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Like its counterparts, the Capture Pro clamps on the strap of a backpack or even a belt, turning it into a camera strap.
The Capture, a device from Peak Design that attaches a camera to any belt or strap, has become a bit smarter. A refined version, called the Capture Pro, is now being shipped to some Kickstarter investors, and will be available to the public in September.
The Capture Pro is slightly wider, thinner and rounder, with fewer parts that jut out than the original Capture.
The idea behind the Capture is simple: It is a plate that clamps on the strap of a backpack, a belt, handbag, or what have you, turning it into a camera strap. That leaves one less strap to get tangled when making a quick grab for the camera.
Some users criticized the original Capture. The knobs and hard edges could dig uncomfortably into a hip or rib in some setups. So the Capture Pro, and a less expensive Capture V2, are slightly wider, thinner and rounder, with fewer parts that jut out.
As with the first Capture, the Pro can be attached by hand, without tools. A small plate attaches to the camera’s screw-in tripod mount (and will also fit on a tripod quick release), then it clips into the Pro’s base plate. There is a release button, so the camera doesn’t accidentally slip off, and a security lock will keep a camera on the mount even when the release is pressed.
Adam Saraceno, the marketing director for Peak Design, said the mount was sturdier than the first version, supporting over 200 pounds. Anyone have a 201-pound camera?
Two accessories are also in the works, to ship by September, the company said. One is the Pro Pad, which adds some support and padding for heavier cameras and slimmer straps. There is also a point-of-view mount that lets the Capture hold a small video camera, like a GoPro or a point-and-shoot, pointed forward on a chest strap for action video.
When Kickstarter financing is over, the list prices will be $60 for the Capture V2, $80 for the Capture Pro, and $30 each for the Pro Pad and POV mount, Mr. Saraceno said.
The Jackery Air claims to be the thinnest 5,000 milliamp-hour (mAh) auxiliary battery made.
Batteries may sometimes pose vexing problems for the automotive and aircraft industries, but for mobile devices they seem to be improving.
To wit, the Jackery Air, which claims to be the thinnest 5,000 milliamp-hour (mAh) auxiliary battery made. Its 5,000 mAh rating means it should have enough power to charge an iPhone 5’s 1,440 mAh battery twice, and then some. Since the battery connects using a USB port, it can supply backup electricity to any device that charges in that manner. It sells for $80.
If you are mathematically oriented, you might wonder why it doesn’t charge an iPhone more than three times, as it should based on the mAh rating of the two batteries. It’s the little secret of the auxiliary battery business that you lose about 15 percent of the battery’s power transferring the charge. That spare battery is never quite as big as it seems.
In terms of physical size, though, the Air is just a shade larger than an iPhone 5, smaller than a Samsung Galaxy S4, and fairly lightweight at 5 and a half ounces.
The orange aluminum case has an LED indicator that changes color to give you an idea of how much charge the Air has left. In a test, the Air charged up pretty quickly, taking less than an hour to fill when attached to a USB power block.
Transferring power from the Air to a phone was considerably slower, but because of the size and the weight of the Air holding it while making a phone call is no hardship.
Representative John Lewis, the Georgia Democrat and elder statesman of the civil rights movement, said in an interview that he would support Hillary Rodham Clinton if she sought the White House in 2016, and called her “the most qualified person in America to be president.â€
Mr. Lewis, a longtime Clinton ally, famously abandoned Mrs. Clinton in 2008 to cast his vote as a Democratic convention superdelegate for Barack Obama, a move that was significant because of Mr. Lewis’s standing as a leader among African-Americans. He cited a “sense of movement and a sense of spirit†around the Obama candidacy.
His new remarks about Mrs. Clinton, which he insisted were not an endorsement, are the first time he has weighed in on the 2016 race. He spoke during a lengthy interview in his office in Washington, during which he reflected on race relations in America today, and the upcoming 50th anniversary of the March on Washington, which he helped organize.
“I won’t make an endorsement, but I will say this: If she makes a decision to run I would be with her,†Mr. Lewis said. “I think today she is the most qualified person in America to be president. No one has worked so hard or done a more effective job in representing this country as secretary of state in modern times.â€
Mr. Lewis said the decision to endorse Mr. Obama in 2008 was “a tough decision, a hard decision,†because he had been so close to Mrs. Clinton and her husband, the former president, for so long. But, he said, he never felt any wrath. “They understood.â€
Mr. Lewis remains a strong supporter of Mr. Obama, and said the president “did the right thing to speak out†after George Zimmerman, a neighborhood watch volunteer in Florida, was acquitted in the racially charged shooting death of Trayvon Martin, an unarmed teenager. He said he did not ask Mr. Obama “directly to speak out,†but made his views known during a meeting between the president and members of the Congressional Black Caucus before the verdict.
While some black leaders have criticized Mr. Obama, especially earlier in his presidency, for not talking enough about race relations, Mr. Lewis said Mr. Obama’s public comments on race, including a speech he gave in Philadelphia while running for president, “made sense.†He used a line the White House has used to explain Mr. Obama’s thinking, saying, “He’s the president of all Americans, not just African-Americans.â€
But Mr. Lewis, the sole surviving speaker from the 1963 March on Washington, also says Mr. Obama owes his presidency to the march, and the movement.
“If it hadn’t been for the March on Washington, the Civil Rights Act of ’64 the Voting Rights Act of 1965, for the leadership of Martin Luther King and the involvement of hundreds and thousands of other people,†Mr. Lewis said, “there would be no Barack Obama as president of the United States.â€