May 2010

V-MODA Crossfade LP Review

When the press release came into the Gear Diary e-mail account about the release of V-MODA’s first over the ear styled headphones I jumped — literally jumped — at the chance to review them.  I had recently reviewed their Remix Ear Buds and was thrilled with them, so I was excited to see what they’d done next. The Crossfades were developed over a lengthy process of collaboration with professional musicians, producers and DJs.  V-MODA set out to create an over the ear style headphone that not only sounded great but looked equally so. By crafting the Crossfades from luxurious materials…


Buddy Runner for Android Review

I carry my Droid on every run so I have a phone with me. Since it’s already with me, I use it to track my pace and distance on my longer runs. There are a number of sports tracker apps in the Android marketplace but I keep going back to using one in particular, Buddy Runner. Buddy Runner is super simple. When you first start the app you are greeted by a simple landing page with a start button. Hit start, then hit the road (or trail)! If you like updates on how you are doing as you go, you…


Mophie JuicePack Air For iPod touch – Review

We love our Mophie juice pack airs for iPhone 3GS. In fact, when Judie, Larry and I were at CES in January they truly saved the day and kept us connected. I was recently sent one of the juice pack air’s for the current generation iPod touch and have been trying it out under a host of different use scenarios. The juice pack air for iPod touch “is a rechargeable Smart Battery concealed inside of a low-profile, light-weight, soft-touch case.” Let’s take a look… From Mophie- As the world’s thinnest rechargeable battery case, the mophie juice pack air™ is designed…


Review: Altec Lansing MIX iMT800 Dock for iPhone and iPod

I grew up in the 80’s.  The 80’s was the decade of big hair, hair bands, break dancing and boom boxes.  Never have I seen a dock for iPhone and iPod that brings back memories from the 80’s like the Altec Lansing MIX iMT800. The MIX has big boom box looks like no other dock I have seen.  In the 80’s, the middle portion of the boom box would have been dominated by a cassette deck.  Instead of a cassette deck, this one has port with a dock connector and an arm that slides up to take the iPhone or…


The Vaja ivolution Top for Apple iPad Review

It’s no secret that I have long enjoyed the Argentinean company Vaja‘s leather products, so when my birthday rolled around this year the Gear Diary Editors knew just what to do — they gifted me with the new Vaja ivolution Top for Apple iPad in my choice of colors. I chose the girly and bright Violet exterior with Rosa interior … The ivolution Top appears to basically be a combination of Vaja’s slightly less expensive ivolution Grip case ($100) and a matching and completely detachable top cover. As has been noted countless times before by me and many others, Vaja’s…


John McLaughlin and the 4th Dimension – To The One Review

Apparently April was CD-release party month at the old-British guitar legends home! Hot on the heels of Jeff Beck’s Emotion & Commotion comes To The One from John McLaughlin. While McLaughlin might not carry the same name recognition as Beck outside of the jazz world, the impact of the contributions of the 68-year old McLaughlin rival if not exceed those of his younger country-mate. Another similarity is that neither of these greats have rested on their laurels, constantly pushing ahead. Yet there is always a common thread and respect for their own history and fan-base. Such is case with the…


C25K Week 3: Protect Those Feet

Larry: Week 3 of the C25K is in the books.  This week’s workouts got a little harder and the first 3-minute run was a bit of a struggle but once out of the way I could start to feel the return of my endurance, even if it was ever so slightly. Brisk five-minute warmup walk, then do two repetitions of the following: Jog 200 yards (or 90 seconds) Walk 200 yards (or 90 seconds) Jog 400 yards (or 3 minutes) Walk 400 yards (or three minutes) Judie: Those three minute jogs were a killer, and since I got a new…


New eBook Readers Coming This Summer?

Looks like this might be the summer of ebook readers! Rumors are flying about new Kindles and nooks, the Kobo reader is hitting Borders Stores, and that’s without considering the impact all the potential Android tablets will have on the reader market. While there’s been some ebook rivalry so far, I think this next wave of readers is where the B&N-Amazon-Borders-Tablet rivalry is really going to get heated. Engadget caught an interesting FCC filing for a WiFi-only ebook reader from Barnes and Noble. Most likely it is the rumored “nook lite”. No word on whether it will be the same…


Sling for Android Is Almost Here!

I’m in the process of deciding how to rework my home tv setup. At this point it’s a matter of when, not if, my TiVo will die…and as I’ve said before, I don’t really see the value of upgrading to another TiVo. Since I’ll be reworking my whole setup anyway, the thought crossed my mind that a Slingbox might be fun to have. Now that I’ve seen Engadget’s preview of Sling for Android, I DEFINITELY want a Slingplayer! It looks really slick, even if it did have some beta bugs, and I am sure it will look great on the…


Review: Keurig Elite Brewing System

As a geek and blogger, staying caffeinated is a specialty of mine.  One of my favorite things in the morning is coffee.  However, I am the only coffee drinker in my house.  Making a whole 10 cups when I am only going to drink 1 to 2 cups doesn’t make sense.  That’s where single cup brewing systems come in. I used to have a Black and Decker Home Cafe, but finding the pods it used started to become a problem.  I had heard of Keurig and my friend Linc swears by his so I decided to use some eBay sale proceeds to buy my…


