News & Features

Special Holiday Pricing Available on Pivothead HD Recording Sunglasses

I LOVE the Pivothead HD Recording Sunglasses that I reviewed last month and used while in Cuba two weeks ago. They are comfortable, look good AND they record amazingly clear video. You can check out our full review of them here and see how they work in this video. At $350, the glass aren’t cheap — although I have paid close to that for sunglasses that were simply… hum… sunglasses. And now that Pivothead has announced special holiday pricing, they are even more accessible. That’s right, Pivothead has dropped the price of their HD Recording Sunglasses by $50. And they will…

News & Features

Orbino Will Wrap Your iPhone 5 and iPad mini in Sumptuous Leather

Yeah … gaze on that amazing piece of leather art for just a moment. I’ll wait … One of the many reasons that I enjoy using iOS devices is because Apple’s hardware is so elegant; if that wasn’t reason enough to stay loyal, add in the fact that accessory manufacturers seem to love designing their goods for Apple products. And if there is one thing that you all should know about me by now, it’s that I do so love a good accessory. miniPadova in Pecan Dan and I have been pretty vocal about how much we love Orbino’s Padova line of…

Music Diary, News & Features

One of Five Albums (yep, 20%) Sold Last Week Was Taylor Swift’s ‘Red’

Last year I was very vocal about calling shenanigans over the way Lady Gaga used a $0.99 ‘giveaway’ on Amazon.com to basically game her way to ‘selling’ over 1 million albums. It has been documented ad nauseam that the ‘record industry of old’ is dead, but that execs at the three remaining majors try to continue pushing their hand-crafted ‘stars’ and product … to ever shrinking annual sales. This week we get the exception that proves the rule – Taylor Swift’s ‘Red’ sold ~1.21 million copies, the most in a single week since Eminem in 2002. First some background. Every…

Gear Bits, News & Features

Apple Releases iOS 6.0.1, Available Now as an OTA Update

There was wide speculation that Apple would time the release of the 6.0.1 update to match the launch of the iPad Mini, and that is exactly what has happened. If you head to your Software Update settings screen you will see the update is available. Here are the updates: •Fixes a bug that prevents iPhone 5 from installing software updates wirelessly over the air •Fixes a bug where horizontal lines may be displayed across the keyboard •Fixes an issue that could cause camera flash to not go off •Improves reliability of iPhone 5 and iPod touch (5th generation) when connected…

Gear Bits, News & Features

New Amazon Android App Lets You Update Your Photos to Your Amazon Cloud

Everyone wants to get you storing your files and photos on their service, because that gets you into their ecosystem and infrastructure. So with Apple there is iCloud, Google has Google+ and others, DropBox and others offer auto-uploads, and Amazon has their own Cloud Drive. Now Amazon has an app that manages your photos and automatically uploads them to your Cloud Drive and can share to Facebook and other sites. Here is the description: Never lose the photos from your phone again. Get 5 GB of free storage to protect and store your phone’s photos with Amazon Cloud Drive. Access…

News & Features

Should the New York City Marathon Be Cancelled?

Sunday is the New York City Marathon. This is a huge event, with 40,000 runners, several thousand volunteers, and countless spectators. Unfortunately, New York was hit extremely hard by Hurricane Sandy, and many runners are unable to make it to the city, or facing difficulties with hotel rooms, transportation, and logistics. Despite the devastation, the mayor of New York and New York Road Runners want the race to continue…but many are wondering if it’s worthwhile! Competitor.com’s editor Mario Fraoli had a great editorial on why the marathon shouldn’t be run at the tail end of such a disastrous week: New…

Gear Bits, News & Features

Watch Your Inbox for the iTunes Settlement Credit!

