2010

Moshi Moshi 03 Review: Lets You Go Hands Free in Style

Back in April, I told you about the Native Union Moshi Moshi 01. The sleek and sophisticated handsfree unit allows the users to make and receive mobile calls while experiencing the ease of comfort of a landline base. Native Union is out with the next release in the Moshi Moshi line. The Moshi Moshi 03 draws from the original 01 unit but now adds Bluetooth into the fold. And it’s not your regular old Bluetooth stack either. The 03 uses a multipoint chip which allows two Bluetooth devices to be paired to it simultaneously. At home, I paired the…

Reviews

Instaviz For iPhone/Touch/iPad Review

How many times have you had to plan a project whether at work or home and best illustrated using a flow chart? I know many times I have mapped out my plans in this form on a scratch piece of paper. Instaviz makes this mind mapping possible on your iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad using a slick, yet simple interface. The charts or maps you create will look professional and are customizable and quickly created. Share your project easily with colleagues or friends right from the app. Lets take a look at Instaviz and give you a chance to win…

News & Features

Ooma Releases Ooma Mobile for iPhone- Neat Idea… but It Will Cost You

Ooma, the company that makes the stand alone VOiP phone system that lets you buy the hardware once and then make and receive free calls for the life of the unit, has finally released the iPhone app we first told you about in January. The app lets you “put Ooma in your pocket and take it on the go!” As the company explains– Ooma Mobile allows you to make phone calls over Wi-Fi using your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad. Since these calls go over Wi-Fi instead of the cellular network, you can transform devices like your iPod touch and…

Reviews

Chrome Soyuz Laptop Bag Review: Dare to be Different

Last week I reviewed the Chrome Vega Utility Bag. I’ve become a fan of it due to its versatility and functionality. I can not tell you the number of times I’ve purchased an expensive gear bag because I thought it “looked” cool only to find it didn’t hold all of my gear, or made retrieving said gear impossible etc. Chrome takes on a philosophy of function first. If an item isn’t needed on one of their bags they simply do not include it. This makes all of their bags extremely comfortable to wear and makes getting to your gear when…

Reviews

Kindle for Android Review

Finally, Android Kindle fans can rejoice! Today Amazon announced Kindle for Android, and it’s live and free in the Android Marketplace. Is it worthwhile, either as a companion to a Kindle or as your primary ebook source on your smartphone? Read on for my quick review and find out! First off, the app is fast. After the initial setup, I selected a book to download to my Droid and it not only downloaded extremely quickly but opened at the place where was I last reading on my Kindle. It’s a minor thing but I like that the book opens as…

Reviews

Samsung HM3200 Bluetooth Headset with Active Noise Cancellation and Multi-Point Technology – Review

Driving up to our lake house the other day I was shocked to see just how many drivers were holding their cellphones and chatting away. Years after handsfree laws went into effect a huge number of drivers are still holding phones and talking. Scary. There is really no excuse for this kind of behavior since every phone now has Bluetooth and good sounding headsets are easy to find and relatively inexpensive. Among the headsets fitting this description are the soon-to-be released Samsung HM3200. I have been using one for the last few weeks. Let’s take a look. What’s in the…

News & Features

Pocket Informant HD for iPad- A Gear Diary Sneak Peak

A friend recently asked me if I knew anything about the status of the iPad version of Pocket Informant. Granted, his particular verbiage was a bit stronger than what I’ve represented here. He is one of many friends who relies on PI for the iPhone and who is anxiously awaiting the iPad version. I told him that I expected to see something soon, but that just as PI for the iPhone was slow to arrive but impressive when it did, it was clear to me that Alex and his team at WebIS are not going to release an iPad app…

Editorials

My iTunes Store Customer Service Interaction Was a Good One

I’ve done more than my share of complaining about Apple’s iTunes App approval process. And for good reason; they are, at times, far too heavy-handed and not nearly transparent enough. And I’ve done my share of complaining about Apple in general. And for good reason; while their products are awesome there are times when their secrecy and arrogance are over the top. So when I had an encounter with Apple’s iTunes Customer Service that was pleasant… and positive… I thought I owed it to them to share it. I got my iPhone 4 on Wednesday. I loaded all my apps…

Editorials

Apple iTunes Will Not Take My Money but the Apple Store Will? It’s a Head-Scratcher For Sure

I ran into an issue the other day while using iTunes; I wanted to purchase a $50 gift card for a friend, but I couldn’t because the iTunes store said that I had “exceeded the maximum Gift certificate purchase amount for [my] account.” Confused, I took a look back at my recent purchases and found that I had only spent $200 in the past year on gift certificates, so what was the problem? I even changed my credit card, just in case it was an American Express limitation, but using Discover I ran into the same error message. Reading the message…

eBooks, Editorials

Attrition in the eBook Ranks!

