September 2012

Love Music? Sony’s BDV-E390 Blu-ray Disc Home Theater System with WiFi is Worth Checking Out

I love my speaker docks and enjoy using them. I love (LOVE) using my Sonos system too. But while the docks give awesome portability they often offer limited audio quality volume. And while the Sonos system give big sound, with each room costing a minimum of $299, it is a pricey proposition. Sony’s BDV-E390 Blu-ray Disc Home Theater System with WiFi, on the other hand, offers big sound at an amazingly low price. The system offers five speakers, one subwoofer and one 3D disc player. The specs look like this… 1000W(167Wx5+165W)5.1ch 3D Blu-ray Disc™ Theater System Built-in Wi-Fi® to stream movies,…


Sprint Readies the Samsung Galaxy Note II for Release This Fall, Reports 1 Million 4G Devices Sold!

As noted before, this morning we heard from Samsung that they have coordinated with all five major U.S. carriers to bring the massive Samsung Galaxy Note II to market; now Sprint has followed up and announced that they will be launching the 16GB version of the device later this fall on their ‘Truly Unlimited’ network! The Galaxy Note 2 is the successor to the popular ‘phablet’ that was huge for a phone but small for a tablet yet found a solid global audience. The new version increases the screen size to 5.5 inches (from 5.3), has full 4G LTE support,…


2012 BMW 335i Luxury Line

The BMW 3-Series luxury sport sedan has long been held up as the “industry standard” in its segment and for 2012 the Bavarian automaker gives us the sixth-generation of this modern icon. Globally, however, the 5-Series sedans sell better and here in the states sales have fallen off a bit for the champ. The reason? The field has become so crowded consumers are spreading their investments across three theaters of production now, those being traditional Europe, Japan, and now newcomer Detroit and the likes of the Cadillac ATS. There is not much I can say here that Bimmer enthusiasts don’t…


Fieldrunners 2 HD for iPad Review

Type of app: ‘Tower Defense’ game Platform/where to buy: iPad (iPhone version also available); available in the App Store Developer: Subatomic Studios Description: The biggest sequel in tower defense history is now on iPad: Fieldrunners 2 HD has arrived! From Subatomic Studios, creators of the award winning classic strategy game, comes an all new adventure that was years in the making. Build epic mazes out of powerful weapons to defend the world from the invading fieldrunners! Major features: I am amazed that I never did a review of Fieldrunners, which I absolutely adore and have been playing on my iPod…


Hands-on Review of AmpliTube 2.5 (now 2.6!) and Amplitube Fender 1.2

IK Multimedia recently released major updates to their AmpliTube and AmpliTube Fender amplifier simulation apps for iOS devices, which I wrote about here. If you follow Gear Diary, then you know that aside from a quick blurb we seldom do a ‘deep dive’ on a ‘point release’ update … but this time there was a reason! Read on and see if the new AmpliTube is for you! The Hype: • Full MIDI Integration. This feature allows users to control AmpliTube Fender 1.2 via standard MIDI controllers using an iOS MIDI interface such as iRig MIDI. This allows to remotely switch…


Apple iOS 6 Update Now Available for Download!

Today is iOS 6 release day, and as anticipated the update went ‘live’ close to 10AM Pacific Time. As often happens, the servers will get hit hard and make downloading and updating a slow and sometimes frustrating thing. Make sure you: – Have the space on your device – Have a good WiFi connection – BACKUP! – Have the time to leave the device in one place for the update Good luck and report on your experiences! My download is going s-l-o-w right now … If you want more details on the iOS 6 update, head to Apple!


Run Roo Run iOS Review

Type of app: iOS, Universal for iPad and iPhone Platform/where to buy: iTunes, App Store Developer: 5th Cell Description (from the App Store): Hop, skip and jump Your way across tons unique and interesting obstacles in the Australian Outback! Run Run Roo is a micro-platformer featuring single screen levels filled with unique, fun obstacles and easy to learn one-touch gameplay. Play for only a few minutes or a few hours; your journey to Sydney always picks up where you left off. Major features: Run Roo Run is a micro-platformer, meaning each level is a single screen. Make it across and…


Listen to Green Day’s Uno Streaming on Facebook!

