2010

App Update Alert: TabToolkit For iPhone/Touch/iPad

One of my favorite and most used guitar apps is TabToolkit from Agile Partners.  I love the ability to search, download and read guitar tabs on my iPhone and iPad.  The application actually knows when a tab is available on the page and will download and store it with a simple tap.  As great as this app is, a huge update just went live in the app store.  This is a considerable update to an already amazing app.  Click here to read a full review of TabToolkit. Some of the new features: Guitar Pro 6 file format:  Many TabToolkit customers…


Campus Quilt Review: All I Got From Running 50+ Races Was This Lousy T-Shirt? Not Anymore!

Over the last three years I’ve run over 50 road races. From local 5-Ks to finishing 12 full marathons and every other distance in between. If there’s on thing that all of the races have in common, besides the running, it’s the “race-shirt.” For as long as I can remember road races have always rewarded their participants with a t-shirt which not only commemorated the event but also allowed for sponsors to get their names out to the public too. As you can probably imagine with all the running I’ve done I’ve accumulated a lot of t-shirts. For a long…


iPhone 4 Case Review- iSkin Solo

When my wife Elana finally let go of her Palm Centro and made the move to BlackBerry she grabbed an iSkin case I had lying around to protect the handset. More than a year later I can’t get her to try another case. She loves it. She loves the simplicity, the great protection it offers and the way it feels in her hand. I can’t disagree. iSkin’s cases tend to be high quality, rather simple affairs that get the job done and, in the process, add a bit of style and color. I’ve been checking out a few of iSkins…


Review: Philips Notebook SoundBar

Like many of you, I rely heavily on my laptop. Even with an iPad, I use my MacBook Pro all day and every evening. As much as I love this computer, one thing that totally annoys me is the speakers. It is not that I expect theater sound and booming bass, but half of the time I just cannot hear. When I am watching Hulu or Netflix I want to know what is being said and not strain to be able to pay attention. I have tried many laptop speaker solutions, but the Philips Notebook SoundBar is a clever and…


Random Cool Gadget: Earos Cell Phone Ear Cushions

A few months ago I had a prolonged layover coming home from a business trip, and coincidentally my wife had an afternoon class she was teaching canceled so she was home. As a result, we took the opportunity to chat for quite a while and catch up on the stuff we never got to talk about during the week. By the time I hung up my ears were quite uncomfortable from pressing my Droid against my head for so long! Now Yanko Design has a solution for just that type of problem: Earos! These ear cushions easily slide over most…


Random Cool Gadget: Double Barreled Marshmallow Shooter

My younger son bought my older son a cool Nerf gun with easy-load clips for his recent birthday … my younger son already has a chain-load Nerf blaster he got for his birthday earlier this year. The result? A weekend filled with Nerf darts flying everywhere! And – especially with the new one – those things can still hurt when they hit! Last summer our kids had built PVC-pipe marshmallow launchers, neither of which worked well, but they looked cool and still get used as guns and other weapons on a regular basis. It was against this backdrop that I…


iPhone Game Review: Virtual City

The game SimCity came out in 1989, but its presence is still felt in every corner of the gaming industry. From new incarnations on consoles and PDAs and phones to new versions for PC and other platforms to influenced games for a variety of platforms, it is clear that Will Wright had SOMETHING right! The iPhone and iPad have been home to a number of games in this style, and I have just found my new favorite – Virtual City from G5 Entertainment! The Hype: Build a city of your dream – a residential paradise or an industrial center. Build…


iPad Case Review- Hard Candy Candy Convertible

So you have an iPad and you love the design, feel and functionality of the Apple Case. The only problem is… you aren’t a huge fan of black. No, your style leans more toward something brighter. You know, you want a case in something like… say… red. Well you are in luck! The Hard Candy Candy Convertible has the feel and function of the Apple Case for iPad but it comes in bright red! (Oh, and it comes in black too!) Let’s take a look. From Hard Candy- The Candy Convertible iPad case combines the practicality of a flip folio…


Random Cool Video: Airplane With No Jokes …

And surprisingly enough, it is pretty good! Of course, it is also only 15 minutes long! When you think about it, the core story of airplane is a classic – literally! The production team bought the rights to the 50’s drama Zero Hour!, which allowed them to use anything they wanted from the script. Check this summary out: Ted Stryker is an ex-World War II squadron leader and fighter pilot who, 10 years after the end of the war, is still haunted by a decision he made that resulted in the death of several of his men. He’s been unable…


Lord of the Rings Online Doubles User Base, Revenue With ‘Free to Play’ Model

I have written about Lord of the Rings Online when it was announced that it would be free-to-play, when it actually launched, and included it in a review round-up as well. It is an excellent MMORPG … and apparently it has done extremely well in the transition from subscription to free-to-play. Turbine, the developer, noted at GDC Online that the game has doubled both the subscriber base and revenue since the game became free to play. The game’s Executive Producer, Kate Paiz, noted that the revenue had doubled in spite of removing the subscription fee. But there is even more…


Yet Another Reason to Switch to eBooks: Airline Fees!

