News & Features


PhatPad has (Google) Drive

Gear Diary has written about PhatWare apps on a number of occasions, including here, here, and most recently, here. One of their best known products is PhatPad, a note-taking app that features handwriting recognition. I’ve used PhatWare products, including PhatPad, off and on for years. I’ve always been impressed with the quality of its handwriting recognition.


Battlefield 4 Player Appreciation Week Is Nov 28 – Dec 5

Battlefield 4 players will get extra bonuses this week as they do battle in the campaign modes and multiplayer/online, which allows 64 players to play each other at 60 frames per second. From Thursday, November 28 to Thursday, December 5, Electronic Arts/DICE has designated a special week to compensate game owners since they encountered technical and gameplay snafus.




PAFERS XSPIN Takes the Drudgery out of Indoor Cycling

With the weather cooling off, it gets harder and harder to convince myself to take my bicycle outdoors for an exercise ride, but spinning for miles on an indoor bike can be a mind-numbing bore. Fortunately, the gear heads at PAFERS have released a new exercise aid to help add some motivation to indoor cycling. Their new XSPIN is a Bluetooth enabled device that works with many exercise apparatuses to inspire harder training.


Coin is Trying to Bring Credit Card Payments into the Future

There have been attempts to unify all of your payment methods in the past using Near Field Communication technology (NFC).  However, NFC really hasn’t caught on like some had expected.  Coin is trying to bring to market a truly universal product that will unify all of your credit cards, gift cards, and loyalty cards into one swipeable card.



Poo-Pourri – Using Potty Humor to Sell a Great Product

While waiting for a Lenovo video to load, this hilarious Poo-Pourri ad popped up. Usually I click SKIP as soon as the option is available, but not this time. Maybe it’s the 5th grader still trapped inside of me, but this video made me laugh; even funnier is that it’s a product I know works as advertised. Don’t ask; just enjoy.




Jabra Readies Rox Wireless Headphones

The Jabra Revo Wireless headphones continue to impress me and have a place in my gear bag most days. Now Jabra is rolling out the Jabra Rox Wireless in-ear wireless headphones. They let you “Go wireless and give up the wires without giving up great sound”. With simple NFC pairing, a rugged design and more they look great. Coming soon.


FreshTECH Canning System Makes Preserving Food High Tech!

Every year, the same thing happens in my house. We find a great deal for a large amount of produce, and we vow to start canning with it. And then we remember how time-consuming and specific canning is, and then we rush to eat a lot of produce before it goes bad. That’s why the new FreshTECH canning system has caught my eye! The FreshTECH system is an all in one canning appliance, so you don’t need to fiddle with water baths and boiling jars. The company says it has several safety measures in place, so you don’t have to…


IK Multimedia Launches iLoud Speaker – the Ideal Portable Speaker for Musicians and Audiophiles

Over the last few years the Bluetooth speaker market has gone from non-existent to absolutely amazing. At GearFest we listened to a number of speakers that were loud, paired easily, and sounded great. Today IK Multimedia released iLoud, another of the cool products revealed at CES. iLoud brings the musician’s sensibilities and needs to the world of Bluetooth speakers. Here are some of the features: Loud and Clear The iLoud speaker is indeed very loud. In fact, it’s 2 to 3 times louder than comparable size speakers — a blasting 40W RMS of power. But iLoud is extremely clear at…


Amazon Offers Indie Bookstores a Small Cut to Sell eBooks, But Will Anyone Bite?

  It’s no secret that “Amazon” is a dirty word among independent booksellers. They’ve fought against carrying Amazon-published books, railed against Kindles, and fought Amazon’s no-internet-sales-tax stance. But Amazon really wants to win over the indie booksellers, so they’ve rolled out Amazon Source, an affiliate Kindle program for indie booksellers. Because when someone hates you, they’ll totally sell your competing product…


Google Voice Cuts Off Third Party Apps

Are you still using Google Voice? Better hope it’s an official Google Voice app, because third-party access is being yanked later this year. Most users won’t be affected, unless, of course, you use Windows Phone … then you will definitely lose Google Voice early next year!


Have You Been Wondering How to Remove Yourself from the Internet?

Maybe this whole NSA debacle has you feeling a bit over-exposed, or maybe you’ve decided that no good can come from having your information “out there”; whatever. Removing yourself from the internet is a daunting task, but Gizmodo has just published a guide that will at least get you started. Can you guess what will have to go first?



Nexus 5 Debuts in Time for Trick or Treat

In the worst kept secret ever, and on the best day for a phone with an OS release codenamed for a candy bar, Google has finally released the Nexus 5. The Nexus 5 is made by LG and is pretty much the same hardware as the G2 but without the crappy software or fingerprint scanner. The Nexus 5 ships with the sweet treat that is Android 4.4, code named Kit Kat. Google has promised that this release should run great even on hardware that is not as robust as the Nexus 5. This is a treat for Sprint and T-Mobile…


Trick Or Treat with Gear Diary and Win!

Happy Halloween! Some of you may be heading out to go trick or treating this afternoon. Oothers may simply be hanging out and enjoying this last day of October. We thought we might do a bit of trick or treating ourselves here on Gear Diary; we’ve turned on our porch light, and we are ready to hand out some treats!


R.I.P. Ronald Shannon Jackson and Lou Reed

Over the last week we’ve lost two visionary artists in very different musical genres; two men whose names might not have been household names and who might never have burned up the pop charts, but their impact was broad and far-reaching, and who will be sorely missed. Those men were jazz drummer Ronald Shannon Jackson and rock musician Lou Reed.