Search Results for sony

Review: WinX DVD Ripper Platinum (and comparison to Free version)

Recently I was preparing to take a business trip over a weekend for a conference, and figured it would be a nice opportunity to watch a couple of DVD’s that the rest of the family didn’t have any interest in seeing yet again – Akira Kurosawa’s ‘Ran’ and The Marx Brothers’ ‘Night at the Opera’. My assumption was that I would use the Mac program Handbrake, which has done very nicely getting video from our DVDs to our kids’ iPods for long trips. At the same time I had the opportunity to look at WinX DVD Ripper Free Edition, and…

Reviews

Dissidia Final Fantasy for PSP Review

There are few franchises that have cast a larger shadow over the history of console gaming than Final Fantasy, and the core series of role-playing games has been constantly tweaked and upgraded through the years to stay current. There have certainly been games that have strayed from the usual jRPG format – the classic strategy game series Final Fantasy Tactics, and more recently the RTS-like Final Fantasy XII Revenant Wings for the Nintendo DS. But one of the most anticipated entries in the series is the fighting game called Dissidia Final Fantasy. Square Enix released a demo on the PSN…

eBooks, Editorials

eBook Options, Options Everywhere

Welcome to another State of the eBook! This will be a short post this week, as it seems there will be some sort of exciting announcement this Tuesday.

eBooks, Editorials

The Dark Side of eBook Popularity?

Welcome to another “State of the eBook”. We’ve got some quick news to review, and then a discussion of something that keeps publishers up at night; piracy in ebook-land. Is it an epidemic of music proportions or is it the straw-man argument that publishers use to justify high prices, digital rights management, and slow ebook adoption?

Reviews

Nintendo DSi After a While Review

I had grand plans to do a review of the Nintendo DSi right after I bought it on release day back in April – I was going to take a quick look at the new cameras, SD slot, MP3 player, and the DSiWare store. But at the time I was in the middle of playing one of the better games the DS has seen – Grand Theft Auto Chinatown Wars, in my opinion the best game in the GTA series – and then I immediately started playing Broken Sword and Black Sigil and … well, time sort of got away,…

Reviews

Review: Gran Turismo for PSP

The Gran Turismo series of racing games first arrived on the Sony Playstation in 1997, and have sold over 50 million copies over the last 12 years. The games focus on stunning graphics, tons of licensed vehicles, richness of driving simulation and ability to tune the vehicles. For PSP owners it feels like this new version has been in development for nearly that long! In reality the game has been in development since before the launch of the original PSP, leaving gamers to wonder – was it worth the wait? Read on and find out!

eBooks, Editorials

eBook Gains and Losses

Welcome to another installment of “State of the eBook”. A few quick news-y items, and then onto the major heart of today’s discussion, where we’ll be tackling the greatest debate in the book world today. Interested? Read on… First, in the “cut up your nose to spite your face” department, we have the news that both Sarah Palin’s book “Rogue” and Ted Kennedy’s book “True Compass” will not be released as eBooks until some time has passed after the hardcover release. Let’s consider that for a moment. At a time when people are looking for better deals, trying to find…

eBooks, Editorials

An eBook Introduction

Welcome to a new series we are starting here at Gear Diary called “State of the eBook”. Every two weeks or so (more if the news warrants it) I’ll be bringing you the latest news in ebooks, publishing, and the general digitization of our reading lives.

Reviews

Fate / Unlimited Codes for PSP Review

It is fairly amazing given the fairly thin release schedule for the PSP to think that there might have been two games released in the fighting genre in the last month … so it is simply stunning that we have gotten three! Alongside Dissidia: Final Fantasy and Soul Calibur PSP comes a fighting game from Capcom based on a Japanese adult graphic novel turned anime show called ‘Fate/Stay Night’. Each of these games provides fans of the genre with a satisfying array of the core elements required of any good fighting game, yet they are very different from one another….

Editorials

Gear Diary Antique Roadshow

If you see a friend with a gadget fetish carrying something different, chances are it is something new and trendy. Gadget-heads are seen as fickle and trendy, and bitterly loyal … for about 30 seconds until the next bright & shiny object comes along. But I have typically held on to the stuff I loved the most, and recently I’ve been alternating between 4 PDA/handhelds – my Axim x51v, iPod Touch, Psion Revo and HP200LX. Made me wonder – what sorts of ‘old school’ stuff does the rest of the Gear Diary staff use? So I asked the question –…

