Michael Anderson | Gear Diary

Editorials, Health and Fitness, News & Features

The Right and Wrong Way to Do Post-Disaster Fundraising

Much has been written about all of the amazing people who stepped up after the Boston Marathon bombings, as well as companies in the area that opened their doors for stranded runners and other impacted individuals. We have since seen both good and bad examples of those who claim to want to help. The obvious bad example was the fake Twitter account looking for retweets claiming a donation would be made for each one, and the many fake charities looking to funnel off some of the generosity that has sprung up. One of the best things that happened was the…

Game Diary, Reviews

Youda Survivor 2 HD for iPad Game Review

When Youda Survivor hit the iPad back in late 2011, it was amongst a stream of PC ports that all played extremely well on the tablet such as Civilization Revolution, Jack of All Tribes and Tiny Token Empires. Since then bigger games such as Grand Theft Auto III, Max Payne and Baldur’s Gate have impressed on the tablet. So how does the sequel to Youda Survivor fit in? Let’s take a look! Type of app: Time Management Strategy Adventure game Platform/where to buy: iPhone/iPad (iPhone version here); available in the iTunes App Store Developer: Youdagames / G5 Entertainment Description: Youda…

Reviews

STM Cable Wrap Review – Cords Kept Organized and Ready to Go!

If there is one lament I have heard my wife utter again and again in our technology filled house throughout the years, it is not about how everyone is on their devices too much … it is ‘those cords’! And while things have improved with wireless mice, headsets, smaller chargers, micro-USB for many devices and so on, there are still too many cords required; as a gamer I even need to have a corded mouse and headphones … and then there is my GPS watch and cable. When I travel I dump all of these things in my garment bag…

Game Diary, Music Diary, Reviews

Divoom OnBeat X1 Portable Bluetooth Speaker Review

To be honest, most of my gaming — whether on PC, Mac, DS, PSP, iOS, or Android — is done with headphones or the device muted. There are a couple of reasons for this: first, to allow for ‘gaming anywhere’; the second is that ever since playing games such as Thief in the late 90s, I have appreciated directional sound and the nuances of quality headphones. But sometimes, when playing a shooter, what I really want is a nice booming rattle – but that won’t happen with an iPad. Now Divoom introduces the OnBeat X1 and promises the ‘ultimate gaming…

Editorials

Twitter Showed the Best and Worst of Brands During Boston Attacks

Some have called Twitter the ‘new police scanner’, an analogy which makes sense for those of us who had relatives with police scanners and CB radios back in the 70s when they were all the rage. This was very true during the attacks at the finish line of the Boston Marathon: I found myself with four tabs open on my laptop – three were local Boston stations WCVB, WHDH and Boston.com, and the other was Twitter. It did an amazing job of pulling in information because from a wide array of sources shared and retweeted by all of the folks…

Game Diary, News & Features

Strategy Game Machines at War 3 Launches!

I have to confess that it was my intention to have a full review of Machines at War 3 for today, but I really wanted to alert everyone to the release of Machines at War 3. This is a real-time strategy (RTS) game with a deep campaign mode, skirmish and full multiplayer modes – and it is a true indie effort! As a RTS, you are constantly working against time and building bases, doing tower defense, navigating stealth subs, commanding gigantic mega units, and researching new technologies. I have played through the tutorial and some of the campaign on both…

Music Diary, News & Features

Twitter Launches #Music Service and App, Check It Out!

