Gear Bits

Americans Love Their Half Marathons!

It is no secret that I like running, and apparently, I am not alone! Running in the USA has looked at half marathon statistics for 2011, and the results are very interesting. Despite record levels of obesity in America, we are also seeing a push towards more fitness — just look at the popularity of apps and gadgets that track how far you walk, run or bike, or how many exercise themed apps are out there! And apparently, the half-marathon is the most popular distance! On the one hand, I am not surprised. Halfs are my favorite race distance too….

Gear Bits

I Don’t Like Money-Grubbing Accessories, the Ham Radio Edition

I simply cannot stand money-grubbing accessories. What is more money-grubbing than the weird connector on my handheld radio? The above pic is of the headset connector for my Yaesu VX-7R. This radio is old but they still make it. One unique thing about it is that it is submersible. Yaesu had to use a different connector to keep the radio watertight. They could have used something more standard, but they did not. Only Yaesu makes headsets for this radio. What brought on my rant? I forgot my headset at home this morning.

Gear Bits, News & Features

SAS Brings Hardcore Statstical Graphing to the iPad with JMP Graph Builder

If you ask a statistician with an iPad what app they would love, chances are you would hear ‘a mobile version of R, Minitab or JMP’. We know the folks at R have wanted to do so, but their command-driven interface and GNU license are at odds with Apple policy. And while there is nothing forthcoming from Minitab (who don’t even have a Mac version), today we got a new and powerful tool for interactive data analysis on the iPad – JMP Graph Builder. Here is the basic description: Analysis on the go. Graphs at your fingertips. JMP Graph Builder…

Gear Bits, News & Features

Nyan Cat Gets an ‘Adventure’ for Its First Birthday

Hard to believe that the meme that is Nyan Cat is only one year old today! It is a sign of the fast-moving times that these things go from nothing to everywhere to nothing again so quickly! Here are the basics from Wikipedia: Nyan Cat is the name of a YouTube video uploaded in April 2011, which became an Internet meme. The video merged a Japanese pop song with an animated cartoon cat with the body of a Pop-Tart, flying through space, and leaving a rainbow trail behind it. The video ranked at number 5 on the list of most…

Gear Bits

The Cure for a Bad Day

I had a bad day today. Nothing terrible, but it started with a dog that popped out of nowhere to harass me during my run, continued with me nearly falling over trying to avoid the dog, followed up with severe traffic on my way to work, and of course, computer problems in the office. Plus my ankle is a bit sore from the dog incident. Poor Sarah has gotten the bulk of my complaints about today, and when I got home from work she presented me with this list from Buzzfeed, “Thirteen Simple Steps To Get You Through A Rough…

Gear Bits

Amateur Radio Is Both a Hobby and a Service

I am almost embarrassed that I had not mentioned this earlier, but there is a hobby that I have been involved with in some form or another for almost 20 years — Amateur Radio. Amateur Radio which is otherwise known as ‘ham radio’ has been around since before most of us were born. It has roots in the 19th century; experimentation with radio started in 1888 with the likes of Heinrich Rudolf Hertz, Nikola Tesla and Guglielmo Marconi. I first learned of this wonderful and rewarding hobby from my grandfather, who originally held the very same call sign I have today, W3RAZ. The whole time I knew my…

Gear Bits

Louis Vuitton’s 13″ Laptop Sleeve Makes Me Very Glad That I Have an 11″ Laptop

… because otherwise I might be tempted to start saving for one. I stumbled across this monogram beauty while checking out the Louis Vuitton site today. Measuring 13.78 wide x 10.24″ tall x 1.57″ thick, it would be just the thing to carry a 13″ MacBook Pro in style. Luckily, my 11″ MacBook Air would positively rattle around inside, so I can’t even remotely be tempted by the golden brass double zipper closure, the cushy foam-lined and microfiber covered interior, or that it is also available in classic Damier (for a wee bit more). It also doesn’t matter to me…

Gear Bits

An Argument for Braces, If You Still Aren’t Convinced

I know plenty of people whose parents opted not to get them braces when they were younger; some of these people could care less about whether a few of their teeth are bunched up a bit or not, but there are a few who are genuinely embarrassed by their smiles. The discussion of braces comes up every now and then, and one of the arguments against getting them has been that it would be silly to wear braces as an adult. After seeing this video, my comeback will now and forevermore be that if your smile bothers you and you…

Editorials, Gear Bits

Google, This Is Why You FAIL

This morning I got excited, at first. I saw on my phone and my tablet that Temple Run has had an update. The game has been less than stable on all of my devices so I was anxious to get the update to see if it was fixed. So I go to the Google Play Store to download it and get an error 927. Tried multiple times and got both error 927 and 941. Cleared data on the Google Play store, force stopped the app, rebooted and tried multiple things and was still unable to download the game. I am…

Gear Bits

Why Do We Lose Power So Easily?

