Articles by Dan Cohen

Bluetooth Headset Review: Sound iD SIX

A few weeks ago we brought word that Sound iD was coming out with their newest Bluetooth headset the Sound iD SIX. We have reviewed the company’s previous headsets, so I was anxious to get my hands on the SIX. Unlike those headsets, they were entirely black, the SIX has an attractive carbon fiber look to it. So it looks nice, but how does it sound? From Sound ID: The power of EarPrint™ for iPhone®, Blackberry® & Android® smart phones. Patented VoiceMenu technology is Sound ID’s answer to Voice Recognition. Unlike voice recognition, Voice Menu is discrete in public and is…

Gear Bits

Protect Your Private Parts with LapGuard

Ah life… so many things to worry about these days. Nuclear proliferation, the economy, global warming (errr climate change), earthquakes, how Duke Basketball will do this year and now this… laptop sterility. Yes, in addition to worrying about whether or not your cellphone is giving you a brain tumor you now need to worry about what your laptop is doing to your reproductive system. Why? Because “recent reporting suggests that radiation emitted from Wi-Fi enabled laptop computers may be harmful to your reproductive system” and this apparently holds true for men and women. That’s where Digital Innovations’ LapGuard comes in….

Gear Bits

More Tips to Make Siri Work for You

The other day I was speaking to someone who had just gotten a new iPhone 4S. They love the phone but were complaining that Siri doesn’t seem to work very well. We spent a few minutes going over some of the Siri ins and outs and, would you believe, he now loves Siri. Because of that, I thought I would circle back and share a few more tips that can make Siri a more effective productivity tool. Talk to Me: As is the case with all voice recognition, you need to speak in a particular manner if you want Siri…

Editorials

I’m Sticking with Zinio

One of the features that iOS 5.0 brought to the table was their new Newsstand application. Newsstand is to magazines and newspapers what iBooks is to books. It collects your magazine and newspaper subscriptions purchased through the iTunes App Store and puts them into one simple place where all are accessible. It has a nice feature in that most of the periodicals can be set to automatically download when a new addition becomes available. That means that, for example, each day my New York Times is ready and waiting for me as soon as I open my iPad’s cover…

Reviews

Review: Mission Workshop Sanction Weatherproof Rucksack

Last week we took a look at two high-tech bags from Powerbag. The PowerBag Messenger and the PowerBag Backpack both pack 6000mAh batteries and an interior system of charging cables so you can keep your mobile electronics charged on the go. The Messenger will be coming to CES with me and the Backpack will be used by Kevin during the week. Between the two bags we are hoping to avoid our annual tradition of struggling to keep our phones and tablets charged during the grueling days in Las Vegas. But what if you want to carry lots of stuff, need…

Gear Bits

Jawbone UP First Impressions

Although it is only just being released this morning, I was able to pick up one of Jawbone’s new UP wrist bands yesterday (Jawbone UP). It truly is the height of “geek chic”, and whether or not it will be a passing fad waits to be seen. I wanted to share a few initial impressions of it but first let’s look at what it does and does not do. The UP is like a super-duper pedometer. It tracks your steps and can “challenge” you to do more. Or, if you set it at “X steps planned today”, it will tell you…

Reviews

Review: BodyGuardz Armor Carbon Fiber for iPad 2 and iPhone 4S

I have always been a huge fan of minimalist iPhone and iPad cases. After all, why hide such sweet, beautiful pieces of metal and glass in large, bulky cases if you don’t have to? The operative word here is, of course, “cases”. While I have always liked minimalist cases, I’ve never been a huge fan of carrying my iPhone or iPad with nothing on it but a scratch protective skin. That changed earlier in the week when BodyGuardz was kind enough to send me their BodyGuardz Armor Carbon Fiber for the iPhone 4S and and the iPad 2. Both kits…