Reviews

MYINE Ira Internet Radio – Review

Let me tell you about Elana’s radio. (Yup, that’s it in the clip.) Elana cooks… a lot! and when she does she listens to the radio. Sometimes she listens to music, but often she chooses talk radio. And she listens to it on an old-style Sony radio. The thing hasn’t changed since I was a kid. It has one speaker and sounds… well… it sounds horrible. I have asked Elana if she wanted me to set it up so her MacBook could drive speakers in the kitchen, but she didn’t want the hassle or expense. So for YEARS I have…

Reviews

iBlink Earbuds Review

Back when I was much younger headphones were headphones – of sure there was a wide range of quality, but in general you were getting two padded speakers that clapped over your ears. Later, when the Sony Walkman and other portable products arrived around 1980, much smaller on-ear headphones arrived to support those products. The 1990’s brought us earbuds and other varieties of on-ear, around-ear, and in-ear products. Ear-canal audio products are the most recent, offering the portability of earbuds with a better frequency response range and noise isolation. There are so many products of each type that a trip…

Reviews

AblePlanet PSM500 Gaming Headset Review

As someone who is a gamer but also has a busy family and work schedule, I often find my video game time late at night when the house is quiet and most everyone else is asleep. This gives me two options – mute the sound or use headphones. Sometimes it is a hybrid of these, as I leave my headphones sitting my desk as low-volume speakers. For the past several years I have used fairly cheap headphones, starting with a pair from an older Sony portable CD player, moving on to a pair of cheap headphones I bought for my…

Reviews

Mobile Edge ECO Messenger Laptop Bag Review

To frame for a second just how eco-centric my family is, let me give an example: on our recent vacation to Ohio, we returned with two trash bags full of recyclable materials because we found the recycling in the area we stayed inadequate. Also, a recent report showed that simultaneous to an explosion of ‘green’ advertising, as many as 98% of all ‘green’ product advertisements are misleading. So, when someone claims to make an eco-friendly product, I am immediately skeptical. Therefore the Mobile Edge ECO Messenger gets a double-look here: first and foremost for its utility as a messenger bag,…

Reviews

HTC Magic Review Part 2

It’s been a month now since I posted my first impressions, and it’s time to fess up my thoughts on the HTC Magic. Truth be told, it has truly surprised me! User Interface The Android user interface is simple yet elegant, and was definitely designed with finger actions in mind. Unlike Windows Mobile, Android never makes you wish for a stylus. Icons are nicely sized, menus are large and the flicking motions to advance lists, web pages and menus become second nature as soon as you start using the phone. For some reason Android feels a lot nicer on the…

How to Do It Yourself!

My Dell Mini 9 Hackintosh – The Installation

This is Part One in a series about my journey with my new Dell Mini 9 into Hacktinosh territory…I’ll be talking about my installation process, my impressions of the Mini as a Mac netbook, performance, software, and more. I was pretty early to jump on the netbook bandwagon. When I saw the original 7″ Asus Eee PC for the first time, I knew that I had to have it. I had been lusting after computers like the Sony Picturebook for a long time–something that could fit in my purse and go with me everywhere! As a writer, having a full…

Reviews

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…

Reviews

VAIO P Review: Tiny and Mighty

When Sony told me they had a VAIO P ready to send out to me, I was more excited about it than any other device I’ve tested in a while. Having converted to the netbook faithful with an HP Mini 1000 a few months ago, I was looking forward to trying out Sony’s attempt. The design really does trump every other netbook on the market and is extremely reminiscent of their PictureBook series of ultra ultraportables from a few years ago. It is thinner than my Mini 1000, not to mention less wide and deep. It doesn’t even make it…

Reviews

Spb Mobile Shell 3 Review

[Note: This is a three-way, multi-site review. Chris Spera (italics), Clinton Fitch (bold), and Doug Goldring (plain text)have all teamed up to review Mobile Shell 3 together. It is being simultaneously posted on Gear Diary, and Just Another Mobile Monday.] It is hard to believe that it has been only a little over two years (February 2007) since Spb Software House revolutionized the way we use our Windows Mobile devices. Since that time, dozens of other software developers and OEMs such as HTC, Samsung, and Sony-Ericsson have adopted this same technique of replacing the user interface entirely. Through all of…

Reviews

Hot Pursuit for Windows Mobile Review

Games for devices such as PalmOS and Windows Mobile PDA’s have typically gotten much less attention than those for consoles and handhelds by big names such as Sony and Nintendo. What that has meant is that it is harder for game producers to get their games into the hands of those who might enjoy them: so-called ‘hardcore’ gamers would know about the games but be typically looking for a more serious and involved experience, while the more ‘casual’ gamer would be less likely to visit the online stores to get the games. The Apple iPhone changed that with the tight…

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