June 2013

Soundfreaq Sound Step Lightning Offers Multiple Ways to Connect to Your Music

If you are looking for a small speaker that gives you maximum flexibility, then you will want to check out the new Sound Step Lightning from Soundfreaq. The Sound Step Lightning not only lets you dock your Lightning-equipped iPhone, iPad or iPod touch, but it also offers the flexibility of Bluetooth wireless connectivity. The speaker features a 2.1 speaker configuration with a dedicated sub-woofer and Soundfreaq’s proprietary UQ3 spatial sound enhancement. The result is the ability of the speaker to “deliver natural bass and stereo separation, unique for a compact speaker”.

Events, Game Diary

Wrapping Up E3 – Promising Video Game Consoles and Games Were Plentiful

This year’s Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) at the Los Angeles Convention Center (June 11 through 13) featured endless announcements about highly anticipated gaming entertainment, which hopes to increase the video game market’s size and profitability later this year…just in time for the holidays. While there we saw numerous presentations and got to see an assortment of new and upcoming hardware. As mentioned in Michael Anderson’s recent article regarding the PC role in console gaming, both are important. Nintendo got even more added control by not issuing a live presentation yet enjoying their regular “booth” presence at the show. Microsoft and Sony…

News

Why Settle for a Stationary Hot Tub When You Can Set Sail with the HotTug?

Hot tubs. A lot of people seem to really like them. Hot tubs are great for relaxing and letting the troubles of the day melt away, but they have one big drawback: they are immobile. That means while you are relaxing in your hot tub and looking around, you will be looking at the same scenery time and time again. Seems to me that might get boring after a while. Why settle for locational ennui, when some clever designers in the Netherlands have developed a way to enjoy your hot tub AND get new vistas each and every time? Introducing…

News

Wrap Yourself in Protection with the Insect Shield Outdoor Blanket

I enjoy working outdoors, camping, hiking, taking the family on picnics, not to mention toil in my garden. What I dislike however, is the hordes of mosquitoes, fleas, chiggers and ticks that lurk in the outdoors. They are there… waiting, just waiting to set their little vampiric jaws or proboscises upon me. Let’s face it…Nature itches! If biting and itching from these pests wasn’t bad enough, many of these itty bitty annoyances can carry a variety of serious diseases. All that can make a summer evening sitting around a campfire or an outdoor vacation much less enjoyable. The folks at…

Editorials, Gear Bits

Feedly Is Ready for the ‘Post Google Reader World’

If you log into Google Reader you will get the error message that Google Reader will be unavailable after July 1st. Checking your calendar you might see that date is fast approaching! Since Google announced it was killing off Reader there have been numerous articles about how to replace it with a different RSS feed reader. And in nearly every article there was a major complaint about every single alternative: none managed to replicate the simplicity and minimalism of Reader’s (old) interface while replicating the experience across platforms.

Music Diary, Reviews

Al Di Meola Remembers The Beatles with ‘All Your Life’

It is hard to imagine it now, but for jazz musicians in the 1960s, wanting to play the music of The Beatles could result in being ostracized by your peers. So it was a bold move by folks like Wes Montgomery making a Beatles album, but his career was being pushed in a pop-jazz direction by his managers so his fans were more forgiving. But for those who grew up listening to the music there was a conflict as they were trying to become established as ‘serious’ musicians while being told that there was no place in serious music for…

News

Big Gear Diary News That Comes in Little Packages…

UPDATED!!!!!! It is a big day here at Gear Diary as we welcome the newest member of the Gear Diary Team into the world. Yes, you read that right, Carly and Sarah have just become parents for the first time. Their son made his debut late this afternoon. He is gorgeous and everyone is doing great. So… Please join us in wishing the three of them our very best!!! But wait… there’s more baby news from Gear Diary since, early this morning Judie and Kevin became grandparents for the third time. Please join us in wishing THEM the very best. …

Reviews

iStabilizer Glass Car Mount Goes Along for the Ride

If you are looking for a windshield mount that will hold your smartphone with ease while offering a good degree of flexibility you will want to check out the iStabilizer Glass windshield mount for smartphones. It is part of the company’s growing line of smartphone and tablet accessories and, like all of the other products from iStabilizer, I’m rather impressed.

Game Diary, News

Apparently the Future of Consoles IS PC Gaming?!?

Everyone who has followed the E3 game conference for more than a year knows the basics – new hardware is introduced, and hot new awesome looking games are trotted out just to demonstrate how hot and awesome everything will be once it all ships. In years past some of this was done by way of screenshots and trailers … but those became known as ‘bullshots’, because it became immediately clear that none of it was actually real game screens or footage. More recently the bullshots moved to E3 product demos, in which product managers showing off games would take their…

Reviews

Blue Microphone’s Spark Digital Review – Brings Clarity to Audio Recording

If you are looking to record good audio with your computer AND your iOS device, then you will want to check out Blue Microphone’s Spark Digital. The company is proud to note that the Spark Digital is “the world’s first studio condenser microphone to offer both USB and iPad connectivity”. What that means to us as consumers and content creators is simple — if you want one microphone that does an excellent job of recording audio on both your Mac and your iPhone this is the microphone for you. At $199.95 the Spark Digital is not inexpensive but when you consider…

PJ Reef Micro Saltwater Coral Habitat for the Marine Biologist in All of Us

Crowdfunding

PJ Reef Micro Saltwater Coral Habitat for the Wannabe Marine Biologist in All of Us

