Editorials

Sony Blames Price for PSP Go Failure – Here are MY Thoughts!

Image courtesy of Geeky Gadgets OK, we are approaching the one-year anniversary of the release of the PSP Go. Can we all PLEASE just admit now that the PSP Go is a unmitigated failure? I mean, personally it is my all-time favorite handheld gaming system due to the small size, solid build, short load-times, and so on. Yet I consider it one of the great failures in all of gaming history. Why? It has nothing to do with the hardware – and everything to do with Sony. Here are a couple of quotes from the MCV interview that every other…

Editorials, Game Diary

Hate Seeing In-game Advertising? Well … Then STOP Buying That Stuff!

The relationship between brand advertising and games is not new – many pinball game I remember from my youth had blatant branding and tie-ins, and then in the late 70s and early 80’s companies such as Atari and Intellivision used tie-ins with popular products to boost sales. And as a reminder, the video game arcade industry in the early 80’s was estimated as being the size of the movie industry and all of Nevada’s casinos … combined! So obviously brands wanted a piece of that action – but most efforts in those early years were not all that successful, generally…

Editorials

Backups and Recovery Are Your Friends: A Cautionary Tale!

A few weeks ago I made a really dumb mistake. One of those, “I have been a geek for far too long to forget this” kind of mistakes. The easy to avoid, harder to fix kind…what happened? Read on and find out. It all started during a discussion in the “back room” here at Gear Diary, regarding Linux on netbooks and whether the OS really matters anymore. Joel and Doug were arguing OS is less important these days, while Michael and I were of the opinion the learning curve and unfamiliar quirks would drive users into the loving arms of…

Editorials

Of Tootsie Pops and nanos…

How many licks does it take to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop? According to this classic TV ad, it’s three. How many steps does it take to walk around the larger of the two lakes up here in Pennsylvania? Thanks to the a nifty but under-appreciated feature of the new iPod nano, I now know it is… … 4802. That’s how many of my steps it took while walking, according to the built-in pedometer on the nano. Sure the new nano is stripped down compared to its predecessor, but the more I use the diminutive music player the more I…

eBooks, Editorials

Kindle Is Headed to Best Buy, the New eBook Battleground

Just the other day I was commenting on how I didn’t see the Kindle heading to Best Buy for a head to head against the nook, but clearly, I was wrong. According to MobileRead, Amazon and Best Buy have announced that the big yellow tag will be stocking Kindles for the holidays, so whether you’re shopping for a B&N fan or an Amazon acolyte you’re all set. Unless, of course, you’re Sony. Why is this such bad news for Sony? There are a few reasons. One, look at Sony’s prices compared to the nook and the Kindle. You can buy…

Editorials

Gear Chat #16- New iPods Coming… New Gear Chat Already Here…

Larry and Dan serve up Gear Chat 16… In this podcast we talked about Apple’s September 1 announcement hits and misses, the new Kindle, iPhone and iPad apps and a new iPhone case company that understands good customer service… Intro Music- Lean On Me- Sounds From the Ground Solarstone’s Chill Out Remix…

Editorials

Default Case: A “Case” Of Good Customer Service

A few of the iPhone case manufacturers could learn a thing or two from Default Case. Just a few days ago I told you about Default Case. The new iPhone case company has decided rather than spend a ton of money on advertising they’d instead offer up their entire line of cases for both the iPhone 4 and iPhone 3G/3Gs for only a penny (plus a small shipping fee.) I went ahead and ordered one. I mean at only a penny why not? My case arrived today and I couldn’t help but notice the similarity between it and a case…

Editorials

The Best Buy Experience – One Geek’s Perspective

Last night, my wife and I went to Best Buy to get her a new computer. Her netbook had had it, and she needed something that would be capable of working well or her longer than a year or so. While perusing the laptops, another customer and I both noticed and commented upon several machines that the techs had “tweaked”. What they had done, I am not sure, but I suspect that if you want the least amount of hassle, you should pick a machine that doesn’t say it was prepared by the Geek Squad. Odds are, there will be extra…

Editorials, Game Diary

Sony Keeps Showing PSP Go Users They Hate Us!

I know what you’re thinking … blah, blah, blah, keeping beating the ‘I hate Sony’ drum, yeah, sure, whatever. In fact I’ve gotten more than one comment that says almost exactly as much. But hear me out … If you look at the history of the Sony PSP, there are several games that stand out – Dissidia: Final Fantasy, God of War: Chains of Olympus, the first two Grand Theft Auto games, Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops, Jeanne d’Arc, Resistance: Retribution, Patapon, Loco Roco … and not much else. In 2010 we’ve had some solid releases such as Persona 3…

Editorials, Music Diary

Music Industry Says Sales Still Lousy, Still Blaming Piracy, Still Trying to Raise Prices and Force Album-Only Sales Model

There is a great Veggie Tales song The Pirates Who Don’t Do Anything, where they are supposed to be singing about ‘piratey stuff’ but Larry is singing about … nonsense. At the end they conclude ‘you just don’t get it’. And THAT is exactly what I was thinking when I read the news about the sorry state of album sales at NPR. Here is the video, just in case you don’t know the song: From the article: The month of August — like, basically, every month for the past 10 years — has not been kind to the music industry….

eBooks, Editorials

An Open Letter to Amazon Regarding the Kindle 3

The about this time last year I wrote a series of posts about the Amazon Kindle. One of the posts was entitled “An Open Letter to Jeff Bezos”. It discussed some of my concerns with their DRM scheme and the issues that I was having with it. I wasn’t pleased with some of the apparent limitations of the DRM, and I was totally disappointed with the customer service people I spoke with. A year later I want to write another open letter to Amazon. This one I’m going to title, “An Open Letter to Amazon Regarding the Kindle 3” Yes,…

eBooks, Editorials

Awesome Barnes & Noble Coupon Features, But Excludes Nook & eBooks!

