News

Wall Street Journal Fans the Flames of Malicious App Paranoia

Know how you can tell smartphones and app stores are truly mainstream? No, it’s not because my mother just bought a Blackberry! It’s because the Wall Street Journal is writing articles on apps, and that <gasp> malicious apps have been creeping into the smartphone space. I am being a bit tongue in cheek; the Wall Street Journal is, as always, fairly even and conservative in their tone: As smartphones and the applications that run on them take off, businesses and consumers are beginning to confront a budding dark side of the wireless Web. Online stores run by Apple Inc., Google…


Android and the iPhone 4 Announcement (NSFW)

Well, it was only a matter of time after Steve Jobs made his infamous “If you want porn, buy an Android phone” comment…but there’s officially a youtube parody of the iPhone 4 announcement, which features dancing robots singing that the Android phone is for porn (like the Avenue Q song “The Internet is for Porn”.) It’s not suitable for work, but it is quite funny! And for your viewing pleasure, the Avenue Q song “The Internet is for Porn”: Via AndroidCentral


Today is National Running Day! Here’s Some Gear Worth A Look

Today is National Running Day! It is a perfect day to check out the Couch-to-5K Running Plan Larry turned a bunch of us onto a few weeks back… …or grab one of the numerous C25K iPhone apps currently available in the App Store. There are a number of them. It is also a great day to check out some good accessories to go along for the ride run. Here are two examples… If you are using an iPod Nano during your run instead of an iPhone or touch (the C25K apps require OS iPhone) take a look at the iSkin…


iPad App- “Bible’s Top10 – ‘Spoken by God'”- When You Really Need to Get Your Fire and Brimstone On

Ah yes, now you too can hear the voice of God uttering the Big 10. A new iPad app lets you: Listen to the holy word of God on you iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad. Feel the strength and passion of the Bible´s most sacred laws. God spoke on Mount Sinai to share with the world these 10 rules to be followed for a holy and moral life. Touch the screen and listen. Each law appears in text and with sound as you touch the stone tablets on the screen. I just had to hear what the “voice of God”…


Best Buy Steps up Their eReader Marketing

When I was in my local Best Buy this weekend, I spent some time exploring their ebook reader displays. A few months ago I was in Best Buy and noted the extent of their eReader display was a sad shelf of Sony Readers. Not terribly exciting, and worst of all it was off at a weird angle, sort of tucked away from the main aisles. If you didn’t venture through the middle of the store you wouldn’t find it. Now that Best Buy is selling the Barnes and Noble nook, it’s a whole new ballgame. They cleaned up the Sony…


John McLaughlin and the 4th Dimension – To The One Review

Apparently April was CD-release party month at the old-British guitar legends home! Hot on the heels of Jeff Beck’s Emotion & Commotion comes To The One from John McLaughlin. While McLaughlin might not carry the same name recognition as Beck outside of the jazz world, the impact of the contributions of the 68-year old McLaughlin rival if not exceed those of his younger country-mate. Another similarity is that neither of these greats have rested on their laurels, constantly pushing ahead. Yet there is always a common thread and respect for their own history and fan-base. Such is case with the…


C25K Week 3: Protect Those Feet

Larry: Week 3 of the C25K is in the books.  This week’s workouts got a little harder and the first 3-minute run was a bit of a struggle but once out of the way I could start to feel the return of my endurance, even if it was ever so slightly. Brisk five-minute warmup walk, then do two repetitions of the following: Jog 200 yards (or 90 seconds) Walk 200 yards (or 90 seconds) Jog 400 yards (or 3 minutes) Walk 400 yards (or three minutes) Judie: Those three minute jogs were a killer, and since I got a new…


New eBook Readers Coming This Summer?

Looks like this might be the summer of ebook readers! Rumors are flying about new Kindles and nooks, the Kobo reader is hitting Borders Stores, and that’s without considering the impact all the potential Android tablets will have on the reader market. While there’s been some ebook rivalry so far, I think this next wave of readers is where the B&N-Amazon-Borders-Tablet rivalry is really going to get heated. Engadget caught an interesting FCC filing for a WiFi-only ebook reader from Barnes and Noble. Most likely it is the rumored “nook lite”. No word on whether it will be the same…


Sling for Android Is Almost Here!

I’m in the process of deciding how to rework my home tv setup. At this point it’s a matter of when, not if, my TiVo will die…and as I’ve said before, I don’t really see the value of upgrading to another TiVo. Since I’ll be reworking my whole setup anyway, the thought crossed my mind that a Slingbox might be fun to have. Now that I’ve seen Engadget’s preview of Sling for Android, I DEFINITELY want a Slingplayer! It looks really slick, even if it did have some beta bugs, and I am sure it will look great on the…


Skype Finally Enables iPhone Calls Over 3G

At long last Skype has enabled calling over the 3G connection. This feature has been promised and promised and promised and finally it’s why. That means that when you’re away from your WiFi connection you can still use Skype to make voice calls. But it gets even better than that. Until the end of August Skype calls over 3G will be free. (Of course data connections will still apply.) According to the upgrade information, there will be a small charge for such calls after that but for now… call away. Do you think AT&T can handle the additional traffic? We’ll…


MacCase iPad Line Up Revealed, Pre-Ordering Begins

Michael Santoro President/ Chief Creative Officer of Mac-Case just let me know that pre-ordering for several of their new Premium Leather iPad case designs has begun, and the first are scheduled to arrive toward the end of June. The initial shipments include their Flight Jacket, Vertical Sleeve and their first ever Horizontal Sleeve. The final touches are being put on their new Folio which should also be available for pre-order soon. At the current time the cases will be available in Black and Vintage, but they will be adding Red if there is enough customer interest. In addition Santoro noted…


