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The Artwizz Alustand Makes Your Laptop Bouncy??

Artwizz’s Alustand has some pretty good looks. It’s got that Macbook like metal and a crystal like plastic piece that connects both aluminum parts together. It looks like it might be sturdy, but in my opinion, it falls short. I love that you can collapse it down and stick it in your laptop bag. If you have a Apple Bluetooth keyboard, the whole package will go nicely in your bag. Both aluminum pieces nest and I am not exactly sure where the crystal piece can go, but it’s not difficult to find a spot in your bag. Unfortunately, when it…

eBooks, Editorials

Will eBooks Rise from Borders Ashes?

(underlying image courtesy Unwitting Wit) Teleread featured an interesting article today from Laura Dawson, a publishing consultant. She believes that Borders is going to die, and the loss of a major bookstore chain will trigger more ebook adoption. It’s an interesting theory and it has merits, but I also think there are some reasons why it isn’t perfect. For starters, here’s a sample conversation from when I helped close the Framingham, MA Borders store back in 2005: Customer: Wow, I am so upset you guys are closing! I shop here all the time! (In my head): If you shopped here…

Game Diary, Reviews

GearGames Retrospective: 5 PC RPG Games That Defined The Year 2009

Last month I provided an introduction to the series I am now kicking off for real: a look back at the last decade as seen through the lens of a PC Single Player RPG fan. Now after getting all of the full reviews completed for my top games for last year, it is time to begin the journey in earnest by looking at five games that shaped the genre in 2009! As a reminder of what I’m doing, as we enter a new decade I thought it was worth taking a look back at the last decade and what has…

Music Diary, Reviews

Recent Jazz Releases You Would Never Hear About Otherwise

Photo from EyeShotJazz There was a time – before the internet, no less – when I really had my finger on the pulse of the jazz world. Some of it was location – I was less than an hour from Boston, Worcester, Providence RI and the Newport Jazz festival – but some of it was just knowing where to look for new information. As the years have passed by, I found that I have been relying on many of the same sources – radio, magazines, tracing through other artists discographies – but with decreasing success in finding new music outside…

eBooks, Editorials

Are eBooks Hitting a Critical Mass?

I recently read the book “Too Big to Fail“. In it, there’s a discussion of the treasury department’s “Break the Glass” plan. Essentially, they had a few analysts put together a “what if the whole world melted down at once” thought experiment, so they could be prepared for the very worst case scenario. As it turns out, they used that paper as a very loose blueprint for many of the actions taken in the latter half of 2008. I sincerely hope the publishing industry has a similar plan in place because it’s looking like they might need it. “The Girl…

eBooks, Editorials

MyPadMedia: The Truth, The Whole Truth, and Nothing but the Truth!

Judie purchased access to myPadMedia yesterday. After a few minutes of exploring the site, one thing became very clear: I owe myPadMedia a huge apology. See, several weeks ago I mistakenly called myPadMedia a “scam”. This implied they were engaged in a business that doesn’t deliver books legally; as it turns out, that’s technically not true. If you purchase the $49.95 membership, you will have access to legal content, but the delivery process has basically been stolen from another site. So clearly I was mistaken, and as it turns out I was just one word off. myPadMedia isn’t a scam…

News

Today is National Running Day! Here’s Some Gear Worth A Look

Today is National Running Day! It is a perfect day to check out the Couch-to-5K Running Plan Larry turned a bunch of us onto a few weeks back… …or grab one of the numerous C25K iPhone apps currently available in the App Store. There are a number of them. It is also a great day to check out some good accessories to go along for the ride run. Here are two examples… If you are using an iPod Nano during your run instead of an iPhone or touch (the C25K apps require OS iPhone) take a look at the iSkin…

