Articles by Zek

Barnes & Noble Offers Free and Reduced NOOKS with Subscriptions!

Big news from B&N today! They’re looking to push down the price of the NOOK and drive more subscription services, so they’ve combined the two! You can get a free NOOK Simple Touch or a $99 NOOKcolor with a subscription to the New York Times through B&N ($19.99/month). Alternately, if you are more of the entertainment news type, there’s always a $199 NOOK Tablet with a subscription to People! This is potentially huge for the ebook industry. It turns the reader hardware into a commodity, not the main show. It also pushes prices down while also lining up ongoing cash…

Events, News

SolarKindle Cover Lets You Charge Your Kindle without an Outlet!

Ordinarily, I am skeptical of “solar-powered chargers”, as they seem more gimmick than useful gear, but a solar-powered Kindle charger is a stroke of genius! Kindles don’t require charging more often than once a month or so, meaning finding sunlight to charge isn’t an inconvenience. Plus a Kindle is one of the few devices that might get used regularly on the beach, or camping, or other places where outlets aren’t available, but sunlight is free and plentiful! The specifications on the SolarKindle cover sound very impressive! From the press release: Makes Unplugged E-Reading Come True The first practical solar gadget…

Events, News

Magellan Gets in the GPS Fitness Watch Business!

The GPS watch market has been dominated heavily by Garmin. Ask a runner, “Do you have a Garmin” and they aren’t going to wax poetic about their Nuvi…they’ll know you mean a Forerunner watch. But Magellan is looking for a piece of that pie, and they’ll be debuting two new watches, the “Switch” series, designed to appeal to runners as well as “crossover sports” (triathletes, bikers, and swimmers, presumably). Based on the press release, it sounds like the Switch will have very similar features to the competition, including the ability to race against a specific pace, mark laps and miles,…

Editorials

Jogging Is Scarier Than Calorie Counting?!

If you’ve eaten in a major fast food chain (especially in New York), you are probably familiar with calorie counts being posted next to ads of Big Macs and greasy, delicious fries. The idea is to discourage you from wanting to eat too many high calorie/ high-fat foods. According to a research study done in Maryland, there’s a more effective way-threaten to make people run! They found teenagers turned away from soda MORE when they were told drinking it would require 50 minutes of jogging to burn the calories. What really made my jaw drop was their logic: Researchers monitored…

Gear Bits

Gympact — Encouraging Health or Just Another Gimmick?

When I first read about Gympact I thought it was a joke. Pledging money if you fail to check-in at your gym for at least a half hour? Really? When I realized it wasn’t, it got me thinking: would I sign up for this? If I wasn’t already physically active, would this have led me to work out more? The answer to both is no, but for different reasons. As of now, I don’t belong to a gym. We had a membership but canceled it after realizing I only run outside, and Sarah prefers to hike and walk the dog…

Health and Fitness, Reviews

C9 by Champion Flip Top “Glommit” Review

It hasn’t been too cold yet this winter, but I am sure now that it is January the cooler temps will be coming. And like every year, I’ll have two issues. One, my hands get super cold when I run, but then they heat up in gloves, necessitating a gloves on/gloves off routine every half mile. Second, using a smartphone in the dead of winter is a huge pain. It’s a juggling routine to free my fingers from gloves to tap the screen, then cover them back up before it gets too cold. I could use special gloves with capacitive…

Reviews

Chivel iPhone 4S Clear and Black Bumper Review

My iPhone 4S has mostly lived in a Speck Fitted case since it was purchased. While I like it, I am always on the lookout for other options. Ideally, I wanted something that would offer some protection and grip, but still showcase the industrial style of the 4S. While bopping around Amazon one day, I came across a listing for a clear bumper with a silicon trim by a company called Chivel. It was only $2.99, so it seemed like the perfect way to try out a more minimal bumper style case. Is this an amazing price for a great case…

News

Someone at Apple Was a Ghostbusters Fan…

I love “Ghostbusters”. It’s one of my favorite movies of all time. In fact, I had a plastic Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man decorating more than one of my apartments post-college. How can you not love it? It’s pretty much the perfect movie. And according to The Verge, back in the ’80s someone at Apple felt the same way, and made an anti-IBM/pro-Apple video called “Blue Busters”. It’s funny, though honestly, I think the joke goes on for about a minute longer than necessary. Still, for the one-two punch of nostalgia and surrealism, it’s worth watching the whole thing! Then maybe pop in…

eBooks

Free eBooks from the Local Library!

I swung by my local library today and discovered they put together a very clever way of promoting library eBooks. They had free “gift cards” out for “free eBooks”, which was just a printed card with the library’s website on the front and QR code for the site on the back. The marketing campaign signs around the library suggested people could give them alongside Kindles, NOOKs, etc.

News

M-Edge Suing Amazon; You Had Better Stock Up on Kindle Cases Now!

