Articles by Judie Lipsett Stanford

The Presto Service and HP Printing Mailbox Review – Part Two

[Ed. note: This is the follow up to Part One of my review on the HP Printing Mailbox and Presto Service, which can be read here.] Shortly after Christmas, the large box containing the HP Printing Mailbox made its way from Texas to Florida. Once it had shown up at Papa’s, his step-son Rand unpacked it, unwrapped it, and got it hooked up. According to Rand, the entire process took less than ten minutes. At the scheduled time Papa received his first Presto email…

Reviews

The Spectec SDW-820 SDIO WiFi Card Review

I have to say that the Spectec SDW-820 SDIO WiFi Card is not a product I would have ever needed, if Palm hadn’t decided to deny WiFi to to its legion of WM5 Treo users. I can hear some of you asking it now…”Why would anyone with an all-you-can-eat data plan need WiFi?” Right? Well, because sometimes you do. I’ve been in plenty of airports that offered WiFi service, but because they were built like bunkers my mobile phone’s signal was poor. I’ve also been in other countries where using GPRS data ran my T-Mobile bill into ridiculous sums –…

Reviews

The Spectec SDG-810 GPS Receiver Unboxed

After all of the excitement caused by my December 23rd post, it was almost anti-climatic to receive the Spectec SDG-810 SDIO GPS Module today. Almost! 😉 Included in the box are the driver disk, the module and a nifty plastic case. The module comes with a 128MB microSD. And I think that it looks pretty odd hanging out of my Treo 700wx. 😉 When the GPS module is installed and the PDA is turned on, an LED indicates that it is operational. Nope, it doesn’t look any smaller on the HTC Universal. It’s okay though…an all-in-one GPS device may be…

Reviews

The Minds Refined Art Dealer Game Review

Soon after I signed Gear Diary up for Google’s AdSense, I noticed a new advertisement for something called Art Dealer. I had already weeded out the totally irrelevant ads for Kangol hats, heart-shaped boxes of chocolate, a zen garden, and lingerie (don’t ask!), and I was tempted to weed out this ad, too. But instead I made note of the site’s name, and I visited to see what it was all about. After spending a little bit of time at Minds Refined, I was intrigued. Art Dealer is a game where you play “an art lover who is given a…

Reviews

The Booq Mamba L Vertical Shoulder Bag Review

Are you still holding out for your perfect laptop bag? Perhaps you’ve been looking for one that isn’t too fussy, one that has plenty of large storage compartments, one that is made of strong durable materials, that uses a minimum of Velcro, one that has many pockets of all sizes…and most importantly, one that doesn’t cost an arm and a leg. If 2007 is the year you have vowed to find your perfect laptop bag, and if you are open to trying a vertical messenger style, then I may have discovered one you would do well to consider… The Booq…

Reviews

The Psyclone Gamer PSC99 NODUS PSP Sound System Review

The Sony PlayStation Portable, or PSP, is one of the most popular handheld gaming devices available – and with good reason. The PSP features a gorgeous 4.3″, 480 x 272 pixel, TFT, LCD, 16:9 wide screen which provides an amazing gaming experience. This WiFi enabled device is also perfect for use as a portable media player; it can be used to listen to music or to watch full-length movies. To the best of my knowledge, it is also the only device which has its own dedicated movie format available next to the DVD section in almost any electronics’ store. Yet…

Reviews

The Belkin CushTop Review

When I bought my latest laptop I envisioned spending more time sitting on the office couch, versus time spent sitting at my desk. In this lovely fantasy, I would no longer sit with my back half-turned to the room; instead I would have my feet propped on an ottoman, with WiFi streaming to the laptop on my lap, and Gizmo (my Yorkie) curled at my side. CNN would be on the television, and I would would have my ever-present cup of Diet Coke and small bowl of chocolate covered espresso beans somewhere accessible – but not so near that I…

Reviews

The Lumaray FL12-RX LED Flashlight Review

It’s hard to believe that this will be my fourth Lumaray LED flashlight review, but it’s true. Every time Lumaray releases a new light, I have to wonder what they could possibly do to improve upon their past version, but each time they manage to surprise and impress me. Let’s take a trip down memory lane, shall we? First there was the FL6, an intensely bright six LED flashlight that borrowed its good looks from a science fiction movie’s prop department. Next came the FL12, which I described as an “FL6 on steroids” due to the addition of a cluster…

Reviews

The Brando USB MP3 Player + SD/MMC Card Reader Review

If you haven’t yet succumbed to the Apple iPod shuffle, then you might be interested in taking a look at another flash-based MP3 player that not only costs less, it can be configured to carry significantly more music for the same amount of money. I’m talking about the Brando USB MP3 Player + SD/MMC Card Reader, a device which shares one major trait with the shuffle – no LCD screen. No, the Brando version doesn’t have a stylish aluminum skin, and it doesn’t come with a cute Lilliputian dock, but the it does have a slot which can accept SD…

Reviews

The Presto Service and HP Printing Mailbox Review – Part One

My ex’s grandfather is 88 years old. Papa, as we call him, was stationed in Pearl Harbor and Saipan during World War II, and to this day he won’t ride a plane because of experiences during the war. This means that he doesn’t travel anywhere unless it is accessible by car or rail. Papa has three children, eight grandchildren, and six great-grandchildren, and they live in various places around the country. He does not have a computer and to the best of my knowledge has never expressed interest in owning one. But by not having one, Papa has missed out…

