Articles by Zek

SPIbelt Debuts a New Design for the “American Widow Project”

I love my SPIbelt. It is probably my most-used piece of running gear, and I recommend it enthusiastically to everyone I know. The folks at SPIbelt are constantly pumping out new designs and styles, and their latest ones give a portion of the profits to the American Widow Project. From SPIbelt: The American Widow Project Stars and Stripes SPIbelt™ and SPIband™ The American Widow Project is a non-profit organization dedicated to the new generation of those who have lost the heroes of yesterday, today, and tomorrow. They emphasize healing through sharing stories, tears, and laughter. Military Widow to Military…

Gear Bits, Outdoors

Add “Skydiving Without a Parachute” to the “Don’t Try This at Home” List!

I saw a headline on The Clymb today about a skydiver who completed a jump without a parachute, and at first, assumed the gentleman made a dramatic landing with a malfunctioning parachute. As it turns out, the actual story is much cooler. The jumper is a stuntman, and he designed a wingsuit specifically to try skydiving without a parachute for landing. They laid out boxes to help cushion his descent, and he landed safely! Check out the video below, and then hit up Sky.com for more details on his suit and flight. Then let us know: would you jump out…

News & Features

Drink Like a Winner with a Gold Medal Bottle Opener

I am extremely excited for the upcoming Summer Olympics. Winter Olympics are ok, but summer is the best. Track and field, beach volleyball, swimming, beach volleyball, gymnastics, and did I mention beach volleyball? Now, I am not so excited as to celebrate with a themed party (full disclosure: we did that in college for the winter Olympics, and let’s just say it was sort of like “The Hangover” but with mystery IHOP receipts instead of casino ones). But if you do, you need to fully commit to it, and Gadgets and Gear has you covered with a medal-style bottle opener:…

Gear Bits

McDonalds Catches the Running Bug

Quick, what’s the first corporate sponsor that might come to mind for a huge distance race? If “McDonalds” didn’t spring to the forefront of your mind, you aren’t alone. However, the folks at Rock n Roll Marathons see some opportunity there, as they have teamed up with the big M to sponsor several of their upcoming races. From the press release: Five markets to feature select McDonald’s menu options San Diego, CA – May 23, 2012 – Competitor Group, Inc. (CGI), the leading media and event resource in the active lifestyle industry, today announced a partnership with McDonald’s USA…

Reviews

A Second Opinion on the LifeProof Case

At the start of the year, Dan reviewed the LifeProof iPhone case. He loved it. I have had one for a few months, and on paper it is the ideal case for me. But I don’t have the unconditional love for it that Dan did. So will the pros outweigh the cons? Read on for my take, though if you haven’t yet read Dan’s review i suggest you head there for a quick overview of the fundamentals of the case first. As I said, on paper this is the case for me. I run, in all-weather conditions, so having my…

Gear Bits

Modern Family Reimagined as Horror!

The ABC sitcom “Modern Family” is a sweet, funny look at what it means to be a family today. Each character has a mix of unique and stereotypical traits, and the kids are no exception. Alex, the middle child of one family, is the brainy daughter, and she often plays the straight man/outsider to the wackier elements of the show. One fan took those clips and reinterpreted them in a decidedly non-comedic way. What if Alex wasn’t just the brainy, put-upon middle child, but the brainy, put-upon, sociopath middle child? Fans of the show will know many of the out-of-context…

Gear Bits

Professional Athlete Doesn’t Always Mean Millionaire

Running is not as popular as, say, football or baseball when it comes to spectators. So it isn’t surprising that professional runners don’t have the same earning power. But this article from Runner’s World surprised me with how low compensation can be, even for a talented runner. According to the survey: – Our sport has a very steep pyramid of income opportunities. A select few enjoy a very good living…though even they can fall hard in a short period if performance lags or injuries intervene. – The top variables that affect an athlete’s earnings realization are “world ranking” and “event”….

eBooks

The Line Between Writing as a Business and Writing as an Art

Publishing has had a rough year, and it’s only May! The Department of Justice lawsuit, Barnes and Noble is splitting digital and paper into different companies, and it seems like mainstream media has put a death clock on bookstores. Plus ebooks have hosed the “traditional” model of bookselling: what used to be a yearlong process of hardcover to paperback to mass market is now hardcover/eBook to paperback. The entire business model is in flux, and it’s impacting authors and publishers. Unfortunately, in an idea that must have been conceived in a boardroom and not during the creative process, authors are…

Crowdfunding, Reviews

SlingShot Smartphone Accessory Review, Kickstart This!

We get a lot of gear sent to us in my household. Most of it disappears into my office/gear cave, and occasionally I ask Sarah for help with reviewing it. She rarely, if ever, comments on the items, but the SlingShot caught her attention. We used it on a few hikes to take video and photos, and today Sarah declared that it’s the first item I’ve ever reviewed that she would buy without hesitation. What triggered such high praise? Read on to find out more about this great Kickstarter project! Project title: SlingShot Status: In progress Closing date for funding:…

Gear Bits, Health and Fitness

Sugar, Salt, and Why We Love Junk Food

I love salt. A lot. My college friends still tease me about how I would salt my fries, then salt my ketchup for good measure. For the record, I don’t do that anymore, and not just because Sarah made me stop. We really do try to make an effort to eat “real food” (and yes, I recognize that the fried Oreos I had at the town carnival last night do not count), and this graphic shared by author Michael Pollan just further cemented that drive to eat better. I don’t know for certain that all of the claims are true,…

eBooks

Amazon to Offer the Entire Harry Potter Series Through PRIME Lending

Harry Potter arrived in ebook form earlier this year, which was exciting all by itself. At the same time, if you already purchased the HP series in book form, it can be hard to pony up again for the ebooks. Amazon has come up with a solution, by offering the entire series through their Kindle Prime Lending Library! From the press release: Read all of J.K. Rowling’s iconic Harry Potter series for free on your Kindle Kindle Owners’ Lending Library now includes more than 145,000 books, including over 100 current and former New York Times Best Sellers SEATTLE–(BUSINESS WIRE)–May. 10,…

Gear Bits

Is Amazon Spying on Me?

