Movin’ to a Mac

Recently, I was laid off from my day job. As a result, for the first time in my life (literally!), my main system will be an Apple system, specifically 15″ MacBook Pro running OS X “Snow Leopard”. And as I’ve made the move, copying my iTunes library over, setting up a backup disk, and all the other nonsense in which one must engage when one makes a big move of this type, I’ve noticed a few things. If you’re someone who is considering making the jump, but has been hesitating for one reason or another, maybe my experiences here will…

News

Etón Introduces Mobius NSP300B, a Solar iPhone 4 Charging Solution

The name is a mouthful, unless you shorten it to Mobius, but the idea is simple: place a solar panel on the back of an iPhone 4, and you won’t ever need to worry about not being able to charge — assuming natural light is plentiful, of course. Differentiating itself from solar-charging solutions on the market today, Mobius features a quick charge time and the ability to store charge until you need it. The high-efficiency monocrystal solar panel re-charges the 1800 mAh rechargeable lithium ion battery pack on the back of the case. Only one hour of solar charging provides…

Reviews, Vehicles & Gear

2011 Honda CR-Z Compact Sport Coupe Hybrid a Bit of a Surprise

The CR-Z from Honda was a bit of a surprise for me: A surprise it took Honda so long to come out with a modern version of its popular little car; a surprise it came out as a hybrid; and a surprise that I found myself a little disappointed by the whole thing. As a modern CR-X, it has gained a bit of size and heft and as a hybrid it comes up a bit short on gas mileage. The new CR-Z gets worse fuel economy (highway and averaged) than quite a few gasoline-only cars currently in the Honda fleet…

Editorials, Reviews

How I Chose the Tablet for Me

Tablet computing is all the rage now. Microsoft coined it, Apple popularized it and there are many others including Microsoft itself that are vying for a piece of the large pie that Apple already owns. It isn’t the death of the PC, but I am convinced it’s a device almost everyone will eventually own. Some may replace their computer entirely with a tablet device, while others will just use it to augment the laptop or desktop they use. Either way, it’s the future and I’ve decided I need to look at getting one. Follow me along the journey of selecting my…

Reviews

Oberon Designs Women’s Wallet Review

I’m a simple leather wallet type of girl. In fact, I’ve had the same worn men’s wallet from Target for several years. But when I’m out at a business meeting, or at a formal event, it’s not the best image when I reach for my wallet and whip out my Target special. So when Oberon offered me the chance to review their women’s wallet, I jumped. When I opened the package with the wallet, my first thought was that it was almost too nice to take it out of the house. Also, it seemed huge compared to my everyday wallet….

Editorials

FourSquare Quick Tip: Upload a Profile Picture to Become a Mayor

It had become a running joke in the family. “Dan, did you FourSquare here?” “Dan, still one day away from being mayor?” “Dan, when you can’t even become mayor of your own house what does that tell you?” “Dan, you know the ‘no fly’ list? I think FourSquare has you on the ‘no mayor’ list.” Yes, I was one day away from becoming the FourSquare mayor at well over a dozen venues. Despite this I had only actually become major once and then it was only for one day. And to add insult to injury THAT location was a tram…

Reviews

The Beyza Cases iPhone 4 “Zero Series” Case Review

Here’s a simple stunner that may convince you to ditch your bulky iPhone 4 case. Beyzacases has come out with a new “Zero Series”, which has to be some of the thinnest — yet most sumptuous — leather I have everhandled. Why “Zero”? Zero Series are the thinnest genuine leather cases ever made in the market. Beyzacases quality meets with magnificent art of traditional leather craftsmanship and the engineering of Beyzacases artists. “Zero” term comes from the thinness of the craftsmanship of the Zero Series which does not add any bulk to your carrying experience in any terms. Zero Series for iPhone 4…

Gear Bits

Things That Make You Go “Hmmm”: iPads on Airplanes Edition

I just landed in Boston on my way to Martha’s Vineyard for a wedding tomorrow. Of course I brought my iPad with me. (It’s how I took this picture and wrote this post during a flight that was shorter than the time it took for me to get to the airport and through security.) It was a 38 minute flight. For the first ten minutes I could not use the iPad. For the last ten minutes I was told to turn it off as well. That left 18 minutes or so that the iPad was “legit” and usable. This has…

Game Diary, Reviews

iPad Game Review: Stand O’Food 3

G5 Games is one of the big publishers of so-called casual games, and my favorite publisher of those games for iOS devices. They have found a sweet spot of hidden object, puzzle and time-management games that play well and present an excellent value on those platforms. Some of these games – such as Treasure Seekers and Supermarket Mania – have spawned full franchises that carry from one game to the next and bring the audience right with them! Now the next entry in another time-management favorite has arrived – Stand O’Food 3! Let’s take a look. The Hype: The most…

News

Using a Tablet as In-Car Entertainment? Make Sure It Is Crash Tested with ProClip USA

I made a strategic error a few months ago. My iPad-loving father-in-law was looking for a new stand for his iPad, and I let him try the ProClip MultiStand I reviewed here. I never got it back. ProClip [affiliate link] makes some of the most impressive stands and mounts for a host of devices. Among the tablets they design for: the Apple iPad 1 & 2, the Motorola Xoom, the BlackBerry PlayBook, the Samsung Galaxy Tab and more. Now they just got better. If you are thinking about using an iPad for in-car ProClip USA has a new product for you,…

News

mSecure 3.0 Puts a Blowfish in the Cloud

Largely because I tend to switch devices and platforms regularly, I keep coming back to the same password manager – who for now shall remain nameless – because it is available for Blackberry, Android, and iOS devices, as well as having desktop applications for both Windows and Mac OSX. It’s not the most aesthetically pleasing software from my perspective, but it works well enough. Syncing my mobile devices does require that I sync with the same computer, but I can’t sync between computers. Cloud syncing isn’t an option. I may have to consider switching now, however, as mSeven Software’s mSecure…

Editorials

I Don’t Want to Buy Retail, Media Companies!

