Wireless Gear

The AblePlanet LINX AUDIO Wireless Infrared Headphone Review

Every time I see that commercial where the older couple is laying in bed, the one where the wife growls at her husband, “can you turn that down?”, and then he sighs as he pulls out this cheesy looking amplifier device so he can watch TV in peace without turning the sound up any higher, I think man…if he only had a set of wireless headphones. If he did, then he could enjoy his show and she could sleep in peace and not be such a cranky witch. Seriously. I recently got to test just such a solution, and today…

How to Do It Yourself!

Fixing the Empty Wireless Cone on My MacBook Air

There has been an issue which has been bugging me for the last couple of days, and tonight Mitchell and I found a solution. I thought I had better post about it, as I’ll bet that others have run into the same… When I bought the MacBook Air I restored it to the MacBook Pro backup copy I had stored on Time Machine, and the restore went without a hitch…but for one exception: I had an empty wireless cone in my menu bar. Instead of showing a wireless signal indicated by bars, the cone was completely empty – even when…

Reviews

The Spracht Aura Mobile BT Review

I’m pretty sure that I’ve mentioned this before, but if not then I doubt it will come as a surprise to any of you: I don’t like wearing a headset when using my mobile phone. I’m not sure if it’s because I haven’t yet found one that is so comfortable I can basically forget that I’m wearing it, or if it’s because I secretly think that most headsets look ridiculous. For whatever reason, I have resisted the siren song of the ear roach. But that’s not to say that I don’t appreciate the convenience and safety of handsfree phone use….

eBooks, Editorials

GearChat: The Demise of Print Media and a Possible Reason for the Amazon Kindle

Once again, we invite you to eavesdrop on our email conversations… Wayne: R.I.P. … the Internet slays another print publication… Mitchell: I was a subscriber to PC World for about 5 years, and then I realised that I was paying for a magazine with content that I had read weeks earlier on the internet. It really is inevitable I suppose, tech magazines just can’t stay ahead of the game with online news sites getting information out hours after release. They have to wait a whole month… Clinton: This is the same problem that many tech magazines face. Granted, most have…

Reviews

The Venturi Mini Review

Chris Spera called me the other day while I was driving my Alfa. We talked for a little bit, but then I finally had to admit that I was driving a stick shift in traffic, and holding my mobile phone to my left ear was a little bit tricky…since that was the hand I needed for the steering wheel, while my right hand was working the shift. He, of course, reminded me that they make headsets for that. I, of course, don’t really like wearing one. This review will focus on a compromise for people like me, those who don’t…

How to Do It Yourself!, Reviews

My Car PC

When I bought my new car in September 2007 I knew I would be keeping it for a few years, so I decided that I was going to take the plunge, and build a Car PC like those that I had read about on the MP3Car.com forums. The computer would replace the standard audio system, and add MP3 playback, video, GPS, GPS tracking and internet access to my car After months of dreaming about such a setup my Car PC is finally installed. I’ve had the computer on my desk for over 3 mths now but time and money kinda…

Reviews

The Kensington SlimBlade Bluetooth Trackball Mouse Review

When I wrote about meeting with Kensington at CES, I had already been testing their SlimBlade Trackball Mouse for a few weeks. This is the mouse with a trackball that “gives you control even when there’s no room to move a mouse, then switches to mouse mode with the push of a button.” It’s now been well over a month since I started it exclusively with my Toshiba X205, and I am finally ready to share my experience…

Reviews

Rocketfish Universal Wireless Rear Speaker Kit Review

Rear speakers have been pretty much the bane of my existence for most of my married life. OK, let me back up for a minute. I love stereo equipment. To me, it ranks right up there with my mobile devices. I have been an aficionado of multi-channel sound since it was first introduced back in the early 1990’s. While 5.1 surround sound (and now 7.1) is a phenomenal way to add an extra dimension to your television and movie watching experience, it does come with one major drawback. The rear speakers, which must be on the opposite side of the…

Reviews

The ARC Wireless Solutions Freedom Antenna Review

I’m not sure what the problem is, but for the last month, my Sprint cellular signal strength has dramatically dropped when I am inside my home. This wouldn’t be that big of a deal, except for the fact that my mobile phone is also my home phone and my business phone as well; in other words it simply has to work. Conveniently enough, I had a product waiting in my queue which promises to “Increase Your Cell Phone Reception 8 Times!”, “Eliminate Dropped Calls and Dead Spots”, and “Enhance Voice Clarity”. If it can really deliver upon its promises, then…

Reviews

The Belkin N1 Wireless Router and ExpressCard Review

About 2 months ago the 802.11n Enabler for the latest Macs finally became available, releasing the hidden 802.11n capabilities. This is great for us Mac owners with Core 2 Duo Macs as we can jump onboard the .11n band wagon with some of the already available .11n draft equipment. When Belkin offered their new N1 Wireless Router and ExpressCard for review I was quite excited, as 54Mbit 802.11g is really starting to show its age with the high resolution and high bandwidth video streaming and file transfers. But does it live up to its claims? Read on to find out.

Reviews

Spectec SDW-822 miniSDIO WiFi Review

When Judie asked me if I was interested in reviewing the miniSDIO version of the Spectec WiFi card similar to her SDIO one, I was thrilled. My Treo has been pretty well perfect since I got it, except for internet access. Up until recently I have had to make do with only a 10MB data allowance, which is pretty small if I surf with pictures, especially on sites that aren?t designed for mobile devices. With a WiFi card I can surf as much as I like at home without having to worry about going over my 10MB. But therein lies…

Reviews

The Nokia 770 Internet Tablet Review

The Nokia N800 has been introduced at CES and all of the talk on the Linux based device websites has been about this new device. While I don’t have a N800 yet, I do have a Nokia 770 Internet Tablet and Judie has asked me to write my thoughts about it for Gear Diary. I want to thank Judie for the opportunity to share what is so great about this platform. The Nokia 770 Internet Tablet is the one that started it all for Nokia in a space that has all but dried up for Pocket PC and Palm based…

Reviews

The Spectec SDW-820 SDIO WiFi Card Review

I have to say that the Spectec SDW-820 SDIO WiFi Card is not a product I would have ever needed, if Palm hadn’t decided to deny WiFi to to its legion of WM5 Treo users. I can hear some of you asking it now…”Why would anyone with an all-you-can-eat data plan need WiFi?” Right? Well, because sometimes you do. I’ve been in plenty of airports that offered WiFi service, but because they were built like bunkers my mobile phone’s signal was poor. I’ve also been in other countries where using GPRS data ran my T-Mobile bill into ridiculous sums –…

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