Reviews

The Weather Channel Review

Description from the developer: Leave it to The Weather Channel, the most trusted brand in weather, to deliver the perfect  weather application for your active lifestyle! This highly customizable application has everything you need to stay warm, safe and dry whether you’re heading across the country, across town or across campus. Features: • Location-based conditions and forecasts • Fully customizable weather maps • Local, National and International video forecasts • Local and national severe weather alerts • Share Alerts and Forecasts via email • Store and nickname your favorite locations


Mediafly for BlackBerry Review

You may remember our recent coverage of the Mediafly service that syncs media content — specifically podcasts for now — to a wide range of devices.  Well, Mediafly is wasting no time.  Their goal is to launch on multiple smartphones throughout 2009, and then hit even more home stereo/video equipment in 2010 so you can have your media content synced and shared on just about any consumer device out there.  The fact that Mediafly is device-agnostic is exciting in that your content goes with you, regardless of what device you may use or decide to uopgrade to in the future….


Review: Spb Geo Game for Windows Mobile

Spb is a name most users of Windows Mobile know well. From their Mobile Shell to Weather and Wallet and a host of other useful and entertaining utilities, these guys have done well by the Windows Mobile community over the years. Their latest release is a simple but challenging and fun game for Windows Mobile and Android – Spb Geo Game. This game is clearly in the ‘edutainment’ market, as it asks some challenging questions but makes it fun along the way. The game has two main modes – World Flags and World Capitals – and provides plenty of challenges…


Motorola Rival A455 Review: Messaging Machine

The Motorola Rival A455 is one of the newest phones to be added to the Verizon Wireless handset lineup. This messaging workhorse gives you instant access to IM style texting, emoticons, a slide out keyboard, and an on screen touch pad right out of the box. I had the opportunity to use the A455 over the last two weeks, and here are my thoughts on this multimedia powerhouse.


WeatherBug for Android Review

When outside or planning to go outside, checking the current weather conditions is usually the first thing I do.  With WeatherBug for  Android , it’s a simple swipe and a tap to find out what is going on outside. The WeatherBug app is a lot like the desktop counterpart.  It has the current temperature in the notification area and it will optionally use the integrated GPS to change it’s location automatically.  That is a fantastic idea and one I use a lot when traveling through the greater Columbus area.


The SKYlasers 125 mW Green Laser Pointer Review

Not long after I received this rather benign looking kit containing a 125mW Green Laser Pointer and a pair of Laser Protective Goggles from SKYlasers, I started really paying attention to all of the reports regarding people with lasers – red and the stronger green, interfering with pilots flying passenger airplanes. In February 2009, there were already 148 reported incidents of laser attacks, and just last week a plane arriving at Sea-Tac was lasered no less than 20 times. What’s the big deal? Well to start, shining a high powered laser at a plane creates the possibility of messing with…



FoxL Portable Bluetooth Speaker Review

The foxL is a portable speaker, about the size of two chocolate bars but considerably heftier. It comes in two versions – the plain old foxL, and the foxLmb with bluetooth connectivity. I’ve had the foxLmb for a while now, and I was wondering whether it was time for an upgrade. I went to the Bose store ready to purchase a battery powered SoundDock but then I sampled it and decided to stick with the foxL. The SoundDock doesn’t sound bad; it’s just that the foxL manages to hold its own against the SoundDock in terms of audio quality. And…


Scrapbook for dummies!

Review: Unibind MyBook 4×6 Photobook OK so I am a man, I am wired to take the photos and get them to my wife in some way shape or form. She does the scrap-booking because 1) she likes too and 2)I have no patience for making any type of photo book…way too cumbersome and it just plain takes forever. But then I get a little package in the mail!


Sally’s Spa for iPhone – Casual Gaming Relaxes!

I’ll admit it – I like casual gaming and I love time management games.  I’m a big fan of Diner Dash, Sally’s Salon, Westward, Wedding Dash, Airport Mania, and many others.  And now another title comes to the iPhone – Sally’s Spa – a sequel to Sally’s Salon.   It’s currently at the top of the iTunes App Store.  Let’s take a look at this “relaxing” sequel.


iFrogz Crystal Clear Review

Gear Diary is proud to present a first ever video from Larry G the long lost cousin of Ali G. In his first video Larry G takes a look at the iPhone Crystal Clear Case for the iPhone 3G and 3G S. Does he like it?  Well you’ll just have to watch……


iLaugh for iPhone Review

Everyone loves a good laugh, though sometimes coming up with something funny or original can be a challenge. For my tween sons, the breadth of humor consists primarily of body parts, bodily functions, and silly quotes from movies. However, as we mature (hopefully) we would like a bit more substance and diversity in our humor. Enter iLaugh, the new App for the iPhone and iPod Touch that puts a database of over 50,000 jokes at your fingertips!