Reviews, Yum Log

iPad Accessory Review: Belkin Chef Stand and Wand

It comes as no surprise to anyone who lives on this planet that the iPad is finding its way into pretty much every aspect of our lives and certainly into pretty much every room of the house. Among the places where it can come in particularly handy is the kitchen. Thanks to the iPad, the days of needing a special under-cabinet television if you want to watch a show while cooking are gone. Similarly, the days of needing a separate music player/boombox are over. In fact, unless you are my purest, like my wife Elana, you don’t even need paper…

Gear Bits

Twelve South PlugBug QuickLook

We brought word of Twelve South‘s new PlugBug Mac/iPad accessory the other day. Within seconds of learning about the new product Judie and I had both ordered one. It is a great traveling companion if you have a Mac and an iPad or iPhone, so it seemed like a no-brainer. It is! Mine just came and, once again, I’m impressed with what Twelve South has done. Here’s a quick video look at the PlugBug. You can order yours for here on the company site for $34.99.

News

TOM BIHN Introduces the Cadet Briefcase for Apple Laptops and iPad

We love TOM BIHN’s bags and are always happy to see them bring out a new design. Today that design is the Cadet, a bag that is a laptop briefcase designed for Apple laptops including the 15″ MacBook Pro, 11″ and 13″ MacBook Air and the iPad 2. The Cadet is designed to carry your laptop or iPad, a few files or magazines, power supplies, pens, notebooks, and other small accessories. The Cadet is also a checkpoint friendly laptop bag. The Cadet comes in two sizes with one designed for a 15″ or 13″ MacBook and the other sized for…

News

Jawbone Says, “Time to Get UP!” New UP Health Accessory Now Available for Pre-Order

Jawbone, known for their awesome Bluetooth headsets and iPhone accessories, is now shipping their new UP health bracelet accessory. The UP connects with a free iPhone app to track and monitor your movements while challenging you to do more, sleep longer and eat better. The UP combines a neat fashion accessory look with a free iPhone app to push you to live a healthier lifestyle. For example, each UP bracelet has a small vibrating timer that silently tells you to GET UP AND GET MOVING! It looks like the ultimate geek health aid! Here are a few brief snippets of…

Gear Bits

iCloud Workflow Update Thanks to the iOS App Elements

The other day I wrote a post talking about the fact that, thanks to, Siri and iCloud, the Notes application that ships on all iOS devices has suddenly become a full-fledged productivity tool. Thanks to Siri, I’m now able to write everything I need to write on my iPhone by voice and then, thanks to iCloud, the exact same text is immediately available onto my iPad in its Notes app or on my Mac in the Mail.app program. In other words, I’m able to write by voice on the go and then format and correct the text on a larger,…

News

Twelve South PlugBug iPad/iPhone Travel Charger- a Simple but Brilliant Apple Accessory

Sometimes the simplest ideas are the best ideas. That’s how Twelve South’s new PlugBug strikes me. The accessory lets you use one plug to charge both your Mac and your iPad. “Simple”, “fast” and “clean” are the words that came to mind when I got the announcement a few minutes ago. Deciding to order one for myself was a no-brainer. So what exactly is the PlugBug? Let’s let Twelve South explain. PlugBug… piggybacks onto a MacBook Power Adapter, allowing you to charge a MacBook and an iPad/iPhone simultaneously from one power outlet. The ingenious PlugBug connects to all MacBook Power Adapters. Simply…

Reviews

Gear Bag Review: PowerBag Backpack

We took a look at the PowerBag Messenger the other day. It combines an incredibly well-designed, strongly constructed bag with the ability to recharge your devices on the go. On almost all counts it thoroughly impresses. And at under $140, it is not much more than a 6000mAh external battery would be on its own. That makes it a great deal in my opinion. The company makes a number of other designs and they were kind enough to also send a PowerBag backpack as well as the messenger. Since the power aspect of the backpack is the same as it…

How to Do It Yourself!