It’s been an interesting week in ebook-land. We’ve seen the opening shots of a price war, and the beginnings of what may prove to be many players dropping from the ebook market. It’s an exciting time to be an ebook fan, so read on for more details and exciting news! First, in case you missed it earlier this week, B&N attempted to gain the upper hand in the ebook world with a twofold strategy. First, they announced a WiFi-only nook for $149, effectively out doing Borders Kobo Reader, and then they dropped the price of the famous original nook to…

Reviews

Nanodots are Addicting Dots of Magnetic Fun

Magnetic spheres must be really becoming popular. There are at least three brands of them out on the market with Buckyballs, Neocube and Nanodots. I was received a set of Nanodots to play with. Nanodots look a lot like ball bearings. However, each of the 236 balls are very magnetic. I actually took one dot and had it hold up a piece of paper on the metal side of my cubical; they are that strong. Because of this, you do need to be very careful when playing with these as you could pinch your skin, and these are definitely not…

News & Features

AG Findings Introduces Line of New Cases for the iPhone 4

AG Findings are rolling out a series of cases for the iPhone 4 that offer style and protection at a god price. Among their upcoming cases are… The iPhone 4 Beetle Case — As the company explains: Did you know beetles are the group of insects with the largest number of known species? Well AGF’s iPhone 4 Beetle Case offers a large variety of awesome colors. We are sure you won’t be disappointed with this amazing case. The Beetle Case Features: Superior impact protection A shock absorbing liner A lightweight design Access to all controls, parts, and cameras Details and…

News & Features

Ballistic Introduces the Ballistic HC (Hard Core) For iPhone 4

If you plan on bringing your iPhone 4 with you during serious activity you are going to need to give it some serious protection. Ballistic is looking to provide just tat with their new Ballistic HC. The Ballistic HC provides not one, not two, not three but four layers of protection. As the company explains… This Ballistic HC Case is a MUST HAVE for your brand new iPhone 4. Keep your iPhone 4 looking as good as the day you took it out of the box! Engineered with FOUR layers of protection AND a built-in screen protector, this case offers…

Editorials

Apple’s FaceTime Slight of Hand – It Isn’t About Video Chat

Two days into using Apple’s new FaceTime on the iPhone 4, and I’m coming to a realization… despite what Apple may say, FaceTime isn’t about video chat, it’s about Apple moving into yet another area of communications. Bear with me while I try to explain… With the arrival of over 600,000 new iPhone’s Apple has quickly introduced a brand-new communications system. Going by the name of FaceTime, it is the first implementation of mobile video chat that actually works. No let me correct that: it doesn’t merely “work”, it works really, really well! So long as you have a high-speed…

Editorials, Game Diary

Do Kinect and Move Make PC Gaming Look Like a Bargain?

An interesting thought came up in some post-E3 discussions with friends: with the introduction of the new Kinect for the XBOX 360 and Move for the Playstation 3, has console gaming become more expensive than being a PC gamer? Common wisdom through the years has been that PC gaming is more expensive, that you need bleeding edge equipment and a two-year upgrade cycle, and will pay up to 10x the price of a console for a decent gaming computer. But is that still true? Over the last four years since the latest console generation arrived PC prices have plummeted, and…

News & Features

Huawei S7: A Non-Crappy Android Tablet?

It’s almost too good to be true. After months and months of mediocre tablets with resistive touchscreens and underpowered processors running outdated versions of Android, Huawei is potentially stepping up and saving us all. Supposedly, the S7 will have a speedy 728mhz Snapdragon, Android 2.1 and (drumroll please) a CAPACITIVE TOUCHSCREEN!!! Finally, someone is releasing an Android tablet that will function as well as Android phones. Expansys will be selling them for around $345 in the USA, and while that’s steep compared to an iPad, it’s reasonable if you want a 7-inch Android tablet. Frankly, if you really want one,…

Reviews

Bust Bad Guys with IcePics (In Case of Emergency Pictures) for iPhone

Wouldn’t it be awesome if you could just point your mobile phone’s camera at something or someone, press a single button, and without any further action on your part a picture — complete with GPS coördinates — would be snapped and instantly emailed to yourself, your spouse, a parent, your best friend, or … well, you get the idea. I can think of times where a feature such as this might be handy — like sharing the names and locations of newly discovered dive bars or hole in the wall restaurants with friends when you find them, or creating a travelogue of…

News & Features

iOS 4 Multitasking Introduces New Popup Notifications and More

One of the reasons Steve Jobs came for the late arrival of any form of Apple-supported multitasking was the battery hit that occurs when multiple apps are running even after the user has moved away from that particular screen. The result is that only in the 4th iteration of Apple’s mobile operating system has any form of multitasking emerged and even with it there are strict limitations. As Larry and I discussed in last weeks Gear Chat, there are only a certain number of functions that can run in the background and, even then, developers have to retool their apps…

Reviews

Gumdrop Moto Skin For iPhone 4 – Review

The iPhone 4 is out and despite the issues some are experiencing it is pretty amazing. The screen is gorgeous (so long as you avoided the ones with the yellowish issues), the speed is great, the battery life is impressive and the whole device just feels awesome in your hand. It is everything Apple promised it would be- with one glaring exception. Despite what Jobs said you WILL want to protect your new iPhone 4 with a case. The screen scratches, the glass shatters and that is just the initial reports. Yes, it is a great phone but in its…

Music Diary, Reviews

What the HECK Happened to Herbie Hancock?!?

Herbie Hancock learned a lot from his time with Miles Davis, musically and also about being restlessly creative. After leaving Miles band before the earth-shaking Bitches Brew era, he headed off to release his own series of classics. He had already carved a great space in modal music with his Blue Note recordings Maiden Voyage and Speak Like a Child, but then went on to record Fat Albert Rotunda and the classic Headhunters which solidified him as an all-time great in pretty much every aspect of the music. He was there at the start of MTV with the techno-funk-hip-hop-dance song…

News & Features

A Quick Test of Mobile Blogging From My IPhone 4

I’ve never been all that pleased with the various mobile blogging apps currently available for the iPhone. But with iOS 4 out and a new iPhone I thought I would give it a go once more. The image above is a screen capture from my iPhone. This picture is not…. It was just taken with the iPhone 4’s camera. The new version of the Blogpress app lets you directly upload and embed video via YouTube. How does it look? We’ll know soon enough.

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