M-Edge makes some awesome cases for the Kindle and other ebook readers. They made the case I had my original Kindle in for many years, and I loved it. We’ve also covered many of their iPad cases here at Gear Diary and they consistently receive high marks for build quality and useful, eye-catching designs. Unfortunately, M-Edge is alleging in a lawsuit that Amazon doesn’t feel the same way about their Kindle cases. According to the Wall Street Journal, M-Edge is claiming some pretty unpleasant business dealings have gone down with Amazon: M-Edge said in the lawsuit that in November 2009,…

Gear Bits

The Place Where Even Siri Fears to Tread

For Christmas Eve every year, Sarah and I head to her family’s get-together. It’s a good time with her siblings, aunt and uncle, and various cousins and nieces and nephews making an appearance. I got into a conversation with my sister-in-law about Siri and my iPhone, and I did a few demos for her showing how useful Siri was at managing my calendar, creating tasks, transcribing spoken messages, etc. I also showed off the sillier uses for Siri, including the funny questions like “What are you wearing” and “What’s the best smartphone”. At dinner, she encouraged me to show everyone…

Gear Bits

Siri Goes Skynet

I love Siri. She takes care of me when I am too lazy to type, and she manages my calendar far better than I can. But am I too trusting of my patient, robotic assistant? That’s what the twisted minds of Rooster Teeth Productions thought when they designed this trailer, where Siri is sick of our dumb questions and teaches us all who is really in charge, slasher-film style! I might need to sleep with one eye open tonight… Via TiPB

News

It’s the End of B&N As We Know It

Oh Barnes and Noble…I keep saying you aren’t Borders, and then you go and stock crock pots for the holidays. Cooking appliances. In a bookstore. Not even near the cookbooks, just chilling near bargain titles. Why? Did the NOOK line open the floodgates? Are you morphing into Target by carrying appliances while Target morphs into a bookstore with their expanded book sections? Is it bizarro land? I just hope this isn’t B&N’s sparkly Jesus piggy bank. A few years ago, Borders sold sparkly, Jesus shaped piggy banks. Then they went out of business. Coincidence? I think not. Please stick to…

eBooks

Wired Illustrates the Limitations of Paper Publishing

Over at Teleread, they’ve called Wired magazine onto the carpet for a set of eBook reader reviews that pitted the low-end Kindle against touchscreen, higher-end competitors, and for not breaking out the Special Offers/non-special offers versions of the Kindle. The Wired writer responsible for the segment responded in the comments, and after a few days of mulling it over, it seems to me that his explanation hurts print magazines more than it does to exonerate Wired. For reference, the review is over two pages: Page 1, Page 2. Here’s what Tim Conway said over at Teleread: The problem that we…

News

“Healthy” Foods to Avoid

Sure, you want to eat better, and maybe that’s your new year’s resolution. But be very, very careful when shopping, as labels like “natural” and “low fat” don’t always mean something is good for you. While that’s become (somewhat) common sense, it seems like crappy foods are finding more and more ways to sneak into our grocery carts. Fitbie came up with a list of 16 foods that are significantly worse for you than they sound at first glance, and a few of them may really surprise you! Before you swap sugar for agave syrup or believe the “corn sugar”…

Editorials

R U Professional? A GearChat on Text Messaging

I received a text message from a professional person yesterday that set my teeth on edge. The content was fine, but it was presented in a very unfortunate way. See, any place “you’re”, “you”, or “are” should have been used, she replaced it with “UR”, “U”, and “R”. Unless she’s on a special texting plan where she pays by the letter (unlikely), there’s no excuse for those abbreviations in a professional setting. Sadly, this has been a trend I am encountering more and more, even with adults in a corporate setting. Text-speak is bad enough with personal messages, but at…

eBooks

Gear Diary’s End of 2011 eBook Guide

Did you receive or are you expecting to get an eReader this holiday season? Or maybe you’re planning on using your holiday bonus to finally snap one up! Either way, it’s the end of 2011, and we’ve got a deep bench of ebook readers at a variety of price points, including some fairly recent price cuts. There aren’t too many rumors about updates heading into 2012, so let’s take a look at where we stand, the pros and cons for each store and device, as well as some tips on how to find books from more sources than just Amazon…

Gear Bits

Why You NEED a Front-Facing Smartphone Camera

I discovered this week the ultimate reason for a front-facing camera. No, it wasn’t for a Skype call, or Facetime, or to take a profile picture for a website. See, I was sitting at my desk, eating an everything bagel for lunch, when I had a business associate drop in unexpectedly. Great, except I’d just been eating a bagel full of seeds, and I didn’t want to embarrass myself with a big old poppy seed in my teeth. And the bathrooms in my office are in the hallway past the lobby, so I couldn’t escape to check. My solution? I…

Editorials

Lowes Learns About Viral Marketing (and Not Being Bigoted) the Hard Way!

Sarah and I have been watching “All-American Muslim” on TLC. It’s a glimpse into what it’s like to be both Muslim and American in Dearborn, Michigan. And while admittedly it’s slow at times, we’ve really enjoyed seeing how different people approach their religion and learning more about the different ways people practice, even within their own families. So we were very surprised when the hardware store Lowe’s pulled their ad support after the “Florida Family Association” complained about the show. What Lowe’s didn’t realize, but should have, is that controversial decisions in 2011 don’t fade quietly away. People were angry…

Gear Bits

The Trikke Is Cooler Than a Segway

I admit I am totally fascinated by the trend of mashing up bikes with unrelated exercise equipment. I thought the Elliptigo was cool (and the only one I could see someone using in public) until I learned about the Trikke. What’s the Trikke, you ask? It is an electric vehicle that looks sort of like skis on wheels with handlebars. Like a tricycle meets the ski team. According to the company, it is foldable, lightweight, and offers a “full body workout”. It looks incredibly fun, and the company even sells accessories like cargo nets to make running errands on the…

News

The Simplest Medicine Ever

We [as a society] tend to rush to prescriptions for every issue. High blood pressure? Medicine. A sinus headache? Medicine. Achey joints? Medicine. Need more vitamins? Medicine. You get the idea. But there’s another way to stay healthy (and get healthy), and it doesn’t even require a co-pay! For starters, it requires 9 minutes to watch the video below…trust me, it’s worth it!

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