News & Features | Gear Diary

Of Sparks, Mimes and Remote Controls…

Would you look at this… the all-new Chevy Spark is??? remote-controlled?? As the release we received notes, While not for kids, the 2013 Chevy Spark is perfect for the city-dweller or….a mime? Over the next few months, Chevy is importing their export – the Spark – by releasing a series of videos highlighting its standout features in a way that is uniquely Spark. As a case in point we were sent links to the first videos in the lineup. In this video some rather forgetful mimes help save the day with a little help from the OnStar RemoteLink mobile app….

Editorials, News & Features

Gear Diary Video Chat – Smartphone vs Smartphone Edition … and More!

For the last couple of Gear Chats, Dan and I have compared and contrasted things we both owned – the Google Nexus 7 and Amazon Kindle Fire HD. But as I have been greatly enjoying the Samsung Galaxy S III the great folks at US Cellular have provided me for review, and Dan has had his iPhone 5 for a bit, it seemed like a great opportunity for us to discuss the things we thought about what are arguably the ‘twin flagships’ of the iOS and Android world. Of course, from there we veer off into discussions of other things…

News & Features

Lexus Ad Highlights the Tech in the 2013 ES with a Hi-Tech Ad

I love my IS 250. There are times when I feel like it is a tiny bit too small, and I would have preferred something like the larger ES but, 99% of the time I could not be more happy with the car I chose to lease last year. Lexus is pushing the 2013 ES with an extensive marketing campaign and, this time out, they have an advertisement that, “like the entirely new ES, merges next-generation technologies with stunning visuals”. Starting today, you can bring the Lexus ES print ad found in today’s issue of Sports Illustrated magazine to life…

Music Diary, News & Features

IK Multimedia Puts the ‘Grand’ in Mobile Piano with new iGrand Piano for iPad!

Back in the early 1990s I remember checking out one of the incredible new sampled piano instruments at E.U. Wurlitzer in Boston. It was also really expensive, but as the salesperson noted – if you need the incredible sound quality and attention to detail, it is well worth it … but if you are OK with piano sounds on your other sample playback synths, there is no price that will make sense. That was something I loved about the Kurzweil K2000 – it had an incredible (to me) sampled piano but didn’t break the bank. Fast forward twenty years and…

Music Diary, News & Features

Check Out the New Apple iPod Commercial ‘Bounce’

Apple’s latest ad is for their now-shipping updated iPod line, which has the simple description: Every iPod now in color. The commercial is about the cool and colorful iPod new line-up and offers seamless transitions between the Touch, Nano and Shuffle accompanied by a funky song. It is a positive, good-feeling commercial. Some things (good and bad) not mentioned in the video: + The 5th gen iPod Touch is the most ‘iPhone-like’ version yet. – The iPod Touch STILL doesn’t contain a GPS + The Nano is incredibly small and has a 2.5″ screen – But you have to load the Nano…

News & Features

NYNE NB-200 and NB-230 Bluetooth Speakers Combine Style and Sound

There are plenty Bluetooth speakers on the market. Now a new company, NYNE, has released a series of speakers designed for an “active life-style”. Their NB-200 and NB-230 Bluetooth speakers provide in-home quality audio through either a wireless connection with any Bluetooth enabled device, or a 3.5mm aux-in cable connection with a non-Bluetooth device. Their stylish and portable form allows for music enjoyment on-the-go both indoors and outdoors. Here’s a look at both. There’s the NB-200. It is designed to be taken with you wherever you go and can be attached to a bike or baby stroller handlebars with its…

News & Features

Evernote Smart Notebooks Now Shipping

Evernote is now shipping their new Smart Notebooks. They work great with the Evernote Page Camera that is now part of the Evernote iOS app. (We wrote about it here.) The Page Camera lets you capture images of text on a page and optimize it for saving to Evernote. It works great on its own but, when combined with the Smart Notebooks it is truly an impressive way to record and later access information. I saw the notebooks in person a few weeks ago and was impressed. They are pricey but… quality costs. Plus there is the added benefit of…

