July 2009

TuneWiki for iPhone Review

After first glance TuneWiki is just an app that subtitles iPod music synced while the song plays. The app proves to be more than that. Some good and some kind of meh. There are actually four parts to the app so I will cover each part. Music: This tab is really the meat of TuneWiki. Basically, the app acts as your iPod with a twist. The music library is available by choosing artists, albums, songs, play lists or shuffle all songs. Once the song plays, the album art is displayed as well as the lyrics. Most mainstream music had lyrics…

Reviews

Mobile Edge ECO Messenger Laptop Bag Review

To frame for a second just how eco-centric my family is, let me give an example: on our recent vacation to Ohio, we returned with two trash bags full of recyclable materials because we found the recycling in the area we stayed inadequate. Also, a recent report showed that simultaneous to an explosion of ‘green’ advertising, as many as 98% of all ‘green’ product advertisements are misleading. So, when someone claims to make an eco-friendly product, I am immediately skeptical. Therefore the Mobile Edge ECO Messenger gets a double-look here: first and foremost for its utility as a messenger bag,…

Reviews

Card Ninja for iPhone/iPod Touch Review

Card Ninja has consistently been ranked as one of the most popular games in the iTunes App Store. The game recently received a significant update which most importantly includes the ability to save your game for maximum level-conquering and you can now compare scores with other players worldwide. Card Ninja is integrating with the OpenFeint platform, allowing players to monitor their rank in global leader boards and chat with fellow players. At only .99 cents this is fun twist on matching, memory type games that’ll keep you coming back for more Ninja! The game itself requires players to flick cards…

Reviews

Movie Maker – Stop Action Movies Right From Your iPhone

Last weekend my niece and nephew were here for the weekend. (Oh… their parents too.) 🙂 Within a few minutes of getting here my nephew Joey asked if there was something we could do on my iPhone together. Fortunately I was prepared. I had done a bit of research and found an app that seemed like it would be a home run. That app… MovieMaker. MovieMaker, formally called WatchItChange, is an app that walks you through the process of creating a stop action movie right on your iPhone. I liked the idea since it not only sounded like it would…

How to Do It Yourself!

“How-To”: Run the Slingbox iPhone application on 3G

Back in May I wrote this tutorial which detailed the process for using the iPhone application VOIPover3G on your Jailbroken iPhone to get around Apple’s limitation of only being able to use the Slingbox application for the iPhone over Wifi. Once iPhone OS 3.0 was released the VOIPover3G application stopped working. It was not compatible with the 3.0 update. Turns out that’s not such a bad thing. 3G Unrestrictor is a just released application for Jailbroken iPhones that does the same thing as VOIPover3G but in a much easier to use interface. And it’s all done on your iPhone (VOIPover3G…

Reviews

Snaztech Phantom from Unlimited Case Review

The guys at Unlimited Case recently released another custom designed case to their ever growing line up of products for the iPhone 3G and iPod Touch. The Snaztech Phantom, for the iPhone 3G/3G S, is a frosted case that comes in two colors, Artic White and Glacier Blue. Unlimited Case was kind enough to send me a Glacier Blue case for review. Click through to see how the Phantom stacks up.

News

$800 Fisher AG7 Space Pen commemorates 40th anniversary of moon landing

Hard to believe that tomorrow will be the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing. In celebration Fisher Space Pen has released this commemorative pen, a replica of their famed anti-gravity pen, that includes an actual piece of the Apollo 11 spacecraft. There are only 1000 available and the pen sits on a handy ashtray commemorative case fashioned as a space footprint. The presentation case tells the historic story of the Apollo 11 mission as well as other monumental moments in human spaceflight. The iconic photo of Neil Armstrong’s first step on the moon is replicated in a resin…

Reviews

Skitch – GD Must-Have Mac Applications

There are a host of applications that allow you to grab images from your computer’s screen. I’ve tried a number of them and many do a terrific job. For simple screenshots I use Evernote since those images are immediately synced with my online account. For those times when I want to do more with an image such as add text, highlight portions or more there is only one choice… Skitch. Here’s a look…

Editorials

KindleGate Blows Up In Amazon’s Face

UPDATE: The following update appeared on David Pogue’s Times column. EDITOR’S NOTE | 8:41 p.m. The Times published an article explaining that the Orwell books were unauthorized editions that Amazon removed from its Kindle store. However, Amazon said it would not automatically remove purchased copies of Kindle books if a similar situation arose in the future. My Note- It doesn’t change the core issues here! Just a few weeks ago I posted on a series of encounters I had with Amazon and their customer service. The first post raised questions about DRM. The second clarified some of the initial misinformation…

Reviews

SplashTravel for iPhone Review

SplashData has been creating software for mobile devices since 2000, beginning with Palm software and the SplashWallet suite. As new platforms began to gain traction, SplashData expanded and began releasing software for them (BlackBerry, Series 60), and for a year now they’ve been releasing applications for the iPhone. One of their most recent releases is a version of their travel application, SplashTravel, for the iPhone. SplashData provided Gear Diary with a copy for evaluation.

