2010

Delta to SCOTTEVEST- “Sorry but Carry-On Revenue > Ad Revenue in Delta Sky Magazine”

Ever wonder if those fees airlines are now charging for carry-on items actually bring in serious revenue? Well, thanks to Scott Jordan and SCOTTEVEST we now know the answer — they bring in TONS of cash. Turns out that while SCOTTEVEST clothing appears in the SkyMall Magazine in the pouch in front of each seat on each Delta flight, a recent ad the travel and gadget clothing company wanted to run that reminded people they can beat the ridiculous new carry-on baggage fees with the right garment hit a bit too close to Delta’s pocketbook. Delta rejected the full-page ad,…

News & Features

iPad App Update- GoodReader For iPad Gets Even Better

Since I use my iPad for work a great deal of the time I have tried a host of productivity apps over the six months I have owned it. This includes my checking out almost every PDF reader in the App Store. Eventually I settled on GoodReader as my PDF app of choice. The reasons for this are numerous. It is easy to use, full featured, constantly improving and… most importantly for me, it renders pages quickly. This is especially important for me since I have replaced most every book- include my prayerbook- with my iPad. I NEED it to…

Reviews

The Lenovo ThinkCentre M90z All-In-One Desktop Computer Review

photos by Kevin Lenovo recently sent me a 23″ touchscreen ThinkCentre M90z all-in-one desktop computer to use for long-term evaluation. Because of its similar form factor to the ThinkCentre A70z (which had a 19″ non-touchscreen monitor), I already knew that I would like its space-saving design. But what I didn’t expect was how much I would come to appreciate the touchscreen; having a desktop computer with a touchscreen has never seemed that important to me before, as I am used to more traditional methods of input. As with the A70z, the M90z came packaged in a ThinkCentre bag; minimal cardboard…

Music Diary, Reviews

Music Diary Reviews: What’s Old is New Again Edition

Welcome to another edition of Music Diary Reviews! Wait – what Music Diary Reviews, you ask? I have been doing a series of short CD reviews grouped into full-scale articles, and seem to have no intention in stopping, so it was time to give them a real name! The basic idea is the same – a short capsule review of new release music with some highlights, a track selection and some buyer advice … and a quick video if I can find one. What started as just another set of reviews took on a particular theme this time: there are…

eBooks, News & Features

Amazon’s New Pirated Book Policy

(image courtesy Houston News) Just last year. there was a pretty serious controversy over how Amazon handled pirated books in the Kindle store. Since anyone can upload a book to Amazon, a version of 1984 was uploaded and sold without the copyright holder’s permission. Amazon took an unfortunate stance of removing all copies without warning, only to find a huge internet uproar emerge from the “big brother” behavior. Luckily, Amazon has learned from those mistakes. Their Australian store mistakenly sold a book under Jamie Oliver’s name that was not actually written by or affiliated with the chef. Rather than yank…

Reviews

iPad Case Review – TwelveSouth BookBook for iPad

Here are a few of my books… in this picture alone there are over 100 different books. 16 of them are of the dead-tree variety. The rest are in the Kindle app on my iPad. Yup, that’s my iPad right in the middle of the picture. It is sitting safe, hidden and secure in its new BookBook for iPad. The BookBook for iPad is one of the offerings from TwelveSouth. TwelveSouth is the company behind my favorite iPad travel stand, the Compass. (Reviewed here on the site.) While the Compass had a lean modern look to it, the BookBook goes…

News & Features

8 Month Old Deaf Baby’s Reaction To Cochlear Implant Being Activated

A cochlear implant (CI) is a surgically implanted electronic device that provides a sense of sound to a person who is profoundly deaf or severely hard of hearing. The cochlear implant is often referred to as a bionic ear. According to Wikipedia, as of April 2009, approximately 188,000 people worldwide had received cochlear implants; in the United States, about 30,000 adults and over 30,000 children are recipients. There has been an ongoing debate in the deaf community over the use of this procedure. For some deaf individuals cochlear implants are an affront to their culture, which as they view it, is a minority…

News & Features

Just in Time for Halloween, Batman’s Utility Belt Can Be Yours

I’ve been making jokes about BatBelts for years – usually when referring to the way so many of geeks will carry a plethora of items clipped to their waist. And now, for $149, geeks everywhere can have a real BatBelt of their own. Composed of polished bronze leather with silver studs, this isn’t some cheep plastic wannabe — it’s the real deal with usable and movable pouches. Fantastic for Halloween and cosplay, the TDK Batman: Utility Pouch should also make an interesting addition to your “Casual Fridays” attire. And for those of you who are thinking “But it’s gold! Too…

News & Features

A Most Awesome Video: the History of Rap with Jimmy Fallon and Justin Timberlake

There are no words! Dieter Bohn (@backlon) just tweeted this, and I thought it was so awesome that I had to share. See if you can name all the songs and artists Jimmy Fallon and Justin Timberlake go through; the imitations are spot on, fun to watch and the whole experience is hysterical! Unfortunately this video is Flash, but if you can’t watch it on your mobile device it is worth clicking when you get back to a computer. Kottke.org

Reviews

Lan Gear’s SFF “Da Box 100 Blackheart” Gaming Case Review: Little Package with a Big Heart

Image courtesy of Lan Gear Back since I bought my first caddy load cd drive I have been building my own computers for personal use and gaming. Since IT is now my career, the past few years I don’t do as much gaming but still like to keep my home system up to date with at least a current video card and cpu. This year I already had a pretty nice base system but decided to replace the Case and Video Card. My fascination with Micro Atx components always presents challenges when building a decent gaming system due to lack…

Game Diary, Reviews

Gear Games Reviews: Freemium Fever! LotR Online, D&D Online, Quake Live

Image courtesy of the freemium blog I have had such great feedback from my ‘quickie’ music reviews that I thought – wouldn’t it make sense on occasion to apply the same logic to video games? I mean, I will give a full review to Civilization V, but not everything needs such an extensive treatment, and sometimes games can easily be grouped together in a theme. With that thought I turned my attention to the so-called ‘freemium’ business model. I think the image at the top sums up Freemium pretty well – your product combines a Free segment with Premium content….

