When I was at DigitalLife 2007 in NYC this summer, I looked around hoping to find a digital photo frame which supported WIFI. My goal was to find a frame with Internet connectivity that would auto-update itself by using photos contained in my Flickr account.

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At the same time that Gear Diary was approached to review the Johnny Lightning Battle Wheels, we were also invited to review the V_Bot. What is the V_Bot? Well, here is a clipping from the email describing it:

“V_Bot, the new high-tech hero, transforms from a sleek street vehicle into a giant robot loaded with action moves. This revolutionary RC toy captures kids’ imaginations with a giant robot that they can control, transform and drive. V_Bot even has a plug-in for an MP3 player.”

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I’m pretty sure that at this point there is not a single person who has not used a backpack or satchel. Generally speaking, you usually find yourself wishing you had more space. Then, later on you find yourself wishing you didn’t have more space, but instead find yourself wishing you didn’t have a bag that keeps trying to tear to shreds on you. Then, along comes Mojo. This bag is quite possibly the most durable bag I have ever seen, with the most space I have EVER seen in a satchel. Ever imagine a bag that has pockets inside of its pockets? You were imagining this bag.

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Bose bills their Tri-Port Acoustic Headphones as the “only in-ear headphones with the rich audio and comfortable fit not available from conventional designs“. I’ve been testing a pair in various locations – mainly while sitting still at home, on the elliptical machine at the gym and out walking around the neighborhood.

The headphones are not terribly expensive at $ 99. At least not by today’s standards. Are they worth the money? Continue Reading

Say Hello to the little Beast – The Pantech Duo

Overview

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With all the hub-bub around the new iPods and Zunes, I had been searching for something to make my older 60GB 5G iPod Video new and exciting again. I wanted something that would be fun, and bring some zip back to the device, and be way cool, especially since I wasn’t going to be buying a new iPod any time soon.  My 5G player is in decent shape and since I’ve been watching a lot of vide on it lately (more on that in a minute), I was looking for something that would make that experience a little better. Enter the myvu Solo Edition for iPod.  Let’s see if it gave me the better experience I was looking for…

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Sometimes, I need to have white noise playing in the background in order to be able to concentrate. This can take the form of music (CD, MP3’s etc), radio (Internet or other), or the TV. Sometimes, the simple sound of the air circulating in the room that I’m in can be deafening, and just too loud.  I need to fill the air with something other than, well… the air.

Recently here in Chicago, we had a very bad rainstorm come through. My sump pump decided to die the day AFTER the storm when a lot of the water absorbed by the ground decided to continue to run off.  My house is the last on the street, and a corner lot.  I am at the bottom of a slight incline, and I get run-off water from about 4-5 houses to the west of me.  During this past Spring, my sump pump kicked out about 5-10 gallons of water every 15-20 minutes…it ran ALL the time.

The day after this last storm, we got some water in our basement. Not a lot, but enough to ruin the carpet and to spur my wife and I to move my home office upstairs, out of the basement and into the “living room.”  So long 25″ TV in the basement…Hello….wall. Great. Just great…and with the start of the football season, I’m basically screwed, right?  WRONG!

Enter Hauppauge’s WinTV-HVR 950 Hybrid TV Stick!  The WinTV-HVR 950 models 1139 and 1136 (here on out, called the 950) are USB 2.0 devices. Its an analog AND HD-TV TV tuner that works with both Windows Vista and XP SP2 (Mac OSX users need to use model 01145, which includes Elgato’s EyeTV Lite, so you can watch and record analog and ATSC digital TV on your Mac.) I was given model 1139 to review.

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If money were no object, what would be your perfect laptop? What features would it have? What would it look like? This is the question you have to ask yourself when you’re buying a laptop like this one. Is the Toshiba Portégé R400-S4933 Tablet PC your perfect laptop? At the end of the review I have made a short video with my answer to this $4000 question.

To start of, it is quite a sleek and compact machine, weighing in at 1.7kg (3.79 lbs).

all photos taken by Jerry

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The Almighty Wallet: Homers since the 14th century has used wallets to carry all kinds of stuff. Granted, back then they were called knapsacks (we call them laptop bags these days). With the invention of paper currency in the 1600’s, billfolds became popular.

With the insatiable appetite for wads of currency preferable in rolled form, consumers embraced credit cards in a convenient stackable form. Wallets have become a staple for holiday gift giving and have changed little over the years, with the notable exception of the velcro wallet.