Green Day is launching into a jam-packed year, releasing a trio of new records and embarking on a grand world tour. The first album ¡UNO! arrives on September 25th, but you can stream it for free right now at Facebook! Here is what they say: Hear ¡Uno! before it hits stores next week! Check out the advance listening party on the Facebook tab presented by Nokia Music and AT&T at http://smarturl.it/hearunonow On Mobile? Head back to a computer to take a listen! Let us know what you think in the comments below and share this post! You need to ‘Like’…


Vote For Brandeis To Host The “Today Show”

In my house, there’s a loose rivalry between Syracuse and Brandeis. They hardly compete head to head in anything, but since I went to Brandeis and my brother Andrew went to Syracuse, there’s a good natured sibling rivalry. It doesn’t help that we have older cousins who attended Brandeis and Syracuse, so the unofficial competition spans generations. Now Brandeis finally has the chance to pull ahead here, but I need your help! See, the “Today Show” is running a contest where they will film their fourth hour the week of October 12th at one of six schools: Brandeis, Ohio State…


Plantronics Voyager Legend Bluetooth Headset Review

My first Bluetooth headset sounded rather lousy, and it required a Bluetooth dongle be plugged into the phone itself since it did not have integrated BT. The headset also had a long boom that reached toward my mouth. It looked… dumb. When headsets began to appear that were tiny, dropped the boom and, as a result, were less noticeable, I bought. (I once spent a small fortunate on a tiny headset that looked cool but sounded horrible.) When I had a chance to review Plantronics Pro UC I jumped at it. First impressions were… not good. Here’s what I wrote…


Another Step in RIM Death-Spiral As Yahoo! Offers Employees Any Smartphone EXCEPT Blackberry!

Imagine that your employer came around and told you that everyone in the company was getting their choice of smartphone! That would be so cool, and it’s something that just doesn’t happen in most companies. But it was something just done by new CEO Marisa Meyer at Yahoo!. There was just one stipulation according to an article at TechCrunch – you cannot have a Blackberry. The basic thought process behind the decision? Blackberry is for business ONLY, and as a ‘customer facing’ company, Yahoo! needs to be in touch with what people do in their ‘real life’, not just their…


Slacker Just Keeps Delivering the Goods

We do a fair amount of coverage on Slacker Radio at Gear Diary, and for me it is because I use the service all the time. In fact, apart from my own music collection, the second place I head for music is Slacker … before Spotify or other services. Over the summer they expanded their ‘Artist Showcase’ series with several additions, most recently adding Train: Slacker Radio is launching their 23rd Artist Showcase station, hosted by the award-winning and chart-topping band Train. “Save Me, San Francisco Radio” features songs hand-selected by the core of the band – Pat Monahan, Jimmy…


Who and Where are the 47% ‘Non-Tax Payers’?

This is not meant to be a political post per se, but after the ‘leaked’ video of Mitt Romney came out this week showing him talking about the 47% of Americans who don’t pay taxes (by which he meant income taxes, not taxes in general), there has been some interesting discussion. I wouldn’t have cared much, but one of the highlighted Kindle deals yesterday was What’s the Matter with Kansas?: How Conservatives Won the Heart of America, which looks at the question of “Why do so many of us vote against our economic interests?” So with that as a backdrop…


Bigfoot: Hidden Giant HD for iPad Review

It seems like I have been fairly critical of recent G5 ‘hidden object’ games (HOG) such as Lost Souls: Enchanted Paintings and Tales from the Dragon Mountain and even Sinister City: Vampire Adventure. So I was really hoping for a ‘win’ from G5 with Bigfoot: Hidden Giant. Read on to see how it fared, and how the great service and communications from G5 saved me from a near disaster! The Hype: Does Bigfoot exist? Hunt for evidence of the legendary Sasquatch in this Hidden Object investigation. Scattered sightings of the elusive creature are reported when a chemical spill wreaks havoc…


ioSafe Turns to Indiegogo to Help Fund the “Disaster-Proof Private Cloud”

