October 2011 | Gear Diary

Android Powered Tablet Review: Vinci Tab, Early Learning System for Children

There is no denying that our kids are growing up in a constantly changing digital world. My two boys have developed the same connection with gadgets and digital devices as I have, only at a much younger age. I have been careful when turning them loose with my devices but often let them play with the iPad or iPhone, and they love it. Since they could barely walk, they have been able to use our IOS devices easily and without much instruction. While most of us remember the first time we used a TRS 80 or Apple IIe in school,…

Reviews

iPhone 4S Case Review: Element Case Vapor Comp

A phone as awesome as the iPhone 4S ought to have a case that is equally awesome. Right? So when I knew my iPhone 4S was on the way, I reached out to Element Case to see what they recommended. The response? The company’s Vapor Comp would be just the thing! We’ve had a chance to check our Element Case’s offerings before but the Vapor Comp offered something new. It LOOKS like the Vapor we previously reviewed, but it has an entire non-metallic side that ensures the best signal strength possible. It also has a new bumper-type insert running along…

News

The ObiTalk Obi110 Review

Sarah and I didn’t have a landline for a long time. If people needed to reach us, they could call our cell phones. However, when we switched cable providers this summer, we found it was one of those “it’s cheaper to get the phone+WiFi+cable” bundle. Great, but we weren’t about to give away the new phone number to anyone since people knew to reach us on our cell phone numbers or my Google Voice number. But it was handy to have a dedicated handset…that’s where the ObiTalk Obi110 comes in. First, the ObiTalk service does a great deal more than…

Music Diary, News, Reviews

Music Diary Notes: The Smiths Complete (8CD Box Set)

I remember hearing The Smiths back in college when they had first come out, but since I was already deep into my avant-garde jazz I never paid all that much attention to them aside from noting the catchy jangly tunes. Later when my (future) wife and I started dating, I discovered that she was a big fan of The Smiths and had a bunch of their stuff on tape. Fast forward twenty-something years and we still listen to those same tapes and vinyl and a few digital songs I bought years ago and occasionally come across songs on Slacker. But…

News

Rocking Accessories for Fall Cookouts and Tailgating

Fall is upon us, but there are still plenty of great days left for grilling while tailgating at the game or barbecuing at home! If you want to extend your summer and bring a little bit of head-banging to your grill, then look no further than the BBQ Guitar Spatula and the BBQ Rockin’ Fork available from GAMA-GO. Both the spatula and fork are full-size heavy stainless steel utensils, and they can be had for $20 each. As an aside, they will go perfectly with the Roast My Weenie grill tool that Wayne posted about some time ago. 😉

How to Do It Yourself!

Macbook Pro Utility You NEED for Better Battery Life: gfxCardStatus

Perhaps it was because I was using the Sony Vaio S-series laptop with its 15-hour battery, but I never really looked critically at the battery life on my 2011 15″ Macbook Pro. But recently I have been using it almost exclusively and have felt that I should be getting more hours between charges. My assumption – particularly how the fans would spin up even when I was doing nothing particularly challenging – was that there was something related to the graphics card. So I looked around and found that the dynamic switching on the graphics cards will often leave the…

News

As the Global Population tops 7 Billion, Some Interesting Facts

This month the world will cross over the 7 billion mark – more than 7 billion people alive at one time on the planet by estimates. That is an amazing number – when I was born 3.5 billion was a long way off, and even when I graduated high school we were nowhere near 5 billion. Yet in spite of dwindling fertility, global population growth continues unchecked. In ‘celebration’ of the milestone, SmartPlanet has put together a list of seven things to note about this population milestone: It took humans until 1800 for the world’s population to reach 1 billion….

News

Star Wars Phantom Menace 3D Trailer Arrives, Coming to Theaters Feb. 2012

There are few things that split opinions and ignite heated debates like the Star Wars prequels, yet at least as visual storytelling they remain impressive achievements. LucasFilms has long been known to be bringing the movies back to theaters in 3D format, and now we have the first look! This weekend as one of the trailers before the (abysmal) Three Musketeers, viewers got to see the first trailer for the 3D re-release of Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace. The movie is slated to return to theaters in 3D on February 10th, 2012! Source: TheForce.net

News

HTC Giving All New Phone Buyers 5GB of DropBox for FREE!

Smartphone maker HTC has unveiled a plan with cloud storage company Dropbox to give 5GB of free cloud storage to new HTC Android phone owners. According to reports, the deal is tied to phones using HTC’s new ‘Sense 3.5’ UI overlay. Drop Box gives users 2GB for free, so this is an extra 150% for free – plus HTC will pre-load the DropBox app on all new phones. This appears to be yet another reaction to Apple’s iCloud service, which offers 5GB free storage to anyone using an iOS 5 device. Microsoft offers 25GB of SkyDrive storage to Windows Phone…

News

Sound ID is Back with the Sound iD SIX, a Siri-Ready Bluetooth Headset

I have had the opportunity to review each generation of Sound iD’s Bluetooth headsets. The first was a small but excellent device and with each generation the devices have gotten better and better. Now the company is back with their Sound iD SIX Series headset and it looks great. Here’s what the company has to say about it: Sound ID redefines the Bluetooth experience with the new SIX. Destined to be your go-to headset, the SIX boasts a sleek look and more than one new audio trick, resulting in a true marriage of outstanding sound, true comfort and advanced technology….