This morning I got the settlement details from the class action suit against Apple for selling gift cards that were based on a number of songs with an assumed $0.99 price even after the price increase of many songs to $1.29. (note, I’ve already redeemed my code, but nice try anyway!) Here are a couple of snippets from the FAQ: First the background behind the lawsuit: The Lawsuit claimed that Apple advertised, distributed, and sold gift cards which stated that songs could be purchased at Apple’s online iTunes Store for a price of 99¢ per song. It further alleged that…

Game Diary, News & Features

Disney Acquires LucasFilm, Including Movies and LucasArts Gaming Division

If you could name one company better and bigger at monetizing franchises than LucasFilm, it would have to be Disney. So perhaps it is fitting that the ‘House of Mouse’ that also owns Buzz & Woody and Marvel’s Avengers has taken on the Skywalker clan and Dr. Jones. Here are some details from BusinessWeek: Disney paid $7 billion for animation studio Pixar in 2006 and bought Marvel Entertainment in 2009 for $4.2 billion, adding the creators of “Toy Story,” and “The Avengers” to the company’s library. The Lucas acquisition brings the “Star Wars” pictures, which have generated $4.54 billion in…

Gear Bits, News & Features

Cool Video of James Brown, Michael Jackson and Prince on Stage in 1983!

Sometimes when checking out yet another random ‘list of stuff’ you will find a gem … and here is yet another cool video as a result! It is a 1983 James Brown performance, in which he calls Michael Jackson to the stage and later Prince. Michael and Prince are still reaching the height of their powers, whereas elder statesman JB was about to have his last big hit with ‘Living in America’ the following year. Regardless, it is a magical moment captured on film of sketchy quality, but definitely worth watching! http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=hPK12SymqeQ Source: BuzzFeed

News & Features

How We Can Help the Victims of Hurricane Sandy

We knew for at least a few days before Hurricane Sandy hit that it was going to be bad, but knowing something will be bad and living through it are two completely different things. On October 29th, at about 8pm ET, Hurricane Sandy made landfall on the southern coast of New Jersey. Before hitting the shore, Sandy had already whipped and bruised a wide swatch of communities with brutal rains and winds as far away as Ohio. It wasn’t enough that people were holed up suffering from the effects of a late August style hurricane, they also had to deal…

Music Diary, News & Features

Thankfully, Apple Delays iTunes 11 Until Mid-Late November

Let me be blunt – I agree with those who have been increasingly critical of the state of Apple’s software releases in terms of readiness. iOS 5 was patched almost instantly for some awful bugs, iTunes Match stumbled out of the gate late and feeling like it should have been later, Siri was beta at release but hasn’t made all that many strides, … and then there is Apple Maps. So when the news that iTunes 11 was being delayed into November came out, I was actually relieved. I was glad that they hadn’t forced it to release for the…

Game Diary, News & Features

Classic RPG ‘Chrono Trigger’ Launches on Android!

Square Enix has a reputation for making awesome RPG games … and a reputation for re-selling the same game over and again … and for having the most expensive games on the iTunes App Store and Google Play. Games such as Final Fantasy III still command $16 nearly two years after release on the iPhone – after releases on a host of other platforms including the Nintendo DS in 2006! And pretty much NONE of their games are universal, so you need to buy both iPhone and iPad versions where available. Nearly a year ago Square Enix released their classic…

Music Diary, News & Features

Google Music Will Get ‘Match’ Capabilities

Google has a huge blog post here related to their product announcements On November 13, we’re bringing music on Google Play to Europe. Those of you in the U.K, France, Germany, Italy and Spain will be able to purchase music from the Google Play store and add up to 20,000 songs—for free—from your existing collection to the cloud for streaming to your Android devices or web browser. We’re also launching our new matching feature to streamline the process of uploading your personal music to Google Play. We’ll scan your music collection and any song we match against the Google Play…

Gear Bits, News & Features

Warsaw ‘Alley-House’ Takes Minimal Living to a New (lack of) Dimension!

