Search Results for sandisk

What’s Coming with Us to CES, the 2013 Edition

Every year we make the trek to Las Vegas, and every year we try to strike the perfect balance between the gear that we’ll need and a few extra things that will make our lives easier; the trick is to not forget anything vital or to too seriously overpack. Sometimes we get it right, and sometimes we fail miserably. Here’s what’s coming along this time … Judie: I’ve been going to CES since 2002, and you would think that by now I’d have a perfect kit prepared … but technology keeps changing, and so does my gear. I think I…


The Verizon HTC Droid Incredible 4G LTE Review

all photos by Kevin Stanford It’s hard not to get excited when a new phone shows up for review, especially when one boasts all of the bells and whistles found in the HTC Droid Incredible 4G LTE. This particular Droid model was announced earlier this year at CTIA, and I have been using it off and on for the past month. What I’ve learned during this time is that while the Incredible has a slightly smaller build than most of the higher-end Android phones we’ve seen lately, you won’t be compromising too much with this device, and there’s much to…


Why Does Sony Make it So Hard for Me to Say Nice Things? Memory Card Edition

You might not think so from my posts, but I am really cheering for Sony with the Playstation Vita. I canceled my pre-order of the system, but that was more about the fact that there were no bonus offers … and Amazon tends to be great with those so I figured I would just wait until the new year to see. The system looks great hardware wise, seems to offer tons of gameplay possibilities, and ultimately I think that more gaming options means better competition means better games for all of us! But this weekend I have discovered yet another…


Review: Asus EeePad Transformer

The tech press has maligned Android tablets.  There just hasn’t been one that has caught the up to the iPad according to many people.  That may soon change with tablets like the one I have, the Asus’s EeePad Transformer. Hardware Much of the hardware on the Android tablet front has eerily similar specs.  Like most Android tablets that have a version of Honeycomb, the Transformer has an Nvidia Tegra 2, 1 GB of ram, 16 or 32 GB of Flash (mine has 16), WiFi (B,G and N supported), Bluetooth V2.1+EDR, HDMI out, MicroSD Slot, a 5 megapixel camera on the back and a…


The Sansa Clip Zip MP3 Player Review

I love Sandisk’s Sansa line because they are cheap, use standard connectors and work on just about any OS.  So when they offered to send me the new Clip Zip to review for Gear Diary I jumped at the chance.  Will it be as nice as their past devices?  Let’s find out. The Clip Zip is the next version of the Clip.  My friends in the Linux community have much love for the Clip.  It’s cheap, supports Ogg Vorbis codecs, and it connects to your computer as conveniently as any flash drive. That means you can us any OS that…


How I Chose the Tablet for Me

  Tablet computing is all the rage now.  Microsoft coined it, Apple popularized it and there are many others including Microsoft itself that are vying for a piece of the large pie that Apple already owns.  It isn’t the death of the PC, but I am convinced it’s a device almost everyone will eventually own.  Some may replace their computer entirely with a tablet device, while others will just use it to augment the laptop or desktop they use.  Either way, it’s the future and I’ve decided I need to look at getting one.  Follow me along the journey of selecting my…


Victorinox Swiss Army Releases Innovative Luxury USB Line

Need an expensive and colorful device to store your extremely important personal or professional data? Want a USB stick with a self-destruct function? Look no further. Consumers may be surprised to learn that Victorinox Swiss Army’s latest products, the Slim and Slim Duo USB lines, have just one function. Marketed as an innovative and decidedly “Bond-esque” luxury flash drive, the new Swiss Army USBs are ready for anything, that is, unless you need a can opener or knife. Buyers can now not only store their personal data, but also keep it protected via passwords and a vaguely described “unhackable” feature….


Dual-Boot Your Nook Color the Easy Way

Maybe you’ve heard here on Gear Diary that the NOOKcolor makes an excellent Android tablet. If you’re feeling confined by the stock operating system on the nook, even with its new app offerings, there’s always the option of trying a full Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) installation. However, this requires not only a bit of time and patience but a level of comfort with creating either a bootable SD card or <gulp> reflashing the internal NOOK memory. If you go with plan B, well, you’re a brave soul who doesn’t need B&N’s NOOK interface at all. But the stock NOOK reader is…


GD Quickie: Sansa Fuze+ Firmware Update Makes the Fuze+ Usable!

A while back I reviewed the Sansa Fuze+ from Sandisk.  Back then, the way the player was locked would wreak havoc with it.  You would lock it and then the heat of your body would unlock it even when it wasn’t moving all that much in my pocket. Well, Sandisk has released an update to their firmware that changes the lock function and moves it from holding the play button in to lock to pressing in the power button on the top.  To unlock, you just tap the power button which takes a lot more effort to do and now it is…


Foursquare Teams Up with CES in 2011

Foursquare, that cute little services that lets you check in at a venue to let others know you are there, share and read tips about the place and, if you check in often enough, become the Fourquare mayor of the location, has teamed up with CES this year to make things a bit more fun. Last year we had a good time “checking” in constantly. I even earned my one, temporary, mayorship… Yes for a few brief hours I was the major of one of the Vegas Strip tram stops. 🙂 By teaming up with 2011 International CES, Foursquare is…


