News & Features | Gear Diary

A Peek Into Our Green-Screen TV Adventures

Have you ever watched a stunning TV episode, or even just a pedestrian street scene, and wondered how they managed to take over that part of Washington / New York / Boston / wherever in order to get the shot? Chances are they didn’t. Stargate Studios, a “visual effects and production services” company, also offers a “Virtual Backlot Library, which includes hundreds of photo-real, virtual locations covering 28 major cities from around the world”. To illustrate their capabilities they have a Virtual Backlot page, a gallery of cities, and also an amazing YouTube video showing before and after green-screen clips…

News & Features

Idol Thoughts: Does Anyone Care Anymore?

Four or five years ago my kids got my wife and I involved watching American Idol from the very beginning of the season, since it was something they discussed with their friends. In various articles I’ve been pretty clear that my musical tastes range pretty far from the popular realm, but family time trumps all for me. On a now defunct site I started writing a series called ‘Idol Thoughts’, where I would blog weekly about the show, later carrying it on to my own personal blog and GamerDad’s blog where it was popular with many other parents who were…

Events, News & Features

HTC Introduces The HD Mini Windows Phone

click to enlarge HTC is introducing a new Windows Phone this morning — the HD Mini. Specifications on the first press release that I received were pretty sparse, as it only said the HD Mini would be “sleek, well-crafted and easy to use,” that it would have a capacitive touchscreen, and that it would offer personal WiFi for your computer or other devices. Because HTC was being stingy with the specs (up until almost midnight last night), I consulted my Magic 8 ball to answer the questions not covered by the vague initial press release, and these were its replies:…

Events, News & Features

HTC Introduces the Legend and Desire Android Phones

the HTC Legend (click to enlarge) This morning HTC is introducing two new Android handsets, the Legend and Desire. Both sport “an enhanced HTC Sense experience that will … take Android to the next level.” Both will also have “broad improvements to applications including the browser, email client and others.” The Legend includes a 3.2″ AMOLED HVGA display. HTC has replaced the trackball with an optical joystick, “surrounded by a narrow button to improve usability without interrupting its unique design.” I won’t know how well it works until I give it a try, but the optical joystick looks pretty quirky….

News & Features

Zibits Minature Robots Will Keep You Entertained

Just what’s needed to brighten up a dreary cubicle and provide entertainment when your warden supervisor isn’t looking — Zibits, a new series of miniature remote controlled robots that are about 2″ tall, move in “several directions including a full 360º rotation”, and that are equipped with “robotic lights and sounds”. Zibits will show up at Toys ‘R Us in mid-March for less than $10. Zibits Miniature Robots

eBooks, News & Features

Is the Honor System a Failure for Books?

(image courtesy Smashwords) Smashwords today on their blog revealed some interesting statistical data; that people are cheapskates. I know, you’re shocked. Try to keep it together for the rest of this post. Apparently, in a wide-ranging study (353 people!) only 15% paid. Everyone else downloaded the book for free. Smashwords explained their take on this data:

News & Features

Survey Uncovers Workplace Behavior and Jargon You Find Annoying

I have just past 1.5 years with my current company after relocating after a layoff from the previous job I had for the better part of 20 years … and I knew I was truly ‘home’ a few weeks ago when I used some of the homespun jargon naturally without thought. Every company regardless of size or industry has its own set of jargon and habits, and a study by Opinium Research reported by Reuters finds the stuff most folks find annoying. Here are the workplace habits: 1. Grumpy or moody colleagues (37 percent) 2. Slow computers (36) 3. Small…

Music Diary, News & Features

After 9 Months of ‘Variable Pricing’ … Music Sales Are Down

Image Courtesy of HardwareZone I think we all recognized the REAL intent last year when Apple finally caved to the music industry to allow for a new price structure in exchange for getting the same DRM-free music they were already giving everyone else: it was to make more money from every type of consumer. Anyone who didn’t get the message that day saw the truth soon enough – like my kids who instantly saw that a $15 iTunes Gift Card was worth about 4 songs less than before. Well, it turns out that folks are none too happy – and…

News & Features

Dog-e-Minder for the Absent Minded Pet Owner

I have mixed feelings about the Dog-e-Minder pet assistant. On the one hand, it looks like this device could be an invaluable tool for remembering pet medications – especially when they have to be administered more than once a day, or it could serve as a way to remember the last time you took your puppy outside during potty training. On the other hand, it seems like the type of person who needs help remembering when the last time they fed or walked their dog might be better off with a cat. Was that too judgmental? Anyway … The simple,…

News & Features

The Urbantrim Squidarella Brings Color to a Rainy Day

the dry Squidarella Like much of the country, West Texas has been experiencing a wetter than usual late winter. Rather than snow, we have had rain … nearly 6″ in some parts of my county alone. Due to the weather, I’ve found myself reaching for an umbrella more times in the last couple of weeks than I had in the last few years. And since my umbrella has basically become a regular accessory, I can’t help but wishing that it was as colorful and interesting as this one. Urbantrim has just launched a new collection of color changing umbrellas. “The…

eBooks, News & Features

Amazon Scores Another Exclusive

Looks like Ian McEwan and Stephen Covey have company in the Amazon exclusives club! Gavin De Becker, author of “The Gift of Fear”, has an exclusive with the Kindle Store for one year. This is probably Amazon’s best defense against the agency model that’s all the rage among scared publishers; Amazon guarantees themselves great content, the author gets a raise, and the consumer wins too! And if you don’t know who Gavin de Becker is (I didn’t!), Amazon’s press release has some details: “The nationally bestselling ‘The Gift of Fear’ is a perennial bestseller in its category, and de Becker’s…

eBooks, News & Features

Random House Stands Alone With Amazon?

