Gear Bits | Gear Diary

Raspberry Pi Hacked to Allow Siri to Open Your Garage Door

What a world we live in – We now have computers that fit in our pockets, gorgeous televisions that are 1″ thick, and a dude who skydived from the edge of space. Continuing along that vein, now you can program your credit card sized computer, otherwise known as the Raspberry Pi, to open your garage door for you using Siri’s voice commands on your iPhone. Seriously. RaspberryPi.org forum user “DarkTherapy” was able to code his Raspberry Pi saying he used “SiriProxy running on the Raspberry Pi, along with wiring Pi to access the Pi’s GPIO pins and turn a relay…

Gear Bits

Doctors Look at the REAL Damage Done to the Crooks in Home Alone!

This is just a fun one – Home Alone is set at Christmas, making it a classic for the season. As everyone knows Macaulay Culkin gets left behind as his extended family takes a big trip, and takes on home invaders Daniel Stern and Joe Pesci. What starts as a tale of a kid who is overlooked and is a bit of a screw-up who can’t seem to figure out a way to fit in ends up as a story about growth and self-discovery. But as anyone who has seen it knows, Stern and Pesci take a load of abuse…

Gear Bits, Health and Fitness

‘This is One Serving’ Holiday Party Snack Edition

Remember how we posted about a cool article at the Greatist that broke down the traditional Thanksgiving meal by showing the approximate size of a single serving of our favorite dishes? Well, for many of us the entire month of December seems like one long binge-fest of appetizers, cookie-swaps, pass-a-pot luncheons, and so on. So naturally the folks at the Greatist have come up with a NEW visual guide to remind you of just how badly you are overeating at those holiday events. Here is a sample: Egg Nog Serving Size Equivalent: A three-ounce espresso cup 143 calories, 6 grams…

Editorials, Gear Bits

Parents, Check Out These 12 Myths of Protecting Your Kids Online

This holiday season millions of kids will be getting an iPhone, iPad, Android phone or tablet, Kindle Fire, Nook and so on … and maybe a few will get a traditional PC or Mac. One of the first things they will do with it is get online. Maybe just for email, but if they are under 30 probably not. For most kids getting online involves Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Tumblr and so on … but also web chat areas, Homestuck and other fandoms, and so on. Bottom line – kids are used to an always-online world … and predators are adapting…

Gear Bits

Set Top Boxes, a Gear Chat

Over the years writing for Gear Diary, we often have chats behind the scenes about all sorts of issues. Some are private and will never see the light of day, but many times what is said ends up in a long string of comments that would make a great post. This one all started by a gift I received from a friend — a brand new Roku 2 XS — which I love a lot. I posted in our back channel about it, and off we went. Joel: Received a Roku 2 XS from a friend of mine. Best thing ever. First…

Gear Bits

All Those Junk Emails Are No Accident!

(image courtesy TLC) My morning routine during November and December is pretty simple; wake up, throw on warm clothes, grapple the dog into his leash, start our walk, and use my iPhone to begin the mass deletion of every “ONE DAY SALE” email that’s hit overnight. I don’t even read most of the subject lines, I just skim and delete. Unfortunately, that’s exactly what all those retailers don’t want…and there’s more to their strategy than just gunking up our inboxes. The Wall Street Journal has an utterly fascinating article on how email marketing works, and what retailers aim to accomplish…

Gear Bits

What Makes Bluebird from American Express and Walmart Different?

