Editorials | Gear Diary

Editorials September 24, 2011

Are We Suffering Through An Anti-Intellectualism Backlash?

A few months ago I had started writing up an article called “Study: ‘Being Green’ Isn’t About Saving the Planet, But Pushing an Elitist Agenda” which I will get to shortly … but today there was an article about the “10 Things That Are Killing Indie Music in 2011”. And #1? “Suspicion of intellectualism”. The basis of the argument is that we are at a point where something that seems ‘smart’ shouldn’t be trusted, and should be rejected for being elitist: any semblance of intellectualism — or any divergence from popular opinion, for that matter — tends to get you…

Editorials, Game Diary September 23, 2011

Video Games and Marriage: Game Related Divorce Rampant in Real and Virtual Worlds!

I have no intent to make light of divorce or marriage or anything else related to human relationships – they are tough enough as it is. But recently there have been a couple of reports related to video games and divorce that I found interesting. So let’s dive right in! While just about any hobby involving a significant singular time commitment can cause strain in a marriage – my father and a couple of his friends called themselves ‘quilting widows’, and there are people I work with who go on fishing/hunting/camping weekends, and on and on – it seems that…

Editorials September 23, 2011

It STILL Really Is Just An ‘iPad Market’

We have talked about the so-called ‘Tablet Market’ as really being the ‘iPad Market’, with some marginal players scraping for scraps. Some of us have bought or spent considerable time with one or more of the various tablets that have come out over the last year – the Samsung Galaxy Tab, Motorola Xoom, BlackBerry Playbook, HP TouchPad, HTC Flyer, Acer Iconia, and on and on. Yet in all of these cases there have been some serious flaws that have derailed the tablets and ultimately resulted in the failure of the tablets to gain market penetration. Last week the IDC released…

Editorials September 21, 2011

Dear Networks, We Don’t WANT to Pirate Your Shows!

Last week Doug wrote about how the push by the movie studios to have consumers feel forced to buy retail DVDs by delaying physical rental availability and making the streaming rental system convoluted and inconsistent is likely backfiring by pushing customers in the wrong direction. This weekend my family had a show we wanted to watch – Ghost Hunters from SyFy. We had just heard that the show was going to focus on the historic Reed Homestead in Townsend, Massachusetts. That just happens to be within a mile of where we used to live for 15 years until we moved…

Editorials September 20, 2011

My First Experience With a 3D Phone: LG Thrill

One of my students excitedly hurried into my classroom the other day, exclaiming that I had to see her new phone. Kids show me their new gadgets everyday, but this was obviously something special since the other students were just as excited. When she presented it to me she just exclaimed, “3D!” In her hand was one of the newest Android handsets from LG to sport 3D technology. The LG Thrill is exclusive to ATT and can be purchased for $99. The hardware seemed nice and was similar to other Android phones I have played with, but I really just…

Editorials September 19, 2011

Movin’ to a Mac

Recently, I was laid off from my day job. As a result, for the first time in my life (literally!), my main system will be an Apple system, specifically 15″ MacBook Pro running OS X “Snow Leopard”. And as I’ve made the move, copying my iTunes library over, setting up a backup disk, and all the other nonsense in which one must engage when one makes a big move of this type, I’ve noticed a few things. If you’re someone who is considering making the jump, but has been hesitating for one reason or another, maybe my experiences here will…

Editorials, Reviews September 18, 2011

How I Chose the Tablet for Me

Tablet computing is all the rage now. Microsoft coined it, Apple popularized it and there are many others including Microsoft itself that are vying for a piece of the large pie that Apple already owns. It isn’t the death of the PC, but I am convinced it’s a device almost everyone will eventually own. Some may replace their computer entirely with a tablet device, while others will just use it to augment the laptop or desktop they use. Either way, it’s the future and I’ve decided I need to look at getting one. Follow me along the journey of selecting my…

Editorials September 18, 2011

FourSquare Quick Tip: Upload a Profile Picture to Become a Mayor

It had become a running joke in the family. “Dan, did you FourSquare here?” “Dan, still one day away from being mayor?” “Dan, when you can’t even become mayor of your own house what does that tell you?” “Dan, you know the ‘no fly’ list? I think FourSquare has you on the ‘no mayor’ list.” Yes, I was one day away from becoming the FourSquare mayor at well over a dozen venues. Despite this I had only actually become major once and then it was only for one day. And to add insult to injury THAT location was a tram…

Editorials September 17, 2011

I Don’t Want to Buy Retail, Media Companies!

Look, Big Media Companies: I don’t want to buy physical objects retail. Your humble GD crew has opined on many occasions that we think that the BMC’s “strategies” for releasing their content electronically doesn’t make sense, that it doesn’t discourage piracy, and that it’s just plain nonsensical. Today: a perfect example. Consider the movie X-Men: First Class. As of last Friday, it was available on both DVD SD and Blu-ray. Not available on iTunes until Tuesday, but that’s okay–that’s the way it always works on iTunes. No big deal. But here’s the thing with the iTunes version: you can’t buy an…

Editorials September 16, 2011

Faceglat – Sadly, It’s Not Something “The Onion” Invented

There are times when the virtual world seems very real. I know that I consider my fellow writers on Gear Diary my friends, even though all of us have not met in person. But there’s a difference between real and virtual friendships, and I recognize the difference. Apparently, for some very orthodox Jews, there is no difference, and that’s what Faceglat is for. Effectively, it’s a Facebook-style website, but it’s gender-separated. Women and men maintain separate Faceglat areas, just as they would in a real-life gathering. On the surface, it’s not that weird, but if you stop and really think…

Editorials September 15, 2011

1825 Days Since We Began, and We’re Just Getting Started!

Gear Diary v1.0 circa 2006, courtesy of the WayBack Machine Five years ago, I stepped off a virtual precipice and left the safety of my regular writing gig at The Gadgeteer to start my own personal blog, an idea that was born while riding on the back of an elephant in Thailand. With the help of Joel Evans, formerly of Geek.com and now with CronkSoftware.com, I learned how to work with WordPress, a relatively new blogging platform that was totally different from the “Ruby on Rails” system I was used to. My first Hello World post on Gear Diary ran late at…

eBooks, Editorials September 15, 2011

Amazon’s Proposed eBook Subscription Service — a Round Peg in a Square Hole?