Look, Big Media Companies: I don’t want to buy physical objects retail. Your humble GD crew has opined on many occasions that we think that the BMC’s “strategies” for releasing their content electronically doesn’t make sense, that it doesn’t discourage piracy, and that it’s just plain nonsensical. Today: a perfect example. Consider the movie X-Men: First Class. As of last Friday, it was available on both DVD SD and Blu-ray. Not available on iTunes until Tuesday, but that’s okay–that’s the way it always works on iTunes. No big deal. But here’s the thing with the iTunes version: you can’t buy an…

Gear Bits

Not Suitable For Children — Nature’s Porn-y Veggies

A friend sent me this, and it was too awesome not to share. Basically, these are all naturally occurring vegetable shapes, that just, uh, happen to be NSFW. Sarah and I joined a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) earlier this year, and we’ve really loved getting a box of fresh produce once a week, but now I feel robbed! I honestly don’t think I can include most of the pictures here, so you’ll have to head to Organic Authority to see them all. Just make sure your boss isn’t watching!

Game Diary, Reviews

El Shaddai: Ascension of the Metatron PlayStation 3 Game Review

This Biblical inspired one player adventure game follows the adventures of Enoch and his God-given quest to return seven fallen angels to heaven.

Music Diary

Pop Goes the Music Diary: In Which Dubstep Meets Social Awareness

Daft Punk has been a popular techno act for years, but after scoring the underwhelming Tron:Legacy (my family all find the soundtrack the best part) and with the rise of dubstep and techno-house artists like Skrillex and Deadmau5 they seem to be having a resurgence in popularity amongst kids too young to have caught them before. Their song ‘Prime Time of Your Life’ is a great example – released as a single in 2006 from the 2005 recording ‘Human After All’, the song – like the album – was deemed ‘too repetitive’ and lacking development, and pretty much ignored until…

Editorials

Faceglat – Sadly, It’s Not Something “The Onion” Invented

There are times when the virtual world seems very real. I know that I consider my fellow writers on Gear Diary my friends, even though all of us have not met in person. But there’s a difference between real and virtual friendships, and I recognize the difference. Apparently, for some very orthodox Jews, there is no difference, and that’s what Faceglat is for. Effectively, it’s a Facebook-style website, but it’s gender-separated. Women and men maintain separate Faceglat areas, just as they would in a real-life gathering. On the surface, it’s not that weird, but if you stop and really think…

News

Belkin’s Cooking with iPad Kitchen Accessories

I’ve written it before and I’ll write it again, the iPhone and the iPad are like eRorschachs; the device and what it can do changes depending upon what app you are using. Want a school device? It is one. Want a good GPS? It can handle it. And the list goes on and on. And as the iPad becomes useful in more and more settings the accessories that make it even better matter more and more. Belkin understands that the iPad is a great device for the kitchen at Pepcom’s Holiday Extravaganza I got a first hand look at three…

Editorials

1825 Days Since We Began, and We’re Just Getting Started!

Gear Diary v1.0 circa 2006, courtesy of the WayBack Machine Five years ago, I stepped off a virtual precipice and left the safety of my regular writing gig at The Gadgeteer to start my own personal blog, an idea that was born while riding on the back of an elephant in Thailand. With the help of Joel Evans, formerly of Geek.com and now with CronkSoftware.com, I learned how to work with WordPress, a relatively new blogging platform that was totally different from the “Ruby on Rails” system I was used to. My first Hello World post on Gear Diary ran late at…

Reviews

Review: Fujitsu ScanSnap S1100 Instant PDF Document Scanner

As I have moved further and further away from using paper and pen and more and more into eEverything having a good, high-speed scanner has become increasingly important. My Fujitsu ScanSnap S1500 is my workhorse. It handles up to 50 sheets of paper at a time and does duplex scanning. When I am “covering” a book to an eVersion (a laborious process that starts with me cutting the binding off of it) this is the tool for the job. The NeatDesk Desktop Scanner (reviewed here) is perfect when I have a few pages or receipts to scan. When I am…

Music Diary, News

Music Diary Notes: MOG Introduces FreePlay!

One of the reasons that Spotify became so popular was … well, because it was FREE. From a PC, with some ads, you could listen to just about anything you wanted to hear. Of course, over the last couple of years Spotify has dramatically trimmed their offerings for free users and put on ever-increasing restrictions to move them to paid subscribers. Now MOG has introduced a free model called ‘FreePlay’, that isn’t just better than anything Spotify has offered, it is simply a brilliant way to deal with a free usage model! Here is the announcement and details from their…

eBooks, Editorials

Amazon’s Proposed eBook Subscription Service — a Round Peg in a Square Hole?

The Wall Street Journal weighed in over the weekend with a very interesting and surprising rumor. Supposedly, Amazon has been shopping an “ebook subscription service” around to publishers, in an effort to bundle ebooks with Prime membership. Sort of like Netflix for eBooks. The closest analog to this is the old “Book of the Month Club” type deals, but this is definitely a step up. It benefits consumers, but does it actually benefit the business of selling books? First, let’s look at the specifics, as far as they’re known right now according to the Journal: Amazon.com Inc. is talking with book…

September 2011