Articles by Judie Lipsett Stanford

First Full Day with the Camangi WebStation

Judie: As you may recall, I received my Camangi WebStation yesterday afternoon. Other than downloading some of my eReader library to it, I wasn’t able to spend as much time with the tablet as I might have liked before previously made plans drew me away. This morning I was greeted with tweets and links pointing to Michael Smith’s review, where he calls the Camangi a “total fail” because (among other reasons) it isn’t as fast as his first gen iPhone and because it doesn’t browse the internet as quickly as the Hackintosh he likes to couch surf from. Michael has…

eBooks, Reviews

The Camangi Webstation Unboxed

It seems like it took forever, but my Camangi WebStation finally showed up today. Dan’s is out for delivery, so in the meantime, he is processing the raw video I’ve uploaded of my unboxing. While we wait for that, here are some pictures. I haven’t done anything other than unbox the Camangi, turn it on … and marvel at it before plugging it in So without further ado, here are some pictures. Video and more impressions from Dan and me will be up shortly. 🙂

Gear Bits, How to Do It Yourself!

Salt Dough Ornaments are Holiday Fun for the Whole Family

After moving this year, Kevin and I realized we were a bit light on Christmas tree decorations; but instead of going out and buying a bunch of them, his girls and I spent a day making salt dough ornaments. This is something that my mom used to do with my brother and me when we were kids. Mom thinks it’s because play-dough wasn’t easily available living overseas, but it could just as easily be because we were on an enlisted military man’s budget and she was a stay-at-home-mom. Whatever the reason, salt dough is very similar to play-dough, and the…

Reviews

The Waterfield Muzetto Vertical Laptop Bag Review

Of all the laptop bags that I have reviewed over the years, and I can’t even tell you how many dozens there have been (possibly hundreds?), I can only remember having a perfect stranger approach me to compliment my bag twice: once for the ACME Made Courier, and the other time for this bag – the Waterfield Muzetto.

eBooks, News & Features

Merecal is a Media Lovers Friend

I got a $100 Amazon gift certificate from Kerry for Christmas (thank you Kerry!!), and for half a second I was tempted to blow it immediately on Kindle titles from authors I already follow. After thinking about it, I instead sent out a tweet asking for suggestions. One of them came from @Merecal … “Weird name” I thought to myself, but I didn’t yet understand. I went to the site and saw a full list of books – many by authors that I follow, and many of them not yet available. I looked at the titles and saw ‘bindings” specified…

Gear Bits

The Polaris Ranger EV Is Quiet Fun

My friend Steven showed up with his latest “toy” a couple of days ago — the a 2010 Polaris 4×4 Ranger EV. I’ve got a tricked out red 2009 Ranger XP 700 EFI (complete with CD player and Sirius Satellite radio, heh). Mine may beat his in a race, but his has a feature that leaves mine in the dust – it’s electric and nearly noiseless. I thought his buggy was neat enough that I should share.

Events

The Synaptics Fuse Mobile Phone Concept is Squeezalicious

Go ahead … give the Fuse’s rubbery-looking case a squeeze as you prepare to experience its multiple interface technologies, namely “multi-touch capacitive sensing, haptic feedback, 3-D graphics, and force, grip, and proximity sensing.” I think that it’s amazing how you can tilt the Fuse to scroll, squeeze it to stop, and do other touch-based actions to make it respond. Bear in mind that this isn’t a retail item yet, but it shows the technology that is coming to retail devices … maybe sooner than you think! The best way to get a sense of it is to watch the video,…

News & Features

synapticapple Unboxes the Plantronics Discovery 975 Bluetooth Headset

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=hSLR4LV949E In conjunction with Headsets Direct, we recently gave away a Plantronics Discovery 975 Bluetooth Headset (reviewed here) to Gear Diary reader synapticapple. Michelle (that’s her real name) has just posted an unboxing video of the headset, and I thought it was good enough to share. Enjoy! 🙂

eBooks, Reviews

The Barnes & Noble nook; or how I managed to completely waste my Saturday on a piece of over-hyped hardware

The Barnes & Noble nook eBook Reader has been touted by some as a Kindle-killer, and after what seemed like a ridiculously long wait, when mine finally showed up today I was ready to be wowed. It’s not that I don’t already enjoy reading eBooks on my Kindle DX (Kevin is using the Kindle2) and on my iPhone, it’s just that the nook was the “next new big thing”, and I allowed myself to be caught up in the excitement. I was perhaps a week later ordering mine than many were, because I found out that American Express Rewards offers…

News & Features

Playboy releases their Official iPhone App

Oh don’t be shocked; we’ve all read it for the articles, and now you can do so from the privacy of your iPhone. You won’t find full nudity (although it is still rated 17+), but you will find “iconic monthly features” including the Playboy Interview, Playboy Advisor, 20 Questions, Party Jokes, Celebrities Hangin’ with Hef, and Fashion. Along with those items, you’ll also get some extra goodies… The new Playboy iphone app gives fans of the magazine a glimpse of the latest issue, along with exclusive content such as free Rabbit Head and Playmate wallpapers, and a Playmate video clip….

