Gear Bits | Gear Diary

Kickstarter Project Focus- The Vere Sandal Company

I’m really digging this whole Kickstarter concept. If you are not familiar with Kickstarter, it is an online threshold pledge system for funding creative projects. Kickstarter has funded a diverse array of endeavors,ranging from indie film and music to journalism and food-related projects. One of a new set of fundraising platforms dubbed “crowdfunding”, Kickstarter facilitates gathering monetary resources from the general public, a model which circumvents many traditional avenues of investment. Project owners choose a deadline and a target minimum of funds to raise. If the chosen target is not gathered by the deadline, no funds are collected (this is…

Gear Bits

Borders Appears on ’10 Most Likely to Disappear in 2011′ List

Carly Z has written quite a bit about ailing Borders, including a recent look at why Barnes & Noble shouldn’t buy them. Turns out she was prophetic, as a DailyFinance article today listed them as one of the 10 most likely companies to disappear in 2011. Here are their thoughts: The large bookstore chain is almost gone already. The only question remaining is whether it will be dissolved or sold to a related retailer like Barnes & Noble. It appears Borders has little choice other than to go bankrupt, given its debt and cash-flow situation. Two ominous signs for the…

Gear Bits, Reviews

The BulletTrain Express Keyboard Platform; Thankfully Someone Was Listening

I have been using a Mac laptop of some kind for a relatively short amount of time — only since March 2008, but since then there has always been a MacBook nearby, whether it was the 15″ MacBook Pro, a first generation MacBook Air, a second generation MacBook Air, a 17″ MacBook Pro, or more recently an 11″ MacBook Air. I’ve been pretty vocal stating my opinion that Mac makes some of the best hardware available, even if I am pretty agnostic about whether their operating system is better than Windows or not. Beyond the all metal bodies and slimmer…

eBooks, Gear Bits

Kobo eReader Gets Featured on the Office!

Tonight on The Office our friends at Kobo snuck in a great bit of product placement! I won’t spoil the whole scene, but it’s very amusing and manages to add in a pitch about how many books the Kobo Reader can hold! We’re working on getting a screenshot, but until then head over to the official Office site to catch the episode online!

Gear Bits

TikTok Creates an Evolved “iPod nano as Watch”

The TikTok Multi-Touch Watch Band that took-off on Kickstarter.com is now shipping. The goal was to raise $15,00 in pre-production pledges and, in the end, they raised over $940,000. With that kind of money and press it would have been kinda rotten if the actual product was … well, rotten. Well mine came today and it is anything but. This band actually makes the iPod nano look and feel LIKE a watch. It is easy to pop the mp3 player in, and it doesn’t feel all that bulky. The actual watch band is sturdy but soft and the hardware is…

Gear Bits

Mac App Store Opens Door to App Store Convergence

With the arrival of the Mac App Store it is easier than ever to see and purchase Mac applications. Having spent some time perusing the App Store over the last few days I was pleased to discover that some of my favorite iOS app are also available for OS X. Of course there is the Mac version of Angry Birds (truth be told, playing it on a touchscreen device is MUCH more enjoyable), but there are also apps like SketchMee. It is the app that that let me make the above picture in a matter of seconds. I love being…

Gear Bits

A Surprise iPad Tutorial Session

The first night Elana and I were here in Cabo we had dinner at one of the sit down restaurants here at the resort. A nice young guy came by and asked if we wanted a picture taken. We politely declined. On the way out we saw him uploading some of the photos using his MacBook Pro and his iPad. Of course I had to strike up a conversation. Turns out Samir is French, and had originally come here for an internship in hospitality management. He had decided to come back and start his photography business with a friend. I…

Gear Bits, Reviews

iMainGo Portable Speaker Systems More Than Just Portable

Portable Sound Labsis the company behind iMainGo, a portable external speaker kit for your portable device such as an iPhone or touch. They sent me a test unit quite some time ago ,and somehow it made its way into the back of the closet. Since that time they have released an updated iMainGo 2 and now the iMainGo X for more lifestyle integration. So, why my oversight? To be honest, I do not lead that portable of a lifestyle. Mine is more mobile – actually mostly mobile. When I am not test-driving new cars I am driving a fleet vehicle…

Events, Gear Bits

Veruca Salt Had It Right!!!

Gear Diary, Today I was going through some of the pictures Francis took while we were at CES 2011 last week and I came upon one that captures the two words we “instant gratification-loving” tech bloggers like most…

Gear Bits

IoSafe Has Got My Back; Do They Have Yours?

Freshly arrived back from CES, I found waiting for me an IoSafe 1TB fireproof, waterproof, and — as has been demonstrated multiple times by this site (and many others) — a virtually indestructible SoloPRO Desktop External Hard Drive. I’m looking forward to setting up this beast and putting it to work protecting my data. Knowing that any files, pictures, movies and music stored on it will be kept safe — even if something unimaginable and catastrophic should happen to Kev’s and my home — gives me a peace of mind that is hard to describe. Check out the IoSafe site,…

Events, Gear Bits

The iPad in Action In Las Vegas!