Ever lose power when the sky is blue? That happened to me this week at both my place of work and my home. While at home the answer was not clear, at work it was totally apparent. There is a pole in front of our building that has not once, not twice but at least 3 times since we moved in the building had at least one of the three wires break. For those who don’t know how power works in your home or business, it typically has 2 or 3 phases. Each phase requires a wire. In the case…

Gear Bits

Revisiting the Original iPhone

(Original iPhone on the left, 4S on the right) I was doing some spring cleaning this weekend and came across a cool find — the original iPhone! I stood in line the day it came out and it was such a welcome change from my Treo 650! I remember being completely mesmerized by the screen and style at the time. Now, just a few short years later I was using its great-great grandchild and here was the original, the first, the groundbreaker. Of course, I had to charge it up and compare to my 4S! (original left, 4S right) What follows…

Gear Bits

Is This Revenge for “Frogger”?

It has been an animal-themed week at Gear Diary! First ferrets, then giant bunnies, now a killer frog… Want to know more about the angry frog? Just check out the video below! And does anyone know what game the frog was “playing”?

Gear Bits

The Bunny Rabbit of Your Nightmares

My coworker very excitedly called me to her desk today to show me pictures of a giant rabbit she saw in a pet store (and nearly purchased!) Apparently they are called “Flemish Giants” and can grow to be up to 50lbs! According to Wikipedia: Flemish Giants can be docile and tolerant of handling; frequent interaction with humans is a requirement for this to occur. Flemish Giants, like all rabbits, can become fearful, and sometimes violent, if handled incorrectly or irresponsibly. Their larger frame requires special attention paid to the spine alignment when handling a Flemish Giant, or any rabbit for…

eBooks, Gear Bits

Pottermore Store Now Open, Harry Potter eBooks on ‘Sale’!

In what is a huge surprise (as it isn’t yet April), the Pottermore Store opened up today to the public including ebook versions of all seven Harry Potter books. As noted at the WSJ, the ebooks will spread to the Kindle, Nook, Sony and Google Play shops (but not Apple): By selling the e-books on her own site, Ms. Rowling will keep most of the revenue, rather than sharing much of it with her publishers as is usually the case. Several major retailers will have the opportunity to participate. Mr. Redmayne said that Harry Potter fans will be able to…

Gear Bits

The Hunger Games, Hit or Hype?

image courtesy THG – The Hunger Games Blog at http://thg-thehungergames.blogspot.com/ It seems that everywhere you turn people are talking about the release of the feature film The Hunger Games this week. Here at Gear Diary, we are the same way and we have been burning up the wires talking about it too! Some have read the books, some not. Some think it’s all hype, some not. In the end, we decided to share with you our thoughts going into the release of this high-profile film! Read on…

Gear Bits, Music Diary, News & Features

Korg Introduces New microKEY Controllers

Last week at the Musikmesse fair in Frankfurt Germany (the largest music fair in the world) there were a number of announcements of cool technology. While many things were already shown at NAMM, there are a few things I will highlight. The first is that Korg has expanded the microKEY series of USB-powered MIDI controllers with two new models (25-key and 61-key in addition to the 37-key) and an expansion to the software suite included with the top-end model. Here are some details: Compact USB Powered MIDI Controllers For added flexibility and control, the microKEY 37- and 61-key models both…

Game Diary, Gear Bits

Draw Something Is an Evil Time-Waster That I Can’t Stop Playing

You would think that with a name like DrawSomething, you would need artistic talent to play. But that is simply not so. All you need to get addicted to this evil, rotten game is one friend who will play you, a sense of humor, and a bit of patience. I first found out about this game last week while I was getting my nails done. Tracy, my nail tech, said she was playing and was addicted. I’d never heard of it, so I downloaded the free version and said I would check it out later. I put it off for a…

Gear Bits

The Hunger Games Gear Summary

The Hunger Games fan can find plenty of related gear including a special cookbook, games, watch, bags, water bottles, shirts, posters, knee socks, nail polish, phone skins, in-ear buds, pins, bracelets, trivia, music and mockingjay mp3 download.

Gear Bits, Music Diary

Spin Lists the 30 Most Hated Bands!

Everyone has a list of bands or artists they find over-rated or annoying … but there are also a few that transcend that to be truly HATED. There are a number of reasons – pulling away someone from another group, too much media attention, getting awards or album sales by ripping off others, and countless others. Spin magazine compiled a list of hated bands, and you can head here to check it all out. But you might not want to … because they have spread it out with only TWO bands per page! That’s right – they spread 30 bands…

Gear Bits, News & Features

Adult TV Ads Poke Fun at Adult Movie Tropes!

You don’t even have to be a fan of adult movies to know about some of the clichéd plots – a pizza delivery guy comes to the door, and a beautiful woman answers and the next thing you know … well … Anyway, over at AdWeek they have a look at commercials made for the Canadian Adult station ‘Amour’. The spots cannot (obviously) use X-rated content, but still need to lure customers to check out the station. Here is the run-down: Doing ads for adult-television networks—not an easy job. You can’t use the channel’s content, for one thing. Yet Amour,…

Gear Bits

A Week with the iPad 3

The iPad 3 came out a week ago. A quick rundown of iPad users on the site shows that all four editors have the new iPad, and Chris Gavula does too. We have no doubt there will be a few more grabbing one in the weeks to come. Why? Because even though the improvements to the iPad are perhaps technically incremental, we’ve found that they add up to a device which has no equal. Not yet, anyway. Here’s why … Dan: I was worried that the iPad 3 would be too heavy and thick, but I’m not finding that to be the…

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