2011 | Gear Diary

To Bionic or Not to Bionic

I have been angsting over a new phone for some time now. My original Droid is barely hanging on, and I am due for an upgrade. It was disappointing that Verizon didn’t pick up the Galaxy S II along with the other carriers, but the Motorola Droid Bionic hung on the horizon. I have been trolling various sites for reviews, but they all seemed to sum up with one word: Meh. All of them are quick to reassure readers the Bionic isn’t a bad phone, it is just…not great. In fact, most of the reviews seem to end with similar…

News & Features

Facebook for Android Updates Brings Return to Tablets!

One of the annoying things about tablets is lack of support for smartphone apps. For iPad users the ‘1x/2x’ screen doubling for iPhone apps is the bane of their existence, and for Android tablet users they often find that their favorite apps simply aren’t available on the Android Market. Facebook is one of the worst offenders of this – though they ironically have one of their best versions for the now defunct webOS platform! Today brings a fresh update for Facebok for Android solves one of those issues by restoring it to the tablet market for Android devices! AndroidPolice notes…

News & Features

Are High-Energy Cartoons Rotting Your Kids’ Brains?

As a child I remember waiting anxiously for Saturday morning to watch cartoons like the Bugs Bunny / Road Runner hour. This (obviously) was well before the era of cartoon-specific channels and 24 hour programming, so our choices were far fewer. Yet even then adults said that watching that stuff was ruining our minds, that the Three Stooges was creating a culture of violence, and that Batman was infusing us with bad pun-filled expressions! According to a report from FOXNews there might be some truth – at least to the thoughts on the impact of cartoons: The problems were seen…

Reviews

iPad and Tablet Accessory Review: AluPen and AluCube

Last year Judie reviewed JustMobile’s AluPen. She liked it a lot. Then, last spring, Just Mobile introduced a stand for the AluPen. The AluCube was just that, an aluminum cube that serves as a perfect stand for the AluPen. To my mind it didn’t make all that much sense to buy a separate stand for a tablet stylus but when I heard they had created a deluxe package and were selling the AluPen and AluCube together I was interested. Just Mobile was kind enough to send a review sample so lets take a closer look. From Just Mobile: AluPen and…

Editorials

The “Other” Reason the BlackBerry PlayBook Got No Play

I attended RIM’s rollout of the BlackBerry PlayBook and they were kind enough to give each of us in attendee one to take home and use. Since that time I have taken the device out of its box every week or so to play with it a bit. Unfortunately, after using it for a brief time back into the box it goes. Time and again this is what happens.

Reviews

Magellan RoadMate 9055-LM GPS Review

Smartphones and tablets are “category killers” that have decimated numerous standalone products. As I have written previously, from one perspective the iPhone and the iPad are like “Rorschach devices”. They are “blank slates” (pun totally intentional) that can take the form and function of a wide range of devices depending on whatever software they are currently running. That means that, with the right apps, they can double as a camera and do photo and video editing on the fly. The result has been the demise of the Flip camera and some serious “hurt” on the point-and-shoot camera market. (Once the…

Editorials

On September 11, 2011

In each of our lives there are events that are so powerful, for good or for bad, that they leave an indelible mark on us as individuals. The same holds true in our national memory. The assassination of President Kennedy, the Challenger disaster and now, the event that took place ten years ago today, are among the those moments when the question “Where were you when you first heard about or saw what was taking place?” is easily answered. I remember EXACTLY where I was, what I was doing and how I responded that morning and I suspect many of…

Reviews

iPad Accessory Video Review: The ZaggFolio and ZaggKeys Solo

ZAGG makes some great accessories and I was intrigued when they released a keyboard folio case for the iPad 2. I was even more intrigued when I heard that they would be releasing the ZAGGkeys Solo, the keyboard folio minus the folio since it meant you could buy a standalone iPad keyboard that has specialized shortcuts just for the iPad AND a built-in stand. When I reached out to Zagg I was told the ZAGGkeys solo would ship in a short while OR I could take a closer look at the ZAGGfolio and just focus more on the keyboard since…

Editorials

After 100 Years, The Art of Steuben Glass Comes Crashing to an End

The image above is from the movie Risky Business. Aside from launching the career of Tom Cruise, there was also a critical plot item: an expensive glass egg on the mantle. That egg was made by the artists of the Steuben Glassworks in Corning NY. This week the parent company Schottenstein announced that Steuben would be closing its doors forever: Glass art manufacturer Steuben Glass Company, which has been based in Corning, N.Y., 37 miles southwest of Ithaca, since 1903, will close in November, parent company Schottenstein Stores Corp. announced Aug. 31 in a press release. “The difficult economy, declining…

Editorials

Blinded by the Bling You CAN Have Too Much Swarovski Crystal!

BLINDED BY THE BLING Wallis Simpson once said, “You can never be too rich, too thin or have too much Swarovski Crystal bling on your mobile device.” Ok, Simpson didn’t say that last part and for good reason- you CAN have too much Swarovski Crystal bling on your mobile device. We’ve got the proof! Seriously, look at this… Now I’m all for the cute concept of a handset that plugs into the 3.5mm headphone jack on your mobile device. It is silly, fun, an attention grabber and, oh yeah, it keeps your phone’s proximity sensor from acting wonky. NativeUnion sells…

Yum Log

Yum Log: Looks Like Candy Grandma Gave You, Tastes Like… Bacon

Have you ever put something in your mouth expecting one flavor and, instead, you get something totally different? Even if the actual flavor isn’t BAD the fact that you were expecting something else results in the taste being, at the minimum, jarring. Well Halloween isn’t THAT far off and these could be part of the fun this year. Here’s the deal with this delicious LOOKING bacon-flavored candy. These red and white striped hard candies look just like the ones that grandma used to put in her fancy candy dish for the holidays. But, my oh my, would grandma be in for…

