News & Features

eMags and Censorship: Where Do We Draw the Line?

It is not a secret that Apple is notoriously strict about “adult content” on the App Store, but a quick search over the weekend showed that Apple’s reach may go beyond just apps and into the catalogs of content providers as well. And since our findings indicate the same content is unavailable on a new Android app, does that indicate that self-censoring to avoid blockage on iOS devices is resulting in entire categories of material being unavailable on mobile devices? Zinio, the e-magazine company, sells subscriptions to Playboy on their website. But you can’t find Playboy in the…

Gear Bits, News & Features

Scientists Create Implantable Memory, or the Dollhouse Cometh

I recently came across a brief news item about “memory jello”, essentially electronic components that can be placed in the human brain. Hopefully, these have non-nefarious uses, such as assisting people with brain injuries to recover, but if you watched the short-lived “Dollhouse” series, you would likely walk away with a different impression. Dollhouse was a show that took the concept of implantable memory to a whole new level. In it, “Actives” were people whose brains had been wiped clean, and could be “rented” by someone with the right amount of money. The rented “Active” had memories implanted to fit…

Gear Bits, News & Features

Androids in SPAAAAAACE!

image courtesy Brighthand When the alien invaders arrive, they’ll no doubt swing by the International Space Station for a quick rest stop before invading Earth. Let’s hope they’re fans of open source software and not iOS fans since they’ll find Samsung Nexus S phones powering several satellites there. According to Brighthand: SPHERES were created by a group of undergraduate students at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, in conjunction with the Department of Defense and NASA, in 1999. Present on the International Space Station since 2006, SPHERES are individual satellites self-contained with propulsion, power, navigation and computing. Each SPHERE was designed with an…

eBooks, News & Features

Dual-Boot Your Nook Color the Easy Way

Maybe you’ve heard here on Gear Diary that the NOOKcolor makes an excellent Android tablet. If you’re feeling confined by the stock operating system on the nook, even with its new app offerings, there’s always the option of trying a full Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) installation. However, this requires not only a bit of time and patience but a level of comfort with creating either a bootable SD card or <gulp> reflashing the internal NOOK memory. If you go with plan B, well, you’re a brave soul who doesn’t need B&N’s NOOK interface at all. But the stock NOOK reader is…

News & Features

Random Cool Video: The More You Nerd – Slave Leia PSA

Actress Kaley Cuoco is best known for her role on Big Bang Theory, but has had loads of memorable parts including being ‘the teenage daughter’ on John Ritter’s comedy “8 Simple Rules… for Dating My Teenage Daughter”. Part of her appeal is that her impeccable comic timing and charm allow her to simultaneously be ‘the hot chick’ on the show while also endearing and fitting in with a group of asocial nerds. As such she has a tremendous following and high regard from those who identify with the Big Bang Theory characters. She has now stepped up on behalf of…

News & Features

Pop Goes the Music Diary: C’Mon, Admit You Love Adele’s ‘Rolling in the Deep’!

I was never a big fan of Amy Winehouse, finding that her touted ‘Back to Black’ recording had a backing track that sounded sloppy rather than loose and with a vocal that had a ‘blues sound’ rather than sounding bluesy. In other words I found the entire thing contrived. So when British singer Adele appeared a couple of years ago touted as ‘the next Amy Winehouse’ … I was unimpressed and never gave a listen. Now she has stormed the charts with her new album 21, powered by the mega-hit “Rolling in the Deep”. It is a huge success, and…

Gear Bits, News & Features

Sonos + Spotify = Even More Music Throughout the House

Despite using MOG quite a bit recently (It replaced RDIO for me.) I’m still a huge Slacker Radio fan. I like the interface, the customization and the catalogue. And now that you can cache music AND selectively grab tracks or albums it is just awesome. Unfortunately it still doesn’t integrate with my Sonos audio system so, at home at least, it is either MOG or Pandora. Hopefully I’ll have yet another choice before the day is out. Spotify went live in the US this morning and I’m waiting for my invite to arrive so I can try out the long-awaited…

News & Features

Looking for George R. R. Martin’s ‘A Dance With Dragons’ ebook? Forget Comparison Shopping!