News & Features

Phorus and Play-Fi Want to Bring Music to Every Room in Your House

If you read the site, then you know that I love my Sonos audio system; you also know I am an OS X and iOS guy. Still, I’m always on the lookout for the next awesome home audio solution. That’s why I was pleased to have the opportunity to speak with a number of the key players from Phorus a few weeks ago. Phorus, and their signature Play-Fi wireless technology, are poised to challenge your assumptions about home audio on every level. The system is simple to set up, sounds great, offers flexibility with regard to connectivity, is priced to be accessable, can…

News & Features

Incipio Rolls Out Six New iPhone 5 Protective Case Designs

A fan of minimalist iPhone cases, Incipio’s feather is one of my go-to cases. Now the company has rolled out its initial line of iPhone 5 cases and, of course, the feather is leading the pack. As sAndy Fathollahi, Chief Executive Officer of Incipio notes, We have been working diligently to provide consumers with an array of iPhone 5 case solutions and couldn’t be happier to announce these new additions. We will continue to unveil new cases as our design and production teams are always pushing the envelope on innovation. The cases are available at Verizon, AT&T and many other…

News & Features

Pelican ProGear Sport Backpacks Let You Carry, and Protect, Your Gear

If you need to protect your device from being crushing there is no better option than one of Pelican’s hard cases. Now the company is rolling out a line of backpacks that take the same approach to extreme-protection of all your devices. The Pelican ProGear Sport Backpacks are a collection of lightweight backpacks housing crushproof and watertight Pelican cases to safeguard your personal electronics including laptops, MacBook computers, netbooks, e-readers, tablets, keyboards and other accessories. The backpacks come in a range of colors and are constructed from ballistic nylon. The Elite models have “four adhesive, memory foam buffers, which secure the…

News & Features, Outdoors

Magellan Kicks Off Hunting Season with New Products

One of my favorite times of the year officially started last weekend! The beginning of hunting season is always exciting and gives us outdoorsmen an excuse to spend too much time in nature. While the first weekend of bow hunting season was not fruitful for me due to the moon cycle, I did thoroughly enjoy the opportunity to spend some time out in the wild clearing my head and being one with nature. One thing that is important while hunting is safety and location. Not only do you need to find your way back to civilization, but you never want to lose…

News & Features

iPhone 5 Plus NeatCloud Plus NeatMobile Helps Keep You Organized

As I work harder and harder to get away from using paper, I’m finding that a number of digital solutions are key to the process. For example, my iPad now lets me gather and read not only all my books but also many of the PDFs that I use. In fact, as Carly mentioned in a post last year, I use my iPad as my prayerbook when leading services. It’s convenient, it forces me to think through all of the specific cues beforehand (not that I wouldn’t anyway), and it’s easier on my damaged hands and wrists. This was the…

News & Features

Skooba Design Offers New Products for Camera, Laptops and Cables; Pre-Order Now, Reviews Are Coming Soon!

Drawing on the same design cues we’ve seen in recent products, Skooba Design has just announced three new upcoming ways to carry, protect and organize your gear. It will, of course, come as no small surprise that we are looking forward to getting our hands on each. So what HAS Skooba rolled out? There’s the Photo/Tablet Traveler V.3. I’ve been doing a series of camera bag and case reviews and this looks like a great solution for carrying a lot of gear even when you want to travel light. Think of it as the amazing Laptop Weekender we’ve reviewed shrunk…

Music Diary, News & Features

FL Studio Mobile 2 Video Preview

If you are looking for the best and most robust music studio app for the iPad, you have likely considered GarageBand, NanoStudio, and FL Studio. FL Studio Mobile offers a downscaled version of the popular PC electronic music-focused package – and while almost everyone loved the original, the lack of integrated sampling and limited editing and complete absence of a quality synthesizer were glaring omissions. With the upcoming 2.0 release (free for existing owners) Image Line looks to address these issues and more! As part of this they have released a couple of preview videos to show off new functionality….

