GeekDad has had a long-running interest in the products that 5.11 Tactical makes. It’s an interesting relationship, since the company makes law enforcement, firefighting, and military gear. But we’ve found that the clothing and bags with many pockets and rugged design are just the thing for geeks with more devices and tools than hands.

The folks over at 5.11 Tactical have just released a number of new products and one of my favorites is the COVRT Z.A.P. 6 pack.

The main compartment is approximately 5″ x 10″ x 12″ and is large enough to store an iPad, a paperback, lunch, and still have room left over for storing all kinds of other goodies. Inside the main compartment, there are also a couple of zippered pouches for corralling smaller items you don’t want getting lost, like your wallet or keys. There’s a coms pocket on the main strap with a reinforced hole for passing a headphone cord through. (The coms pocket is big enough that I’ve been using it to store sunglasses in, since I need quicker access to my phone than a zippered pocket allows.)

On each side, there are two mesh pockets with elastic bands to keep bottles of water from falling out. In case you’re really thirsty, there’s another large zippered pocket on the back that’s compatible with hydration systems. Or, you can use it to hide away valuables, since it rides against your back.

Finally, there are a couple more zippered pockets, one on the top of the pack and one on the front. The top of the pack pouch seems like a small area, but can really hold a camcorder with plenty of space left over. Unfortunately, anything you put in this pouch eats up space in the main compartment. The front pocket has a half dozen pouches sewn into nylon with space for things like pens and small notebooks. There are also a couple of plastic hooks for holding onto keys.

The sling strap can be configured to go over either shoulder and accessing the pack is simple and quick. Both the pack and the strap have a lot of padding and all of the zippers are work both ways, meaning you can get into any compartment of your bag very quickly. Plus, there are a number of other little nice loops, velcro, and doodads that make this bag incredibly easy to use.

The COVRT Z.A.P. 6 bag retails for $120, which isn’t a lot when you consider what you get. This is a bag that seems about twice as big as it really is, thanks to all of the thought that went into designing it. And the construction is second to none – it’s really very nice. All in all, you’d be hard pressed to find a better bag in this price range. I think I’ve just found my new Con bag — I’ve just got to figure out a way to attach a poster tube.

Disclosure: GeekDad received a review unit of this product.

On the road with iOnRoad (photo by Brad Moon)

For some reason, I’ve always spent a lot of time driving. There was that decade where my in-laws lived 650 miles away, making for many long weekends spent on narrow, Northern Ontario highways. Then 13 years or so enjoying a 250-mile round trip commute for work, five to ten times a month. The past few years it’s been an ongoing series of long distance drives, punctuated with frequent camping trips towing a trailer. Having three kids — and sometimes two dogs — in the vehicle these days just adds to the distraction. Whether it’s running errands in our own city, navigating downtown Toronto in rush hour, trying to tow a trailer through construction in Montreal or cruising down I-75 for a few days, I’ve learned to appreciate every edge I can get when it comes to driving safety. When I was asked to have a look at iOnRoad, an Android collision warning app, my first thought was that this was going to be a gimmick at best and a driving distraction at worst. After spending months playing with the app, I’ve come to a different conclusion.

I like the idea behind iOnRoad. Collision avoidance systems have been offered in higher end cars for a few years now, but they tend to be priced as premium level options and haven’t yet filtered down to most entry level vehicles. But many people are already carrying around smartphones in their pockets, portable devices equipped with high resolution cameras, GPS and lots of processing power. Why not build an app that utilizes these components, turning that smartphone into a self-contained collision avoidance system? And that’s what iOnRoad does. The app (currently available as a free download for Android), provides a windshield or dashboard mounted system that scans the road ahead of your vehicle, monitors traffic in your lane and warns of potential collision events. The warning comes via audible alert, or through color code (green for safe, yellow for caution and red when in a high risk situation). The app can be front and center, with an attractive, heads up display; or you can run it in the background.

