Accessories at CES Illustrate Only Apple and Samsung Matter

I had the privilege of walking the CES floor and trying hard to cover as much as I could for Gear Diary this past week. It was, as you can imagine, absolutely geek heaven. I can’t even count how many smartphone accessories I saw this week, but one common thread stood out among the many mixed styles: if you want a nice case for your phone, buy an iPhone, a Samsung Galaxy S3, or a Note 2. Otherwise, you probably won’t see much case love. Now, seeing iPhone cases everywhere isn’t a big surprise at all. But all week I…

Editorials, Events

Where’s Barnes and Noble? Not Taking Advantage of CES!

I spent a great deal of time before and during CES checking out the exhibitor list and deciding what companies I wanted to visit. While I didn’t think they were doing anything special, I did note that Barnes and Noble was on the exhibitor list, and made a mental note to drop by and see what they had to say. Apparently, though, B&N is here in their traditional, not technological, capacity. They are here solely to sell Gary Shapiro’s “Ninja Innovation” title (Gary is head of CEA, the company behind CES). No display NOOKs. Not even a brochure. At CES….

Events

Rap Pacs Bring Lightweight Protection From The Elements

Company: Rap Pacs Products on Display: Rap Pacs makes cases for the iPad, Kindle, NOOK and other 7in tablets, and various smartphones. Their cases are recycled yoga material with marine-grade plastic pouches to hold devices and provide some protection from the elements. What Caught Our Eye: The iPad and tablet cases were especially interesting, as they offer some protection from sand, water, and other potential dangers without being bulky or requiring the device to be sealed tighter than the Pentagon. While these are not intended to be ultra rugged, they did demo that you could drop an iPad and feel…

Events

Boost Your Smartphone Volume With Smartsound Case

Company: SmartSound Case Products on Display: Cases for the iPhone and Samsung Galaxy S3 and Samsung Galaxy Note that have a kickstand that doubles as a channel to naturally amplify sounds without needing a separate powered speaker. Also includes a reflective flash ring for brighter photos. What Caught Our Eye: The cases were very light, and the combination of sound channel and kickstand makes the phones very stable while on display. It was too noisy to test the sound quality, but the build and style looked great!

Events, News

Golla Bags Can Outfit Your Mobile Arsenal!

Company: Golla Bags Products on Display: Golla is at CES with everything from simple phone pouches to device-specific form fitting cases. They also have an extensive line of larger bags, as well as camera pouches and even headphones. What Caught Our Eye: I love Golla bags, and have used their pouches for cameras and other small devices over the years. They are tough, extremely well made, and come in all sorts of cool designs. They have some great cases for the iPhone and iPad (shocking, I know) but they also have expanded their device specific lines to include Samsung, and…

Events

Potty Training Help At CES!

Do you have a toddler who hates potty training and loves your iPad? Nickelodeon had a solution on display at CES… And don’t worry-there’s a protective cover over the iPad for any, uh, accidents.

Events, Health and Fitness

United Healthcare Shows Their Techy Side

Company: United Healthcare Products on Display: Not everything UHC had was directed at consumers, but even the doctor-facing technology is a boon for the patients. They have ideas and systems for every aspect of the insurance and healthcare experience, from prescription drugs to estimated costs. What Caught Our Eye: One of the areas United Healthcare is focusing on is education for everyone, not just UHC customers. They’ve launched a website (UHCTV) with tons of original content to help people learn exercises, healthier eating techniques, and offers the chance for users to ask their experts questions about the various subjects….

Events

Gaiam Gets In The Case Game

Company: Gaiam Yoga, working with Allsop Products on Display: Gaiam and Allsop have a line of yoga inspired iPhone and iPad cases and headphones coming out in late May/early June. What Caught Our Eye: The cases all uses Gaiam’s earthy style, with designs reminiscent of a yoga mat. Materials are recycled, wood, and other organic styles. Definitely the kind of case you could throw on your iPhone so it blends in at yoga class!

Events, Reviews

Toshiba Portege Z930 Ultrabook First Impressions

I am off to CES in just a few short days, and had originally planned to bring my long-in-the-tooth-but-still-going-strong Chromebook as a laptop solution. Then Gear Diary was invited to review the Toshiba Portege Z930 Ultrabook. The result? I will be blogging with a great deal more power and features during the show! We’ll have a full review soon, but I wanted to make sure to share my first impressions, and not just the “OH WOW” I had when I pulled it out of the box! Let’s start with the hardware. This thing is beautiful. It’s not metal like a Macbook Air, but a brushed metallic looking plastic. It…

Reviews

Letterpress Word Game for iOS

Type of app: Word game Platform/where to buy: iOS, universal for iPad and iPhone Developer: atebits Price: Free, $.99 upgrade for unlimited games and themes Major features: Use the jumbled letters to create words, and compete for credit for each tile used. Words cannot be reused, and once every tile is claimed, the person who has used more tiles wins. Challenge friends via iOS Game Center. Ease of use/Overall performance: This is a very fun game and a great alternative to word games like Words with Friends. It forces you to be creative, since you can’t reuse words and you…

eBooks

Ways To Read More In 2013 On Any Budget!

I love books. I know I am slightly biased, being a former bookstore employee, but I like to think that most people like reading books. The hard part is finding books you want to read. Maybe you can’t find the right authors, or books have gotten too pricey, or you haven’t made the leap to ebooks yet…but don’t worry. No matter the obstacle, at Gear Diary we are here to help you make sure your 2013 reading list stays nice and full! Book Discovery: This is the hardest part. Maybe you have a local bookstore you can pop into…

Gear Bits

Sick in Bed? It’s FaceTime to the Rescue!

