Music is a big deal to me.  I carry both a 60GB 5G iPod and an 8GB 2G iPod Touch. To say I have the music in me is an understatement.  While the title of this article refers in part to an obscure song from the 1980’s, its really meant to garner some thought as to where background Push services are for the iPhone. Yes.  Its been a while since I’ve written an iPhone based article.  I was very disappointed with the device, and sold it in early November. However, that doesn’t mean that I don’t miss what it can do. In fact, I do, every day…or at least the consumer in me does (not the business guy…) Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Just when you think you’ve seen everything – along comes a mug with a digital picture frame bolted to the front. Just remember to remove the frame before you put the mug into the microwave to re-heat a beverage. There’s 1MB of memory (enough to hold 50 photos) and the frame holds both BMP and JPG formats (sorry no AVI movies). There’s even a back light control for proper viewing in darkened rooms. The Raw Feed and Nerd Approved Continue reading on Gear Diary …

A few weeks ago I had a Contacts database meltdown when I uploaded my Mac Address Book to Google and then synced both with Plaxo. Don’t ask me why; it seemed like a good idea at the time, and I figured that if any duplicates resulted, then as a premium Plaxo subscriber I would be able to zap them with their de-duper. At the end of my little syncing “experiment”, instead of approximately 800 contacts, I suddenly had over 2000. Not only were most of my contacts duplicated (even deca-plicated in some instances), but most of the duplicated contacts did not contain the same information. For instance, one entry might hold a contact’s name and phone number, and the other would include the contact’s name and address. Because of this, Plaxo’s de-duper saw them all as individual entries. I had a freaking mess on my hands, and I had no idea how to fix it. Don’t ask about the cussing that ensued, just understand that delicate ears would have definitely been offended. I mean, seriously…have you ever seen anything like this? That’s when I discovered that Google had no easy way to merge or de-dupe contacts, although one was supposedly [...]

I have long been on the search for the “perfect” iPhone RSS reader. Over time a few specifics have become clear. At least for me… -it needs to sync with Google Reader -it needs to be fast -it needs to have offline access –it needs to have the “Next Post” button on the bottom where is it easily accessible. Tonight I may just have found the RSS Reader of my dreams… Feeds. Feeds had been a decent but unamazing RSS reader. Sure it synced with Google Reader and offered offline access but… so do lots of RSS readers! And it let me choose whether to go by each individual feed or look at all new posts in all feeds but… so do lots of RSS readers! Today’s update, however, added some terrific features that make Feeds rather impressive. Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Picture by Plastic Logic Hot on the heels of today’s announcement from Amazon, is another device from a company I had never heard of called Plastic Logic. The Plastic Logic reader looks very similar to the Kindle; it also supports PDF, DOC, Word, Excel, PowerPoint,Text, RTF, HTML, JPEG, PNG, BMP, ePub, eReader Format, and of course it supports digital rights management (DRM).  I like the fact that they market this device with the above picture showing you the pile of stuff it can replace. Just the device support looks cool, but it looks like they have some major content providers willing to produce content.  Zinio, USA Today, LibreDigital, Ingram Digital, Financial Times and Fictionwise will all… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Just because it’s Monday… Via Continue reading on Gear Diary …

You can spend upwards of $80 on a fat extended battery for your iPhone. Then you’ll have to worry about having it constantly strapped to the phone – and when it runs out of power you’ll have extra dead weight to carry attached to your phone. Instead consider this ultra-portable sync and charger cable for iPhone and iPod. This device works on both old and new school model iPhones as well as the new Nanos, Touch and iPod Classic. Store the cable attached to your keyring – when you’re in need of a battery charge find a computer with an open USB port. It’s admittedly a bit less convenient than a battery but at $70 – $90 cheaper it may… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

