Articles by Gear Diary Staff

App Avalanche! How Do You Deal with Constant App Updates?

Editorials March 25, 2012

App Avalanche! How Do You Deal with Constant App Updates?

For anyone in the tech biz, one of the scariest words is, “Upgrade”.  You’re bumping along just fine, things are going well, and you get that dreaded email from your IT department informing you that some critical change has been made (usually to security and networking software), and you are required to upgrade your system.  If you’re lucky, you can do it without stopping your work completely and rebooting your system; if you’re unlucky, you lose some hours and have to reboot multiple times and end up on the phone with your support guy. But in the age of iOS…

The Hunger Games Gear Summary

Gear Bits March 25, 2012

The Hunger Games Gear Summary

The Hunger Games fan can find plenty of related gear including a special cookbook, games, watch, bags, water bottles, shirts, posters, knee socks, nail polish, phone skins, in-ear buds, pins, bracelets, trivia, music and mockingjay mp3 download.

The Hunger Games Film Review

Reviews March 24, 2012

The Hunger Games Film Review

This futuristic film exudes an intelligent quality, engaging drama, and compelling scenarios about a futuristic world in North America called Panem where teenage pairs are chosen from each of 12 districts to participate in a televised survival battle in the woodlands.

Mercalli Easy Video Stabilizer Makes Fixing Movies Easy

Reviews March 20, 2012

Mercalli Easy Video Stabilizer Makes Fixing Movies Easy

  If you are like me, you enjoy taking occasional videos of sundry things, and if you are like me, you are hardly an expert. Far too often there is something going on at the drop of a hat that you would love to get on video, only to later discover on playback that the quality of the resulting video isn’t quite in the same league as David McLean’s Dr. Zhivago. No, the output looks more like a scene from “Battle: Los Angeles”, except you were just trying to film the kids on the swingset, not experiencing a ground-shaking alien…

i-FunBox App Gives Direct File Access to iOS Devices

Reviews March 20, 2012

i-FunBox App Gives Direct File Access to iOS Devices

i-FunBox was a serendipitous discovery for me. An avid Windows PC, Pocket PC and Android user, I’ve been accustomed to connecting a device and using simple File Explorer drag-and-drop to send files to and from the target peripheral and vice versa. Not so with Apple iTunes. iTunes was a different beast altogether, one that took some getting used to for this intrepid newbie into the realm of Appledom with his iPad. I don’t particularly like how Apple handles (or does not as the case may be) direct access to the device. I want to add a particular (read: single) photo…

Color Blindness or Do You See What I See? Two Apps That Might Help

Editorials March 13, 2012

Color Blindness or Do You See What I See? Two Apps That Might Help

(Ishihara color sample from Wikipedia) I work in a company that specializes in computer graphics, animations and programming. As such, there is a large amount of visual data that I have to pore over that often deal with proper colors, because in the world of product marketing, brand colors are generally VERY specific. I have “normal” color vision and 20/20 vision (when I was younger it was around 20/10…oh for the old days!), so excellent sight has been the rule for me, and I’ve never given visual capacity much thought. Not too long ago, however, a coworker called me to…

Does the Concept of "Fat Books" Still Matter in an eBook World?

Editorials March 11, 2012

Does the Concept of “Fat Books” Still Matter in an eBook World?

Photo courtesy of 3D Photoshop Actions  “I never read fiction online. I read for substance, and to me there’s no substance in a pixel. ” –Jonathan Franzen, BarnesandNobleReview.com (ironically), 2008 I’m basically as different from Franzen as it is possible to be–I pretty much only read fiction (and everything else, for that matter)–online.  And as I was reading yet another book review for some massive new book–I think it was the new translation of Haruki Murakami’s “1Q84”–it struck me how often in book reviews the reviewers mention the length of the book: “It’s a thick book”; “it’s a slim volume”; “Rowling’s…

Game of Thrones on iTunes Introduces New Pricing Tiers for TV Shows?

Editorials March 6, 2012

Game of Thrones on iTunes Introduces New Pricing Tiers for TV Shows?

