2009 October

Archive | October, 2009

News October 31, 2009

Backing Up Your Mobile Data

My father’s favorite phrase is “People don’t plan to fail; they fail to plan.” I’m quite sure a very expletive laden version of this concept was bandied around Microsoft after the Sidekick backup debacle. So I posed the question to the Gear Diary Team: How do you back up your smartphone data?

To Understand Why The Apple Tablet Will Shake Things Up, Eat A Peanut Butter Cup

If you’re old enough you remember the advertisement for the delicious Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup . The old commercial has one person eating peanut butter and another enjoying a chocolate bar. The two bump into each other and, as fate would have it, peanut butter and chocolate collided.

SPB TV for Android Review

When out and about, sometimes you got a few minutes to kill. SPBTV for Android phones can help you use up a few of those minutes with a little mindless entertainment or a news update from overseas. SPB TV is an application that streams live TV from the Internet directly to your phone. It has [...]

Report from the trenches: Recon at Barnes and Noble

It took stealth, cunning, and nerves of steel (along with a cell phone camera and a friendly clerk), but here is my report from tonight’s visit to Barnes and Noble to scope out their nook displays. Even before you enter the store, you are greeted with HUGE mock nook in the window. I kind of [...]

2010 Kia Soul built to rock and roll

Apparently, funky is going mainstream in the auto industry. What began as a unique phenomena over at a little startup division of Toyota has now spread across other Asian automaker model lines. Nissan challenged the squared Scion with a Cube and now Kia has put their heart and “Soul” into the mix. (Sorry, had to [...]

The Internet Is Your Friend: Learning a Language on a Budget, Week Two

photo credit: woodleywonderworks In part one of “Learning a Language on a Budget” I talked a bit about the things you can do to get prepared to learn a language. A number of you offered comments and provided additional information about some resources that are available. Much appreciated! In this second post in the series [...]

Making a bootable USB stick to upgrade to Windows 7

So you have Windows 7 and you are all fired up about installing it on your netbook. The problem is that your netbook doesn’t have a CD or DVD player built in which means that DVD media that Windows 7 comes on is pretty much a coaster. You can solve the problem by popping $80-90 [...]

Make it through the day with USB Fever External Batteries for the iPhone

After a few hours of heavy use, the iPhone 3G S battery really gets spanked! The only way to make it through a long day is with external power – which is no problem as long as you’re by an outlet or USB port. If you aren’t deskbound, an external battery pack is the best [...]

Review: HyperMac External Battery

Every once and a while a product comes along that really catches my eye. Such was the case when I spotted an advertisement for the HyperMac external battery in a tech. magazine last month. The HyperMac is currently the only external battery available for use with Apple’s line of Mac Book computers. And with the [...]

Combat Arms (PC FPS) Halloween Update Includes Pumpkin Heads!

So how are you spending you Halloween? If you are planning to spend it staring bleary-eyed at your computer monitor playing the 2008 online first-person shooter Combat Arms, now you can do it without missing out on the Halloween festivities! Nexon America has announced that their Halloween Update will include Pumpkin Head uniform pieces as [...]

Want A Nook? You Are Going To Have To Wait

A number of us jumped in and ordered a Nook as soon as the Pre-order site was up. It makes sense. Not only does the Nook look to solve some of the Kindle’s many usability issues thanks to its color touchscreen, but the Nook will let us access the eBook libraries we have amassed over [...]

Magic Mouse – First Impressions

Since the first time I used one of the multi-touch trackpads on the current MacBooks I have wanted to have similar multi-touch abilities when using my iMac. I love using the trackpad on the MacBook. It works beautifully. The buttonless left and right click work great. And the multi-touch capabilities… well I didn’t really understand [...]

Mailtones Redux – Now For Blackberry Too!

I reviewed Mailtones for the iPhone a few weeks back and really like it. The app allows you to assign different sounds to various contacts so that you know who has emailed without even looking at your phone. Now every time Judie emails my phone cheers. Every time Larry emails a fire alarm goes off. [...]

eBook News Avalanche!

Welcome to another round of State of the eBook! There’s been an avalanche of eBook news and releases, so let’s dive right in! Barnes and Noble releases the nook upon the world B&N’s nook came out swinging, with a dual screen design and an android foundation. Check out Gear Diary’s coverage of the nook’s release [...]

Translation and Frustration: Learning a Language on a Budget, Week Three

photo credit: woodleywonderworks So far, I’ve talked about dictionaries and dictionary sites, and other language-learning resources on the Internet. There is, however, one Internet service that many of us will come across, even if we aren’t in the process of learning a language – online translation tools. Arguably, the biggest sites today for these services are translate.google.com, [...]