I have the flu. It’s quite inconvenient, especially since we are trying really, really hard to keep Sarah from catching it. As a result, I am staying in a different room on another floor, plus both of us have been armed with Lysol every time we enter a common area. The real bummer is not being able to hang out together. But this is temporary, and we’re working around it — by using FaceTime! It’s a bit silly, but it makes both of us feel less lonely, and it beats facing each other in a common area and setting off…

eBooks, Reviews

Byook Enhanced eBooks Review

Various developers have been trying since the original iPad to make enhanced and video eBooks a success. There seems to be this impression that books+tablet+video=profit! Yet plain old eBooks have managed to hold their ground quite nicely, leaving the question of whether there’s really a market for a book with video, music, and other bells and whistles. Byook think they can add to the eBook reading experience, and I had the opportunity to test a few of their titles and experience the multimedia eBook for myself! My first Byook was Sherlock Holmes “The Adventure of the Speckled Band”. The Byook…

News

Pocket Informant Continues to Shine and Adds New Updates and Bug Fixes

I am about to head to my first CES experience in just a few short weeks, and already I have learned something very important: the schedule is an absolute beast. Everyone wants to meet, there are only a few short days, and juggling all those commitments is going to be rough. Luckily, I am not leaning on the anemic iOS calendar to handle all this, but I have the always amazing Pocket Informant to help me out! There are a few reasons why I recommend Pocket Informant as a more robust calendar and tasks option. One, it’s far, far easier…

eBooks

Barnes and Noble’s Very Clever eBook Gifting Promotion

I’ve said for a long time that Barnes and Noble’s key to success in the ebook world was through their retail channels. The more they find ways to leverage the advantage of being both the neighborhood store AND an instant gratification web presence, the better they will be able to compete with Amazon. It looks like they are looking for creative ways to do that, and their latest one is actually pretty clever. This newest promotion is called “Buy One NOOK Book, Gift One NOOK Book for Free“. The concept is pretty great all by itself; buy one qualifying ebook,…

Gear Bits

All Those Junk Emails Are No Accident!

(image courtesy TLC) My morning routine during November and December is pretty simple; wake up, throw on warm clothes, grapple the dog into his leash, start our walk, and use my iPhone to begin the mass deletion of every “ONE DAY SALE” email that’s hit overnight. I don’t even read most of the subject lines, I just skim and delete. Unfortunately, that’s exactly what all those retailers don’t want…and there’s more to their strategy than just gunking up our inboxes. The Wall Street Journal has an utterly fascinating article on how email marketing works, and what retailers aim to accomplish…

eBooks

Are eTextbooks Fully Baked Yet?

Digital textbooks always sound like a great idea on paper. They save money! And children don’t struggle under the weight of giant books! What’s not to like? Well, there’s the medium for reading on them for starters. Kindles crashed and burned on the college level, and while iPads are great, they are also expensive and far more fragile than a spiral bound notebook. Some schools have managed to have pilot iPad and computer based textbook programs successfully, but it still leads to many questions: who pays for the iPads? Do you upgrade them yearly? What about textbook licenses, are they…

Gear Bits

Truly Dedicated Christmas Decorations!

One of my favorite childhood traditions was when my family would drive around and check out Christmas lights. Being Jewish, we didn’t decorate our house with sparkly lights and blow up Santas, but we loved looking at all the houses that did. We would go out for a family dinner, and then instead of just heading home, we would drive around and debate the best and worst displays. I was all excited to get Sarah hooked on this tradition, and she informed me at dinner tonight that a shortcut to her office had yielded the mother lode. She promised the…

News

Even More Arrested Development Coming Soon!

I have a few shows I really love. When I’m home sick, nothing makes me feel better like a Buffy the Vampire Slayer marathon. But there’s one show I can watch over and over and over, that never stops being funny, and that seems to have new jokes even when I can’t remember how many times I’ve watched it: Arrested Development! So needless to say, I am beyond excited at the latest news about the Netflix revival of the series. Not only is it coming back via Netflix, which we’ve known for a while, there was just so much good…

News

ArchetypeMe Makes Finding New Content Fun and Personal

Finding new things to read online can be remarkably difficult. Everyone has their “usual” websites, via RSS, or Flipboard, or Twitter. And there are sites like Stumbleupon that give you fun random ideas. But it can be hard to set the parameters for new sources just right — either you’re looking in too broad an area, or you get so focused on a narrow niche that you miss out on finding anything new and different. That’s where ArchetypeMe.com steps in to make your morning news and coffee routine that much more interesting. What is ArchetypeMe? It’s an approach to content…

Gear Bits

Careful! That Mannequin Is Watching, Waiting, and Profiling

Admit it. You think department store mannequins are creepy. They stare ahead with their cold dead eyes, looking perfect and unnatural. No one in real life poses like that, and their dimensions often make Barbie look realistic. At least they aren’t REALLY watching you…right? Sadly, Businessweek has popped that bubble of hope: The EyeSee looks ordinary enough on the outside, with its slender polystyrene frame, blank face, and improbable poses. But inside, it’s no dummy. A camera in one eye feeds data into demographic-profiling software to determine the age, gender, and race of passersby. The year-old device is designed for…

Articles by Zek