Gear Bits

The New America: Jazz Legend Has Payment Blocked Because His Name Sounds ‘Muslim-y’

The name Ahmad Jamal has popped up here a couple of times. He was playing at the Newport Jazz Festival last August which was broadcast live via webcast, and then I also mentioned his Live at Pershing recording as one of few records I remember from my dad’s music collection (not that I remember him ever playing it). Ahmad Jamal was born Frederick Russell Jones in 1930, and changed his name in 1952 when he converted to the Islamic religion. His recordings have been extremely influential both inside and outside of Jazz. His most famous and direct influence was on…

Gear Bits

I Reviewed It, and My Father-In-Law Still Uses It: The Pro-Clip Multi-Stand for iPad 1

My Father-in-law Mark is a great guy, a good friend and an even better sport. 🙂 He is also a big-time iPad-user and loves the first generation iPad we picked up for him prior to his trip to China last year. (Actually it is his second iPad. What happened to the first one? It is a long, sad story for another time.) A few months ago I swapped out the case he was using for the Pro-Clip Multi-Stand I had reviewed some time ago. Here’s the conclusion from my review: What I Like: It’s made from high quality plastic that you…

Gear Bits

Toshiba Thrive Tablet Gets a “Special” Sneak Peek Unboxing via YouTube

Image courtesy of Gizmodo If you’ve seen one unboxing video, then you’ve seen well….Unboxing videos are a great first look at a device but Toshiba is stepping it up with their latest Sneak Peek. I saw this first on my twitter timeline and after a few dozen RT’s I figured it was worth a look. The video steps out of the normal boundaries of unboxing and adds some serious creativity. Even though The actual device is not even shown in the video, it’s definitely worth two minutes of your life. The Thrive is Toshiba’s first Android tablet, and it has a…

Gear Bits, News & Features

Random Funny Video: Conan on Final Cut Pro X

Loving the new version of Final Cut Pro? Conan and his team do too! NOT! Here’s a look at them showing some love to Apple’s newest editing software. http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=sRzLP0FJ82I Via Cult of Mac

Gear Bits, Music Diary

Music Diary Songs of Note: R.I.P. Clarence Clemons, aka ‘The Big Man’ With Bruce Springsteen

Last week saxophonist Clarence Clemons suffered a severe stroke, and over the weekend he succumbed to the effects. He was 69 years old. Most famous as the iconic sideman for Bruce Springsteen, Clemons was known as ‘The Big Man’ for his towering stage presence as well as his physical attributes. Clemons was a life-long powerhouse in a band known for explosive live performances – Springsteen was an event truly worth seeing for the quality of the musical experience, in no small part due to Clemons. Bruce Springsteen had much to say on his web site, including: “Clarence lived a wonderful…

Gear Bits, Music Diary

Music Diary Notes: Relive Monterey Pop With Wolfgang’s Vault!

Hard to believe but the Monterey Pop festival – which was the first huge gathering of the psychedelic counter-culture of the late 1960’s and featured artists such as Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix and The Who – happened 44 years ago this weekend! To help celebrate, Wolfgang’s Vault has opened up their great collection of memorabilia! Here is the description: Two years before Woodstock, this three day celebration embodied the themes of the new counter-culture and became the template for all future music festivals. The event gave Jimi Hendrix and the Who their first major US appearances, and the world its…

Gear Bits

And You Thought Veggie Burgers Were Weird…

I’m a huge fan of the television show “True Blood”. The show is set in a world like ours, except the Japanese have perfected artificial blood, which has prompted vampires to “come out of the coffin”. In real life, though, the Japanese haven’t invented fake blood; they’ve turned poop into food! No, this is not a joke. According to Fox News: Japanese scientist Mitsuyuki Ikeda from the Okayama Laboratory certainly doesn’t believe in human waste. He thinks that’s perfectly good protein you’re sending out to sea, and he’s found a way to extract it, mix it with steak sauce and create…

Gear Bits

Meet Winston Kemp, Lightning Strike Survivor and Lichtenberg Figure Owner

“What does your boyfriend do when you go out of town? Well, [mine] gets struck by lightning.” – Daphne Cheek We’ve all heard stories about people getting struck by lightning — usually as some sort of cautionary tale, but how many of us have ever seen the effects of lightning on a human? The Lichtenberg Figures it can leave? Winston Kemp, a 24-year-old electrician, has had first-hand experience, and now he also has a unique and possibly permanent bit of body art — a Lichtenberg Figure — to go along with it. As Winston tells it … I went outside…

Gear Bits

Final ‘Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part Two’ Trailer is Full of Awesome!

It seems like my kids have grown up with Harry Potter, and therefore we all share a fondness for the books and films. When they were little I read the first few books aloud using character voices. By the time the last couple arrived they could read them just fine but still had me read them aloud … which meant the world to me (though my wife wished she made the ‘approved reader’ list). We have also seen all seven films in theaters, and most of them a few times at home as well – so we are very much…

Gear Bits

Random Cool Stuff: Raiders of the Lost Ark Turns 30!