Reviews

The Belkin Folio Kickstand Case for Zune Review

As many of you know, I bought a Zune shortly after they became available. While it has managed to stay amazingly scratch-free due to its durable casing material, I still don’t feel comfortable letting it roll around in the bottom of my bag. Shortly after it arrived, the hunt for a good case was on! One of the cases that caught my attention was the Belkin Folio Kickstand Case for Zune. Unlike a case that will just hold and protect the device, this one has another trick up its sleeve. Composed of smooth-grain black leather with black stitching, the case…

Gear Bits

Guard Against Fraud With the ID Vault

Many people are?getting down to crunch time this gift-giving season, and it is easy to imagine that in the midst of all?of the legitimate purchases, there will be more than a few that are fraudulent.? If you are like me, then you like to do as much of your purchasing online as is possible, and you are probably aware that online fraud is rampant. Between the phishing scams and the outright stolen account numbers and passwords, shopping online can be scary, but it doesn’t have to be. One of the solutions being bandied around by credit card companies and banks…

Reviews

The Belkin Concealed Surge Protector Review

I could whine about the fact that my elderly home doesn’t have enough electrical outlets for all my gadgets, but the fact is that even a newer house probably wouldn’t have enough outlets in the exact places where I would need or want them. Add to that problem a pressing need for surge protection, and it becomes obvious that a power-strip of some kind would be my best solution. But which one? Let’s look past the ancient six-plug power strip that I’ve been using – obviously it is not the proper solution for the thousands of dollars in computer hardware…

Reviews

The Brando 1GB USB Flash Card Review

Some days it seems as if I have seen just about every form a USB flash memory device could take, but every now and then a product will come along and make me think “hey, that was a great idea!” The Brando USB Flash Card is just such an item. Measuring 3.4″ long x 2.1″ wide x 0.15″ thick, the USB Flash Card is the exact size of a credit card, and the approximate thickness of three. The USB Flash Card is available in 1GB size, and unlike the Walletex memory card I reviewed last year, it does not have…

Events

From the Samsung Summit, the SPH P9000

Over a month ago G-A told me he was going to post about the new SPH-P9000 UMPC with a built in keyboard, and I couldn’t wait to see it in person. Today, I finally did. The Samsung SPH-P9000 has a 5″ screen, runs XP (I bet it will also run Vista when released here), has a full keyboard, and it folds up and out, like what one might expect of a device from the line that once used the code name “Origami”. I don’t have a lot of information yet, mainly that it will be available in Korea at the…

Reviews

The HTC Star Trek / Qtek 8500 WM5 Smartphone Review

It’s been a little over a month since I received a Qtek 8500, HTC‘s first clamshell phone which runs the Windows Mobile 5 Smartphone operating system. Unlike some of the other Smartphone OS devices available, such as the Dash and the Q, which attempt to “be all and do all” without the benefit of a touch screen and the full Pocket PC operating system, this is one model that appears to be happy just being a smart phone. Phone first, PDA second, which is an interesting concept these days.

Reviews

The i.Tech Virtual Keyboard Unboxing

The i.Tech Bluetooth Virtual Keyboard has been on my list of must-try items ever since I first heard about it – which if I remember correctly was in 2003! The first time I saw pictures of a keyboard which worked by beaming a red laser display on any flat surface, my inner geek did a happy dance! This is a product that looks like came straight out of a Philip K. Dick novel, out of a Star Trek episode, out of a…you get the picture. 😉 Like many new technologies, the VKB had a few false-starts and took longer to…

Reviews

The Skullcandy MFM MP3 Integrated Stereo Headphones Review

I’d be the first to admit that I have never been snowboarding. I’m such a klutz that it takes very little imagination to picture me lying flat on my face in the snow or worse – lying broken at a tree’s base. So would it make me a total poseur if I said that I am intrigued by much of the snowboarder’s gear I’ve seen on the web? Of all the sports, they seem to have the coolest musically integrated gear. Today I’ll take a look at one such piece of equipment, the Skullcandy Mark Frank Montoya MP3 Player, a…

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The SkinIt Review

Not long ago I was asked if I would like to try SkinIt, a protective and colorful way to personalize many popular consumer electronic items with custom vinyl overlays. Of course I wanted to give them a try, but the art choices were almost overwhelming…and then there was the decision of which gadgets to skin. SkinIt makes overlays for mobile phones, digital musical players, laptops, gaming devices, and various other gear. In the end, I wound up choosing the Asterisk skin, and I included a .jpg of the Gear Diary logo to get a SkinIt custom design; a week or…

Reviews

The Purosol Plasma Molecular Screen Cleaner Review

Have you got a filthy television or computer screen lurking somewhere in the house? I do, or rather, I did. While my laptop’s screen is usually kept as spotless as possible – because I am obsessive like that – Sarah’s looks like it has been pulling weekend duty in a public library. Those that hate fingerprinted screens might want to cover their eyes…this is a scary, scary sight… 😯 That’s why when I was approached about trying the new Purosol Plasma Molecular Screen Cleaner, I jumped at the chance. Can you blame me? So why hadn’t I just taken a…

Reviews

The Palm Treo 700p Palm OS Smartphone Review

It didn’t hit home that the last Palm OS device I had owned was the Tapwave Zodiac, until Alison from Astraware asked if I would like to take a look at their new Palm OS game Cake Mania. But I couldn’t, because I had sold the Zod in 2005 and had never replaced it. D’oh! Seeing that I enjoy using a Windows Mobile 5 device as my main brain, I thought it would be a good idea to swap my Samsung A900 (a decidedly non-smart phone) with a Palm OS smart phone – specifically Sprint‘s Treo 700p. This device has…

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