Editorials

Traveling Light with the Sena Florence Portfolio; I Reviewed It, and I Still Use It

Editorials, Travel

Traveling Light with the Sena Florence Portfolio; I Reviewed It, and I Still Use It

I had a few meetings the other day, and as I was heading out for them, I was struck by how little I was actually bringing with me. I was further struck by the fact that despite how little I was bringing with me for the day, I STILL had everything I needed. Yes, everything I needed for my meetings was held in my Timbuk2 X-small Quickie for Tablets 2011, and I had tons of room left over. (The 2012 version is here.) In fact, there was almost nothing actually IN the bag. So what did I bring with me?…

iPad for College Instead of Laptop? Bad Advice

Editorials

iPad for College Instead of Laptop? Bad Advice

You know what they say about free advice… you get what you pay for. And, if you read the site regularly, you know hoe much both Judie and I love and rely upon our iPads. And you likely also know that Mike considers the iPad his “80% computer” while Carly goes as high as it being her 90% computer. That being the case you might be surprised that I find Cult of Macs post entitles Why You Should Buy An iPad Instead Of A MacBook For College [Back To School] to be lousy advice and simply wrong. The author’s points…

OnLive, Moto Mobility and the Harsh Reality of Tech Wars for Real People

Editorials

OnLive, Moto Mobility and the Harsh Reality of Tech Wars for Real People

Over the weekend we heard about the founder of OnLive basically shuttering the company in order to protect himself and the property by using a California loophole that allowed better creditor repayment than bankruptcy, but for workers … they were totally screwed just as if the company went totally belly-up. But that doesn’t mean all is well for creditors and investors. Today we start to learn about more of the fallout of the OnLive collapse: specifically, that troubled smartphone maker HTC is losing $40 million due to the restructuring. This is the same HTC who recently posted a 58% net…

Riot Grrl, Pussy Riot, and the Heartbreak of Seeing Feminism Attacked in Russia

Editorials

Riot Grrl, Pussy Riot, and the Heartbreak of Seeing Feminism Attacked in Russia

(image courtesy Amnesty International’s Pussy Riot support page) I spent the summer between my sophomore and junior years of high school touring Israel. It was an incredible experience, but the most lasting impression didn’t come from the country. It came from the moment one of my friends on the trip played a Sleater-Kinney song, and my eyes were opened to the world of riotgrrl and women in punk rock. These were bands that sang about feminism, politics and sexuality in a more frank, honest, and direct manner than I had ever heard before. Feminist punk rock is a defining soundtrack…

Can a Leadership Shakeup Restore Faith in Komen?

Editorials, Health and Fitness

Can a Leadership Shakeup Restore Faith in Komen?

Earlier this year, I wrote about the impact of the politically motivated move made by the Komen Foundation regarding Planned Parenthood in terms of a massive backlash. A couple of months later, I noted that the backlash was having a significant impact on the very important ‘Race for the Cure’ in terms of participants — and more importantly on the level of charitable giving. Since then, there have been a number of high level departures, peaking last week with the exit of founder and CEO Nancy Brinker as well as other high level leaders (president Liz Thompson and board members Brenda…

The Value, Or Lack Thereof, In A DVD Collection

eBooks, Editorials

The Value, Or Lack Thereof, In A DVD Collection

Sarah and I are trying to downsize our personal belongings. I have amassed a ton of random movies and television shows thanks to my time at Borders, and Sarah has a bunch that have accumulated over time. However, we both realized last weekend that we haven’t touched our DVD player in months, we have no interest in a blu ray player, and most of our movie and television watching is through Netflix, Amazon Prime or iTunes. So what better way to begin trimming away our crap than by trading in our DVDs for cash or credit towards things we will…

The Final #NBCFail - Cutting Rock Legends in Favor of Supermodels, Pop Trash and an Awful New Show

Editorials, News & Features

The Final #NBCFail – Cutting Rock Legends in Favor of Supermodels, Pop Trash and an Awful New Show