News & Features

Hey Judie, Your Next Phone Just Called…

Judie, forget about the Vertu you reviewed last June and are using as your daily-driver. Serously, THIS phone makes THAT phone look like… like… a Moto Razr. Behold the Æ+Y PHONE. With a price STARTING at $10,425 it is sure to impress and make pretty much every other phone feel inadequate. No, it doesn’t have the cool concierge service the Vertu offers but hey, with such fine materials, and handcrafted artistry they had to cut corners somewhere. The phone is on pre-order with a gold option also available. As the site explains, Æsir is currently taking pre-orders for the first production quantity…

News & Features

MOG Music Service Adds Mac Desktop Player

I have been happily using MOG subscription music service for a little over a month. For most of my life I have been a huge collector of music. I never thought I would quit keeping physical media, much less give up owning a copy, in favor of a streaming service. Long story short, I am in love with the service! And it just keeps getting better. The MOG staff seems to be interested in listening to, and acting on, feedback from users. One thing I had requested was a resident Mac desktop app instead of the web interface. Well, the…

Vehicles & Gear

2011 Acura TSX Sport Wagon in a Class (Almost) By Itself

Where have all the wagons gone? Long time passing… (Apologies to Pete Seeger and his classic tune from 1961.) Apparently station wagons fell from the good graces of the auto-buying public being replaced first with the minivan, then the SUV and now the crossover and hatchback. But for those who have not lost the love for the “family truckster” look no further than your closest luxury car dealer. Seems the place to find this segment is in the higher-end markets as brands such as Acura, Cadillac, and Mercedes all offer the long, low “sedans with a greenhouse.” Volkswagen still offers…

Editorials

Change is in the Air, and it is Not Just the Coming of Fall

Let’s face it, the iPad is eating everyone else’s lunch and that not only goes for other tablets but for traditional computers as well. MG Siegler has a rather interesting and excellent post over on TechCrunch the other day that makes this point rather well. In it he argues that the iPad represents a Clear and Present Danger to the traditional PC market. The reason? Unlike those of us who write for a living (whether as bloggers or… say… clergy) and need something that we can use to write hundreds or thousands of words, the vast majority of people can…

Reviews

iPad 2 Case Review: Griffin IntelliCase

How many different cases can there possibly be for the iPad 2 before reaching the saturation point? That’s one of the questions that needs to be asked at this point as the iPad 2 reaches the six month mark. The short answer, of course, is plenty since there seems to be no slowdown in sales of Apple’s second-generation tablet. Griffin has a nice assortment of cases available for the iPad and I’ve been checking one of them, the Griffin IntelliCase, out for the past week or so. How intelligent IS the $59.99 case? Let’s take a look and you can…

News & Features

Free Accounts Evernote Can Now Handle a Variety of File Types

One of the things have has differentiated free Evernote accounts from paid accounts has been the ability to upload a variety of file types. With paid accounts you could upload a wide range of file types… with free accounts you could only upload text, image, audio and PDF files. As of today Evernote has removed that restriction. As a blog post on the Evernote site explains, The reason we lifted our file restriction is that we want to allow our users to store everything related to an experience or memory in a single, visual, searchable place. Note size and monthly…

Reviews

Notebook PC Review: Hewlett Packard Pavilion dm1z Laptop

Last year I looked at the HP Mini 5103, which was a traditional netbook in many ways, but also came packing the nVidia ION chipset … and a $750 price tag. In many ways that system represented the death of the traditional netbook, which was followed by what many call ‘notbooks’ – computers that offer sub-12″ screens and easy portability with great battery life, but also with reasonably low-end notebook performance and a palatable price tag. The HP Pavilion dm1z laptop falls into that category, and I was thrilled with the opportunity to see what I could get from a…

Reviews

Android Phone Review: Motorola Droid Pro

Given how much I love my iPad and iPod Touch, and that I have constantly had a top-end Mac laptop as well as a PC laptop for nearly two decades, many people assume I would use an iPhone. I don’t – I have used an Android phone since I got the Motorola Droid as my first smartphone when it was released. Since then I have tried the HTC Touch Pro 2, Palm Pre Plus, Palm Pixi Plus, and Droid 2 before settling on the Droid Pro as my ‘go to’ device. The Droid Pro is nearly a year old yet…

Game Diary, Reviews

Android Game Review: Virtual City HD

Late last year I reviewed the iPhone and iPad versions of Virtual City, noting the huge addition of the sandbox mode in the iPad version and the huge playability increase in the larger screen version. Since then there have been updates made to the game, and now it has arrived on Android. Read on to find out what I thought! The Hype: Build the city of your dreams – a residential paradise or an industrial center. Build dwelling houses and industrial buildings. Produce goods and deliver them to the shopping malls. Setup mass-transit system to take your citizens to places…

News & Features

HP TouchPad … Prepare for the Final Onslaught

It is hard to believe that the #2 Tablet in the world was released and cancelled within six weeks … but that is the situation with the HP TouchPad. ‘Soft launched’ in early July and formally launched a couple of weeks later, the webOS tablet was cancelled with the entire webOS product line by mid-August and existing inventory sold off quickly in a ‘fire sale’. In early August Staples had a big sale paired with a ‘weekend coupon’ from HP for $100 off, making the TouchPad a delicious $299! Yet I didn’t buy one, and described why here. I also…