Articles by Gear Diary Staff

Reviews December 8, 2007

Flip Video Ultra Review: A Pocket Video Camera for the Rest of Us

Before my first son was born, I bought a camcorder so we could capture all of the precious moments of his life. Now, almost six years later, I have a box filled with unwatched video, mostly of a baby not doing anything in particular. That set me wondering what would it take to have done something useful with this video. The answer, at least for me, was that it was just too complicated to transfer the video from the tapes to my computer in order to edit it. With my family growing, I simply did not have time for all…

Reviews November 26, 2007

Johnny Lightning’s V_Bot Review

At the same time that Gear Diary was approached to review the Johnny Lightning Battle Wheels, we were also invited to review the V_Bot. What is the V_Bot? Well, here is a clipping from the email describing it: “V_Bot, the new high-tech hero, transforms from a sleek street vehicle into a giant robot loaded with action moves. This revolutionary RC toy captures kids’ imaginations with a giant robot that they can control, transform and drive. V_Bot even has a plug-in for an MP3 player.” Yep, you read that clipping right! V_Bot is a robot that can really transform into an…

Reviews November 24, 2007

The Spire 17? Mojo Laptop Bag & Atom Accessory Bag Review

I’m pretty sure that at this point there is not a single person who has not used a backpack or satchel. Generally speaking, you usually find yourself wishing you had more space. Then, later on you find yourself wishing you didn’t have more space, but instead find yourself wishing you didn’t have a bag that keeps trying to tear to shreds on you. Then, along comes Mojo. This bag is quite possibly the most durable bag I have ever seen, with the most space I have EVER seen in a satchel. Ever imagine a bag that has pockets inside of…

Reviews November 19, 2007

The Pantech Duo Unboxing

Say Hello to the little Beast – The Pantech Duo Overview

Reviews November 19, 2007

myvu Personal Media Viewer Review

With all the hub-bub around the new iPods and Zunes, I had been searching for something to make my older 60GB 5G iPod Video new and exciting again. I wanted something that would be fun, and bring some zip back to the device, and be way cool, especially since I wasn’t going to be buying a new iPod any time soon. My 5G player is in decent shape and since I’ve been watching a lot of vide on it lately (more on that in a minute), I was looking for something that would make that experience a little better. Enter…

Reviews November 17, 2007

Hauppauge WinTV-HVR 950 Review

Sometimes, I need to have white noise playing in the background in order to be able to concentrate. This can take the form of music (CD, MP3’s etc), radio (Internet or other), or the TV. Sometimes, the simple sound of the air circulating in the room that I’m in can be deafening, and just too loud. I need to fill the air with something other than, well… the air. Recently here in Chicago, we had a very bad rainstorm come through. My sump pump decided to die the day AFTER the storm when a lot of the water absorbed by…

Reviews November 14, 2007

Down with hip-pocket syndrome: The ALL-ETT Wallet REVIEW

The Almighty Wallet: Homers since the 14th century has used wallets to carry all kinds of stuff. Granted, back then they were called knapsacks (we call them laptop bags these days). With the invention of paper currency in the 1600’s, billfolds became popular. With the insatiable appetite for wads of currency preferable in rolled form, consumers embraced credit cards in a convenient stackable form. Wallets have become a staple for holiday gift giving and have changed little over the years, with the notable exception of the velcro wallet. The nice folks at ALL-ETT have designed a clever way to handle…

Reviews November 11, 2007

The Silverlit Palm-Z Mini RC Indoor Airplane Review

The call of duty beckons yet again, to review another RC aircraft. But, this time it is not another helicopter, it is an airplane. Specifically, it is the Silverlit Palm–Z Mini RC Indoor Airplane, available from Hobbytron.com. To date I have test flown the Hornet 3 Mini RC Helicopter and the RC AH-64 Apache RTF 4 CH Electric Helicopter, both also available from HobbyTron.com. With my RC helicopter flying experience would I be able to take on flying an airplane? We’ll see.

Reviews November 7, 2007

PDAmill GameBox Asia II Review

As I have become more and more active in reviewing games both here and at Just Another Mobile Monday, I have been learning more about the origins of many games, particularly what could be considered classic board games. Sometimes, the origins of a game may be shrouded in mystery or controversy. Oftentimes, however, simply by learning the basic rules of a game, you can determine its origins fairly easily. Japanese games, for example, tend to be puzzle oriented (Sudoku, Kakuro, Hitori, etc.). Chinese games, on the other hand, tend to focus more on strategy. This is exactly what I found…

Reviews November 6, 2007

Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars

A few months ago I got to pick up a copy of Command and Conquer 3. This game had been at the top of the hype meter for almost 2 years prior to being released in March 2007. The first thing I noticed was the distinct green theme of the box and this makes sense if you have played the previous games in the series.

Reviews October 22, 2007

Johnny Lightning’s Battle Wheels Review

When Gear Diary was approached to review the new Johnny Lightning Battle Wheels, I was going pass on reviewing them. I never really was interested in robotic combat. However, Judie convinced me to accept and do the review. And, I actually had fun, thanks Judie!

