News

National Learn to Play Day on Saturday March 31st, 2012

National Learn to Play Day is an even being sponsored in the UK by the ‘Music for All’ charity on Saturday March 31st, 2012. Her are a few details: On this day, the UK’s musical instrument shops will open their doors and offer free instrument “taster” lessons to the general public. There are 15 million people in the UK that either want to play an instrument or used to play one. The Day is designed to welcome people into music shops and to inspire them to get playing. People are often surprised to discover that they ARE musical and simply…

News

Keurig Introduces the New Keurig Vue Brewing System

Most of the Gear Diary team and many of my friends know that I love my Keurig machine. Brewing many different hot drinks from coffee to cocoa, my Keurig is my morning friend, and I’ve even been known to fire it up in the evening? However, there’s one thing that my Keurig can’t do — milky drinks like latte’s and cappuccinos. Well, Keurig has done it again and brought out a new brewing system called the Keurig Vue.

Music Diary, News

The Grammy’s Again Raise the Question: WHY Did I Stay up So Late for this Crap?

YOU MUST READ THIS POST! IT IS GOING TO BE HISTORIC! EVERYONE WILL BE TALKING ABOUT IT! I swear that every time I heard that last night during the Grammy Awards, I was certain of one thing – mediocrity was the best thing to hope for. If ‘everyone would be talking’, it would be like Nicki Minaj’s terrible performance that might signal her 15 minutes has played out with her singular stylistic droppings getting tiresome.

Music Diary, News

RIP Whitney Houston, One of the Truly Great Voices of Popular Music

Yesterday we heard about the death of Whitney Houston, one of the all-time best selling female vocalists. She was extremely popular from the mid-80’s through the 90’s, but more than that she brought to the stage a voice that ranks her among the great all-time vocalists in popular music. Here is a bit from the news item: Whitney Houston, who reigned as pop music’s queen until her majestic voice and regal image were ravaged by drug use, erratic behavior and a tumultuous marriage to singer Bobby Brown, has died. She was 48. Publicist Kristen Foster said Saturday that the singer…

News

There’s an App for That, the Adele Version

As Mike recently pointed out, Adele is a phenomena who popularity exploded this year because… she has a great voice and the songs are great! She’s had a rough time lately however thanks to throat surgery and a silent recovery. After a polyp was removed Adele was told not to speak for a month. According to an upcoming interview on 60 Minutes, Adele, who loves to talk, found the silence more difficult than the actual surgery. Fortunately for her she lives in the era of smartphone apps. As she explained, I had an application on my phone that you type…

News

A Real Time With Bill Maher Oops Moment

Tonight on Bill Maher’s Real Time program on HBO he did a cute shtick with Siri and Valentines Day. (The bit talked about gifts for certain kinds of favors and the cynical aspects of the V-Day and was a bit amusing.) Apparently Maher doesn’t actually use an iPhone because… It was upside down. (Just look at where the print is.) “Siri, is everything alright?” “Bill, would you please stop holding me upside down? I’m getting dizzy.”

Editorials, News

AT&T Set to Double Their Upgrade Fee to $36?

AT&T is reportedly slated to increase their device upgrade costs from $18 to $36 this coming Sunday, February 12. Because the overall costs associated with upgrading to a new device have increased, effective Sunday, February 12, 2012, AT&T will change its upgrade fee from $18 to $36 Just my luck. I’m due for an upgrade, and I’ve been chomping at the bit to try a Windows phone, as evidenced by Dan and Judie’s saga of their HTC Titan usage. Speaking for myself, it’s just unfortunate that by the time I want to try out the Titan II or the Nokia…

News

Check Out this Awesome Recreation of the Original Star Tours Disney Ride!

Have you ever taken a ride on Star Tours at Disney? The first time we went as a family in 2001 was on a Star Wars Weekend, and taking the Star Tours ride was a major part of the fun for all of us. We rode it again the other two trips we made, and it possesses great memories, although it is clear that it is time for a revamp. This year the ride gets that revamp – but an independent film maker has recreated the entire ride in a 2D and 3D video experience! Here are some details: In…

News

Vonage’s New Mobile App is Easy to Use, and It Saves You Money

This is a sponsored post, all opinions here-in are mine. Make Calls, Save Money As crazy as it sounds, there are still people in the world who use their iPhones and Android handsets to … make voice calls. I know, Crazy! Right? If you are one of them, and, especially, if you travel internationally, the cost of those calls can add up quickly. Vonage has been around for quite some time, but they’ve just released a new iPhone and Android calling application that is pretty impressive. I’m already using it for calls when I’m in a WiFi network; although the…

Music Diary, News

10 Artists Who Never Got a Grammy And a Presentation We Won’t See This Year

Before the Grammy Awards last year I highlighted performances by Miles Davis and the double-genre performance by Wynton Marsalis that took more than 10 minutes and would be impossible today … if those categories still even existed. The Grammy Awards are now all about corporate self-congratulation, highlighting the few artists who sell all the records and those who get rich on their backs. Last year there was outrage when Justin Beiber had “his” best new artist award ‘stolen’ by the amazingly talented Esperanza Spalding (of course, ANYONE in the category was/is more talented than Beiber, but that is beside the…

Music Diary, News

FingerLabs Pounds the Beat with Awesome DM1 iPad Update!

