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A Post Worth Reading From TechCrunch... No Commentary Needed

News & Features

A Post Worth Reading From TechCrunch… No Commentary Needed

So my week’s vacation is coming to an end. The bags are packed, the flight confirmed and the skies have opened up and are pouring on the island where it never rains. My head is clearer save the all-you-can eat and drink Sunday brunch we just visited… Or is it fuzzier… And as a result I have the rare gift of… Perspective. This week gave me the chance to catch up with family, catch up on old Gear Diary posts that other members of the team have written and check out some of the comments that others have shared on…

SplashID KeySafe Unlocks Your Cold, Security-Obsessed Heart

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SplashID KeySafe Unlocks Your Cold, Security-Obsessed Heart

Well, now, what do we have here?  Generally a software company, SplashData has now taken one of their best known software products and merged it with a hardware product.  The SplashID Key Safe is a 2 GB USB drive made to fit on your keychain, but featuring a portable version of SplashData’s well-known password protection program, SplashID.  We’ve reviewed various incarnations of SplashID on this site a number of times in the past and we’ve always had good impressions of it.  I’ve always liked SplashID because it’s available for so many different platforms. The Key Safe includes many of the…

Google Lowers Android App Store Refund Period!

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Google Lowers Android App Store Refund Period!

One of the biggest items that Android fans used to lord over iOS users was the marketplace policy regarding refunds.  On iOS, if you purchased an app and wanted to “return” it for a refund, good luck, and start groveling to Apple or the developer. On Android, if you purchase but uninstall within 24 hours, you get a full refund automatically! No need for as many “lite” versions of programs and it gave you a chance to really kick the tires before you committed your cold hard cash. Well, as of last night, that window has dropped from 24 hours…

R.I.P.: Jazz Legend James Moody Dead at 85

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R.I.P.: Jazz Legend James Moody Dead at 85

Few artists in any field can claim a career that had them active and vibrant across 8 decades. Yet that is the legacy of James Moody, the genial and fabulously talented saxophone and flute player and bandleader who made his first recordings in 1948, and was working right up until his health made it impossible earlier this year. Early this year we learned that Moody was seriously ill and had to undergo surgery, but it was only last month when we learned more details from his wife Linda: “Some of you know that Moody has been ill for quite sometime,”…

Random Cool Stuff: Steve Martin's Royalties for His Bluegrass Recordings? $0.13!

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Random Cool Stuff: Steve Martin’s Royalties for His Bluegrass Recordings? $0.13!

OK, that isn’t the full story, but it is a funny enough image! There is clear irony here in saying “People say the music business is suffering, but it’s NOT.”, but what is the main point? Is it that despite being wildly successful across more than four decades, he is now getting royalty checks for as low as $0.03? Is it that while he has made $0.13 the record company has pocketed the vast majority of the money for his work? Either way, it is pretty funny to think about such small checks for such a major star. As some…

Get Added to Orange UK's Secret Portrait Twitter Gallery

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Get Added to Orange UK’s Secret Portrait Twitter Gallery

I’ve always loved watching caricature artists quickly plot out their exaggerated perception of their subjects, but this new offering from Orange UK’s The Feed takes the art to a whole new level. They are offering “secret portraits” of twitter users based on a tweeted self-description. I am about to enter mine, and I thought you might want to give it a try, too. Describe yourself in a tweet – and don’t forget the #secretportraits hashtag If your tweet intrigues us, our illustrators will dive into your Twitter profile to find out more about you They’ll draw a secret portrait based on…

Random Cool Stuff: Honda's App Tells If You Were Naughty Or Nice on FaceBook This Year ... But Beware!

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Random Cool Stuff: Honda’s App Tells If You Were Naughty Or Nice on FaceBook This Year … But Beware!

