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eMusic Gets New Brothers - Warner Bros., That Is

News

eMusic Gets New Brothers – Warner Bros., That Is

I’ve been a long-time user of eMusic’s subscription service.  One of the early online music services (selling DRM-free MP3 downloads since 1998), eMusic was the first of which I was aware to offer a subscription-based music sales model.  They offer several different monthly packages for which you receive credits that can be used for purchasing individual tracks or whole albums.  The cost per track ranges from $0.54 for an eMusic Lite monthly subscription to $0.36 for an eMusic Plus annual subscription.  Many albums are available for 12 credits – or roughly $6, depending on your subscription level. Until the middle…

Quirky Cable Caps

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Quirky Cable Caps

Quirky, who use a community-driven process to determine which products to bring to market, and brings many products to market very quickly, have released their latest effort – Quirky Cable Caps. These caps, in 6 different styles, are designed to protect the (male) ends of USB cables and wrap up any excess cable as well.  They each have a wild-looking head which slides over the cable end, and a rubber band type of body used to tie up the excess cable. The six styles available are: Printer Man, Phone Dude, Camera Gal, Eye Baller, Egg Man, and ‘Da Bulb.  They are…

Oh eBook(stores), Where Art Thou?

eBooks, News

Oh eBook(stores), Where Art Thou?

CES proved there’s an onslaught of Android tablets headed our way this year, from the Entourage Edge to the Dell Mini 5 to the Notion Ink Adam. And of course, Judie and Dan have been familiarizing themselves with the Camangi Web Tablet. But something’s missing from this Android tablet equation: Where are the big eBook stores on Android?

PriceGrabber.com: Now In A Convenient App for iPhone

Events, News

PriceGrabber.com: Now In A Convenient App for iPhone

I admit it – I can be cheap sometimes. As such, I’ve used pricegrabber.com for years to compare prices on things – especially technology-based products.  Now it seems that it’s made its way directly to the iPhone in the form of the PriceGrabber App for iPhone. The folks at PriceGrabber recognized that many people now use their cell phone as a resource to access the web, researching pricing and other information about products they may be interested in. So now with this new application you have access to the information on PriceGrabber.com with a nice application front-end.   You can see pricing…

Que Publishing Releases Windows 7 Your Way by Michael Miller

eBooks, Events, News

Que Publishing Releases Windows 7 Your Way by Michael Miller

Just published is Windows 7 Your Way: Speed Up and Customize Windows  by Michael Miller from Que Publishing. This book promises to help you make your Windows 7 experience “faster, smarter, easier, better.” They talk about removing bloatware, surfing the web safely, getting better performance and battery life out of your notebook, fixing some of the Windows 7 annoyances, and even finding alternatives to some of the built-in MS software.  Better still, they promise to help you with all of these things in a way that is easy to understand – no advanced degree required! Not long ago I reviewed Microsoft…

Text Input On The Camangi WebStation

eBooks, News

Text Input On The Camangi WebStation

Dan: Judie and I are continuing to play with, tweak and become familiar with our Camangi Webstations. There is no question that it excels as an e-book reader. Thanks to The Android version of eReader both of us have downloaded our libraries and had a number of sessions reading from the device. There is no question that it works quite well in this regard. It allows you to read both in landscape and portrait mode, lets you change the font, is backlit (something that isn’t possible with a device that uses ePaper, and, thanks to the testing, navigation is as…

Camangi Webstation Includes GPS... DHL Could Use One

eBooks, News

Camangi Webstation Includes GPS… DHL Could Use One

I wasn’t going to write a post about my experience with shipper DHL yesterday. Yes, although they told me on the phone twice that my Camangi WebStation was on the way it never came. Yes, I had to look on while Judie unboxed hers. I had to listen to her “ooh and ahhh”, all the time thinking that mine was on the way any second when, in fact, it wasn’t. Yes, my exchanges with their customer reps left much to be desired. But still, I had no plans to write a post about my experience. Elana just got off the…

Do TONS more with your Magic Mouse

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Do TONS more with your Magic Mouse

There’s no denying the “cool” factor of Apple’s Magic Mouse.  The sleek top, which allows for not only clicking but also swiping and pinching is a tremendous update to its previous version, the Mighty Mouse. But if you need even more out of your Magic Mouse, well then I’ve got the application for you. Magic Prefs is an add on for your Magic Mouse, which allows for a staggering amount of configurable add-ons.  “It features the ability to bind a variable number of finger clicks, taps, swipes, pinch and other gestures to functions like Middle Click , Hold Down Both…

The Dallas Cowboys Stadium Video Board: Gimme Some High Def

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The Dallas Cowboys Stadium Video Board: Gimme Some High Def

If you are a sports fan, or even a stadium / architectural junkie, there has been much written and discussed about the new Dallas Cowboys Stadium. Besides the cost of 1.15 billion Texas bucks, amazing engineering, the lavish interior, retractable end zone glass doors and roof — the largest enclosed NFL stadium is a visual jaw dropping experience when viewed in person. As a life long Dallas Cowboys (and Tennessee Titans) fan, I recently took advantage of Southwest Airline’s fare sale to catch a game day experience at the new Cowboys Stadium.  I purposed to take my camera and capture…

iPhone EXOVault: Not your daddy's plastic slider case

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iPhone EXOVault: Not your daddy’s plastic slider case

It’s no secret.  I’ve got  ton of iPhone cases.  Are many of them the same color?  Yes.  Are many of them the same style (i.e. slider, snap on etc?)  Yes. Are you in the same situation, and tired of looking at the same old style of case for you iPhone?  Hunkering for something totally unique and totally different? The EXOvault, recently reviewed by YouTuber ThatSnazzyiPhoneGuy, might be the case you’ve been looking for. Handcrafted, by NYC artists, from solid metal stock in two pieces, the case provides you with a distinctive and beautiful handcrafted object that sets itself apart from…

With SurePayroll's iPhone App, You Can Now Process Payroll Anywhere. Uh, Yea?

