Articles by Gear Diary Staff

Comparing MacBooks - Mine is Better than Yours

Comparing MacBooks – Mine is Better than Yours

I’ve had a Mac laptop since 2006. I love my notebook and carry it just about everywhere I go. That’s part of my problem. The contents of my Gear Bag My Gear Bag holds just about everything that I might need in my portable office. I have my 13” Unibody MacBook, my MSI Wind, a copy of Windows Vista Ultimate Windows Vista Business, Office 2007 Ultimate, various other CD’s, miscellaneous paperwork, a 320GB USB hard drive and charging bricks and cables for all of the above. The bag weighs near 40 pounds. This weight is the major reason why, when I…

Palm Pre App Catalog. 30 apps in 30 Days. Day 13: Open Table

Palm Pre App Catalog. 30 apps in 30 Days. Day 13: Open Table

Open Table is pretty similar to Good Food, which we looked at yesterday. Like Good Food, just enter your current location (either by city name or using the GPS). Open Table will then pinpoint affiliated restaurants in your area, which you can view either on a map, or in a list view.

How to get more than 11 pages of iPhone Apps

How to Do It Yourself!

How to get more than 11 pages of iPhone Apps

By default the iPhone limits the user to a total of 11 visible springboard aka home screen pages. Dayna from PHP-Princess has discovered a way around this limitation. Yes needing more than 11 pages of applications (180) is truly for the hardcore iPhone app user, but there are a lot of them floating around. This was a trick I discovered while moving around my icons. First, you have to be an app-aholic and have 11 pages of iPhone apps (and more hidden ones since they can’t be displayed). Then move some of the default apps you do not use like…

Palm Pre app Catalog. 30 Apps in 30 Days. Day 12: Good Food

Palm Pre app Catalog. 30 Apps in 30 Days. Day 12: Good Food

We are going to quickly tackle two apps in one tonight. I was planning to bring you a look at SplashData’s SplashID, the only secure information manager available for the Palm Pre. Unfortunately, I had terrible problems with SplashID on the Palm Pre and could not get it to load at all. Every time opened it, it froze. I know others have had much more success with this program, and I have enjoyed it on other platforms, but it just would not work on my Palm Pre. So, that is all I have to say about this one. If you…

Only read this book if you are interested in your universe!

eBooks, Reviews

Only read this book if you are interested in your universe!

Ever tried to understand Einstein’s Theory of Relativity? Or even just wondered if time travel was possible? How about if the ever wonderful warp speed in Star Trek was feasible? These and many other questions have a serious grounding in the new book Why Does E=MC2? by Brian Cox and Jeff Forshaw

Audible BlackBerry App Review

Audible BlackBerry App Review

Audible provides audio books. Customers can download the audio books to their computers or mobile devices — including iPhone/iPod, a variety of MP3 players, and BlackBerry devices. Last week, the Audible team released an upgrade to their BlackBerry application (version 1.4.2). It is no secret that I was less than thrilled with the first release of the Audible application. Performance was painfully slow (when it worked), and the process proved — for me — to be more cumbersome than simply plugging the BlackBerry up via USB and dragging the audio book over manually via Mass Storage Mode and playing the…

No Picture

Palm Pre App Catalog. 30 Apps in 30 Days. Day 11: Classic!

One of the complaints I heard (and voiced) about the Palm Pre before its release was the lack of support for PalmOS apps and games. It felt like Palm was missing an opportunity to feature an enormous, ready-made library of apps. Additionally, with the large (but admittedly shrinking) army of devoted Palm users, it seemed like there was an almost built in path to an automatic upgrade. By not supporting those apps, it seemed as though many users might choose to stick with their current devices rather than risk giving up significant functionality with an unknown operating system. Apparently, Palm…

Tobias Batton’s Proto iPhone Game Review

Tobias Batton’s Proto iPhone Game Review

What do you get for around a dollar? A donut or some candies and change? Maybe a drink? For around a dollar you won’t get much that lasts long. Except maybe an iPhone app, and even that is not guaranteed to last very long or be useful. Proto from Tobias Batton’s Game Studio costs around a dollar, and I think it is worth every cent.

Cable Jive iStubz & Dock Extender Review

Cable Jive iStubz & Dock Extender Review

Cable Jive makes some really simple but very ingenious products for the iPhone and iPod. They were kind enough to send along their iStubz charge and sync cable as well as their Dock Extender Cable for review. These two cables serve different purposes and both provide a great solution for your iPhone or iPod charge and sync as well as overall daily needs.

Palm Pre App Catalog. 30 Apps in 30 Days. Day 10: Sudoku!

Palm Pre App Catalog. 30 Apps in 30 Days. Day 10: Sudoku!

