2010

Ingear Jazzy Case iPhone 4 Case Review

The Jazzy Case from ingear is a stylish TPU (thermoplastic) style case for the iPhone that combines a good amount of shock and impact protection along with a sophisticated pattern printed on the back. Roll all that into a price tag that’s under $15 and you’ve got another WIN from ingear. The Jazzy Case comes packaged with a front screen shield for your iPhone. It also includes a small cleaning cloth and a card to help you install the screen shield. The case is available in four color variations. Black: Blue: Pink: Orange: The TPU material allows the case to…


Chevy Volt: Out of the Box

Buck fifty a day. According to the automaker, that is all it will cost you to operate your new Chevy Volt Extended Range Electric Vehicle when used in EV mode only. The car that GM is calling the “game-changer” is arriving in select markets this month. We spent some quality time with the Volt and its team members on a recent jaunt in the Texas Hill Country north and west of Austin. The event provided a few eye openers, some educational opportunities and at least one typical situation faced by drivers in semi-rural areas. Much has been written about Volt…


App Update: Amplitube 2 For iPhone

I recently reviewed the Amplitube application along with the iRig hardware.  Check out the full review here.  The Amplitube app is a robust guitar effects studio used on IOS devices.  Version 2 has just been released and adds some exciting functionality to an already great app.  The ability to use my iPhone or iPad while playing the guitar has been a wonderful experience.  I can play privately in my home without annoying my family with the loud music and am totally mobile.  If I wanted to play silently in the past, I had to connect headphones to my amplifier which…


Random Cool Stuff: If You Are 30, These Are the Toys You Grew Up With

Over at Milo.com’s Daily Bark, they are featuring a subjective list of the ‘best gifts ever’! It is interesting because it is focused on someone who would have been born in 1980, therefore turning 30 this year. The infograph looks back at what the hot gifts would have been for boys and girls over time. Personally I am too old and my kids are too young to have wanted the kid-centric stuff, but the later stuff … well, who said you ever really had to grow up?!? As I look back over time it is hard for me to peg…


2011 Ford Fiesta Walk-Thru Video

UPDATED! Now with Review! Here is a video I put together using my Nikon D-SLR camera shooting several thousand still images and combining them for a pseudo-motion video highlighting the all-new Ford Fiesta. How will automakers counter the predictions for five-dollar-a-gallon-gas this year? Ford wants you to celebrate – with a Fiesta! Yes, the car you simply could not get enough of during last season’s American Idol is in dealer showrooms giving consumers ample time to secure one as fuel prices begin the roller coaster ride back northward. While the nameplate is not new to our shores, this gen-forward Fiesta…


PC Game Review: Star Wars The Force Unleashed II

Just like the natural universe, the Star Wars universe seems to keep expanding ever since the Big Bang of 1977. Some of the expansions – such as Splinter of the Mind’s Eye – have been trashed by the ‘canon’ of the films, while others like the Thrawn trilogy have spawned ideas and characters that have carried through into the movies, games, and even further into book releases through the years. Most recently the end of the prequels has thrown open the era of conflict between Episodes II and III (Clone Wars) and III and IV (Jedi Purge, Imperial Control), and…


Review: Mobile Edge Sumo Messenger Bag

We’ve been looking for a good bag for my wife’s new laptop.  Her new laptop would not fit into her old bag since she was using a netbook.  When Mobile Edge’s Sumo Messenger Bag came up for review, I jumped at the chance.  Will my wife be happy with this new bag? I was sent the Sumo Messenger bag in red.  Chalk up one point for Mobile Edge picking a color my wife likes with red being a favorite! This bag has a ton of pockets on it.  On the exterior there is one on the flap. two on the…


Phone Fail? Motorola Droid Allegedly Explodes While Owner Is In-Call

You can’t even make these things up … or maybe you can. It’s hard to imagine that your two-day old Motorola Droid — or any other mobile phone, for that matter — would explode next to your ear while in a call. But that’s exactly what Aron Embry says happened to him yesterday. A North Texas man talking on his cell phone was rushed to a hospital after his phone apparently exploded Thursday morning. Aron Embry was at Ray Elementary in Cedar Hill at the time of the incident. The man said he had just finished a call when he…


NASA Gets One Step Closer to Aliens!

(image courtesy Marketing.fm) NASA rocked the scientific world today with a HUGE announcement: Possible aliens! That’s the gist of it, at least. The less exciting part is that they found a bacteria that eats arsenic. But if there is a bacteria that can survive on arsenic, it proves something that’s simply been a theory so far, that life can exist on non-traditional elements. According to CNN: The bacterium — strain GFAJ-1 of the Halomonadaceae family of Gammaproteobacteria — was scooped from sediment in California’s Mono Lake, an area rife with high levels of naturally occurring arsenic, it said. Scientists were…


Angry Birds Replace Nokia in Finnish Hearts

Nokia’s falling star is hurting more than just the company’s bottom line. It was once the pride of Finland and a decent size chunk of the country’s GDP. So it’s been nasty all around to see Nokia get decimated by the iPhone and Android. Surprisingly, Finland has been more than a hotspot for iconic phones; I learned reading Businessweek today that there’s a big software startup movement there, including Rovio (makers of Angry Birds). Yep, the game that seems to have singlehandedly slowed down worker productivity worldwide is helping to fill the gap left by Nokia. Not only that, but…


