Articles by Judie Lipsett Stanford

Apple Should Have Used FedEx

photo credit: hellabella To anyone who was holding out hope that there might be an Easter miracle regarding their iPad order in areas without Saturday UPS delivery … you can stop holding your breath now.  😉 To Our Valued Apple Customer: Thank you for your recent purchase of the magical and revolutionary Apple iPad. We would like to advise you Saturday delivery is not available in your area. Your order will be delivered on Monday April 5th. For up-to-date information on your order, please visit our Order Status website at http://www.apple.com/orderstatus. And again I’ll say that Apple should have used FedEx;…


Expecting April 3rd Delivery of Your Apple iPad? Yeah, Good Luck With That!

Judie: When the April 3rd iPad release date was announced, there were more than a few of us left scratching our heads, although none of us thought too much about it … yet. At first glance, a Saturday release coupled with Saturday delivery didn’t warrant much conversation; either you would go wait in line to get your iPad, or you would pre-order and have it delivered straight to you. But if you live in an area that doesn’t have an Apple store, much less one that doesn’t have Saturday delivery, it meant that a little bit of logistical planning might…


Complete a Survey on Your Twitter Usage; Help a Grad Student

Cindy Kelly is conducting a Twitter Research Survey for her grad school project, and she could use your help. If you are over the age of 18, and you don’t mind answering simple questions about your motivations and expectations from Twitter usage, you’d be doing your good deed for the day if you clicked the link and helped Cindy with her project. Cindy Kelly’s Twitter Research Survey


The UrbanTrim Squidarella Color Changing Umbrella Review

Although I live in Eldorado, which sits only a few counties away from the ever-creeping-towards-us edge of the Chihuahuan Desert, we have been enjoying the El Niño effect this year, which means a wetter spring than usual. In celebration of our recent (and hopefully continuing) monsoons, I’ve been sporting one of the most unique umbrellas ever seen in Texas or anywhere — the UrbanTrim Squidarella Color Changing Umbrella.


Good-bye Case-Mate Hug Wireless Charging System for the iPhone; We Hardly Knew You!

I had to check the calendar to make sure it wasn’t April 1st when Dan forwarded a message from Case-Mate’s PR to me… Happy Friday! I know that you covered the case-mate Hug for the iPhone so I wanted to give you some news on its availability to consumers. Case-mate is proud to deliver innovative, self-expressive products to the marketplace every day. We strive to make each and every product fit into our overall strategy and vision. The case-mate Hug for the Apple iPhone 3G and Apple iPhone 3GS is a product we launched with success – sales and product…


The Wilson Electronics MobilePro Wireless Cellular/PCS Dual-Band 800/1900 MHz Amplifier Review

Many of you know that I live in the country, several miles outside of the thriving metropolis of Eldorado, Texas — population much less than 2000. We have fairly decent EDGE wireless coverage here, but there are areas where the signal typically dips to one bar — and it seems like many of those places are either on the highway between San Angelo and Eldorado or in various spots on the ranch where we typically drive. I took care of our low signal issues at home when I installed the Wi-Ex zBoost, but signal strength in our vehicles has continued…


The Hillcrest Loop Pointer Review: a Mouse for Your TV

It never failed that when someone would visit while I was testing the Hillcrest Loop pointer, they would invariably pick it up and wear it like it was an over-sized bangle — because at first glance, that is exactly what it resembles. But the Loop is much more than just a piece of giant plastic jewelry. The Loop pointer actually got its start as an “iconic concept product to showcase Hillcrest Lab’s Freespace technology and HoME system solutions.” People who saw it liked it, and they wanted one; so Hillcrest, whose primary focus remains “licensing interactive media systems software for…


Enjoy a Sand-Free Campsite With the CGear Multimat

Anyone who has ever tried to camp where there is sand knows that it is nearly impossible to not track those demonic little grains into your tent or worse — into your sleeping bag. It’s just as bad at the beach, when you are trying to tan without wearing half the beach on your lower legs. CGear has a solution which they say will eliminate the problem – their Multimat. “The CGear Multimat was originally designed as a deployable helimat to eliminate dirt, dust and debris from being kicked up by the helicopters rotors when landing. The product was so…


HTC Answers Apple: “We will continue to embrace competition through our own innovation”

photo credit: recompose I know I wasn’t the only person who watched in bemused disbelief when news came out early this month that Apple was suing HTC, arguably one of the world’s most innovative smartphone hardware manufacturers, for infringing upon 20 of their patents. Almost immediately, Engadget had a list of every claim where Apple was crying foul, and they were kind enough to translate the jargon-filled legal lingo so that those of us without law degrees could understand that Apple was suing over items ranging from HTC’s use of “List Scrolling And Document Translation, Scaling, And Rotation On A…


The Amazing Miniot iWood Cobra iPhone Case

When Larry posted about the Case-Mate Mohogany Wood Case, I was smitten — there’s no other way to put it. I loved the look of the rich red wood on the iPhone, and I was thrilled when he sent it to me after the review was complete. I used the heck out of that case, even though it added quite a bit of bulk to my iPhone, and even though it had a flaw which turned out to be fatal. It wasn’t evident from the beginning that the lack of a cutout might be a problem, but because the bottom…