Reviews

Review: Altec Lansing MIX iMT800 Dock for iPhone and iPod

I grew up in the 80’s. The 80’s was the decade of big hair, hair bands, break dancing and boom boxes. Never have I seen a dock for iPhone and iPod that brings back memories from the 80’s like the Altec Lansing MIX iMT800. The MIX has big boom box looks like no other dock I have seen. In the 80’s, the middle portion of the boom box would have been dominated by a cassette deck. Instead of a cassette deck, this one has port with a dock connector and an arm that slides up to take the iPhone or…

Music Diary, News, Reviews

John McLaughlin and the 4th Dimension – To The One Review

Apparently April was CD-release party month at the old-British guitar legends home! Hot on the heels of Jeff Beck’s Emotion & Commotion comes To The One from John McLaughlin. While McLaughlin might not carry the same name recognition as Beck outside of the jazz world, the impact of the contributions of the 68-year old McLaughlin rival if not exceed those of his younger country-mate. Another similarity is that neither of these greats have rested on their laurels, constantly pushing ahead. Yet there is always a common thread and respect for their own history and fan-base. Such is case with the…

eBooks, News

New eBook Readers Coming This Summer?

Looks like this might be the summer of ebook readers! Rumors are flying about new Kindles and nooks, the Kobo reader is hitting Borders Stores, and that’s without considering the impact all the potential Android tablets will have on the reader market. While there’s been some ebook rivalry so far, I think this next wave of readers is where the B&N-Amazon-Borders-Tablet rivalry is really going to get heated. Engadget caught an interesting FCC filing for a WiFi-only ebook reader from Barnes and Noble. Most likely it is the rumored “nook lite”. No word on whether it will be the same…

Music Diary, Reviews

Jeff Beck – Emotion & Commotion Review

Just over a month ago I wrote about the special launch-day deal Amazon.com was having on the MP3 version of Jeff Beck’s new Emotion & Commotion CD. Over the last six weeks I’ve kept the CD on my iPod in heavy rotation. Needless to say I have found something to like in the first studio release in seven years from the 65-year old legendary guitarist. At the same time, this is also my least favorite Jeff Beck release since his early 90’s rockabilly outing Crazy Legs. Let me give a bit of background and then dig into a song-by-song review….

Game Diary, Reviews

Borderlands: PC/XBOX360/PS3 Game Review

Late last October Gearbox software launched a game called Borderlands. I played it quite a bit at launch, and since then there have been a few DLC add-ons and other attempts by the developers to keep the game fresh in the minds of the typically short-attention-span target audience for this sort of game. As I was revisiting the games of 2009 I thought it would be worthwhile to give this one another go. The Hype: A sci-fi/action RPG from acclaimed developer Gearbox, Borderlands combines the best in first-person action gaming with elements of a traditional role-playing game (RPG). The excitement…

eBooks, Editorials

Who Needs an eBook Editor?

(I want to live here.) Welcome to yet another State of the eBook! First of all, the results of last week’s poll are in. Apparently, most of you are bigger ebook fans, with the vast majority voting for “eBooks first!/What’s a paper book?” Guess it isn’t TOO surprising, considering the subject of this column… This week, the big ebook news was that Barnes and Noble debuted “PubIt!”, their self-publishing arm. This brings them into direct competition with Amazon, as well as smaller companies Smashwords and Feedbooks, plus the vanity paper book publishers looking to break into the ebook markets. Basically,…

News

JAVOedge Releases iPad SleeveCases In Three Styles

JAVOedge has just released a series of iPad sleeves and they look great. The three styles, the Poppy Sleeve Case, the Kyoto Sleeve Case, and the Fiber Sleeve Cases are all “animal-friendly” (ie non-leather) with the Poppy Sleeve available in “sunny yellow”, “sky blue”, and “tangerine red”. As the company puts it, “The Sleeve Cases are nice enough to carry alone and show off.” They aren’t kidding. All three look both stylish and functional, offering good protection for your iPad while also making it simple to access it whenever you choose. Let’s take a quick look at each. The JAVOedge…