We’ve long been fans of ioSafe. We’ve spent time with them as they burnt, crushed and soaked hard drives. We’ve seen the drives abused with shocking results. We also taken shotgun shots as their drives. Now ioSafe has taken things even further. They’s turned to Indiegogo to help fund their newest endeavor, the ioSafe N2. Before we dig into this more deeply take a minute and watch the video. The company describes the ioSafe N2 as “Disaster-Proof Private Cloud – like an aircraft black box for personal or business data”. I think that is a pretty apt description. Whereas previous…


Stats Pad for iPad Review

Type of app: Statistical Analysis Platform/where to buy: iPad; available in the App Store Developer: Consensio Works LLC Description: Stats Pad brings detailed statistical analysis to your iPad. If you use Excel’s Data Analysis Toolpak or PHStat for statistical analysis, then you will love Stats Pad. Stats Pad is the perfect tool for classroom statistics or on the go analysis. Major features: It has been a year and a half since I reviewed Biostatistics, and since then the $24.99 app is gone from the App Store, and most of what exists are either desktop tie ins (JMP Graph Builder) or…


The Who All-Star Tribute Album ‘Who Are You’ Releases October 2nd!

While The Beatles and The Rolling Stones get the 60’s glory, and Led Zepplin and Pink Floyd rule 70’s rock nostalgia – The Who were there for it all, blazing a path that strangely melded the ‘first punk band’, ‘thinking man’s rock musicians’, and ‘worst rock’n’roll band in the world’. Now they are getting an all-star tribute album coming out on October 2nd and featuring an amazing cast of rock musicians from the last five decades. As noted at Classic Rock Magazine: Cleopatra Records, behind the release, say: “The Who has sold over 100 million records, had 27 top 40…


ShopShop for iOS Review

Type of app: iOS, Universal for iPad and iPhone Platform/where to buy: iTunes, App Store Developer: Nikolaj Schumacher Description (from the App Store): A shopping list. Simple. Free. Major features: This is a straightforward shopping list. It keeps a master list of items you add regularly, making it easy to rebuild shopping lists each week. It also lets you create multiple lists for different stores, offers Dropbox sync, and has a setting that prevents screen timeout (for those times you are shopping and referencing the phone repeatedly) Ease of use/Overall performance: This has a surprising number of features for a…


D-Star Breathes New Life into Amateur Radio

D-Star is the newest mode I have recently added to my Amateur Radio arsenal.  I bought an Icom ID-31A D-star, radio which I will be reviewing here soon, but I wanted to share a little about D-star and why it’s a cool mode before I did the review. The History of D-Star D-star is a mode that was created by the Japanese Amateur Radio League in 2001 after doing three years of research.  JARL designed it as an open standard so that manufacturers could build the radios.  Icom is the first company to make radios for D-star, however they aren’t…


When Book People Move

My wife Sarah and I are likely moving in a few months. As a result, we are in a hardcore “kick out the junk” phase, and that means finally dealing with the sheer number of books in our attic. So. Many. Books. My back is less than happy about all the carrying and sorting we did today! The thing about books is that they are really hard to give up. Not just emotionally, but literally. No one wants our books. I called three libraries, and the best answer I received was that the library could take books written less than…


My 7-Day Nexus 7 Experiment – Quality and Service are PROBLEM #1 for Google

When the Google Nexus 7 came out, both Dan and I pre-ordered one as I noted here. We discussed it in a video chat, and from that I had committed to a ‘7 Day Nexus Challenge’. The 7 days have long since passed, but I had wanted to get to the conclusion of my ‘initial Nexus experience’ before writing about it. So, here goes … Some background My pre-order through Google was confirmed and then canceled within a few hours for unknown reasons. Perhaps I should have taken that as an omen, but instead I just did another pre-order the…