Skype Finally Enables iPhone Calls Over 3G

At long last Skype has enabled calling over the 3G connection. This feature has been promised and promised and promised and finally it’s why. That means that when you’re away from your WiFi connection you can still use Skype to make voice calls. But it gets even better than that. Until the end of August Skype calls over 3G will be free. (Of course data connections will still apply.) According to the upgrade information, there will be a small charge for such calls after that but for now… call away. Do you think AT&T can handle the additional traffic? We’ll…


Sirius XM for Android Arrives

Rejoice, satellite radio fans! Sirius XM is now available for Android. It comes with a 7-day trial if you are not already a satellite radio subscriber, and from my brief experience today I don’t plan on becoming a subscriber in the future. First of all, you need a great deal of patience to parse out the subscription options. Sirius doesn’t share what the options are for subscribers unless you log in as an existing customer, but they do assure you there’s a “discount” for internet listening (looks like it is $2.99 ON TOP OF your existing Sirius subscription). Of course,…


MacCase iPad Line Up Revealed, Pre-Ordering Begins

Michael Santoro President/ Chief Creative Officer of Mac-Case just let me know that pre-ordering for several of their new Premium Leather iPad case designs has begun, and the first are scheduled to arrive toward the end of June. The initial shipments include their Flight Jacket, Vertical Sleeve and their first ever Horizontal Sleeve. The final touches are being put on their new Folio which should also be available for pre-order soon. At the current time the cases will be available in Black and Vintage, but they will be adding Red if there is enough customer interest. In addition Santoro noted…


R.I.P Gary Coleman – Child Actor and Star of Diff’rent Strokes

Gary Coleman died yesterday after falling into a coma following an intracranial hemorrhage, with some reports indicating he might have had a fall that led to the brain trauma. For many of us who grew up watching Coleman on Diff’rent Strokes, it is yet another “died too soon” on a growing list of our childhood icons. According to an ABC article: Celebrity website RadarOnline.com said Coleman, 42, was taken off life support on Friday, and similar reports were filed by showbiz site TMZ.com and by CNN, citing a spokeswoman at the Utah Valley Regional Medical Center in Provo, Utah. The…


Apple TV… “I’m Not Dead Yet”

According to Engadget Apple TV is not only not dead but it is coming soon as a totally revamped item that will bring streaming media to your TV. According to the post- The new architecture of the device will be based directly on the iPhone 4, meaning it will get the same internals, down to that A4 CPU and a limited amount of flash storage — 16GB to be exact — though it will be capable of full 1080p HD (!). The device is said to be quite small with a scarce amount of ports (only the power socket and…


RadTech RadSleevz Review: Fits Your iPad Like a Glove

RadTech is one of my favorite accessory companies.  Why?  Because they’re smart.  The company doesn’t take the “throw some spaghetti at the wall and see what sticks” approach to marketing.  Meaning, they don’t make a thousand items and hope that one or two of them sell well.  What they actually do is carefully decide what the consumer wants and needs, and then, only then, do they bring an item to market.  This keeps their inventory of stocked items new, innovative and always exciting. The company recently sent me a few items to review, the first of which we’ll look at today….


Amazon and Barnes and Noble… Take Down Those Walls

I saw a Barnes and Noble nook in the flesh for the first time this week. (I bought one when released but sold it without opening the box.) I was impressed. Seriously, I loved the hardware and could definitely see myself using one. The only problem is… I have a huge number of books that I purchased through Amazon and Kindle books won’t work on the nook (and nook books won’t work on the Kindle.) Currently if you have books that you purchased through one but a new eReader that you would love to buy comes out on the other…


With Line2 Update The iPad Really Is A Phone

We are spending a few days up in the mountains. It is beautiful. It is peaceful. It is a great place to get some work done. Only problem is… The cell reception here is terrible and our landline costs a fortune. Luckily I still have my subscription to the Line2 VoIP app and it works great. Seriously the call quality is fantastic, and it is what I am using constantly up here. Better still, if your iDevice is jailbroken, then you can leave the app running and receive calls on it. Well an update just hit my iPad and iPhone,…


M-Edge Executive Jacket for iPad Review

M-Edge has a wide variety of case options out for the iPad.  We’ve had the chance to review a few of them already, but their Executive Jacket might be the most sophisticated of the bunch.  The book style case is available in 2 synthetic leather colors and 6 authentic leather colors; it features a four-point harness for mounting your iPad inside the case. Whether you’re in a board room, office, meeting or just off to school this case seeks to be your go-to, offering the protection you need with the style you want. I was sent a Black version of…


Jeff Beck – Emotion & Commotion Review

Just over a month ago I wrote about the special launch-day deal Amazon.com was having on the MP3 version of Jeff Beck’s new Emotion & Commotion CD. Over the last six weeks I’ve kept the CD on my iPod in heavy rotation. Needless to say I have found something to like in the first studio release in seven years from the 65-year old legendary guitarist. At the same time, this is also my least favorite Jeff Beck release since his early 90’s rockabilly outing Crazy Legs. Let me give a bit of background and then dig into a song-by-song review….


Sena Walletbook for iPhone 3GS Review

The other day I reviewed the Sena Folio for iPad. It has quickly become my favorite, and most-used, iPad case. I love the refined look, the flawless leather of it and the way it protects my iPad so thoroughly. Sena offers a wide range of options for the iPad. In fact, they have cases for pretty much every popular device. That includes the iPhone 3GS. And while the next gen iPhone is likely on the way 3GS owners are only a year into their contract. That means there is no time like the present to wrap your precious iPhone in…