Reviews

Starbucks + K-Cups = Coffee Nirvana

I know it may sound like heresy but I’m not a fan of Starbuck’s coffee. That’s right, I’m more a Dunking’ Donuts kind of guy. Lately, however, I’ve been drinking a lot of Starbuck’s coffee and really enjoying it. But I’m getting ahead of myself. Let me step back a bit and explain. If you are going to take blogging seriously, especially if, as is the case with all of us here on Gear Diary, you actually do it IN ADDITION to ones vocation, there are a few key things you are going to need. You need a good computer…

eBooks, Reviews

Sony Reader WiFi PRS-T1 Review

We’ve talked about Sony’s ebook business many times on Gear Diary, but we finally have the chance to review one of the units! Today we’re taking a look at the PRS-T1, aka the Sony Reader Wifi, their newest device. This is a touchscreen, eInk reader, and it just had a price drop, to $129! With a new price and a sleek style, can it compete with the Kindle and NOOK markets? Read on to find out! Hardware: I love my Kindle 3, but it can’t hold a candle to the build quality of this Sony Reader. The body is plastic,…

Game Diary, Reviews

First Impressions of Infinity Blade 2 from the Gear Diary Team

While my personal preference of games released this week is the port of 2004’s ‘The Bard’s Tale’, there is no doubt that the big release of the week is Infinity Blade 2. Doug has been beside himself waiting for the game to arrive, Dan started the ball rolling with his thoughts on the graphics, and me being me I grabbed it immediately upon release. So what do we think after a short time playing? Read on and see!

Reviews

ZAGGsmartbud Review Redux

Back in February of 2010 I reviewed the ZAGGsmartbuds. At the time, this was my conclusion So are the ZAGGsmartbuds worth their $79.99 price? Absolutely. They are comfortable to wear for extended periods, sound very good and, thanks to the Hangin’ Tight system, have what is probably the best cable-management system I have used. At under $80 I would say that they are not only worth their price tag but that they are a good deal to boot! The ZAGGsmartbuds have an MSRP of $79.99 and are available directly from ZAGG. And right now ZAGG is including a free dual…

Reviews

The GammaTech Durabook S15C2 Rugged Laptop Review

Have you ever knocked a laptop off the arm of a couch on to a carpeted floor and lost everything since your last backup? Or spilled just a tiny bit of water on the keyboard and were met with ‘that smell’ that told you the motherboard was cooked? If these are real concerns for you, then you need to check out the GammaTech Durabook S15C2 Rugged Laptop. The Durabook is meant to handle just about everything you can throw at it and live to boot up another day. The kind folks at GammaTech sent me one to review – let’s…

Reviews

Find Your Way and Be Safer on the Road With OnStar FMV Review

When we needed a new car last week one thing was clear- I wanted to lease one with all the technological bells and whistles I could find. After all, I’ve been whining and complaining about not having integrated Bluetooth and navigation in my car and my mechanic, and Elana, had been hearing a refrain of “Is it time yet?” for months. So I now have Bluetooth, navigation, destination assistance with real human beings on the other end of the call and impact/emergency detection. Had we not needed a new car however I would most likely have been putting one of…

Reviews

The SCOTTEVEST Women’s Lola Puffer Jacket Review

I have a new favorite jacket, and it’s not only warm, but it’s also a stunner; say hello to the SCOTTEVEST Lola Puffer jacket. Composed of a quilted 100% nylon shell and stuffed with 100% fluffy polyester, the Lola is soft, extremely warm (without being too heavy), and it cuts the wind on those mind-numbingly chilly days without making you feel sweaty if you are still wearing it after the afternoon warms things up. The Lola comes in three colors — Sparkle (which is a light grey), Rhapsody (a deep blue), and Fluff (a lovely white).All three jackets have a contrasting bright yellow fabric…

Reviews

Kingston DataTraveler 109 with urDrive Review

When it comes to USB drives I tend to be fairly utilitarian – I want something fast, portable, durable, and reliable. The top brand drives all offer that stuff, so what makes you choose one $20 8GB drive over another? Kingston is hoping that their urDrive software embedded in the DataTraveler 109 will offer users a differentiating factor that will be a deciding factor for a purchase. Let’s take a quick look! The Hype: Kingston’s DataTraveler® 109 is a fashionable USB Flash drive available in seven colors that make it fun to connect and share photos, music, videos and more…

Reviews

The Gammatech’s U12C Durabook Review

It takes a certain type of laptop to stand up to certain jobs. Most laptops find comfort on a desk, in a padded bag, or possibly in the local coffee shop around the corner. Gammatech sent me a laptop suited perfectly for all those tasks and a whole lot more. Usually the worst that happens to most laptops is polished keys and touchpad, where your fingers have rubbed the finish off. Possibly it could fall victim of a flight off of your bed or the table after you happen to trip over your power cord. Luckily for those accident prone…

Reviews, Yum Log

Smoke Like a Pro with the Peg Leg Porker BBQ Kit

I’ve loved pork for a long time – waaay before the hipsters made bacon worship popular. One of my favorite ways to spend a Saturday afternoon is to put a pork butt on the smoker first thing in the morning and watch college football all day while the meat soaks up the hickory goodness. Since you have to add new wood every hour or so, it pretty much guarantees that you have to stay on your couch all day and restoke the fire at halftime of each game. Sorry about those chores, sweetie. Can’t you see I’m working here? While…