I know I buy a great deal from Amazon, but I am starting to think they have hidden cameras in my house! You see, back in January, I ordered a box of KIND bars for our trip to Costa Rica. We figured with all the flights, layovers, and bus transfers in our travel schedule, we would need snacks. As it turned out, we didn’t eat all of them, and I unearthed a bag of leftover bars while cleaning out my suitcase over the weekend. I stuck them in the pantry and promptly forgot about them. Until Monday, when I returned…

Gear Bits

How Much Gear Is too Much?

I have jury duty this week. My only other experience with jury duty was in Boston, and I remember sitting all day in a cramped room reading a book, and almost escaping being put on a jury. So I am anticipating a long day of “hurry up and wait” and have begun packing for the day accordingly. My original plan for what to bring was fairly extensive: iPad iPhone Computer (for logging into the office) Kindle Eers headphones Extra book Chargers iPhone iPod touch (for games) However, when I realized I was treating jury duty like I was going on…

Health and Fitness

How Dangerous Is Football?

I played rugby for several years, both in college and post-college. Just about every person who heard I played rugby had the following comment: “Rugby? Isn’t that dangerous?” Yes, rugby is a rough sport, and I can’t deny that (especially with two screws in my knee from a rugby practice-related injury). But I always tell people that I feel rugby is safer than American Football, which has always struck me as a dangerous and chaotic sport. There’s been quite a bit of debate about concussions and football lately, and according to Forbes, even former football player Kurt Warner doesn’t want…

eBooks

Are Publishers Fair to Authors?

At Gear Diary, we often cover eBooks and the upheaval of the publishing system from the viewpoint of the consumer. But what about authors? The “traditional” path to becoming a published author usually heads through publishing companies, agents, editors, and other gatekeepers. But ebooks make self-publishing easier, and more critically, appear to make it simpler and more lucrative. And if Kristine Rusch’s report over at The Digital Reader is a typical experience, it sounds like traditional publishing isn’t giving authors much incentive to maintain the status quo! Here were a few areas that made my jaw drop with shock. If…

Gear Bits

SNL Parodies Amazon and the Kindle (NSFW!)

Sarah and I started watching “Saturday Night Live” again recently because one of our favorite sketch comedians, Kate McKinnon, joined the cast. Thank goodness for DVR, as it lets us skip the less entertaining sketches easily. It also allows us to re-watch the truly hysterical ones, like their flat-out brilliant parody of Amazon and “50 Shades of Gray“.

Reviews

CrazyOnDigital Rotating Stand iPad Case Review

When I finally joined the ranks of the iPad masses, the first thing I did was start researching cases. While I was peripherally aware of the general price points for cases, I was surprised at how expensive many of them were! I began to wonder if this was because demand drove up prices, or if you really do get what you paid for. When CrazyOnDigital offered me the chance to review their 360 Degree Folio Case, which retails for $49.99, but sells on Amazon for the jaw-dropping price of $15.99, I was excited to give it a shot! The case…

eBooks

Barnes & Noble NOOK with Glowlight Breaks into Television

Now that it is May, and we are in the Mother’s Day/Father’s Day/Graduation season, Barnes and Noble is unleashing a huge ad campaign to promote the NOOK Simple Touch With Glowlight. They’ve put together a cute video that highlights the benefits of being able to read in bed with the lights off, but still have the benefits of an eInk device. The video is below, and B&N already has spots running in prime time. I know this because I sat down to read Barnes and Noble’s press release and clicked on the YouTube video roughly 2.5 seconds before the commercial…

eBooks

Target Ends Their Kindle Chapter

Amazon and Target used to be good buddies. Amazon helped run Target’s website, Target was the first place outside of Amazon.com to sell Kindles. It looks like that friendship is over, as Target has announced rather abruptly that mid-May they will be dropping the entire Kindle line from Target stores due to a “conflict of interest”. However, arch-rival NOOK will be still be carried by Target, making it clear this is specific to Amazon. So what changed? Target isn’t saying, and neither is Amazon, but it isn’t hard to read between the lines here. Amazon was the big winner…

Reviews

Eers PCS-150 Custom Fitted Earbuds Review

I am not much of an audiophile. When I grab headphones, it is usually to walk the dog or run on a treadmill, and for the last several years my headphone rotation has been between whichever pair of apple earbuds are lying around, and a pair of wraparound headphones I am pretty sure I paid $9.99 for…in 2008. So it has been quite the eye-opening experience testing the Eers PCS-150, a pair of high-end headphones with a special twist. What makes the Eers so special is that these are no ordinary earbuds. Instead, you use a special kit called the…

eBooks, Gear Bits

“Book People Unite” Promotes Literacy with a Catchy Tune

Everyone has a favorite childhood book. From fairy tales to Narnia and everywhere in between. Want to help kids experience books in all their glory? Head over to BookPeopleUnite.org, a movement designed to promote literacy through the Reading Is Fundamental organization. They’ve put together an amazing video with a who’s who of artists including Chris Martin, Regina Spektor, Jack Black, and many others behind it.

« 1 … 71 72 73 74 75 … 99 »