Archive by Author

ChargeDr USB Charge Booster Makes the Most of Charging Opportunities

ChargeDr USB Charge Booster

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 [...]

Read More 0 Comments

Rap Genius Takes the Guesswork out of Deciphering Lyrics

Macklemore & Ryan Lewis

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 [...]

Read More 1 Comment

Ventev Chargesync Cables and USB Chargers Review

Ventev Charging Cables and Chargers

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 [...]

Read More 2 Comments

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 [...]

Read More 16 Comments

Twelve South PlugBug World Review

Twelve South PlugBug World

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 [...]

Read More 1 Comment

Trina Turk iPad Cover Review – Promises Pretty Protection

Trina Turk iPad Cover

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 [...]

Read More 0 Comments

Nokia and MakerBot Replicator 2 Shells for the Lumia 820 at MWC

Nokia and MakerBot 3D Printed Lumia 520 Case

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 [...]

Read More 0 Comments

HTC One Was the Best Android Handset at MWC

HTC One Android Phone

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 [...]

Read More 0 Comments

Apple Lightning Connector Broken Inside iPad Mini Port – Eeek!

Apple Lightning Connector Broken Inside iPad mini

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, [...]

Read More 30 Comments

SanDisk Emphasizes Device Speed at MWC 2013

Sandisk Booth Tour 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? [...]

Read More 0 Comments

Sony Xperia Z and Xperia Tablet Z – Sharp & Impressive at MWC 2013

The Sony Xperia Z Android Phone

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 [...]

Read More 0 Comments

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 [...]

Read More 1 Comment

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 [...]

Read More 1 Comment

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 [...]

Read More 2 Comments

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 [...]

Read More 0 Comments


World Tarot Week? World Tarot Day? What?!

Best I can tell, the people who use tarot cards are those who want to believe in the idea of [...]

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 [...]

Zinio Introduces Z-Pass – 3 Digital Magazines Per Month for $5

zinio-z-pass

If you haven’t already discovered how awesome it can be to have all of your magazine subscriptions delivered to your [...]

2013 Dodge Grand Caravan SXT All About Value and Functionality

An automotive anniversary is quietly approaching, but I doubt anyone will notice. Of course I am not talking about the [...]

The Zooka Wireless Speaker Bar for Tablets and Laptops Review

This is our review of the Zooka. Before reading further please say that out loud five times fast. Now please [...]

Classic RPGs Wizardry VI, VII and 8 Come to GoG.com!

Wizardry 8

When you look back at many of the classic moments and structures in gaming, the name Wizardry comes up all [...]