I think it is no secret around here that I am a pretty big fan of Sudoku. I have explored many Sudoku options for various mobile platforms, and even a number of alternate variations on the theme. For those of you who are new here, Sudoku is a classic Japanese puzzle game, in which you are faced with a grid of 81 squares arranged in nine rows of nine blocks each. Scattered across the grid are numbers from 1-9. Your job is to fill in the remainder of the grid by placing each number, 1-9, into each row, column, and…

Palm Pre App Catalog: 30 Apps in 30 Days. Part 8: Flixster

Palm Pre App Catalog: 30 Apps in 30 Days. Part 8: Flixster

Yesterday, we started our two part look at movie listing apps on the Palm Pre with Fandango. Today, we will wrap that up with a look at Flixster. To be honest, Flixster and Fandango are pretty similar apps, with one giant difference. With Fandango, you can actually purchase tickets straight from your phone. Flixster does not have that option, it only allows you to view information about the movies and listings.

CASECROWN Classic Slim Case Review

CASECROWN Classic Slim Case Review

CASECROWN is a southern California based company founded by self described gadget lovers. They make some of the most affordable cases around, and they were kind enough to send me one of their Classic Slim Cases for laptops to review. Here’s a quick overview of the case from the CASECROWN web site: – Perfect Fit For Your Notebooks – Premium Quality Shock-Absorbing Double Memory Foam Interior – Water & Wear Resistant; Zipper Scratch-Free Exterior Material – Light & Thin Compact Design – Internal Supporting Bands To Secure Your Gadgets How does this laptop case match up? Read on to find…

CASECROWN iPhone Polycarbonate Slim Case Review

CASECROWN iPhone Polycarbonate Slim Case Review

CASECROWN is a southern California based company founded by self described gadget lovers. They were kind enough to send me one of their polycarbonate cases for the iPhone 3G/3gS to review. An extremely simplistic case, the polycarbonate slim case is one of the most affordable snap on back covers I’ve seen.

Could your hard drive survive this? If it's an ioSafe, yep.

Could your hard drive survive this? If it’s an ioSafe, yep.

As a firefighter I guess I was the obvious choice to review the ioSafe hard drive which sells itself as the first and only external hard drive that is both water and fire proof. The company includes a one time, no questions asked recovery process. If you are unable to recover the data off the drive after a disaster you send it back to them. If their experts are not able to recover the data they send it out to a third party recover service. Finally, if that service is unable to recover your data ioSafe will spend up to $1000…

Fun Booth for iPhone Review

Fun Booth for iPhone Review

I recently reviewed a fun new application for the Mac OS called Fun Booth 2. The application allows you to snap pictures of yourself and then add fun props to the picture. You can also use the props while video chatting or e-mail/upload finished images to your friends and family. Spoonjuice, the developer of Fun Booth 2 for the Mac, recently submitted a version of the application to the iTunes App Store for approval and allowed me to test it out before it gets released.

Astraware Casino for iPhone/iPod Touch Review

Astraware Casino for iPhone/iPod Touch Review

The folks at Astraware have done it again and released another premier game for the iPhone OS. Astraware Casino features 11 casino style games all under one title. Included are: Texas Hold ‘Em No Limit Poker, Roulette, Baccarat, Video Derby, Texas Hold ‘Em Limit Poker, Blackjack, Video Keno, Craps, 3 Card Poker, Slots and Video Poker. Read on for my full review of this fun filled game from what I consider to be one of the best iPhone OS application developers.

Fun Booth 2 for Mac Review

Fun Booth 2 for Mac Review

Fun Booth 2, from Spoonjuice software is an application for the Mac which lets you snap pictures or take video of yourself wearing all sorts of silly props. You can then e-mail the photos to friends or family, upload them to iPhoto, Twitter, Flickr, or burn them if they really embarrass you. 🙂 The application uses advanced face detection software to move the props into the right position no matter where you position yourself on the screen. If you’re really crazy you can even chat with your friends in iChat while wearing the props too.

These cases might put some lumberjacks out of work

These cases might put some lumberjacks out of work

JAVOedge recently released a new line of cases for the Amazon Kindle 2. These cases, called Hardwood Sleeves, are eco-friendly sleeve style cases made to protect your Kindle when you’re not reading. The cases, which are made to look like hardwood, come in two styles, Oak or Ash. JAVOedge was kind enough to send along both styles for me to review.

You know, this is... excuse me... a DAMN fine cup of coffee!

You know, this is… excuse me… a DAMN fine cup of coffee!

I’m going to let you in on a little secret. I love coffee. Anyone that knows me well would have you believe I have a thermal stainless steel coffee tumbler surgically grafted to my hand. It’s my American Express — I don’t leave home without it. I don’t fiddle around and mess it up with cream, sugar, or milk. A cup of coffee, if done just right, is best au naturale. The saddest part of all this is that I’ve become accustomed to good coffee. I rarely order any at a restaurant since it’s usually weak, not made…

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