Zek | Gear Diary

NOOKcolor First Impressions

What happens when a NOOK, an iPad and a Droid meet and have a three-way lovechild? NOOKcolor! Luckily for us (and all of you!), B&N has sent Gear Diary a NOOKcolor to review. Read on for my first impressions of this color eBook reader! My first thought when I opened the shipping box was, “Wow. B&N really took presentation seriously.” The NOOKcolor comes in a sturdy well-designed box, but instead of opening from the top or front, it opens from the bottom with a neat magnetic closure. Instead of being something you might open and toss away, it makes it…

Reviews

Bright Night StrideLight Lighted Jacket Review

One of the best things about running is the simplicity. Get up, tie your shoes and go! That works when it’s summertime, but lately it seems I need to load down with more and more gear just to get out the door. Shoes, running tights, long-sleeved shirt, jacket, wool hat, gloves…and since I run early in the mornings, a headlamp too. I’ve been testing a new piece of gear for my runs, one that combines warmth AND safety…but how well does the Bright Night StrideLight Lighted Jacket hold up against my runs? Read on to find out! My first impression…

News & Features

NASA Gets One Step Closer to Aliens!

(image courtesy Marketing.fm) NASA rocked the scientific world today with a HUGE announcement: Possible aliens! That’s the gist of it, at least. The less exciting part is that they found a bacteria that eats arsenic. But if there is a bacteria that can survive on arsenic, it proves something that’s simply been a theory so far, that life can exist on non-traditional elements. According to CNN: The bacterium — strain GFAJ-1 of the Halomonadaceae family of Gammaproteobacteria — was scooped from sediment in California’s Mono Lake, an area rife with high levels of naturally occurring arsenic, it said. Scientists were…

News & Features

Angry Birds Replace Nokia in Finnish Hearts

Nokia’s falling star is hurting more than just the company’s bottom line. It was once the pride of Finland and a decent size chunk of the country’s GDP. So it’s been nasty all around to see Nokia get decimated by the iPhone and Android. Surprisingly, Finland has been more than a hotspot for iconic phones; I learned reading Businessweek today that there’s a big software startup movement there, including Rovio (makers of Angry Birds). Yep, the game that seems to have singlehandedly slowed down worker productivity worldwide is helping to fill the gap left by Nokia. Not only that, but…

News & Features

Shop Amazon, Wikipedia Style

Amazon isn’t shy about finding new ways to sell books, and now they’ve rolled out a fairly creative one. Using the Creative Commons license, Amazon is recreating Wikipedia articles about authors and books, hosting them on Amazon.com, and inserting links to buy books referenced in the articles. From CNet: “Shopping-enabled Wikipedia pages are a new introduction on Amazon.com,” Amazon spokeswoman Anya Waring told CNET when asked via e-mail. “As of November, we have rolled [the feature] out in the books category; however, [it] will be expanding to new categories in 2011.” It’s not an official partnership, Waring explained. Amazon’s use…

eBooks, Reviews

The Kobo WiFi eReader Review

Earlier this fall we had the opportunity to review the original Kobo Reader, a simple ebook reader sold through Kobo and Borders. They recently updated the original design to include WiFi connectivity, and the good folks at Kobo sent a unit over for review! In many ways the WiFi Reader is just like it’s unconnected sibling; the reading experience is essentially the same. I don’t have an original Kobo Reader handy, but from what I remember the menus look similar. Two changes did jump out at me. One, there’s a dictionary option now, powered by Miriam-Webster, and the second is…

eBooks, News & Features

Sony Giving the Japanese eReader Market Another Crack

Looks like Sony is turning close to home for a chance to revive their eBook devices. After basically dropping the Japanese market for Readers, Sony thinks they will not only blow the doors off their sales but they also think they’re going to dominate the Japanese ebook market! Granted, the ubiquitous Kindle has not yet made it to Japan, which gives Sony an additional advantage, but will they really succeed? This is ambitious for a company that could have owned the American ebook market given their head start, but has essentially stood frozen while Amazon and B&N swooped in and…

Health and Fitness

Join a Virtual Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving for Charity!