Just sayin’ – there is no ‘Indiana Jones and the …’ prefix to MY Raiders of the Lost Ark! Anyway, this past weekend Raiders of the Lost Ark turned 30 years old. Released on June 12, 1981 the film was an enormous success and an instant classic. It cemented the legacies of George Lucas and Steven Spielberg, as well as screenwriter Lawrence Kasden who had just done The Empire Strikes Back. Here is the backstory of the production according to TheRaider.net: The swashbuckling archaeologist idea first came to George Lucas. He created the Indiana Jones action hero inspired by the…

Gear Bits, Music Diary

Music Diary Notes: I <3 iTunes in the Cloud

The other day I wrote about the conundrum I was having about the pricing versus feature comparison of iTunes compared to the Amazon MP3 store. I mentioned Pat Metheny’s ‘What’s It All About’ recording, which came out this morning. Here were my thoughts: But next week the new Pat Metheny recording comes out, and that has the exact same issue, but worse! iTunes has the pre-order set at $11.99 and Amazon has it at $10.49 (~12.5% difference). The iTunes has an added bonus track not found on the Amazon listing, but the Amazon one is much more likely to go…

Gear Bits, News & Features

Mac App Quick Look: unDock Brings Fast Drive unDocking for Mac

One of the things that bugs me about Mac OS X is the need to physically undock a drive before removing it. I understand the reasons, but it doesn’t make it less annoying and it does not mean I don’t forget to do so sometimes. (And each time I forget I receive the “you forgot to undock the drive you shmuck, and it can do damage!” warning.) unDock doesn’t make drive undocking automatic, but it does make it possible to remove all drives at once. As the app’s description explains, Time machine is wonderful, but it makes a mobile Mac…

Editorials, Gear Bits

“The iPod touch Effect”, or Why RIM Could Have Been a Contender… but Isn’t: Part 2

Last week I wrote a post entitled “The iPod touch Effect”, or Why RIM Could Have Been a Contender… but Isn’t. In it I argued that even it Apple does not currently own the market they are positioned well for the long-term thanks to a little device known as the iPod touch. The Touch, I said, is now used by a huge number of kids who do not yet have a cell phone. Their love of the Touch, not to mention their having invested in apps and ringing up game scores, makes it more likely that they will go for…

Gear Bits

Amazon Free App Reminder Does What It Says – Amazon Android App Store

Ever since it was launched, we have extolled the virtues of the Amazon Android App Store, as well as pointed out a few issues with it. Like it or not, Amazon’s Android App Store has been well-received by Android users, especially since they have a different paid application available for free every day. I don’t know about you, but sometimes I get busy. So I don’t check the Amazon App Store every day. Which means I could miss out on such gems as Nuance’s FlexT9 keyboard for free. Well, an enterprising developer came up with a solution for those of…

Gear Bits, News & Features

Random Cool Video: Classic Sesame Street

I consider my family fortunate – I grew up watching Sesame Street when it was brand new, and my kids got to experience it as well during a time when both classic and new material was presented side-by-side, and there were plenty of videos, computer games, and music CD’s to enjoy! Last week my wife was shuffling on her iPod and ‘What do I do when I’m alone’ came on, a hold-over favorite from when the kids were little (I still have Rainbow Connection on my iPod!). Then this weekend a post at Buzzfeed looked at a bunch of classic…

Gear Bits, News & Features

Random Cool Video: Watch Family Guy ‘Its a Trap’ for FREE!

Over the last several years Family Guy has taken on the original Star Wars trilogy, with Blue Harvest and Something, Something Dark Side. Last December they released the final entry ‘It’s A Trap’ on DVD and Blu-Ray, and on May 22nd the show aired as the finale for the 9th season of Family Guy. The episode is once again a humorous retelling of Return of the Jedi using series characters in place of the original actors, but keeping the personalities of the Family Guy characters largely intact. General opinion seems to be that this is the weakest of the three…

Gear Bits

Amtrak says, “Browse While You Ride, but No App Store for You!”

I’m on the Acela train from New Jersey to Washington DC, where I will be attending a conference for the next few days. The train is super comfortable, fairly quiet and it even has WiFi. The WiFi connection has been solid and, while not exactly speedy, it is more than fast enough. It certainly is impressive when you take onto account that I’m flying down the NorthEast Corridor, and have better connectivity that Judie does right now AT HER HOME!! I did find one thing a bit surprising though; I was able to do everything I wanted, until I went…

Gear Bits

Teva Sandals Saves a Penguin!

I fully recognize that this story is basically a giant ad for Teva. However, it’s too adorable not to share. In a nutshell, Lucky the Penguin had a foot deformity that would have led to sores and infections, so Teva made a special penguin-shoe just for him. But really, the video is what this story is all about…you can’t watch the baby penguin waddle/limp wearing his stylish Tevas without letting out an involuntary “awwwwwww”. Check out the video for the full story, and then let us know in the comments if you want a pet penguin now as bad as…

Gear Bits

Your Car Is Naked without a Carstache

Sure, your car visits the car wash often, and you’ve carefully kept the paint looking fresh, maybe spruced it up with wax or an air freshener. But your car is not truly complete without a key accessory: the CARSTACHE! Yes, it’s exactly what you think it is. From the company: QUESTION: Will having a Carstache® change your life? ANSWER: YES, it will make it better. We made the Carstache® purely because we think it’s funny and it makes people smile. No other reason. When people see a Carstache® on the streets they laugh, wave, thumbs-up, fist pump, gun flex, wink…

Gear Bits, News & Features

Random Cool Stuff: Build a Urinal from Old SNES Cartridges!

Being a ‘Green’ family means looking to repurpose things rather than dispose of them … but I have to admit that I never thought about THIS! A urinal made from old Super Nintendo cartridges! According to Pricecharting.com: Building a video game urinal takes about eight hours of labor and costs roughly $200-250 (not counting the video games). If you too want a custom, hand-made video game urinal follow these steps below: The site goes on to detail the materials needed and provides the step-by-step instructions including images such as this: Interesting idea for the video game loving man looking to…

Gear Bits

The HTC Flyer Arrives …

Not much to say about it, as the picture says it all! The Best Buy WiFi version of the HTC Flyer has just arrived, and I can’t wait to start playing with it! Just thought I would share my excitement! =)

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