Articles by Michael Anderson

IK Multimedia iKlip Studio for iPad Review

Every now and then you come across an accessory that after using it seems so obvious, so necessary, that you can’t believe it took two years for someone to bring it out. THAT, in short, described my feelings about the iKlip Studio from IK Multimedia. Let’s take a look! The Hype: -Sturdy, durable, lightweight, shock-resistant thermoplastic construction holds your iPad securely without scratching or marring it -Rubber foot pads grip the desktop and prevent unwanted sliding -Flexible orientation allows iKlip Studio to be tilted from a very low-profile angle to near-vertical positioning -The device can be quickly rotated between its…

Music Diary, News & Features

Slacker Lands on Roku AND Windows 8 Preview!

Yesterday Slacker made me a rather happy Roku user– they launched Slacker Radio on the Roku set-top box, thereby bringing my favorite internet radio and on-demand service to the streaming media center my family uses on a daily basis. Here are details on the Roku integration: Slacker, Inc. today announced the launch of Slacker Radio on Roku, the leading streaming platform in the U.S. Slacker Radio listeners in the U.S. and Canada can now enjoy the personal radio service on Roku’s popular streaming players. The Slacker Radio lineup includes more than 200 expert-curated music stations, personalized ESPN Radio and ABC…

Game Diary, Reviews

Crossworlds the Flying City for iPad Review

As I play more and more hidden object adventures I have developed a set of criteria that I expect every new game to meet: challenging but beatable hidden object gameplay, challenging but solvable puzzles, a hint system that balances being helpful with making you think, solid technical aspects in terms of graphics and sound, and of course an interesting story. With that list in mind, let’s walk through G5’s latest hidden object adventure CrossWorlds: the Flying City HD! The Hype: Teleport yourself into an out-of-this-world gaming experience! After inventing an amazing device that enables travel through parallel worlds, Professor Dumbdore…

Gear Bits, News & Features

In a Sea of Canceled TV Shows, How Did YOUR Favorites Fare?

I had started to write about canceled shows last fall after the abysmal Charlie’s Angels was unceremoniously dumped along with Playboy Club and a couple of others. What stopped me? The cancellations never seemed to end! But then the season settled in and suddenly it was time for holiday breaks, then mid-seasons shifts and so on. But now we are nearing the end of Season Finale month, and the networks have spent the last few weeks compiling lists of shows that will or will not be returning – and they have been BRUTAL! I will list them all out in…

Game Diary, Reviews

Royal Trouble Hidden Adventure Mac Game Review

Back before the iOS release of Royal Trouble, even after reading the description I wasn’t sure exactly what to expect in terms of gameplay – and frankly I was nervous that I was getting burnt out on hidden object games. Fortunately Royal Trouble Hidden Adventure was an entirely different sort of casual adventure game – and an absolute blast that I recommended you simply MUST try! Now it has landed on the Mac, which leaves me with a single question – did they manage a solid port? Let’s take a look! The Hype: Help two charming royal heirs escape from…

Game Diary, Reviews

Fix It Up: Kate’s Adventure Mac Game Review

Their have been three entries in the ‘Fix It Up’ time-management casual game franchise from G5 Entertainment. The first game was called Fix It Up: Kate’s Adventure, which I reviewed here. I had some issues with the strategic approach of the game that kept me from fully enjoying it, but the two later games I enjoyed very much. Now that it has been released on the Mac I was intrigued to go back and check it out again. Would I love it … or still find it lacking? Let’s take a look! The Hype: Get ready for a time management…

Gear Bits, News & Features

Check Out A Cool ‘Live Lip Dub’ Wedding Proposal

Photo courtesy of Alysha Beck and The Oregonian Way back in the stone ages when I proposed to my wife, cell phones were very rare and barely functional outside of cities (and only made ‘phone calls’), video recorders were bulky and tape based and left behind large rectangles no one ever saw again, and a ‘flash mob’ would call to mind a bunch of people with no clothes on. Oh, and my thoughts involved a romantic setting, relaxation and solitude for my proposal. But as noted at LaughingSquid, Portland, Oregon actor Isaac Lamb had some different ideas about how to…

Gear Bits, News & Features

How Common Is Your Birthday?

