Gear Bits

Why Cable Companies Should Be Afraid of Airplay

Despite the fact that the operating system was released just a few days ago and there have been some issues with getting redemption codes and downloads, an amazing number of Mac users have already upgraded to OS X Mountain Lion. Having used it since shortly after the OS was released I can honestly say that it is, by far, the best update I’ve seen to OS X. I love the integration with iOS, the features of the new Safari and, of course, I am thrilled to have the, admittedly limited, ability to globally use voice recognition by simply pressing the…


Happiness is a Maple Bacon Donut: Happy SysAdmin Day!

Yesterday Twitter had a pretty major outage.  Even though it wasn’t the best moment for the SysAdmins who work for Twitter, it’s something I appreciate when I see the hard work they do.  I am also a SysAdmin and today someone did for me what I think is the best thing ever.  They bought our team donuts.  Why did they do that today? Well today is System Administrator Appreciation Day.  Today is the day that you should set aside at least a few minutes to appreciate all the hard work that your SysAdmin does to keep your system or favorite…


First Trailer for ‘Life of Pi’ Hits!

Published in 2001, Yann Martel’s ‘Life of Pi’ is a highly acclaimed novel that is deep with allegory and allusion and heart-wrenching storytelling. I found it a captivating read and it quickly passed through my family and out to family and friends through the years. It was recently featured as a ‘Kindle Deal of the Day’, so I was able to start reading it again – and it still strikes a chord with me. I vaguely recall hearing that there were plans in place to make a film version, but now we have the trailer! Here is the synopsis: Director…


Turkey Dubstep Animation Is Awesome

Whether you like dubstep or not, there is no denying the cuteness of two turkeys spitting it out. The video short was so popular that not only has it earned a sequel … Turkeys + Dubstep + a little bit of success = Selling out … it has also earned several YouTube remixes, including one that lasts a ridiculous 10 hours. I’m looking forward to seeing what Will Anderson, the artist behind White Robot, shows the turkeys doing next. 😉


US Cellular HTC Flyer Honeycomb Update – Do It the Same … But Slower!

Just as it seemed we might be seeing some critical mass in the move towards updating Android devices to ‘Ice Cream Sandwich’ almost nine months after release, ‘Jelly Bean’ arrived and threw things back into a fragmented turmoil where the overwhelming majority of devices are TWO VERSIONS BEHIND. Oh well, at least we continue to see updates rolling out on pretty much a weekly basis. The HTC Flyer was an intriguing 7″ tablet that combined excellent performance from a single core chip with a full HTC Sense-ified Android 2.3 Gingerbread interface. Late in 2011 OS updates were initiated by HTC…


The Whole Samsung vs. Apple Legal Debate Summed Up in One Image

OK, so the title really isn’t true – there are so many multi-faceted elements interwoven in the international legal cases between smartphone makers that summing them up simply would be impossible. But when you look at phones from Samsung and HTC and others … this one picture tells a singular and undeniable truth: all current popular smartphone designs lead back to Cupertino and the original iPhone. Source: Cult of Mac


GoodBye Shake-Weight, Hello Ace Power!

In terms of ideas that must have seemed great on paper but in reality is so totally sexually suggestive that it can never be taken seriously, it seemed difficult to replace the Shake Weight – which has a great prank video here, but really is perfectly hilarious in the actual TV ad. Well… apparently some folks in Korea have been hard at work, and have come up with a great new idea – something that simulates the great workout available through horse riding, as well as a number of other leg-hip-thigh exercise variation. Oh, and it totally looks like you…


The Nexus 7 Challenge, a Gear Diary Video Chat

iPad-junkies Mike and Dan both purchased 8GB Nexus 7s. Mike took one for the team. He put away his iPad and is in the midst of a week-long Nexus Challenge. In other words, he is going full in with the Nexus 7 for a few more days. Dan also got a Nexus 7 so the two jumped on video to talk about the tablet, Mike’s challenge and how two devoted iPad-users are finding the newest Android tablet. As mentioned, this was the third attempt to get our first video-podcast put together, and as such there were a few things that…


GearFest Gear Chat Part 4, Google Apps – Yay or Nay?

This was a sweet thought, a search mega-player committed to doing things in a kind, open and customer-friendly manner. But we all know it isn’t the case. No, Google is just a money-making machine and just as Health Insurance Companies make their money by saying “No” to sick people and reimbursing physicians at a rate of pennies on the dollar, Google makes the bulk of their cash by giving you seemingly free services and then using the personally data they rake in to make money. (Yes, I know, the video below is hosted on YouTube… what are you going to…


GearFest GearChat Part 3, iPad Apps, Judie’s Question and More…

In part 3 of our GearFest Gear Chat Judie asks “What is your one favorite iPad app?” A ridiculous question? Yup. But she wasn’t going to be satisfied until she got an answer from each of us. We then took a look at how many apps we currently have on our iPads. And, how many books, how many songs etc. In all, during this chat we dug a bit more deeply into exactly how we each use our iPads. And, yeah, the bickering got a bit more intense this time through. 🙂


Google Buys Sparrow and… No, Actually That’s The Entire Thing

Google bought Sparrow, the Mac and iOS mail app that had gained a loyal and growing following. I used Sparrow at first launch and was finding myself turning to it with increasing frequency on my Mac. I even went back to using it on my iPhone the other day. Now Google has purchased the company. Go to download the app and you will see all the enhancements planned for it in the future. Oh. Wait. Yes, that’s right, Google is killing off Sparrow. Here’s why I’m a bit peeved. I used Sparrow for Mac in Beta. I purchased the iOS…