Twitter has been rumored to have had a music service in the works for a while, but since we don’t dabble in rumors here at Gear Diary, we waited until it was released to cover it. Now it is out, and it isn’t as much of a ‘music service’ as it is a ‘music DISCOVERY service’, one that depends on artists being on Twitter and having their music mapped out on iTunes, Spotify or Rdio. Twitter describes the service as “A fresh approach to finding new music by using Tweets and follows to power discovery.” The service offers charts of…

Reviews

Nuu MiniKey Keyboard for iPhone 5 Review

I trace my history with portable digital devices back to the early days – I grabbed the HP95LX, the first real ‘handheld computer’ when it came out in 1991, and have had a myriad of devices including the Newton, as well as various Psion, Windows CE, Handheld PC, Palm, Pocket PC devices. More recently I have had a string of iPads as well as Android smartphone and tablet devices, and now I have an iPhone. For more than two decades there was one common characteristic on all of my favorite devices — a physical keyboard. I’ve had a few months…

Music Diary, Reviews

Ches Smith’s These Arches Hammered Review

Ches Smith caught my attention as drummer for Mary Halvorson in her various projects, so when I heard he was releasing a new album I knew I’d have to check it out. The project features familiar names as these artists often help each other out, but the instrumentation is non-standard and the songs and arrangements don’t necessarily suggest a drummer-led band. Let’s take a listen to Ches Smith’s These Arches Hammered! Musical Genre: Jazz Where to buy: Clean Feed Records (Currently CD only through the site) Artist: Ches Smith’s These Arches Description: While my knowledge of Ches Smith comes from…

Crowdfunding, Game Diary

Guns of Icarus Launches Kickstarter Campaign for Adventure Mode

The lengths that some developers will go to to see their vision realized amazes me, and with Guns of Icarus Online that was certainly true. They were almost bankrupted putting out the initial game, and have had a previous Kickstarter campaign to complete that effort. But they envisioned much more, including a Skirmish mode and a full Adventure. Skirmish was released as a separate game, but get ready as Guns of Icarus Launches Kickstarter Campaign for Adventure Mode! Project Title: Guns of Icarus Online—Adventure Mode (PC/Mac/Linux) Status: Active Closing Date for Funding: May 21, 2013 URL of the Project: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/musegames/guns-of-icarus-onlineadventure-mode…

Editorials, Music Diary

Court Rules MP3 Resale Violates Copyright Law

Calling everything about digital rights management a land-mine or clusterf**k seems to be overstating things, but some of the rules that apply to digital goods compared to the rules for the same goods on physical media just seem out of touch with reality. For example, let’s look at the latest ruling regarding ‘used MP3 seller’ ReDigi as noted at HypeBot: “Courts have consistently held that the unauthorized duplication of digital music files over the Internet infringes a copyright owner’s exclusive right to reproduce,” Judge Sullivan wrote. “However, courts have not previously addressed whether the unauthorized transfer of a digital music…

Editorials, Health and Fitness

5 Ways to Honor the Boston Marathon Tragedy Victims – A Monday Mile Special Edition

As someone who was born and spent more than forty years in the Boston area, my heart is heavy today. Although I am glad that the numbers didn’t continue climbing through the night in terms of those hurt, I am still having trouble wrapping my head around the horrific events that occurred at yesterday’s Boston Marathon. As I went for my run this morning, my mind was constantly thinking about the situation, and I posted that on my Facebook page. Since then, I have also been thinking about how we can best deal with the feeling of loss that every runner…

Music Diary, Reviews

Justin Timberlake 20/20 Experience Review

There is a line somewhere between drawing inspiration from the past and simply leaning upon the work of others as a crutch; so while Stray Cats or Adele took what came before them and reimagined it through the lens of a new era, Bruno Mars basically doing an 80’s era Police knock-off with a crappy chorus is just pandering. So what does this have to do with Justin Timberlake? If you caught his performance on the Grammy Awards, you know he is pushing a retro feel, so let’s take a look at his new Justin Timberlake 20/20 Experience album to…

Health and Fitness

My One-Year Runnerversary – The Monday Mile

I have posted several times about running as well as other fitness and health issues over the past year; I have also started a weekly ‘Monday Mile’ feature – and everyone has been amazing and supportive throughout, with loads of great discussions and tons of new stuff I have learned. At this point, I have no hesitation calling myself ‘a runner’ — something I would never have done before last fall. But when I look back to when the moment was that I turned the corner from being a ‘guy who jogged to control weight’ to ‘a runner’, it was Easter…

Editorials, News & Features

PC Sales Plummet, But are Windows 8 or iPad to Blame?