It seems like ages ago I wrote about the lunacy of ebook pricing … but things haven’t gotten much better! Today is the release of the fifth book in the critically acclaimed ‘Game of Thrones’ series that has been 15 years in the making, and the first book in six years! I have only recently started reading the mammoth series so I find myself in the position of not needing to rush out and buy the latest book. But that didn’t stop me from looking! And what I found was that although the ebook is at least ~$4 LESS than…

News & Features

Random Cool Technology: LifeLens Smartphone Microscope

We have seen novelty telescope attachments for smartphones in the past, but how about a different kind of attachment – one that works as a microscope and serves as a research and education tool to allow the viewing of the Malaria virus when there is no laboratory available. According to Smartplanet: After smearing a drop of blood from a small finger prick on the microscope lens, the app magnifies and analyzes the sample – taking a photo of it, detecting malarial parasites and ruptured blood cells, conducting blood cell counts for anemia, and quantifying how infected the sample is. “It…

News & Features, Reviews

First Impressions: U.S. Cellular HTC 7 Pro Windows Phone 7 Smartphone

I am very fortunate to have landed a review HTC 7 Pro unit from U.S. Cellular. A month or so ago I wrote about the 7 Pro launching as the first Windows Phone 7 device on U. S. Cellular. I will be doing a full review in the coming weeks, but wanted to give a few first impressions on (a) the phone, (b) the operating system, (c) the apps and (d) the service based on several hours of use this weekend. The Carrier – U. S. Cellular It probably would have made sense for me to check out the…

News & Features

Get Ready for the Finale With Harry Potter – A Look Back!

My family went to the midnight showing of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 last year, and we were all so exhausted that we said ‘never again’. But as we get more and more excited for the final film, my wife said “are you guys up for another show” and we all said YEAH! Early reviews are saying the finale is excellent, which makes us even more pumped to see it – not that it would matter at this point! I thought that by now all of the pre-show hype would settle down, but apparently Warner Brothers has…

News & Features

Google Maps’ Unfortunate Mistake

Google Maps is not infallible. It’s been known to give wonky directions, as Sarah and I learned on Sunday when Google Maps mistakenly thought McCarren Park in Brooklyn was in Manhattan. Luckily we caught the mistake before we got completely lost. However, that’s nothing compared to the Google Maps fail for one NJ neighborhood, where they’ve mistakenly indicated the state park entrance is someone’s driveway. According to NJ.com: Since 1987, Gneiding and her husband Michael Brady have lived in one of three log homes found at the end of a quarter-mile long driveway in Clinton Township. The homes back Round…

News & Features

Enjoy Being ‘King of the Road’ with the Magellan RoadMate Pro 9165T

What good is spending $200K on a land yacht if you end up RVing down a scary rut road that winds through the middle of Deliverance country? Sure, you could buy one of those huge atlases that they sell at every truck stop on the interstate, but this is the middle of 2011! Any self-respecting captain should have the finest navigation tools at his fingertips! And as much as we all love convergence, that doesn’t mean placing your smartphone on a mount in the middle of your 7′ wide x 5′ tall windshield — squinting at its 4″ screen —…

News & Features

Music Diary Notes: Spotify Launch Next Week? Also, No Warner Music Deal (?) and Launch Notes Leaked!