Here at Gear Diary we have just gone through a period where it seemed that two-thirds of us had our birthday within the same month. So when I saw a link to a NY Times article that compiled some data on the most common birthdays, I was intrigued. Turns out that the plethora of April birthdays at Gear Diary is an anomaly, with the greatest density of births coming in mid September to early October. If you follow the link to the Times, you will see a tabular listing of dates with ranking. So for example, my birthday on April…

Music Diary, News & Features

Asia Releases First Single from Upcoming XXX Album

I have followed the rock group Asia recently with some interest – because quite frankly I didn’t realize they had ever done much beyond their big hit debut and fizzled-out follow-up in the early 80s. But when I heard their last album ‘Omega’ my wish was that it was meant literally, as in their final entry. Because it was pretty dreary and mediocre. So when I heard that they were coming out with a 30th anniversary re-release of their excellent original album, I was not surprised – but I was pleased. However, when I also learned they were releasing a…

Game Diary, Reviews

Spirit of Wandering – the Legend, Mac Game Review

I was still warm in the afterglow of the awesome iOS game ‘Letters from Nowhere’ from G5 Games when I started another hidden object game from them called Spirit of Wandering. Given the innovative style of the former game, I really didn’t expect Spirit of Wandering – a stock standard hidden object adventure – to live up. If you read my review of the iPad version you know the results were mixed. Now the game has launched on the Mac, so let’s take a look! The Hype: Sail the seas with a pirate captain in search of her missing love…

Game Diary, Reviews

Avernum Great Trials Trilogy for PC Review!

The Avernum series from Spiderweb Software is one of the classics of indie gaming and of the RPGS in general over the last couple of decades. Earlier this year Spiderweb released the revamped version of the first game in the series for Mac, PC and iPad. Now they have ported the final three games, known as the Great Trials Trilogy, to Steam. I had played them when they were originally released so I was thrilled to get an excuse to go back and revisit these classics. Let’s see how they play several years later! The Hype: Avernum 4 takes place…

Gear Bits

RIP Eugene Polley, Inventor of the TV Remote at 96

Image courtesy of Wikipedia I remember reading an article about 25 years or so ago! on how everything wired was going wireless and everything wireless was getting wired. The article was mainly about cordless phones and wired cable television, but it is one that comes back to me often about the transformative effect of technology and how quickly we acclimate to changes. One thing that pretty much everyone takes for granted is a full-function wireless remote. Yet many of us can remember a time into the 70s and 80s where switching channels meant getting up off the couch and turning…

Music Diary, News & Features

Google Doodle Celebrates Bob Moog

Today’s Google Doodle is a fully interactive synthesizer to celebrate the life of synthesizer pioneer Robert Moog. The sound of so many classic recordings from the 70s owes almost entirely to Moog and his crew from the small Trumansburg, New York manufacturing facility hand-wiring these innovative musical instruments. The ‘Moog Sound’ is not just due to analog circuitry, but more due to the limitations of the technology and some errors made in designing the circuits. I remember having to do most calculations by hand in undergraduate school, from electromagnetic waves to statistics and more … and certainly don’t miss those…

Music Diary, Reviews

Mary Halvorson Tops Her Critically Acclaimed Last Album with ‘Bending Bridges’

Mary Halvorson Quintet – ‘Bending Bridges’ In late 2010 Mary Halvorson released Saturn Sings, her second recording as a leader and first with her quintet. Building on the acclaimed trio debut ‘Dragon’s Head’, Saturn Sings was immediately acclaimed and landed on Top 10 lists across the world of jazz critics. I found it a stunningly original and creative work, saying “she soars with unique and original compositions and improvisational techniques that are tremendously fresh and challenging and listenable all at once. This is absolutely one of my favorite recordings of 2010.” Now, just a few months after releasing a set…

Music Diary, News & Features

RIP Donna Summer, Queen of Disco and More!