R.I.P Gary Coleman – Child Actor and Star of Diff’rent Strokes

Gary Coleman died yesterday after falling into a coma following an intracranial hemorrhage, with some reports indicating he might have had a fall that led to the brain trauma. For many of us who grew up watching Coleman on Diff’rent Strokes, it is yet another “died too soon” on a growing list of our childhood icons. According to an ABC article: Celebrity website RadarOnline.com said Coleman, 42, was taken off life support on Friday, and similar reports were filed by showbiz site TMZ.com and by CNN, citing a spokeswoman at the Utah Valley Regional Medical Center in Provo, Utah. The…


Apple TV… “I’m Not Dead Yet”

According to Engadget Apple TV is not only not dead but it is coming soon as a totally revamped item that will bring streaming media to your TV. According to the post- The new architecture of the device will be based directly on the iPhone 4, meaning it will get the same internals, down to that A4 CPU and a limited amount of flash storage — 16GB to be exact — though it will be capable of full 1080p HD (!). The device is said to be quite small with a scarce amount of ports (only the power socket and…


With Line2 Update The iPad Really Is A Phone

We are spending a few days up in the mountains. It is beautiful. It is peaceful. It is a great place to get some work done. Only problem is… The cell reception here is terrible and our landline costs a fortune. Luckily I still have my subscription to the Line2 VoIP app and it works great. Seriously the call quality is fantastic, and it is what I am using constantly up here. Better still, if your iDevice is jailbroken, then you can leave the app running and receive calls on it. Well an update just hit my iPad and iPhone,…


USB Flash Drive Cufflinks- What The Well-Dressed Geek Is Wearing These Days

OK, these are too cool. They look like nice, rather simple cufflinks, but they are much more than that thanks to a hidden surprise. That surprise? Each cufflink offers 2GB of storage. Pop off the top of either, plug it into a USB port and… Bam… Access whatever you have stored on them as you would with any USB flash drive. The cufflinks come in three finishes- silver, gunmetal and gold plated. They are available for pre-order now and begin shipping tomorrow (May 26th). Such techie fashion won’t come cheap however, as the cufflinks cost $199 a pair. Engraving costs…


iPhone Calls Shotgun With New Safe Driver App

Here is an app that caught my interest as soon as I saw the e-mail. Worry is probably the leading cause of stress for many parents and vehicle fleet managers alike. Dangerous Decisions has released an Apple iPhone app designed to monitor driving conditions in a vehicle and it is available as a basic free download or in a pro version that carries a one-time price of $24.99. No sooner did I hit the sentence in the press release with the link to the download site than I put the free version on my iPhone and went out for a…


Lapworks iPad Recliner Brings LaZBoy Goodness to Your Workspace

The iPad simply begs to be held in a propped position, whether it’s being used as an extra computer monitor, as a cookbook in the kitchen, with a Bluetooth keyboard as an impromptu netbook replacement, or in any o dozens of other scenarios. Those who agree will want to pay attention to the latest offering from Lapworks … the iPad Recliner. What sets it apart from all the other iPad docks? The iPad Recliner is unique because it is one of the few iPad stands that has dozens of incline positions to choose from. The majority of the iPad stands…


5 Ways iPad is Better Than Netbook … and 5 Ways it is Worse

Prior to the release of the iPad, there were a multitude of articles – some touting 15 ways the iPad was better than a netbook, and others talking about the 42 ways the netbook was better than the iPad, and so on. As my Netbook Gamer series indicates, I am a netbook lover. I am also a proud iPad owner, and have had a few weeks using them both to look at the strengths and weaknesses of each. So here are 5 ways I feel each is better than the other … and I leave it to you to decide…


Larry and Dan Are Back With Gear Chat #10- Jailbreak!!

Larry and Dan are back after a few week break. In this podcast they focus on jailbreaking their iPhone, iPod touches and iPads, highlight a few iPad and iPhone apps, touch on some items making news and offer a few tips and tricks. Some of the jailbreak apps we are enjoying… Activator Backgrounder FullForce Infiniboard Infinidock Categories Also in this podcast- iPad apps FlickPad and NotesToStore. You can download from iTunes…


JAVOedge Releases iPad SleeveCases In Three Styles

JAVOedge has just released a series of iPad sleeves and they look great. The three styles, the Poppy Sleeve Case, the Kyoto Sleeve Case, and the Fiber Sleeve Cases are all “animal-friendly” (ie non-leather) with the Poppy Sleeve available in “sunny yellow”, “sky blue”, and “tangerine red”. As the company puts it, “The Sleeve Cases are nice enough to carry alone and show off.” They aren’t kidding. All three look both stylish and functional, offering good protection for your iPad while also making it simple to access it whenever you choose. Let’s take a quick look at each. The JAVOedge…


More Kindle for Android Details!

The lucky guys at Android Central got their hands on a demo of Kindle for Android, and it looks amazing. If you watch the video, there’s a brief force close (oops!), and a demo of some of the settings. Highlights for me were the ability to change the background colors and a brightness slider; when you’re dealing with a bright, high-resolution screen, being able to adjust how you view an ebook is a must. After watching the video, this makes me want Kindle for Android now! Summer can’t come soon enough…note to Amazon: I’ll be traveling in June and July,…