Gear Bits

iOS Hit “Subway Surfers” Launches on Android

  Need a new game to waste all your time at work? Here you go. Meet Subway Surfers, a colorful, free-to-play, action game. The iOS version, developed by Kiloo Games, has garnered over 25 million players. Now it’s time for Android users to get in on the fun. Did I mention it’s free? At its core, Subway Surfers is an infinite-runner with a graffiti-inspired look and cartoon aesthetic. The gameplay revolves around switching between three train-tracks while avoiding obstacles and collecting coins. You swipe the touch screen to jump, roll, and switch between tracks. It might sound boring, but like…


New iPhone? It Deserves a Bodyguardz

If you got a new iPhone today you know it is Apple’s best iPhone ever. you also know you are going to take it with you everywhere you go. That means it needs, and deserves, good protection. One of our favorite ways to protect iPhone (and laptops. iPads and Kindles and… you get the idea) come from Bodyguardz. Judie and I love their Armor series, and their screen protectors are pretty great too. Better still, starting in October they will be offering tempered glass protectors. The company is already shipping a number of options for iPhone 5 protection. You can…


Cygnett WorkMate iPhone 5 Drop Test Review

When I met with Cygnett last night, the reps kept looking at their phones. Why? Because they were waiting for a colleague in Australia to shoot them a video of the first Cygnett iPhone 5 case drop test. They were also waiting to see a video of the first broken iPhone 5. You see, the iPhone 5 was already available in Australia, and they were shooting a drop test with a naked iPhone 5 and then again with one wrapped in the Cygnett WorkMate iPhone 5 case. They unpacked the first iPhone 5. Held it high… And let it go….


Love Music? Sony’s BDV-E390 Blu-ray Disc Home Theater System with WiFi is Worth Checking Out

I love my speaker docks and enjoy using them. I love (LOVE) using my Sonos system too. But while the docks give awesome portability they often offer limited audio quality volume. And while the Sonos system give big sound, with each room costing a minimum of $299, it is a pricey proposition. Sony’s BDV-E390 Blu-ray Disc Home Theater System with WiFi, on the other hand, offers big sound at an amazingly low price. The system offers five speakers, one subwoofer and one 3D disc player. The specs look like this… 1000W(167Wx5+165W)5.1ch 3D Blu-ray Disc™ Theater System Built-in Wi-Fi® to stream movies,…


Gear Diary’s Grumpy Old Man on Why He’s Getting the iPhone 5

Gear Diary’s own “Grumpy Old Man” (aka Mark Hager, aka my awesome father-in-law) is getting an iPhone 5. Thing is, Mark’s daughter (my wife Elana) and wife (Debbie) are both fine with the iPhone 4S, and THEY are far more likely to take advantage of the speed the iPhone 5 will offer. So why is Mark (a troglodyte) getting the iPhone 5? I ambushed him while he was grilling, and I asked…


“Walk this Way” in a Run Tee MC T-Shirt

A number of (many) years ago I needed to create a new email address. I initially thought about using rabbidanielmcohen@ but that seemed a bit long. At the time one of my “kids” (now well into her college career) had taken to calling me “Rabs”. It was kinda cute, and I ended up using the email address of rabbidmc@. It was some time before the first person told me that, at first, they thought my email address was rundmc but by that time too many people had, and were using, the address. It stuck. I guess that’s why an email…


Pocket Informant Saves My Day

Ever have just “one of those weeks”? I have been having one. Between several work commitments, service appointments at my home, and some family and friend obligations, it has been a week of juggling appointments and rearranging schedules. Unfortunately, this week also highlighted my biggest complaint about iOS: iCal. I can’t stand that my only options are list, day and month. The lack of integration with tasks is also a pain. A busy schedule only highlighted these limitations, and made me realize it was time to bite the bullet and find a better option. Luckily for me, the good folks…


Emergency Cell-Phone Lasts 10 Hours On A Single ‘AA’ Battery

Picture yourself stranded alone during a hurricane. The rain pelts the windows with oppressive vigor. A howling wind lifts lawn chairs off the patio. You reach into your pocket and grab your smart-phone. You’ve never been more desperate to check your twitter feed, but the battery’s already down to 5%. Four minutes later, that one tough level of Angry Birds: Space finally kills the phone. Out of nowhere, an enormous tree branch crashes through the living room window. You try to call for help, but you left your charger in the hotel room back in Atlanta. What’s the solution? XPAL…


Buying Local Matters, and Not Only When Talking About Food

There is a growing movement within “foodie circles” to buy  locally grown food. After all, food grown nearby not only supports small, local farms but, since it doesn’t require transporting it significant distances, it adds less pollutants into the environment too. But just as there is a benefit to buying locally when it comes to food, so too is there a case to be made for patronizing local businesses. Think about it, if local residents don’t patronize a business downtown who will? I recently purchased a new radio (I will be reviewing it soon), and it led me to think about my shopping…


Please Make it STOP! Trailer for the ‘Official Sequel’ to ‘A Christmas Story’

For ages now, a tradition in our family has been watching our DVD (and VHS before that) of ‘A Christmas Story’, the beloved 1983 story of Ralphie Parker based on semi-fictional recollections from Jean Shepard of his youth. It is one of those ‘once in a lifetime’ movies that was not much of a hit at theaters but gained tremendously over time – much like the original (I say, only) ‘Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory’. While I am not one to say something is going to ‘ruin my memories’, or that a crappy sequel or remake can destroy my…


For John Cage’s Centenary, Enjoy the ‘Prepared Piano’ App

If you have heard of John Cage, chances are it is in reference to either his piece “4’33” or his “Sonatas and Interludes for Prepared Piano“. The CD recording of Prepared Piano I have is an out of print Denon release featuring Yuji Takahashi, but the Berman version is excellent as well. The brilliant “4?33?” speaks directly to the way Cage saw music in the world – the piece is for any instrument and is based on the I Ching and the concept of chance. The instrumentalist is not to play the instrument during the performance. I saw it performed…


Motorola Adds Three New Razr Smartphones on Verizon!

