You’re probably wondering why I’m writing about sneakers? Especially since this is a gadget site and sneakers are about as low tech as things get. Well there’s something noteworthy about these Nike Air Zoom Structure Triax making them a hot deal at $46 shipped.
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Before I get started, I wanted to say special thanks go out to Dan Cohen, who stayed up with me until 3am Eastern/2am Central working on the Flash drive needed to get this all done. So… OSX 10.5.6 and the MSI Wind… Yah ok… maybe not so much.

Quick update – I’ve got OSX installed on my Wind (calling it miniMBP); and I’ve learned some interesting things as of this morning.

1. 1. I can still survive and be human on as little as 2.5 hours of sleep as long as there’s good, strong coffee around…somewhere.
2. 2. You have to find the right version of Chameleon in order to get the flash drive right so that you can get OSX installed on the Wind
3. 3. Deselecting the Kernel and installing a different wireless card are no longer required, as long as you use the right source and get the right driver for the Wind’s WiFi card, respectively
4. 4. Software Update runs and works!
5. 5. Installing OSX 10.5.6 “works” (the OS gets updated) but in the end, may not be the best way to go.
6. 6. Boot Camp apparently requires TRUE EFI in order to function, so THAT’S why is not in the build of OSX that was hacked for the Wind.  The Wind won’t run Boot Camp (but that doesn’t mean you can’t dual or even triple boot your Wind..!)

There appear to be keyboard and trackpad issues between the Wind and OSX 10.5.6.  Everything still works if you use an external keyboard and mouse, but not with the Wind’s keyboard and trackpad.  So once you buy the prize, its yours to keep… Meaning, once you hack it, you may not be able to go main stream for all updates. 

Thankfully, I know what I need to do to install Leopard on the Wind, so I have a Mac in my pocket whenever I want it.  I need to know if I can find the 10.5.5 update out there, download it and install it and see if my 10.5.6 theory is correct. I’m going to be trolling the Apple Support site and forums for this tonight and tomorrow.

Also, any MSI Wind fans out there need to check out forums.msiwind.net. This is a great resource and will help you if you run into any problems with your Wind whether it runs Windows XP, Vista , OSX, or whatever.

UPDATE: It looks as though ALL OS updates that are released MUST first be modified (by someone with a lot more development and programming skill than me) and be released as a hacked update before it can be installed on the Wind. 

The OS version that Dan and I both used was 10.5.4.  Installing updates for either 10.5.5 or 10.5.6 renders the internal keyboard and trackpad unusable.  There’s obviously some kind of a driver issue or conflict there, at the very least.  I’ll be looking around forums.msiwind.net for those updates as well.

My son was watching Nickelodeon here at Mom’s house, and there was a strange crawl on the screen.

Note: I didn’t take the video…I found it on YouTube.

I just had to find out more info on it, and write about it.  What am I writing about?  Well Time Warner Cable, Bright House Networks and Viacom have been unable to negotiate new carriage fees, and on New Years Day — when you may be nursing a hangover and wanting Nickelodeon to help babysit your kids — you may be in for a shock.  If the deal isn’t reached, then these 18 networks will be PULLED by Viacom from your line up as of the New Year: Continue Reading

If 2008 seemed a little gloomy then 2009 could shape up to be downright dark. If you’re one of the people that see the glass half empty then a Despair Calendar might be just what you need. Instead of loading you up on cute sayings that nobody really believes – Despair takes the funny road with funny parodies of motivational posters like this one for Opportunity: I am Dr. Adewole Aremu- a director with the Union Bank of Nigeria in Lagos – and I wish to speak to you most urgently about a matter regarding the sum of $39,000,000 US Dollars…

Create your own custom 2009 calendar, and pick your favorite (de)motivational posters. It’s a lot of fun and only $19.99.

Despair – 2009 Create Your Own Calendar

I just did something that’s been on my “To Do” list since forever. I updated my Twitter profile with a customized background that contains my company and personal contact information. I’ve found myself using Twitter more frequently since it’s a convenient way to update my Facebook status as well as keep in touch with my family and friends. If you haven’t discovered Twitter – here’s a 2 minutes video that explains how it  works.

Previously I’d made some lame attempts to upload my own backgrounds but they always looked slightly off. While I can shrink images for posting them on the web, my graphics capabilities stop right there. I had decided that professional assistance was probably in order. Thankfully last night Nan Palmero twitted about a custom Twitter background that he’d had made for his page. That was enough for me.

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Not long ago, I had the opportunity to review the Adobe Photoshop and Premiere Elements Bundle.  It was one of my favorite programs to review, and I still use both parts of the bundle on a regular basis.  Since that time, however, Adobe has updated the bundle and released the Photoshop and Premiere Elements Bundle 7, which I have been using for the last couple of months.  The basics of the updated version are much the same as the previous version, so I am not going to waste your time rehashing everything I said before.  You can read those reviews at your leisure.  What I want to do here is take a look at what is new in this bundle, and especially spend some time with the new online component, photoshop.com.  Ready, let’s get started.