Since the advent of the web there have been sites like ‘Santa Trackers’ and ‘Naughty or Nice’ tests that would tell you about your behavior based on answering some questions. And since these were aimed at kids they would never ask anything that would allow a truly evil path. But what would happen if someone were to analyze your Facebook history for the past year? If you head to Honda’s Facebook site, you can start the ‘NaughtyOrNice-a-Tron’, which will dig through everything you’ve done on Facebook this year and then spit out an answer about how you have behaved. It…

From the Unfortunate Name Department: 'Mercury' Playsets for Kids

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From the Unfortunate Name Department: ‘Mercury’ Playsets for Kids

At this time of year many folks are looking for Christmas presents for their kids, and many people want to get something that is more centered around creative play instead of the pre-packed products that are most popular now. They look to the older toys, to Erector Sets, Lincoln Logs, LEGO sets, and so on. At the same time, as someone who writes some offbeat articles for Gear Diary I end up with all kinds of emails, from consumer safety information to import oddities to … well, badly named kids toy sets! At a time when there are seemingly weekly…

Samsung Galaxy Tab Sells 1 Million Units!

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Samsung Galaxy Tab Sells 1 Million Units!

Despite getting some mixed reviews in the press and highly variable pricing, the first major Android tablet, the Samsung Galaxy Tab has sold 1 million units in the two months since release, according to the Korean news site Chosun. Here is a quote from their article: Sales of Samsung Electronics’ Galaxy Tab tablet PC have surpassed the one million mark just two months after its debut. Samsung said Thursday that thanks to the strong market response it has increased its sales target for the year to 1.5 million units. Launched via Italy’s TIM in October, the device is now available…

Now Your iPhone Nags You More Specifically

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Now Your iPhone Nags You More Specifically

Electric Pocket seems to be on an updating roll.  Earlier this week, Doug posted about the new universal version of Electric Pocket’s BugMe! app for iPhone and iPad. Now, it seems that another one of their iOS apps, Nag, has also received an update.   A few weeks back I did a quick review of Nag and liked it for its simplicity. Now, Nag has been updated to include a feature that adds a new customization option.  With the update, users can now change the alarm message and add text to remind you specifically why you’re being nagged.   Nice! You…

Random Cool Stuff: If You Are 30, These Are the Toys You Grew Up With

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Random Cool Stuff: If You Are 30, These Are the Toys You Grew Up With

Over at Milo.com’s Daily Bark, they are featuring a subjective list of the ‘best gifts ever’! It is interesting because it is focused on someone who would have been born in 1980, therefore turning 30 this year. The infograph looks back at what the hot gifts would have been for boys and girls over time. Personally I am too old and my kids are too young to have wanted the kid-centric stuff, but the later stuff … well, who said you ever really had to grow up?!? As I look back over time it is hard for me to peg…

Phone Fail? Motorola Droid Allegedly Explodes While Owner Is In-Call

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Phone Fail? Motorola Droid Allegedly Explodes While Owner Is In-Call

You can’t even make these things up … or maybe you can. It’s hard to imagine that your two-day old Motorola Droid — or any other mobile phone, for that matter — would explode next to your ear while in a call. But that’s exactly what Aron Embry says happened to him yesterday. A North Texas man talking on his cell phone was rushed to a hospital after his phone apparently exploded Thursday morning. Aron Embry was at Ray Elementary in Cedar Hill at the time of the incident. The man said he had just finished a call when he…

NASA Gets One Step Closer to Aliens!

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NASA Gets One Step Closer to Aliens!

(image courtesy Marketing.fm) NASA rocked the scientific world today with a HUGE announcement: Possible aliens! That’s the gist of it, at least. The less exciting part is that they found a bacteria that eats arsenic. But if there is a bacteria that can survive on arsenic, it proves something that’s simply been a theory so far, that life can exist on non-traditional elements. According to CNN: The bacterium — strain GFAJ-1 of the Halomonadaceae family of Gammaproteobacteria — was scooped from sediment in California’s Mono Lake, an area rife with high levels of naturally occurring arsenic, it said. Scientists were…

Angry Birds Replace Nokia in Finnish Hearts

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Angry Birds Replace Nokia in Finnish Hearts