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With SurePayroll’s iPhone App, You Can Now Process Payroll Anywhere. Uh, Yea?

Are you a small business owner or entrepreneur?  When things are tight and sales are slight, have you ever “forgotten” to process payroll before leaving the office for the golf course?  Well, SurePayroll, an online payroll service, has just ruined your day.  SurePayroll has just released a free iPhone app for small business owners who use their service.  No longer do you need to be at your desk or even in front of your laptop.  The iPhone app provides access to SurePayroll accounts and allows the user to: Enter payroll information and preview totals, including calculating wages and deductions.  The…

Merecal is a Media Lovers Friend

eBooks, News

Merecal is a Media Lovers Friend

I got a $100 Amazon gift certificate from Kerry for Christmas (thank you Kerry!!), and for half a second I was tempted to blow it immediately on Kindle titles from authors I already follow. After thinking about it, I instead sent out a tweet asking for suggestions. One of them came from @Merecal … “Weird name” I thought to myself, but I didn’t yet understand. I went to the site and saw a full list of books – many by authors that I follow, and many of them not yet available. I looked at the titles and saw ‘bindings” specified…

PocketMap Navigator 2010 Released

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PocketMap Navigator 2010 Released

Space Machine, the makers of Pocket Map navigation software for PNAs and Windows Mobile, have released Pocket Map Navigator 2010. This release doesn’t add any major new features, but rather the big news with this release is that they’ve included the newest updated Navteq maps and they’ve improved some of their routing. PocketMap Navigator has been a long-time favorite of mine on the Windows Mobile platform due to its excellent interface.  You can read my review of PocketMap Navigator here. PocketMap Navigator is available from the PocketMap store.  The price is now only$59.95 for the full USA version.

Is GPS Becoming Information Overload?

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Is GPS Becoming Information Overload?

Do you have a GPS in your car? I do, and sometimes it gets to be too much in traffic; between stop and go, lights, construction, and the sound of my GPS droning away, it can become a bit overwhelming. I’ve even been known to threaten to throw the yappy thing out the window a few times when it all becomes too much. According to a Tech.view column in the Economist, it might not be me. Apparently, we can only process so much information at once, and beyond that, the brain simply cannot take it all in clearly. So as…

OnStar Connects Children to Santa with the Push of a Button

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OnStar Connects Children to Santa with the Push of a Button

NORAD partnership provides location information for subscribers; Santa’s sleigh gets fitted with OnStar technology DETROIT –Santa Claus is getting a technology upgrade this Christmas season. This Christmas Eve for the first time, OnStar subscribers will have the ability to follow Santa’s journey around the world using their OnStar system thanks to a new partnership with The North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD). Starting at 6:00 a.m. EST on December 24, drivers with an active OnStar subscription will be able to press the blue OnStar button in their vehicles and request a “Santa Update.” From there, an OnStar advisor will share…

Stephen Covey Strikes an Exclusive eBook Deal: What Does This Mean for Authors and Royalties?

eBooks, News

Stephen Covey Strikes an Exclusive eBook Deal: What Does This Mean for Authors and Royalties?

Stephen Covey is proving one of the habits of highly successful people is playing hardball; he’s struck a deal with Amazon to make them the exclusive providers of his eBooks, in exchange for at least 50% of the sales revenue. Amazon will also be promoting his books heavily. What does this mean for publishers, authors, and the concept of royalties in the digital age? We convened a Gear Diary chat session to hash it all out!

Apple Wins a Permanent Injunction Against Psystar

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Apple Wins a Permanent Injunction Against Psystar

It looks like Apple has won a permanent injunction against Psystar. The judge has ordered Psystar to comply with the injunction by December 31st. The injunction specifically calls on Psystar to stop: * Copying, selling, offering to sell, distributing or creating derivative works of Mac OS X without authorization from Apple. * Intentionally inducing, aiding, assisting, abetting or encouraging any other person or entity to infringe Apple’s copyrighted Mac OS X software. * Circumventing any technological measure that effectively controls access Mac OS X, including, but not limited to, the technological measure used by Apple to prevent unauthorized copying of…

No Picture

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Cliffs Notes of 2009 Movies

This video is awesome. It’s a mashup of the trailers from the last year or so, stitched together to make them look like one movie. See? Gear Diary just saved you the trouble of digging your way out from underneath your overstuffed Netflix queue! via Seattleist

Barnes and Noble Moves to ePUB

eBooks, News

Barnes and Noble Moves to ePUB

Teleread received a tip from one of their readers that books downloaded from the Barnes and Noble eBook store are coming in ePUB now, instead of the legacy PDB format used by eReader/Fictionwise. It also seems that Teleread is jumping on the “eReader is generic” bandwagon, since they point out that even Barnes and Noble can’t keep them straight.