Articles by Gear Diary Staff

HoodieBuddie Review: Headphones With You 24/7

HoodieBuddie Review: Headphones With You 24/7

We all love our ScotteVest clothing here at Gear Diary. One of the coolest features of SeV wear is the ability to take a set of ear buds and wire them through the garment so they’re always there when you need them. The only issue is the fact that you then have to dedicate a set of headphones to this task – wiring them up each time you want to use them isn’t practical. Enter the HoodieBuddie. The HoodieBuddie looks like any old hooded sweatshirt. But it’s not. Using their patent-pending HB3T technology the HoodieBuddie contains a standard headphone jack…

JAVOedge Charcoal Flip Style Case for Amazon Kindle 3rd Generation Review

JAVOedge Charcoal Flip Style Case for Amazon Kindle 3rd Generation Review

I’m a big fan of the Amazon Kindle 3. It’s become a permanent fixture on my bedside table and I use it almost religiously each night before bed. Amazon’s current version of their e-reader is slim and small. So much so that I think a case actually compliments it. Like the iPod Touch I sometimes find when devices are too slim they become hard to use. While I haven’t tested a ton of Kindle 3 cases I have been using JAVOedge‘s newest offering over the last two weeks and have been quite pleased with the result. The Charcoal Flip Style…

Home Gear Review: Larry G Checks Out The BottleMate

Home Gear Review: Larry G Checks Out The BottleMate

I drink a lot of microbrews. One of the challenges anyone who does often faces is the dilemma, “is it a twist-off or not”. The last thing you want to do on a hot summer afternoon is struggle to get the top off your ice cold beer. With the BottleMate there isn’t even a need to guess. The BottleMate is touted as the world’s best bottle opener. It claims to easily and effortless open bottles in a manner that will have your friends bowing in amazement. The BottleMate fits over the top of most bottles and in one swift motion…

Purse to Go Bag Organizer Review

Purse to Go Bag Organizer Review

It’s no secret that a few of us here at Gear Diary are bag fanatics. Judie’s collection puts mine to shame any day, as does Clinton’s. But for the past few years, I have been a purse fanatic. It’s been my other spendy item other than technology. I haven’t gone crazy; usually I only buy one nice bag a year, almost always from Coach, and maybe a few accessories. They have lasted so much longer than my previous cheapie purchases and I’ve been very happy with the investment. However, I have one problem–I love big bags. I love carrying a…

The Bowers & Wilkins P5 Mobile Hi-Fi Headphones Review

The Bowers & Wilkins P5 Mobile Hi-Fi Headphones Review

Work in a loud cubicle environment? Want to focus when you’re working at a coffee house? Are you an audiophile with discerning tastes? While Bose has long been known for their noise cancellation headphones, there is another contender for high-end on-ear headphones in the Bowers & Wilkins (B&W) P5 Mobile Hi-Fi Headphones. Read on for my impressions of the B&W P5 and how well it handles a multitude of environments. When I traveled extensively for work 10+ years ago, the Bose QuietComfort noise cancellation headphones were the thing to have. They reduced airplane noise, were portable enough, and had decent…

Mickey’s Spooky Night Review: Arrives Just in Time for Halloween

Mickey’s Spooky Night Review: Arrives Just in Time for Halloween

Just in time for the upcoming Halloween holiday the folks at Disney Publishing have released their newest read-along story for the iPad. Mickey’s Spooky Night features a Halloween themed story along with interactive jigsaw puzzles and games too. The plot of the story surrounds Mickey and his friends as they all get together for a Halloween party, but Mickey and the gang aren’t the only guests at this party — some ghosts have decided they want to join the fun, too. As the story gets read along, you and your child are also tasked with finding the hidden ghosts as…

