November 2011

Binverse USENET Account Review

Perhaps showing my age, I was so engrained in USENET since nearly the very beginning of the service in the early 80’s that I stayed using it long after most folks had moved to web forums. That was until around 2003 or 2004, when I found that splitting my time between dwindling USENET activity and climbing web activity was just too much. Yet even then I still lamented the loss – it was (and still is) incredibly inefficient to seek information about a given subject sprawled across dozens of websites and blogs when a single – or few – USENET…

Gear Bits

Stop Filling Out Medical Forms! NoMoreClipboard.com Is a Novel Solution for You to Maintain Your Health Records.

NoMoreClipboard.com A few years ago I started a Google Health account. I loved it. I had my entire medical history and medications in one place. Unfortunately Google Health is going away. So I started to search for a replacement. My criteria were as follows: Easy to use Can hold my medical record Can hold my current and past medications Can Print out a summary sheet of my medical history and medications Ability to add documentation from my medical providers Ability to give my medical providers limited access to my medical history Secure based off of Health Insurance Portability and…

Editorials

I’m Sticking with Zinio

One of the features that iOS 5.0 brought to the table was their new Newsstand application. Newsstand is to magazines and newspapers what iBooks is to books. It collects your magazine and newspaper subscriptions purchased through the iTunes App Store and puts them into one simple place where all are accessible. It has a nice feature in that most of the periodicals can be set to automatically download when a new addition becomes available. That means that, for example, each day my New York Times is ready and waiting for me as soon as I open my iPad’s cover…

Gear Bits

Quick Impressions: Samsung Galaxy S II Skyrocket Speeds

As a small town guy living in the Chicago area, there are a lot times when I get frustrated with the traffic, the density, and the general inconveniences that are necessarily associated with urban living. Then again, there are times like today, when I’m happy to be living in one of the larger metropolitan areas in the country because we tend to be among the first to get new technologies, such as AT&T’s new LTE network. At the moment, AT&T has two phones able to take advantage of the LTE network: the HTC Vivid and the Samsung Galaxy S II Skyrocket….

Reviews

Review: Mission Workshop Sanction Weatherproof Rucksack

Last week we took a look at two high-tech bags from Powerbag. The PowerBag Messenger and the PowerBag Backpack both pack 6000mAh batteries and an interior system of charging cables so you can keep your mobile electronics charged on the go. The Messenger will be coming to CES with me and the Backpack will be used by Kevin during the week. Between the two bags we are hoping to avoid our annual tradition of struggling to keep our phones and tablets charged during the grueling days in Las Vegas. But what if you want to carry lots of stuff, need…

Gear Bits

Siri Outage Reveals Not Success or Failure … But Loneliness

Late last week one of the big features of the recently released iPhone 4S – Siri – suffered an outage, which was widely reported. Beyond that, there were those who took the outage to indicate either massive success … or massive failure on the part of Apple and the service. But I see something different … loneliness. If you look back to the very first few things people tested on the iPhone 4S with Siri, it was telling it they loved it. You can see it featured in this Gizmodo article from right after the launch. And here are just…

Gear Bits

Jawbone UP First Impressions

Although it is only just being released this morning, I was able to pick up one of Jawbone’s new UP wrist bands yesterday (Jawbone UP). It truly is the height of “geek chic”, and whether or not it will be a passing fad waits to be seen. I wanted to share a few initial impressions of it but first let’s look at what it does and does not do. The UP is like a super-duper pedometer. It tracks your steps and can “challenge” you to do more. Or, if you set it at “X steps planned today”, it will tell you…

Reviews

Review: BodyGuardz Armor Carbon Fiber for iPad 2 and iPhone 4S

I have always been a huge fan of minimalist iPhone and iPad cases. After all, why hide such sweet, beautiful pieces of metal and glass in large, bulky cases if you don’t have to? The operative word here is, of course, “cases”. While I have always liked minimalist cases, I’ve never been a huge fan of carrying my iPhone or iPad with nothing on it but a scratch protective skin. That changed earlier in the week when BodyGuardz was kind enough to send me their BodyGuardz Armor Carbon Fiber for the iPhone 4S and and the iPad 2. Both kits…

Editorials

Dear B&N,Your Strategy Needs Some Work …

Dear B&N, I want you to succeed. Really, I do. I know it’s hard to believe, being the former Borders’ girl that I am. And sure, my personal library is pretty heavily Amazon-focused. But I like the competition. And I like bookstores. And you bring both. But come on, you need to step up your game, and it seems like you’re falling behind at exactly the wrong time. Let’s look at your main competition, Amazon. They have the Kindle Fire tablet coming out, and the “special sauce” is their ecosystem. Point for point they offer more value to a new…

Music Diary

Music Diary News: Major Label Artists Get $0.08 for Each Digital Song Sold for $1!

