2012

With $99 XBOX Subscription Bundle, Microsoft REALLY Enters the Smartphone Gaming Era!

Image courtesy GamesLive OK, so maybe the title is more than a bit of a stretch, but look at it this way: what product costs more to make than what you pay to buy it, but that lowered cost is subsidized by a two-year monthly contract? A cell phone … and now an XBOX360 bundle including the Kinect according to a report from TheVerge. Check out the details (emphasis mine): Microsoft is planning to launch a $99 Xbox console package with a monthly subscription as early as next week, according to our sources. The software giant will offer the 4GB…

eBooks

Target Ends Their Kindle Chapter

Amazon and Target used to be good buddies. Amazon helped run Target’s website, Target was the first place outside of Amazon.com to sell Kindles. It looks like that friendship is over, as Target has announced rather abruptly that mid-May they will be dropping the entire Kindle line from Target stores due to a “conflict of interest”. However, arch-rival NOOK will be still be carried by Target, making it clear this is specific to Amazon. So what changed? Target isn’t saying, and neither is Amazon, but it isn’t hard to read between the lines here. Amazon was the big winner…

News & Features

Dell Unveils High Performance XPS and Vostro Computer Series

Dell keeps working hard to add value to the lines of desktop and laptop computers for home and business use, and as part of that initiative today Dell has announced new entries into the XPS and Vostro lines. These new desktop and laptop computers offer options targeted towards pretty much everyone – families, multimedia users and businesses. The new systems start as low as $549 and are available through Dell.com now. Here are the details from Dell: The XPS 8500 Desktop: Advanced Performance for CreativesThe XPS 8500 desktop delivers a superb user experience for creatives who demand uncompromising performance, whether…

Gear Bits

They May Be Slackers, but They Sure Are a Class Act

Online services go down. That’s a fact of life. Heck, even we have had our share of downtime but thankfully, as of last night, much of it is a thing of the past. Well it turns out that Slacker Radio ran into a bump in the road last month. From Friday, April 13 until Saturday, April 14 some customers encountered a service disruption. Some! Not all or even most customers had an issue, and it only lasted for a day; it happens. I didn’t even notice the issue, so it wasn’t even an issue for me, but clearly it was an…

News & Features

Mother’s Day is Almost Here, and You Know that Mom Loves Her Gear!

Still debating what you should get the woman who loved you first for Mother’s Day? Look no further; we are here to help … Eers PCS-150 Eers PCS-150 are “high-end headphones with a special twist”. Carly reviewed these amazing headphones and loved them. The music-loving parent will too. Here’s what they offer… Custom-fitted earphones in only 4 Minutes! Single driver, dynamic speaker Single button in-line microphone compatible with all mobile devices Crisp, detailed sound Excellent Frequency response with hard driving bass Safe and Comfortable SonoFit™ Fitting Process. Custom-fitted shape creates Sound Isolation “Acoustic Seal” Secure fit so earphones do not…

Music Diary, News & Features

Spotify (Finally) Launches iPad App!

Spotify today announced and released their app for the iPad. And it is pretty much what you would expect – the same core functionality, but optimized for the larger screen. But based on my limited playing around I find that – as is true with many apps – the user experience provided by the larger screen opens up already existing functionality to entirely new possibilities. Here is the press release: Today we’re extremely proud to present our native iPad app in all its green-hued glory. Features include: • Retina graphics for iPad – dazzling display, razor sharp images, richer colours…

Game Diary, Reviews

Mario Party 9 for Nintendo Wii Review

This Wii-exclusive, multiplayer game uses a board game base as mini-games, rewarded with mini-stars, spread across the landscape for all-ages fun.

Testing Nissan's 2012 Armada Platinum 4x4 Brought on Some 'Vuja De'

Vehicles & Gear

Testing Nissan’s 2012 Armada Platinum 4×4 Brought on Some ‘Vuja De’

As soon as I slid behind the wheel of Nissan Armada full-size SUV in Platinum 4×4 trim I was overcome with a weird sense of deja vu, as in, “Didn’t I just review one of these?” Yes – and no. I have had the Nissan Titan pickup and a 2011 and 2012 Infiniti QX56 luxury SUV (which, by the way, received a makeover) in the past year so technically one could surmise I had reviewed the Nissan Armada already. The Armada utilizes the same F-Alpha platform underpinning the Titan pickup and the QX models but to be fair (and as…

Gear Bits

Dark Knight Rises Final Trailer

It has become a common tactic for a film studio to attach a trailer for a hotly anticipated release to help bolster interest in another release. It was already widely known that the final trailer for ‘The Dark Knight Rises’ was planned to show with ‘The Avengers’. But now that ‘The Avengers’ is breaking records in its international release and seem assured a tremendous box office, Warner Brothers has released the final trailer to YouTube! And based on the trailer … this might be the best entry into the Dark Knight series yet! Why wait for the Avengers … check…

Reviews

AT&T’s HTC One X Android Smartphone

HTC has really upped their game with the new HTC One line of Android smartphones. Each of the three devices in the series looks great, is super fast and offers a range of features that makes them some of the best smartphones currently (or soon) available. Judie had a chance to see them they day they were announced at Mobile World Congress, and I spent some quality time with them the next morning. We were both impressed. A few weeks later I got my hands on the T-Mobile-branded HTC One S. I liked the look… and the feel… and found…

Reviews

Aranez Swivel New iPad 3 Leather Case Review

This is not the first time we have had the opportunity to look at one of the gorgeous leather cases offered by Aranez. We reviewed their Kangaroo Leather case for the iPad 2 (read it here) along with as their great-looking Mirage case for the iPhone 4 (read it here). We’ve always been impressed with their design, commitment to creating products that look good and work well, and their overall approach as they vie for market-share in the ever-more crowded world of iOS cases and accessories. This time out is no exception. Their new Aranez Swivel New iPad 3 Leather…

Gear Bits

How Can Brick & Mortar Stores Get Better and Stay in Business?

