Reviews

Pzizz for iPhone/iPod Touch Review

Feeling worn down, stressed out, or just not getting enough quality sleep?  Guess what — yep! — there’s an app for that. Pzizz (pronounced puh-zizz) may be just what you need.  In the most simple terms, Pzizz Relax is a power-nap app. Using the application religiously over the past two weeks I can say it is much more. The application is  new for the iPhone/iPod Touch, but it’s been around for quite some time for the  Mac/PC — and those earlier versions have been reviewed by Gear Diary as well as the original “Pzizz player” on the Gadgeteer. So, is an…


ESPN Fantasy Football Draft Kit 2009

It is that time of the year again!!!  My football season is in full swing and we won our first game of the year 40-7.  The NFL is finally winding up the pre-season and NCAA begins this week.  The only thing else we need is fantasy football!!!  For those of you who have never played fantasy football, it can become a true addiction!  The Beaver Bowl III (my league) has its draft party tonight!  Each of us come with our own tools to ensure the best draft possible.  So, the iPhone guy on staff must have an app for that,…


Palm Pre App Catalog. 30 Apps in 30 Days. Day 30: Yelp

When I started this series, my hope had been to tackle all of the apps in the Palm Pre App Catalog before its official launch, later this month.  But the developers turned out to be too fast for me.  In the month since I started this series, the App Catalog has grown from 30 apps to 45, and is really starting to gain momentum.  So, a slight change of plans will see the series ending today, with an overview of 30 apps. As a finale to the series, I thought we would take a look at Yelp, the location based…


Review: Nimbuzz for Android

Android has a built in IM client that is actually pretty good.  It supports a lot of the instant messaging services, but does not support any of the new chats like Facebook chat or Skype.  Nimbuzz has finally released a client for the Android operating system that supports Facebook and Skype as well as Live Messenger, Yahoo Instant Messenger, AOL Instant Messenger, ICQ, Google Talk, My Space, Study VZm SchuelerVZ, Gadu Gadu, Hyves,Jabber and Giovani.  Most of these other services Nimbuzz supports I have never heard of.


Sungale Desk Lamp With Photo Frame Review

The Sungale CD358LD Desk Lamp is a super energy efficient LED Desk Lamp sporting an ultra thin 3.5 Inch LCD Screen that not only displays and stores hundreds of photos of friends and family back home but it also doubles as a video and audio player with built in speakers, calendar, analogue clock and alarm functions with user friendly navigation buttons and shortcut keys to access content. With internal memory storage of 512 MB with optional SD, MMC, and MS memory card support the Sungale CD358LD Desk Lamp can store up to 2 GB of JPEG, AVI and MP3 files…


Review: Mik-Mak by Rapid Turtle Games

When I was younger, PacMan was all the craze. And, like most crazes, it inspired a bunch of sequels and knock-offs. Who would have thought, this many years later, that the game would still be hanging around in it’s many forms. Enter Mik-Mak. Mik-Mak is a variant on the standard type of PacMan game. So how does this pan out? Read on…


Review: Tales of Monkey Island Episode One for PC

Before I can start to talk about Tales of Monkey Island, the five-part episodic adventure game made by TellTale Games in cooperation with LucasArts, I need to step into the way-back machine nearly twenty years and talk about one of the true classics of the adventure game genre, Secrets of Monkey Island. Secrets of Monkey Island was released in 1990 by Lucasfilms Games (as LucasArts were then called), and used the SCUMM engine that Lucasfilms had developed as a means to more quickly develop adventure games. The game is largely the brain-child of Ron Gilbert, with the humorous script mostly…


iFrogz Timbre Review

iFrogz has quickly become one of the leaders in cutting edge accessories for Apple product, Mp3 players and other electronics devices. Their Ear Pollution line of headphones is one of the most popular headphone available on the market. iFrogz recently released a new item in the Ear Pollution line, the iFrogz Timbre. Available with or without an inline microphone the noise isolating ear buds are made with natural wood. I was recently sent a pair by iFrogz to review.  Do the Tibre’s perform as good as they look? Read on to find out.


Jelly Lens 6 Image Mirage Maker

Here’s another quick look at a fun gadget from BudgetGadgets.com The Jelly Lens 6 Mirage Maker gently sticks to the lens of your cell phone or digital camera. Once on your phone you can turn regular old photographs into morphed 6 headed images with ease.


Teaching an Old Dog New Tricks: Week One into the Rosetta Stone TOTALe Program

Today marks one week since I began learning Spanish with the Rosetta Stone TOTALe program, and here comes the part that you all have been waiting for – where I smugly tell you that I am now completely fluent in all things Spanish, that I am totally confident in my foreign language speaking ability, and that I am ready to go to Mexico and take up with the locals…right? Okay, obviously I’m not. And it would be completely ridiculous for anyone to expect that. But I am three full lessons closer to being fluent than I was when I started.