Imagine you have a few hours of pre-recorded video in hand, featuring all manner of showmanship and including some mid-level pop stars, a bizarrely over-long live photo-montage by non-performers, and some of the great legends of music. Which would you cut from the Prime Time show? Of course! Naturally you cut the legends … well, most of them. Some you make fans wait over an hour until AFTER airing an abysmal new pilot before you let them see the performance. But are we really so surprised that this is how NBC would handle the Olympic closing ceremonies? I mean, we…

For the Olympics, Good Ratings Encourage Poor Coverage

Editorials

For the Olympics, Good Ratings Encourage Poor Coverage

With each passing day my frustration with the Olympic coverage available to me grew, and as the Olympics close I wanted to express the feelings that will linger. Carly already wrote about how NBC is punishing viewers of regular broadcast TV, and also about how the focus on big-corporate sponsorship is hurting athletes in smaller sports who don’t use the big name gear. I was drawn to several of the comments on Carly’s posts, talking about cord-cutting, using apps, and a general dissatisfaction with the quality and quantity of broadcasts. Let me add my voice to the chorus – as…

Are We Bored Yet? A Video Gear Chat

Editorials

Are We Bored Yet? A Video Gear Chat

The other day Chris published a post entitled, “In an Apple and Everything Else Funk“. As he noted in it Lately I’ve been in a funk. I thought, at first, it was an Apple funk. I thought it might be about the fact that Apple today doesn’t seem to have the same excitement and vision as it did under Steve Jobs. I thought it might be about a sequence of products that is becoming very evolutionary instead of revolutionary. I thought it was about Apple and where it might be heading. But it’s more than that. It’s about where the…

Gear Diary's Best Apps for…Photography

Editorials

Gear Diary’s Best Apps for…Photography

With so many apps in the iTunes App Store it has become all but impossible to find the best of the best. To help you find the best apps we are beginning a series of posts highlighting some of the apps we personally use and rely upon. Our process is completely unscientific. We ask the Gear Diary team to list up to three apps in a specific category… something like “Best Apps for… Photography” and then collate the responses. Those that get multiple mentions go toward the top. So what are our favorite iOS photography apps? Camera+: It’s been at…

In an Apple and Everything Else Funk

Editorials

In an Apple and Everything Else Funk

Lately I’ve been in a funk.  I thought, at first, it was an Apple funk.  I thought it might be about the fact that Apple today doesn’t seem to have the same excitement  and vision as it did under Steve Jobs.  I thought it might be about a sequence of products that is becoming very evolutionary instead of revolutionary.  I thought it was about Apple and where it might be heading. But it’s more than that.  It’s about where the mobile industry as a whole is heading.  It’s about what kinds of things we think are important (and it’s not…

Failure of Playstation Vita is Lowlight of Dismal Sony Earnings Report

Editorials, Game Diary

Failure of Playstation Vita is Lowlight of Dismal Sony Earnings Report

Sony was another business to report quarterly earnings, and once again the results were pretty dismal for the Playstation division. Here are the basics as noted at GI.biz: Sony’s Game division posted an operating loss of $45 million as sales of its PlayStation hardware line continue to fall. In the first fiscal quarter – ending June 30 2012 – the company’s Game segment posted revenues of ¥118 billion ($1.49b/£967m), down 14.5 per cent year-on-year. The decline was partially aggravated by the strength of the Yen, but overall sales were still down 10 per cent on a constant currency basis. The…

NBC's Olympic Coverage Punishes Broadcast TV Watchers

Editorials, Gear Bits

NBC’s Olympic Coverage Punishes Broadcast TV Watchers

There’s been plenty of ink spilled about how NBC is mishandling the Olympics. But Sarah and I are watching them tonight, and she just went on quite the rant that I hadn’t considered. See, NBC ran a whole special on the 1996 Women’s Gymnastics game, and Kerri Strug’s inspirational vault to seal the gold medal. It was followed up by an interview with Bela Karolyi. Both were nice to watch, but they highlighted a huge fail of NBC’s coverage: for so-called “prime time” Olympics, it was 8:30 before any current sports were shown! Yes, NBC has apps. And there are…