Sean Bean of HBO’s hit “Game of Thrones”–today’s bone of contention! Last week, Carly put up a very interesting post that referred to a post by the folks at The AV Club.  The AV Club post talked a lot about piracy and concluded that “Be Patient” was the best solution for one’s desire to pirate content in the face of the current gallimaufry of release and pricing variations and unpredictability for electronic content, but the discussion it spawned between Carly and myself was on a more proactive, “What the heck can big media companies do while their normal channel market share…

Bamboosa's Lap Log for iPad and Tablets review

News & Features March 2, 2012

Bamboosa’s Lap Log for iPad and Tablets review

Enjoying our electronic devices can, at times, be at odds with our desire to be more environmentally friendly in our daily actions. While we here at Gear Diary like our energy-consuming, heavy-metal-containing gadgets, we also appreciate having the opportunity to select gadgets and gadget accessories that are more sustainable in their approach. That’s where the Lap Log by Bamboosa comes into the picture. The Lap Log is, in its simplest description, a stand for tablets that can be used in multiple locations and positions. You can use it on a desk or other flat surfaces, but, thanks to its use of a…

Write Android Apps? Write a Samsung Galaxy Note S App and You Could Win $100K!

News & Features February 29, 2012

Write Android Apps? Write a Samsung Galaxy Note S App and You Could Win $100K!

    Are you a savvy Android programmer? Would you like a chance to win some slick prizes? Samsung is offering a huge contest to encourage developers to write applications for its new Galaxy Note S phone using its Galaxy S Pen SDK. Samsung invites software developers to create S Pen-integrated apps for Galaxy Note using the S Pen SDK. Winners will receive $205,000 in cash and prizes as well as promotional exposure and recognition in Samsung digital social media. Prizes will be awarded for the best overall apps and for category honorable mention awards in games, media, sports, social,…

The Future of Touch Interfaces?

Editorials February 24, 2012

The Future of Touch Interfaces?

Image courtesy of Multi-touch Research Because of my work, I have to toggle back and forth between a Windows laptop and a MacBook Pro during the day.  I am not going to add to the Apple/PC wars, nor to the Windows/Mac OS X discussion; instead what I’ve noticed most, every day, day after day, is the huge productivity difference I get out of . . . the Apple Magic Mouse

Kicking the Tires of OS 2.0 for Blackberry Playbook

News & Features February 21, 2012

Kicking the Tires of OS 2.0 for Blackberry Playbook

When RIM first released the Blackberry PlayBook tablet, it was widely panned for not possessing some key ingredients critical to mobile device usage, such as native integrated email and calendar. It was, at first release,  a powerful device hindered by it’s not being able to stand alone elegantly, as Dan reported a while back. My interest in this has been more than academic. Thanks to Gear Diary at 5 (year) giveaways last year, months before I joined Gear Diary, this little PlayBook tablet fell into my hands. Limited, as Dan and others noted, but still a fine piece of mobile…

Apple TV All About Social Media? Nah.

Editorials February 21, 2012

Apple TV All About Social Media? Nah.

Image courtesy of iJailbreak Tech-head Dave Winer is a smart guy, and has been writing interesting things about technology for pushing 20 years now, and he is one of the few in that category that I really respect.  But in his recent post about Apple TV, what he thinks it will offer, and why he thinks it will succeed, I think he’s, well, just wrong:

Personal Privacy: Is It an Archaic Concept?

Editorials February 21, 2012

Personal Privacy: Is It an Archaic Concept?

Image courtesy of The Punch In 1990, science fiction writer David Brin released “Earth”, a book that was set 50 years in the (then) future, or about 2038.  It extrapolated a number of things–increased UV and higher coastlines due to global warming, for example (Houston is inundated with water like Venice!).  One of the key back plot elements, though, is a “Helvetian War”, a war fought against the Swiss to end the secrecy of the Swiss banks, and attempt to get the people back some of the ill-gotten gains of the rich.  (Switzerland is turned into a radioactive abattoir as…

Snowtrax 2 Slip-on Cleats Gave Me Plenty of Traction on Dicey, Icy Day

Gear Bits, Reviews February 17, 2012

Snowtrax 2 Slip-on Cleats Gave Me Plenty of Traction on Dicey, Icy Day

Admittedly, this winter for Ohio has been a bust where snow is concerned. However, living where I do winter inhabitants are occasionally bedeviled by ice storms or significant ice accumulation. Late January for me was one such episode where we received between 0.25″ to 0.5″ of ice accumulation and a dusting of freezing sleet. Walking in such weather on untreated or partially treated surfaces can be very tricky. Fortunately for me as a Christmas gift I received two pairs of Snowtrax 2 slip-on cleats that made all the difference on that treacherous day.