Gear Diary Deal or Dud #7: The Bacon Wave

Gear Diary Deal or Dud #7: The Bacon Wave

Cooking bacon at home often presents challenges. If you cook it on top of the stove you’re left to deal with the large amount of grease that continually builds up in the pan while cooking. If you go the microwave route you’re dealing with paper towels and are limited by the amount you can cook at one time. The As Seen On TV Bacon Wave promises an easy and efficient way to cooking large quantities of bacon with simple clean up. The product claims to uniformly cook up to 14 slices at one time as well as lower both calories, cholesterol and fat. This…

Daniusoft Video Converter Ultimate Harnesses the Power of Nvidia CUDA Windows Software Review

Daniusoft Video Converter Ultimate Harnesses the Power of Nvidia CUDA Windows Software Review

Image courtesy of Daniusoft With so many devices being able to replay video these days, converting and encoding is a skill that should be known. Most devices now include software to handle this task for you but sometimes it just doesn’t encode the way you want it to or simply cannot convert from the file type you have. Years ago when the copyright cracking* became an art form, people who wanted to make legal copies of purchased DVDs had to use software such as DVDShrink, DVD decryptrr, and DVD Fab. It used to be a grueling multi-step process which involved different…

HeyTell Review

Remember years ago when Nextel’s Direct Connect phones were all the rage? They aren’t used widely today, but back then the familiar beep of the walky-talky feature was something heard often. Thanks to a tip from a YouTube friend I’ve been using a new iOS application called “HeyTell” which mirrors the Nextel Direct Connect function. HeyTell turns your iOS device into a walky-talky. You record short (limited to 30-seconds) voice notes and they are transmitted to another user and played on his/her iOS device. The application utilizes push notifications to alert users when new messages have arrived so once you send the…

Android Market Blues - Are Carrier App Restrictions Beating You Down?

How to Do It Yourself!

Android Market Blues – Are Carrier App Restrictions Beating You Down?

Ah… Android. The allure of a completely open system. You’re in control, unlike on iOS devices. Right? Right? Sometimes, not so much. Turns out, AT&T Android-touting users, for example, can only install applications in the Android Market. Recently, Travis asked about installing non-Market applications on an AT&T Android smartphone, and Francis told him a few possible ways to do this. It’s definitely a source of frustration for users on carriers with such restrictions. Removing a standard feature of Android is simply an annoyance to users, and can be circumvented, as the Tested.com article How To Install Apps that are Filtered…

ADT PULSE Interactive Security System Review

ADT PULSE Interactive Security System Review

When the new ADT PULSE system became available in my area I immediate jumped at the chance to have it installed in my home. PULSE not only allows for the ability to arm and disarm one’s home security system from anywhere in the world, it does much more. The new ADT PULSE system is all about home automation. It includes lighting, temperature control, video, and more. As a kid this sort of thing seemed like something that would exist in the far, far future, maybe not even in my lifetime. But it turns out that future isn’t far off at…

ListMonger for iPhone Review

ListMonger for iPhone Review

I recently received an email from Paul at Inspiretis, an iPhone app developer. Having seen one of my reviews in which I confessed my obsession with list making, Paul offered to send me a review copy of his new iPhone app, ListMonger. I downloaded the app and I’ve been playing with it for about a month. To be frank, I really like ListMonger. It packs a bunch of features into a few basic, easy to use screens. Among the features are: Nested lists – and not just at one level. I only tried it for three levels (a list with…

Bumper Holster for iPhone 4 Review

Bumper Holster for iPhone 4 Review

iPhone protection is a bit of a double-edged sword for me. Everyone knows I’ve got a bit of an obsession with cases, but truth be told I like my iPhone best naked. Since I often carry my phone in my pants pocket keeping it as slim as possible is important. It is for this reason that I have been using a bumper style case in conjunction with a back skin more than any other combo. I had been looking for a better way to carry the phone (pants pockets just get to crowded with other stuff) when I came across…

OtterBox Impact Series iPhone 4 Case Review

OtterBox Impact Series iPhone 4 Case Review

No matter what level of protection you need for your iPhone 4 OtterBox has you covered. The company realizes that all iPhone users are different and use their phones in different environments. It’s because of this that they offer three different levels of protective cases for the iPhone 4. Their Defender series offers the maximum amount, followed by the Commuter which offers a mid-range level of protection followed by the case we’ll look at today, the Impact series. The Impact series case is a slim fitting, silicone based case that is meant to protect your device from life’s bumps, scratches…

