Tom Kuphal

1 week ago | gearadical.com | Tom Kuphal

It was one of those relentless Minnesota storms – the kind that starts in the early evening and doesn’t let up until morning. I was down in the basement when the lights flickered once, then cut out completely. No big deal, I thought – until I heard the sump pump fall silent. I really don’t want my basement to flood. Please no. I’ll just run to Home Depot to get a generator. It’s 5:30 am. They don’t open until 8. Minutes later, I watch water bubble up through the pit like a slow, quiet threat.

2 weeks ago | gearadical.com | Tom Kuphal

I want to root for Roomba. I really do. It’s just that – what happened to old school Roomba? I unboxed the Roomba 205 Combo with the optimism of someone who still remembers when “Roomba” was the name in robot vacuums. I even named our first non-mapping Roomba “Beep.” Beep was my buddy for a good while. However, nostalgia doesn’t mop – and honestly, neither does the Roomba 205 all that well.

1 month ago | gearadical.com | Tom Kuphal

I’m 43 now. Apparently, by the time you hit your 40s, you start caring about things like printers. I feel like I’m one of the people trying not to become their parents in a famous commercial. I recently unboxed the HP OfficeJet Pro 9135e with high hopes, and while I am overall impressed, HP still needs to make some advances in setting these printers up. For context: I’ve been burned by printers. I’m not going to lie about it, I’ve been burned by HP printers.

2 months ago | gearadical.com | Tom Kuphal

I work from home and am tied to my desk for easily 95% of the day. Many of you know the grind. Meeting. 30 seconds of respite. Meeting. Meeting. Lunch is often taken from the desk and occasionally I get up and stroll about the house before my next task. By the end of the day my legs feel like they will drop off my body if I don’t use them. Echelon happens to reach out asking if I may be interested in testing one of their treadmills. Perfect timing.

2 months ago | gearadical.com | Tom Kuphal

Testing hard drives is a bit of a tedious process. The toughest part about writing and perhaps reading a review on an SSD test is that no configuration is quite the same. Therefore, benchmarking becomes a bit of a trust factor. I recently tested the Samsung 9100 Pro (2TB) which releases for purchase today. While my tested speeds may vary from yours and certainly the manufacturers, the overall result should tell you one thing – this sucker is ridiculously fast.