us how hard it is to find a great present for us for Christmas, birthday etc. I got a great lead for you - Mantry! While Valentine's Gift giving is usually pretty one directional (with hope of getting something back later that night...) it's ok for you to send us gifts and surprise us too.

Sitting on the porch drinking some beer with the guys and wanting to listen to the game on your phone but the tiny speaker just doesn't cut it? Maybe it's time to try a bluetooth portable speaker like those from Kinivo. 

There are some gadgets that you get and you immediately think they are awesome, but then get left in a drawer a few weeks later. Others you think are cool but might not be that practical and turn out to be fantastically useful.  The T-fal AciFry falls into the later category and I have had a while to put it through its paces.

Ok guys - vacuuming may not be at the top of your list of things to do - but it is always a good idea to help out around the house and if you HAVE TO - you might as well have one of the coolest vacuums out there to do it.

Dyson approached me recently and asked me to check out their new DC41 Complete - featuring the new Tangle Free Tool. How did it fare? Let's check it out...

Is it hot where you are? In Chicago, the past couple weeks have been consistently in the 90's or above and my new Dyson Air Multiplier has absolutely been a wonderful companion. Just like they did a few years ago with vacuums, Dyson is now setting out to convince us that there is value in a premium fan too.