Do you scoff at the idea of eBooks? Does the thought of giving up your durable library of hardcovers, paperbacks and magazines make you shudder? Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry have announced the winner of the Small to Medium-sized Venture Award. This Book Time Robot uses regular paper books and was designed for users with limited arm mobility. Pages are turned either by pressing a button, using a breath activated switch or a larger foot activated switch. No word on when or if an iPhone version might be expected anytime soon. The Earth Times Continue reading on Gear Diary …

I know it’s just the first week of 2009, but I suspect that when we are preparing to welcome 2010 in some 360 days, the Roku player that I purchased just over a week ago will be on my list of “favorite gadgets of 2009″.… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Update:The contest is now closed and the winner has been notified and has claimed his prize.  Thanks for entering Peter! If you enjoyed my review of the Digital Innovations Cleaning Products, then you will love this giveaway: Johan from Digital Innovations has provided Gear Diary with a “New Year’s Resolutions Cleaning Kit.”  OK, that’s  not what they call it but that’s what I am calling it! Starting from now until 12 CST Sunday, January 11th, just post a reply here on what you received for Christmas that you would use these products on, and you will be entered to win all of these goodies. You’ll get brand new ones, though – not the ones I reviewed… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Surge protection may not be anything to get excited about but trust me, after the second lightning strike at our cabin in three years (and close to $20,000 in damage this time around), you had BETTER protect your precious electronics. Now ezGear is bringing some style and innovation to surge protection with the ezSpace Wall Mount UFO. According to the press release-… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Digital Innovations sent me some accessories which may help keep those holiday gifts working like they they did the day they were received.  I was sent an array of products; first, I will cover the dvdDr items. First up are the dvdDR Premier Disc Repair and Cleaning products.  Anyone who has had CDs, DVDs, Video Game Discs or BluRay Discs can attest that they will not read properly if they are gummed up with fingerprints or other foreign material like the goo from your son’s PB&J.  While the time tested – and probably not safe – breathing on the disc and rubbing on your shirt solutions may work for finger oils, they probably won’t work for grimier things.  Doing either may also leave your shirt filled with grimy deposits, which is not the most pleasant thing to think about when you’re wearing a brand new shirt that dear old Mom gave you.  So the next and best thing, in my opinion, is the dvdDR Premier Cleaning kit.… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Eye-Fi,Inc, makers of the popular wireless memory card for digital cameras, today announced development of an iPhone App for Eye-Fi card owners. This program will allow owners of the Eye-Fi to also use their accounts with their iPhone. Since the iPhone has no memory card slot, the service will work via Wi-Fi to upload their photos to their desktop and then optionally up to one of the 25 different photo sites supported by Eye-Fi. Expect more details from MacWorld this week or you can sign up here to be notified when the application is available for the iPhone. Eye-Fi Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Blaupunkt and miRoamer are getting set to put Internet radio into your car radio. Their announcements are expected this week during CES 2009 with the first model expected to be the Blaupunkt New Jersey 600i. This in-dash radio includes the standard AM/FM/CD as well as Internet connection. The hardware will reportedly use 3G/HSDPA/HSPA data via a Bluetooth connection provided by your cellular phone. Future versions may include an integrated internal modem. In order to stream radio you use the miRoamer Internet service which will allow for creation of playlists and managing the radio stations accessible via your car. Autoblog Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Sirius and XM Satellite radio seem like they may ignore the iPhone as a platform for distribution of their paid radio content. Fortunately third party developers have taken some initiative and seem poised to introduce iPhone clients that will receive both Sirius and XM satellite radio on your iPhone.… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

I’ve been a Blackjack user (on and off) since May of 2007.  I absolutely love the form factor, 320×240 screen, QWERTY keyboard, and (nearly) one handed operation. I liked it so much, that I used it for well over 9 months, which for me, is an eternity. I change devices about every 7 months on average.  So how does the AT&T/Samsung Epix (sometimes called the Blackjack 3) stand up?  Let’s take a quick look and see… The Epix and the BJ 1 – The Epix has a bigger screen and slightly more compact keys Continue reading on Gear Diary …

As much as I love my MSI Wind, I am not a fan of the case that was included in the box.  Sure, it is functional.  It protects my Wind, and keep a relatively low profile.  But it is not exactly stylish.  So, I have been watching for an opportunity to upgrade to something a little nicer.  Fortunately for me, our friends over at PDAir were more than happy to oblige with an extremely nice brown leather case.  Hit the jump for all of my thoughts on this one. … Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Any sports fan worth his or her salt is not immune to some good old fashioned smack talk, especially if that person is a sore winner or worse, a Dallas Cowboys or Pittsburgh Steelers fan ;-D. To add over the top flavor to your booya! drama to your sporting event of choice (just in time for the SuperBowl) is the Versus Scoreboard. Continue reading on Gear Diary …

This smoking hot little red laptop showed up today, and I figured I ought to share some photos before I got prints from my eager fingers all over it. Have a look at the HP Mini (1140NR) Vivienne Tam edition; possibly the most fashionable netbook ever… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Bluetooth headsets are commonplace these days — especially since most states have now made it illegal to drive while holding a cell phone. Bluetooth headsets that are both comfortable and sound great, however, are anything but commonplace. More often than not I get a new headset that looks promising, use it for a couple of days, and then discover that there’s something problematic. Perhaps it’s not as comfortable as I’d like, or it doesn’t sit securely enough in my ear when wearing it. Or it may sound great to me, but sound like I’m in a tunnel to the person on the other side of the phone call. Or it could have a great fit and sound good, but the process of pairing the device to the phone is annoyingly cumbersome. As a result, I find myself returning to wired headsets over and over. It’s for that reason that I’m always interested in trying out and reviewing a new headset; the opportunity to review this one was no different. Continue reading on Gear Diary …

These Will Return signs are found just about everywhere. They’re favorites of small businesses who need to tell their customers that they’re in the back using the bathroom they’ve stepped out for a quick errand but will return. Here’s an actual clock that is disguised as one of those Will Return signs. Set the time 15 minutes ahead and watch visitors go crazy as they wait for your return. Great for times when you’re minding the store alone and need to use the toilet. Unsure about your return time? The Will Return clock keeps updating the time so you’re never late! Of course you may also be left with no customers… Will Return Clock – $9.99 Continue reading on Gear Diary …

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 working with Dan Cohen fellow Gear Diary Team Member, to validate the process I used to insure its truly repeatable; and will have a FULL write up later… Continue reading on Gear Diary …