Reviews

Digital Innovations AllTerrain Wired 3-Button Mouse Review

Mice seem to be ubiquitous. Everyone has one. Not many people even consider buying one that didn’t come with their computer while some are fanatical about the mice they use. I tend to be one of the former. As long as it has a scroll wheel I am usually happy, but now I have a new favorite wired mouse in the Digital Innovations AllTerrain Wired 3-Button Mouse. What makes this mouse All Terrain? Well anyone who has used an optical mouse and tried to use it on a glass surfaces knows that they usually will not work on glass table top…

Events, Gear Bits, Reviews, Travel

Quick Look: Belkin Travel Router

This year Gear Diary’s CES base will be a suite at the MGM Grand. All of us will be bunking together which means we will be able to get even more writing done early in the morning or late at night. Of course that presumes we have the wireless connectivity to go online and post. 🙂 The suite comes with free internet connectivity. That SHOULD mean both wired and wireless connections will work, but we won’t really know until we get there. Add in the fact that during CES there is such a huge demand on wireless systems and… we…

Reviews

Twelve South Bass Jump 2 Portable Subwoofer for MacBook Review

The MacBook air isn’t designed to be an entertainment device. The anemic speakers on it make that point quite clearly. Sure, they work well enough, but I would be hard-pressed to call them anything more than functional. The speakers on the iMac are far better but even they still fall a bit short. That’s where Twelve South’s BassJump 2 Portable subwoofer for MacBook comes in. Let’s take a look.

Game Diary, Reviews

The World of Goo for iPad Game Review

> There are times when a simple description does little to convey the joy contained in a great game. For World of Goo, my one-line description ‘solve puzzles by building stuff by stringing together bunches of goo balls’ doesn’t begin to explain why you will be losing sleep playing ‘just one more level’. I am not sure that my description or conclusion will completely describe just how much fun this game is, but hopefully my full description will entire you enough to buy one of the best games available for the iPad. The Hype: Beautiful and surprising, the millions of…

Reviews

Grid Detective for Kindle Review

I am a huge sucker for logic games. When I was a kid, we used to do them all the time in school, and I have very fond memories of drawing my grid, X-ing out the wrong choices, studying the clues, and cracking the puzzle. Last week I was trolling the Kindle bestsellers lists, and stumbled upon Grid Detective; it was free, it was the logic puzzles from my childhood, I had to try it! Gameplay is extremely straightforward. You start with a paragraph explaining the scenario (the puzzle I am on now involves four friends reupholstering furniture) and the…

Reviews

Wahoo Fitness Heart Rate Monitor for iOS Review

There are a few schools of thought in fitness when it comes to heart rate monitors. One side says that a heart rate monitor helps you keep your effort in the proper range, while the contrarians think a heart rate monitor is a crutch and you should go with what feels right, not a number on a screen. I’ve never trained with any sort of heart rate monitor, so when Wahoo offered Gear Diary the chance to review it, I jumped at the opportunity. The Wahoo system comes with two parts, a heart rate monitor strap, and an ANT+ receiver….

Reviews

The Motorola Droid RAZR Android Phone Review

The battle for “World’s Thinnest” presses on with the release of Motorola’s latest flagship. Resurrecting the name of a phone that became an icon, the RAZR is back, but aside from the name, it bears little resemblance to the phone-in-skinny-jeans of 2004. The new RAZR, or the XT910 as Motorola define it, is an Android slate measuring a trim 7.1mm at its thinnest point, handily eclipsing the Galaxy S II’s now portly 8.49mm figure. Make no mistake; this is a seriously thin phone. But like a Lamborghini, it may hug the ground when laid flat, but it’s seriously wide. At…

Reviews

HEX Free Wired Code Wallet: An iPhone 4S Case with a Fatal Flaw

Here at Gear Diary we work hard to give as honest and complete a report as possible when we review a product. That means we will point out the things we like but also point out the things that need improvement. It means we will rave about something we love but we will be critical of items we don’t. And when we recommend an item you can rest assured that we REALLY liked it. And when we warn you off it is because we value and appreciate your trust in us. And when there is an item that we…

Reviews

The Dynavix Navigation App for iPhone Review

Like many of you, I use my phone for everything! One area I have had mixed results is in GPS turn by turn navigation. The apps tend to be on the pricey side, and they just usually do not have the same feature set found in a stand alone unit. I love my Garmin Nuvi and use it often, but there are times it is not with me and I need another option. I have tried several app options on my iPhone, but have not been satisfied with the lack of features and the terrible sounding voices. Dynavix promises to…

Reviews

Yoobao Power Bank 4400mAh External Battery Review

We recently looked at the Yoobao Power Bank battery. It’s a beast and has a huge capacity that can keep your device or devices going all day long. That Power Bank isn’t the only capacity that the company is offering, however. They also offered this smaller 4400 mA hour battery, and while it is smaller, it has the same great features. In fact, when the power in my home went out again the other day, this battery stepped in and saved the day. Let’s take a look at it.

Reviews, Travel

Yoobao Power Bank 11,200 mAh Battery Review

Welcome to another edition of “What’s Coming to CES 2012.” In our last episodes, we visited with two PowerBags (I’ll carry the messenger, and Kevin will carry the backpack) and a Mission Workshop Sanction waterproof rucksack that Francis will bring along for the ride. The PowerBags will give us a total of 12,000mAh of device-charging goodness. That’s good… but it is not good enough. Thankfully, we’ll have a few additional external batteries with us. One example is this 11,200 mAh battery from Yoobao. Despite its relatively small size and weight, it is a beast in the energy department. And the lovely…

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