Indigo Books might not be a household name in the United States, but they are extremely well known in Canada. Much like Barnes and Noble in the USA, Indigo is the last bookstore standing for our neighbors to the north. B&N needs to step it up, though, because Indigo is coming to America!
I test a lot of gadgets and gear for this site, and none of them have received the compliments or interest that the Original Grain “The Barrel” watch has. It doesn’t tell me when I have a call, or buzz me for texts, or vibrate uncontrollably when I haven’t visited Facebook in 20 minutes. It does two things: tells time, and looks good doing it.
The Apple/Amazon ebook feud was settled several years ago, and last year big credits started hitting people’s accounts. These were reimbursements for overpaying for ebooks at the time, determined by the price fixing contracts that had gone on between the publishers and the ebook sellers. Apparently there’s been a recalculation, because several of us at Gear Diary received an additional amount in settlement credits! These credits work just like the last ones; you can buy anything you want at Amazon, and the credit is good for six months. There’s been a few versions of the credits, from ebook-specific credits to…
This weekend, I bought my son a toy that he has declared is “the greatest toy of all time, ever!” He spent hours with it, told everyone he saw about it, and pretty much played nonstop. It was educational, it sparked his imagination, and it cost me $1.50, because it was just an egg full of Silly Putty.
When we received the pitch to review Quip, I immediately volunteered while thinking, “These guys are way too excited about toothbrushes!” Now that I’ve spent some time with Quip, I still stand by that — they’re way too excited about toothbrushes — but the bright spot here is that their excitement has created a truly excellent product and ecosystem!
Stranger Things is coming in just a few weeks! If you live under a rock, “Stranger Things” is a horror-ish drama from Netflix that is an homage to the 1980s. It has evil scientists, parallel dimensions, plucky pre-teen heroes, and Winona Ryder screaming at Christmas lights. Now it also has a companion game, and it is incredibly addictive!
There are a few brands that stand out in the phone protection space. Otterbox is a big one, as is Lifeproof, but Griffin has been there since the beginning with their very solid and dependable Survivor series.
I recently made the mistake of thinking I didn’t need a pocket flashlight with my everyday gear. My phone has a flashlight; I didn’t need anything else! As it turns out, phone flashlights are not terribly bright which is how I sliced up my hand with a pocketknife while fishing at twilight.
The scale is one of those household appliances most people seem to love to hate. It’s useful, but it’s sort of like Schroedinger’s scale: it can boost your ego or break your heart every time you step onto it. Nokia wants to make the scale a bit more useful and helpful, even if it can’t always give good news!
Reaction to Super Mario Run was a bit mixed when it was first released. On the one hand, it was Mario, on a phone! On the other hand, it was a bit of a generic running game, plus there wasn’t much to do once you slammed through all the levels. Plus, it was really pricey relative to other games at $9.99. Both issues are being resolved with the update out today, which adds new levels AND cuts the price to $4.99 temporarily! The new update adds levels beyond the original 6, as well as a new game called Remix 10….
How much technology can $230 buy you? It’s not enough for an iPad, certainly not enough for an iPhone, and will maybe get you a low-end Chromebook. If you’re willing to look beyond the big brands, though, E Fun offers a hidden gem in the form of the Nextbook Flexx 11A.
My son is obsessed with magnetic tile toys. He builds all sorts of elaborate items with them, from trucks to car garages to towering buildings. Last night he dug up the “Imagination” booklet from one set of Playmags tiles that showed the various tile combinations that could create all sorts of structures … including the Twin Towers.
Apple is getting very serious about competing in the smart home business, and more and more companies are joining in with Homekit compatibility. Netatmo is making sure their cameras stay competitive with new firmware updates for their outdoor and indoor cameras. Homekit compatibility means that in between mangling dictated text message and giving you oddball links for simple questions, Siri can also give you a peak at parts of your home using your watch, iPhone or iPad. If you’re not familiar with Netatmo, they offer a number of devices, but their main security cameras are Presence and Welcome. Presence is…
Acer has been very, very busy at IFA 2017. They announced quite the lineup of products, so if you use anything remotely electronic there’s probably something there for you. (And if you don’t use anything electronic, please let me know in the comments how and why you’re reading this!)
The pace at which George RR Martin has been publishing his “Song of Ice and Fire” series is almost like a math problem. If there are two years between releases for the first, second and third books, then five years for the fourth book and six years for the fifth book, how many years until the sixth book is released? Well, the good folks at io9 found out about a computer program working on an auto-generated “Winds of Winter”, and it’s definitely the sequel we’ve all been waiting for! Seriously, read this excerpt and tell me you aren’t first in…
Admit it, you’ve lost your keys before. We all have. Recently we found a set of keys my wife lost two years ago! There are Bluetooth trackers that will beep when initiated, but Pixie has a better plan; they use augmented reality to float a visual in front of you that guides you to your lost item.
Amazon is not kidding around when it comes to their acquisition of Whole Foods. They proposed to Whole Foods at the end of June, and their merger goes through on Monday! This is like the corporate equivalent of a shotgun wedding, but no one’s pregnant (we hope). All joking aside, Amazon has already laid out some of their plans for Whole Paycheck Foods, and the message is clear: Prices are going down, and get your Prime membership ready!
My son is four, and through pop culture, friends, and what appears to be a priori knowledge that kicks in around this age, he’s obsessed with Batman.
Brooks Cascadia trail shoes have long been seen as some of the best on the market. The soles are designed for traction, they feature a rock plate for extra foot protection, and they’re cushioned enough that you won’t be in agony every time you step on a root. But Brooks just upped the game big time with their new REI partnership: National Parks themed Cascadias!
Messenger bags are a simple concept. You have some sort of pouch-like item attached to a shoulder strap that you wear over one shoulder or across your body. Pockets, design, color all add to and change the basic idea, but they’re all similar at the end of the day. It’s the details that make a bag go from eh to WOW, and Toffee nails that with their Osaka Satchel.
Just a few short years ago, the idea of portable Bluetooth speakers was a high-tech concept. They’ve become quite ubiquitous since then, but ready availability isn’t the only obstacle. They are, after all, delicate electronic devices, and sand, water, grit, and whatever else nature has out there can cause serious harm. Unless, of course, you’re packing an iHome speaker!