November 2010

Music Diary Retrospective: In Memorium of T Lavitz, I Look at The Dregs ‘Industry Standard’ and More!

A few weeks ago we learned that jazz keyboard player T Lavitz died unexpectedly in his sleep at the age of 54. Lavitz was best known for his time in the jazz-rock fusion group Dixie Dregs, but also released high-profile solo works, and he also formed groups such as the critically acclaimed Players, as well as Jazz is Dead which was an ensemble of veteran jazz players reinterpreting works of the Grateful Dead. Lavitz was one of the many talented artists to come out of the University of Miami’s ground-breaking jazz education program of the 1970’s (including most of the…

Game Diary, Reviews

Catapult Madness for iPhone/Touch Review

A strange thing often happens with IOS games. Sometimes a simple, seemingly boring game can become completely addicting bringing joy, frustration and waste lots of time. I recently found Catapult Madness at the top of the games list and it was on sale for free so I thought I would give it a try. I was mildly amused at first, but kept wanting to extend the distance I threw the peasants so I kept playing. That mild amusement turned into straight addiction as I kept upgrading and getting further and further. The addition of GameCenter compatibility has created more of…

Reviews

HoodieBuddie Review: Headphones With You 24/7

We all love our ScotteVest clothing here at Gear Diary. One of the coolest features of SeV wear is the ability to take a set of ear buds and wire them through the garment so they’re always there when you need them. The only issue is the fact that you then have to dedicate a set of headphones to this task – wiring them up each time you want to use them isn’t practical. Enter the HoodieBuddie. The HoodieBuddie looks like any old hooded sweatshirt. But it’s not. Using their patent-pending HB3T technology the HoodieBuddie contains a standard headphone jack…

Reviews

JAVOedge Charcoal Flip Style Case for Amazon Kindle 3rd Generation Review

I’m a big fan of the Amazon Kindle 3. It’s become a permanent fixture on my bedside table and I use it almost religiously each night before bed. Amazon’s current version of their e-reader is slim and small. So much so that I think a case actually compliments it. Like the iPod Touch I sometimes find when devices are too slim they become hard to use. While I haven’t tested a ton of Kindle 3 cases I have been using JAVOedge‘s newest offering over the last two weeks and have been quite pleased with the result. The Charcoal Flip Style…

Reviews

Review: Duracell myGrid Charging Pad

Our world seems to become continually more mobile. With all of these mobile gadgets comes a need to charge and charge often. Unfortunately, devices have not adopted a standard for charger connectors so that leaves many of us with a ton of plugs throughout the house. We have a vase on the kitchen counter near a set of wall plugs that holds all of the various charging cords while keeping them hidden. Basically, I throw the rats next of wires in the vase so my wife does not kill me due to the mess. Duracell has released an interesting product…

Reviews

iPad Acessory Review: Hard Candy’s Candy Stylus and Pen

I loved working on a Tablet PC. The ability to “ink” on one– that is, create digital ink by using a stylus to write or draw on the screen– made taking notes quick and easy. I don’t mind the trade-offs I had to make once I moved to the iPad since it is lighter, runs longer, is silent, never gets warm and… it is Apple, but every now and then I miss “inking”. Fortunately more and more iPad apps are improving the experience of writing on the iPad’s screen. They are making the ink “flow” more smoothly and many are…

News

Apple, Competition, and Silly Statistics

The Wall Street Journal this morning reported Apple has 95% of the tablet market. Amazing, in the face of virtually no competition! Also, Apple has 99.9% of the “electronics starting with i” market. But they aren’t the only ones with big marketshares in questionably competitive areas… -Toyota has 85% of the market for “sudden, unexpected, OH CRAP, 0 to 60” cars. -Snapple has 100% of the “greatest stuff on earth” market (tm Dan) -Gear Diary has 100% of the market for blogs named Gear Diary! -Coca Cola has 100% of the “secret formula cola” market. -Google has 93% of the…

