News & Features | Gear Diary

“We’re Not Dead Yet!” Says Borders

(image courtesy Magnificent Vista) There’s a slight, baby, teeny-tiny glimmer of hope for Borders. Apparently, they’re not quite dead yet. Late breaking news today indicated Borders is making inroads on restructuring their debt, AND they aren’t hiring bankruptcy lawyers. According to Bloomberg news: Borders Group Inc., the second- largest U.S. bookstore chain, surged in after-hours trading on a report that Jefferies & Co. is helping the company restructure its debt. The investment bank is advising the Ann Arbor, Michigan- based chain on reworking its debt load, the Wall Street Journal reported today, citing people familiar with the matter. Borders doesn’t have…

Events, News & Features

How Many Bloggers Does It Take to Screw in an Archerfish Solo?

“Installing Archerfish Solo is now as easy as screwing in a light bulb – literally.” Okay, now we’re talking… a product tag line that promises something I can handle. No drills, hammers, screwdrivers, or circular saws. The Archerfish Solo is advertised as “thinking camera” featuring “built-in Homeland Security technology” that allows it to interpret what it sees, so it only shows you what you want to see – those types of activities that made you install a security camera in the first place – rather than making you weed through hours of uneventful video. Cernium Corporation, makers of the Archerfish…

Events, News & Features

Corning Gorilla Glass: Not Just For Smartphones Anymore!

Corning’s Gorilla Glass has become the industry standard in just a few short years for an obvious reason: people don’t like their phones to shatter. While the glass isn’t completely indestructible, it has shown an unprecedented ability to resist scratches and breaks in normal use. The list of devices using the glass is impressive, and that is with some (ahem) well known users left off the list. Here is just a sampling: Handheld Devices * Dell: Aero, Streak, Venue Pro * LG: LG Mini, Arena TV, Ophone, Ally, Optimus 7 * Motorola: BACKFLIP, BRAVO, CHARM, CLIQ, CLIQ XT, DEFY, DEVOUR,…

Events, News & Features

CESLive- Skype Press Conference: Acquires qik Plus More

The press conference with Skype brought some important news. There were 90 billion minutes of calls on Skype last year. Video is the next big thing in communication. They launched Skype for iPhone on New Years Eve. First day saw four million downloads and one million video calls! Then came the big news. Just announced that they have purchased qik. Also announced group video calls that let up to ten people talk at a time. Also adding more companies such as Visio and Sony into the live innovation. Panasonic is also adding Skype technology blueray players. All exciting news for…

News & Features

Cool Tech Stuff: Next Mars Rover to Use Laser Spectrometer for ‘Real Time’ Decision-Making

Image courtesy of Wired One of the big problems with remote exploration using automated systems is figuring out what is important and using that information to make decisions that will allow you to alter your collection plans to gain more information during the study. When sending an automated exploration vehicle to Mars, those problems are amplified enormously – space and power become a huge issue. Look at this example from a new article at PhotonicsOnline: After NASA’s Mars Exploration Rover Spirit examined an outcrop called “Comanche” in 2005, it took years of analyzing indirect evidence before the team could confidently…

News & Features

Mac App Store Now Live With >1,000 Apps, Requires OS X 10.6.6 Update

This morning I got a couple of emails from Apple, but the one that immediately grabbed my attention was “The Mac App Store. Grand opening today.” There isn’t much to tell as of yet – there are over 1,000 apps loaded up and ready to go, and the process of checking everything out is as simple as using the iTunes App Store! I haven’t bought anything yet, as I took care of iLife, MS Office and MobileMe before the holidays. One thing to note: as stated in the press release below, to get the App Store you need to grab…

Events, News & Features

Video Exclusive: ioSafe Rugged Portable Hard Drive Given a Hard Time!

We just posted the release of ioSafe’s newest hard drive product right here. Just like last year, Dan, Judie and Larry were able to see the ioSafe perform in person. Last year, the demo showed how well their products stand up to fire which was right up Larry’s alley. This year they dragged one behind a van then shot it! To make it even better, the Gear Diary editors get to take the shots!!! Of course, I am saying Judie and Kevin took the best shots since they are fellow Texans and all. Watch the video and I promise you…

News & Features

Astraware and Digital Eel launch Weird Worlds: Return To Infinite Space on the iPad

Along with all of the gadgets at CES, some new games are also being released this week. Astraware has just released a new iPad game, Weird Worlds: Return To Infinite Space. This is the iPad take on the Mac/PC game of the same name. The iPad seems like a great platform to engage in space combat. Here is the complete release from Astraware. Watch soon for a full review. Astraware and Digital Eel launch Weird Worlds: Return to Infinite Space on the iPad Staffordshire, UK – January 5th 2011 – Astraware® is excited to announce it’s going to be a…

News & Features

On the 25th Anniversary of Rocky IV, Take a Quiz to Remind You of a Time Long Ago …

Just before Christmas Rocky IV was on cable yet again, and I watched the last hour of it with my wife and kids. While it was never what anyone would call a ‘good’ movie, certainly not like the original Rocky, it has often been a guilty pleasure because it executes perfectly on the whole built-up feel-good emotional roller-coaster motif. But watching it with kids who were born after the memory of the Soviet era had exited the cultural mainstream brought just how out-of-date all of the Cold War jingoism has become. I would have to put Rocky IV into the…

Events, News & Features

CES: Day 2 Begins…

CES is off and running. We’ve added an image collection to the right-hand side of the site so you can follow our experience.