The nice folks at ALL-ETT have designed a clever way to handle the bulk riding shotgun on the gluteus maximus. Billed as the “World’s Thinnest Wallet” there are six different wallets to fit your needs.
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I never thought I would be one of those people that used a hand strap, but at some point over the last year, I decided that I really like having one. I’ve been using a little freebie strap that came with a PQI flash drive, but the WirelessGround USB Leather Hand Strap I was sent convinced me to try something new.

Why would I want to add a 7.5″ long x 0.3″ wide leather strap with a 0.6″ square near its end to my Mogul? Well…check it out!

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My how time flies when you are having fun! A month has come and gone since I received “my” Palm Centro review unit: a month in which I got to try out nearly everything, a month during which I was able to decide if a device such as this could meet my needs. When I first received the Centro, I posted its unboxing, gave a description of the hardware, and posted my initial thoughts. If you haven’t already read that portion of this review, click here and then come back; as always, I’ll be waiting patiently.

In this portion of the review we’ll cover my user experience, the Centro’s battery life, its camera, and a rundown of some of the included Sprint software. Let’s get started…

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The call of duty beckons yet again, to review another RC aircraft. But, this time it is not another helicopter, it is an airplane. Specifically, it is the Silverlit Palm-Z Mini RC Indoor Airplane, available from Hobbytron.com. To date I have test flown the Hornet 3 Mini RC Helicopter and the RC AH-64 Apache RTF 4 CH Electric Helicopter, both also available from HobbyTron.com. With my RC helicopter flying experience would I be able to take on flying an airplane? We’ll see.

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Yeah, I know that the title states “Photography”, and the bag I’ll be reviewing today certainly has the proper fittings to hold more photographic equipment than I will likely ever own, but it would be unwise to simply pigeon-hole the Crumpler Whickey and Cox Photography Bag as a mere camera tote. It is a well planned laptop bag, it is a comfortable backpack, and yes – it is a camera bag suitable for carrying an SLR and many of its accessories.

Crumpler sells three different photography backpacks: the Keystone which can handle an SLR, its accessories, and a 12″ laptop; the Karachi Outpost made to carry an SLR, its accessories, and a 17″ laptop; and the mid-size Whickey and Cox, which can also carry an SLR, its accessories, and a 15″ laptop.

Available in dark brown with oatmeal and light oatmeal color blocks, or in the gunmetal and gray that I was sent, the W&C has a very slick and streamlined appearance. The backpack’s exterior measures approximately 20″ tall x 15′ wide (at the base) x 10″ deep (again, measuring at the base). Because of the turtle shell design, the bag doesn’t appear lumpy or cumbersome; it almost looks aerodynamic.

Ready to jump right on in? I thought so…

The exterior is composed of water resistant 1000D Nylon, and as you can see in this photo, there are two slightly hidden slash pockets worked into the bag’s hips. Each pocket measures approximately 6″ wide x 11″ tall, and it will expand to about 2″ deep nearer to its bottom. Each pocket is kept securely shut by a 6″ long zipper with Crumpler’s fabulous 1.5″ long x 0.5″ wide metal pulls. For better protection from the elements, there is a 1″ nylon fabric overhang; for better protection from thieves, it is not very easy to get a hand inside these pockets’ tops. I have a slimmer hand, and I still found the pockets’ openings to be extremely tight.

There are two bands going across the middle of the backpack’s spine: the bottom band is approximately 6″ wide and the top band is approximately 8″ wide when the adjustable nylon strap is let out as far as possible. This feature is for carrying oddly shaped equipment such as tripods, monopods, and the like.

all photos were taken by Jerry

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As I have become more and more active in reviewing games both here and at Just Another Mobile Monday, I have been learning more about the origins of many games, particularly what could be considered classic board games. Sometimes, the origins of a game may be shrouded in mystery or controversy. Oftentimes, however, simply by learning the basic rules of a game, you can determine its origins fairly easily. Japanese games, for example, tend to be puzzle oriented (Sudoku, Kakuro, Hitori, etc.). Chinese games, on the other hand, tend to focus more on strategy. This is exactly what I found when I started playing the latest offering from PDAmill, GameBox Asia II. GameBox Asia II consists of two of the most famous Chinese board games: Go and Xiangqi (Chinese Chess). Both require are fantastic games which require a lot of strategy (and a little hint of luck).

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A few months ago I got to pick up a copy of Command and Conquer 3. This game had been at the top of the hype meter for almost 2 years prior to being released in March 2007.

The first thing I noticed was the distinct green theme of the box and this makes sense if you have played the previous games in the series.

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