Reviews

Rocketeer for iPhone/Touch Review

The last two weeks, I reviewed apps that were kind of off beat and different from the usual Blue Plate Special choices. As I searched and scraped apps this week, I ended up returning to a familiar genre. I have the biggest game of our season to date so things are a little stressed. Getting a minute to escape is important to keep my insanity, so I was continually drawn to finding more games. I stumbled across an interesting game that is currently on sale for free! I recommend picking it up quickly if you plan on trying it out. …

News & Features

Something Worth Supporting: The ‘It Gets Better’ Project

Regardless of where you stand on anything related to gender issues, I don’t think anyone can help but be appalled by the news coming out of Texas last week – that a 13 year old 8th grader killed himself after YEARS of bullying including accusations of being gay and being pushed down the stairs in the days before he took his own life. It is stories like that, and also the recent suicide in Indiana by Billy Lucas, a 15 year old who was bullied and tormented about perceived sexuality and even told to kill himself by others, that led…

eBooks, Reviews

Blio eBook Reader Review

The Blio ebook reader program debuted today. Since Blio has a special deal with Toshiba, I downloaded the Toshiba-branded “Book Place” version for my NB205 netbook. Since Blio is a very unique program, with 3D page turns and other eye candy, I took the above video to demo the features. Here’s the summary/commentary to the video: Blio is dreadful. It’s incredibly slow, it feels horribly cramped on a netbook screen, many of the page view features are more gimmicky than useful and did I mention it’s slow? The page turn options were annoying, though the 3D and two-page layouts were…

News & Features

UPDATED! Tales In Packaging Insanity- Default Case

Larry has commented on Default Case a few times. Most recently he made the case that Default Case needs to stop talking and start doing. I agree- good customer service and a funny one-liner only go so far. After Larry’s first encounter with Default Case I ordered four more of the cases. Two came fairly quickly and then… nothing. Then I got word that one of the two remaining cases had finally shipped. It came today. The first issue I encountered was the fact that, unlike my first black case, this new white one is loose on the iPhone. There…

Reviews

Naked iPad? No, Speck SeeThru!

I suspect most folks will agree that the iPad is a nice looking device. So why would you want to cover it up and obscure all that aluminum and glass beauty? I mean, would you put a rubberized case on the Picasso in Daley Plaza? No, I don’t think so. With this in mind, the folks at Speck must have said, “hey, let’s cover the iPad, but not cover the iPad.” So, voila! Here’s the Speck SeeThru. According to Speck, the SeeThru features: One-piece flexible hard case for a seamless look, feel and functionality Rubberized front edge and button covers…

Reviews

The Genius MousePen M508 Review

Just about a year ago I reviewed the G-Pen-M609X from Genius, and I used it with my netbook. Yes, back then I was using a netbook, but then again, that was “BiP” … Before iPad. My conclusion was quite positive. I wrote Overall I have been impressed with the G-Pen M609. Used as a pen-enabled mouse/trackpad it allows me to sit back in my chair and browse on my iMac or my netbook. Used with any pain program it reminds me just how untalented I am but would be a welcome computing addition for anyone who is artistic. The tablet…

Reviews

iPhone 4 Accessory Review: Speck CandyShell Case

The newest member of the popular Speck CandyShell line is their new CandyShell iPhone 4 Case. No surprises there, right? But what might give you pause is the case’s combination of hot colors, good looks and protection on the iPhone 4’s sides and back. The interior of the case shows how the CandyShell is actually two layers, composed of a “thin, hard-shell coating with soft rubbery interior lining, bezel, & button covers.” The iPhone slips into the CandyShell where it is securely held. There are cutouts for the mute switch, sync & charge port, speaker, microphone, camera with LED, and…

News & Features

Gear Chat #17 Is Live…

On Gear Chat #17 Larry and Dan talk new iPods, iPad apps and more. Dan sent his iPod nano back and explains why… Larry finds that the iPod touch has the worst single feature of ANY Apple product and offers details. That and much more on the 17th episode of Gear Chat. Intro Music- Lean On Me- Sounds From the Ground Solarstone’s Chill Out Remix… Editorial note- we refer to questions as to whether or not the Apple TV was delayed during the episode which was recorded prior to said devices shipping earlier today.

Reviews, Vehicles & Gear

2011 Ford F-150: The Power of Four

The Ford F-Series pickup has led the sales chart for what seems like forever and is still the top-selling truck and top-selling vehicle in North America. So one might think the automaker is taking a huge gamble by totally revamping the powertrain lineup in a single strike. This is the first time any manufacturer has ever completely replaced every engine and Ford is going “all-in” with a pair of sixes and a pair of eights. Ford F150 team members hosted media from all over the country to introduce the automotive press to the new powertrains. An entire day was devoted…

News & Features

AMC Theaters Goes ‘Back to the Future’ With 25th Anniversary Release!

While I sort of lost track of the sequels, I definitely remember seeing the original Back to the Future in theaters back in 1985! I saw it with a bunch of friends who were, like me, home for the summer from college but busy working as much as possible to earn whatever we could for the coming year. And while the screening at a campus the following spring elicited some derisive chuckles over the ‘flux capacitor’ – since flux means change and capacitor is for storage – the room was packed with folks who really loved the film. And why…

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