Coveroo Custom Cases Review

Do you want your phone to have its own identity? Then perhaps it needs a Coveroo case. Coveroo offers over 2,000 designs that it laser engraves onto the back of your cases.  Or choose a color design and it’ll be applied with a special process that makes it both durable and wear resistant. You can also choose to truly customize your case by having Coveroo apply your own personal logo or picture to your case. The Coveroo cases are available for most major cell phones including BlackBerry, iPhone, Motorola, Samsung, Nokia, HTC, Palm, and more! I recently ordered a couple…


“Have a Coke and a…..” telephone call?

Budget Gadgets.com is a web site devoted to electronics, gadgets and other fun gizmos all sold at very affordable prices. The company recent sent me a few items to review. The first being their Coca Cola style telephone. Not only does the phone look incredibly realistic but it actually works as a real phone.


Palm Pre App Catalog. 30 Apps in 30 Days. Day 29: Express Stocks

I have to admit that I have never been one to dabble to deep in the stock market.  Most of my money is in IRAs or index based funds.  Plus, I rarely want to have the values too close, because looking at how much money I am constantly losing can get a bit depressing these days.  Nonetheless, for those of you who do like to have your net worth in the palm of your hand at all times, there is a fantastic app called Express Stocks.


Trine for PC Review

When I heard FrozenByte – the guys who made the games Shadowgrounds and Shadowgrounds: Survivor – was making a new game I was thrilled and knew I’d want to play it. When I heard it was a fantasy side-scrolling platform action game that required using three players in harmony to solve challenges, I was curious about what it would be like … and if I would still be thrilled when I was done!


Palm Pre App Catalog. 30 Apps in 30 Days. Day 28: Word Ace

Let’s just get this out of the way quickly.  Word Ace is my new favorite game, and is the best game currently available for the Palm Pre.  OK…I know saying that any game is better than other games on the Palm Pre may not be much of a compliment…but this really is a fantastic game.


HTC Touch Diamond2 Review

Anyone who read my review of the original Touch Diamond will know I wasn’t all that big a fan. In my experience it was slow, cheaply made and its battery life was appalling. The great thing about HTC is they keep trying and seem to learn from past mistakes, which made me all the more interested in testing the Diamond2. Off the bat I’d like to talk about looks, since that was one of the big selling points of the original. Whilst the Diamond was wrapped in a consumer-style glossy plastic shell, that upon closer inspection felt cheap, the Diamond2…


Precision HSD Holster For iPhone 3G and 3GS – Review

After a time most iPhone cases start looking alike. There are, in fact, a relatively small number of styles from which to choose and all cases take a different approach to one style or the other. Precision HSD Holster For iPhone 3G and 3GS falls into the belt-holster style but definitely brings its own unique aspects to it. Let’s take a look and see if this is the next case you should grab.


Joby Gorillapod and Gorillamobile Review

Kids, don’t try this at home. No, not because the awesome, amazing super-useful Gorillamobile might release and send you precious iPhone crashing to the ground, odds are it won’t, but you never know when you didn’t tighten the suction cup on the back of the case just right. But isn’t it fun to know you COULD hang your iPhone upside down? The folks at Joby have been kind enough to let me take a close look at both their Gorillamobile and Gorillapod mobile device stands, and I’m impressed. Both the Gorillapod and the Gorillamobile are device stands that, unlike traditional…


Review: CaseCrown Slim Pocket Case for 10″ Netbooks

Buying a laptop case has always been a challenge for a very simple reason: very few laptops share the same external dimensions. This is a problem that goes back to my first two portables – the Compaq LTE and Mac Portable, which were vastly different in size and configuration. As a result, many of us who have depended on laptops for years have an odd collection of ill-fitting bags scattered in our storage areas. Some were included with laptops, others we bought to fit whatever laptop seemed like it would be the center of our lives for years to some….


Palm Pre App Catalog. 30 Apps in 30 Days. Day 27: Mileage Monitor

This is a pretty simple app, but one which could be quite useful to those folks who spend a lot of time in their cars, whether that means travelling long distances, or commuting into town each morning.  This app lets you use your Palm Pre to track how many miles you are getting per gallon of gas, and how much money you are spending on gas. To begin, just create a new account with the name of your car.  Enter the current odometer reading and you are good to go.  For the most accurate results, you should start with a…


SplashID 5.0 for Desktop Review

SplashData has been creating software for the mobile market since 2000.  Over the past 9 years, their products have expanded from the Palm OS to also include RIM, Windows Mobile, Series 60, and iPhone/iPod Touch handhelds.  SplashID, a secure wallet / password protection program, was one of their earliest offerings and continues to be a strong part of their product line. Gear Diary has taken a look at SplashID a few times in the past.  You can read our earlier comments here and here, and Doug recently looked at SplashID for the Palm Pre. I’ve used SplashID for a number of…