2009 | Gear Diary

How to get more than 11 pages of iPhone Apps

By default the iPhone limits the user to a total of 11 visible springboard aka home screen pages. Dayna from PHP-Princess has discovered a way around this limitation. Yes needing more than 11 pages of applications (180) is truly for the hardcore iPhone app user, but there are a lot of them floating around. This was a trick I discovered while moving around my icons. First, you have to be an app-aholic and have 11 pages of iPhone apps (and more hidden ones since they can’t be displayed). Then move some of the default apps you do not use like…

Reviews

Palm Pre app Catalog. 30 Apps in 30 Days. Day 12: Good Food

We are going to quickly tackle two apps in one tonight. I was planning to bring you a look at SplashData’s SplashID, the only secure information manager available for the Palm Pre. Unfortunately, I had terrible problems with SplashID on the Palm Pre and could not get it to load at all. Every time opened it, it froze. I know others have had much more success with this program, and I have enjoyed it on other platforms, but it just would not work on my Palm Pre. So, that is all I have to say about this one. If you…

Reviews

Seagate FreeAgent XTreme External Drive Review

I continue to be amazed by how much storage hard drive manufacturers cram into an extremely small space. Not long ago, I looked at the MoreSpace drive, and was blown away by its full terabyte of storage. So, you can imagine my delight when only a few months later, I was offered the chance to review a drive which uses half the space on my desk, but features double the storage…and it comes from Seagate, whom I already love. The Seagate Freeagent Xtreme features a massive 2 terabytes of storage. I think we are going to need a closer look…

Reviews

Where GPS for Android OS Review

I reviewed Sherpa yesterday. While it was very good, it was slow as molasses. Where GPS, or what most of my friends just call Where, is an app that does a lot of what Sherpa does and more. It does it very fast. At the core, Where utilities your phone’s GPS in almost every aspect of its operation. You can manually change to any location by entering in a Zip code, so you can use this for trip planning as well. When you first launch Where, it asks if you are still where you were the last time you ran…

eBooks, Reviews

Only read this book if you are interested in your universe!

Ever tried to understand Einstein’s Theory of Relativity? Or even just wondered if time travel was possible? How about if the ever wonderful warp speed in Star Trek was feasible? These and many other questions have a serious grounding in the new book Why Does E=MC2? by Brian Cox and Jeff Forshaw

Reviews

Audible BlackBerry App Review

Audible provides audio books. Customers can download the audio books to their computers or mobile devices — including iPhone/iPod, a variety of MP3 players, and BlackBerry devices. Last week, the Audible team released an upgrade to their BlackBerry application (version 1.4.2). It is no secret that I was less than thrilled with the first release of the Audible application. Performance was painfully slow (when it worked), and the process proved — for me — to be more cumbersome than simply plugging the BlackBerry up via USB and dragging the audio book over manually via Mass Storage Mode and playing the…

Reviews

Palm Pre App Catalog. 30 Apps in 30 Days. Day 11: Classic!

One of the complaints I heard (and voiced) about the Palm Pre before its release was the lack of support for PalmOS apps and games. It felt like Palm was missing an opportunity to feature an enormous, ready-made library of apps. Additionally, with the large (but admittedly shrinking) army of devoted Palm users, it seemed like there was an almost built in path to an automatic upgrade. By not supporting those apps, it seemed as though many users might choose to stick with their current devices rather than risk giving up significant functionality with an unknown operating system. Apparently, Palm…

Reviews

Tobias Batton’s Proto iPhone Game Review

What do you get for around a dollar? A donut or some candies and change? Maybe a drink? For around a dollar you won’t get much that lasts long. Except maybe an iPhone app, and even that is not guaranteed to last very long or be useful. Proto from Tobias Batton’s Game Studio costs around a dollar, and I think it is worth every cent.

Reviews

iNews for iPhone Review

Getting back to work has created a minor problem for me. Since almost every waking hour is spent either in the coaches’ office or on the practice field for two more weeks, I have a really hard time keeping up with daily news. Having all day computer access in the summers has spoiled me by allowing for a daily information overload of world and tech news. There are several news apps that I like on my iPhone, but they are not customizable. I need news the way I want it. Some world, some sports, and lots of tech. These needs…

Reviews

Cable Jive iStubz & Dock Extender Review

Cable Jive makes some really simple but very ingenious products for the iPhone and iPod. They were kind enough to send along their iStubz charge and sync cable as well as their Dock Extender Cable for review. These two cables serve different purposes and both provide a great solution for your iPhone or iPod charge and sync as well as overall daily needs.

Reviews

Sungale ID800WT 8″ Digital Photo Frame Review

I first spotted the Sungale ID800WT back in May when the company issued a press release to announce the frame’s arrival in the marketplace. What intrigued me is that for about $230 you’d be able to have both a digital picture frame as well as a Wi-Fi enabled monitor that displayed news, weather, Gmail and Picasa photo albums. How do the features of the ID800WT measure up in real life?