Like millions of Barnes & Noble customers, I awoke this morning to a new B&N coupon in my email – this one touting that I can get up to 50% off at checkout! I am getting close to finishing my current book on the nook reader on my iPad, so I figured I would see what great new ebook I could add to the family library. I mean, after all, the coupon has the nook featured prominently in the upper right corner, and lists ebooks along with DVDs and music and so on along the menu. But before I start…

Editorials

Man Uses iPhone To Stop Thieves From Miles Away

Image courtesy of ABC News. The other day Gizmodo posted a story about how via an iPhone Photobomb, a user was able to track down a purse nabbing thief. ‘m not sure if the story below trumps that one but it’s cool nonetheless. Check out the video below! Vince Hunter, a Dallas resident, was on vacation hundreds of miles away in Connecticut. Vince had recently installed web cams throughout his home and using an iPhone application he was alerted via a text message that motion had been detected inside his house. He logged into the iPhone app and discovered that…

Editorials, News

All the iPad vs Vaporware Nonsense is Growing Tiring…

In a recent interview Acer’s Chairman JT Wang predicted that the iPad’s near-100% market share in the tablet space would drop to between 20 and 30 percent. Now PC World has posted an article entitled “Five Reasons to Pick an HP Tablet Over an iPad”. So I thought I would add my voice into the mix and offer up Five Reasons They Should SHUT IT! No, actually I only need ONE! Neither Acer nor HP has actually released a device and until they do there is NOTHING to talk about. Nothing! I mean, when we were at CES we saw…

Editorials

Apple’s Upcoming iTV “Changes Everything”? I Think Not

I love Apple’s products. I really do. And as more and more of my family and friends are making the move to Apple’s offerings they too are realizing how great they are. I was chatting with a good friend last night. He and his wife both swapped their Windows boxes for MacBook Pros in the last month. I asked if they could see going back to Windows and both immediately offered a “NO!” loud enough to wake their four kids. Apple’s products are great! They are a pleasure to look at. They are a pleasure to use. BUT PLEASE, enough…

Editorials

Larry and Dan Serve Up Gear Chat #15

In Gear Chat #15 Larry and Dan talk about their experience with the Magic Trackpad (one kept it, one sent it back), chat about the current Apple hardware rumors and more… Elements app for Dropbox ($4.99) Get it HERE. Fastever ($1.99) Get it HERE. TextExpander Touch ($4.99) Get it HERE. Train Conductor 2 ($.99) Get it HERE. Intro Music- Lean On Me- Sounds From the Ground Solarstone’s Chill Out Remix… (http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/chillout-a-nettwerk-escape/id258464413)

eBooks, Editorials

Geek Squad Tackles eBooks

Best Buy’s Geek Squad offers a whole litany of services, and now they’re offering to set up your ebook reader for $29.99. While some might balk at paying almost 20% more for an ebook reader+setup, I think this brilliant and could lead to more ebook marketshare. One of the big obstacles, as I have said before, is simply getting the average person comfortable with ebooks. Turning on a nook or a Kindle and downloading books over the air is relatively easy, but what about adding your own documents? Or if you have a device that supports Adobe DRM, sideloading books?…

Editorials

Android: It’s Not Just for Geeks Anymore

If you want proof that Android has matured into a solid platform, don’t look to a geek like me. I’m happy to fiddle, experiment and tweak away, but tinkering doesn’t sell phones. If it’s not easy to use with great features then all the high end specs in the world won’t matter. Want proof? Just look at the experience of my fiancée, Sarah, a new Android convert. Like I said, I like to fiddle. The first weekend I had my Droid I spent my time poking around the settings, playing with wallpapers and software, and learning every possible combination of…

Editorials

An Open Letter to Dell Regarding Their Undercooked Streak

Dear Dell, Can I ask you a question? Seriously, I promise it’ll just be between you and me. Here’s what I want to know and, please be honest with me… What were you thinking? Seriously Dell, what were you thinking releasing your reentry into the smartphone/tablet market with Android 1.6? How can you take high-end hardware, put old firmware on it and expect people to actually like this device? I mean, you put Android FRIGGIN’ 1.6 on the thing when phones are being released with Android 2.2. 1.6???? That’s just crazy! I love my iPhone, but I really want to…

Editorials, Game Diary

OMG Apple r d0m3d! Sony Shows PSP Playing Mediocre 2 Year Old Games For $10 Each!

You can see the idea – the PSP is for ‘real’ games, and the iPhone is for ‘bite-sized gaming’. Show some great looking PSP games and have some crappy simul-screen on the iPhone, and you’re good to go! Here is the main thrust of the video as noted at Engadget: Marcus reminds viewers that the iPhone is built for things like “texting your grandma and calling your girl,” while the PSP is “built for big boy games,” some of which can be had for as little as $9.99. So what is the problem? One of the main points of the…

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