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News & Features January 3, 2012

10 Important Desktop Open Source Projects for 2012

In the spirit of Joe ‘Zonker’ Brockmeier’s post over on Linux.com, I thought I would craft my list of 10 important open source desktop applications of the last year. Now I know that not every Gear Diary reader is a huge Open Source fan or follower, but these are projects to watch in the coming year. Some of this software works on Windows and Mac OS X as well so you may want to check them out if going full bore into Linux isn’t in the cards right now. Most of this software is software I use on Linux every…

News & Features January 3, 2012

ClockworkMod Provides Root-Free Tethering for Android!

The ability to use your phone’s 3G internet connection as a source of on-the-go connectivity for laptops, called tethering, has long been a desire for mobile warriors. Yet each solution has significant drawbacks – official methods cost $, or you need to root your phone, or otherwise work around carrier limitations. Now Android hacker Koushik Dutta has come up with a way that is reportedly undetectable to carriers and doesn’t require you to ‘root’ your phone! Fron his Google+ page: Over the last month, I’ve been working on a new app. Tether Alpha is a USB[2] tether solution for Mac,…

Music Diary, News & Features, Reviews December 31, 2011

Music Diary Review: Dave Chisholm – Calligraphy

Dave Chisholm – Calligraphy I reviewed Dave Chisholm’s ‘Radioactive’ nearly a year and a half ago, noting: The thing I love about the ‘new big band’ music like Chisholm’s is that it combines small ensemble open-ness and intercommunication and large group harmonic structure and depth of composition. The title track is a great example – The opening uses the full effect of the large group to build the dramatic effect then breaks out to allow a nice collaborative improvisation until the main theme takes over. In fact, regardless of the size of my portable iTunes Library (I was restricting myself…

eBooks, News & Features December 31, 2011

Evernote Essentials Extra: Car Parts

So you got a new phone, tablet or computer and you are ready to get to work. You will want to check out Evernote. Evernote will let you save pictures, documents and other forms of information in a single place and then access them from virtually any and all devices. And if you are going to use Evernote you are going to want to check out Brett Kelly’s Evernote Essentials: The Definitive Getting Started Guide for Evernote. Evernote Essentials is a PDF book with some great tips that will get you up and running with Evernote in no time. As Brett…

News & Features December 30, 2011

Someone at Apple Was a Ghostbusters Fan…

I love “Ghostbusters”. It’s one of my favorite movies of all time. In fact, I had a plastic Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man decorating more than one of my apartments post-college. How can you not love it? It’s pretty much the perfect movie. And according to The Verge, back in the ’80s someone at Apple felt the same way, and made an anti-IBM/pro-Apple video called “Blue Busters”. It’s funny, though honestly, I think the joke goes on for about a minute longer than necessary. Still, for the one-two punch of nostalgia and surrealism, it’s worth watching the whole thing! Then maybe pop in…

News & Features December 30, 2011

Get Games Serious Sam 3: BFE for $11.99 – Activates Through Steam!

The Serious Sam games are some of my favorite shooters of the last decade, offering awesome mindless fun and constant all-out action with insane amounts of enemies and great weapons. While the two parts of the original game remain my favorites, even Serious Sam II brought loads of fun to shooter fans back in 2005. The latest entry, Serious Sam 3: BFE, was released on November 22nd to solid if unspectacular reviews. Here are some of the features: • Frantic Arcade-Style Action – The calling card of the Serious Sam series, hold down the trigger and lay waste to a…

Music Diary, News & Features December 30, 2011

RIP Free-Jazz Legend Sam Rivers at 88

Today we learned of another sad passing in the music world, of a musician and bandleader who was one of the most reknowned free jazz artists, Sam Rivers. Though he is not known outside of the relatively small creative jazz community, he made a large impact on the music of the last half-century. He is best known for a brief stint with the Miles Davis quintet after George Coleman left but before the ‘great second quintet’ was completed by the addition of Wayne Shorter in 1964. That produced the excellent live recording ‘Miles in Tokyo’ recording which was excellently remastered…

News & Features December 27, 2011

M-Edge Suing Amazon; You Had Better Stock Up on Kindle Cases Now!