“Turkey trots” are a very popular Thanksgiving tradition. Usually, they’re organized events, with a large group of people and race volunteers, etc. But you don’t need to join a full race to run a Turkey Trot this Thanksgiving, just head right out your front door! Instead of just running your usual route, though, you can still make Thursday’s run special. The fine folks at Dailymile are spearheading the “Feed the Turkey” virtual run this Thursday to benefit St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital. All it takes is pledging $1, $5, or $10, and then heading out for your run! So this Thursday,…

News & Features

Fone Sitter Makes Sure Grandma Hung up the Phone!

My dad gave me a ride home from work last night. During the drive, he went to call his mother (my grandmother) and her line was busy. So he tried her cell phone. No answer. This went on for a good ten minutes; we’d chat, he’d try both numbers, we’d chat again. Finally, he started to get really nervous, and he called my uncle to go check on her. As it turns out, she was just fine. Her phone was just off the hook. Again. She doesn’t keep her cell phone near her, and she can’t hear the faint, indignant…

eBooks, News & Features

LostBookSales Lets You Flaunt Your Book Non-Purchase

Lost sales are a tough thing to measure. It’s easy to track what’s actually sold, but when someone opts NOT to purchase something it’s much harder to measure. Retail stores can approximate this by measuring foot traffic in and out against sales, but how do you measure this if you’re selling online? It’s become a huge point of contention in ebooks, where the agency model and battles over digital rights means there is a critical mass of angry readers with no way to express their displeasure…until now! LostBookSales is a simple website with a fantastic premise: you submit a book…

eBooks, Reviews

The Aluratek Libre Review

Talk ebook readers, and everyone thinks Kindle or NOOK. But there’s a whole subset of hardware out there for people who aren’t interested in connected readers, and just want a simple device that handles multiple formats. That’s where an ebook reader like the Aluratek Libre comes in handy. The Libre is physically very similar to the Jetbook Lite we looked at last spring. It has the same slider along the left side for page turns, along with page turn buttons on the bottom. There are d-pad and navigation buttons along the right side, plus a T-9 keyboard along the right…

Editorials

Shape-Up Shoes Shocker: They Don’t Work!

Here’s a news flash for everyone who’s looking for a quick fitness fix: there isn’t one. There is no magic equipment, no special pill, and definitely no pair of super sneakers that are going to get you in shape or zap away the weight. It takes watching what you eat and getting your butt moving! Of course, if you look around your local mall, every athletics store is touting some form of “toning shoe” that promises better muscle tone in your legs and back, and all you have to do is wear them! The first time I saw the shoes…

Editorials

Is Slamming Your Boss on Facebook a “Protected Activity”?

If you work for a major company, there’s a good shot somewhere in your employee handbook is a prohibition against blogging, Facebooking or Twittering about your employer. Most companies take a dim view of employees taking their internal grievances to the masses, no doubt distrusting how quickly viral news spreads around the web. Of course, the flip side is that what employees do on their own time with their own computer is free speech, and that’s the heart of a major employee rights case before the courts. According to the New York Times, an employee at an ambulance company had…

eBooks, News & Features

New Grisham Novel Gets an eBook Boost!