Reviews

HTC Magic Review Part 2

It’s been a month now since I posted my first impressions, and it’s time to fess up my thoughts on the HTC Magic. Truth be told, it has truly surprised me! User Interface The Android user interface is simple yet elegant, and was definitely designed with finger actions in mind. Unlike Windows Mobile, Android never makes you wish for a stylus. Icons are nicely sized, menus are large and the flicking motions to advance lists, web pages and menus become second nature as soon as you start using the phone. For some reason Android feels a lot nicer on the…

Reviews

PocketMac Ringtone Studio 2 for iPhone – Video Review

I’m not a huge ringtone fan but my use of PocketMac’s RingtoneStudio 2 for iPhone may change all that. At $29.95 the application isn’t inexpensive, but after creating just 30 ringtones it will have paid for itself. Let’s take a look… A free trial is available. Get it from createiphoneringtones for $29.95

Reviews

Fawski Feeder Review

There are close to a million choices when it comes to bowl feeders for your dog. Most are of the plain jane variety, either stainless steel or hard plastic. A few are ceramic and have painted designs on them. But what about those people who leave their dog’s bowls out all day and are interested in maintaining the overall look and design of their kitchen? Or those just looking for a way to make easting easier on their dog? The Fawski feeder might be just what you’re looking for.

Reviews

ArmPocket Sport 20 Review

Have you ever wanted to take your smartphone with you on a workout, but your workout shorts don’t have pockets and neither does your T-Shirt? What would you do? Well you could order a arm band for your prospective device, but one downside to this is you must buy a new one when you buy a device that doesn’t fit the arm band. That’s where the ArmPocket Sport 20 comes in. The ArmPocket Sport 20 is essentially a universal arm band that is designed to work primarily with touch screen based devices like the iPhone, the T-Mobile G1, The T-Mobile…

News

Origami Instruction Toilet Paper: Too Much Time On Your Hands?

Check it out: you can buy toilet paper with easy to follow instructions so that you can create clever little origami paper creatures while you are otherwise occupied. What else are you going to do…catch up on your reading material? Baron Bob’s Origami Instruction Toilet Paper – At $4.95 for a 100′ roll, you’d better keep it hidden from the kids. 😉

Vehicles & Gear

2009 Cadillac Escalade Platinum Hybrid SUV

As General Motors enters its new generation, we are still testing vehicles designed and produced in its former life. The brand may have been resurrected, but much of what consumers will see over the next few years are the same products GM has been delivering – which is to say that while there are many bright spots in the lineup, there are still areas that need a bit of attention. We recently spent time in the new Cadillac Escalade Hybrid, and not just any old Escalade Hybrid but the new Platinum edition truck.

Reviews

ColorSplash – iPhone App Review

Yesterday Larry posted about his favorite new iPhone Photography app Pix Remix. It made him go “Wow” and, after following his advice and purchasing it, I had to second his “Wow!” It has now been added to the collection of image editing apps I keep on my iPhone.

Reviews

AppMiner Review

AppMiner lets you browse more of the top apps, gives you a better search, finds price drops, lets you customize your categories and much more. Best of all, we are offering this app for FREE, so get it before we come to our senses! With the App Store’s birthday here, the amount of apps available is overwhelming! We all need a way to sort through the apps. How do we find what is on sale? How do we find what is new? AppMiner is a place to start. Basically this app is a way to monitor the app store for…

Reviews

Mass Effect Galaxy for iPhone Review

There is a fine somewhere between cynicism and being an actively suspicious consumer … and when I heard about the release of a game called Mass Effect Galaxy on the iTunes App Store that would somehow tie into the upcoming Mass Effect 2 for the PC & XBOX360, I had a hard time deciding which of the two feelings was foremost in my mind. Because I felt that this was on the surface little different than Burger King having all of those cheap X360 games a few years ago as a big promo. Sure, they were games … but it…

Reviews

The FroliCat BOLT Automatic Laser Light Review

There aren’t many things more amusing than watching a kitten chase a laser pointer’s dot. Kittties are playful and energetic to begin with, but giving them an impossible to catch “mouse” creates a game which never seems to tire them. My cat Avah is two years old, and while she no longer has quite the playful moves she used to impress me with, she still shows moments of friskiness when a moth gets in the house or a string is dangling. We’ve played the laser pointer game before with comedic results, so I figured that she would be the perfect…

Reviews

PixRemix Review

Every once and a while an iPhone application comes along that makes you go WOW! Well for me PixRemix is one of those applications. WOW! In simple terms what PixRemix does is allow iPhone users to take a bunch of their pictures and turn them into a slideshow, complete with captions that you can then share via Facebook, Twitter, E-mail etc. The application allows you to create three different types of slide shows. Collage – which is an animated collage made up from as many photos as you select. Slideshow – which is a slide show of your photos. Pan…

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