Random House has weighed in on the eBook price wars, and it looks like Macmillan, Hachette and Harper Collins won’t be sending them a fruit basket next Christmas. At the American Bookseller’s Association Winter Institute meeting, Random House made it clear they aren’t interested in pursuing the same “agency model” as their three colleagues. From the Mobileread forums: The only bright spot for Amazon, and Kindle owners, came from Madeline McIntosh, the President of Sales, Operations, and Digital for Random House. She pointed out that publishers “have no real experience at setting retail prices.” She also revelaed that one of…

News & Features

3D Rugby Hits England!

I love rugby. I played it in college, and again for a few years as an adult. If you’ve never played, imagine American football merged with soccer. Rugby is extremely fast-paced, with lots of hits and action. Part of that fast pace means sometimes you’re left scrambling trying to follow the game. O2 and Cineworld are riding the 3D craze with a new way to change that; they’re airing England’s national rugby games in theaters in 3D! From the Guardian‘s review, it seems like it was overall a huge success: The international game has long been a geometric business, a…

News & Features

Making Of Google Nexus One Video Series

The Google Nexus One is arguably one of the most successful Android devices to-date. Google was said to have worked closely with HTC in order to produce a device to really showcase what they thought should be a premier Android handset. I was always curious about the design and collaboration that went into creating this device. Turns out a series of videos will explain just that!

News & Features

PC Magazines Gives Us 42 Reasons Netbooks Are Better Than The iPad

Are you tired of all the negative backlash from last week’s iPad announcement … or still tired from all of the hype leading up to the announcement? Probably some of both. Well, as Dan noted, Steve Jobs took an unwise swing at netbooks in his pitch, so naturally we now have a nice list from PC Magazine of things that make netbooks better than the iPad. Of course, since the iPad isn’t shipping, nor are the specs even final, such stuff is largely a useless exercise in … well, something. But it is still good fun to look at these…

Events, News & Features

The Inbrics M1 Android Mobile Internet Device

Mobile World Congress will be kicking off in about a week, and the new device frenzy has already started. One of the items shown will be the Inbrics M1, an Android-based mobile internet device (MID) with a “3 screen plus” media convergence platform”. We’ve been hearing about the M1 since late last year, and it also made a CES debut. Now what some have called “possibly the ultimate Android device” may be that much closer to actually being available for purchase. The M1 has everything you could want in an MID, including Wi-Fi 802.11, an AMOLED touch screen that slides…

News & Features

Welcome to the Godwin Event Horizon

The other day I was stuck in the midst of what had become a very heated debate regarding video game DRM (digital rights management), DLC (downloadable content), disks, downloads, rights, and piracy … and was amazed that in spite of strong opinions and polarized stances that the heated discussion stayed pretty respectful and stayed away from foul language, personal attacks, and other things that typify a ‘flame war’. It was in stark contrast to a discussion I briefly entered late last week that began as a discussion of the merits of the new GTA: Chinatown Wars for the iPhone compared…

News & Features

A Quarter Century On … Billboard’s Top 100 of 1985!

My wife and I coach an Odyssey of the Mind team through our kids’ school. Odyssey of the Mind is a creative problem solving program focused on teamwork and kid-only solutions of challenged they work on all through the school year. (I coached Destination Imagination back in Massachusetts for several years, and it is very similar). Our team this year has a problem they are solving, and their solution has led them to events that happened in 1985, and as such they have been looking at the popular culture ‘way back then’. We have plenty of music from the 80’s…

News & Features

Buffalo Dualie Fire Wire 800/USB500GB Hard Drive + iPhone Dock

Here’s another item for the “super-cool convergence item” file I’ve got going. The Buffalo Dualie lets you sync and charge your iPhone or iPod while simultaneously backing up or storing digital assets on the integral 500GB portable hard drive. As an added bonus, it offers a brushed-aluminum and black soft-touch two-tone finish. The Dualie works with both the iPhone & the iPod. In addition to allowing you to store files to its 500 GB hard drive it also offers two USB ports for your other USB powered accessories. So you get an iPhone/iPod dock, a hard drive and a two-port…

News & Features

PETA Proposes ‘Robotic Groundhog’ for Celebration

Image courtesy of Wikipedia You know the story – every February 2nd at 6AM the alarm goes off and … wait, wrong GroundHog Day! Anyway, each February 2nd in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania the world watches as the groundhog called Punxsutawney Phil either sees or doesn’t see his shadow, which will tell us whether we’ll see an early spring … or six more weeks of winter.

News & Features

Changing the World Only Required … Taking a Seat

It is hard for me as someone who grew up in Massachusetts to believe that I was born into a time when segregation was widespread throughout the country and that there were actually places that legally and officially disallowed someone service based solely on the color of their skin. So it is amazing to me that it was a mere 50 years ago today that the so-called ‘sit in’ movement started at the counter of a Woolworth in Greensboro, N.C. I read an article about this in my local paper this weekend, and searched out more information, which was readily…