Gear Bits

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.


Functional Home Decor: Urban Fidelity Art Speakers

For new home-owners on a budget, Urban Fidelity’s new line of eco-friendly art speakers provide a fitting mix of form and function. If you’ve got just $300 to spend on both interior decorating and a new speaker system, this newly announced collection of artist-powered audio equipment might help bridge the gap. The art speakers come adorned with designs created by a select group of contemporary-minded indie artists, including: Liam Brazier, Craig Watkins (wotto), Herman Lee, Daniel Teixeria,  Hyein Lee, Tobe Fonseca, Wojtek Polak (Akuma101), Maxime Archambault and more. A visual list of the entire design collection is available to view…



Crossing the Dingmans Ferry Bridge on the Way to GearFest 2012

Dan: One of my favorite places on earth is the Dingmans Ferry Bridge. To the best of my knowledge, it is the last privately owned bridge on a public road in the US. It crosses the Delaware River between NJ and PA. We crossed on the way to GearFest, and that’s when Judie and Kevin had a chance to see “old school Bridge tech” at work. Here’s a look… The Bridge at Dingmans Ferry traces its roots to the mid 18th century. In 1735, in the Upper Delaware River Valley, the river marked the western frontier of the American Colonies….


Two Weeks Until the Olympics!

(image courtesy London 2012) There are only 15 days until the Summer Olympics! Are you excited yet? Of course, until the opening ceremonies all we have are the trickle of bits and pieces of trivia and news on the coverage, but it’s better than nothing! First of all, NBC and Facebook will be working together to promote the games. Apparently it’s a better deal if you plan to watch through the BBC, since you can stream right from Facebook there, but if you are watching on NBC there will be some synergy at least. Even better, the New York Times…


Dragon Drive! Messaging Arrives in BMW 7 Series This Month

A short time ago we brought word that Nuance Communications, the company behind Dragon Dictation and many other voice-to-text technologies, was bringing even more woeful voice to the case through Dragon Drive! Messaging. Dragon Drive! Messaging ‘is Nuance’s new automotive-grade connected car service that lets people speak emails and text messages”. Now word comes that it will be available in the new 2012 BMW 7 Series, BMW 3 Series Touring and BMW 3 Series ActiveHybrid vehicles. Better still, the 2012 BMW 7 Series will be the first car ever to feature Dragon Drive! Messaging and it is coming to market…


Revisiting an Old Geek Love, or the Amazing Endurance of Deep Space Nine

(image courtesy DS9 encyclopedia) Sarah was away camping all weekend, so I was left to entertain myself. Normally I catch up on the DVR on these kinds of weekends, but there is slim pickings this summer. So I fired up Netflix, started flipping through my queue, and remembered that I had wanted to rewatch “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine“. I expected to spend a few hours catching up on the first season and reminiscing about my insanely geeky childhood. Instead, I have rediscovered a show that is surprisingly current, despite being almost 20 years old! The premise of DS9 is…


Desktop USB Fundue Set from ThinkGeek.com – You Can Fondue It

I occasionally wonder why they even bother to manufacture new fondue sets. Considering the number of folks who bought one of these contraptions in the late 1970’s to melt cheese or chocolate so that they could dip bread or cheesecake chunks in them, I imagine that there are thousands of these things tucked away in garages and attics all over the country. (Including mine. Don’t judge. It seemed like a good idea at the time.) Perhaps due to the sensual pleasures that were promised from the creamy hot food and the atmosphere of sharing that was encouraged by multiple people…


Streaming Video and the Deaf Communtity: The Good and the Bad

I am fascinated by the ways technology can open up the world and make it more accessible for people with disabilities. What is a convenience for you and me may be a life changer for someone else. Unfortunately, sometimes technology outpaces itself, and leaves the accessibility features playing catch-up. It is something of a mixed bag in many areas, especially for the deaf and hard of hearing community. According to Slate, closed captioning is not required on Netflix, Hulu, and other digital media options. While Netflix does offer some closed caption titles, not all of their library is set up…


Diana Beltran Herrera’s Paper Artistry

It’s not often that I spot something so creative that I am just amazed by the talent involved, but that’s exactly what happened when I found artist Diana Beltran Herrera’s three-dimensional paper creations. The British have a word for it: Gobsmacked. Ms. Herrera’s anatomy series is made of cut paper and vinyl, and they were created because, sometimes u ask me what the birds have inside. Well they have inside what real birds have inside. Little by little i am finding the way to discover what they are made of.   Diana’s birds, animals, bugs and other paper critters are…


If You Thought Twitter Didn’t Have the Power to Effect Change, Think Again

Yes, this is going to come off looking like a partisan post. I can deal with that because (a) as someone who finished graduate school with some hefty loans, I really felt for the students whose loan rates were about to double, and (b) even if you sit on the other side of the aisle it is hard NOT to see the true power of social media. Student loan rates were set to double if Congress didn’t act and, for a time, it looked like that rate increase was a forgone conclusion. The White House got into the mix, and…


Classic Books as Wall Art from Postertext

I’ve always been intrigued by word art, from the days of medieval illumination to more recent modern art using visual language as art, right down to simple nerdy ASCII art. However, the folks over at Postertext.com have put a different spin on word art, taking various classic literature books and printing them out on a single sheet, arranged such that words and blank space are adjusted to create images of the very characters and scenes within each book (care to guess the title of the example?).  Below you can see an enlarged snippet showing an example of how spacing is…