Reviews

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…

Reviews

Andrea SuperBeam Phones SB-405 Stereo Headset Review

If you are into voice recognition, then you need to have a good microphone. It’s a basic fact of life. Yes, you can use the built-in microphone on the MacBook Air (for example), and you’ll probably get good results. But if you want great results you’ll need something that’s going to help filter out the background noise; that means a good headset. Among the issues with such headsets? The best of them have boom microphones that make you look like a Bell telephone operator. Sure, this is all about getting the work done and dictating your text but what if…

Reviews

Yoobao Leather Flip Case for iPhone 4/4S Review

There are plenty of plastic, silicon, and even aluminum cases for your new iPhone 4S. But what about when it’s time for your phone to get a bit fancy? Or you want something more professional? That’s why we’ll be taking a look at the Yoobao Leather Flip case for the iPhone 4/4S. It’s a step up from a plastic snap-on case, but is it functional AND beautiful? Opinions vary on flip cases, but generally speaking, I am a fan. There are always situations where you want the screen covered, and a solid flip case is an easy way to offer…

Reviews, Yum Log

The Belkin iPad Kitchen Cabinet Mount Review

Long-time Gear Diary fans may remember me from my stint a few years back as our resident “Stunt Reviewer.” Well, like a bad penny, I’ve turned up again and Judie and the gang have been nice enough to welcome me back to contribute the occasional review or announcement, specifically for the “Yum Log” section where we take a look at kitchen, food and cooking products and gadgets. In the couple years since I stopped writing here, I’ve been a full-time food blogger for the Nashville Scene in my home town and an occasional contributor to regional and national food magazines…

Reviews

ZAGGkeys FLEX Bluetooth Keyboard for iOS and Android review

My experience with keyboards for the iPad has been rather mixed. Some keyboards and keyboard cases have worked fairly well but none have been comfortable enough and portable enough for me to carry all the time. Moreover, most of the keyboard cases I have tried have just been too bulky for daily use. After all, what is the point of having the super-thin iPad 2 if you are going to then toss it into a thick, bulky case? The keyboards that have come closest to my wanting to carry and use them each day have been the offerings from ZAGG….

Reviews, Vehicles & Gear

Finally, the Real Ford Focus Comes to America

I’ve been waiting for the 2012 Ford Focus for a very long time. Even as Ford was rolling out the red carpet on the last generation Focus compact in 2007 I was waiting for this car. Heck, my anticipation goes back a decade. Well, it’s here and in usual Ford fashion Focus arrived in a flurry of product placement as it has been driven on nearly every reality TV show this year. I first saw the latest Focus in its new plant last December as Ford allowed us an insider view of the assembly facility it had completely rebuilt specifically…

Reviews

The SCOTTEVEST Women’s SeV Chloe Hoodie Review

SCOTTEVEST has long offered men’s hoodies, and although there were some styles that I liked more than others, there was no getting around the fact that they were and have always been cut for boxier bodies. Until now. Scott and Laura Jordan have just introduced the Women’s SeV Chloe Hoodie, which has obviously been made with a woman’s body in mind. What does that mean exactly? Well, for starters, there is a bit of tapering in the midsection; it’s not enough to squeeze you in two, and it’s not so much that it would make you look lumpy when carrying a few items in the…

Reviews

Book Review: Tweeting Linux

It’s not often I do book reviews. In fact, I’ve only done one other book review, and that was for Cooking for Geeks which wrapped my love of tech with my love of food. In that book, there was a chef who shared recipes via Twitter. In this book, by Don R. Crawley, we take sharing on Twitter to a new subject: Linux. The full title of the book is Tweeting Linux: 140 Linux Configuration Commands Explained in 140 Characters or less. This book explores one of the things that, once you go beyond just installing Linux, you come to realize is…

News & Features, Reviews

Ultra-Comfy Chair Review: Sumo Lounge Omni Beanbag Chair

If you were a teen or pre-teen in the 1970’s, chances are you or one of your friends (or ALL of your friends) had a beanbag chair. The bags of the time were vinyl (or denim) bags filled with polystyrene pellets. Things have come quite a long way – the 1990’s saw a resurgence in the beanbag chair, and now it has been reinvented as the Sumo Omni. We first looked at the Sumo Lounge Omni in 2007, and the folks at Sumo were kind enough to send one my way for an updated review; let’s see how it holds…

Reviews

mSecure 3.0 Password Protection Review

I have been using the same password protection program for quite a few years. I’ve thought about switching on a number of occasions, but it’s always is too much of a hassle, or the software that interests me isn’t available on enough platforms. So when I was recently offered an opportunity to review mSeven Software’s mSecure 3.0 I was at least a little ambivalent about it. However, I figured it certainly wouldn’t hurt to review the software; I would just create some dummy data, load it on a test device, put it through its paces, do a brief write up,…

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