Yesterday was a smartphone lovers delight, to be sure. Piling on earlier announcements from other companies, Motorola had an event where they announced three cool looking new smartphones to add to their wildly popular Razr line-up. They updated the Droid Razr with Here are the basics: • DROID RAZR M: An impossibly compact smartphone that puts the world in the palm of your hand. A 4.3 inch edge-to-edge Super AMOLED Advanced offers 40 percent more screen space then the leading competitor. • DROID RAZR HD: This ultra-thin device shows you everything in stunning HD detail that beats the competition. Movies,…


Can You Name All 9 Supreme Court Justices? Welcome to the 1%!

Looking at the image above is a rather depressing statement of the reality of our lack of knowledge of our own political systems. Every day on Facebook, Twitter and more you see people all fired up about ‘ObamaCare’, ‘legitimate rape’, or whatever the hot buzzword of the day happens to be. Yet how many of these people know much of anything about the political systems they rant and rave about? How many can name the Vice President? Our election process? The number of Senators? The names of your own Senators and Representative – and those going to your state assembly…


Despite Mega-Blockbusters, 2012 is Worst Movie Summer in Two Decades!

If you think in numbers like I do, you might have looked at the movies of this summer, including the record-smashing ‘The Avengers’ and mega-blockbuster ‘The Dark Knight Rises’ and assumed that the high numbers from those and other popular movies such as ‘The Amazing Spiderman’ and ‘Brave’ would be enough to produce a highly successful summer. You would be wrong. According to the Hollywood Reporter: The number of people going to the movies dipped noticeably in North America this summer, putting increased pressure on the final four months of 2012 to bolster the bottom line. According to preliminary estimates,…


Get Your Marathon Time Estimated by Paul Ryan!

Every election cycle contains mis-statements and gaffes and other things that would be trivial for most folks … but in a campaign become serious fodder for one side and spin-control for the other. Recently we had one from Republican VP candidate Paul Ryan, who mis-spoke about his marathon time. Here is a bit from RunnersWorld: Ryan had said in a radio interview last week that his personal best was “Under three, high twos. I had a two hour and fifty-something.” RunnersWorld hooked into the comment because completing so quickly would require running sub-7 minute miles for 26.2 miles – and…


Amazon Deal with Epix Brings Thor, Iron Man 2 and More to Prime Instant Videos!

As a member of Amazon Prime, I absolutely love the Prime Instant Video collection, finding it has a great selection that just keeps growing and growing in terms of the depth and breadth of movie and TV offerings. But there is always room for more – so I was thrilled this morning to hit the Amazon home page and see not one but TWO new deals: a movie deal with Epix and a TV deal with NBC Universal. From the Amazon home page, here is what they say about Epix: Great news for Amazon Prime members—we’ve just signed two big…


EGO Mobile Hybrid Series USB Case Review

This falls under the category of “Cool ideas I wish I had had” ego mobile’s Hybrid Series USB Case for iPhone 4S (they have them for other phones too!) combines a minimalist iPhone case with a 4, 8 or 16GB USB flash drive. That’s a great combination, especially if you have a storage-challenged MacBook air! As the company explains, the case is “world’s first iPhone 4/4S case with removable USB drive stores 4GB, 8GB or 16GB of music, photos and more”. The USB drive “slides seamlessly into the back of the case”. This makes for a nice neat package. In…



Are You Ready for ‘Morning After’ Wedding Photos?

I am probably going to come off very out of touch and old-fashioned here, but at least I have a good reason: I have been married for over 20 years, and when we were married having a videographer wasn’t all that common. Cell phones were still uncommon, and those bricks were only used for … phone calls; there were no camera phones, or even digital cameras for that matter. And photography was mostly traditional pre-wedding, wedding and reception stuff. Our albums were filled in by friends and family who took shots over the weekend and at some of the after-parties….


George Lucas and Seth Green Debut New “Star Wars” Cartoon

Through the Star Wars movies and Clone Wars cartoons, we got to know the main and side characters through their major exploits across the galaxy. But what about “what the daily life is like in a galaxy far, far away”? Well, now producers George Lucas and Seth Green are going to let us see that, in the form of a new cartoon series called ‘Star Wars Detours’. Here is what their YouTube description for the trailer had to say: Star Wars Detours™ is an animated comedy that explores what daily life is like in a galaxy far, far away. There…


Eight Chocolate Planets for the Discriminating Palate

I’m still mourning the loss of Pluto, but you’ll find the other eight planets (including the sun) in this luxury chocolate gift box … Chocolate can taste all of the solar system eight planets, planet is chocolate set. Planets lined up in a row in the package that the image of the universe, like a real solar system space. You can be happy as a gift, is a popular set. “Kaiseki chocolate solar system”?(pictured above) , set of 9 (× 9 individual species 1) ¥ 3,619 (¥ 3,800) If $46 seems a bit steep, then you can opt for the…