Game Diary, Reviews

Gear Games Reviews: A Foursome of ‘Bite Sized’ Casual iPhone Games

BUT WHAT ABOUT VIDEO GAMES? So … where do iPhone games fall in regards to what you should do at a ‘dollar store’? That is always a tough call – $1 seems like so little, but pretty soon you find you’ve spent as much as a full-size game! And hopefully you have actually gotten many hours of gameplay from those dollar games, but just as likely you have played most for about five minutes and never touched them again. Anyway, for my next set of micro-reviews I am looking at four recently released $1 games – some are good, some…

News

Speck Introduces Two New Bags for Netbooks and iPad

Speck has introduced two new bags for taking your netbook (up to 10″) or iPad on the go. The CorePack-10 and the PortPack-10 both feature Speck’s excellent design and high quality construction. Each has an MSRP of $49.95 and are available now. Here’s a quick first look at both. We have review units of each and will have a thorough Gear Diary look in the next few days. CorePack for Netbooks and iPad Open up CorePack FLY 10’s butterfly design and it instantly becomes a portable work surface. The butterfly feature is also airport security checkpoint friendly, allowing you to…

Editorials

UPDATED: Verizon FiOS — a Rant and a Rave

UPDATE: After this post went live, I received an email from Verizon. They were very concerned about the experience I had, and the frustration I expressed here. I talked with them about the plan we were on, and what bundles made more sense given what we were looking to accomplish (saving money since we didn’t need super-fancy-pants TV). To say they were helpful is an understatement. We picked a better bundle and worked out a much better set of features, and FiOS customer service was incredibly friendly. When I ranted about my experience, it was just to get it…

News

The “i-hotake” Makes Holding & Taking Your iPad Easy

Here’s an intriguing new way to protect and carry your iPad; the “i-hotake” (a play on “hold & take”) appears to be a pretty-thick protective plastic bumper case with handles on each end. Made for kids? Made for klutzy adults? We’re not exactly sure and they aren’t telling. Cutouts for syncing, speakers and other ports are in their proper places, so if nothing else — when your iPad is in this you can use it a mini breakfast in bed tray. 😉 i-hotake site (MSRP $39.99)

News

Election Day Reminder – Find Your Polling Place Easily With Google

Across the United States today hopefully millions of folks will be out voting for their local, state and federal representatives. There are tons of important issues and races at stake, as well as the balance of power in Congress. I’m sure there are local issues in your areas as well. Google is making things easy – simply type vote into your search bar / web page and you are brought to this page. From there you simply enter your home address and you will get a Google Map page showing the directions to your polling place, and on the left…

Reviews

Review: Philips CushionSpeaker Laptop Stand

So I am sitting in my recliner with my 13″ MacBook Pro in my lap. The laptop is a bit warm and the show I am watching sounds terrible through the stock speakers. My only choice to fix these problems is to dig out a laptop cooler then find some external speakers. How about having all of this in one cool product? Luckily, Philips brings the CushionSpeaker to combine comfort and sound into one device. Let’s take a look. The Philips CushionSpeaker combines a laptop stand with a USB speaker device to bring a stylish all in one product. The…

Reviews

iPad Accessory Review: Pad Bracket iPad Mounting System

I recently purchased a treadmill so that I could continue running once the weather turn icy cold. I shopped around quite a bit and ended up with a rather high-end treadmill with all the bells and whistles. (Well, maybe not ALL but MOST of the bells and whistles.) Among the extra features are a built-in speaker system for your iPod or other media device that can get quite loud and sounds pretty good. It also has a built-in 7″ TV that can accept both cable and composite plugs. I used it yesterday for the first time with my Roku box…

eBooks, Editorials

NOOKcolor and Dictionary.com: An Innovative Partnership

If you’re like me, you’ve probably turned to Dictionary.com thousands of times. Maybe you wanted to make sure you had your spelling right, or you weren’t sure how to pronounce something correctly. Or maybe you were worried you used the word “insouciant” incorrectly. No matter what, you’re heading to Dictionary.com. And despite the name, Dictionary.com offers more than just definitions. There’s pronunciation help, sample sentences to provide context, even word history, and famous quotes! It has moved beyond just “hey, what does this word mean?” and turned into a full-fledged resource for all things linguistic. I had the privilege to…

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