M-Edge makes some awesome cases for the Kindle and other ebook readers. They made the case I had my original Kindle in for many years, and I loved it. We’ve also covered many of their iPad cases here at Gear Diary and they consistently receive high marks for build quality and useful, eye-catching designs. Unfortunately, M-Edge is alleging in a lawsuit that Amazon doesn’t feel the same way about their Kindle cases. According to the Wall Street Journal, M-Edge is claiming some pretty unpleasant business dealings have gone down with Amazon: M-Edge said in the lawsuit that in November 2009,…

News & Features December 26, 2011

Things You’ve Never Wondered… How to Shrink a Head

Have you ever wondered how to shrink a head? Yeah, me either. But this month’s National Geographic Magazine, downloaded via Zinio of course, has a one page explanation of the how, and the why, of the process.

Editorials, Game Diary, News & Features December 24, 2011

GameLoft Abruptly Changes Hero of Sparta 2 to ‘Free to Play’, Angering Current Owners

Earlier this week in my list of iTunes App Store deals, I mentioned that Hero of Sparta 2 was ‘free for a limited time’. Turns out I was wrong – the update switched the game to a ‘free to play’ model full-up with ads! Those who had actually paid for the game were angered by the sudden appearance of an egregious amount of intrusive ads (I had to check it out myself … it was awful)! Fortunately after a couple of days of uproar, GameLoft has retreated. According to GameLoft’s Facebook page: “Gameloft wishes to apologize to the fans of…

News & Features December 23, 2011

(Don’t) Hold the Phone: NTSB Secretary Nixes Support for Hands-free Ban

A week ago Michael Anderson posted a thought-provoking article here about the National Transportation Safety Board showing data that tended to support the notion that hands-free cellular use was just as hazardous as using a handheld phone. That the NTSB was mulling a recommendation for total cell phone/hands free ban was dire news indeed, both for automakers who spend huge sums on developing hands-free car technology and for us as the driver/talkers. In an abrupt split from his department however, NTSB Secretary Ray LaHood told reporters on Wednesday: “The problem is not hands-free. That is not the big problem in America….

News & Features December 23, 2011

US Cellular Launching Huawei Ascend II in January for FREE After Rebate!

Phones such as the Samsung Repp and HTC Wildfire have shown that low-end devices still have much to offer, and the Huawei Ascend II looks to step in at a somewhat higher level but still be available for free after rebate! This is the description: The Huawei Ascend IITM with Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) is your entertainment center, GPS navigator, news and weather hub, and your social network connection all in one powerful, pocket-sized device. Stream content from the web or your own media library and view it on the 3.5″ HVGA touchscreen display. Grab apps from the Android Marketplace and…

News & Features December 23, 2011

It’s the End of B&N As We Know It

Oh Barnes and Noble…I keep saying you aren’t Borders, and then you go and stock crock pots for the holidays. Cooking appliances. In a bookstore. Not even near the cookbooks, just chilling near bargain titles. Why? Did the NOOK line open the floodgates? Are you morphing into Target by carrying appliances while Target morphs into a bookstore with their expanded book sections? Is it bizarro land? I just hope this isn’t B&N’s sparkly Jesus piggy bank. A few years ago, Borders sold sparkly, Jesus shaped piggy banks. Then they went out of business. Coincidence? I think not. Please stick to…

News & Features December 22, 2011

TimeHop Rewinds Your Social Networking Calendar

One thing I like about the Facebook Timeline view (perhaps the only thing) is the ability to hop back in time to see what was going on in 2007. Now TimeHop will help you get a daily dose of short-term nostalgia. TimeHop sends a daily email of the user’s activity on Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare, and Instagram, from exactly one year ago. You simply link those accounts and then you start getting a daily update of exactly what was happening the year before! Does that sound interesting to you? If so, head to TimeHop and check it out! Source: Neatorama