Imagine having to make a house translucent in order to minimize the fear-factor of such a compressed space? That is exactly what the architect of a new house in Warsaw did, according to a report at Time.com. Here is some more info: Wedged in an alleyway between two apartment blocks, the ‘world’s thinnest house’ opened this Sunday in Warsaw. The triangular dwelling is 33 feet long and 5 feet wide at its widest point. In some places it narrows to just 3 feet. The house’s architect, Jakub Szczesny, insists he hasn’t skimped on the basics. “It contains all necessary amenities…

Music Diary, News & Features

End of an Era – The Final Jazz Session Episode Airs Today

As Judie has always said when recruiting for new writers at Gear Diary – blogging is not something you do for the money; it is all about the love – love of product, technology, sharing and interacting. All you hope for is to cover costs. Now imagine that instead of blogging you ran a jazz interview podcast that required frequent trips to New York City and other locations, attendance at clubs, festivals and concerts, and so on. Suddenly the costs start to spiral out of control. That is what Jason Crane discovered as he launched ‘The Jazz Session’, the jazz…

News & Features

Livescribe Introduces the Sky WiFi SmartPen

Having a LiveScribe smartpen has very much helped me stay organized and keep my projects in line over the past few years. The biggest problem was that I needed to remember to connect the pen to my laptop sync things up so I had access to my notes offline. Now LiveScribe has taken care of that with their new Sky WiFi pen that will wirelessly sync new notes to your Evernote account! Here is their description: Livescribe 4GB Sky Wifi Smartpen Record everything you hear, say and write, and link audio recordings directly to notes with the Sky wifi Smartpen…

News & Features

JBL Offers a Complete Portfolio of Wireless Speakers

The other day my favorite Kickstart-Addicted friend (aka Judie) and I were debating backing an awesome project for iOS devices. I commented that we needed to place a moratorium on projects that are specific to the iPhone 5 or the iPad since, at the moment, we are in a transitional period. Yes, with the iPad 4 all iOS devices will be using Apple’s new, smaller, connector. Until then though we have a mix of devices using either the 30-pin dock connector or the new connector. That means there has never been a better time to go wireless. That’s why Judie…

News & Features

DomeSkin Bumps Up to iPhone 5

With the announcement of any new device come the announcements of matching accessories. And if the device in question is a new iPhone, then you get a LOT more accessory announcements, given the popularity of that handset. Skins for iPhones (and other devices) are nothing new, of course, but the announcement Gear Diary received from DomeSkin caught my attention because it sounded like a different design concept. Most skins are intended to be as flat and thin as possible, so as to protect a device from scratches without adding bulk. If it suits the consumer, the skin may also add…

News & Features

Last Man Standing: Mainstream TV and Radio Connected for Special Event Today

I hope you are enjoying my continuing series of posts on Amateur Radio. Occasionally, we get to have fun and come close to touching those who we watch on TV. Well, not exactly but today there was a special event that almost never happens. What on earth am I talking about? Well, today there was a very special Amateur Radio event. From 9am to 1pm Pacific Daylight Time there was a special event station operating under the call sign K6H from the set of Last Man Standing, and I was able to work this station via D-star on their backup reflector 30C….

News & Features

CW Returns to Cablevision Subscribers

I complained bitterly a few weeks ago about my cable company’s fight with Tribune, and how the result was that we, the viewers, were being punished by losing access to the CW network (and, apparently, Fox if you live in Connecticut). However, I was overjoyed to get the following email from Cablevision this morning, even if it was a bit stiff: Thanks for bearing with us while we negotiated with Tribune, the owner of the stations in your area that were recently removed from Optimum. The process took longer than it should have but simply conceding to Tribune’s demands could…

Music Diary, News & Features

iRig Keys Now Shipping, Review Coming Soon!

Today IK Multimedia announced that they were shipping the iRig Keys, their first entry into the hardware controller world. Building on their growing base of experience with iOS-based music accessories, IK is positioning as a mobile controller for your tablet or laptop that provides a solid range of functionality while also easily fitting in your backpack – and with the durability to stand up to life in a backpack! Even better, today my iRig Keys arrived for review, and will be working to get my review of the new hardware and iGrand Piano for iPad out as soon as possible. Because…

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