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Fujitsu ScanSnap S1300 – Review

A number of years ago I wanted to begin moving toward having a “paperless” life. I was tired of being swamped by piles of paper. It was getting out of control. The first step in my trying to unclutter my life (it is still “in process”) was to purchase a high-speed scanner. I did a good deal of research and eventually ended up with one of Fujitsu’s products, a ScanSnap scanner. It blew me away. It had the ability to handle up to 40-50 pages at a time. It did two-sided scans. It scanned fast, Created high quality scans and…

Game Diary, Reviews

Vampire the Masquerade: Redemption (2000, RPG): The Netbook Gamer

Considering that I tend to be a very linear person, it is interesting that in terms of role-playing games pre-2004 I tended to play them all ‘out of order’. For example, after enjoying Neverwinter Nights and Knights of the Old Republic, I asked around and was recommended to seek out Gothic 2 and Baldur’s Gate 2. I played and loved both of those and then sought out the original games in the series. The same was true with games based on White Wolf’s Vampire the Masquerade tabletop RPG – I played the 2004 Troika game Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines through…

Game Diary, Reviews

Evil Islands (2001, RPG): The Netbook Gamer

If you are familiar with the PC RPG genre and think of games from Eastern European developers from early in the last decade, you will likely come up with thoughts of bug-ridden releases with loads of patches, poor translations, terrible dialogue, and overall sloppy games. Things have come a long way to the point of excellent games such as The Witcher and Drakensang and Divinity II, but it is still worth playing many of the earlier games because what they lack in polish they often make up for in original ideas and gameplay. Of course, sometimes they are junk. So…

News

The Decline and Fall of the Hummel Figurine

Image courtesy of Hummels at a Discount I remember as a kid when my father bought my mom her first Hummel. At the time they were treasured and very expensive – and the type of expense my parents really couldn’t afford at the time. Through the years they added to the collection, eventually getting a nice little wall display case for them all. The one in the image – Sensitive Hunter – is how my mom always saw me, and therefore was the one she wanted to represent me in her little menagerie. But today an article at WalletPop talks…

News

Resolutions for the Gaming New Year

Are you feeling hung over from some bad gaming purchases in 2009? Let me share some thoughts on how to apply principles and resolutions to fill your 2010 full of smart gaming choices! Every New Years, many people make resolutions of things they will do that year to make themselves better people. I do this each year, typically with a single thing I want to work on in my personal life (and typically either better health or communications!). With the very busy Fall release season coming to a close, it is a good time to reflect on the decisions made…

Reviews

Jabra HALO Bluetooth Headphones Review

Jabra None of the previous Bluetooth headphones that I have had the chance to use have really felt “right”. Many of them were either just like two enormous earbuds in each ear tethered to each other with a wire behind my head, or were too large to chuck in my slender laptop bag that I carted to uni everyday. The idea of cutting the cord between my head and my pocket was a good one, but there were just too many drawbacks. That’s until I tried the Jabra Halo, which has brought me that much closer to wireless freedom. The…

Reviews

Review: Trane XL800 Programmable Thermostat & a Giveaway

When I had my house built in 1998, one thing I wanted but could not afford at the time was a programmable thermostat. Thankfully, Trane was kind enough to send one that I probably would not have considered, the Trane XL800. The first thing I had to do was install the thermostat. To do so, I had to turn off my HVAC system — which mean going into the depths of my garage and flipping the breakers. Then I went back inside, removed the existing thermostat and replaced it with the programmable thermostat. Make sure to pull the little plastic strip out…

eBooks, Reviews

The Barnes & Noble nook; or how I managed to completely waste my Saturday on a piece of over-hyped hardware

The Barnes & Noble nook eBook Reader has been touted by some as a Kindle-killer, and after what seemed like a ridiculously long wait, when mine finally showed up today I was ready to be wowed. It’s not that I don’t already enjoy reading eBooks on my Kindle DX (Kevin is using the Kindle2) and on my iPhone, it’s just that the nook was the “next new big thing”, and I allowed myself to be caught up in the excitement. I was perhaps a week later ordering mine than many were, because I found out that American Express Rewards offers…

Editorials

Palm’s Hail Mary Pass May Not Keep Them In The Game – A GearChat

It started out as a quick joke yesterday morning. I had seen Engadget’s post that the Palm Pre could be had for just $80. Coming so soon after the release of the Pixi (and its discounted price), it struck me that with such rapid and steep discounts the writing is more clearly on the wall than ever. It got the team talking.