New York City’s High Line Park is a Raised Treasure

Charles Harvey demonstrating his elevated railroad design on Greenwich Street in 1867, source In the 1930s and 1940s, New York’s elevated High Line ran between factories and warehouses delivering milk, meat, produce, and raw and manufactured goods without creating congestion on the streets below. Rather than run above the streets of the businesses it serviced, the High Line ran through buildings, which was the city’s attempt to “avoid creating the negative conditions associated with elevated subways.” In 1980, the last train ran on the High Line pulling three carloads of frozen turkeys. In the mid-1980s, area property owners began lobbying…


Rock Radio Returns To New York!

Almost exactly one year ago, 101.9RXP went off the air, leaving NYC without a decent rock radio station. I was more than a bit sad about this, and while Pandora has partially filled that void I really missed listening to the radio. That is why I was thrilled when I saw on Facebook yesterday that 101.9 was back to good old rock music! I tuned in this morning on my way to work. The selection seems excellent so far. There was no DJ, and I didn’t hear any commercials. Instead, there was an occasional station identification of “101.9 NYC Rock…


Google Nexus 7 Unbox – Not As Bad As You’ve Heard, and Setup is Pretty Good as Well!

I have heard a bunch of negative reports of people struggling to get the tablet out of the box … so I was really intrigued at the possibility of capturing my frustration on video! Perhaps it is the years of wrestling with so many over-packaged toys for my kids, but it was no big deal. In the video I compare the unboxing experience to that of the Griffin MIDIConnect. But as I say the unbox wasn’t a problem, so then I got it started up and linked to Google services. While we will go into more details for our full…


GearFest GearChat #1, Tablet or Notebook? Which One When?

While together this past weekend the editors took some time out to talk tech. We’ll share the conversation/s over the next few days. Each of us brought a tablet, a notebook and at least one smartphone along with us. Two used the tablet almost exclusively while the others traded off between them fairly evenly. In this first one we talk about when and how we choose to use one or the other. Has your tablet become a primary productivity tool for you? Let us know in the comments.


New Synthetic Polymer Helps Solve ‘Sticky’ Chewing Gum Messes

When was the last time you were walking on a beautiful paved path, sitting on a bench, walking through a school or shopping area … and you DIDN’T see wads of used chewing gum dropped on the ground, stuck to walls and doors and desks and so on? Or watched a teen blow a massive bubble that popped and got residual gum all over their face and clothes that took hours to clean out? IT IS ONE OF THE GREAT PROBLEMS OF OUR TIME! OK, so perhaps not. But compounding the general annoyance and ‘yuckiness’ are two REAL problems: health…


Nokia of America Exec Says ‘Plenty of Life Left’ for Lumia 900, Do You Agree?

One thing we discussed at GearFest was the state of Windows Phone. There was quite a bit of enthusiasm when the Mango update arrived and breathed new life into the OS. Then came the partnership with Nokia, and it started to feel like Microsoft would see reasonable success – and the release of the Lumia 710 and 900 phones in particular just added to the feelings of excitement for the future of the platform. Then came the announcement that Windows Phone 8 wouldn’t support ANY device currently available – including the brand new flagship Lumia 900. For many who recommended…


How Much Do You Weigh? A Book About Women and Their Weight

“You never ask a woman how old she is or how much she weighs.”- I’ve heard this my entire life. When I was a child, getting weighed was exciting. Up until I was in 6th grade or so, I felt like I was in a race to finally weigh 100 pounds; I was a tall girl, and I was excited about “growing up and getting big.” 100 seemed like a milestone, and it was! By the time I was in 7th grade, I was 5’11”, and I knew I wore a size 7 because I had been recently measured for…


Was the Spiderman Reboot Because Disney Owns Marvel?

(image courtesy buzz sugar) Here at GearFest we have been chatting about all manner of gear issues, and last night we were debating the merits of the “Spiderman” reboot. It seemed like Spiderman 3 had just come out, and none of us could get too excited about watching Peter Parker start all over again, no matter how awesome Emma Stone is! The discussion did lodge a random tidbit from my brain, though, regarding who owns the rights to Spiderman and who wants to own him… See, several years ago Marvel licensed the rights to their superheroes to other studios. X-Men…


How Well Are Farm Workers Compensated?

(image courtesy trek earth) I try to be aware of the path food takes from origin to my plate. I just finished reading The American Way of Eating, by Tracie McMillan, where the author went undercover in the food supply chain, working in grocery retail, as a restaurant employee, and as a worker picking fruits and vegetables in the fields. That last job really fascinated me, because not only are fruits and veggies integral to my diet, but sadly the treatment and wages of those workers are ripe for abuse. Coincidentally, one of my favorite blogs, Meals and Miles, was…


Genealogy Made Easy with Ancestry.com

Judie is a huge fan of genealogy research. She and Kevin now have a family tree that includes over 4000 people. (Yes, 4000!) I have used Ancestry.com as well and while I have a collection thus far, just over 100, it has let me learn a good deal about Elana’s and my family. Judie was telling Mike and Carly about it today, and Carly jumped right in and set up her own family tree.