I remember way back at the beginning of High School the dances always seemed to conclude with one song – Last Dance by Donna Summer. It was just one of the iconic songs by the 5-time Grammy Award winning singer, who died yesterday at age 63 after a lengthy battle with cancer. Unlike some celebrities, she kept very private during her illness. For someone who bore the mantle of ‘Queen of Disco’, she refused to let that destroy her career or box her in. That was simply because she had the chops to go beyond ‘Disco Diva’. As noted at…

Gear Bits, Music Diary

The Brave New World of Music DRM

We all know the law of conservation of matter, in which it only changes forms. Well, apparently that rule applies to music DRM – just when we thought it was going away someone reminds us that it is still there … just in different form. As the graphic above shows, some of the biggest sources of non-owned music – YouTube, Spotify, Rhapsody, etc – all have exclusive DRM that restricts use. Even on iTunes there is DRM wrapped around almost everything except music. It is easy to say ‘well, Spotify and similar services HAVE to use DRM to protect their…

Gear Bits, News & Features

Sometimes Verizon Expands LTE into Areas Not Listed on Updates!

Each week Verizon expands their massive high-speed LTE network into new areas and buildt out existing areas. Unfortunately for me, neither my home nor my main work office is in LTE coverage, though my office in our main engineering building offers me a tease of high speeds once every week or two. This week as usual I checked out the Verizon page and found the following updates (as compiled by Droid-Life): Introduction cities: Lake Charles, La. Hyannis/Mid-Cape, Mass. Benton Harbor/St. Joseph, Mich. Biloxi/Gulfport/Pascagoula and Oxford, Miss. Atlantic City/Toms River, N.J. Dickinson and Williston, N.D. Ashtabula, Bucyrus and Defiance, Ohio Eugene/Springfield,…

Gear Bits

The 50 Best “Very Special” Sitcom Episodes

Coming out of the 1970s social awareness which turned into popular After School Specials and dramatic mini-series ‘events’, the early 80s spawned an endless stream of ‘Very Special Episodes’ in sitcoms, which continue to plague shows as some of the worst and most awkward moments in the series. The folks over at Jest Comedy have compiled a video of 50 memorable episodes, from caffeine pills to shoplifting and more. Here is the info: The people at Jest Comedy bring us this supercut of the best of those very special episodes, from peer pressure to deadbeat dads. Enjoy reliving some of…

Gear Bits, News & Features

All the Things a Star Trek Doctor is NOT!

If you think of quotes from the classic Star Trek, one of the first few would be ‘I’m a doctor, not a …’. These were uttered brilliantly by DeForest Kelley as Dr. Leonard McCoy in the series, and have become a standard line in later series entries. You heard it in Deep Space 9, Voyager and even the Enterprise prequel – but ironically never from Dr. Crusher on The Next Generation. Anyway, here is a great video showing a ton of these lines! If you are interested, there is a great list of sayings from Star Trek fan site ‘Memory…

Music Diary, News & Features

RIP Legendary Bassist Donald ‘Duck’ Dunn

This weekend we learned of the passing of one of the most influential bassists of the electric era – Donald “Duck” Dunn. He was 70 years old and ‘died in his sleep’ according to long-time collaborator guitarist Steve Cropper. The pair were touring and had just played two sets at the Blue Note in Tokyo earlier that night. Here is more information: Dunn is perhaps best known as the bassist for Booker T. & The MGs, the highly influential house band for Stax Records that set the tone for modern Southern soul music. Dunn was invited to join the band…

Editorials

Will You Abandon Hulu if They Force a Cable Contract?

One of the great tools if you are looking to ‘cut the cord’ and lose your Cable or Satellite TV contract is Hulu. For $7.99 a month you get access to loads of great shows on a 24-hour delay. My family loves Revenge, for instance, but seldom wants to be up until 11PM in order to watch it. Other shows such as Castle or Person of Interest just never seem to work with our schedule. So we depend on Hulu+ on our Roku every week to keep us up to date. For my family Hulu+ is a convenience. You see,…

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