Review: Hello Kitty Mimobot USB Flash Drives

I don’t normally go for USB flash drives that are shaped as pretty much anything.  I am just as happy with a Sandisk as I am with a Lexar or even a no-name brand flash drive.  Unless you have specific needs, they all pretty much work the same and the looks have been secondary to the amount of storage.  That was until I came along the cuteness of a flash drive that looked like a Hello Kitty character .  Mimoco sent me a 2 GBflash drive that looked like Badtz Maru, the little black penguin with pointy hair. The one thing that…


DocuPen X Series- Review

We saw a lot of neat stuff at CES last month. One of the most interesting, at least to my mind, was a small hand-held scanner from PlanOn. At just about 9 inches long and a tiny bit thicker than an iPhone, the DocuPen X05 isn’t cheap… but it’s pretty impressive nonetheless. The company sent me a loaner unit, and I’ve been using it for the past week or so. Despite some frustrations when I initially tried to get it set up, I have been more than a bit “wowed” by this little gadget. Let’s take a look.


RockBox Review – Breathe new life into your iPod

I have a confession to make.  I love iPods.  I have been a consistent user of the iPod since I got my first one about the time Mac OS X Tiger came out.  Back then I was a Mac OS X fan and I had a PowerBook.  I loved my PowerBook.  I used iTunes on my Mac back when it was still clean and sleek.  Now iTunes is a bloated mess that I just dislike dealing with.  I have also transitioned to using Linux as my OS of choice, which can make life difficult if you love iPods, but not…


Dual Booting the MSI Wind: Blowing in the Breeze, Part 3

This is an update to my earlier post regarding the Wind and OSX; and is just a quick update, kids…  It took a bit of doing, AND I gave up on trying to figure out how to create a bootable, Windows based USB stick. I pulled down 2 different tools, and neither could make the 8GB SanDisk Cruzer I have bootable. I’m guessing it was an issue with Vista Ultimate (running that on my MacBook Pro) and not the tools themselves; but with my Gateway desktop OFFICIALLY belly up, I had no other XP box to work from… I am…


Blackberry Bold 9000 Review

Not too long ago I bought the Nokia E71, since it was pretty much everything I wanted in a smartphone. Excellent keyboard, excellent signal, excellent battery life, and a stable platform. Since I bought it I’ve been very happy with it, and I didn’t think anything would be able to topple it for me. Until now. Off the bat, I would like to let you know that the Bold is my first Blackberry. I’ve very briefly played with several Blackberry’s before, but I’ve never used one in depth or as my primary phone. While I may be a Blackberry virgin,…


The Bowers & Wilkins Zeppelin Speaker Review

My wife calls it the silver bullet.  I think from behind, it looks like a twisted alien face, staring out at you.  In reality, however, it is one of the most unique speakers I have ever used.  Modeled after the Zeppelin flying machine, if this speaker sounds half as good as it looks, then I think we will have a real winner here.  Hit the jump and listen along…


EOS Wireless Speaker System Review

When I was in college, it seems like someone was always throwing a house party.  For those of you who are not familiar, it is a pretty basic concept.  You throw open the front door of your house, condo, apartment, dorm room, or wherever you live; set out some refreshments; crank the music and wait for the people to show up…and they will.  It is kind of like The Field of Dreams.  If you throw a party, they will come. The problem, back in those days of the early 1990’s was the sound system.  Most of us had music centered…


M2 Media Converter Review: Play Your Videos The Way They Were Intended to Be Seen…on Any Device.

One of the problems I have always found with gadgets and technology is that the more useful they get, the less useable they become.  What does that mean, exactly?  Well, the best way to explain this is by looking at an example, such as digital video.  I know an awful lot of people (many of whom read Gear Diary) who like to watch videos on the media players or iPods.  The problem here is that digital video is not a particularly useable medium.  In fact, it can be downright difficult, with dozens of different formats available.  It always seems like…


Review: Sansa Sessions, free music for your new Sansa Fuze

SanDisk has recently announced their new Fuze MP3 Player and also a companion to the player, a card for a free MicroSD card that has music with no DRM on it to promote over 50 new artists.  This is called Sansa Sessions.  Some of the artists included on the MicroSD are All Time Low, Ladytron, Magnet, Nada Surf, Of Montreal, The Coup and many more. Image courtesy of  SanDisk Sandisk sent me the 512 MB MicroSD which not only had  55 tracks of music on it, but it also had 8 music videos and some low res bmp’s of the…


How I turned the HTC Advantage into a laptop replacement

I’ve been quite the busy little Windows Mobile bee over the last couple of days. Inspired by Aura Mae’s comment that she used the HTC Advantage as something of a computer replacement, I set out to see whether I could achieve the same. Any boy, was I blown away by the results! The Advantage’s 5inch screen (which is the same size as some UMPCs) and VGA resolution means you can cram more into the screen – especially when you use the RealVGA utility to run it as its native 640 x 480 resolution. This, combined with a big helping of…