????? ‘Tis The Season to Spend Money, fah lah lah lah, lah lah lah lah… ????? The other day we brought word about Bluebird, a new joint initiative between American Express and Walmart. Bluebird lets you make direct deposits, pay bills online, deposit checks with your iPhone or Android device, set up Sub-Accounts, and more. As I noted in that first post, we were invited to open an account and try out the service. This is a sponsored series of posts, but the observations and experiences I’ll be documenting in the coming weeks are mine and mine alone. In this…

Gear Bits, Outdoors

Caching in on Fun

Has anyone ever told you to go take a hike? Have you considered actually doing it? Do you enjoy scavenger hunts? If you answered yes to these questions, then geocaching is for you! Geocaching is a scavenger hunt appropriate for adults or anyone who can follow a GPS. The basic premise is that somewhere out in the woods, someone hid a treasure chest (or geocache), and in that chest is a collection of random goods including anything ranging from a heart necklace to a plastic stegosaurus. The GPS coordinates will help you get to the area, and then it’s your…

Gear Bits, News & Features

Apple Releases iOS 6.0.2 Software Update to Fix iPhone 5, iPad Mini WiFi Bug

I wrote here about the iOS 6 WiFi bug that seemed particularly bad on the iPad Mini. Well, things haven’t improved, and many folks have been struggling with WiFi on their iPad Mini and iPhone 5 since release. For me, I managed to work around everything, but then last week suddenly I couldn’t connect to my home WiFi network but the rest of my vast sea of devices were fine. A couple of calls and the iPad Mini was in a box headed back to Apple … now I wonder if all I needed was this update. For the sake…

Gear Bits

American Express and Walmart Team Up to Create Bluebird

????? ‘Tis The Season to Spend Money, fah lah lah lah, lah lah lah lah… ????? What could be better than an entire season dedicated to separating you from your money? I’m kidding but still, this is the season when money seems to flow more heavily than usual. Having a safe, convenient and secure way to spend can be a huge help. It turns out that American Express and Walmart have teamed up to offer a way to do just that – Bluebird. Bluebird lets you make direct deposits, pay bills online, deposit checks with your iPhone or Android device,…

Game Diary, Gear Bits

First Dishonored DLC Released, Dunwall City Trials

Dunwall City Trials, the first official add-on pack for Dishonored, is available for download for $4.99 on PlayStation 3 and PC, and 400 Microsoft points on Xbox 360. This Dishonored DLC includes 10 challenge maps (normal difficulty) that will test and track action, stealth, puzzle and mobility skills. Players can also unlock six expert difficulty maps. Player performance is rated on a three star system where each star earned unlocks artwork in the gallery (44 total). Players can also check out their performance on online leaderboards or view the credits of the hard-working folks who created the DLC. New trophies and…

Gear Bits

Best Buy Tech Service Gone Awry; a GM’s Customer Service Saves the Day

I came home a few weeks ago to find my almost four year old Gateway desktop rig powered completely off. I tried turning it back on, only to find out that it had decided that it didn’t want to at all. That could only mean the power supply, since it had been on and working just fine a few hours before. Annoying yes, but fortunately, not insurmountable. It took me a couple of weeks to scrounge up the dough for the new power supply, since I wanted to get it directly from Gateway; I figured that I could probably follow…

Gear Bits

Truly Dedicated Christmas Decorations!

One of my favorite childhood traditions was when my family would drive around and check out Christmas lights. Being Jewish, we didn’t decorate our house with sparkly lights and blow up Santas, but we loved looking at all the houses that did. We would go out for a family dinner, and then instead of just heading home, we would drive around and debate the best and worst displays. I was all excited to get Sarah hooked on this tradition, and she informed me at dinner tonight that a shortcut to her office had yielded the mother lode. She promised the…

Gear Bits

The LED Lighting Cost Savings ‘Myth’ Addressed

You have heard the story by now – LED lighting is the ‘next new thing’ … just like you were supposed to change to (mercury containing) compact fluorescents a few years ago, now you should be switching over to LED lighting as pricing has dropped a bit. Right? Wrong! Well … it depends, really. Why not? Well, let’s look at some of the reasons you SHOULD change to LED lighting: instant-on, bright and clear lighting, small size, up to 25 year life, and high lumen efficiency per-watt. But it turns out that all of the great promotional stuff about cost…

Gear Bits, News & Features

It Has Now Been 25 Years Since the ‘Red Square Landing’