The Wall Street Journal weighed in over the weekend with a very interesting and surprising rumor. Supposedly, Amazon has been shopping an “ebook subscription service” around to publishers, in an effort to bundle ebooks with Prime membership. Sort of like Netflix for eBooks. The closest analog to this is the old “Book of the Month Club” type deals, but this is definitely a step up. It benefits consumers, but does it actually benefit the business of selling books? First, let’s look at the specifics, as far as they’re known right now according to the Journal: Amazon.com Inc. is talking with book…

Editorials, Travel September 13, 2011

Lessons Learned from a Week of Road Tripping

Sarah and I have had a busy summer, but the big finale was definitely this past week. We started out Labor Day weekend, where we headed to Virginia, before returning to New Jersey for a day and then heading to Maine for a friend’s wedding. Lots of travel, lots of packing, lots of gear. What did we learn? Read on to see our hard-earned lessons and tips! Technology: Let’s start with travel gear. I opted to travel light to VA since we were driving to Richmond, then Virginia Beach for a race, then back to Richmond and then finally home….

Editorials September 13, 2011

To Bionic or Not to Bionic

I have been angsting over a new phone for some time now. My original Droid is barely hanging on, and I am due for an upgrade. It was disappointing that Verizon didn’t pick up the Galaxy S II along with the other carriers, but the Motorola Droid Bionic hung on the horizon. I have been trolling various sites for reviews, but they all seemed to sum up with one word: Meh. All of them are quick to reassure readers the Bionic isn’t a bad phone, it is just…not great. In fact, most of the reviews seem to end with similar…

Editorials September 12, 2011

The “Other” Reason the BlackBerry PlayBook Got No Play

I attended RIM’s rollout of the BlackBerry PlayBook and they were kind enough to give each of us in attendee one to take home and use. Since that time I have taken the device out of its box every week or so to play with it a bit. Unfortunately, after using it for a brief time back into the box it goes. Time and again this is what happens.

Editorials September 11, 2011

On September 11, 2011

In each of our lives there are events that are so powerful, for good or for bad, that they leave an indelible mark on us as individuals. The same holds true in our national memory. The assassination of President Kennedy, the Challenger disaster and now, the event that took place ten years ago today, are among the those moments when the question “Where were you when you first heard about or saw what was taking place?” is easily answered. I remember EXACTLY where I was, what I was doing and how I responded that morning and I suspect many of…

Editorials September 10, 2011

After 100 Years, The Art of Steuben Glass Comes Crashing to an End

The image above is from the movie Risky Business. Aside from launching the career of Tom Cruise, there was also a critical plot item: an expensive glass egg on the mantle. That egg was made by the artists of the Steuben Glassworks in Corning NY. This week the parent company Schottenstein announced that Steuben would be closing its doors forever: Glass art manufacturer Steuben Glass Company, which has been based in Corning, N.Y., 37 miles southwest of Ithaca, since 1903, will close in November, parent company Schottenstein Stores Corp. announced Aug. 31 in a press release. “The difficult economy, declining…

Editorials September 10, 2011

Blinded by the Bling You CAN Have Too Much Swarovski Crystal!

BLINDED BY THE BLING Wallis Simpson once said, “You can never be too rich, too thin or have too much Swarovski Crystal bling on your mobile device.” Ok, Simpson didn’t say that last part and for good reason- you CAN have too much Swarovski Crystal bling on your mobile device. We’ve got the proof! Seriously, look at this… Now I’m all for the cute concept of a handset that plugs into the 3.5mm headphone jack on your mobile device. It is silly, fun, an attention grabber and, oh yeah, it keeps your phone’s proximity sensor from acting wonky. NativeUnion sells…

Editorials September 8, 2011

Change is in the Air, and it is Not Just the Coming of Fall

Let’s face it, the iPad is eating everyone else’s lunch and that not only goes for other tablets but for traditional computers as well. MG Siegler has a rather interesting and excellent post over on TechCrunch the other day that makes this point rather well. In it he argues that the iPad represents a Clear and Present Danger to the traditional PC market. The reason? Unlike those of us who write for a living (whether as bloggers or… say… clergy) and need something that we can use to write hundreds or thousands of words, the vast majority of people can…

Editorials September 6, 2011

iOS 5.0 Voice-to-Text Cometh??

As a general rule we don’t cover rumors here on the site. Every now and then however there is a bit of juicy information that is so deeply rooted in fact that taking the leap toward believing the rumor is pretty easy. This is one of those cases and, truth be told, I have a hard time seeing this NOT come to pass. We’ve all been hearing about ongoing negotiations between Apple and Nuance with regard to incorporating Nuance’s voice-to-text technology deeply in the next version of iOS. We’ve even see screen shots of the keyboard trigger for it. Now…

Editorials September 4, 2011

GMail to the Rescue!

I have been a GMail user since their early beta days, but three times this week I was reminded of how dead simple and useful their archiving and saving functions can be! First, a bit of background. My best friend is getting married next week, and so I have been wracking my brain putting together a toast for her and her fiancée. I had some fun anecdotes about her, as well as stories from when the two of them started dating, but I was looking for something more to add. Thinking maybe old emails would help, I typed her name…