Game Diary, Reviews

Drakensang the Dark Eye PC Game Review

Games from European PC developers and publishers often have an uphill struggle to begin with: they lack the entrenched network of marketing and promotion, often struggle to get a community base built up of native speakers on popular game forums, and of course are strapped with an image of lacking polish and suffering from poor language translations. As a result they often fail to gain shelf-space at major retailers, making it even harder for them to gain new fans. So you are forgiven if you have never heard of this game, let alone knew that it has been out for…

News

Need Help Finding The Right Father’s Day Gift For Your Music-loving Dad? How About These…

Does dad love music? Do you love dad? Well Father’s Day is coming up, and if dad likes to get his groove on here are a few items you might want to consider getting him (or yourself for that matter…) Dad’s not wicked (we hope), but these noise isolating ear-buds from Wicked Audio are… Wicked Audio’s Wicked Little Buds are Design-forward, noise isolating earbuds that provide an edgy look and great sound. They are available at: EmpireBrandsInc.com, Amazon.com, Fry’s Electronics, Airport Wireless, and other select international retailers MSRP: $29.99 If you music-loving dad has discovered the Internet, let him…

Reviews

Jabra EXTREME Bluetooth Headset Review

My first Bluetooth came from Jabra. Because the phone didn’t have Bluetooth, I needed to use an additional Bluetooth dongle that connected to it via the 3.5 mm jack. The was the “traditional” design that Jabra used for many years. It wrapped around the ear and stayed completely stable no matter what you were doing. Yes, you looked like a bit of a dork while wearing the headset, but it stayed in place and was super comfortable. In addition, it had a boom mike that brought the microphone close to your mouth for better sound quality. That didn’t much matter…

eBooks, Editorials

The Two Audiences for eBooks

It occurred to me after reading this editorial at Teleread that there are really two audiences for ebooks. There are the people who just want to read a book. They’re happy picking up their reader or iPad, opening a book, and just reading. Maybe they want some minor options like font sizes, but talk to them about specific fonts, background colors, backlight adjustments, dictionary lookups, etc., and they’re going to glaze over. This isn’t a bad thing, it’s just a measure of what the audience wants or is taking advantage of in their device or software. Then there’s the type…

Reviews

Review: High Sierra Cirque 30 Daypack

One of my favorite activities during the spring and summer months is to go hiking. I don’t mean just for a afternoon hike, but all day. Just pack a lunch, thermos full of coffee and a bagel and head out the door for a long hike in the woods. Of course you have to make sure that you have a jacket, some raingear, sun block, a hat, water and maybe even a tent and bedroll for a quick overnight in the woods. Some daypacks barely have enough room for this kind of activity and if you are a scout leader…

Music Diary, News

1000 Jazz Albums You Should Hear Before You Die

OK, so who is crazy enough to put together THAT sort of list? Apparently the folks at Groove Notes! The image I highlighted was of Rahsaan Roland Kirk’s 1967 recording The Inflated Tear. This is my favorite recording of his, mixing free jazz elements, traditional hard-bop, and soul-flavored pop elements he’d later explore on Blacknuss and Volunteer Slavery. If you haven’t heard of it, don’t feel bad, because while it was a big hit for a non-mainstream jazz recording it wasn’t exactly setting the charts on fire – as stated in AllAboutJazz, “Roland Kirk won over the masses with this…

eBooks, Editorials

Numbers Take on the eBook Fiction Section

(image courtesy Readymade) It’s time for another “State of the eBook”! This time there’s some quickie news, and then an examination of numbers. What’s for real, and what’s a smokescreen? More on that in a bit. Kindle: -The Kindle app for PC has been updated! Apparently, it adds a few interface improvements. Hopefully, the next step is going to be releasing some new Kindle apps (cough, Android, cough). -In addition, it looks like Amazon will be offering commissions to affiliates for Kindle books. B&N nook: -The nook may/may not have outsold the Kindle in the first quarter. The actual results…

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