SpookyTones Helps Your iPhone Get Its Ghoul On

News & Features

SpookyTones Helps Your iPhone Get Its Ghoul On

If you are a fan of both Halloween and customized ringtones for your mobile devices, then what we have here is a bit of convergence for you. If you want to “spookify” your iPhone a bit, point your broom toward Electric Pocket’s space in the iTunes App Store and check out SpookyTones, a Halloween version of its MailTones app. SpookyTones allows you to assign distinct, frightening tones to your contacts, and then, rather than the traditional, boring email alert, your iPhone cackles, thumps, or rattles its chains. Prefer giving the ghouls the silent treatment? SpookyTones will also let you set certain…

All New Powermat Wireless Charging System for the iPhone 4 Review

All New Powermat Wireless Charging System for the iPhone 4 Review

Powermat was first to bring wireless charging to the iPhone. I was admittedly not a huge fan of their first generation design for the iPhone 3G/3Gs. The large back plate just didn’t look good. Dan had a chance to review the first generation system just about a year ago and came to a similar conclusion. The company is readying their iPhone 4 second generation release and I had a chance to preview it. Boy how things have changed. The new iPhone 4 Powermat is a world away from its predecessor. Small, sleek and thin, the new version is a site to see….

Windows Phone 7: Too Little Too Late? Or Just In the Nick of Time?

Windows Phone 7: Too Little Too Late? Or Just In the Nick of Time?

Francis: Monday’s press conference marked the official announcement of Microsoft’s highly anticipated Windows Phone 7. Microsoft has officially been tooting their own horn in the past months about their new phone OS and hardware, claiming that this is the new vision of Microsoft Mobile devices. Judie: The dust is finally starting to settle, and now we’ve had a chance to digest the information which came … as well as a chance to formulate some questions. Make no mistake about it, Microsoft needed a new vision for their mobile devices. The company, which for a time enjoyed their position as a…

6X Telescope with Crystal Case for iPhone 4 Review

6X Telescope with Crystal Case for iPhone 4 Review

The addition of zoom functionality to the iPhone’s camera was welcomed when it was finally released. Although it’s now possible to zoom in on your subject when shooting pictures with the iPhone’s camera the distance you can close is somewhat limited. This 6X telescope with case for the iPhone 4 from USBfever.com solves that problem big time. With a 6 times zoom you’ll be able to shoot subjects that you can barely see with your naked eye. It’s literally like sticking a pair of binoculars on the end of your iPhone. Inside the box you’ll find the case, lens, cleaning…

Campus Quilt Review: All I Got From Running 50+ Races Was This Lousy T-Shirt? Not Anymore!

Campus Quilt Review: All I Got From Running 50+ Races Was This Lousy T-Shirt? Not Anymore!

Over the last three years I’ve run over 50 road races. From local 5-Ks to finishing 12 full marathons and every other distance in between. If there’s on thing that all of the races have in common, besides the running, it’s the “race-shirt.” For as long as I can remember road races have always rewarded their participants with a t-shirt which not only commemorated the event but also allowed for sponsors to get their names out to the public too. As you can probably imagine with all the running I’ve done I’ve accumulated a lot of t-shirts. For a long…

The All In One Nest Case for iPod Touch & iPhone Review

The All In One Nest Case for iPod Touch & iPhone Review

There are plenty of solutions out there for propping your iPhone or iPod Touch up when it comes time to watch a video. Or how about when you want to use your iPhone or iPod as your bed side alarm clock? Yep, plenty of things for that too. However, most of these come in the form of a stand and that makes for one more item which you’ve got to store in your gear bag or tote around in your pocket. The Nest Case solves this problem by incorporating a stand, which allows for your iDevice to be displayed in…

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