How many times have you tried to charge your iPad off of a laptop’s USB port, only to not see the charging symbol, because the USB port was underpowered? Or even worse — have you ever plugged your iPad in to a spare wall charger only to find out (hours) later that your iPad had [...]
Rap Genius Takes the Guesswork out of Deciphering Lyrics
Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve likely heard either the NSFW or the terrestrial-radio friendly clean version of Macklemore & Ryan Lewis‘s hit song, Thrift Shop. But unless you’ve got a finely tuned rap vocabulary, there are probably some lyrics in that song (and every other rap song for that matter) that have left [...]
Ventev Chargesync Cables and USB Chargers Review
I found out about Ventev shortly before CES. The original plan was that their PR company would send some cables and chargers direct to our hotel, but that box got lost somewhere along the way. After returning home, a new shipment was arranged, and what was inside the box was quite impressive — not only because [...]
Google Reader and Google Keep, You Get What You Pay For
Google Reader and Google Keep are two different services, but when placed side by side they offer a cautionary tale for anyone using the web. There has been a good deal of chat among the Gear Diary team on our backchannel, and Judie, Mike, Carly and I have been further discussing the demise of Reader [...]
Twelve South PlugBug World Review
It’s become a yearly occasion that in late February I’ll attend Mobile World Congress, and as a result I now have a yearly ritual of assessing my charger and adapter stockpile about a month before leaving. This year I traveled with a new tool in my arsenal, the Twelve South PlugBug World. What sets this [...]
Trina Turk iPad Cover Review – Promises Pretty Protection
I recently reviewed the Trina Turk by M-Edge Macbook Case and iPhone 5 case; this Trina Turk iPad Cover rounds out the trio of accessories currently offered. The Trina Turk iPad case appears to be built on an M-Edge Revolve 360 Case chassis, which is smart because the Revolve 360 is a great case. As the [...]
Nokia and MakerBot Replicator 2 Shells for the Lumia 820 at MWC
One of the coolest things I saw while at Mobile World Congress was the MakerBot Replicator 2 3D printer printing out a plastic shell for the just announced Nokia Lumia 820 (and soon the also just announced Lumia 520). I had never seen a 3D printer in action, and I found the process fascinating (and [...]
HTC One Was the Best Android Handset at MWC
The HTC One was the best Android Handset at Mobile World Congress — according to the GSMA 18th Annual Mobile Awards, anyway! Their judges considered the HTC One to be “the device that holds the most promise for success in the market this year, providing game-changing features, design and functionality”, and they awarded it the “Best [...]
Apple Lightning Connector Broken Inside iPad Mini Port – Eeek!
Have you wondered how well the new Apple Lightning connector might hold up over time? I’ll admit not giving too much thought to it, because I chose to focus on the fact that I could plug the Apple Lightning Connector in from either side — a welcome new convenience from the old 30-pin. So far, [...]
SanDisk Emphasizes Device Speed at MWC 2013
While at Mobile World Congress, we had a meeting with SanDisk. Going in, I wasn’t sure what was going to happen: would they pull out a bunch of thumb-drives and mini memory cards to show us their latest consumer designs as they had done several years ago? Or would we find something completely new to discuss? [...]
Sony Xperia Z and Xperia Tablet Z – Sharp & Impressive at MWC 2013
One of the cool things that happened this year at Mobile World Congress was that Sony and an assorted group of partners gave select press and others an MWC-software customized Sony Xperia T complete with Spanish SIM. With it we were able to enter the venue with a validated NFC ID, and we were able [...]
Samsung GALAXY Note 8.0 Up Close and Personal
Today was Day Two of Mobile World Congress, and Judie has been busy walking, talking and seeing all the new wares being rolled out in Barcelona. Along the way she got some hands-on time with the Samsung GALAXY Note 8.0. We brought word of the Samsung GALAXY Note 8.0 the other day, and it [...]
ASUS PadFone Infinity Is a Phone and Tablet in One
During the first day of MWC, ASUS showed off a number of new products. The ASUS PadFone Infinity is a powerful quad-core, LTE-equipped smartphone and redesigned tablet into which it docks. The tablet looks like any old tablet from the front but, flip it over and you’ll see that its brains actually come from the companion [...]
ASUS Fonepad is a Supersized Phablet
I’m still kind of smitten with the Samsung GALAXY Note 8, but the ASUS Fonepad looks kind of tasty as well. The ASUS Fonepad is a 7″ Android tablet running Android 4.1.2. Like the GALAXY Note 8, the ASUS Fonepad can also function as a phone. (That functionality may not be available in all markets and [...]
Huawei Ascend P2 has Speedy 4G LTE
When choosing a smartphone these days one of the key “features” worth considering is speed. After all, with smartphones now serving as powerful on-the-go pocket computers having a fast, ever-present connection is key. The Huawei Ascend P2 promises just that. Judie went hands-on at Mobile World Congress. Here’s a look. The company is calling the [...]






















