Verizon recently debuted new “Share Everything” plans that combine unlimited texting and voice with shared data pools. Prices depend on how many devices are in use and how much data you want. But is it actually a good deal? I ran Verizon’s calculator to find out.
Here’s another reason for eBook haters to complain about the digitization of the written word — your reading habits are no longer secret. While it is not surprising to assume Amazon, B&N and Kobo are watching what you read, the Wall Street Journal has a very detailed account of just how much is being watched. From the Journal: Publishing has lagged far behind the rest of the entertainment industry when it comes to measuring consumers’ tastes and habits. TV producers relentlessly test new shows through focus groups; movie studios run films through a battery of tests and retool them based…
When Google announced the Nexus tablet, I was surprised to see they didn’t seem to be aiming for the iPad. With a $199 starting price and a 7 inch form factor, Google is clearly taking aim at the devices that have defined the Android tablet market thus far; e-reading based tablets like the Kindle Fire and the NOOK Tablet both run off Android, but use their own proprietary app and content stores, and Google wants a piece of that pie! So I posed this question to the other Gear Diary editors: Carly: How much will the Nexus tablet pull…
I am always on the hunt for a good book, especially during the summertime. Once on a week’s vacation to the beach I blew through 12 books! Needless to say, I try to bargain hunt for new titles. So Geoffrey Morrison’s book “Undersea”, for only .99 on Kindle, has caught my eye! Here’s the description: In a world flooded and irradiated by a nearly forgotten cataclysm generations passed, all that remains of civilization clings to life in two war-torn, city-sized submarines. For fifty years, the only peace between them has come from separation. Now, young councilwoman Ralla Gattley has uncovered…
If you are a regular reader of Gear Diary, you probably know about Zinio, the digital magazine people. If you do, you might be surprised to hear they are for sale; and if you haven’t, you probably buy digital magazines from B&N or Amazon, if you buy any at all. CNN has the scoop on the sale: FORTUNE — Zinio, a digital magazine reading platform that competes with Amazon’s (AMZN) Kindle app and Apple’s (AAPL) Newsstand, is seeking a buyer, Fortune has learned. The San Francisco-based company has hired investment bank Montgomery & Co. to manage the process, with one…
Just about two months ago, Barnes and Noble and Microsoft announced that B&N would spin off their NOOK and college bookstore businesses into “Newco”, to be jointly owned by both companies. Obviously this has been good news for B&N’s finances, but aside from the press release both sides have been very quiet. There were rumors that B&N would be part of Microsoft’s Surface tablet event, but that was proved wrong. However, I think Surface tablets are a big part of why Newco was formed. When the joint venture was announced, I pointed out this benefit on the Microsoft end: As…
Sarah has had a Kindle Fire since Christmas, and she loves it. She uses it for reading, watching movies, and playing games. For a while her primary case was one she found at Brookstone that was clearly a repurposed Blackberry Playbook case. So Sarah was very excited when we had the chance to check out the US+U Swivel Portfolio! US+U is not just a typical case maker though. They give 3% of the net revenue from each case to various charities, meaning purchasing this case does more than outfit your Fire, it does something good for the world at the…
If you listen to traditional retailers, online websites like Amazon are hurting them through what’s called “showrooming”, where the retail store becomes a place for consumers to check out items, but buy them online instead. There’s a lot of debate over the solutions (Target pulled all their Kindles, for example) but Rich Adin at The Digital Reader has the worst suggestion I have ever seen: Of course, there is no practical way to prevent such comparison shopping by consumers. A b&m retailer can fight back by no longer carrying any Amazon-branded merchandise, which is the approach Target took, but that…
If you participate in any organized sporting events, there’s a good shot you will end up with a medal. Running races generally give out medals for half-marathon and marathon distances, and championships in team sports often also reward players with hardware. Yes, there’s an easy joke here about how these days “everyone gets a medal” but they make great souvenirs to remember athletic experiences. However, once you take one home, how you do you display it? One or two can be hung on a hook, but above that you want a better way to show them off. Enter the Kickstarter…
For the last several days, I have had the opportunity to tool around in a 2012 Kia Rio. It’s a cute, sporty, very compact car, and it has been quite a difference from my usual car, a Toyota Prius, and Sarah’s car, a Volkswagen Jetta. It has a lot of impressive features, and a few things I found to be annoying. Read on to learn more! So, let’s start with the basics. This is what Kia calls an “entry-level” car, and it retails for around $18,000, making it very affordable. Now, to get the price that low, there are certain…
It is not a secret that Photoshop enables magazines to make people look like idealized versions of themselves. In the world of photographic manipulation, no one has wrinkles, or pimples, or unsightly beads of sweat on hot days. Everyone is skinny and muscular, and clothes fit perfectly. In addition to being wildly unrealistic, it’s always ripe for parody, and Forbes shared a video that perfectly nails the absurdity of it: Fotoshop by Adobé is hysterical, and I love how it takes on not only Photoshop but the entire beauty industry. We are bombarded daily by commercials for chemicals that hide…