This week we got news of rapper Chuck D suing Universal Music Group (UMG). As part of the court documents analyzed by Digital Music News, his lawyers revealed the payout process … and if you can figure out what all of the stuff in the image at the top MEANS – let me know! The bottom line is that on a $1 recording sold on iTunes (or Amazon MP3 for that matter), Apple gets 30%, the artist gets 8% and the label gets 62%. Looking deeper, the document is based on 1,000 unit sales – which would be $1,000 ……

Reviews, Yum Log

iPad Accessory Review: Belkin Chef Stand and Wand

It comes as no surprise to anyone who lives on this planet that the iPad is finding its way into pretty much every aspect of our lives and certainly into pretty much every room of the house. Among the places where it can come in particularly handy is the kitchen. Thanks to the iPad, the days of needing a special under-cabinet television if you want to watch a show while cooking are gone. Similarly, the days of needing a separate music player/boombox are over. In fact, unless you are my purest, like my wife Elana, you don’t even need paper…

News

Rugged PCD Wrangler Coming to U.S. Cellular

Last week my 15-year old son ran a load of laundry. That would be a great thing … except that he failed to remove his cell phone from his jeans! Another phone on the heap of teenage abuse! So when I heard that US Cellular was releasing the rugged PCD Wrangler later this month, all I could think was … THERE is a phone made for my son! Here is the description: Rugged and tough, the PCD WranglerTM works and plays as hard as you do. The compact clamshell design has been tested to withstand rain, extreme temperatures, high humidity,…

News

Child’s Play Starts 2011 Fundraising Drive

The Child’s Play Charity has raised millions of dollars and collected loads of toys for kids in hospitals all over the world. What started as a small effort by gamers headed by the Penny-Arcade guys has grown to a massive charitable effort with huge reach! Here is a bit of their history: Since 2003, we’ve set up and organized Child’s Play, a game industry charity dedicated to improving the lives of children with toys and games in our network of over 70 hospitals worldwide. Over the years, you as a community have answered the call and come together to raise…

Gear Bits

Twelve South PlugBug QuickLook

We brought word of Twelve South‘s new PlugBug Mac/iPad accessory the other day. Within seconds of learning about the new product Judie and I had both ordered one. It is a great traveling companion if you have a Mac and an iPad or iPhone, so it seemed like a no-brainer. It is! Mine just came and, once again, I’m impressed with what Twelve South has done. Here’s a quick video look at the PlugBug. You can order yours for here on the company site for $34.99.

News

TOM BIHN Introduces the Cadet Briefcase for Apple Laptops and iPad

We love TOM BIHN’s bags and are always happy to see them bring out a new design. Today that design is the Cadet, a bag that is a laptop briefcase designed for Apple laptops including the 15″ MacBook Pro, 11″ and 13″ MacBook Air and the iPad 2. The Cadet is designed to carry your laptop or iPad, a few files or magazines, power supplies, pens, notebooks, and other small accessories. The Cadet is also a checkpoint friendly laptop bag. The Cadet comes in two sizes with one designed for a 15″ or 13″ MacBook and the other sized for…

News

Jawbone Says, “Time to Get UP!” New UP Health Accessory Now Available for Pre-Order

Jawbone, known for their awesome Bluetooth headsets and iPhone accessories, is now shipping their new UP health bracelet accessory. The UP connects with a free iPhone app to track and monitor your movements while challenging you to do more, sleep longer and eat better. The UP combines a neat fashion accessory look with a free iPhone app to push you to live a healthier lifestyle. For example, each UP bracelet has a small vibrating timer that silently tells you to GET UP AND GET MOVING! It looks like the ultimate geek health aid! Here are a few brief snippets of…

eBooks, News

Amazon Introduces the Kindle Lending Library

Just wanted to get this out to let everyone know of something cool from Amazon overnight – as if Carly’s note about Amazon and Fancy Widget wasn’t cool enough! Bottom line – Amazon has unveiled the ‘lending library’ that was rumored before the Kindle Fire launch. Basically, if you own a Kindle, and are a member of Amazon Prime, you have access to a reasonable size library of works you can borrow one at a time. Here is the description: Today we’re announcing a new benefit for Kindle owners with an Amazon Prime membership: the Kindle Owners’ Lending Library. Kindle…

Gear Bits

Amazon’s Android Appstore — Same Legendary Amazon Service

I may have moved on to an iPhone, but I still have a hacked NOOKcolor running Android! Plus I have two years’ worth of Android apps between Google’s Marketplace and, more recently, Amazon’s Appstore. While it wasn’t an everyday ritual, I did try to grab Amazon’s free apps of the day if they looked halfway decent, figuring I might want to use them in the future. Now, I’m used to Amazon’s Kindle service, where they send me a nice email if a book is updated by the publisher with instructions on how to update it. But I’ve paid for those…

News

So … How Do YOU Feel About the New Google Reader (& GMail) Design?

Over the last couple of days, Google has released updates for Google Reader and GMail. Each has a new UI, and has further integration of Google +, as well as the removal of Buzz. In the case of GMail, it is mostly about a visual overhaul, as noted on the Google Blog here are the main features: – Streamlined conversations – Elastic density – New HD themes – Smarter navigation – Better search In the case of Google Reader the changes are two-fold: the removal of ‘Share’, and a visual overhaul. To say that the reaction to removing ‘Share’ was…

News

Random Cool Video: If Quake Was Made Today!

Image courtesy of SodaHead Ask anyone who was playing Doom when it first came out on a gaming computer they bought with their own money, and they will all agree on one thing: shooters have been drastically simplified through the years. The expression ‘dumbed down for console kiddies’ is bandied about, and while it sounds harsh and degrading, the reality is that due to controller limitations and a more casual and social focus of console gaming, traditional PC gamers are often frustrated at how regressive pretty much everything but the graphics are in current generation shooters. Or, as the video…

News

NaNoWriMo – Get on Board and Write That Novel in 30 Days!

Have you ever wished you could write that novel you’ve had rattling around in your brain for ages? Now is your chance – National Novel Writing Month started yesterday, and they have a great website with loads of resources to help you get started. Better still, there are plenty of tools to help you get started, loads of special deals (including on the awesome Scrivener Mac/PC app), help from other writers and so on. I have joined up (today) and just got started – and plan to do it all on the iPad. I am using iThoughts HD to outline…

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