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• New Active Park Assist helps drivers parallel park with the touch of a button and without ever touching the steering wheel
• Available in mid-2009 on Lincoln MKS sedan and all-new Lincoln MKT crossover
• Active Park Assist uses ultrasonic-based sensing system and Electric Power Assisted Steering to steer the vehicle into a parking spot
• Electric Power Assisted Steering also improves fuel economy up to 5 percent, while reducing CO2 emissions and enhancing performance, compared with traditional steering

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The Gear Diary Team is as opinionated and diverse as any I have worked with over the years, both in real life and on the Internet.  So we had to have a discussion on what we each thought were the best gadgets of 2008…

Joel McLaughlin

1. Neuros Link – Soon to be the mother of all set top boxes. With all the support it’s adding, it’s a matter of time where you can get rid of
your cable box.

2. T-Mobile G1 – The birth of a new phone platform. So far, it holds a lot of promise and is starting to deliver on those too.

3. Netflix Player by Roku – Now you can do the one DVD at a time plan and watch all the back catalog with this cheap little box. Continue Reading

Since I have been carrying a G1 for about a week, I have been scouring the net for all of the info about the G1 I can.  This includes adding some of the better sites to my Google Reader.  Was checking up my feeds this morning and came across a post on Phandroid.com that it’s been reported on googleandblog.com that a T-Mobile rep hinted that T-Mobile would be shipping every G1 owner a 2400 mAH battery and a new cover to every G1 owner in January.  All I have to say is I hope if it’s true, that the version T-Mobile ships out is thinner than this extended battery Boxwave is selling for $59.95.  With the extended battery, it will turn a somewhat chunky device unto one that is definitely chunky!  Check out the picture of how thick it would make the G1.

Image provided by BoxWave’s Website.

SlingPlayer Mobile for BlackBerry devices is now available as a free (30 day trial) public beta from Sling. The cost after your first 30 days is a one time fee of $29.99 – the same that users on the Palm, Symbian and Windows Mobile platform pay for the mobile use of Sling. Unfortunately the setup of SlingPlayer Mobile seems to require the use of the Windows 2.0 SlingPlayer client which shuts me out form testing this at the moment. UPDATE: You can enter your Slingbox information manually if you chose not to log into your Sling.com account.

SlingPlayer – BlackBerry (mobile link) via BlackBerry News

When I bought my iPhone in July of this year, I was all ga-ga over it. While it didn’t work very well for me, and that’s very ok, it may work VERY well for you; and that’s even better!

For those of the iPhone persuasion, Dan and company over at What’s on iPhone have pulled together a really cool little contest.  You can win What’s on iPhone’s 2009 Survival kit!  It

…currently includes…over 30 applications, a leather Sena case for iPhone, an Etymotic HF2 headset, and more.

(The package is growing every day and we’ll update you as it does.).

One grand prize winner will receive it all!

All you have to do is review an iPhone app.  Yes, there are a few rules, and you can find them all, here. 

The prizes are way cool, and so is the site!  If you’re so inclined, give the list of apps a quick once over, pick one, and give it a go.  At the very least, you’re gonna have a good time, guaranteed!

Just a quick post to let everyone know that I got my birthday present today (yes, its a week late, but who knew..?).  What might that be?  An MSI Wind, of course!  (get it??  Breeze blowing..?  Wind..?  Never mind…)

Anywho, this is the start of a very long and very hackable relationship, I can feel it.  Since the Wind comes with XP preinstalled; AND our own Brother Dan Cohen was able to get it to run OSX Leopard, I’m guessing it will also run Boot Camp.  My goal: to get both OS’s running on it at the same time, without the use of a VM like Fusion or Parallels.

Stay tuned, because, like Dan, I’ll have some cool updates coming in the next few days and weeks.  I’ve already put an extra GB of RAM in it (no problem, once you realize the last screw on the bottom of the machine is under the “Warranty Sticker. Void if tampered” sticker.  Nice…

Like many of you, my days are structured around a general time by which I try to be in bed and a specific time at which I prefer to awaken. In order to get up in a timely manner, I have to use an alarm. I haven’t ever really given much thought to whether my bedside alarm clock could fulfill functions other than simply making sure that I was jolted out of bed when I needed to be, but the new Altec Lansing moondance GLOW has caused me to realize that there might be more to a bedside device that tells the time, than just having a jarring buzzer.

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Here’s a case that won’t require you to takeout a sub-prime mortgage to afford. Amazon has their highly rated Griffin Wave case on clearance for $8.77 (Black color – Pink is about $1 more). Shipping is free for Amazon Prime members (which you should join if you do any amount of shopping at Amazon). I was out with my kids yesterday looking for cases at Walmart and Target and the pickings are slim. Avoid the hassle of leaving your home with this online deal.

Griffin Wave for iPhone 3G – Black and Pink – $8.77 and $9.67 shipped

I have always read the reviews Judie has done on Tom Bihn bags, and have always wanted one.  Judie recently gave me her Aeronaut; I used it for my vacation and I really like the packing cube idea. I also think that the construction of the bag is top notch.  However, the Aeronaut is simply too large when you just have to stay one or two nights.  Also, the Aeronaut may have some issues with smaller ERJ-145 overhead compartments; that’s where the Western Flyer comes in.

photos by Kevin

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