Editorials | Gear Diary

LED Ice Cubes Signal It’s Time to Stop Drinking

There are many devices and tools that connect to your smartphone. Likewise, there are many fine apps that let you track your food, drink and activity. However, if you require LED ice cubes to alert you that you’re en route to a blackout, perhaps you need help, and not a text from your drink? If the novelty of such an item amuses you, though, don’t worry: it does exist. I’m trying to be fair here, but if I landed in the hospital after drinking too much, my response would emphatically not be to invent a complex ice cube that nagged…

Editorials, Game Diary

NRA Demonstrates Either Humor or Looniness with Release of Practice Range App

One thing is very clear about video games and violence – there has NEVER been a causal link established between the two. There have been indications that violent media (not just games) desensitizes the impact of other violent media, and that exposure to violent media (again, not just games) causes short-term increased aggression. But that has never stopped some from trying to blame violence on video games. It was done for Columbine, and ever since you can be sure if a young person commits a shooting rampage there will be an immediate look at the impact of video games. The…

Editorials, Events, Gear Bits

Low Emission Vehicles are Great but Style Still Matters

We are here at the North American International Auto Show and wandering the floor. There are some cool concept cars we’ve seen and some nice 2014 models that look great. There are also an abundance of small, highly economical cars on display. Here are a few examples. And as we have seen more and more of these small, low emissions vehicles I’m left wondering… Does lower emissions have to also have to mean less style and taste?

Editorials

How Well Do You Trust Online Reviews?

Image courtesy of XKCD I recently read a very interesting post by Andrew Leonard about online reviews, and attempts by software companies to (as we say in the high tech world) productize them. The question is valid: In an online world with an overwhelming wealth of information about almost everything, how do you weigh reviews and make a buying decision? Certainly the online world is swamped in reviews. But in my view, there’s a huge problem with reviews on the Web. There are almost always just two types: The rave, and the pan. That is, either you see posts that…

Editorials, Health and Fitness

New Weight Loss Method, the Built-In Stomach Pump

When I think of a stomach pump, it is usually in the context of someone ingesting poison or excessive alcohol, and an EMT or ER pumping the stomach as an extreme health measure. Apparently now a company called Aspire Bariatrics has developed a ‘minimally invasive’ system that seeks to replace ‘gastric bypass’ surgery and offer an alternative way for people to lose weight. According to the company: With Aspiration Therapy, patients “aspirate” (drain) a portion of their stomach contents into the toilet after each meal through an endoscopically-implanted tube, reducing the number of calories absorbed by the body. [snip] The AspireAssist…

Editorials

Even as Obesity Soars, Anorexia Remains a Huge Issue for Teen Girls

I didn’t think myself naive when I started my first real engineering job nearly a quarter century ago, yet I was quickly introduced to several new terms by a fellow engineer a couple years older than me. I learned the term ‘MILF’ and the expression ‘mind the gap’ which referred to the space between a woman’s upper thighs indicating she was thin and had proportionally wide hips. Neither or these were particularly respectful terms nor anything I would ever find myself using, but sadly they were two of the kindest expressions that I recall hearing from this engineer (misogynist and sexist…

Editorials, Events

Accessories at CES Illustrate Only Apple and Samsung Matter

I had the privilege of walking the CES floor and trying hard to cover as much as I could for Gear Diary this past week. It was, as you can imagine, absolutely geek heaven. I can’t even count how many smartphone accessories I saw this week, but one common thread stood out among the many mixed styles: if you want a nice case for your phone, buy an iPhone, a Samsung Galaxy S3, or a Note 2. Otherwise, you probably won’t see much case love. Now, seeing iPhone cases everywhere isn’t a big surprise at all. But all week I…

Editorials, Events

Where’s Barnes and Noble? Not Taking Advantage of CES!

I spent a great deal of time before and during CES checking out the exhibitor list and deciding what companies I wanted to visit. While I didn’t think they were doing anything special, I did note that Barnes and Noble was on the exhibitor list, and made a mental note to drop by and see what they had to say. Apparently, though, B&N is here in their traditional, not technological, capacity. They are here solely to sell Gary Shapiro’s “Ninja Innovation” title (Gary is head of CEA, the company behind CES). No display NOOKs. Not even a brochure. At CES….

Editorials, Health and Fitness

New Poll Shows Americans Have No Clue What to Do About Obesity

Late last year we heard that obesity had replaced hunger as the world’s biggest food problem. Here is just a sample from that report: According to CNN’s analysis of the study, obesity rates have increased 82 percent worldwide over the past two decades. Obesity is now a problem in all countries except for those in sub-Saharan Africa, and its associated complications produce health burdens higher than those caused by hunger. OK … so if obesity is such a challenge, then WHAT should we do? That is exactly what a poll conducted by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research…

Editorials

The Case for New Smartphones Cases

Every year over the holidays millions of smartphones are bought and activated, with this year seeing a record of more than 17 million devices in the US alone. And for way too many folks, those devices have a very short life due to damage from being dropped. Because while the devices are much tougher than in the past, they remain fragile. When you get your awesome new iPhone or Android smartphone, the LAST thing you want is for it to end up looking like my old Droid 4. That was awful – and totally avoidable. I had lost my running…

Editorials

Why I love my Samsung ATIV 500T enough to dump the iPad…

When the iPad first came out, I was as stunned and impressed as anyone, and anxious to have one of my own. My wife is largely supportive of my gadget addictions, but regarding the iPad, didn’t understand where it would “fit in” as a necessity when I already had an iPhone, laptop and desktop computer. She didn’t get it, even when I tried explaining it to her. (I believe that may be because when I talk about electronics that excite me, most of what she actually hears is “wah, wah, wah….wah…wah, wah…” ) So, I thought that Steve Jobs may…