Reviews October 5, 2007

The Tuniq Tower 120 Ultra Silent CPU Cooler Review

Everyone knows the phrase, “Bigger is better,” and that phrase applies to almost everything except cell phones, so logically it should apply to as well…right? Well, that’s what I was aiming to find out in this review. Trust me, CPU coolers don’t get much bigger than this little behemoth…at least, I hope they don’t. If so the gravitational pull from it could cause the wires in your case to get tangled in its fans. Generally, I consider that bad, but luckily this model doesn’t suffer that complication.

Reviews October 3, 2007

The Device that never was: Palm Foleo

Well here ya go, the unboxing of the device that never was: The Palm Foleo Ah a new toy that was never meant to be. What to do, what to do…I know, Play Time. Here are some unboxing photos of this device that just wasn’t meant to be. Granted this is only the unboxing but still, there is nothing like playing with a device that was never meant to be; it kinda of reminds me of the Motorola MPx300. More details to follow on the use of the device. I’ll let everyone know this though, the Foleo reminds me of…

Reviews September 28, 2007

The Battlefield 2142 Review

When you see all the new DirectX10 titles coming out for PC it becomes very easy to overlook the newer DirectX9 titles. Battlefield 2142 is one of these titles, and it most definitely shows itself as proof that DX9 is not dead yet! Now, don’t get me wrong, I am fully aware that Battlefield 2142 came out almost a year ago now, so it’s not anything new. However, it is new to me! Now, without further ado I will now begin… I got my hands on a copy of the game Saturday, and I figured it would be a nice…

Reviews September 28, 2007

Sync your mobile digital lifestyle: The Ford Focus | Sync Review

[THIS is a monster post with lots of photos – so give your browser some spinning wheel time!] GearDiary was invited to join traditional media and automobile journalists to experience the launch of the redesigned Ford Focus and Ford Sync™. Hosted in Seattle, Washington by Ford Motor Company and Microsoft, the program included significant drive time with the Focus vehicle, demonstration of the Sync technology and a visit to the Microsoft campus to view the House of the Future. Geekness and coolness personified ❗ . Sync is the newest mobile technology to emerge from the Ford-Microsoft relationship. Debuting in the…

Reviews September 24, 2007

AntWorks – Space Age Ant Habitat

Observing ants in your home used to mean obtaining the typical ant farm which used sand as the medium for the ants to live in. A modern development and improvement on the old sand ant farms are the AntWorks ant habitats. This habitat uses a special gel instead of sand. The gel setup was originally developed for an NASA experiment, in which ants were sent into space on board the space shuttle to study insect life in near weightlessness. Traditional soil-based ant farm tunnels would collapse from the intense vibrations during a take off. To solve the problem, NASA scientists…

Reviews September 9, 2007

Aerobie Aeropress Coffee & Espresso Maker Review

I enjoy a hot cup of coffee every now and then. But, I never had any interest in learning how to brew the coffee (cooking is really not my thing). I have always bought my coffee from restaurants and coffee shops. When I came across the Aerobie Aeropress Coffee & Espresso Maker while searching the web for interesting devices, it really caught my attention. The Aeropress is said to be easy to use and that it makes the best tasting coffee. This I had to find out for myself and we got an Aeropress to review. The Aeropress System consists…

Reviews, Vehicles & Gear September 9, 2007

Tersano Lotus Sanitizing System Review: Cleaning Has Never Been This Easy.

Imagine if I told you there was a device out there which could replace all of your soaps and cleaning supplies with water. Pretty unbelievable, isn’t it? Need to remove some heavy duty mildew? No more heavy abrasive cleaners. Just use tap water. Need to remove food stains from clothing? No more spray cleaner. Just use ordinary tap water. Preparing fruit? Preserve it with tap water. Just about anything you can think of can be made better with tap water…according to Tersano, the creators of the Lotus oxidizing system.

Reviews August 26, 2007

The Funslides Carpet Skates Review

Recently, Judie did a post about the FunSlides Carpet Skates. Because of a technical glitch with our email server, I never got the team email about reviewing them. It was after Judie did her write up on the skates that I thought to myself, these may be just the thing to solve the problem my Robosapien robots have with walking on carpet. I mentioned this to Judie, and she thought it would be a great idea to let the bots volunteer. The FunSlides Carpet Skates come in six color choices, blue, silver, red, purple and hot pink. I was sent…

Reviews August 4, 2007

Rocketfish Universal Wireless Rear Speaker Kit Review

Rear speakers have been pretty much the bane of my existence for most of my married life. OK, let me back up for a minute. I love stereo equipment. To me, it ranks right up there with my mobile devices. I have been an aficionado of multi-channel sound since it was first introduced back in the early 1990’s. While 5.1 surround sound (and now 7.1) is a phenomenal way to add an extra dimension to your television and movie watching experience, it does come with one major drawback. The rear speakers, which must be on the opposite side of the…

Reviews July 26, 2007

The SoundID SM100 Bluetooth Headset Review: Enjoying The Sounds of Silence.

Since I have been writing here at Gear Diary, and at JAMM, I have had the opportunity to test numerous Bluetooth headsets. I love the freedom that Bluetooth gives you to talk on your phone without tying up your hands. On the other hand, I hate having a piece of plastic stuck on my face all the time (especially one with an annoying flashing blue light). To me, the ideal Bluetooth headset must find a middle ground between these two interests: allowing me to easily use it to place and receive calls, while remaining unobtrusive and accessible when not in…

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