2008

HTC Touch Diamond First Impressions

I’ve been looking forward to the arrival of the Touch Diamond for quite some time. Windows Mobile used to be my mobile platform of choice, but since using the Nokia N95 and N95 8GB, I have been swayed over to the Series 60 OS. The N95 8GB has been my main phone for about 6mths now, and it’s been great. It was faster, more stable, had much better signal and camera than any Windows Mobile device I had used. My hope with the Diamond was that Windows Mobile had caught up to provide the easy and speedy experience that other…



Unboxing the Sprint Samsung Instinct

After reading review after review and probably driving my poor wife up the wall about it, I decided to take the plunge and stick with Sprint(they only have 30 days to prove their worthiness). My obsession with everything iPhone 3G has been outweighed by my necessity to pinch pennies for the diapers my 4 month old Cooper so lovingly annihilates on an hourly basis. So that led me to the much anticipated Instinct, mind you it was purchased at Best Buy as they give you the $129.99 price out the door…no waiting until Halloween for my rebate check! And no…


The MWg Zinc II Windows Mobile Pro Review, Part Two

Yep, you guessed it: about a month has come and gone since I received the MWg Zinc II, posted its unboxing, gave a description of the hardware, and mentioned my initial thoughts. If you haven’t already read that portion of this review, click here and then come back; I’ll wait… Today we are going to jump right in and talk about my user experience, the Zinc II’s battery life, its camera, and I’ll give a taste of the included Windows Mobile 6.1 software. Let’s dive in, shall we?


Orb Mod 2 Speaker System Review: Getting aA Big Sound from a Small Speaker System

In case you have not been able to tell from my plethora of media player and headphone reviews, I am something of an audiophile (heck, I was even a DJ at parties and weddings in college).  I have built my home theatre system over the past couple of years, carefully selecting each component.  The one thing which has always eluded me, however, are quality speakers which will fit in my space without sacrificing sound quality.  I have a set of bookshelf speakers that I got in law school.  They were cheap…and they sound cheap.  Not terrible, but nothing to write…


Celio’s REDFLY – The Ultimate Smartphone Extension Review Part 1

One of the challenges with using Windows Mobile devices, as with most mobile devices, is the size of the screen. It is great having Office Mobile on the latest and greatest device but doing a significant edit of a document on a 3.5″ QVGA screen is, well… fun? Granted, on bigger devices that have VGA screens, the HTC Advantage comes to mind, it is a bit easier but you still end up doing a lot of side-to-side scrolling. Couple this with either a soft keyboard on the device or a small thumboard to type with and once again, doing big…


2008 Chevrolet Malibu Hybrid

When we first got our hands on a new 2008 Chevy Malibu for review, this is some of what I wrote: “I had been so skeptical about the new Malibu since seeing the earliest concepts and artists’ renditions that once I finally got to drive it, I spent most of my week behind the wheel trying to find fault with the car instead of focusing on the positives.” My conclusions? Those import models that have been cannibalizing midsize sedan sales over the past couple of decades had better be worried.


The AblePlanet LINX AUDIO Wireless Infrared Headphone Review

Every time I see that commercial where the older couple is laying in bed, the one where the wife growls at her husband, “can you turn that down?”, and then he sighs as he pulls out this cheesy looking amplifier device so he can watch TV in peace without turning the sound up any higher, I think man…if he only had a set of wireless headphones. If he did, then he could enjoy his show and she could sleep in peace and not be such a cranky witch. Seriously. I recently got to test just such a solution, and today…


Tanita KD 400 Digital Scale Review

If you’re looking for a compact scale that’s easy to use and simple to store – here’s a nice option from Tanita. With only two buttons on the front, the Tanita KD-400 is easy enough for people of all ages to use. You can measure weight in 1g increments – up to a maximum of 11lbs. How well did it work?


Put some sizzle in your flossing habits – Bacon flavored dental floss

This one’s too bizarre to pass up. Is there really a market for bacon flavored dental floss? Every time I visit my dentist they trot out the “so, do you floss regularly?” question. And every year I duck it by lying about my flossing frequency. I’m not so sure that bacon flavoring would get me to floss any more regularly. If you have a bacon fetish – check out bacon mints, and bacon toothpicks. Good gosh, how I wish I were making this all up.