This morning was my last morning in Vegas. Yes, CES is over. As I was checking out of the hotel I noticed something I had missed when I checked in on Monday. The simple LCD screens at the front desk aren’t screens at all. No, they are iPads that have been secured into the desks with a bezel wrapping around them. The only thing that gave them away as iPads was the telltale button that remained exposed at one side. The iPads were not being used as simple screens though. No, they were used to display the bill, interact with…

Gear Bits

Spice Up Your New Year with Fyre TV’s FyreBoXXX

Are you one of those people who orders adult movies when you stay in hotel rooms? Oh, don’t worry … I’m not here to judge you! But if adult entertainment is your thing, and you hate getting raised eyebrows from nosy hotel staff, then you might want to take a look at Fyre TV’s new FyreBoXXX.

Gear Bits

Please Rob Me; the Perfect Compliment to Foursquare and Twitter

If you’re a burglar, and you are tired of staking out homes only to be stymied as you break in because the owner is still there, have I got an application for you! Stop staking out houses and start staking out the new site, Please Rob Me. Instead of watching to see if there is activity in a house, you can locate users in your area who are mindlessly using Foursquare to broadcast their location to everyone on Twitter. Picking a mark is easy! Enter your area and look for someone who is eating a meal, attending a sports event,…

Gear Bits

Travel With The booq Taipan Lift

I am reviewing the booq Taipan Lift ($89.95 – $99.95) by using it during my quick trip to San Francisco for TeleNav’s Waypoint. It is a briefcase style laptop bag which, to be quite honest, isn’t my preference. (I tend to like messenger bags and backpacks.) Having just gone through airport security, however, I am totally sold on this bag for travel. There are, in fact, three specific design aspects of it that have already come in rather handy.

Gear Bits

Five things I like about the Speck SeeThru Satin Hard Shell for 17″ MacBook Pro, and one thing I don’t

Speck has been covered extensively by Gear Diary, and with good reason – their products are well made, they protect the devices they are meant to hold, and they look great! While at CES I visited the Speck booth, and one of the many things that impressed me was that Speck makes a cover for my 17″ laptop — it seems like accessories for this size are rather rare. Fast forward to last week when I received a SeeThru Satin Hard Shell for my 17″ MacBook Pro, and my laptop has not been naked since. Dan just recently reviewed this…

Gear Bits

The iPad Revealed: GearChat #2

Across the blogosphere, millions watched with bated breath today as Apple unveiled their latest — the obviously (yet unfortunately) named iPad — to a crowd who seemed to be enthusiastic and yet instantly critical of the ~10″ tablet. Gorgeous UI, large vivid screen, the ability to run existing iPhone apps, and a new iBook store are huge selling points for some. The absence of a camera and multi-tasking are among the possible deal-breakers for others. Not immediately obvious are exactly who the iPad’s intended customers might be — other than users who don’t mind carrying yet another device. Join Dan,…

Gear Bits, How to Do It Yourself!

Salt Dough Ornaments are Holiday Fun for the Whole Family

After moving this year, Kevin and I realized we were a bit light on Christmas tree decorations; but instead of going out and buying a bunch of them, his girls and I spent a day making salt dough ornaments. This is something that my mom used to do with my brother and me when we were kids. Mom thinks it’s because play-dough wasn’t easily available living overseas, but it could just as easily be because we were on an enlisted military man’s budget and she was a stay-at-home-mom. Whatever the reason, salt dough is very similar to play-dough, and the…

Gear Bits

The Polaris Ranger EV Is Quiet Fun

My friend Steven showed up with his latest “toy” a couple of days ago — the a 2010 Polaris 4×4 Ranger EV. I’ve got a tricked out red 2009 Ranger XP 700 EFI (complete with CD player and Sirius Satellite radio, heh). Mine may beat his in a race, but his has a feature that leaves mine in the dust – it’s electric and nearly noiseless. I thought his buggy was neat enough that I should share.

Events, Gear Bits

Headed to Seattle for a Mobius Group Meet-up

I’m on my way to another Microsoft-sponsored Mobius Session this morning, this time in Seattle Washington. There won’t be much for me to post about today, but on Tuesday and Wednesday I’ll share info from sessions attended as I am able. As usual, I’ll be updating on Twitter regularly, so if you haven’t already, then you might want to follow me. 🙂

Gear Bits

Voice Recognition Technology Today

I’ve been using various voice to text solutions for a number of years. I began using Nuance’s Dragon NaturallySpeaking when it was back in version 7 or 8. Unfortunately, back then it was often more proof of concept than useful tool. The process of transcribing text was slow and the accuracy was not all that good. Over the years two things have changed. First, the power of our devices has grown exponentially. My iPhone is, on many levels, as powerful or more powerful than the computer I was using just a few years ago. And my iMac and my MacBook…

Gear Bits

Walmart Selling Caskets Online

Wal-Mart has started offering caskets and urns at prices that are probably cheaper than what you’d pay at your local funeral home. Online casket sales are not a totally new concept as Amazon offers them and so does Costco. But somehow a Wal-Mart casket seems, well, cheap. Take comfort knowing that you didn’t overpay for Mom or Dad to be laid to rest in a specially designed $999 “Dad Remembered” or “Mom Remembered” casket. Wal-Mart even ships coffins directly (embalming sold separately) to the funeral home which I’m sure will cause your local funeral director to be really friendly when…