Nokia’s falling star is hurting more than just the company’s bottom line. It was once the pride of Finland and a decent size chunk of the country’s GDP. So it’s been nasty all around to see Nokia get decimated by the iPhone and Android. Surprisingly, Finland has been more than a hotspot for iconic phones; I learned reading Businessweek today that there’s a big software startup movement there, including Rovio (makers of Angry Birds). Yep, the game that seems to have singlehandedly slowed down worker productivity worldwide is helping to fill the gap left by Nokia. Not only that, but…

Caseable Brings out Custom Laptop Sleeves

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Caseable Brings out Custom Laptop Sleeves

Let’s face it, laptop sleeves can be boring.  Well if you just can’t find the pattern or design that fits for your taste, then check out Caseable.  Available in two different styles, the sleeves can be made with images that you provide or you can just pic a color, add text and even add handles to your design. The prices also seem pretty reasonable at only $69.99.  That may sound expensive, but when you think that your case will be handmade in Brooklyn, NY and only with images and colors you approve it’s not bad. Oh and they even make…

Shop Amazon, Wikipedia Style

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Shop Amazon, Wikipedia Style

Amazon isn’t shy about finding new ways to sell books, and now they’ve rolled out a fairly creative one. Using the Creative Commons license, Amazon is recreating Wikipedia articles about authors and books, hosting them on Amazon.com, and inserting links to buy books referenced in the articles. From CNet: “Shopping-enabled Wikipedia pages are a new introduction on Amazon.com,” Amazon spokeswoman Anya Waring told CNET when asked via e-mail. “As of November, we have rolled [the feature] out in the books category; however, [it] will be expanding to new categories in 2011.” It’s not an official partnership, Waring explained. Amazon’s use…

Win a Mystery Item That You KNOW You'll Want from ioSafe

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Win a Mystery Item That You KNOW You’ll Want from ioSafe

This is obnoxious! I am absolutely awful at those “guess what this is” type games where they show you the tiniest portion of a product and expect you to figure out what it is … and this one happens to come with a prize that I am sure I would love to win! ioSafe, makers of the fantastic hard drives that are impervious to fire, water, crushing — or any other disaster man or nature can throw at them (and you had better believe that we have tried!) — is giving away a mystery item that they will soon be…

How 'Just a Big iPod' Changed Our Computing Lives!

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How ‘Just a Big iPod’ Changed Our Computing Lives!

For the second time in two days I was giving a technical talk: one at night in a public setting, the other to a project team at work. In both cases I needed to note some questions, discussions, take contact info and jot down some ‘to do’ tasks and follow ups. It was only when someone said something in each case that I even realized – all I brought with me was my iPad. It has been nearly 8 months since the release of the iPad, and I cannot imagine going anywhere without it. Through numerous discussions I know that…

Be the Band with an Old School Synth Style Tshirt from ThinkGeek

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Be the Band with an Old School Synth Style Tshirt from ThinkGeek

When I graduated from high school, several of the PTAs in San Angelo banded together to do a Project Graduation party … one where we could go and  have fun, win prizes and (theoretically at least) be alcohol-free for the night. One of the events they held which drew the largest audience by far was an air guitar contest. Now bear in mind that I graduated in 1985, so this was before the days of Rockband — my friends were truly standing there, jamming on imaginary guitars — and it was beyond funny, yet also kind of impressive. For some…

The Windows Phone 7 Dell Venue Pro is Now Available

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The Windows Phone 7 Dell Venue Pro is Now Available

The Dell Venue has been one of the more highly anticipated Windows Phone 7 devices, and now you can order your own! $99 with a two-year T-Mobile contract, or $449 contract free, the Dell Venue offers a unique form factor, a huge screen and a possibly triumphant return of Dell in the Windows mobile device space; past-Axim owners rejoice! Introducing the definitive Windows® Phone 7 experience with a 4.1-inch sliding touch display and full QWERTY keyboard.  Features include: The stunning 4.1-inch WVGA AMOLED capacitive, multitouch display enables easier navigation. With Office Mobile built in, you can operate on-the-go as seamlessly…