2011 | Gear Diary

Your AT&T iPhone Data Usage Is Unusually High? Maybe This Is Why

Image courtesy of Productivity 501 We all have iPhones in our house. For the kids and Sami, I got the lowest data plans, because they’re all on the wifi all the time. But weirdly, every month, Maggie’s phone was approaching and going over the limit. At first, after talking with the AT&T support folks, it seemed that it was just because she was going outside the range of our WiFi modem–which is not that tough, honestly; it’s only a little 2Wire job–and so the phone was flipping her requests to the 3G network. So I disabled 3G on her phone. But…

Reviews

Laptop Gear Review: The Acme Made Clutch

Two years ago Judie reviewed Acme Made’s Courier laptop bag. Her conclusion I am really impressed with just about everything the ACME MADE Courier delivers. This bag is such a beauty; but it is also an amazingly light workhorse with plenty of pockets, compartments, and an impressive carrying capacity. If you are searching for a laptop bag that doesn’t look like all the others – and that doesn’t compromise function at the expense of form, then the Courier may be the bag for you! I loved the look of the Courier and was grateful when the company sent one in…

Reviews

iPad Case Review: AViiQ Smart Case for iPad 2

As we’ve written previously on here on the site there is a lot to like about Apple’s Smart Covers. They are thin, they are light, they function as a two position stand, and they have the really neat automatic sleep/awake functionality built into them. At the same time, they do nothing to protect the back and sides of the iPad two. There are many who don’t worry all that much about scratching up their iPad. Their approach is simply this–the iPad is meant to be used and Apple slimmed it down for a reason. Why bulk it up unnecessarily. I…

Editorials

A Cohen-Family 4th of July Mystery Solved, Thanks to Judie and Ancestry.com

Grandpa Alex “Sandor” Cohen Judie has actively been building her family tree and discovering the various connections in her large extended family for years. It even turns out her family lineage and Kevin’s crossed paths a number of generations ago, but from what she tells me, that is fairly common when you have family lines that haave been in the US for hundreds of years, coming down through the same states at around the same time. As she wrote about in this post regarding ancestry.com’s Macintosh software, she has a remarkably large family tree that’s been put together over the…

News & Features

Skooba Design Introduces the Cable Stable Mini; a Place for Everything, and Everything in Its Place!

If you are still tucking all of your loose cables and supplies into the bottomless pit that makes up your favorite bag, then you seriously ought to take a look at the new Skooba Design Cable Stable Mini. Smaller sibling to the Cable Stable DX, the Cable Stable Mini is designed “to carry a basic assortment of power cords, adapters and other small accessories, and zips shut into a compact, (9 x 5.5 x 1.5 inch) “book” that slips easily into a laptop case, messenger bag, backpack or suitcase.” You won’t be able to help yourself from becoming more organized,…

Events, Vehicles & Gear

Forward with Ford: Safety, Innovation, & Being Green!

I recently joined a group of online and traditional media for the “Forward With Ford” event at Ford’s Dearborn facility for a multi-day event covering trends and technologies that Ford is addressing. Before attending, I was offered the choice of exploring three of the following sessions; I chose the ones with stars next to them. ?Living Green As gasoline prices continue to rise, fuel efficiency has become an even more important purchase factor for consumers looking at buying a new vehicle. In the first four months of 2011, small cars sales jumped from 19% to 25% in the United States….

Vehicles & Gear

Chevy Camaro Convertible Hot As a Firecracker

This is my last Chevy Camaro review this year I promise. Maybe. Arriving just in time for the official launch of summer was this blazing redhot Victory Red Camaro Convertible. And as luck would have it we are celebrating the second hottest June ever right here in North Central Texas. Wonderful. What that means is that either I have to be an early riser or a night owl to enjoy some top-down driving in this gorgeous creature. That or I can just sit on my porch with a cold beverage and stare at her for a while. This vehicle arrived…

Music Diary, Reviews

Music Diary Notes: A Baker’s Dozen of Great Jazz Covers of Beatles Songs

No sooner had my Music Diary Retrospective: A Magical Mystery Tour of the Beatles Catalog been posted last year, I got an email from someone saying that they were surprised given my love and heavy coverage of jazz (including the recent Rubber Soulive by Soulive), that I didn’t list any jazz covers of Beatles songs. I thought about doing something but got busy with other things, and then this week I was enjoying the excellent George Benson record ‘The Other Side of Abbey Road’ and thought it was definitely still worth doing! I won’t even begin to try an exhaustive…

News & Features

You Suspected They Were the Same Movie … Here’s Proof!

I previously looked at how unsurprisingly music from the same songwriting factories … gasp … sounds alike. But the music industry isn’t the only group pushing out me-too efforts with just enough star power and a low enough budget that even a modest box office take will generate decent profits. Perhaps the worst thing is how these ’bouts of unoriginality’ tend to come in waves – there were buddy-cop movies in the early 90’s, remakes of 60’s TV in the late 90’s, generic RomComs in the early 2000s, and now we have a new twist: buddy romcoms which return to…

News & Features

Wakemate May Help You Wake up Feeling More Refreshed

Wakemate looks like an interesting device that promises to help you get a better night’s rest. Wakemate 2, works with software that runs on iOS, Blackberry and Android devices. To use it, you just set the 20 minute window that you want to wake up in and slip the band on. The band will then keep track of your movements and trigger the alarm to wake you at just the right time; it promises to help you feel more refreshed. They have also included a way for you to report your activities, like going to the gym and how…

Reviews

Review: Monster Turbine Pearl High Performance In-Ear Speakers

Whether watching a movie, playing games or listening to music, many of us spend a lot of time with some sort of headphones in our ears. A while back I believed that the ubiquitous original iPod offerings were good enough. Later, I realized they were awful and bought some in ears buds. At the time, however, I still bought budget products. I didn’t think I needed more. I mean, I just needed them for music while I run or mow or ride on a bus, how can spending more on headphones make it that much better. I gradually worked up…

News & Features

Random Cool Stuff: Your Saliva Can Reveal Your Age!