The sophistication of music production tools for the iPad is simply staggering. I can do more on my iPad than my entire multi-thousand dollar mini-studio from the 90’s could ever hope to accomplish! It has gotten to the point where a solid app that lacks a few features – MIDI in, AudioCopy, etc – will get passed over by musicians. Such is the case of DM1, and excellently designed and implemented drum machine and sequencer. It has loads of great programming flexibility and features – but lacking the aforementioned features kept it off of many folks iPads. Now with the…

News

Google Finally Releases Chrome (Beta) for Android

My favorite browser, regardless of platform, is Google Chrome and I wondered how long it would take for Google to release Chrome for Android. Well, the wait is finally over. Sort of. Over on the Google Mobile blog, Google talks a bit about the the history of Google Chrome, which came out in 2008. They talk a bit about the features available on Chrome for Android beta, including: Fast – This is Google Chrome fast, only mobile Simple – The UI is very mobile-friendly, and is intuitive to use Sync – By signing into your Google account, you can sync…

News

Twelve South Does it Again with HoverBar for Mac and iPad 2

If you use a Mac and an iPad, then Twelve South’s new HoverBar is for you. It lets you use your iPad 2 an adjustable arm that floats iPad 2 next to an iMac or Apple display, allowing you to use iPad as a secondary, touchscreen computer. [It] turns iPad into the ultimate sidecar for an iMac or Apple display, presenting more ways to use iPad more often. Connect HoverBar to your Mac, snap iPad 2 into the secure clip and you now have one powerful dual-computer work setup. Having iPad floating next to your Mac allows you to monitor…

News

Corning Unveils ‘A Day Made of Glass 2’

Companies make promotional videos all the time, called commercials. But when they present a vision of the future it is a lot more fun to watch. Last year Corning produced ‘A Day Made of Glass’ that was a fun semi-futuristic look at the day in the life of a family aided by a number of technologies that integrated seamlessly with everything they did. Not coincidentally – everything was made out of glass … and in an area where Corning has commercial products. But the original was a huge hit for the same reason that I remember watching all of those…

News

Adonit JotStudio App Designed With Hardware in Mind

Adonit’s Jot and Jot Pro Stylus for the iPad is an unusual animal. We reviewed it here and had this to say What sets the Jot and the Jot Pro apart from the crowd is the disk at the top. Rather than having a relatively wide rubber tip for darting or writing the Jot and Jot Pro have a ballpoint tip that then attaches to a clear disk. The ball-point tip gives you accuracy while the disk protects the screen from scratches. It looks rather odd and does take a few minutes of adjustment but, after that, it REALLY WORKS!!…

Editorials, News

Susan G. Komen Foundation Feels the ‘Law of Unintended Consequences’ Firsthand

The first rule of a health-centric charity – don’t get political. UPDATE: The Komen group annouced they were reversing their decision, stating “it will “amend the criteria to make clear that disqualifying investigations must be criminal and conclusive in nature and not political.” “Our only goal for our granting process is to support women and families in the fight against breast cancer. Amending our criteria will ensure that politics has no place in our grant process,” the group said.” My wife did the Susan G. Komen Walk for the Cure a few years ago when we lived in the Boston…

News, Travel

TripIt gets “iPadified” with New “On-Map” Interactions and Planning

Judie turned me on to TripIt about two years ago, and I have been a devoted user ever since. And today we got word that TripIt.com just got “iPadified”, and now “Travelers can interact with their trip plans on a map and create directions instantly online.” This is a new way for TripIt users to access trip maps and get directions and makes the service even more valuable than ever. As the news release we received explains, Now, when travelers log onto TripIt.com, they’ll have the option to view their itinerary alongside an interactive map, or select the traditional detailed…

News, Reviews

Sling Media Brings SlingPlayer to Kindle Fire!

Sling Media, makers of the SlingBox, today announces the availability of the SlingPlayer app for the Kindle Fire. What is the SlingBox? It is a device that works with all of your various set-top boxes to: allow folks to watch their TV from wherever they are with their PC, Mac, tablet or smartphone. And now, with SlingPlayer for Kindle Fire, they can bring their living room TV experience to their Kindle Fire tablets. The SlingPlayer software is already available for Apple iPhone and iPad devices, Android Phones, Android Tablets as well as for the Blackberry, Windows Phone and other devices….

News

Did Android Tablets GAIN Market Share … or Lose It?

If you look at the image above, you might come to the conclusion that Android tablets have made significant inroads against the iPad in the fourth quarter of 2011. That would be an incorrect conclusion, though one that many people are making. There are two problems with the conclusion. The first is that while Apple discloses ‘sales’, Android numbers are a combination of ‘shipments’, ‘% shipment increase from last year’, and ‘estimates’. In other words, real numbers against imaginary numbers. More on this later. The other problem is the idea of exactly what constitutes an Android tablet. I’ll answer with…

News

OS X Moves Yet Another Step Closer to iOS

If you still weren’t convinced that Apple’s desktop/laptop Mac OS X operating system and their mobile operating system iOS were moving closer and closer to one another here’s yet one more example. If you have a Mac go to software update and download the Airport Utility update. Once you do you’ll be greeted with a utility that will be rather familiar if you have used the recently release iOS Airport Utility.

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