There is one reality bolstered by two bits of speculation getting loads of attention today. The reality is that sales of personal computers are abysmal, in fact they just hit the lowest point since the IDC started tracking numbers nearly 20 years ago. As happens whenever numbers are released for anything, analysts swoop in to rationalize and spin, which has led to two major speculations about the origins of the decline. All we know is that PC sales plummet, but are Windows 8 or iPad to blame? Let’s look at those two, and a few more dynamics at play: Windows…

Game Diary, Reviews

Where Angels Cry HD for iPad Review

In the world of hidden object games, there are a number of paths a developer can take, including purely hidden object screen games – which come in a variety of types – as well as more adventure oriented games. Many of the G5 games bridge both major types, often pulling in ideas from multiple sub-genres. The new release from G5 games is more oriented to the adventure side of the genre, which can be tricky because it means that you need to integrate a story and plot development and milestones with hidden objects and puzzles. With that frames, let’s take…

Crowdfunding, Game Diary, News & Features

Divinity Dragon Commander is Available for Pre-Order or as an Original Sin Perk

I have written extensively about my love of the Divinity games from Larian studios, including the recent Kickstarter of the turn-based Divinity Original Sin. The company is simultaneously working on another game, a real-time strategy game called Divinity Dragon Commander. Now Divinity Dragon Commander is Available for Pre-Order or as an Original Sin Perk. This week Larian and GoG.com announced they were teaming up to offer a discounted pre-order for Divinity Dragon Commander, knocking 11% off the price and asking only $39.99 for this massive game that offers single and multiplayer campaigns, as well as real-time and turn-based campaigns. There…

Gear Bits, Reviews

Facebook Home App Arrives on Google Play, Hands-On First Look

We have been hearing about Facebook Home since the Facebook event last Wednesday which we covered here. The general consensus was that Home was pretty much just another launcher – but a Facebook centric one. Now as the Facebook Home app arrives on Google Play, we have installed it and taken a quick look. The big question from the post we had about the event is ‘who cares’? In other words, exactly what market does this app serve? I always thought that was obvious but had two angles – it serves the Facebook crowd, and pretty much does NOT serve…

Editorials

Who Has Your Digital Back in an Emergency?

This past weekend my brother had a massive heart attack, and while he is now stable he has a long road ahead of him. Right after it happened he was treated – it was amazingly fortunate that it happened in a gym with a doctor next to him and a nurse on staff! It is a symptom of our far-flung society that aside from his ex-wife and high school daughter, I am the closest one in terms of distance – and I live nearly FOUR HOURS away! In situations like this it is worth asking who has your digital back…

Game Diary, Reviews

Art Mogul for Mac Review

Art Mogul puts you in the role of an art collector seeking to maximize your collection and your profits, traveling the world visiting galleries; getting the best price and rooting out fakes along the way. At its core Art Mogul is a hidden object game, but it plays almost like a simulation game in some ways. Your goal is to make the most money to build your art collection value. You start off going to a gallery with some money, where you can purchase a painting that is guaranteed to be authentic. But you want to drive down the price,…

Music Diary, Reviews

Kris Davis Capricorn Climber Review

For all of the grand debate about ‘music discovery’ going on with regards to services such as Slacker and Spotify right now, I continue to have success with the same method I have been using for decades. I find an artist I like, note sidemen I like from their recordings or find recordings where they are sidemen, and check those out. Sometimes that leads to me discovering a sideman from an artist two or three times removed from the original person – such as Kris Davis. Davis plays piano on Ingrid Laubrock’s Anti-House, whose new release I wrote about here….

Articles by Michael Anderson