Zek | Gear Diary

“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 & Features

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!

Editorials

Watch What You Post on Facebook!

It’s December. It’s time for snow, family, shopping…and of course, holiday parties and New Year’s celebrations. Plus, if you’re a senior in high school you probably sent off your college applications. Just remember…what goes on Facebook is never really private, so please, from your friends at Gear Diary, think before you post, especially as you celebrate the holiday season! If you’ve just applied to college, your next step after that application goes in the mail is simple: lock down your Facebook page. According to the Huffington Post, admissions officers often check Facebook to find out more about potential students. So…

News & Features

GPS, Measurements, and Why RunKeeper Is Lying to You

I’ve reviewed quite a few run-tracking apps for Gear Diary, and just about every one of them has had some margin of error. Some of them have been minor, and others have just been mind-blowingly egregious. My personal favorite is when RunKeeper for Android told me a 1.5-mile run had been a 7-mile run. Apparently, I broke several world records in my first month of running! All joking aside, it’s a common issue for people to comment that a race is short, or long, based on their Garmin or iPhone returning a different distance than the race was supposed to…

News & Features

Styletap Gives PalmOS Apps CPR on iOS

My first PDA was a Palm M100. My first smartphone was a Treo 650. I loved Palm OS. But I didn’t hesitate to move on when iOS and Android pushed the envelope in the smartphone world, and personally, I don’t miss any Palm apps. Now, there are plenty of people who did, and Styletap tried to reach them with their Palm OS emulator, which was jailbreak-only on the iPhone. But it’s been YEARS since a Palm OS device was produced, and now WebOS is open source. So does the world REALLY need a way to keep Palm OS apps alive?…

Gear Bits

The Truth About New Jersey

If you know anyone from New Jersey, you’ve probably seen the above image on Facebook or Twitter. However, if this is news to you, it’s a funny yet frighteningly accurate map of the “real” New Jersey, broken down by the demographics of each area. Seriously, it’s true. I live in the “Middle Class Raritan Valley Line Commuters” swath, while my parents live in the “Drunk Rutgers Students” section. My sister-in-law, who is a lawyer who drives a Prius, lives in the “Lawyers Driving Hybrids” territory. And I grew up in one of the less politically correct sections, but trust me,…

News & Features

What Not to Wear, the Running Edition

(not for wearing to your local Post Office) The day before Halloween I went out for a run, and about a 1/2 mile from my house, across the street from me, I saw a guy running in the opposite direction, dressed all in black. Not wearing black clothes, I mean head to toe spandex, similar to this outfit. My first thought was “OMG the Rubber Man from American Horror Story is coming to get me!” My second was, “ok, breathe. It’s the day before Halloween, that’s clearly a costume, and insane ghost murderers don’t give you friendly waves as they…

News & Features

Agency eBook Pricing Model under Anti-Trust Scrutiny!

The European Union has finally stepped up to handle the biggest issue facing the economy today. It’s a long time coming, but someone is finally asking questions and looking for answers. Yes, the “agency model” for ebooks is finally being investigated! What, you thought I meant something else? 😉 According to Businessweek, several publishers, as well as Apple, are listed in the investigation, but not Amazon. My guess is that since Amazon was not soliciting contracts for the agency model (they were forced into it after a very public battle) they’re not under the microscope. It will be interesting to…

Reviews

Fooducate for iOS Review

I love almonds. If we are what we eat, I’m a Hershey’s Kiss and a handful of shredded coconut away from becoming an Almond Joy bar. When we’re grocery shopping, Sarah is always trying to find which nuts are on sale and keep us well-stocked. We do try to compare the labels and make sure we’re not getting nuts with tons of additives, but it isn’t always easy to make the right call when they all sound the same. That’s where Fooducate is an incredibly useful shopping tool! Fooducate scans barcodes and gives you a breakdown of the ingredients and…

News & Features

Random Video — Treadmill Talent

I don’t know who this woman is, or whether she practiced this routine for hours or spontaneously busted out at the gym. I do know that this is highly entertaining, and if I tried it I’d go flying off the treadmill.

eBooks, Reviews

Sony Reader WiFi PRS-T1 Review

We’ve talked about Sony’s ebook business many times on Gear Diary, but we finally have the chance to review one of the units! Today we’re taking a look at the PRS-T1, aka the Sony Reader Wifi, their newest device. This is a touchscreen, eInk reader, and it just had a price drop, to $129! With a new price and a sleek style, can it compete with the Kindle and NOOK markets? Read on to find out! Hardware: I love my Kindle 3, but it can’t hold a candle to the build quality of this Sony Reader. The body is plastic,…

Gear Bits

Universal Discontinues Jaws Ride!

It’s going to be safer to enter the water at Universal soon. They’re shutting down the Jaws ride, though they haven’t said why (or what will replace it). I guess Jaws just couldn’t compete with Harry Potter! MSNBC has some very basic details: Jaws has been in operation since 1990, and was one of the first attractions unveiled when Universal Studios opened its doors. The ride is based on the 1975, Steven Spielberg-directed hit movie with the same name. “Jaws has been an amazing attraction and an important part of our history,” Universal spokesperson Tom Schroder told msnbc.com. “Jaws holds…

eBooks, Gear Bits

Time, Inc Names New Digital-Friendly CEO

There are two ways that digital magazines and ebooks are working their way into the marketplace. From the bottom, it’s consumers voting with their wallets; every Kindle that’s purchased, every NOOK app downloaded, and every ebook zooming through the interwebs all boost the adoption of digital reading. From the top down, it’s changes in management. B&N is struggling, yes, but look at how many devices and changes they’ve made to the ebook market since William Lynch became CEO. Previously, Lynch was the president of BN.com, and his experience with the internet has translated to a strong ebook strategy as CEO….

News & Features

Twilight Versus Star Wars, Feminist Style

I’ll admit, I saw “The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn”. Mainly it was so I could laugh at how campy it was, but I think years of watching “Buffy The Vampire Slayer” have given me a soft spot for vampire tales as a whole. And yes, I’m 99% sure my women’s studies degree dug itself out of the box in my parents’ basement and ran in circles screaming in horror that I paid to watch a movie that revolves around a love triangle between a boy-crazy girl and two controlling, super-strong men. But New York Magazine has written an article that…

Reviews

Grid Detective for Kindle Review

I am a huge sucker for logic games. When I was a kid, we used to do them all the time in school, and I have very fond memories of drawing my grid, X-ing out the wrong choices, studying the clues, and cracking the puzzle. Last week I was trolling the Kindle bestsellers lists, and stumbled upon Grid Detective; it was free, it was the logic puzzles from my childhood, I had to try it! Gameplay is extremely straightforward. You start with a paragraph explaining the scenario (the puzzle I am on now involves four friends reupholstering furniture) and the…

Reviews

Wahoo Fitness Heart Rate Monitor for iOS Review

There are a few schools of thought in fitness when it comes to heart rate monitors. One side says that a heart rate monitor helps you keep your effort in the proper range, while the contrarians think a heart rate monitor is a crutch and you should go with what feels right, not a number on a screen. I’ve never trained with any sort of heart rate monitor, so when Wahoo offered Gear Diary the chance to review it, I jumped at the opportunity. The Wahoo system comes with two parts, a heart rate monitor strap, and an ANT+ receiver….

Articles by Zek