News & Features

ElementCase Sector 5 Case for iPhone 5 Is… Gorgeous

I absolutely love ElementCase’s iPhone case offerings. The cases look awesome. The cases feel awesome. And the cases always get attention. And the new Sector5 Case for the iPhone 5 is no exception. The rugged, industrial design is eye-catching and, even from the pictures, it is clear this is one tough case. Here’s what the company has to say, After a year of development and a huge launch of the Sector 4 FE, the iPhone 5 finally arrived and we were able to add final touches and begin production of the new Sector 5. The Sector 5’s super thin multi-link perimeter…

Music Diary, News & Features

IK Multimedia Introduces DJ Rig for iPad!

When DJ Rig released back in March, aside from some early bugs that were quickly squashed, my biggest wish was for an iPad version. It was one of those things that was immediately obvious once you touched the software. IK Multimedia agreed and stated they were working on it – but like the rest of their stuff they wanted to get it right and not just ‘upsize’. Well, now DJ Rig for iPad is ready and available! Here is some of the press release highlighting features: Professional DJing for the first time on iPad • Familiar double Deck configuration with…

News & Features

Your Mobile Devices are a Germ Haven, So It’s ionSwipes to the Rescue!

One of the most useful sensory and interactive instruments in the human body are our hands and fingers. They help us easily manipulate our mobile devices, allowing us to communicate and plug into the virtual world around us. Ironically, hands and fingers are a double-edged sword, for in addition to allowing us to communicate virtually via our various electronic devices, they quietly and efficiently spread germs via physical handling of these devices. Germs. That catch-all layman word covering bacteria, viruses, protozoa and some fungi. The stuff that gives Howie Mandel heebie-jeebies. In fiction, the cooties that annihilated wayard Martians,…

Music Diary, News & Features

MOTU Releases Digital Performer 8 For Mac & Windows!

Back at NAMM in January MOTU (Mark of the Unicorn) announced plans for their flagship DAW (digital audio workstation) Digital Performer to jump to both Mac AND Windows with the release of version 8. Original release was planned for the spring, but today MOTU announced that both Mac and Windows versions are now available – and we also get pricing on the software and myriad upgrade deals! Here are some key new features: ?64-bit support – Digital Performer’s 64-bit support ensures that you can take full advantage of all the memory space in your computer for optimum performance from your…

Music Diary, News & Features

Stream Muse New Album ‘The 2nd Law’ for FREE on iTunes This Week!

While most of us were not particularly enamored of the Muse Olympic theme or sure about the dubstep-y sounds previewed from their new album, there are millions of Muse fans waiting to check out the final product and hoping for the best. Well, before dropping $13.99 on iTunes to find out … you can stream the entire album for FREE this week on iTunes! As usual it is a single stream for the whole album rather than per-song, but it is a great opportunity to see what Muse has come up with for their latest release! Head to iTunes and…

eBooks, News & Features

Barnes and Noble Goes Hollywood

Barnes and Noble needed something big to compete against the Kindle Fire, and today they announced one part of what that might be: NOOK Video. Details are light, but it sounds like this will be a streaming and pay for download service. In fact, it sounds an awful lot like Amazon Prime Streaming… The big question here is software and price. B&N says they plan to offer NOOK Video to PCs, smartphones and tablets, so this sounds more like a whole new spinoff of NOOK offerings than a one-off designed to add value to the NOOK Tablet lines. Amazon Prime…

Gear Bits, Music Diary, News & Features

iOS 6 Brings Loads of SIGNIFICANT App Updates

By now we all know the mantra – when there is a new iOS update, prepare for the onslaught of app updates. It used to be surprising … now it is expected. I have probably updated 100 apps on my iPad since last week. [Oh, and I should mention that I LOVE the in-place updating!] But while some updates are just bug fixes and iOS 6 compatibility, others bring entirely new functionality. Significant functionality. And the funny thing is that it is hard to know what changes are major or minor when you see a list of a dozen or…