Events, News & Features

Lenovo Reveals the New IdeaPad U1 with LePad Slate

We’ve been hearing about the Lenovo IdeaPad U1 since CES 2010. Well Lenovo is finally ready to reveal and demo the IdeaPad U1 with LePad slate at CES 2011 at the Venetian. The U1 is a ultramobile laptop uses a slate running Android 2.2, called LePad as it’s screen. Specs for the tablet include a Snapdragon processor and the laptop portion will be a 1.3 GHz CULV Core i5 chip with 2 Gig of Ram running the 64 bit version of Windows 7 Home Premium. It will be available first in China in the first quarter of 2011 with no…

Events, News & Features

Another Way to Help Haiti In Addition to Supporting Our No Baggage Challenge for Charity

As you, hopefully, know by now, Larry and I have embarked upon a week-long No Baggage Challenge for Charity. We left the East Coast yesterday morning with just the clothes on our backs and arrived in Las Vegas for CES a few hours later. We are already getting into a routine of determining what we’re going to wear one day while washing the clothes we wore the previous one. It’s a great way to demonstrate how little we actually need while traveling- especially when using SCOTTEVEST clothing, but there is an additional reason why we are doing this. It was…

Events, News & Features, Vehicles & Gear

2 Shows, 7 Days, 8 Letters: CES, NAIAS

Clean out your inboxes and keep your smartphones charged – two of the biggest events of the year are about to bombard the (tech-savvy/info-hungry) world with headlines, sound bites and image overload. CES kicks off the new year with the annual “everything electronics” show this week in Las Vegas and right on the heels of that comes press days at the North American International Auto Show out of Detroit. Both shows will undoubtedly be celebrating a rebound-of-sorts of the economy while looking towards a brighter, GREENER future. While the crack GearDiary team will be providing up-to-the-minute coverage from the show…

Events, News & Features

Foursquare Teams Up with CES in 2011

Foursquare, that cute little services that lets you check in at a venue to let others know you are there, share and read tips about the place and, if you check in often enough, become the Fourquare mayor of the location, has teamed up with CES this year to make things a bit more fun. Last year we had a good time “checking” in constantly. I even earned my one, temporary, mayorship… Yes for a few brief hours I was the major of one of the Vegas Strip tram stops. 🙂 By teaming up with 2011 International CES, Foursquare is…

Events, News & Features

AMD Makes Processors Sound Exciting!

I love corporate thrillers. One of my favorite books of all time is “Paranoia” by Joseph Finder, an awesome espionage/thriller with cool twists. However, despite being big geek words like “silicon” and “graphics chip” don’t really pique my interest. However, AMD has put together an AWESOME trailer for their newest chips, and if this doesn’t make you at least a little curious about their CES announcements, well, you’re clearly not an action fan!

News & Features

George Lucas and the Misunderstood Genius of the Prequel Trilogy?

Despite growing up only a few miles from the original Dunkin Donuts, I have uniformly disliked the advertisements for the shop since enjoying the original ‘Time to Make the Donuts’ commercial … not the least reason for which was that ‘Fred the Baker’ looked much like the guy I worked for through high school and for several breaks during college! The reason I mention that I find the most recent ads annoying, and my wife tells me to stop thinking so much. Over-analysis of movies is pretty much a given, and over the last year or so we have had…

Music Diary, News & Features

Music Diary Notes: The Smithsonian Institute Challenges You to Test Your Jazz Knowledge

Do you love Jazz? Do you like taking sound quizzes? Do you think you know the history of jazz well enough to take a huge online test? Well, the Smithsonian has a challenge for you! Next March, according to the Smithsonian site, an all-new anthology of jazz music, featuring 111 songs across 6 CDs. There is 80% new material compared with the classic 1973 collection – I had this one tape for years until I wore them out and bought it on CD back in the 90’s. Here are some details on the release: Seven years in the making, ‘JAZZ:…

News & Features

Android Market Gets New Look and New Features!

I noticed changes to the look & feel of the Android Market over the holiday break when grabbing some apps for my Droid, but just had the chance to search the Android blog and found more details. Here is some info from the blog: This new Market client introduces important features that improve merchandising of applications, streamline the browse-to-purchase experience, and make it easier for developers to distribute their applications. With a focus on improving discoverability and merchandising, we’ve introduced a new carousel on the home and category screens. Users can quickly flip through the carousel to view promoted applications…

Events, News & Features

Gear Diary’s NoBC to CES for Haiti Plunge- the Packing Episode

Don’t forget: This challenge is benefiting The Haiti Plunge – They are building a road and a new medical clinic among other things in a rural part of Haiti. Please take a second and support them HERE. Today is the day when the SCOTTEVEST No Baggage Challenge for Charity becomes a reality and moves into high gear. Yes, tomorrow morning Larry and I both fly out for Las Vegas and the Consumer Electronics Show 2011. That means today, Sunday, January 2, 2011, is the day when we need to pack our clothes into our luggage. Scratch that, not into our…

News & Features

Gear Diary 2010 Gear of the Year and Predictions for 2011

The past year has seen interesting developments in the gear we all use: the term iOS replaced iPhone OS as the OS that started on iPhone was also on the new iPad when it took the world and Gear Diary writers by storm, Android phones blossomed and became real competitors to the iPhone, and the iPad got its first real competition in the Samsung Galaxy Tab just a few months before 2010 drew to a close. While there’s much more that happened in the past year, I thought let’s ask the following questions of the Gear Diary Team. 1. What was your…

eBooks, News & Features

Welcome to the Death Spiral of Borders

It’s harsh but there’s no other way to put it. News broke this afternoon that Borders is delaying payments to vendors, and is concerned if their creditors do not help with a restructuring that they’re going to run into a “liquidity shortfall”. In other words, there’s no money in the bank to pay anyone. When you’re a person, it makes you a deadbeat. When you’re a large company, it makes you very, very nervous. According to the Wall Street Journal: The nation’s second-largest bookstore chain by revenue, behind Barnes & Noble Inc., said the delays were part of its efforts…