When I was a kid, I loved educational television. Sure, 3-2-1 Contact was fun, but my favorite show of all time was Square One! What was Square One? Only the greatest show of all time…about math! From Wikipedia: Square One Television (sometimes referred to as Square One) is an American children‘stelevision program produced by the Children’s Television Workshop to teach mathematics and abstract mathematical concepts to young viewers. Created and broadcast by PBS in the United States from 1987 to 1994, the show was intended to address the so-called “math crisis” among American schoolchildren. The show was revived for the 1995–1996…
Runners have all sorts of ways to make themselves run faster. Personally, I like using my Garmin Forerunner, since nothing makes me feel slower than watching my snail’s pace tick off on my wrist. Then I convince myself the Garmin is judging me for being slow, and it makes me push harder. Others use landmarks, like trying to run harder to the nearest tree and then slowing down, etc. Now there’s a way to train harder that ups the geek ante to near-infinite levels. According to Runners World, engineers in Australia have invented “joggobot”, a flying drone that floats ahead…
Public domain titles are a tricky area for ebooks. On the one hand, a bit of digging can get you a free copy of a title easily. But paying a nominal amount sometimes means a better quality copy, with typos and other issues properly corrected. Unless, of course, you bought “War and Peace” for your NOOK. According to Poynter, a company named “Superior Formatting Publishing” put out a copy of “War and Peace” for the Kindle. Then they made one for the NOOK. In a mind-boggling bit of sloppiness, they did an automatic search and replace every time “Kindle” appeared,…
The world of laptops has had a very disruptive series of events over the last few years. There’s the whole netbook craze, which evolved into a tablet movement, and meanwhile, on the high-end, the MacBook Air line remains the gold standard for a lightweight, but powerful computer. Hence why Intel and Toshiba rolled out a trifecta of Ultrabooks today; lightweight computers for everyone’s needs! First up, the U845W for $999.99: Satellite U845W: The World’s First Ultrabook with an Ultra-Wide 21:9 Cinematic Display The entertainment-optimized Satellite U845W offers premium features and design in an ultra-slim form factor. Designed with movie enthusiasts…
If you doubt there’s a three-horse race for dominance in ebooks, look no further than Kobo’s big announcement this morning. They are crowing about “triple-digit growth” in downloads, sales, and eReaders. Now, they are still trailing B&N and Amazon, especially in the USA, but they are likely pulling lots of sales from Sony, Google Books, and other small players. It’s also worth noting that Kobo is a huge international ebook player. They are owned by Rakuten, a Japanese company, and they have a strong presence in Canada as well as in the UK, Germany, France, The Netherlands, Australia, and New…
A friend of mine sent me the link to this amazing new “Star Wars” themed show on Facebook, and now I really wish I had the vacation time and disposable income to visit Australia. Not only does it look beautiful but they have a very… Uhm… creative take on the Star Wars mythology. Again, warning, this is not suitable for kids, workplace, or anyone who doesn’t want to think about C3PO that way. Check it out. Sadly, I am guessing it will be some time before we see this show hit the states. Hopefully, it has a nice long run…
If you’ve seen those corn industry commercials that claimed “your body can’t tell the difference between ‘corn sugar’ and ‘cane sugar’” and had to pause the tv from laughing at the idiocy of that statement, good news. The FDA agrees and has denied the corn industry the chance to rebrand high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) as “corn sugar”, on the grounds that it is not, in fact, sugar. From the New York Times: “HFCS is an aqueous solution sweetener derived from corn after enzymatic hydrolysis of cornstarch, followed by enzymatic conversion of glucose (dextrose) to fructose,” the letter stated. “Thus,…
I was at a wedding over the weekend, and I tried making small talk with the gentleman seated next to me. As it turned out, he was from Chicago; we started chatting about the last time I was there for a work conference, which was held above a Barnes and Noble. He laughed and told me the Barnes and Noble is closed. In fact, between B&N tightening stores and Borders going bankrupt, Chicago is down to just two Barnes and Nobles to serve the large-scale bookstore needs for the city. This was quite a disappointment to my new buddy, as…
Think books have a cloud of doom over them? It is a beautiful sunshine-y day compared to the forecast for newspapers. AOL’s local news experiment Patch is imploding, and newspapers are struggling badly to convert free online readers to subscribers via paywall and other means. Despite all the ugly news, there are some that see potential; in fact, Warren Buffett has announced that Berkshire Hathaway will be investing in several newspapers! From The Verge and Bloomberg: Warren Buffett, whose Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (BRK/A) struck a deal this month to acquire 63 newspapers, said he may buy more publications as the…
I have had a dedicated GPS in my car for the last 5 years. I started with a Garmin Streetpilot, and moved on to a Nuvi a few years ago. Up until a few days ago, I didn’t remember how to navigate without a robotic female voice barking angrily at me. But Sarah and I were heading to a wedding, and since she was heading down a few hours ahead of me, and had more stops than me, she borrowed my GPS. Suddenly I had a 2+ hour drive with no bossy instructions … how was I going to survive?…