Caseable Brings out Custom Laptop Sleeves

Let’s face it, laptop sleeves can be boring.  Well if you just can’t find the pattern or design that fits for your taste, then check out Caseable.  Available in two different styles, the sleeves can be made with images that you provide or you can just pic a color, add text and even add handles to your design. The prices also seem pretty reasonable at only $69.99.  That may sound expensive, but when you think that your case will be handmade in Brooklyn, NY and only with images and colors you approve it’s not bad. Oh and they even make…


Fusionwerkz RAW iPhone 4 Case Review

When Fusionwerkz reached out to us at Gear Diary to see if we’d be interested in reviewing their RAW case for the iPhone 4 I was admittedly a little hesitant. After our experience with the Element Vapor Case I was worried about how the RAW, which is also an all aluminum case, would affect the iPhone 4’s reception. The case arrived a few days ago and I’ve been using it ever since. The RAW is made completely in the USA and crafted from 6061 T4 aluminum. That’s “Greek” to me but I do know this – it’s super light weight…


Flight Control for iPhone/Touch Review

The addition of GameCenter on my iPhone has definitely sold me on several games.  Casual and puzzle games seem to be much more enjoyable when I get to compare my friend’s scores and talk a little trash (or hear some).  It seems like the most enjoyable of these games are puzzle style games that can be open ended.  The latest games my friends and I have been locking horns with is Flight Control.  The game is super addictive and will become surprisingly competitive. Flight Control is a line drawing game that is simple to play, but will prove to be…


Music Diary Review: eMusic Changes Pricing Structure in Face of Fourth Year with No Subscriber Growth

I have to admit – I USED eMusic more than once. And by ‘used’ I don’t just mean ‘make use of the service’ … I mean that I grabbed one of those ‘get 50 tracks free’ offers, canceled after the first month, and wait for the next email with another offer or 50 or 75 tracks for free. But a few months ago I had used up all of my free tracks, and had more I wanted to grab … so I let my membership charge persist. And again, and again this past month. Then a week or so ago…


Shop Amazon, Wikipedia Style

Amazon isn’t shy about finding new ways to sell books, and now they’ve rolled out a fairly creative one. Using the Creative Commons license, Amazon is recreating Wikipedia articles about authors and books, hosting them on Amazon.com, and inserting links to buy books referenced in the articles. From CNet: “Shopping-enabled Wikipedia pages are a new introduction on Amazon.com,” Amazon spokeswoman Anya Waring told CNET when asked via e-mail. “As of November, we have rolled [the feature] out in the books category; however, [it] will be expanding to new categories in 2011.” It’s not an official partnership, Waring explained. Amazon’s use…


Win a Mystery Item That You KNOW You’ll Want from ioSafe

This is obnoxious! I am absolutely awful at those “guess what this is” type games where they show you the tiniest portion of a product and expect you to figure out what it is … and this one happens to come with a prize that I am sure I would love to win! ioSafe, makers of the fantastic hard drives that are impervious to fire, water, crushing — or any other disaster man or nature can throw at them (and you had better believe that we have tried!) — is giving away a mystery item that they will soon be…


How ‘Just a Big iPod’ Changed Our Computing Lives!

For the second time in two days I was giving a technical talk: one at night in a public setting, the other to a project team at work. In both cases I needed to note some questions, discussions, take contact info and jot down some ‘to do’ tasks and follow ups. It was only when someone said something in each case that I even realized – all I brought with me was my iPad. It has been nearly 8 months since the release of the iPad, and I cannot imagine going anywhere without it. Through numerous discussions I know that…


Be the Band with an Old School Synth Style Tshirt from ThinkGeek

When I graduated from high school, several of the PTAs in San Angelo banded together to do a Project Graduation party … one where we could go and  have fun, win prizes and (theoretically at least) be alcohol-free for the night. One of the events they held which drew the largest audience by far was an air guitar contest. Now bear in mind that I graduated in 1985, so this was before the days of Rockband — my friends were truly standing there, jamming on imaginary guitars — and it was beyond funny, yet also kind of impressive. For some…


The Windows Phone 7 Dell Venue Pro is Now Available

The Dell Venue has been one of the more highly anticipated Windows Phone 7 devices, and now you can order your own! $99 with a two-year T-Mobile contract, or $449 contract free, the Dell Venue offers a unique form factor, a huge screen and a possibly triumphant return of Dell in the Windows mobile device space; past-Axim owners rejoice! Introducing the definitive Windows® Phone 7 experience with a 4.1-inch sliding touch display and full QWERTY keyboard.  Features include: The stunning 4.1-inch WVGA AMOLED capacitive, multitouch display enables easier navigation. With Office Mobile built in, you can operate on-the-go as seamlessly…


Apropos of Nothing: The Chins

Just because I figure we can all use a smile on the first day of one of the year’s most hectic months, I bring you the Chins. Slightly disturbing, yet highly amusing. Enjoy …


Music Diary Notes: Watch Full Concerts of Jason Moran and The Bad Plus for FREE!

Image courtesy of jazzenzo Each time I write a set of Music Diary reviews I try to find a clip of the artists actually playing music from the recording live. Typically what you find on YouTube is a single song, often of questionable quality – that is if you can find any live recordings at all. So I was thrilled today to find via an article at NPR that a music festival from earlier this year had released some full concert videos, with great Even better is that that two featured artists were ones I had written about in this…