News

HP TouchPad – Beware the (non) Deals

Just over two months ago HP created market hysteria by killing off the TouchPad tablet and then dropping the price for quick sell-off to $99 for the 16GB and $149 for the 32GB version. In a dazzling internet-breaking weekend, a variety of sites posted and quickly sold out of the TouchPad at those prices. All of which is nice history, but it is relevant because now we are starting to see some stock of the TouchPad trickling out to a few deals sites, Amazon.com and HP itself. All of this before the anticipated final rush of TouchPad inventory made to…

News

Is Apple Inadvertently Making Piracy Easier Than Ever?

“Is Apple Inadvertently Making Piracy Easier than Ever?” That’s the question I posed to the rest of the GD Editors this morning. After all, I love my music, but Michael — well he is the music guy. Here was the full hypothetical I shared: Imagine there is a musical group whose songs you love. Now imagine they came out with an album, but it wasn’t released in the US. Problem is, none of the legal streaming music services seem to offer the album either. So what if, hypothetically speaking, you were to try the app MusicDownloader from the iTunes App…

eBooks, News

Steve Jobs Biography Out Now

The 60 Minutes piece on Steve Jobs this evening was more than a bit interesting, and it gave some new insight into the man who created the amazing company that is Apple. Now the official biography is out. The easiest way to pick it up??? Through the Amazon Kindle Store [affiliate link], of course. If you read the book please make sure to share your thoughts with us below…

Gear Bits

T-Mobile Working Hard (At Apple Stores) To Fight Lack of iPhone

Poor T-Mobile. They are now the only major mobile carrier in the US not carrying the iPhone. With the release of the iPhone 4S, now AT&T, Verizon, and Sprint have the iPhone 4 and 4S. Which leaves T-Mobile as the odd man out. But T-Mobile is trying to fight back. First, they issued a press release stating that they would love to carry the iPhone, but it is up to Apple. In the same press release, they explain reasons they feel their network is superior. Don’t get me wrong – I really love T-Mobile, as does Francis. Their “4G” network…

Gear Bits

iOS 5 Tip: Am I Sending an iMessage or SMS (Text) Message?

There are several new features in Apple’s iOS 5. One of my favorites is the updated Messages application. Previously, Messages only allowed sending of SMS and MMS messages. As part of iOS 5, though, Messages can now send SMS and Text messages to phone numbers (as it always could), but can also send iMessages over a network connection, bypassing your text message plan. How do you tell which one you’re using? Well, turns out Apple made it easy to tell when you are sending each message type, visually. They use two visual cues: color and the message in the input…

News

Personalized iPhone Cases from iStylize

When my coworker was preordering his new iPhone 4S, we had a debate about colors. I was firmly on the side of black, and he said he was considering white because it stood out a bit more, and since most people have black iPhones, it eliminated that moment of “is this your phone or my phone” that happens when everyone has their iPhones on the table at the same time. Of course, you can solve this with a case, but who wants the same boring cases that everyone else picks up at the Apple store? Instead, you could snag an…

News

Results of the “What’s Your Primary eBookstore” Poll

The votes are in, and I know you’re all thrilled to learn the results of our “What’s your primary ebookstore” poll. As it turns out, Gear Diary readers break down fairly similar to what’s widely assumed about ebook demographics. Amazon’s Kindle was overwhelmingly first, with B&N pulling a solid second place, but far behind Kindle’s numbers. Meanwhile, iBooks and Kobo duked it out for the remaining share, with one vote for “Other”. So what does this mean? As I said, this was highly unscientific, and you could argue there’s a lot of factors skewing the results: our readers may be…

How to Do It Yourself!

Siri and iCloud Turn the iPhone’s Notes App into a Powerful Tool

The Notes app that is built into iOS has always struck me as a bit anemic. That’s hard for me to write, considering that my cousin works for Apple and is one of the key people involved in its development. Unfortunately… it’s kind of true. Sure, Notes is great for jotting down quick memos, but that is about it. There is very little you can actually do with it other than, well, take notes. Documents can’t be formatted. You can’t add pictures. The app doesn’t even have folders, so you can’t organize your notes. The message Apple is sending with…

Editorials

iTunes App Store Originally NOT the Plan

A bit of context or this post before we dive to the specifics. The first iPhone launched in 2007. At the time, Steve Jobs described it as a device that brought a media player, a web browser and a phone together in a single device. Jobs made it clear that he was going to “Think Different” and, therefore, there would not be any apps available for the iPhone beyond those already on the device as shipped. I was using Windows Mobile phone at the time and had a slew of applications for my devices. I looked at what I was…

Reviews

Review: TruConnect ‘Pay as You Go’ Laptop/Tablet Internet Service

Recently I stopped carrying a laptop with me when we do family travel: my Android smartphone, iPad and iPod are enough to allow me to do everything I need wherever we go. There is almost always free WiFi available, and if not I have my smartphone. But what about those in an area without WiFi access, or those who want to use a laptop or tablet in a car? For them there are wireless hotspots such as the MiFi available from most carriers – but those all require expensive monthly access charges with huge overage fees. What about the lighter…

Game Diary, Reviews

Mac Game Review: Tiny Token Empires

As more and more games hit the Mac App Store after finding success as iPad games, sometimes actual full-sized Mac games get lost in the shuffle. Take Tiny Token Empires, for example. It has a bright and charming style and ‘Match 3’ combat system that might make you think it is a simple game, but underneath there is a full sized game to match the full sized $25 price tag. Let’s take a look and see if it earns that paycheck! The Hype: Tiny Token Empires is an amazing mix-it’s a puzzle game, « Match 3 » game and turn-based…