I have written about Spotify’s plans to launch soon, including a sign-up page. However, there were even more interesting developments this week! First, as indicated in the title it seems that Spotify is looking for a launch between the 11th and 18th of July, if we believe a report from the Wall Street Journal: Spotify AB has told record label executives that it is aiming to launch its music-streaming service in the U.S. as early as the middle of next week, according to people familiar with the matter. Next, in spite of the imminent launch, it appears that the deal…

News & Features

The Space Shuttle: A Retrospective

For most of my life I have lived watching the space shuttle program from afar. As a youth, I thought I would have the opportunity to fly on the shuttle. Of course that didn’t happen but I still will miss the shuttle in many ways. Take a walk through my childhood memories of the Space Transportation System. STS-1, the very first shuttle mission was a huge memory for me. When it launched on April 12, 1981, I remember getting out of bed early so we could see the launch together. The memory of seeing this launch on TV with my family is…

News & Features

Random Cool App: Track the Final Shuttle Mission With GoAtlantis

As we prepare for the historic final Space Shuttle mission, many of us who grew up with Apollo and then the advent of the Space Shuttle are feeling a bit nostalgic. If that feeling describes you, or perhaps you just love keeping track of the Space Shuttle as it courses through space above the Earth, then the new app GoAtlantis is just what you need! According to an article at SmartPlanet: A new iPhone and iPad app, GoAtlantis, will allow you to do just that. It will track the space shuttle in real time and, using your phone’s locating function,…

Music Diary, News & Features

Music Diary News: The Real Cost of that New Single … and the Reason You Hear it So Much!

I have talked quite a bit about how the music you hear on the radio and see on the ‘top charts’ has less to do with actual tastes in music and more in massive quantities of money being dumped into making those songs and artists omnipresent and triggering the ‘if I don’t like X I won’t be cool’ … along with the well known fact that when our brain hears something enough it gets ‘stuck’ – even if we don’t like it. I have also written rather derisively about these so-called ‘songwriters’ who are pop stars. While I cannot state…

News & Features

Battery Died on Your iPhone? Play Angry Birds in Real Life!

Admit it, you’ve drained your smartphone battery more than once playing Angry Birds. It’s so hard to leave a level without 3 stars, and the next thing you know you’re blowing past the low battery warnings and then “poof”, no more Angry Birds for you. Well, that was the bad old days of technology, before you could buy your very own “Angry Birds” toy set. Yes, thanks to the good folks at Think Geek, you can build your own live-action Angry Birds game. Even cooler, it’s a multiplayer game. Play as the pigs and try to outsmart your birdbrained opponent,…

News & Features

Skooba Design Introduces the Cable Stable Mini; a Place for Everything, and Everything in Its Place!

If you are still tucking all of your loose cables and supplies into the bottomless pit that makes up your favorite bag, then you seriously ought to take a look at the new Skooba Design Cable Stable Mini. Smaller sibling to the Cable Stable DX, the Cable Stable Mini is designed “to carry a basic assortment of power cords, adapters and other small accessories, and zips shut into a compact, (9 x 5.5 x 1.5 inch) “book” that slips easily into a laptop case, messenger bag, backpack or suitcase.” You won’t be able to help yourself from becoming more organized,…

News & Features

You Suspected They Were the Same Movie … Here’s Proof!

I previously looked at how unsurprisingly music from the same songwriting factories … gasp … sounds alike. But the music industry isn’t the only group pushing out me-too efforts with just enough star power and a low enough budget that even a modest box office take will generate decent profits. Perhaps the worst thing is how these ’bouts of unoriginality’ tend to come in waves – there were buddy-cop movies in the early 90’s, remakes of 60’s TV in the late 90’s, generic RomComs in the early 2000s, and now we have a new twist: buddy romcoms which return to…

News & Features

Wakemate May Help You Wake up Feeling More Refreshed

Wakemate looks like an interesting device that promises to help you get a better night’s rest. Wakemate 2, works with software that runs on iOS, Blackberry and Android devices. To use it, you just set the 20 minute window that you want to wake up in and slip the band on. The band will then keep track of your movements and trigger the alarm to wake you at just the right time; it promises to help you feel more refreshed. They have also included a way for you to report your activities, like going to the gym and how…

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