Publishers have struggled mightily with where ebooks fall in their lineups. There’s no clear progression like hardcover to paperback to the mass market. eBooks sort of sneak in and gum up the works, causing some publishers to think the answer is to hold back on ebook releases to give the hardcover a chance to thrive. The result has been nasty letters from customers, one-star reviews on Amazon for books that aren’t in eBook form on release day, and general bitterness from consumers. Not the environment to foster bestsellers. Of course, more publishers should be looking to emulate Random House. They’ve…

Editorials

The Frightening Power of the Social Internet

These days, everything is “social.” CNN wants me to know how many people have “liked” an article, the New York Times has embraced Twitter, and you don’t even need to go on TV to get your 15 minutes of fame … now all you need to do is cause a controversy on the internet! Strike a metaphorical match, and voilà, before you know it the smoldering fire you lit has everyone buzzing. Until the next #topic comes along that is. Yes, the social internet has taken our Attention Deficit Society to all-time highs … or is it lows? Truth be…

News & Features

Apple, Competition, and Silly Statistics

The Wall Street Journal this morning reported Apple has 95% of the tablet market. Amazing, in the face of virtually no competition! Also, Apple has 99.9% of the “electronics starting with i” market. But they aren’t the only ones with big marketshares in questionably competitive areas… -Toyota has 85% of the market for “sudden, unexpected, OH CRAP, 0 to 60” cars. -Snapple has 100% of the “greatest stuff on earth” market (tm Dan) -Gear Diary has 100% of the market for blogs named Gear Diary! -Coca Cola has 100% of the “secret formula cola” market. -Google has 93% of the…

Editorials

UPDATED: Verizon FiOS — a Rant and a Rave

UPDATE: After this post went live, I received an email from Verizon. They were very concerned about the experience I had, and the frustration I expressed here. I talked with them about the plan we were on, and what bundles made more sense given what we were looking to accomplish (saving money since we didn’t need super-fancy-pants TV). To say they were helpful is an understatement. We picked a better bundle and worked out a much better set of features, and FiOS customer service was incredibly friendly. When I ranted about my experience, it was just to get it…

eBooks, Editorials

NOOKcolor and Dictionary.com: An Innovative Partnership

If you’re like me, you’ve probably turned to Dictionary.com thousands of times. Maybe you wanted to make sure you had your spelling right, or you weren’t sure how to pronounce something correctly. Or maybe you were worried you used the word “insouciant” incorrectly. No matter what, you’re heading to Dictionary.com. And despite the name, Dictionary.com offers more than just definitions. There’s pronunciation help, sample sentences to provide context, even word history, and famous quotes! It has moved beyond just “hey, what does this word mean?” and turned into a full-fledged resource for all things linguistic. I had the privilege to…

eBooks, News & Features

Like Mysteries? Check out MobileRead’s Newest Contest!

(Image courtesy Sherlock Holmes Museum) If you think of yourself as an amateur Sherlock, MobileRead has a great contest for you! They’re giving away an ebook reader of your choice (as long as your choice is a Nook, Kindle, Nook Color, Sony Touch or Pocket Edition)! And if you don’t win the ebook reader, there are 10 runner-up vouchers for $30 worth of ebooks! Sounds great, right? Well, to win, you’re going to need your wits around… From MobileRead: How it works You will have the chance to solve a new murder mystery that inexplicably takes place inside the secluded…

Editorials

Sunday (Actually Every Day), the Rabbi Used an iPad

(Dan in action at my wedding with his handy iPad) A few days before my wedding I received an instant message from Dan (who was our officiant). It’s never good when your rabbi tells you he has a “dilemma” regarding your ceremony…but I had to laugh when his central issue was whether to use an iPad or a Kindle for the service! Never one to choose, Dan had us reading off the iPad for part of it, though he did use the Kindle for the outdoor portion. It wasn’t the first time I’d seen Dan use an iPad for rabbinical business, as he also used to walk us…

Editorials

NOOKcolor: Swing and a Miss or a Home Run?

As per internet rumor, Barnes and Noble unveiled their newest addition to the NOOK lineup: NOOKcolor. It’s sort-of an ebook reader, sort-of a tablet, and B&N seems pretty excited and confident it’s going to win them marketshare over the Kindle (and possibly the iPad). I’ve been debating with myself about whether this is going to be successful or blow up in their faces, and the only way to settle this is to lay out both sides. The optimist in me thinks this could be a big win for B&N, and the cynical side of me thinks this is an awful…

Articles by Zek