Writing Your Online Dating Profile

If you like Piña Coladas And getting caught in the rain If you’re not into yoga If you have half a brain If you’d like making love at midnight In the dunes on the Cape Then I’m the love that you’ve looked for Write to me and escape. – “Escape”, by Rupert Holmes One of the single largest make-or-break components when creating a successful online personal ad is the Profile. This bit of writing is supposed to give the reader, your potential match, enough information about you to create an illusion of knowing you, without telling him or her enough…


iHome iP99 iPhone Radio Dock Reviewed

I’ve been using the iHome IP99 as a clock radio for the past week. This $149 device claims to filter out the annoying “buzz buzz” that is commonly heard when the iPhone receives or sends data. With other standard radios you can get around this issue by putting your iPhone into “Airplane” mode. However that means you won’t receive any calls or data. The iHome claims to fix this by filtering out the buzzing. Does it work? Sorta kinda. Keep reading for the details.


Double chins, losing hair, gold paint around your mouth? Airbrushdate spins your (booking) photos into online dating gold!

Has this ever happened to you? While browsing your favorite online message forum someone drops right into (and out of) the conversation with a one or two sentence spammy message? These people never contribute anything to the conversation except for a blatant advertisement. This is what happened to me last week. Someone dropped right into a active discussion with the one sentence message. Want a better online dating profile – try At this point my curiosity got the better of me. I knew that Judie was doing a rather extensive series about Online Dating. So why not see if this…


XID Face LogOn XPress Review: The Future Is Now!

In the future, everyone will drive flying cars (that fold up into a briefcase.  In the future, computers will prepare our meals instantly.  In the future, robots will do all of the household chores.   And in the future, there will be no passwords.  Instead,will access our data sing biometric security features.  No, that does not mean you will have super strength or x-ray vision.  (I wish).  What we are talking about today is biometric, not bionic.  And XID is taking us a huge leap forward in this area with their facial recognition software, Face LogOn XPress.   They still can’t promise…


Meet Winerack – Beerbelly’s Adventurous Little Sister

I don’t know which is funnier. The fact that there is a sister product to The BeerBelly named The Winerack – whose purpose is to let you sneak booze into events where BYOB is prohibited hold 25oz of wine or other beverage in a sports bra where you then drink it through a flexible tube. Or, that the company that makes it wants to send us a sample and asked Judie her bra size: Hi Judie, I just saw the write up on your site about The Beerbelly and your comment that the WineRack needs to come out now… Great…


The La Fresh Tech Pack Review

When at home or in the office it’s generally not a problem to reach for the industrial size container of whatever cleaner you might need as situations occur. But when on the go, it is hardly ever practical to carry along samples of the various cleaning products you might wish for throughout the day. To the rescue comes La Fresh, with their Tech Pack. Let’s peek inside and see if this is something you might be willing to throw in your bag…


USBFever iPod/iPhone FM Transmitter Review

There isn’t an easier way to get your iPod’s sound out to a car stereo than using an FM transmitter. No wires, no cassette adapters, just plug it in, tune your radio to the right station and out comes your music. Problem is at lot of the time they are rubbish. I have tried several over the years and none of them could produce a clear signal at any time, it was constantly crackly and awful. A few days ago when I received the USB Fever FM Transmitter I was expecting more of the same, but I was pleasantly surprised.


First Drive: 2009 Ford Flex

Over the past week, Grinding Gears editor David Goodspeed has been privileged to drive a pair of all-new vehicles from Ford and Lincoln, both of which will arrive in dealerships this summer. The first stop was Washington, D.C., for the 2009 Lincoln MKS. That was the trip whose highlights included a visit to a winery, a sneak peek at a future Lincoln, outrunning tornados, a dead turtle and not quite making it back to our starting point. All-in-all a very memorable trip. And a great new Lincoln. Next stop: LA – Santa Monica to be precise – for the launch…


Review: Digital Concepts Portable Lighting Studio

Have you ever had to take pictures of something you were selling on eBay, but you kept getting a horrible glare from the flash  I have had this happen many a time, and I have even had to struggle with this when taking pictures of things I review.  Well, I will struggle no more now that I have the Digital Concepts Lighting Studio, sent to me from Sakar International. As you can see by the picture, this is the smaller version of the studio suitable for taking pictures of smaller things like iPods, LED Headlights and Watches. 



Review: Insignia Pilot 8GB and the Insignia Bluetooth Headphones

I have a confession to make: I am a iPod owner who dislikes his iPod. I don’t hate the iPod; quite the contrary, I really like it but am frustrated by it’s caretaker, Apple. For everything Apple has done right, there’s lots of things that it has done wrong. For example, if you look at the files on the iPod itself you’ll see undecipherable file names for each of your music files. Plus there’s Apple’s Love/Hate relationship with DRM. Then there’s codec limitations. You can listen to MP3, AAC,Protected AAC, Apple Lossless, Audible, WAV and AIFF, but what about open…