Articles by Judie Lipsett Stanford

On-Ear Headphone Shootout – Which Wins for Comfort and Sound?

Dan and I are taking advantage of our time together at GearFest, our annual editors’ gathering, by doing a blind test of which on-ear headphones we think feel and sounded the best. What we have available to try are four different pairs of headphones that Dan had reviewed — the BlueAnt EMBRACE Stereo Headphones ($199.99), the Jabra Revo Wireless Headphones ($249), the Phiaton PS300 NC Premium Noise Cancelling Headphones ($299), and the Monster Tuxedo DNA Headphones ($229.95). I was the first guinea pig in the chair. The rules were no peeking, and not to touch the headphones other than for minor adjustments. You can…

News & Features

Amped Wireless High Power Wireless-N 600mW Gigabit Dual Band Repeater Review

I’m writing this review from Dan’s lake house in Pennsylvania, where Gearfest 2013 is about to kick off. That bit of geographic detail is important for two reasons. First, when I arrived here yesterday, it was the first time in weeks that I had reliable internet service, as I recounted in this post, I’ve been battling the rural Texas connectivity fight and losing badly. No internet has meant very little posting. More to the point in this review, no internet has meant that I had no way to test out the Amped Wireless repeater I’d been sent to review. After all,…

Gear Bits, Yum Log

Sugar Skulls for Your Coffee – More Meditative Than Macabre

If you take your coffee with a bit of sugar, and you don’t mind a not so subtle reminder of your mortality, then these sugar skulls should be right up your alley. Perfect for celebrating Halloween, Dia de Muertos (Day of the Dead), or for using on crappy days as a reminder of the other alternative. I first spied these on Crnchy, but there was no purchase info. I did manage to find etsy seller Dem Bones, who carries quite a few ready-made sugar skull sugar cubes in their shop — no leg bones, alas. If you are the crafty…

Gear Bits

Five Reasons Why the Samsung Galaxy S4 Is a Great Android Phone

The Samsung Galaxy S4 is the newest incarnation of the most popular Android phone series in the world; it comes jam-packed with state of the art tricks and tweaks, and it is definitely the phone to choose if you want to experience things that might one day be standard on all mobile phones without waiting for that day to actually arrive. Mitchell recently reviewed the S4, and I have been using the US Verizon version for a little over a month. I have become so well acquainted with the S4 that even though I recently purchased an HTC One, I have found…

News & Features

What a More Realistic Barbie Doll Might Look Like

Take a look at the modern Barbie doll that Nickolay Lamm of MyDeals.com created; she’s the one on the right, in case you couldn’t tell. It’s been said before that if a human being had Barbie’s proportions, she would be about 5’9″ tall with a 39″ bust, and an 18″ waist. That living doll would have 33″ hips, she’d wear a size 3 shoe, and she would weigh 110 pounds. Those measurements are not at all realistic if you are a human being rather than a product made of molded plastic body parts.

Editorials

Rural Internet at Its Best

After three to four months of iffy WiMax Internet service from West Central Net, a local wireless internet provider, we are down to no Internet service most days. WCN has sent multiple service techs out here over the past few months, and even after swapping out our equipment, nothing has helped. The tech that came in on the 20th walked out the door with the internet still down, after saying that he couldn’t do anything for us. This was also after telling Kev that he didn’t even use West Central Net’s service at his home, because he had great DSL…

VitaSound Personal Audio Enhancer PAE 300-012

Reviews

VitaSound Personal Audio Enhancer PAE-300 Review – Hearing Help Where It Is Most Needed

There are several people in my family who have hearing troubles, some more severe than others. For instance, my mom started having degenerative hearing loss when she was in her early 20s, and for as long as I can remember she has worn hearing aids. My daughter, Sarah, has always had problems with certain tones; she has trouble discerning what people are saying if they don’t speak clearly or if they mumble, and she has used the closed caption setting on her TV to watch movies since she was 15 or so. I’ve had Sarah’s hearing tested, and although it’s…

Reviews

The Stinger Portable Bug Zapper Review – Swat and Fry Annoying Flying Pests

We’ve been enjoying a wetter than usual summer in my part of Texas, and although the rain has been extremely welcome due to the drought we’ve been dealing with for the past two-years, our warm climate has coupled with the rain to create a bug population explosion of unwelcome proportions. This might not be too big of a deal, if we could just keep those unwelcome critters outside, but alas. Our home has clear glass doors, and the bugs have been so bad that if we have a light on inside the house at night, whatever door or window is closest to…

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…

Gear Bits

Can You Remember Your First Ever Order from Amazon?