Could you imagine if tomorrow a small single-engine plane landed on the White House lawn? Well, imagine a German teen landing on Red Square at the heart of Soviet Moscow. For those of us old enough to remember, it was stunning. Stunning that he did it … and stunning that he wasn’t shot on sight. In 1987 a West German teenager shocked the world, by flying through Soviet air defences to land a Cessna aeroplane in Red Square. He was jailed for more than a year – but a quarter of a century later, he has no regrets. Here are…

Game Diary, Gear Bits

The Raptr Report – “Most Played Games of 2012”

The video gaming network Raptr, which tracks over 10 million game users and their gameplay hours and achievements, has named their “Most Played Games of 2012” in eight categories. These winners are complimented by a detailed reports with several interesting trends, facts, and fascinations in the video game world…and the winners (except for most played game) are: Most Played New Game – Borderlands 2 (Gearbox/2K Games) Most Played Game (Released Anytime) – Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 (Treyarch/Activision) Biggest Boost from User-Generated Content – Portal 2 (Valve) Most Played Long-Awaited Sequel – Borderlands 2 (Gearbox/2K Games) No Bathroom Break…

Gear Bits

Chicago Tribune Looks Back at Amazing Gadgets That Are Now Common

Can you remember your first call on a touch-tone phone, your first fax or VCR, when your family got cable, or when you first saw one of those tiny battery-powered TV sets? I can remember all of those things and more – and today the Chicago Tribune is looking back at 25 ‘futuristic’ gadgets that are now commonplace. The lead image is of a picture phone, taken 40 years ago when it was part of a display of future technology at the Museum of Science and Industry. Earl Dell Jr., 4, was excited about the experience of using one of…

Gear Bits

Careful! That Mannequin Is Watching, Waiting, and Profiling

Admit it. You think department store mannequins are creepy. They stare ahead with their cold dead eyes, looking perfect and unnatural. No one in real life poses like that, and their dimensions often make Barbie look realistic. At least they aren’t REALLY watching you…right? Sadly, Businessweek has popped that bubble of hope: The EyeSee looks ordinary enough on the outside, with its slender polystyrene frame, blank face, and improbable poses. But inside, it’s no dummy. A camera in one eye feeds data into demographic-profiling software to determine the age, gender, and race of passersby. The year-old device is designed for…

Gear Bits

Quick Impressions of the Surface Tablet

I am going to state right up front that my time with the Surface tablet was very limited. I was at my local mall and saw a Microsoft store, so I swung by to see the demo model. However, I didn’t intend to put it through its paces, nor did I have the time or opportunity in a crowded mall on a Saturday afternoon. But this did give me one unique opportunity; I treated the Surface not like a tech blogger would, but like a regular consumer who knew nothing about it and spontaneously decided to check it out. My…

Gear Bits

IBM’s Watson Is Tech You Should Know About

If you’ve ever worried about having your job replaced by a machine, I’ve got some distressing news for you. IBM, a US tech and consulting firm, has produced a powerful artificial intelligence system as their latest creation. Known for their innovations in the world of technology, IBM has already invented a slew of modern conveniences, including the ATM, hard disk drive, and Universal Product Code (UPC). Their most recent development, an AI supercomputer nicknamed Watson, is capable of replicating a high-functioning human’s ability to understand data and provide answers to questions. The machine is allegedly able to access 90 servers…

Gear Bits, News & Features

Cool British Video Reminds Us of the Difference Between ‘Climate’ and ‘Weather’

“Another 10 feet of snow fell on Buffalo last night … derp … so much for Global Warming” – it is something most of us hear in one form or another on an annual basis, and makes us choose between (a) shaking our head and walking away, (b) hitting the person upside the head with a crowbar or (c) trying to explain the difference between ‘weather’ and ‘climate’. Fortunately we now have a fun video from The Armstrong & Miller Show out of the UK that reminds us of the difference … and the penalty for failing to heed that…