News & Features December 21, 2011

Evernote Essentials Extra: Remember the Rare

Many of the people I’ve turned onto Evernote find it invaluable. Others, however, underutilize the service and, as a result, don’t see what the big deal is. That’s where Evernote Essentials: The Definitive Getting Started Guide for Evernote by Brett Kelly comes in. As Brett explains: The amount of information we want and need to keep track of today is, frankly, ridiculous. Not long ago, my desk was covered with piles of financial statements, medical records, automotive service receipts — and that didn’t even include everything dealing with my job. We all struggle to keep our information organized and accessible,…

Music Diary, News & Features December 21, 2011

University Report Attempts to Mathematically Describe ‘How to Make a Hit Song’

Do you know what it takes to make a hit song? Mathematicians from Bristol University in the UK purport that their ‘Hit Equation’ is extremely accurate at predicting what will and will not be a hit. They have a site called Score-a-Hit that describes all of this. Here is a snip: Mathematical Definition To quantify the hit potential of a song, we make use of the regression technique. Mathematically, the hit potential (peak UK chart position) of a song is denoted by a variable y and a set of audio features x of the song are also presented. A pre-trained…

News & Features December 21, 2011

Box.net Becomes ‘Box’, Details Future Plans

For most people, when they hear ‘box’ related to cloud storage they might think of ‘another’ company, but Box.net has been a very popular service and has recently been giving away ’50GB for Life’ to mobile users. Now they are changing things again, starting with their name – they are now just BOX. Here are some details from their blog: We Dropped the .net Bet you didn’t even notice! Don’t worry: everything has transitioned seamlessly, including all your shared links, widgets, integrations and content. Thanks for being the most important part of … not Box.net … nor Box.com … just…

News & Features, Vehicles & Gear December 21, 2011

OnStar and NORAD warming up the Santa Tracker

As Christmas Eve approaches and the world eagerly awaits the arrival of Ole’ Saint Nick, children of all ages can track the big guy as he and his sleigh make their way around the globe visiting those of us who have been naughty or nice. OnStar, in partnership with the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD), is offering its Santa Tracker services once again this Christmas. Beginning at 7 a.m. EST Dec. 24, OnStar subscribers, including those with the new FMV OnStar systems, can simply press the blue OnStar button and request a Santa update. Advisors will share Santa’s current…

News & Features December 21, 2011

The Hobbit First Teaser Trailer Released

The first view of JRR Tolkein’s universe most of us got was through the wonderful story ‘The Hobbit’, which is a less intimidating initial read than the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Now we get a first look at the upcoming Hobbit film made by Peter Jackson with most of the original Lord of the Rings cast! Here is the synopsis from the Apple trailer site: “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey” follows title character Bilbo Baggins, who is swept into an epic quest to reclaim the lost Dwarf Kingdom of Erebor, which was long ago conquered by the dragon Smaug….

News & Features December 21, 2011

“Healthy” Foods to Avoid

Sure, you want to eat better, and maybe that’s your new year’s resolution. But be very, very careful when shopping, as labels like “natural” and “low fat” don’t always mean something is good for you. While that’s become (somewhat) common sense, it seems like crappy foods are finding more and more ways to sneak into our grocery carts. Fitbie came up with a list of 16 foods that are significantly worse for you than they sound at first glance, and a few of them may really surprise you! Before you swap sugar for agave syrup or believe the “corn sugar”…

News & Features December 21, 2011

Griffin and Third Man Records Put a Spin on Your iPhone 4S with a Case Custom Cut from a 7” Vinyl Record

My hometown of Nashville, TN is full of stars, and not just the country music kind. It’s a little-known secret that lots of actors and musicians from other genres choose to live in the area because, in general, we Nashvillagers pretty much leave them alone when we see them out in public. Nicole Kidman shops all the time at my local Whole Foods and can dine in peace at the food bar with no fear of autograph hounds. Peter Frampton has become a gentleman farmer in a Nashville suburb, and ESPN’s Kirk Herbstreit moved here from Columbus, OH to escape…