As expected, Amazon today drew the curtain back from their newly designed Kindle 2 device. Available February 24, 2009 for $359 (all existing orders will automatically upgrade to a Kindle 2) the specs are indeed an upgrade over the original Kindle. Also, the leaked images appear to have been exactly on the money. Some of the newest features are “geeky cool” — text to voice, 25% longer battery life, just over 1/3 of an inch thin, 10.2 ounces, 20% faster page turns, 3G wireless. But the one feature that I hadn’t heard about – which I think we might be most excited about is Whispersync. … Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Woofers. Get it? Speakers shaped like (headless) dogs. All the benefits of canine companionship with none of the messy cleanup. I’m unsure if these are actually in production or just a design concept. The site lists them as being made from polyester with 60 watt – 180 watt RMS 4 ohm impedance. Wouldn’t these be the perfect conversation starter in your living room or game room?… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

The Mophie 3G Juice Pack has been out since November 2008. It’s an external battery pack available for the iPhone that greatly extends the battery life while simultaneously charging the iPhone’s internal battery. One of the concerns about the Pack is the bulk it adds. There also no way to “turn the juice off” for those times when you don’t need to be drawing down power (which Mophie claims takes more iPhone 3G battery power to do). Now there’s a solution to both problems. Keep a lookout for Mophie’s upcoming Juice Pack Air. This external battery will not only be $20 cheaper at $79.95 but it will also function as a case, offering full body protection, as well as an… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

U2 is one of my favorite bands. A few minutes ago while I was browsing Amazon I noticed they have almost every album created by the band on sale for $5.99. Some of the albums are even limited edition (aka overpriced) that are sold in the $14.99 range on iTunes. Most of the other albums are sold for $7.99 and up at regular price. All the music sold at Amazon is DRM free. This is a handy way to complete your U2 album collection. Amazon has MP3 albums on special pretty regularly but this is one of the first times that I’ve seen them spotlight an almost entire discography at a reduced price. U2 on Amazon Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Some of the best things about having an iPod is being able to play YOUR music just about anywhere, any time you want.  If you’re the kind of person that has the music in them all the time, allowing it to resonate in your ears when you want or need it to is important (hence, the reason why you bought your iPod in the first place). Like many older cars, my 2001 Honda CRV doesn’t have any kind of a built-in MP3 connection.  What I do have is a cassette deck and an AM/FM radio. As such, I’m left with a couple of solutions: 1.  A Cassette Adapter – This is the kind of headset adapter that fits in the cassette deck of your car, and has you plug a cable into the device’s headset jack.  Back in the day, these were used a lot for portable CD players that you might carry in your car. 2.  Wearing Headsets in your Car – This isn’t the smartest thing to do, and is illegal in many states.  You can’t cover both your hears and drive at the same time. Its not a good idea. 3.  An FM Transmitter – Plug the [...]

Hello, my name is Christopher, and I like beer. In fact, in my humble opinion, there is only ONE thing that I like about living in Chicago during the winter – my garage keeps my beer colder than my refrigerator.  When they say in those beer commercials that the beverage is best served cold, come to my house between Thanksgiving and Tax Day.  The beer here will be chilled to perfection, and likely, worth the trip into the Great White (Almost) North. When Gear Diary was recently approached by Terra Keramik and asked if we’d like to review their Glasi Hergiswil Pilsner Beer Glasses, I jumped at the opportunity.  Let’s take a quick look and see how they did. Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Drop $2 million on this yet to be release DiMora Natalia SLS2 and you’ll have the ability to download your MP3 files and use them as your car horn. The surprise is that you’ll have but 256 mb of flash memory storage space to do so. Thanks to the 150 watt speaker system, the MP3 files are sure to be noticed when you honk incessantly at the soccer mom who just cut you off in her mini-van. … Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Zagg makes screen protectors for all sorts of electronic devices including phones, laptops, GPS, Digital Cameras, Gaming Devices, Media Players, Watches etc. What I like about them is they’re easy to re-position for a perfect fit — and they don’t come peeling off a month later. To install — first spray the shield (lightly) with water. They are installed while wet which makes them easy to slide into position and prevents them from sticking permanently until the water dries. Take a look at the video which demonstrates the installation on an iPhone and you’ll see just how easy it is. Zagg invisibleShield follow zaggdaily on Twitter for all sorts of discount codes… Continue reading on Gear Diary …