We know that our DNA holds the fingerprint to our entire physical makeup, but what about our age and the things that have happened to us through the years? Apparently we can even learn some of THAT through our DNA according to new research! According to a study from UCLA: During normal development, DNA in your body gets what’s called methylated. Small chemicals called methyl groups bind to the DNA, helping to determine which genes become active. But the patterns of methylation change as we grow older. Which was a clue that measuring methylation might give away age. The researchers…

Editorials

Capitalism Versus the Independent Bookstore

Seattle Mystery Bookshop created quite the tempest in a teapot this past week. They’re a small independent bookstore in, you guessed it, Seattle. Seattle is also the home of Amazon.com, and it’s clear from SMB’s attitude that they are not happy to have Bezos and Company in their backyard. In fact, Seattle Mystery Bookshop so thoroughly hates Amazon.com that they refuse to carry books or handle author signings by Amazon-published authors. Why? Because Amazon is a Big Evil Corporation. To best illustrate this debate, you need to start with the email exchange between the bookshop and the unnamed author. The…

Game Diary, Reviews

PC Game Review: Duke Nukem Forever

I recently did a retrospective review on Duke Nukem 3D, so that experience was fresh in my mind as I loaded up Duke Nukem Forever and played it. One of the reasons I wanted to do that was because it is very easy for faded memories to turn into inaccurate assessments and then into unrealistic expectations – so by playing Duke Nukem 3D in 2011 I was able to temper my 15-year old expectations for Duke Nukem Forever with the reality of the prior game. So what are my thoughts? Read on and find out! The Hype: Duke Nukem Forever…

Editorials

LG G2X Screen Bleeding Issues Continue; No More Returns Accepted at T-Mobile

(If you aren’t familiar with the ongoing issues Francis has had with his G2X, be sure to see his initial explanation here: Original G2X Screen Bleed Article) Last week I wrote up a quick post about sending in my G2X to T-Mobile due to excessive screen bleeding issues. After receiving a new phone, returning a phone, and two more chats with T-Mobile representatives I’m sitting here with the same phone I started out with. If you are unaware of the screen bleeding issues check out my post here, or pretty much any G2X forum anywhere on the web and you are…

Music Diary

Music Diary Songs of Note: The Earliest Full Length Duke Ellington Concert Film

This is simply amazing stuff – I have been listening all afternoon in the background at work, and the video and sound quality are excellent! This is a full-length concert from 1958, appparently the earliest known such event recorded on film! A couple of years earlier Duke had experienced what he called his ‘second birth’ at Newport, a concert famously recorded and available on CD. Here is the full blog post: The film I’ve put on my YouTube channel features the earliest known filmed full-length concert by one of the 20th Century’s greatest songwriters and bandleaders. Filmed at Amsterdam’s famed…

Reviews

Blue Microphone Yeti Pro Review

Blue Microphone has consistently impressed me with their line up of microphones. From consumer USB microphones to professional units that plug into existing sound systems, the company puts out quality devices. This time, Blue Microphone took my favorite USB offering, the Yeti, and added a professional twist thanks to an option that now lets you plug it into professional audio equipment. Yeti Pro on Left, Yeti on Right As you can see, the new Yeti Pro looks almost the same as the original with two exceptions. The first is a very obvious color and texture change that yields a textured…

Game Diary, Reviews

Game System Review: Nintendo 3DS: Part 2

Nintendo 3DS users can finally use the online feature update including the eShop, 3D videos, and a Nintendo DSi to 3DS transfer with more Web content to come.

Music Diary, Reviews

Music Diary Review: Pat Metheny – What’s It All About (2011)

For whatever psychological reason, songs we heard growing up stick with us throughout our life – whether or not we really liked them as kids! I can still sing along with Bobby Vinton and Neil Diamond songs that I didn’t like then. But songs we did enjoy or struck a chord with us at a special time remain core to our development. Again, regardless of what musical directions we head on, these songs of our youth are indelibly burned into our brains. Pat Metheny has made it clear that while he has been widely influenced by Miles Davis, Ornette Coleman…

Gear Bits

Toshiba Thrive Tablet Gets a “Special” Sneak Peek Unboxing via YouTube

Image courtesy of Gizmodo If you’ve seen one unboxing video, then you’ve seen well….Unboxing videos are a great first look at a device but Toshiba is stepping it up with their latest Sneak Peek. I saw this first on my twitter timeline and after a few dozen RT’s I figured it was worth a look. The video steps out of the normal boundaries of unboxing and adds some serious creativity. Even though The actual device is not even shown in the video, it’s definitely worth two minutes of your life. The Thrive is Toshiba’s first Android tablet, and it has a…

Reviews

T-Mobile HTC Sensation Android Phone Review

It is increasingly difficult to review phones running the Android operating system these days. After all, there seems to be a new Android handset every other day and, more and more, the difference between one and another of them can be rather small. This is an even bigger challenge when you look at the field of Android tablets, since their specs seem to be exactly the same with only the subtlest of differences from one to the next. There are, of course, factors that can weigh into which Android phone one chooses. Among them, of course: How large is the…