Gear Bits | Gear Diary

2012 Was the Year YouTube Went Professional

In previous years the ‘top 10’ lists of most viewed YouTube clips would always contain amateur videos such as ‘Charli Bit My Finger’, cat videos, and so on … but this past year saw YouTube move fully to a professional video channel, reflecting the mainstream adoption of internet video as a primary source of entertainment. As kids have known for years, it is often easier to simply grab a YouTube video for a song you want to hear than fiddle around on iTunes, Spotify or Slacker. As noted here, “Almost everything on the list this year was created by professional…

Events, Gear Bits

Gear Diary’s CES 2013 Taxi Confessions Part 1

My first year at CES was 2009. The economy was in the tank and, as a result, the event was relatively small and scaled back. Most of the action took place at the Las Vegas Convention Center with a few scattered meetings in a handful of hotel suites. Not so this year. While the Convention Center is hopping CES has also taken over the Convention Center next to the Mandalay Bay and more meetings that ever are taking place in hotel suites. As a result Judie and I are spending more time in taxis than ever. Our first cab ride…

Gear Bits

A Quick Update on Our Experience Using Bluebird from American Express

We are in the throes of CES madness and running from meeting to meeting but I did want to take a few minutes to post a quick update on my Bluebird experience. You might recall it started smoothly enough. I opened an account and deposited $100 in cash at my local Walmart. All went smoothly. When I went to link my bank account to my Bluebird account I ran into a hiccup and it took three days for the process to come to fruition and the accounts be linked. It was no deal for me but for someone who was…

Gear Bits, News & Features

Great Performances Looks at the Jewish Heritage of Musicals on Broadway

My wife got me tickets to see Spamalot last year, and I remember Sir Robin singing “In any great adventure, if you don’t want to lose…you won’t succeed on Broadway if you don’t have any Jews.” While I found the song a bit ponderous and over-long, it was pointed and dead on. At first it might seem like an anti-Semitic comment, but there is a huge difference between someone decrying ‘Jewish control’ or ‘Black dominance’ as some threat to Christian whites (see election 2012, Fox News, etc) … and recognizing the cultural contributions of ethnic, racial or religious groups. This…

Gear Bits

Turn Off Your Phone When You Go to the Movies, Seriously

In this new year, one of the best resolutions you can make is to be more aware of your cell phone usage. I don’t mean be aware of how much data you use. No, I mean don’t be cellphone rude. I’ve written, and preached about my struggle to set better boundaries with my cell phone. It is an uphill battle for me (as Elana will readily affirm), but I am trying. One thing is for sure — when I go to the movies I not only put my phone away, but I turn it off. You should too. I’m reminded…

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…

Gear Bits, News & Features

Goodbye Spin Magazine After 27 Years

Last summer, after BuzzMedia bought Spin Magazine, it announced it was cancelling the November / December issue as part of a ‘brand evaluation’. Well … over the holidays we learned that print was NOT in fact part of the ‘moving forward’ plan, and the magazine has been killed off in favor of focusing on online efforts. Interestingly, as shown at the top, the magazine is giving out Car & Driver magazine as a replacement for current subscribers. I was intrigued as to why we were suddenly getting Car & Driver again (I had gotten a free subscription in the past that…

Gear Bits, Music Diary

After More than a Billion Views, an Infographic Looks at Gangnam Style’s Social Reach

By now pretty much everyone with an internet connection has seen or heard or heard about the Gangnam Style video by the South Korean ‘K-Pop’ artist Psy. The massive success not just on YouTube but also on Facebook and Twitter has meant that it has been analyzed to death. But a guest post at HypeBot and an associated Infographic lend a lot of intriguing insights into how we gather and share this type of information. The most intriguing part for me is that in spite of being a YouTube video, YouTube had the LOWEST engagement of any social site, with…

Gear Bits

Bluebird by American Express, a Hiccup

We are in the midst of a series of posts that walk through the process of creating an account with Bluebird, a joint venture between American Express and Walmart, and subsequently using the self-described “Checking and Debit Alternative”. Initially I planned to highlight the process of creating a number of sub accounts that work with my main account and allow family and friends I select to access the available funds in this post. For example, such a joint account could be quite helpful as we are heading to CES this weekend. It would allow all of us to access the…

Gear Bits

How to Keep Your New Gear Looking Great

It’s 2013, and the year is off to a running start. No doubt someone in your home received some new gear over the holidays. And regardless of the brand all the gadgets have one thing in common — they need to be protected. This is especially so in 2013, when mobility is the name of the game. Think about it, a desktop computer that sits at home or in your office runs minimal risk of physical damage unless a natural disaster or a disastrous pet come into the picture. A laptop however, something that is specifically designed to be carried and…

Gear Bits

Pack for a Purpose when You Travel in 2013

This may look like bags of garbage but it is anything but that. No, this collection of bags is filled with dozens upon dozens of pounds of medical and school supplies. We brought these items with us when I led a mission to Cuba in October. Each of us was required to bring 15 pounds of “aid goods” as the means of getting into Cuba. My community being who they are, however, ended up bringing far more than that. All of the items were shared with organizations that help seniors and kids alike. It was a great way to turn…

Gear Bits

Random Cool Video – Star Trek The Next Generation Season 2 Gag Reel

At some point over the holiday break I was sent a link to this gag reel … which also served as a reminder of how much things have changed, as I got a completely blank expression from my kids when I used the term ‘gag reel’. So let me back up. A ‘gag’ is a joke or other humorous moment, whether intentional or unintentional. A ‘reel’ is one of those tape terms where you spool the ‘film’. Way back when, when shows were recorded on film, mistakes had to be ‘cut’ from the tape. Sometimes they would end up ‘on…

Gear Bits

Sick in Bed? It’s FaceTime to the Rescue!

