I just noticed that the touch screen BlackBerry Storm has dropped to $99 on Amazon with no rebate required. Previously the price had been $249.99 with a $100 rebate bringing the net to $149.99. This beats the $199 price that I saw displayed today in Best Buy and is likely a result of Amazon competing against Verizon’s own buy one get one free sale going on through March 31, 2009. If you don’t need two BlackBerry Storms (and you despise filing rebate forms) – then march over to Amazon and snag one for $99 (after 2 year new subscriber agreement). BlackBerry Storm on Amazon – $99 (after 2 year new subscriber contract)… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Are you always fumbling in the darkness of night trying to find the lock to insert your keys? Here’s an ingenious gizmo that combines a bright LED light with one of those spring clip cord locks you commonly find on jackets. The stainless steel spring clips the light securely to cords on your hoody, backpack, stuff sack, etc. The LED has three brightness settings and is completely water resistant. Priced at $9.99 – what more could you ask for? Sahalie via Book of Joe Continue reading on Gear Diary …

The 2010 Ford Ranger, America’s most fuel-efficient pickup, comes to market this summer by adding unique standard safety technologies, including Ford’s AdvanceTrac® with Roll Stability Control and combination side air bags.… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

There are times when I’ll be reading a story online through my BlackBerry browser and I’ll want to send a link to a friend. While the BlackBerry Browser supports sending a full link in an email there are some instances where a lengthy URL might be truncated and the person receiving it can’t click. Also, the BlackBerry has no method of shortening URLS for sending via SMS (as you might want to do if you are Twittering about a link). Here a useful program called bit.lify. This free program integrates directly into your BlackBerry browser enabling you to easily shorten and share URLS on the go.… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Introducing crystal encased Bose headphones. In the midst of a huge worldwide depression this might not seem like it would becomethe hottest seller. Apparently the folks at hohenthaner think there’s a market for $ 409 Bose headphones that they’ve enhanced by encasing the earcovers in your choice of seven different Swarvoski Crystals. The headphones are the cheapie $139 model that you get in department stores so truth be told you’re paying about $300 to bling out your headphones. Maybe Lindsay Lohan wants to gift a pair to her pal Samantha? hohenthaner via Born Rich and Chipchick Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Podcasting started around the time of the last election that George W. Bush won, in 2004.  Now it seems to still be growing, although at a much slower rate. Up until now, you needed a computer to download the podcasts; now maybe you don’t, thanks to the CastGrabber. Continue reading on Gear Diary …

At a reported 550 mAh, these USB rechargeable batteries are built more for comfort than speed. You won’t be powering your camera flash unit or any other power hungry device for that matter. The batteries are probably fine for a small flashlight or radio. As you can see from the picture, recharge these by pulling the cap off and inserting into an open USB port. The manufacturer claims they can also be recharged via approved chargers which would seem to negate the main selling point of a USB chargeable battery. Focalprice Continue reading on Gear Diary …

I got an interesting note late yesterday afternoon from our friends over at Handmark.  It seems that Astraware(R) – the Handmark(R) Games Studio has reduced several of their premium games on the App Store for a limited time. A range of games including Astraware Sudoku, Hellfire, Westward, and Platypus are reduced to just $2.99 each. Look out for the Sale banners on the icons here. If you’re in the market for some new iPhone or iPod Touch entertainment, then you might want to head over to the App Store and check it out before the sale ends! Continue reading on Gear Diary …

This morning I received notice that MacHeist 3 had just begun. For those of you unfamiliar with the concept, it’s the name and product of a website where “Over 100,000 MacHeist members have experienced the Mac themed, puzzle filled missions, receiving millions of dollars worth of free Mac software so far.” So not surprisingly, the latest mission includes a Valentines Day software application – Love & Romance, as well as KavaTunes, ShoveBox, and under “Mainframe Loot” I got Process, all for FREE. Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Remember Rikki Rockett? He’s the drummer for the 1980s hair band Poison. He’s apparently not broke (and he still seems to have all his hair). Unfortunately you just missed out on an auction where he tried to sell his Rolex Oyster Perpetual Datejust Turn-O-Graph over eBay for at least $2,050. Seems like the auction failed to meet reserves (or the press found out about it first). Now there are all these nasty rumors about him possibly needing the money. Who can blame a guy for needing a little extra cash during a recession? What might be next? Rikki answering machine personal messages?… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Faltering worldwide economies may be bad for our personal pocketbooks but for scammers and thieves the bad news spells opportunity. Watch for increases in fraudulent emails like this one reported by the Department of Homeland Security. US-CERT is aware of public reports indicating that phishing scams are circulating via fraudulent U.S. Internal Revenue Service emails offering users stimulus package payments. These emails include text that attempts to convince users to follow a link to a website or to complete an attached document. The website and document request the user to provide personal information. Users receiving the fraudulent email messages are encouraged to send the email message and the website URL to the IRS at phishing@irs.gov. US-CERT encourages users to do the following to Continue reading on Gear Diary …

I had the opportunity to review Noreve’s case for the MSI Wind here on this site, and one of the company’s cases for the iPhone 3G over on What’sOniPhone. As a result I have become a huge fan of their products. Today, I have the opportunity to review the Noreve leather sleeve for the MacBook and MacBook Air. At just over $75  (base price) the leather case falls in the mid range when it comes to price. Where does it fall with regard to quality and aesthetics? Let’s take a look –… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

This has to be one to the more unique gifts you could bestow on the chocolate lover in your life. Standing 3-1/4″ high this replica Hershey Kiss is actually a candle. Remove the foil wrapping and inside is a non-edible Hershey’s Kiss look-alike that will seem good enough to eat. Light the wick and naturally the fragrance is chocolate. Priced at only $9.99 (get free upgrade to Express Shipping with code “886/2009. This is the perfect for Hershey’s lovers everywhere! Figis via DealNews Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Meet the new Amazon Kindle 2. At least we think this is the new Amazon Kindle. Web site MobileRead has an array of photos depicting the alleged Amazon Kindle 2 eBook reader being held by a bevy of model types. The most interesting image compares the Kindle thickness to that of a pencil. Shots of the back draw an easy comparison to the iPhone first generation design. Based upon the model shots the device seems to have shrunk in a good way. According to the site you can expect to pay $359 when the deuce is dropped on February 24, 2009. More images via Gizmodo Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Not long after Kevin and I began dating, his ancient Dell started wheezing. Rather quickly, he realized that his desktop was about to give up the ghost, and our main concern became getting data off the hard drives. Because neither of us had an easy way to access the information on those two internal 80GB drives, we ended up taking his box to a computer tech in San Angelo. We brought along an external hard drive (my Seagate 400GB), and instructed the tech to transfer the data to it if the computer could not be saved. Two weeks later, we finally got a call that the data had been transferred, but as expected they didn’t think the computer was worth saving. Rather than dispose of the computer ourselves, we opted just to collect the hard drives; the bill was $64.92. For roughly $35 more,we could have bought a device that not only would have allowed us to read (and transfer) data to and from the internal drives, it would have saved us two weeks of waiting and also allowed the liberated internal drives to operate as external. Now bear in mind that in all the years I’ve been computing, I [...]