Dakim Brain Fitness Unit Review

Imagine trying to explain a computer to someone who has never seen one. Try explaining this strange thing called a mouse, and how you use it to control your interactions with the screen. Try explaining how you type on a keyboard, and through the magic of wires and electronics the words appear onscreen. And if you want to move something from point a to point b, hold down the mouse and drag…but have some fancy moves if you need to drag beyond the room you have on your mousepad. I know it sounds crazy, but if you’ve never used a…


My First Impressions of the 13″ MacBook Pro

Since Dan posted his thoughts on the new 13” Pro compared to the previous 13” non-Pro, I thought I’d throw together the thoughts I’ve had in my first day of ownership as well. I bought my very first Mac back in 2006 and I have never looked back. It was a second generation 15” MacBook Pro, the first of the Core 2 Duo models, and it was fantastic. Beautiful screen, super fast, looked great and ran an OS that I would become very happy with. Today that laptop headed off to its new owner as yesterday I took delivery of…


Unboxing the HP Pavilion dv2-1199us Laptop

HP and Microsoft sent me an HP Pavilion dv2-1199us Entertainment PC to try out. Once I got past the fact that the model number is a mouthful, I couldn’t help but notice how lovely this moonlight white computer is – both in appearance and specifications. The exterior is described as a “magnesium-aluminum-alloy case in a white imprint finish,” but that barely describes it; the look is stunning.  The touch pad is a mirrored surface, and it runs Windows Vista Home Premium with Service Pack 1 (64-bit). The dv2 has a bunch of bells and whistles…both in the hardware and in…


PDAir Luxury Silicone Case for BlackBerry Storm Review

PDAir makes a case or skin for just about every mobile device currently available.  They have a wide variety of cases available ranging from leather to aluminum to silicone.  I was lucky enough to recieve a Luxury Silicone Case compatible with the BlackBerry Storm 9500/9530  to review.  Sporting a low $18 price and wide range of color choices, you could easily pick up one color — or several — to show off your individual style.


Unboxing the Amazon Kindle DX

I couldn’t resist; I put in my order and received an Amazon Kindle DX. 😛 Some of the more obvious differences between the two devices are that the DX has a ~9.5″ screen, while the 2 has a ~5.8″ screen; the DX measures 10.4″ tall x 7.2″ wide x 0.38″ thick, and the 2 measures 8″ tall x 5.3″ wide x 0.36″ thick; and the DX can hold ~3500 books while the 2 can hold ~1500. The keyboards are a bit different, there are no buttons on the DX’s left side, and hmmm – just watch! The full review will…


JAVOedge Jelly Case for iPhone 3G &3G S Review

Getting yourself a new iPhone 3GS and want to make sure it keeps looking like it did when you first pulled it out of the box?  Or have the iPhone 3G and just need a new case to spice things up a bit? JAVOedge recently released a new line of cases called the “Jelly.”  These cases, offered in five colors, do a great job of protecting your phone while adding some style at the same time.


Cocoon Innovations Netbook Case Review

The Cocoon Innovations netbook case is pretty much my ideal netbook travel case.  It’s durable, shock absorbent, airport friendly, comfortable, and it features a unique organizational system that I have never seen before in another bag.  There are a few key things I wish I could tweak a little bit, but otherwise I was very impressed by the Cocoon netbook case.


The Oberon Design Kindle 2 Case Review

[Editor’s note: This is a joint review by Judie and Julie that will be appearing simultaneously on Gear Diary and The Gadgeteer. Judie’s comments will be in black, and Julie’s will be in blue italics.] Like many who own an Amazon Kindle or Kindle2, Julie and I have grown to greatly enjoy the convenience of carrying our current and future reading material on our own “virtual bookshelves.” The question of how to keep our Kindles protected was one that we had to answer fairly early on, seeing as Amazon did not include any cover with our pricey new readers. I…


Star Walk for iPhone / iPod Touch Review

If you ask my wife, the money she spent buying me a telescope a few years ago was wasted. If you ask me or my sons, we’d disagree. It isn’t that we use it all that much, but I chalk that up to living in the Northeast – it is hard to hit that small window when the temperature is right for standing outside at night and it gets dark early enough that we can all enjoy it together. The folks at Vito Technology have a great solution – Star Walk, an educational astronomy app for the iPhone andiPod Touch…