April 2011

Gear Games Viewpoint: The Two Sides of DRM

If you have Dragon Age: Origins with loads of DLC like I do and have tried to play in the past week, one of four thing has happened: * You have been unable to use your DLC, and therefore unable to play your saved games. * You were offline and had no issues. * You bought a retail copy but have a ‘cracked’ executable and have had no issues. * You pirated the game and DLC and have had no issues. We’ll return to that list in a second, but yes – for nearly a week PC (and Mac) gamers…


R.I.P. Jazz Violinist Billy Bang and Video Game Pioneer Jerry Lawson

Overnight I heard about two deaths in different areas I follow, and I wanted to celebrate the lives of these two under-appreciated talents in the game hardware and jazz music fields. Jerry Lawson People doing designs for video game hardware or software are seldom recognized – in fact, since the systems became so complex in the 80’s that no single person can claim a design as their own, it tends to be the visionary leaders who get recognized. But in the 1970s things were different, you had Atari and Fairchild, and inside of them you had guys like Alan Alcorn,…


The Swingline Stack-and-Shred Cross Cut Shredder Review

This is my husband’s and my pile of things that needed to be shredded; it started in a drawer, was moved to a shelf, and eventually ended up in a bag under our bed. What’s in it? Everything from those “convenience” checks that credit card companies seem to think we can’t live without, to credit card applications that simply need a signature and mail-back to be approved, to health insurance settlement statements, to all those bit of paper that have numbers, names, addresses and other information that get scribbled down when we are trying to be efficient. Why were we…


iAssociate 2 Review

When iAssociate came out on the IOS, I played through it and enjoyed the game. Some of my students recently asked if I was playing iAssociate2. I had not been playing and decided to download the free application. The next thing I know, I am trying to figure out word associations literally every spare moment I have. In fact, the game has become somewhat of an infatuation with the students. It is not rare to be sitting in class or walking down the hall and hearing “What is a 7 letter word that goes with crazy, insane and mad?” I…


Today Marks the Sesquicentennial of the Start of the U. S. Civil War

The U. S. Civil War was the bloodiest conflict to ever occur on the lands of the United States that addressed several issues regarding Federal authority versus States rights, but ultimately came down to a single issue: slavery. Today marks the day that the war began as Confederate troops fired on a Union garrison at Fort Sumter. There is a great historical recounting of events here: On April 10, 1861, Brig. Gen. Beauregard, in command of the provisional Confederate forces at Charleston, South Carolina, demanded the surrender of the Union garrison of Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor. Garrison commander Anderson…


Retrospective Review: Revisting WebOS and the Palm Pixi Plus

With the upcoming HP WebOS tablet and Pre 3 smartphone featuring great-looking features such as touch-sync, it is interesting to take another back at WebOS as it exists today. Recently I came upon a nearly free deal for a no-contract 8GB Palm Pixi Plus which I was easily able to activate on Verizon to test. I used the Pixi as my sole phone for two weeks, enough to develop some things I loved about the phone and WebOS … and some things I didn’t like so much! The Hype: The thinnest Palm mobile phone yet, the Palm Pixi Plus for…


Random Cool Stuff: George Takei Ringtone Supports Old Globe Theater

George Takei rose to fame as Sulu on the original Star Trek. His facial and vocal expressions are classics, and his work on behalf of a number of organizations and causes has kept him in the public goodwill ever since. Now he is helping to raise money for the Old Globe Theater As he says on his Twitter feed: My “OhMyyy” ringtone is out like a senator in a bathroom stall. Benefits @TheOldGlobe #TheLoadinDownload Source: George Takei Twitter


PC Game Review: Magicka

Humor is something we see way too little of in games – it seems every new release is dark and gritty and full of epic seriousness. Not so with Magicka, a game that looks like a classic RPG but plays more like an action-adventure – and takes nothing seriously from start to end! But does it end up like the great TellTale adventure games, or the unfortunate Bard’s Tale remake? Let’s take a look and find out! The Hype: Magicka is a satirical action-adventure game set in a rich fantasy world based on Norse mythology. The player assumes the role…


iPad App Review: Swapsies

I am slowly warming up to having my two boys, ages 3 and 6 use my iPad. It is not that they cannot understand how it works, but that I see all of the things they tear up and choose for my gear not to be one of those items. The iPad has proven to be a wonderful tool for children with the number of learning apps and games. I recently had the opportunity to review Swapsies using my sons as my trusty sidekick reviewers. Let’s see what they thought. Swapsies is a matching game app for kids three years…


Going Once, Going Twice, Start Your Engine: the 1970 Lancia Stratospheric HF

There are cars and then THERE ARE CARS! This 1970 Lancia Stratos HF is a CAR! This 1970 Lancia Stratos HF “Zero” was the predecessor to the Lamborghini Countach, a car that made an appearance just a year later. The wedge-body shape is as sleek as anything you have ever seen and the car was so low to the ground that you got into it by opening the windshield and climbing in. The car was fully restored in 2000 and is up for auction. It falls under the category of “if you have to ask what the bidding starts at…


How to Win the Tablet War Against the iPad? It’s Not Even a Battle, I’m Afraid

Brandon over on Just Another iPhone Blog has a provocative post up today entitled “How to Win the Tablet War Against the iPad”. The simple answer to the title is: sell a Wi-Fi Samsung Galaxy Tab for just $349.99. That’s a full $150 less than you can get an iPad 2 for. Both have 16 GB of storage. Both are only Wi-Fi enabled. One costs $150 less. Brandon makes some good arguments about why this is the right strategy. His core point, So, this is how you win the war. You build a solid device and you sell it at…


Do Publishers Still Matter?