News & Features

The UMID mbook Pink Edition for the Impossible-to-buy-for Girly Gadget Girl

You can stop staring now. Sure, the UMID mbook Pink Edition is only a little bit larger than a Nintendo DS, but this dainty morsel is running full Windows XP! I am completely intrigued by the Handheld PC form factor, and I can’t help but be interested. Starting at $449 (including a storage pouch and 4GB microSD), you get five hours of “actual (not theoretical)” use for surfing, editing, emailing, chatting …whatever. This would be the a perfect complement to the MiFi that I received as an early Christmas gift (thanks mom!), to boot! If the pink is too girly…

News & Features

The Imaging Source Allows Amateur Astronomers to Take Amazing Photos

What an amazing thing! The Imaging Source has introduced a line of low-noise astronomy cameras that provide amateur photographers with the necessary tools to take amazing photographs using their telescopes. Priced from $390 to $640, the monochrome and color camera models are available “with and without an IR cut filter in three resolutions: 640×480, 1024×768 and 1280×960. The astronomy cameras deploy low noise CCD chips from Sony, which have an exposure time of up to 60 minutes and a maximum frame rate of up to 60 fps.” Granted, the quality of your pictures will also depend upon the strength of…

Reviews

The Motorola T215 Bluetooth Car Kit Speakerphone Review

Laws are continuously evolving to deal with technology and the potential hazards of using it while driving. As a consequence, it is now considered unsafe in many states – or it has been made illegal – to drive without some kind of hands-free solution when using a mobile phone. Many people are wearing headsets, but there is another option if you aren’t yet ready to embrace your inner Borg – a Bluetooth speaker system for your automobile. Say hello to the Motorola T215 Bluetooth Car Kit Speakerphone; let’s take a look at the hardware, and then I’ll tell you how…

Reviews

First Impressions of the HTC HD2 Windows Phone

While at Mobius I had the opportunity to take a look at some of the cool phones other members were carrying. The iPhone 3G and 3GS were popular with many of us (that’s Alex‘s lovely wife gracing his iPhone’s screen), and the Motorola Droid (that’s Vincent with his beautiful wife Lynnsie, on his) was popular with quite a few others — even if nearly all of them were complaining about its keyboard. But the phone that every one of us was salivating to hold was the new HTC HD2; John Starkweather was kind enough to allow us all a little…

Reviews

The Callpod Fueltank DUO Rechargeable Dual Device Power Review

photos by Kevin It never fails – no matter what precautions I take, I still need more juice for my various gadgets. Whether it’s my iPhone showing the red battery meter of doom, or a “battery is low” ping on my Bluetooth Headset, there is nothing more aggravating that realizing that I’ll need to make a charging pitstop soon; being able to quickly recharge on the go is much more preferable. When I was on my recent trip to New York, I found that even the Mophie Air wasn’t enough to keep my iPhone going on the day we traveled…

Events, Gear Bits

Headed to Seattle for a Mobius Group Meet-up

I’m on my way to another Microsoft-sponsored Mobius Session this morning, this time in Seattle Washington. There won’t be much for me to post about today, but on Tuesday and Wednesday I’ll share info from sessions attended as I am able. As usual, I’ll be updating on Twitter regularly, so if you haven’t already, then you might want to follow me. 🙂

Events

Please Help Me Wish Wayne Schulz Bon Voyage

On November 20, 2007, Wayne Schulz wrote his very first Gear Diary review on the Bose In-Ear Headphones. This post gave absolutely no hint that the same man who could write such a mainstream piece would also be the guy who would hit his stride posting about Crayon Sports Drinks, $110,000 New York toilets, how to research urban legends, how to get yourself fired, and so many other offbeat things. In fact, we had to create an Offbeat tag simply because there was no other way to define so many of Wayne’s postings. But more than just the offbeat, Wayne…

Reviews

The Plantronics Discovery 975 Bluetooth Headset Review

photos by Kevin It seems as if finding the perfect Bluetooth headset has become a never-ending quest for me; it’s not just about finding one that keeps me from sounding like a fish in a barrel anymore, it’s also about finding one that fits my ear without making me look like a telephone operator or worse – a borg. Just to make things really difficult, so many headsets seem to fall into one of two camps: ridiculously complicated and over-featured or utterly simplistic and featureless. Finding a headset that strikes a balance between sound, comfort, and features has become my…

News & Features

The Rolling Razor Looks Tricky

I’m not too sure that the Rolling Razor is that much safer to use: after all, nicks and scratches are common with even the most basic stick styles, and I can only imagine the damage I could inflict with something like this. But according to the Rolling Razor site, using one helps to eliminate irritation, nicks, cuts, razor bumps and burn.

Events

Conquering New York During the Windows 7 Tour

Last weekend I had the opportunity to be part of a small group of tech bloggers invited to attend several Windows 7 launch events in New York and Washington DC. I wasn’t totally clear on exactly what we would be doing on this trip before going, but I figured no matter what, it would be fun, and the food would be good. I was right… Thursday Tripit is my Friend Travel is almost always an adventure when flying out of San Angelo Regional Airport, and this time was no exception. My 9:05 a.m. flight was delayed, but at least I…

Reviews

Enlighten, Case-Mate’s Gorgeous New Lighted Kindle2 Cover

photos by Kevin One of the things that I love about the Kindle – its eInk screen – is also one of the things that makes using the Kindle a bit difficult when lighting is poor. It seems silly in a way to complain about not being able to read a book in the dark, because it certainly isn’t something anyone could do with the dead tree version, but there are a couple of reasons I think it chafes more than expected when people read from non-backlit devices. I think many who use eReaders have also experienced reading on other…

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