Editorials, Events, News & Features

Forks Go Connected with HAPILABS HAPIfork

CES 2013 is ready to kick into gear. Judie and Kevin arrive late today. Carly will be here Tuesday. This is my 4th CES and we’ll be busier than I can ever recall. That’s a good thing. I’m especially looking forward to wandering the show floor as there are always some unexpected treasures. I do not, however, expect this to be one of them. The HAPILABS team will be showing their new HAPIfork, the world’s first connected fork that helps you lose weight by eating at the right time and at the right pace. Yes, the world’s first ever connected…

Editorials

Good News/Bad News with Bluebird Checking and Debit Card

We’ve been doing a series of posts about the features and use-experience of Bluebird, a joint venture of American Express and Walmart. The financial tool describes itself as “Your Checking and Debit Alternative”. We were sponsored to write a series of posts about our experience and, at least at this point, we would describe it as “a mixed bag”. Let’s first recap the steps we have taken with Bluebird thus far. I opened an account and then drove to my local Walmart. Once there I deposited $100 in my Bluebird account. It worked well and, within seconds, the money appeared in…

Editorials

The Outcome of My iPad Mini Apple Support Saga

Just before Christmas, I ranted about the support I was getting from Apple on my iPad Mini WiFi issue when using the phone and their online support systems. I contrasted it with Dan’s experience, he was seeing a similar issue and had it resolved when he went to his local Apple Store. My experience at that point was stretched across more than 2.5 weeks and was getting more frustrating by the day; it is too long to repeat here (click link above for the full story), but Dan’s experience is easy to sum up: Dan’s Apple Store Experience Walked in. Explained…

Editorials, Gear Bits

The Outcome of My ‘Unsubscribe’ Adventure

Back in mid-November, I wrote a post asking if those ‘unsubscribe’ links in emails of reputable companies actually meant anything. Carly wrote a follow-up post about how companies used junk mail blasts as targeted marketing, because it was surprisingly effective. So now it is about six weeks since I wrote my original post, making it nearly two months since I started trying to dump unwanted emails. How did it go? Amazingly well! Through Cyber-Monday I saw only a slight decrease in unwanted email, but immediately after that I noted a sharp decline, followed by slower drop-offs, and then a couple of reappearances between…

Editorials

In the Midst of Some iPhone Rumors, Here is my iPhone wishlist.

I’m not picky. All I wanted in an iPhone before I finally made the switch from Android to iPhone was a bigger screen and 4G capability. The iPhone 5 had both; I jumped all over it and haven’t looked back since. But those were my requirements for jumping the Android ship; others might have had different reasons for switching or upgrading from a previous iPhone model. Some might just want the newest iPhone simply because it’s the newest. I don’t think anything besides a massive overhaul will make me upgrade from my iPhone 5 to the rumored iPhone 5S, but…

Editorials, Health and Fitness

New Yale Study Using MRI Brain Scans Links Fructose to Weight Gain and Obesity

A new study from Yale University published in the Journal of the American Medical Association and reported at Bloomberg details something that has been gaining more and more scientific support: fructose has a significant link to weight gain and obesity. I have been compiling links for several months now about all of this stuff, including a report from last year put out by the UK Guardian that made a bold claim – that we are on average more than 40 pounds heavier than we were three decades ago, and much of it isn’t about eating more or exercising less ……

Editorials, Game Diary

Video Game Violence

As recently reported in USA Today, Senator Jay Rockefeller (D-W. Va.) introduced a bill to examine the impact of violent content, including video games, on children…This possible bill would require the National Academy of Sciences to submit a report within 18 months on whether violent video games and other programming adversely affect children. Other studies have not been able to provide conclusive evidence that video games, movies, television programming or media in general have adverse effects. It’s not a simple issue of finding evidence or a “smoking gun” because there is no way an entity, including the National Academy of…

Editorials

For 2013 Make Sure Your Resolutions Are S.M.A.R.T.

From now until 2013, we’re going to take a look at some New Year’s Resolutions and a Gear Diary way to help you keep them. New Year Resolution: Attain My Goals in 2013 It is not breaking news that most New Year resolutions are broken – in fact at this time of year there are as many articles about how most will fail their resolutions by the end of January … and loads of advice columns about how to make yourself different. All of those columns are loaded up with analysis of why the typical resolutions fail, and also some…

Editorials

Randi Zuckerberg Learns the Hard Lesson of Facebook Privacy First-Hand

Over the Christmas holiday, Randi Zuckerberg (Mark Zuckerberg’s sister and former director of Marketing at Facebook) posted a picture of her family around the kitchen island having fun, and someone else shared the image on Twitter. This was picked up on Buzzfeed and more thoroughly explained on GigaOm amongst other places. Zuckerberg called the person out, saying that she had no idea how they got it, but that sharing the image to Twitter was ‘way uncool’. The thing that some pointed out was that Zuckerberg had very publicly taken the stance that “Anonymity Online ‘Has To Go Away’”. Personally I…

Editorials

If You Want GOOD Service, Use the Apple Store Instead of Apple Support

Apple has a reputation and standing as one of the best customer support organizations in all of the consumer world. They top the ratings each year; due to their retail stores, the ability to quickly talk to someone knowledgeable has made using Apple products easier than ever for millions of folks. Truth is, in more than 30 years of owning Apple products starting with the Apple ][+, I have never needed service of any type. I have had a couple of questions, and had to email support about a couple of iTunes issues, but I have never had an actual…