It all started when Doug mentioned this article on Idealog from Mike Shatzkin: Putting Books in Stores is a Subsidiary Right. This sparked a debate between us on the nature of publishing, and whether traditional publishers make sense if you’re a new author in today’s market. Doug: All I could think was, “Good work, publishers! You’ll alienate your writers even more than you already have, and *they’re the ones providing you with a product to sell*!” The ongoing stupidity of old media–music, magazines, newspapers, tv, books, you-name-it–continues to simply amaze. Carly: Very interesting. Honestly, this isn’t that surprising, and I…


Ecamm Printopia for Mac Brings AirPrint Capability to iOS Users with Older Printers

When Apple announced AirPrint for iOS devices, I could almost see Steve Jobs’ point about the “post-PC era”. Being able to print from your iPad, iPhone, or iPod Touch (newer devices with iOS 4.2 or later) wirelessly sounded great. Indeed, Google’s Cloud Print functionality for their Chrome browsers works in a similar fashion. But then I found out how limited the supported list of printers was. Heck, even those of us with Apple Airport Extreme wireless routers that have attached printers could not use AirPrint: AirPrint only works with a network connection to an AirPrint-capable printer. A printer connected to…


Review: Tekkeon TekCharge MP1860A Dual Port Power Pack

Of all the commercials that Apple has run the one that ticked me off the most involved the iPhone 4 and its battery life. Yes, Apple ran an ad telling us how amazing the battery life of the iPhone 4 is and, while it is BETTER than other phones there really is no smartphone I have used that I would say has “great” battery life. That is the reason I still need to carry an external battery with me wherever I go. There are many out there but the one I am currently carrying comes from Tekkeon and I am…


Music Diary Songs of Note: Horace Silver ‘Song for My Father’

Everyone at GearDiary – just like everyone else on the internet – is an actual person, and behind the scenes we share some of the joys and difficulties of making out way through life. Not surprisingly, I often reflect on my own issues in life through music in one way or another. These past couple of weeks my father has been going through some health issues, and while all is doing much better, one song has been in my mind more than most others, the Horace Silver standard ‘Song for My Father’. The song was written as a reflection of…


Review: Magellan Premium Car Kit and iOS App for iPhone and iPod touch

My iPhone makes a great portable GPS system. This is particularly important because my car does not have a built-in GPS system, and my daily work has me going to a variety of locations with which I am not always familiar. Using the iPhone as a GPS works rather well for the most part. It starts up in GPS mode rather quickly, locks in on satellites fairly efficiently and does quite a good job of holding the signal once it does. There are a few significant shortcomings however. Chief among them is the impact using the GPS on the iPhone…



Gear Games Review: Atari’s Greatest Hits … and You Thought It Was Just an April Fools Joke!

Just last week I posted a nice review of the Pong home entertainment system … and everyone thought it was a joke! But not Atari – they just released a new game called ‘Atari’s Greatest Hits’ on the iTunes App Store. But is it any good? The Hype: Atari’s Greatest Hits brings the best of retro gaming to iOS with 100 Classic Atari Games. This suite brings you the hottest Arcade and 2600 titles from Atari. For those who love the classic gaming experience this handheld breakthrough is sure to guarantee hours of fun. What we feature is: • 18…


Grammy Awards Reconfigured Result of Major Label Pressure?

Yesterday the Recording Academy announced major changes to the annual Grammy Awards, reducing the number of categories from 109 at the last awards show to 78. For those who think the awards show is already over-long and unfocused, the changes may seem too long in coming. But nothing done will impact the actual show, since most of what is changed isn’t the stuff that makes the Grammy Awards a long and dreadful affair … The image at top shows part of a list that the Recording Academy has for comparing the current list of categories to what will be around…


ARCAM rCube Portable iPod Speaker System Rocks Wherever You Go

Does the world really need yet another iPod speaker dock? At the low end of the market I think not but at the high end there is always room for a speaker system that works with your iOS device, is easily portable AND gives great sound. That is a lot to ask for from a system that is meant to go wherever you do but ARCAM’s rCube promises to deliver exactly that. As the company’s promotional material explains, rCube is a listening revolution, delivering high fidelity from a single, beautiful package that’s portable and has wireless audio streaming. rCube offers…


Flush Puppies Let Your Doggy Be Green!

It’s the downside of having a dog. We go through bags like crazy cleaning up after him on walks, and it’s painful to see all that plastic build up in the garbage can at the end of the week. Flush Puppies claim to have a better solution though! According to their site: Flush Puppies doodie bags are 100% biodegradable and flushable.  Yes, really… flushable.  Made from Polyvinyl Alcohol (PVA) – a water soluble, eco-friendly, “green” alternative to plastic – Flush Puppies are specifically made to dispose of doggie doodie down the toilet.  (It’s science, people – not voodoo!)  Unlike plastic…