Setting up the software is straightforward. Download the app and then configure a few settings that control distance warning thresholds, whether you want to see the gap between your vehicle and the vehicle ahead displayed in seconds or a distance measurement, speed displayed in kilometers or miles per hour and a few others. Next, you mount your smartphone to your dashboard or windshield, horizontally, with the camera facing the road and the display facing the driver. The app will display bubble levels if the device is tilted too much, making it easy to optimally place it. Then drive. I found there’s a short lag while the smartphone acquires a GPS signal, but within thirty seconds or so, a green lane is painted in front of your car, your current speed is displayed and you’ll see labels overlaid over any vehicle in front of yours, color coded with current risk level. It may not be quite as sophisticated as a radar-based collision avoidance system, but it’s free and you can carry it from car to car.

Now for the big question: How well does iOnRoad work? The answer is a bit tricky, at least based on my own experience. When everything is functioning as expected, it does an impressive job. I’ve had the opportunity to throw a little bit of everything at the app — night driving, highway, city, rain-slicked roads and even ice. When everything clicks, it works as advertised. When a vehicle in front suddenly slows and the distance closes, you receive a warning that could make a real difference if your attention has lapsed momentarily, or you are distracted by two kids in the back seat arguing over who cheated at punch buggy.

The problem lies not so much in the app itself, but in its reliance on hardware and communications links that can vary in quality and/or capability. The first test phone the team sent was a decent enough handset as far as Android devices go (an LG, but I don’t recall the specific model), but it had an issue with the level sensors seemingly going haywire every few minutes and demanding repeated adjustment. It also suffered from poor GPS reception, and when the GPS went offline, iOnRoad was down for the count. A Samsung Galaxy S II that replaced the first handset was rock solid in terms of both GPS performance and positioning. But for some reason the distance calculations seemed to be off a bit when using this model. This is still beta software, so there are bound to be glitches, but I suspect varying hardware is going to be iOnRoad’s biggest challenge going forward and user experience may vary based on their smartphone. Currently, there are nine devices on the official support list. On the plus side, though, with the app currently being offered for free, you have nothing to lose by downloading it and giving it a try. In fact, iOnRoad has a useful online demo you can try out by downloading the app, then aiming your smartphone at a traffic video.

I’m an iOS guy myself, so I’m out of luck for now on this one (technically, I have a Nook Color that I occasionally run Honeycomb on, but it has no GPS or camera, so that’s not going to work so well). However, when the iOnRoad team brings out their version for the iPhone — which is supposed to be sometime this winter — you can bet I’m going to download it. With far fewer models to account for, it could be that the iOS version might be less prone to hardware quirks than the Android version. It isn’t going to replace the systems offered by Mercedes or Volvo, but if it runs solidly on your device, iOnRoad is a great addition to your car’s safety arsenal.

Even though you may have been off for the holidays, the steady march of great new t-shirts has not slowed down one bit. In fact, many online shirt vendors were putting out some of their top work to capitalize on the fourth quarter shopping frenzy. Check out the images below to see which designs were at the top of the class last month.

Image courtesy of Shirt.Woot.com

Nobody ever doubted that the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Michelangelo in particular, could party with the best. What we didn’t know was whether that green ooze gave them some sort of food coma-prevention powers. Woot.com provides the answer: unfortunately not. Or perhaps maybe somebody ordered anchovies.

Image courtesy of Monsters of Grok

Monsters of Grok is a peculiar t-shirt shop, but what did you expect coming from the guy with an entire line dedicated to putting top hats and monocles on cute animals. Every shirt at Monsters of Grok takes the name of an iconic scientist and re-imagines it in the design of a rock band logo. Nikola Tesla was the shop’s most recent target, and the result is a high water mark for the shop. Typically, the shirts are just amusing pairings, but Tesla mashed-up with AC/DC provides added pun potential.

Image courtesy of The Daily Robot

The Daily Robot has been rolling out a whole line of Mega Man characters in pop art style, but the design above is the best of the bunch. Mega Man may be the the main attraction, but true geeks know Proto Man has him dead to rights in the cool department (after all, he did come first).

Image courtesy of Ian Leino

T-shirt designer Ian Leino has created an excellent pub-style rendition of Twitter’s iconic fail whale, reminding us in the process of the best way to pass the time when Twitter is down.