Do you order items from Amazon? If so, do you remember your very first order ever? I couldn’t have told you on a bet, but the other day I found out that it is possible to look back and see every order that you’ve ever made. If you sign into your account and go to Your Account/Your Orders, you’ll see your orders from the past six months. But if you go into the drop down menu on the upper right corner, you’ll have the option to go back to the very first year you ordered, and once in, you can easily navigate to…

Detail Bags, Corporate Solutions by Skooba Design

Editorials

Detail Bags Creates Custom Solutions for Company Bag Branding

I don’t know how many times I have wished that I could create a laptop bag from my own specifications — one that would have the layout and organizational panels I needed (or wanted), and that would be made from the materials of my choosing; having a discreet Gear Diary logo on there somewhere would be a bonus. But I’m just one person, and the cost for me having something like that custom-made would be exorbitant … never mind the fact that I wouldn’t even know where to start. But if a company wanted to offer a bag that was specifically…

Crowdfunding, News & Features

The Arriba! Adapter Is a Brilliant 2-in-1 iPhone 5 Charging Solution

You’re in your buddy’s car, and your iPhone’s battery is low. Typical, right? And of course, you forgot the Lightning cable for your iPhone 5. Your friend has a car charger, but it’s for his 30-pin iPhone, and he’s using it anyway. Buried under an open bag of chips and some diaper wipes, he has an old microUSB cable. That’s not much help, is it? Or maybe it is, if you happen to have the Arriba! Adapter attached to your keyring. Plug in that microUSB cable, stick the Arriba! Adapter’s Lightning plug into your iPhone 5’s port, and plug the…

Reviews

Oberon Design Laptop Messenger Bag 13″ Review – One Leather and Canvas Bag to Rule Them All

I have long admired the exquisite leather offerings by Oberon Design; their embossed journal covers, Kindle and iPad cases, and their smartphone sleeves are handcrafted, gorgeous, functional and protective. Even so, I’ll admit that I was a bit skeptical when I read that they were going to offer a laptop bag. Plenty of other high-end accessory companies have tried to make this leap, and plenty of them have left me feeling unimpressed. I needn’t have worried. Like everything else they have made, the Oberon Design Laptop Messenger Bag is handmade by artisans, and it is composed of quality materials; it…

News & Features

Wirelessly Charge Your Samsung Galaxy S 4 Android Phone

I’ve been spending the last week testing out the Samsung Galaxy S 4; it truly is one of the most capable and feature-filled smartphones available, but there is one trick it can’t do — inductive charging. But as of today, that is no longer the case. Galaxy S 4 owners can now purchase a Samsung Wireless Charging Pad and Wireless Charging Battery Cover, which will allow them to conveniently charge their smartphones without fumbling for cables or plugs. In case you read the last sentence quickly, let me make sure that you caught the fact that this isn’t a case,…

News & Features

Seagate Slim Portable External Drive Second Look

Dan reviewed the Seagate Slim back in April of 2011. He liked it at the time, and two years later it is still going strong. Dan tells me it is one of the mainstays in his gear bag, and he depends on it so much that when making a list of the gear he will bring when he is traveling, he doesn’t even need to make note of it — it is simply there — ready to go when he needs the extra space. We recently included one of the drives in our huge giveaway with Technabob and The Awesomer. Seagate also sent…

Editorials

An Open Letter to Google and Matt Cutts: Panda and Penguin Are Broken, Please Fix Them!

Here is something I never thought I would be doing, posting an open letter to Google and to Matt Cutts that essentially begs them to look at what is happening to Gear Diary as a direct result of their Panda and Penguin algorithms; and yet, here we are. If it is happening to us, then I know it is happening to others; even though I am mortified about airing our private business in public, I respectfully submit: Hello Google, We have been battling Panda since November. My site is not a scraper or spam site; we are a legitimate producer of…

Crowdfunding

Goji Smart Lock Makes Other Locks Look Stupid

We already use our home network to control our Nest thermostat from our smartphones, but this similarly styled smart deadbolt system might be something Kev and I should next consider. The Goji Smart Lock uses your home WiFi network to send real-time picture alerts to your smartphone when someone activates the lock. You can also use its smartphone app to remotely allow access to your home when an out-of-town friend or relative shows up and you are running late.

How to Do It Yourself!

How To Fix the Ugly MIME Headers When Using Gmail on a Windows Phone

If you have a Windows Phone and you use Gmail, then whether you realize it or not, you have sent at least one email that was received looking like this:

Reviews

The Gtech AirRAM Cordless Vacuum Cleaner Review

In our home we have a Welsh Pembroke Corgi, three girls with shoulder-length or longer hair, and three mohair rugs; there are days when I am not sure who or what sheds worse. We have a conventional upright vacuum cleaner, and although it works well enough, it is a pain to have to get it out. As you likely know, in order to use a traditional upright vacuum cleaner, you generally have to get it out of a storage closet, unwind the cord, plug it in, and move it about as needed; I’m not sure about your upright vacuum, but…

Gear Bits, Health and Fitness

Why I Don’t Run First Thing in the Morning

Yesterday afternoon we had a surprise softball game for Kev’s youngest at 5:30. We made it to dinner at 7, and we were home by 8. Since I hadn’t yet had time to get my run in, I thought I would go ahead and do it before it got too dark. I was almost to our back gate, a little over two miles into the run, and it was getting pretty dark. I saw a rattlesnake about 15 feet away, stretched out across the middle of the crushed limestone road. There was just enough daylight left that I felt safe getting…

Gear Bits

World Tarot Week? World Tarot Day? What?!

Best I can tell, the people who use tarot cards are those who want to believe in the idea of pre-destiny, or that there is some mystical “if I do this, then that will occur” order to the universe — beyond simple cause and effect. It’s kind of sad, really, to imagine someone thinking that by spending time with a deck of decorated cards, they’d be able to figure out what makes them or their loved ones tick. Even sadder is that in most cases people will pay someone else good money in order to have these “insights” given to…

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