Reviews

AblePlanet PSM500 Gaming Headset Review

As someone who is a gamer but also has a busy family and work schedule, I often find my video game time late at night when the house is quiet and most everyone else is asleep. This gives me two options – mute the sound or use headphones. Sometimes it is a hybrid of these, as I leave my headphones sitting my desk as low-volume speakers. For the past several years I have used fairly cheap headphones, starting with a pair from an older Sony portable CD player, moving on to a pair of cheap headphones I bought for my…

Reviews

Sherpa for Android OS Review

One of the most touted apps on the new T-Mobile myTouch 3G is Sherpa. Sherpa gives you a unique way to discover things near your current location. Geodelic, the company behind Sherpa has put a lot of work into its interface, and it’s a very beautiful app for Android based phones. It is also now available on the Android Marketplace, so I installed it on my G1 and gave it a spin.

Reviews

Palm Pre App Catalog. 30 Apps in 30 Days. Day 10: Sudoku!

I think it is no secret around here that I am a pretty big fan of Sudoku. I have explored many Sudoku options for various mobile platforms, and even a number of alternate variations on the theme. For those of you who are new here, Sudoku is a classic Japanese puzzle game, in which you are faced with a grid of 81 squares arranged in nine rows of nine blocks each. Scattered across the grid are numbers from 1-9. Your job is to fill in the remainder of the grid by placing each number, 1-9, into each row, column, and…

Reviews

Quick App – Short Hand

If you send a lot of emails from your iPhone or iPod touch this app is for you. Short Hand is a small utility that let’s you create and use macros in the same way that you with an application such as TextExpander on a Mac. While it takes a bit of time to set it up the time is well worth it considering the time and effort it can save. Let’s take a quick look…

Reviews

Palm Pre App Catalog. 30 Apps in 30 Days. Day 9: Tweed

Do you Twitter? Are you a Twit with your Tweets? I’ll be honest here and tell you that I really don’t Twitter. Sure, I have an account, and have tried to understand it, but it just never did much for me. That being said, I do understand that millions of people out there send what must be billions and billions (sorry, Carl Sagan) of Tweets on Twitter every day (does this make anyone else think of a little yellow canary from Looney Tunes?)

Reviews

Protect Your Gear With BodyGuardz: iPhone 3GS Review

Unlike our Gear Diary friend Larry Greenberg, I only have one case for my iPhone 3GS, and am not sure how much I like carrying it with a case. The case for me has been primarily for protection. Yes, I found a case that I think looks cool, but I do not care for the added size of my phone. There are many cheap clear films to protect your gadget, but few work very well. I carry my iPhone in my front pocket and love to use it in the size and shape in which it was produced. I recently…

Reviews

Palm Pre App Catalog: 30 Apps in 30 Days. Part 8: Flixster

Yesterday, we started our two part look at movie listing apps on the Palm Pre with Fandango. Today, we will wrap that up with a look at Flixster. To be honest, Flixster and Fandango are pretty similar apps, with one giant difference. With Fandango, you can actually purchase tickets straight from your phone. Flixster does not have that option, it only allows you to view information about the movies and listings.

Editorials

Moving Back to Windows from Mac: Why I made the Move to Mac

I bought my first modern Mac in February, 2008, a 15″ MacBook Pro. At the time I was frustrated with the laptop I owned – a 17″ Toshiba X205 – which was running Windows Vista Ultimate in what seemed like a most underpowered way. I was tired of being told that there were no drivers yet available for my gear, I was tired of seeing notifications pop up asking me constantly if I was sure that I wanted to do something, and I was basically ready for a change. It didn’t help that I had already seen Mitchell and Vincent‘s…

Vehicles & Gear

2009 Chevy Aveo5: no movie star but worth a look

Chevrolet Aveo has been the anchor at the entry level for Chevrolet for quite some time now and is a carry over of GMs relationship with Korean automaker Daewoo. For 2009, Aveo receives a good deal more attention that began on the sedan model last year. This little econo-cruiser gets a more powerful engine, the 1.6L Gen 3 Ecotec, as standard in all models, delivering more horsepower but with the same fuel efficiency found previously.

Reviews

CASECROWN Classic Slim Case Review

CASECROWN is a southern California based company founded by self described gadget lovers. They make some of the most affordable cases around, and they were kind enough to send me one of their Classic Slim Cases for laptops to review. Here’s a quick overview of the case from the CASECROWN web site: – Perfect Fit For Your Notebooks – Premium Quality Shock-Absorbing Double Memory Foam Interior – Water & Wear Resistant; Zipper Scratch-Free Exterior Material – Light & Thin Compact Design – Internal Supporting Bands To Secure Your Gadgets How does this laptop case match up? Read on to find…