Going through my feeds yesterday, I cam across a piece by Josh Smith on Gottabemobile.com on “3 Ways Retail Can Embrace Mobile to Profit and Thrive” and it got me thinking: Is that all there is? There has to be more and I thought up of a few more things that can not only make the shopping experience better by embracing mobile and technology but help the business too. Free WiFi Josh said in his article that Free WiFi would be cost prohibitive; yet I’ve seen many stores do this, and I think it’s a brilliant idea. Regional grocery change…

Editorials

Unintended Consequences of ‘Play’-ing Around!

Early this week I saw link to a couple of new music making apps for Android and wanted to check them out, so I clicked and … BLOCKED! That is right – suddenly I couldn’t access Google Play. I went ahead and asked one of our local IT folks and he said that in general their filters will block download sites, game and music digital download sites and so on, but similar to Amazon’s MP3 and video sites the Google site managed to make it through the filters due to the way the site evolved. But once the name changed…

Gear Bits

That Classic High Schooler Summer Camp Job is Now Filled With a PhD Graduate

Anyone who thinks that economic woes are behind us needs to check out this recent article from the Atlantic. It talks about how many recent graduates are unable to find a suitable job based on their education. About 1.5 million, or 53.6 percent, of bachelor’s degree-holders under the age of 25 last year were jobless or underemployed, the highest share in at least 11 years. In 2000, the share was at a low of 41 percent, before the dot-com bust erased job gains for college graduates in the telecommunications and IT fields. Out of the 1.5 million who languished in…

Reviews

Eers PCS-150 Custom Fitted Earbuds Review

I am not much of an audiophile. When I grab headphones, it is usually to walk the dog or run on a treadmill, and for the last several years my headphone rotation has been between whichever pair of apple earbuds are lying around, and a pair of wraparound headphones I am pretty sure I paid $9.99 for…in 2008. So it has been quite the eye-opening experience testing the Eers PCS-150, a pair of high-end headphones with a special twist. What makes the Eers so special is that these are no ordinary earbuds. Instead, you use a special kit called the…

Vehicles & Gear

2012 Honda Ridgeline puts ‘Sport’ in Sport Utility Truck

I seem to be taking delivery of a lot of trucks here lately but I don’t mind one bit as I reside in the No. 1 truck market in the world (AKA Texas). Texans use pickups for much more than just work vehicles. For many families these are the only vehicle as they have become that utilitarian. And manufacturers have broadened the choices across the pickup lines to meet individual needs of as many buyers as they possibly can. Down here you would think it is the Texas version of the “New Deal” paraphrased to “a pickup in every garage.”…

Gear Bits

Amateur Radio Apps for Android

A mobile phone is a valuable tool that can be used for many things, even Amateur Radio. I thought I would provide a short over view of some of the apps that are available on Google Play. As there are always new apps, I will probably do another post as I come across them. If you have apps that I miss, let me know so I can check them out. EchoLink for Android In my post regarding on what kind of ham radio to buy, I briefly mentioned Echolink. Echolink is a internet based method for communicating on ham radio repeaters all…

Music Diary, Reviews

Music Diary Semi-Quavers on Some Early 2012 Releases in Pop & Rock

As I have mentioned before, I love listening to loads of new music across a variety of genres, and have very much appreciated how many folks have shared new music with me since I have started writing music reviews for Gear Diary. I started off with full, large song-by-song reviews (whole notes), and then started to also do somewhat shorter reviews that don’t pick apart each song (half-notes). Then I started a series where I would have a shorter review for a number of albums that also targets a favored song and target audience (quarter note), but have found that…

News & Features

Hands on with Motorola Droid 4 Pre-ICS ROM Update!

Verizon and Motorola are notoriously slow at getting updates, which was something I knew when I bought my Droid 4. They laid out their plans for the Ice Cream Sandwich Android operating system for their various phones, which is reportedly about to start. As a preliminary step, Verizon has started seeding updates to several phones getting the ICS update in the coming weeks. A friend at work just got the update for their Droid Razr earlier this week, and I subsequently got the one for my Droid 4. As usual, the download showed up on Android fan-sites well before most…

Reviews

The WaterField Indy iPad Bag Review

I’m not going to get into all the obvious movie allusions I could make about the WaterField Indy iPad Bag; suffice it to say, the bag has rugged appeal with just enough refinement, and even when brand new, it looks like something that might have been handed down to you from a favorite uncle. That’s actually a selling point, I think. Measuring 10.3″ wide x 12″ tall x 1″ deep, the Indy weighs 17 ounces empty. It is composed of tumbled and distressed leather, which comes complete with scratches, imperfections, and other miscellaneous markings; this means that from the beginning,…

Reviews

TouchRetouch HD for iOS review

Call me jaded, but it is increasingly rare that an iPhone or iPad app really grabs my attention. It is even less common that ones makes me go “Wow, oh wow. Wow wow wow wow wow wow !!” But when an iPad application can render the image you see at the top of this post… when the actual image is this one… And it can all be done in a matter of minutes using just your iPad and a finger… Now THAT is impressive. And THAT is what the app touchRetouch HD can do. The app is surprisingly simple to…

« 1 … 56 57 58 59 60 … 91 »