Joel McLaughlin

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Reviews May 23, 2013

Baofeng UV-5RA Review – Can a $50 Ham Radio Be Any Good?

I hope you have been enjoying my series on Amateur Radio. It’s been one of my favorite hobbies for about 20 years now, and I love sharing my knowledge with our readers. Today I am bringing you another radio review, only the second one ever for Gear Diary. Just like when I reviewed the Icom [...]

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News May 13, 2013

by Joel McLaughlin

Chris Hadfield Says Goodbye to the ISS in a Really Cool Way.

How many ways can you say goodbye? Just waving or saying goodbye is one of the first things we learn as we’re growing up. There’s almost no wrong way to do it. We’ve all done it. However not many of us have said goodbye to the ISS and it’s crew. International Space Station Commander Chris Hadfield did a cover of David [...]

Gmail, Drive and Google+ Storage is Now Unified

One by one, Google added services that all involved storage. It used to be 10 GB for Gmail, 5 GB for Google Drive and Google+ photos. Now it’s 15 GB total for free accounts and 30GB total for Google Apps accounts. Gmail, Drive or Google+ photos all count to the unified pool of storage. Not [...]

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Quickies April 23, 2013

by Joel McLaughlin

How Do You Kill a Samsung Galaxy S III?

We’ve all done it., killed a phone at one time or another. I’ve had one die in the toilet, I almost lost my G1 in a glass of tea, and I broke my first PDA by dropping it on the floor at church. My friend from church lost his in unique way; that picture [...]

iSafe Urban Crew Backpack Review – Wired with Protective Lights and a Loud Alarm

In the last few years we have seen reports of violence on college, high school and even grade school campuses. The Virginia Tech and Newtown shootings aren’t necessarily a confirmation of increasing crime on school campuses, but they certainly serve as reminders that we can’t always be with our kids to protect them. While the [...]

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Reviews April 16, 2013

by Joel McLaughlin

Ronco Coffee Time Brew System Review

As you know, we at Gear Diary love our coffee. My Keurig is still a great system, but I love to make coffee pretty much any way I can; that also includes on ice. Quite some time ago, I was exposed to cold brew coffee by one of my local coffee shops. I only [...]

The Origin of the Term ‘Ham Radio’

I hope you have been enjoying my posts on Amateur Radio. Other than mobile tech and the typical tech stuff I am into, it is one of my most favorite things to do in the evening. Nothing beats chatting with a group of fellow hams about amateur radio itself, the tech behind it, or other things that [...]

Tiny Tiny RSS: DIY Android Google Reader Replacement

I am still lamenting the decision Google made to kill off Google Reader. While I am generally ok with Feedly, I am actually in the same boat I was with Google Reader when I use another service like Feedly. If Feedly goes away, then I am stuck yet again. So I began searching for other [...]

RepeaterBook for Android App Review

Way back when I was first licensed in 1993 to use a HAM Radio, the first thing I wanted to do was to get on the 2m band and hop on a local repeater. How did I find them back then? Well I went to the local radio store and bought the latest edition of [...]

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News April 7, 2013

by Joel McLaughlin

Tom Bihn Introduces the Synapse 25

I love all of my Tom Bihn bags for multiple reasons. From the Aeronaut to the Synapse, they are all high quality bags and each one of them still looks like brand new — even with repeated trips over the years I have owned them. Plus every bag is made right here in the United [...]

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Reviews March 21, 2013

by Joel McLaughlin

Google Keep Review – Neat Freaks Need Not Apply

Yesterday Google launched a new service called Google Keep. After playing around with it a bit last night, I have a much better idea of what it can and can’t do, and what it really is. Will it be good enough to replace Evernote? Is it even close? In a word, no. Google Keep [...]

Google Keep Launches – Google’s Evernote and OneNote Answer

I was just starting to listen to This Week in Google live after work, when right before the show they shouted Google just launched Google Keep! I’ve already got it installed on my phones and my tablet. What IS Google Keep? It’s very similar to services like Evernote or OneNote. It’s designed to take notes, make checklists, and more. [...]

Verizon Galaxy Nexus 4.2.2- A Rant in Two Parts

Verizon Galaxy Nexus users who don’t like to install custom ROMS on their devices are a lonely bunch, and are, too often, stuck with the version of Android that came with the original phone. In fact, until recently Verizon Galaxy Nexus users were still forced to use Android 4.1.1 or risk installing a custom (hacked) [...]

Roku Releases the Roku 3

After what seemed like an eternity Roku has released a brand new streaming box today. The Roku 3 finally does away with all connections for old standard definition TV’s in this iteration making the box HD only. It has HDMI, Ethernet, USB and a power port and that’s it. The new box has beefed up [...]

Early Thoughts on Ubuntu Touch

At lunch today I was able to load up a version of Ubuntu’s touch based OS on my Asus EeePad Transformer, because I had come across a post on the infamous XDA forums from a hacker who has actually gotten this to work. Well … it works in that it boots! So I decided to [...]

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