Reviews

Hexplore (1998, RPG) Review

There are many games from the history of computer role-playing games that deserve the attention of a full retrospective, looking back in-depth at what made the game great and putting it into a modern context. However, for every ‘Ultima IV’ or ‘Arcanum’ there are a hundred games like Hexplore – minor releases that added something at the time but were not significant enough to merit much attention even a year after they came out. Certainly, I had never heard about it until recently when it was mentioned in a thread on a PC RPG forum. As part of my love…

Reviews

HAVA Review: Live TV for PC and iPhone

When I saw the press release announcing that HAVA was coming to the iTunes App Store and that it was an application which allowed for live streaming of your home television, I was intrigued. I like to think I’m pretty knowledgeable when it comes to the live TV options available for the iPhone but I have to admit I’d never heard of HAVA. I’m currently running both a Slingbox Solo and an EyeTV Hybrid in my home office. The Slingbox allows me to view live TV on my Mac as well as my iPhone and doesn’t require the connected computer…

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,…

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

Movie Maker – Stop Action Movies Right From Your iPhone

Last weekend my niece and nephew were here for the weekend. (Oh… their parents too.) 🙂 Within a few minutes of getting here my nephew Joey asked if there was something we could do on my iPhone together. Fortunately I was prepared. I had done a bit of research and found an app that seemed like it would be a home run. That app… MovieMaker. MovieMaker, formally called WatchItChange, is an app that walks you through the process of creating a stop action movie right on your iPhone. I liked the idea since it not only sounded like it would…

Reviews

Revisiting the CellRanger Cell Signal Booster

We often do initial reviews of hardware here on the site. It’s fun, it’s exciting, and, as gadget lovers, we enjoy bringing to all of you our thoughts on the newest technology. At the same time, what really matters about a product aren’t just the initial impressions or even the first review, but rather how things work in the long run and whether an item we really like during a review is something we still use a number of months later. Along those lines I thought we might go back and take a second look at item that both Wayne…

Reviews

Emergency Radio for iPhone and iPod Touch Review

Currently number 2 on the list of the iTunes App Store’s top paid applications, Emergency Radio allows you easily follow the action of over 900 police, fire, EMS and other emergency frequencies. Whether you want to keep tabs on what’s going on in your own backyard or listen in to the happenings on the other side of the country Emergency Radio streams a a variety of emergency services feeds right to your iPhone. Time to put that old Radio Shack scanner on Ebay.

How to Do It Yourself!

Help my phone is in the toilet!! Guide to replacing your phone without getting fleeced by a carrier

Hey, it happens. You’re sitting to answer nature’s call and without warning or provocation the phone you thought was securely clipped to your hip goes for a swim. Sometimes you’re lucky and can fish it out of the water fast enough and there will be minimal damage. Other times you’re not so lucky and the water shuts your phone down – forever. Unless you’re signed up with an extended warranty company such as Squaretrade – you are out-of-luck because water damage is not covered under most carrier insurance plans (this is the first thing they check – and they know…

Reviews

HTC Touch HD = Stands for Hot Damn!!

Only a few days ago Judie posted her first impressions of HTC’s hottest new devices, the Touch HD, and I am lucky enough to be able to follow that up with my own! For several weeks I have had my cursor hovering over a Touch HD in Hong Kong on eBay, but I wanted to try it out before I committed over $1000 to purchasing one. At last, the Touch HD was released here in Australia, and HTC’s local PR agency received their review units! Having gotten my name on the list some time ago, I was set to receive…

How to Do It Yourself!

The Creation of a Hackintosh

(Note- This post is done in order to share my experience creating a Hackintosh. It is not intended to recommend or encourage similar hacks. Gear Diary neither recommends, nor takes any liability, if you choose to do the same.) I’ve been through the whole UMPC thing from the start. I had a TabletKiosk UMPC the day they were shipped. I had a Samsung Q1P, Q1Ultra, Q1Ultra Premium and a Sony UX 280P in rapid succession. I loved the whole UMPC concept but none of the machines ever fit the bill quite well enough for me. Each was either returned or,…

Editorials

Proof that I am Not a Member of Vertu’s Target Audiance

I got my Vertu Constellation in a round about way, and while I have greatly enjoyed owning it there has never been a day when I thought for even a moment that I was in the same financial bracket as the typical Vertu owner. Today I got proof positive of that fact in the form of a repair bill; more on that in a moment… I had noticed soon after getting my nearly new Constellation that the leather on its battery cover was rubbed and might one day start to peel back. This is certainly not uncommon with the model,…

About Judie and Dan

Hi, I’m Judie Lipsett Stanford, Gear Diary’s founder, co-owner, and Editor in Chief. I started as a product reviewer in late 1999 when I answered a “looking for a software reviewer” request at the now-defunct smaller.com. By mid-2000, I was an occasional reviewer at The Gadgeteer. Within six months, I had become Julie Strietelmeier’s writing partner. For the next six years, I had the privilege of being part of The Gadgeteer’s enormous growth from a well-regarded enthusiasts’ site into a worldwide recognized authority on gadgets, gizmos, and accessories. In fact, in 2006, The Gadgeteer was recognized as one of CNET’s…

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