Image courtesty of BustedTees.com

Maybe it wasn’t quite as easy to tell back in those 8-bit days, but modern gamers have no excuse. It may sound elitist, and it’s not an easy lot in life, but sometimes it comes down to us geeks to teach the ignorant masses. Having a great-looking t-shirt to help out makes the job a bit easier. Next up is the Samus Aran/Metroid confusion, though, so get on that one, BustedTees.

Image courtesy of Shirt.Woot

Don’t tell anyone I’m cheating! This shirt actually just launched at Shirt.Woot, so while it’s technically a January release, the design is just too good not to share while I’m rounding up the best of December. What we really need to be asking ourselves is what is that honeydew melon doing in a laboratory? It must be part of some food science study.

The internet is full of fan-made lightsaber battles, but this is a cut above the rest, and quite possibly the best I’ve ever seen.

Plus, the ending was a unexpected treat for all geeks.

If you’re interested in more on Team2X, check out their website or Facebook page…

A Baby Ent? (photo by fjordcarver)

Tired of your ho-hum, bah-humbug, sit-there-like-a-lump-of-wood, old-school Christmas tree? Well, Instructables user fjordcarver has a solution for you.

The Instructable includes complete, clear instructions on how to build the tree and its servo-motor animatronics. The work involved is nice and simple, and would make a fantastic project for you and the Geeklings during the holidays. The list of required materials is very reasonable, and most can be found at a dollar store or scrounged from the basement:

• A small wireframe artificial tree from the dollar store
• x-mas tree covered wire (like the branches of the tree)
• x-mas tree garland
• scraps of wood, cardboard, polystyrene
• craft paints
• styrofoam balls
• craft foam sheet
• miscellaneous bits of wire or twist ties
• 1/4 inch piece of tubing
• two servo motors
• an Arduino or clone
• a breadboard
• two sets of Lynxmotion ball joints and threaded rod to match
• Christmas lights (possibly battery operated)
• various wiring headers
• some Christmas decorations of a suitable scale for your tree

The Instructable includes a video of fjordcarver’s final version:

I think the tree is pretty neat, though my wife says it’s a little creepy. Head over to Instructables for the full story, and decide for yourself….

Left to Right: Sonos Play:3, B&W Zeppelin Air, Arcam rCube (Photo by Brad Moon)

Read the reviews after the jump.

At the moment, she teaches the general physics sequence to science and math majors, and electronics and optics for physics majors at Siena College, homeschools her two children, runs the Saturday Scholars program for inner-city youth, organizes summer camps in Physics, Alternative Energy, and Robotics, uploads regular YouTube tutorials, mentors Siena’s physics teams to participate in Siena’s Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, supervises summer research projects for physics undergraduate students, and prepares pre-service physics teachers.

She’s also really nice.

[Read more of Rebecca Angel's interview with her "nerd muse"  Dr. Michele McColgan at GeekMom!]

"Fra-gi-le" Image: Nicole Wakelin

I love all the classic holiday stuff you see on television each December. Even though I have most of my favorites on DVD there’s something special about seeing them when they’re actually being aired. It doesn’t count if you record them or stream them later. I’m talking about the random channel surfing that suddenly turns up one of your favorites, as if the network aired it just for you. I tend to obsess over the things that make me happy and one of my biggest obsessions is Christmas specials.

Back when I was a kid, in the days before you could record stuff and watch it at your leisure, when a Christmas special aired the whole school would be talking about it for days. The news traveled like wildfire, so if you hadn’t managed to see it in the TV listings or catch a commercial, by the time snack time rolled around at least a dozen of your friends had told you what was on that night.

[Find out what made Nicole Wakelin's list on GeekMom!]

Planning to reconnect with an old friend but don’t know how?  Well, this is the time of the year, the time for holiday cards!

Even in a market overcrowded with e-card services, there are still ways to physically send a good old fashion holiday card, without losing the “Holidays 2.0″ effect. Grant and Jake’s project “8-bit Holiday Cards” proves just that! A collection of three holiday cards is currently available in limited edition.

So if your geek instinct checks in, make sure to use the 15% “GeekDad” coupon before checkout!

Image from the 8-bit Holiday Cards website.