I have the flu. It’s quite inconvenient, especially since we are trying really, really hard to keep Sarah from catching it. As a result, I am staying in a different room on another floor, plus both of us have been armed with Lysol every time we enter a common area. The real bummer is not being able to hang out together. But this is temporary, and we’re working around it — by using FaceTime! It’s a bit silly, but it makes both of us feel less lonely, and it beats facing each other in a common area and setting off…

Gear Bits

Adding Money to Your Bluebird Account Directly from Your Bank Account

This is the next in our series of sponsored posts about Bluebird, the new joint venture between Walmart and American Express. Bluebird is a system that “allows you to have a card with minimal or no transaction fees coupled with the convenience of a debit card backed by all of the protection offered by American Express”. The first post was a brief overview. The second delved more deeply into the features. The most recent walked through the process of adding money to a Bluebird account using cash at a local Walmart. In this post we’ll walk through the process of…

Gear Bits

Xbox 360 Thoughts from an Open Source Guy

I know! I know! How could I, an Open Source guy, send my money to Microsoft by purchasing an Xbox? Well, when my family is concerned, I need to consider them when purchasing tech. My son wanted an Xbox, so Santa got him one this year — no matter what Dad thinks. So, here are my thoughts about the Xbox system as a whole, from the perspective of an open source guy. Updates Updates Updates I swear my son was about ready to bust when it took HOURS to get the updates installed. It’s not that there were so many,…

Gear Bits

Keep Your Data Safe in 2013 with Dropbox’s Packrat Feature

From now until 2013, we’re taking a look at some New Year’s Resolutions and Gear Diary ways to help keep them. New Year Resolution: Protect Your Data in 2013 This is one of those lessons you learn, forget, and then learn again once a data-loss disaster strikes. Here’s my story, and why DropBox’s PackRat feature is my new best friend. I have spent the last year on and off creating an interactive iBook that can be used by all my Bar Mitzvah students to help them study toward becoming a Bar or Bat Mitzvah. The iBook has the prayers the…

Gear Bits

Content is Everything – My Mom’s Thoughts on Netflix

As I have been in Knoxville, TN visiting my folks this holiday season, I have had the opportunity to show my parents Netflix on a TV. I have not one, but two devices with me that can stream Netflix to a TV. My Roku 2XS and my son’s new Xbox. One afternoon I was flipping through the Netflix app on the Xbox looking for something to watch, and lo and behold my Mom said one thing: How can they expect me to pay for this when everything is so old? Boom. There’s the problem. Every streaming service I showed her…

Crowdfunding, Gear Bits

Whooz? Are a Huge Hit at My House

On Christmas morning, as packages from under the tree were divided into piles and then opened, I got what would turn out to be one of my biggest Christmas surprises: the best gift was something I had stuck into the girls’ new Jon Hart bags, almost as an afterthought — Whooz iPhone and iPad Character Sets! Kev’s youngest daughter stopped everything to start installing a set on her iPad charger, and Kev’s oldest daughter was right there with her. Let me back up for just a moment. Everyone in my house has an iPhone or an iPad (or both), and…

Gear Bits

Bluebird Lets You Add Cash to Your Account at Any Walmart

Last week we begin a series of review posts regarding the new joint venture between Walmart and American Express. Bluebird is a system that allows you to have a card with minimal or no transaction fees coupled with the convenience of a debit card backed by all of the protection offered by American Express. The first post was a brief overview of the bluebird system. (Read the post.) The second post went a bit more deeply into the features Bluebird offers and the specifics that make this card unique. (Read the post.) In this third sponsored post, we’ll begin looking…

Gear Bits

Record Numbers of Devices Activated on Christmas, iPad and Amazon Tablets Big Winners

It is not terribly surprising that oodles of new devices were opened up and activated on Christmas morning – in fact, we had three new iPhone 5 activations in our house alone! The site Flurry.com tracks and estimates the daily activations of iOS and Android devices, and is reporting that more than 17 million activations took place on December 25th alone. As it is, 4 million combined smartphones and tablets is a HUGE number – and that is happening every day! Now think that on Christmas there were more than 4 TIMES that many activations … insane! But wait –…

Gear Bits

Monitor2Go and iPad 3, a Gear Diary Video Look

A year and a half ago, I had the opportunity to review an incredibly useful mobile device that quickly and easily doubles your screen real-estate. The FieldMonitorPro is a large screen that, right out of the box, extends your computer to give you additional screen space or allows someone/s to look at your computer screen without having to crowd in next to you. It is terrific for on-the-go demonstrations. While reviewing the device, I was covering an Apple keynote and found my MacBook air to be too small for watching the video, checking feeds, and writing the post. I pulled…