iOS 5.0 QuickTip: It is Worth the Time to Set Up Keyboard Shortcuts

I’m a huge fan of the application TextExpander. It is, in fact, one of the key Mac utilities I cannot do without. TE offers a good deal of power but the primary reason I use it is that it allows me to create text shortcuts that have saved me a great deal of typing. For example, instead typing in Gear Diary’s URL constantly I simply type “ggear”. Less than a second later TE converts that combination into “www.geardiary.com”. That’s five characters instead of seventeen. It is even more helpful when using HTML code in a post. For example “llike” yields…

Editorials

MiCorner: Is Siri Alone Reason Enough to Upgrade to the iPhone 4S?

One of the iPhone-related questions I have been asked my frequently in the last two weeks is this – “I have the iPhone 4. Is Siri reason enough for me to upgrade to the iPhone 4S?” Let me offer a few thoughts and then, hopefully, any of you who have the iPhone 4S will chime in with your opinions. If you have the iPhone 3G or iPhone 3GS, it is a no-brainer. Your contract is up, so now a discounted phone is likely available; the 3G and 3GS — while still excellent phones — are completely outclassed by the iPhone 4S. I…

News

Sena’s Quality Leather Plus the iPhone 4S’ Power Makes for a Winning, Luxurious Combination

I’ve always been a fan of Sena’s leather cases. They are consistently well-made and come in a nice range of styles that can fit pretty much every need. They have a host of cases for the iPhone 4S that are now available and many look great. As the company shared, Sena is pleased to announce our iPhone 4S Series collection. Created to enhance functional design and protection with modern flair, the collection showcases hand-crafted, stylish accessories for the Apple iPhone 4S. The exquisite craftsmanship is showcased in the company’s beautiful collection including nineteen designs for the iPhone 4S w/ the design…

Gear Bits

PowerBags to the Rescue

Yesterday we reviewed the PowerBag Messenger, a messenger bag that carries a 6000mAh battery and has internal cabling that makes charging an iOS device, or one that has a mini or microUSB connection simple. Today I got home and shot a video of the backpack version of the PowerBag for the second part in the review. Little did I know how handy both bags would be just hours later. You see, the October Surprise dumped a fair bit of snow on the ground today. That, combined with the fact that the trees still had leaves on them that caught more…

Reviews

Gear Bag Review: PowerBag Messenger

CES is coming up, and this year we will have the biggest Gear Diary team covering the event ever. Even though CES is more than two months off, it isn’t too early to start thinking about the ins and outs of the week. As we have mentioned previously, one of the biggest challenges at CES is keeping cameras, phones and video recorders charged and usable. The days are long and the tools we use to cover CES are in use from early morning until late at night. Battery cases and external batteries help a great deal but, this year, we’ll…

News

Twelve South’s BassJump 2 Pumps Up the Bass!

The folks at Twelve South always have a way of surprising us. They make awesome leather cases like the BookBook for iPad or iPhone but they also make an amazing iPad stand called the Compass. (I use mine all the time.) Now they have something even more outside the box- the BassJump 2 speaker. The new BassJump 2 is a portable, USB-powered subwoofer that “turns MacBook Pro or MacBook Air into a travel-friendly sound system”. Powered by a single USB connection, the BassJump 2 uses proprietary software that “blends the sound output of the BassJump subwoofer with the output of…

Editorials

Can You Guess the Kindle Fire’s Achilles Heel?

The Kindle Fire is ready to take the world by storm when it is released next month. It is already SO popular that Amazon has reportedly upped the production numbers significantly. The interface looks great. The combination of 8GB of storage (with about 6GB available to the user) is enough for 80 apps, plus 10 movies or 800 songs or 6,000 books. That isn’t anything to sneeze at, but it is not a tremendous amount of storage, and the Fire doesn’t have an expansion slot. [I’m comparing it to the iPad, whose capacity STARTS at 16GB and goes up to…

« 1 … 118 119 120 121 122 … 163 »