We told you a few weeks ago about Scottevest’s ad rejection by Delta. Of course, Delta is far from the only airline with restrictive baggage fees. It seems like every company has extra charges for heavier bags, less room for carry-ons, etc. So what do you do if you’re a voracious reader? John Naughton of the Guardian UK stumbled on this particular issue. He was looking to bring books on vacation but realized his reading list would have eaten up a big chunk of the weight restrictions on his Ryanair flight. So he broke down and bought a Kindle, despite…


Love Is In the Air at Gear Diary!

This has been a celebratory two weeks for Gear Diary, as we have just seen two of our writers get married! Dan is officiating Carly and Sarah’s wedding today … probably right as you are reading this! And David and Tish were married on October 1. Please join us in wishing Carly & Sarah, and David & Tish a very happy, very wonderful, and very much loved rest of their lives!


Celebrate the 70th Anniversary of John Lennon’s Birth With A Live Concert Recording

Today John Lennon would have turned 70, had he not been shot in December of 1980. In November of 1980 he released his last record, Double Fantasy, after 5 years on hiatus from music recording. This week on iTunes they have a massive collection of his newly remastered work, including a free version of Starting Over from Double Fantasy. There is even a 11-CD ‘signature box’ with loads and loads of extras. If you want to listen to some great live Lennon, head on over to Wolfgang’s Vault John Lennon Tribute, where they are featuring a 1972 John Lennon concert…


Random House Loves eBooks, but Not iBooks

(image courtesy psdgraphics) Random House was the only major publisher last year to hold out and refuse to work with Apple on an “agency pricing” system. They basically said setting prices was not their job, but that of the retailer, and if Apple wanted to sell books they could set the prices too. Apple refused, and Random House has famously been absent from iBooks. As it turns out, it doesn’t seem to be hurting Random House much in the ebook department. Markus Dohle, their CEO, recently stated ebooks are currently 8% of their revenue stream, and it looks like it…


The All In One Nest Case for iPod Touch & iPhone Review

There are plenty of solutions out there for propping your iPhone or iPod Touch up when it comes time to watch a video. Or how about when you want to use your iPhone or iPod as your bed side alarm clock? Yep, plenty of things for that too. However, most of these come in the form of a stand and that makes for one more item which you’ve got to store in your gear bag or tote around in your pocket. The Nest Case solves this problem by incorporating a stand, which allows for your iDevice to be displayed in…


Fun around every corner in Honda Civic Si

Bold would be an adequate way to describe some of Honda’s design choices in recent years. Ridgeline? Bold. Element? Bold. Civic? You guessed it – bold. Honda took a giant leap of faith when redesigning their popular small vehicle lineup a short while back, but that is what the automaker has been doing well over the past couple of decades – taking giant leaps of faith followed by success of nearly all of those choices. As energy prices soared ever higher, droves of consumers headed down the model lines to units they probably once sought to intimidate from behind the…


Wired Magazine iPad App–an Ironic Fail

I didn’t begin today thinking, “Boy, I better review the Wired Magazine iPad app, or Judie will really get on me”.  Nope; I have lots of other stuff on my plate, including news items and reviews of other apps (e.g., Mushroom Age!).  But as I sat there waiting–and waiting and waiting and waiting–for the one issue I bought to download, I ended up writing a review in my head, so I figure hey, better get it down. Here’s the history:  I loved Wired magazine.  Loved it.  I used to wait for and immediately read every issue, almost cover-to-cover.  Yes, it…


Beware the Ice Pack, a Post-Run Safety PSA

Yesterday Carly shared one of what I consider to be the more important posts in recent memory (a close second to Michael’s post the other day). Carly related the story of a woman running with headphones on who “turned left abruptly, and went directly into the path of an oncoming bicycle.” The post highlights the potential danger of running or biking with headphones on. Increasingly we are (finally) talking about the issue of distracted driving. The fact is, distracted exercise is also an issue, and it is one that Larry has warned me about numerous times. Well, along similar lines…


TravelTeq’s TRIP Will Pack You, Seat You, Carry You and Rock You

… and it will cost you. 😉 Nothing is more tiring than the journey anymore; getting to airports hours early, waiting in long lines, being herded like cattle through security only to find that there are no seats left for your oversold flight at the already over-packed gate … ugh! But the ends justify the means, right? And whether it is for vacation or business, we continue to endure the pitfalls of modern day travel. With that in mind, I found this product interesting when it landed in my email this morning; the TRIP is a carry-on suitcase that carries…


New Study: Body Image Stereotypes Cost Women Money at Work … But Benefit Men

There seems to have been quite a bit of talk and writing about how we should be reinforcing positive body images to young kids, girls in particular. So much talk and focus on how unhealthy it is for girls under 21, who are still changing physically, to be looking for plastic surgery … and also so much focus on the unhealthy sizes of fashion models. There has even been quite a bit of recent focus on the impact of Photoshopping advertisements by companies like Ann Taylor and others. That is all good, so what is the problem? Apparently the workplace…


The Lunacy of eBook Pricing – Example from the Forgotten Realms

Considering I am a huge fan of classic role-playing games, greatly enjoy the whole Dungeons and Dragons universe, have read and enjoyed some of the popular book series from author R. A. Salvatore including the Icewind Dale Trilogy and the Cleric Quintet, and have been intrigued by the recent announcement of the upcoming online-but-not-MMO computer game Neverwinter … you might say I was a ready-made target for the new book Gauntlgrym: Neverwinter Book I. Naturally I wanted to read it on my iPad, because as many others here have noted – it is just a great way to read things….