Watch for Kids in School Zones, Even in Summer Months

Editorials

Watch for Kids in School Zones, Even in Summer Months

My son was hit by a pickup truck a couple of weeks ago, crossing the street when coming home from a school ‘enrichment’ program. He is doing fine – thanks for asking – but it has raised many questions in our area, and it has prompted a look at how we deal with school zones year-round. More on his specifics later. Right now we are at the start of August, which in the Northeast at least is the middle of summer school vacations (I know in some areas it is more like 75% done … sorry), with kids getting out…

Washington DC Police Chief Issues Reasonable Citizen Cell-Camera Guidelines

Editorials

Washington DC Police Chief Issues Reasonable Citizen Cell-Camera Guidelines

If you keep an eye on the news, you probably have heard that the ubiquity of smartphones with capable video cameras in recent years has drastically changed how we view many things. Go to a concert and you will see hundreds (if not thousands) of people videotaping the proceedings; no longer are the aisles at school functions filled with bulky tripods for large camcorders; and if there is an arrest or other criminal activity in progress in a public location you can be sure there is video rolling. Technology has advanced a great deal from 20 years ago and the…

Amazingly, 6% of Drivers Would Swerve to Kill an Animal

Editorials, Outdoors

Amazingly, 6% of Drivers Would Swerve to Kill an Animal

Imagine that you are driving down the road and see a turtle on the shoulder … what do you do? Well, if you are Blake Shelton or one of his small-minded ilk, you swerve to crush him (or not as he later denied it), then tweet about it and get abusive to anyone who questions you. Actually, for most people you would either continue driving or perhaps stop to help the animal get to the side of the road in safety. But for some … it is the opportunity to leave the road to show how superior they are by…

Are These The Worst Apple Ads Ever? And Do They 'Mean Something'?

Editorials

Are These The Worst Apple Ads Ever? And Do They ‘Mean Something’?

During the opening ceremonies for the Olympics Apple aired three new commercials, centering on a young Apple Genius with ‘can do’ attitude helping Mac users in different situations. From the opening seconds, I thought these ads were awful. Why? Well, I thought the scenarios were inane, the people inept and thoughtless, and it painted a rather stereotypical view of a Mac user as a tech-incompetent person who needs to be spoon-fed and have their hand held to accomplish anything. That is a view put forth for decades by DOS and Windows users and more recently by Android users looking to…

How to Guarantee That You Won't Get the Reaction or Results That You Want

Editorials

How to Guarantee That You Won’t Get the Reaction or Results That You Want

There are very few “sure things” in life, but here are a few things about which you can be certain  … 1. How to Guarantee that We Won’t Review Your Product You can pretty much guarantee we won’t review your product if you introduce it to us by lying. Here’s a good case in point. The first email was just fine. Name: jon How does one go about having a product reviewed by your staff? We have created a awesome new product called EarSkinz that have been designed to help stabilize the apple earbuds. We not only achieved stability, we…

New 'Active Gaming' Doesn't Change Reality of Couch-Bound Stereotype; also, 'Brain Games' Doesn't Work

Editorials, Game Diary

New ‘Active Gaming’ Doesn’t Change Reality of Couch-Bound Stereotype; also, ‘Brain Games’ Doesn’t Work

There are a number of stereotypes surrounding gamers: such as that of the male anti-social, under-hygenic basement dweller toiling away the hours on Dungeons & Dragons fantasy games; or the ultraviolent shooter player who is a bit ‘off’, also an outsider, one round of Doom/Halo/Call of Duty from wiping out his high school/college/post office; and even in the more enlightened recent years there is the image of a few somewhat unkempt and overweight friends on a couch (or couches in different locations connected by the internet) playing a bunch of games. If you look at the LAST console generation –…

If It Arrives, the iPad Mini Won't Be $199

Editorials

If It Arrives, the iPad Mini Won’t Be $199

We have gone on record that we don’t do rumor and innuendo here in Gear Diary. How then is it possible that we are writing a post about our opinion that Apple’s supposed upcoming miniature iPad will not cost $199? Simple, this post is not based on any of the rumors swirling about, nor is it based on any supposedly special information we heard from our second cousin’s neighbor’s dry cleaner. No, this post is purely speculation on our part, and we are okay with that. In fact we are so okay with that, that we are going to put our…