Reviews

Shredder Guitar Synthesizer for iPad Review

I remember seeing my first guitar synthesizer vividly – it was the late 70’s in Junior High and the instrument was a fragile and finicky Arp Avatar that allowed a special pickup on a standard guitar to play through the synth. Later I had the chance to actually play with an early Roland GR-300 that Pat Metheny famously used on his Offramp album. Of course, now that the iPad houses full-on studios more powerful than those recording most pop music in the 80’s, it makes sense we now have a guitar synth app! Let’s take a quick look! The Hype:…


iOS Apps for Hanukkah

Hanukkah, the Jewish Festical of Lights, begins next week. In preparation for this I put together a roundup of Hanukkah apps for our local New Jersey Jewish News. A version of what follows was published today… History of Hanukkah If you are looking for an iPhone app that explains what Hanukkah is and why we celebrate, this is for you. The text itself is drawn from Wikipedia but the app does a nice job of gathering the information, organizing it and adding some nice images as well. I especially appreciate the fact that it is clear about the origins of…


Gear Games Retrospective: Gothic 3 (RPG, 2006)

I am an admitted fanboy of the Gothic franchise, with Gothic 2 listing near the very top of my ‘all time favorites’ list of games. It had been a while since I replayed Gothic 3 to any extent, so when Good Old Games added it to their lineup a couple of weeks ago, I couldn’t help but buy it … for the fourth time! I have the DVD version sitting somewhere, and have bought it on both Steam and Direct2Drive to get the full Gothic Collection digitally (at the time each only had a subset). Gothic 3 is a game…


Music Diary Review: Ochion Jewell – First Suite For Quartet

Ochion Jewell – First Suite for Quartet As I have stated again and again, one thing I love about doing music reviews for Gear Diary is that it allows me to listen to and share great music by artists you might not hear about otherwise – but who really deserve the attention. Early this spring I specifically highlighted several of these recordings, including a release by bassist Sam Trapchak. So then Sam Trapchak tells a friend of his who has released a new CD to get in touch with me. As is always the case, I check out his website…



The Orb Audio Mini-T Amplifier (and Much More!) Review

In terms of audio systems for small spaces, home users are not too demanding: they simply want something that sounds fantastic, looks great, is incredibly small, and is affordable. That might sound like a simple enough goal, but the subset of companies able to meet all of those requirements is incredibly small. Orb Audio recently launched the Mini-T Amplifier as well as compact systems that provide complete solutions for desktop or home speaker systems. Do they make the grade? Read on and find out! The Hype: The Mini-T is based on legendary T-Class amplifier technology, known for its audiophile sound…


SCOTTEVEST Camp Shirt Review

When I was getting ready for last week’s vacation, I knew I needed a few more shirts to lounge around in. T-shirts are great, but when you are going out to dinner or stopping by a local hotspot for fried fish, french fries, fried plantains and beer (seriously the place was AWESOME), you want something a little nicer. I have had my eye on the new SCOTTEVEST Camp Shirt for some time, so before our recent trip to Aruba I went ahead and ordered myself two of them. I have a new favorite warm-weather shirt! The SeV Hype: You’ll be cool,…


Youda Survivor iPad Game Review

The trend of bringing more and more PC and Mac adventure and casual strategy games to the iPad is a great one in my opinion – they work well with the touchscreen interface, present more than a trivial experience, and are still playable in small time increments. Games like Civilization Revolution, Jack of All Tribes and Tiny Token Empires are examples of this … and now we have Youda Survivor! Let’s take a look! The Hype: For all real fans of time management games – the most frenzied adventure yet! Can you survive on a mysterious island as well as…


Pelican i1075 HardBack Case for iPad and iPad 2 Review

Some reports suggest that the vast majority of iPads and other assorted tablets spend the majority of time at home. That may be the case for some, even many, iPads but it is certainly not true for mine. No, my iPad goes pretty much everywhere these days, and that means I need a good way to carry it. And when I am going on a trip I need a good way to protect the iPad AND carry some assorted accessories such as the charger, headphones and, at times, a wireless keyboard. That is why I was so curious about Pelican’s…


iMenorah iOS App Review

When the iTunes App Store first opened I owned and ran one of, if not the, first iPhone app review sites. It was a fun gig although, I must admit, being here on Gear Diary with Judie and the rest of the crew far surpasses that experience. In December of 2008 I reviewed a number of apps that would be good for Hanukkah. This year I did a similar roundup for a local newspaper. (I’ll be sharing it as soon as the article is published later this week.) One of the apps I reviewed in 2008 was iMenorah, which is a…




The Gear Diary Kindle Fire Tablet Review

November 15th saw the release of what will quickly become the #2 selling tablet of all time: the Amazon Kindle Fire. Since then we have seen plenty of ‘race to be first’ reviews, but my goal was to spend some time integrating the Fire into my life before completing my review. This week we also saw the usability study that looked at the issues around the 7″ screen specifically with the Fire but related to mid-sized tablets in general. Dan and I each got one that arrived on the 15th: Dan’s has already gone back to Amazon, while I have…


Kammock Roo, a Kickstarter Project Quick Look

Gear Diary is a big fan of Kickstarter, and we have supported a number of different projects in the last year or so. One of them was the Kammock Roo, a new take on the hammock. The project was fully funded and our “rewards” came a few weeks ago. Judie is waiting to give the two she bought as gifts, but I brought mine with me on vacation. Here’s a quick video overview and some pictures. Here’s Judie and her ever-present Diet Coke… a video look follows after the break. The Kammock Roo is great for both sitting and laying…


Fooducate for iOS Review

I love almonds. If we are what we eat, I’m a Hershey’s Kiss and a handful of shredded coconut away from becoming an Almond Joy bar. When we’re grocery shopping, Sarah is always trying to find which nuts are on sale and keep us well-stocked. We do try to compare the labels and make sure we’re not getting nuts with tons of additives, but it isn’t always easy to make the right call when they all sound the same. That’s where Fooducate is an incredibly useful shopping tool! Fooducate scans barcodes and gives you a breakdown of the ingredients and…


The Amplicom Induction Neckloop (NL100) Review

photos by Kevin My mother has sensorineural hearing loss, and she has worn hearing aids in each ear ever since she was 36. My husband has hearing loss from working with loud machinery, and although he doesn’t wear hearing aids, he misses some tones and quiet speech is sometimes garbled. My friend Angie’s daughter caught a virus several years ago that wasn’t treated quickly enough; the result was that she went profoundly deaf in both ears and has since been fitted with two Cochlear Implants. My point is that hearing loss and forms of deafness are much more common than…


Oberon Design Celtic Hounds Kindle Fire Cover Review

How much do I love my Oberon Design cover for my Nook Touch? Enough that I was looking forward to a new cover for my Kindle Fire almost as much as I was looking forward to the device itself! From the moment it arrived, I had it the Fire in my large Oberon sleeve waiting for the release of the new cover. It is here now … so does it live up to my expectations? Read on and find out!


iOS App Knowtilus Pro Review: Tabbed Web Browsing, text editing, and translation all in one!

I’m always looking for ways to use Siri with new iOS applications to allow me to write on the go. But if I am going to pay for an application I want it to do more than one thing at a time. As I was reading through Dan’s article on using Elements to be able to sync dictated notes I thought I would download Elements. During my search I happened upon the iOS application Knowtilus Pro. Knowtilus is a web browser that has 3 tabs.  I usually don’t buy iOS applications that cost more than a few dollars but I…


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…


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,…


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!