Full Feeds Again

Never mind the scrapers! Those who subscribe to Gear Diary’s RSS know that for the longest time we have used an abbreviated or truncated feed. If you read a bit and liked what you saw, then you could click the link and come see the rest of the article on the main site. The biggest reason we did this was because in the site’s early days we started off with a full feed — which was promptly scraped and reposted on various other sites around the net. That led to truncating the feed and at least having the knowledge that…


Remember To Spring Forward Tonight

picture courtesy of Wikipedia It’s one of my favorite times of the year – when we lose an hour by setting our clocks forward, but in return we gain sunlight during the later hours of the day. Yes, tonight marks the beginning of Daylight Savings Time! I realize that its origins are controversial, and you can argue all you’d like about the many cons and inconveniences of setting one’s clock forward, but for me it’s all worth it. So say goodbye to darkness at 6pm, say adios to any remnants of seasonal affective depression … and say hello to spring’s…


Toshiba 640GB Portable Hard Drive Review

Update: This giveaway is now closed and timtim is the winner. Thank you for entering, and please keep an eye out for future Gear Diary giveaways! 🙂 I was sent a Toshiba 640GB Portable Hard Drive in “Rocket Red” to review, but since this one will also be given away, I was hesitant to use and abuse it like I might a memory device I would be keeping. Therefore, in return for this micro-review, you get a chance to win a pocket-size time capsule just waiting to be filled with your important documents and digital memories.



Revel in Your Dark Side with the Darth Vader Bath Robe

Now you can totally re-enact your favorite character’s Star Wars scenes after you get out of the shower, either as a Jedi or … as Darth Vader! The Darth Vadar hooded bathrobe mixes Vader’s classic black fashion sense with an embroidered logo of his helmet – just in case anyone mistakes you for a vampire wannabe or opera fan. You know who you are, and you know you want one. Add the Darth Vader lightsaber from Think Geek, and no one will mess with your Dark Side!


How to Get Your Free ‘Underground Guide to the iPhone’ and ‘Mac Manual’

Have I mentioned our TradePub affiliate store lately? It’s a place where you can sign up for magazine subscriptions and technical documents based on your profession … and assuming you qualify — you’ll get them all for FREE. Sounds good, right? Well to get you started, here are two new documents which might be of interest. The Underground Guide To The iPhone Read about the basic user interface and a ton of incredible iPhone features you would’ve otherwise missed. This guide explains in detail how to perform both the very simple and the most tedious tasks. Find out how to…


Ten Things We Like About the HTC Google Nexus One, and Five Things We Don’t

Judie: When Dan, Larry, and I attended Digital Experience, a product showcase at CES, there was one particular device that caught our immediate attention. Unlike all of the other gadgets and electronic items we saw on display and which were currently available for purchase, the HTC Google Nexus One was the one that we gathered around, drooled over, and all immediately made plans to order. Dan and I purchased ours as soon as we got back to our rooms that evening to be delivered FedEx overnight to my hotel in Las Vegas by Friday afternoon. Our experience would later become…


These Cufflinks Will Open That Beer for You

Nothing says classy like a set of cufflinks, and nothing says Redneck more than drinking your beer out of a bottle at a formal occasion. There’s no need to confirm that Redneck stereotype when a bottle opener isn’t handy by  slamming your bottle’s lid on a table edge, using the top of your Skoal can, or worse – prying the bottle cap off with your teeth. Leave the other guests guessing by wearing these bottle opener cufflinks from CuffLinks.com. They’re made of stainless steel so they’ll keep their shape through thousands of cap removals, and you can get them for…


Corsair Introduces High Speed, Monster Capacity Flash Drives

How would you like a USB flash memory thumb drive that could back up your netbook’s entire 120GB hard drive? If you’ve got $460 to spare, then the Corsair Voyager GTR 128 can take care of that task for you … and get it done quickly. The quad-channel architecture employed by the Flash Voyager GTR series delivers read speeds up to 34MB/s and write speeds up to 28MB/s, approaching the maximum transfer rates supported by the USB 2.0 interface.  The outstanding performance numbers translate into genuine, real-world results.  In the Corsair Labs, using a typical Windows 7-based PC, the Flash…


The TruePower iV Pro 3100mAh Extended Battery for iPod touch and iPhone Review

Reading, surfing, watching movies, listening to music — these are all activities that I enjoy doing on my iPhone; when I do them I usually have a rough idea of what type of battery life I should be able to expect, and it helps that I can watch the battery icon. However, I’ve recently discovered a game that has singlehandedly wiped out my iPhone’s battery more quickly than anything I have ever seen: Plants vs. Zombies (reviewed by Michael here). You can’t watch the clock or the battery icon when playing PvZ, which usually means that you’ll play much longer…


Skooba Design Wants to Stable Your Cable … Among Other Things

Tell me that you haven’t been bothered when it came time to pack for a trip, and you didn’t have an organized and protective way to carry your cables, chargers, and miscellaneous gear. I’ll tell you what I usually do with mine – charging cables get put in the side pocket of my carry-on, syncing/charging cables go into my laptop bag, and camera chargers and other items that don’t get put in my laptop bag usually get shuffled into the cracks and crevices of my carry-on. This arrangement works fine for the most part, but I have accepted that anytime…