I’ve been fascinated by saltwater aquariums since I was a child. Although the few I’ve seen that weren’t in city-run aquariums were usually elaborate installations inside restaurants (like Rainforest Cafe or Todai), I have seen a small number of saltwater aquariums installed in private homes. Saltwater aquariums are a very different experience from what you’d see in a freshwater aquarium, largely because of the wildly diverse and colorful fish and sea-creature species that they can maintain. But there is a further differentiator that can only be found in saltwater: live reef habitats. In the ocean, a live reef is built…

Reviews

Designed by M AL13 AeroSpace Aluminum Bumper for iPhone 5 Review

This is my kind of iPhone case. I absolutely hate bulky, oversized phone cases. This is a very personal feeling, of course, being that I don’t tend to drop my phone very often. I lean heavily towards bumper-style cases since I always keep my phone in my pocket and do not want any added bulk in the pocket of my jeans. As soon as I started opening the shipping box that this bumper came in, I was impressed by a packaging design that signified the product was designed with care. The AL13 AeroSpace Aluminum Bumper by Designed by m is…

Music Diary, News

Samsung Giving Away Jay-Z’s New Album, But Will It Buy Him #1 in Sales?

In the rap and hip-hop world, few artists loom as large as Jay-Z. Emerging in 1996 with a blockbuster debut that was as successful critically as it was commercially, he seemed to fade for a few years before emerging with the excellent ‘The Blueprint’. Then some more mediocre minor releases before what he claimed would be his last release, 2003’s ‘The Black Album’. Since then he has worked more as a producer and executive developing new artists than as an artist himself. That all changes on July 4th with the release of “Magna Carta Holy Grail”. But this one has…

Reviews

Tornado – an American Red Cross App for Android Review

After reading Travis’s post on the alerts being added to iOS, I started thinking about actual apps instead of the textual messages that the federally mandated messaging being built into the handsets. Can they do it better? I loaded another couple of apps on my phone in preparation of the last line of storms that rolled through the Columbus, Ohio area. The last line that rolled through our area was supposed to be similar to the Derecho that rolled through our area last year, so needless to say I was on alert! I loaded two additional apps to test during this…

Gear Bits

A Freakishly Prescient True Blood Parody from Sesame Street

Last night, a Facebook friend shared a Sesame Street clip from 2010 that parodied HBO’s “True Blood“, calling it “True Mud”. As you’ll see below, it’s a whole lesson in things that rhyme with mud, and it’s silly and cute. It’s also weirdly psychic, as you’ll see after the break (spoilers through Season 5 below).

Gear Bits

The Atari 800XL, My First Computer

Everyone can recall their first car, a first school, and a first phone, but today I am going to reminisce about how I first got started into computing. In 1986 my brother and I received our first computer as a gift; that computer was the Atari 800XL. Back then there were many players vying for home computing supremacy. IBM may have ruled the office with the IBM PC, and Apple may have ruled some homes and schools with the Apple II, but in most of my friends homes back in the day it was one of two computers: you were…

Health and Fitness

Have Some Coffee to Rock Your Workout – The Monday Mile

Many of us grew up with some specific ideas about soda, coffee and caffeine in general: mainly that caffeine is a diuretic; it will therefore flush fluids from your system (make you urinate) and dehydrate you. Therefore, any of those types of drinks are bad choices for athletes at any point around a workout. But like so many other things we learned growing up, there is much about that ‘common knowledge’ that is incorrect and misleading. Let’s take a look at a few reasons why perhaps your next workout drink should have caffeine!

Editorials, Game Diary

Has Gaming Changed with Our New Mobile Devices?

Since the Atari 2600 days, I have loved to play games. I went through the different versions of Nintendo systems and PlayStations, amazed at how each release became so real and advanced. Many hours were spent trying to defeat Legend of Zelda or unlock all of the cars in Gran Tourismo or getting my playbook just right in NCAA Football. Not sure hardcore gamer would ever be one of my labels, but I did have my niche in the gaming world and loved to play. My gaming habits have changed so much as of late. Of course, some of that…

Game Diary, Reviews

Blade of Darkness Review – a Classic PC Game Retro Romp

Have you ever heard of the game ‘Blade of Darkness’? Don’t worry if you haven’t – it is more of a ‘cult classic’; a game that is now more than a dozen years old but that never gained much popularity due to lousy marketing. The advertisements at the time were made before the game was finished, and it didn’t present a compelling case of why you should buy it; the steep computer requirements made it an even harder sell. I didn’t play Blade of Darkness until 2004, and after a few replays I started having issues getting it installed on…

News

Satechi USB Portable Humidifier Turns Your Water Bottles into Personal Climate Contollers

If you are a frequent traveler throughout the year, you’ve probably encountered a number of unpleasant environments where rooms or areas are so dry you might feel like your skin and sinuses decided to vacation in the Mojave Desert. Desiccation might be in order if you are a piece of jerky, but our bodies tend to prefer a fair amount of moisture. With the Satechi USB Portable Humidifier, savvy travelers can use a filtered water bottle as a moisture source to increase area humidity. No need to put up with bone-dry areas again!

Gear Bits

It Pays to Chat with Customer Service!

When we moved into our new house, we made a very unfortunate discovery. Our box spring didn’t fit up the stairs. My brother-in-law was kind enough to build us a platform bed frame for our mattress, but it still left us very low to the ground. Sarah finally got fed up last week, and I agreed to look into split box springs. I was about to give up, or buy a crappy build-it-yourself box spring from Amazon, when I happened to get a pop-up while browsing 1-800-Mattress, asking if I wanted to chat with a representative … and I am…

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