Opening day for fishing season is right around the corner here in the Northeast. What better way to get ready than this 400+ piece assortment of fishing lures, hooks, baits, jigs and random fishing crap. Normally priced at $85 – T&B Sporting Goods has the whole enchilada marked to $30. Here’s what they say is included: All fishing lures will size under 4 inches. Each lot will contain over 400 lures. Unlike many of our other assortments, we’ve guaranteed this lot will include certain name brand items. Here is the break down of the lot. Every lot WILL have: 10 jigs 10 Lockett shad darts 1 spinnerbait or buzzbait 1 rapala or berkley crankbait 1 40pc hook set in a tin 1 berkley blade dancer Continue reading on Gear Diary …

If you’re just getting started with Twitter, or looking to broaden the list of people you follow on the servicetake a look at wefollow.com. This new web site from Digg founder Kevin Rose compensates for what I’ve always felt is a serious weakness of Twitter – namely figuring out who is who behind that Twitter user name. As the site stands now it categorizes users by tags (celebrity, tech, author, news) and lists them by total number of followers. This is a good start but it would be much easier for Twitter to add these fields themselves the the service and allow users to search within Twitter. We Follow Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Facebook updated my profile yesterday to the new site design. I’m far from a Facebook expert but so far what I see seems so – well – 2008. Of particular annoyance is the continuing inability to import any more than one RSS feed to your profile (even using Notes limits you to one and only one RSS feed). In this day – don’t people often have multiple blogs? I’m hardly prolific but I have personal, company, organization and Geardiary that I’d like to import. Yet Facebook still stubbornly thinks that one RSS feed import is enough. … Continue reading on Gear Diary …

I love reviewing hardware and reading hardware reviews. I love to see what kind of new goodies are available and what they can do.  I also love to see what our friends and team mates have to say about them. Case in point. Clinton Fitch of ClintonFitch.com has an AWESOME review of the HTC S740 at his site.  Says Brother Fitch in his review: The S740 was released in November of 2008 and the products code name was “Rose”.  It is the replacement device for the popular S730 which was a considerably wider device and was frankly not nearly as attractive as the S740.  With the QWERTY keyboard closed it measures 1.7″ x 4.6″ x .6″ (W x H x D) in size and Continue reading on Gear Diary …

File this one under “rumor and innuendo” for now. According to one user, AT&T may soon start doing more than sending a polite text message to iPhone SIM swappers. In the past if an AT&T user with a cheaper data plan removed the SIM from their phone and inserted it into an iPhone, they’d sometimes get a text message advising them to call the AT&T customer service line for a spanking. According to some recent chatter, AT&T may have taken the gloves off with this policy and now instead of sending a nice text they’ll simply add the appropriate data plan. I’ve yet to hear of anyone having this happen to them – or even whether it’s legal under the… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

An ever diligent forum member at Howardforums notes that some business customers who place orders for the T-Mobile G1 are being offered the device direct from T-Mobile for $99 plus a free Bluetooth headset. Recent price drops on Amazon to $98 (no free BlueTooth and activation would apply) make it seem like a new Android model could be coming soon. The price remains unchanged on T-Mobile’s official site – this deal’s for those who have a business account through an employer which offers them a discount of hardware and service. It’s possible not every employer will qualify for this $99 deal – but it can’t hurt to ask. T-mobile G1 is now $99.99 with a free Bluetooth headset (24 months term) Continue reading on Gear Diary …

BustedTees has 12 different t-shirts on sale for $12 each. Two of my favorites are “Goodbye Elliott” which depicts ET flying off into the moonlit night — with Elliott falling off the back of the bike. I’m also partial to Miss South Carolina’s “I personally believe that US Americans are unable to do so … ” rambling speech T which prints the whole incoherent message on a sash across the front of the shirt. BustedTees via FW Continue reading on Gear Diary …

This week I started back at uni, and I was instantly feeling the two problems I have with my MacBook Pro: it’s not overly light for lugging around, and the battery is gooooone. Basically this left me with a choice of either buying a replacement battery or finally getting myself a decent “netbook”. Carrying around the Shift showed me how nice it is to carry around a small and light notebook, so I decided on the latter, and today picked up an HP Mini 1001TU. This model has the 1.6Ghz Atom CPU, 60GB HDD, 1GB RAM and Bluetooth. I paid AU$740, which becomes AU$640 after cashback. The store threw in a free neoprene case which makes for a nice package. Straight up, HP have to be given kudos for a nice unboxing experience. The slick black box is very reminiscent of the MacBook Pro box, which isn’t a bad thing, and gives the Mini an air of quality before you even open it up. Inside the box is quite spartan, including only the essentials: an AC adapter, a few documents directing you to soft-copy manuals, an XP SP3 reinstallation CD and a glasses cloth for cleaning the screen. A soft [...]

Take a BlackBerry Bold and breed it with a BlackBerry 8900 and here’s what you get. These latest photos of what is probably the next rendition of the Curve ( slated for Verizon if rumors are true ) have just debuted online. Based on early reports it seems as if the keyboard of the 8900 has been replaced with the Bold’s keys with most other specs from the 8900 being carried over with the exception that 3G in the form of EVDO is expected. The screen size remains the same squint inducing size as the 8900. More Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Here’s an external battery (available in both white and black) for the iPhone 2G and 3G for only $11.99. The advertised specifications claim 1900 mAh and compatibility with both versions of the iPhone. Although this is one of those “stick it on the end of the phone” batteries that seem inconvenient for long periods of use – you’ll have a hard time finding anything cheaper. Last I looked at Apple their name brand batteries were still in the $99 range. 1900 mAh rechargeable external battery for iPhone 2G/3G Continue reading on Gear Diary …

This doggie pencil sharpener features a unique sharpening gimmick. The funny part isn’t that the pencil sharpens in the dog’s back side – though that’s slightly amusing in a 4th grader sort of way. What elevates this plastic pencil sharpener to interesting is when the the pencil goes in – the dog woofs. There’s a cat version available that meows when the pencil make it’s entrance. Great birthday gifts for the kids, office workers, pet lovers and the easily amused. Sharpe-end Dog and Cat Continue reading on Gear Diary …

I have three questions about Google Voice that nobody’s asked yet. Sure, there’s lots of fawning over the concept and twittering about “hurry up and convert my GrandCentral account to Google Voice”. Has anyone stopped to consider what they’re about to enter into by using Google Voice as their primary phone number?… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Back in October 2008 I reviewed the Griffin Windows Seat iPhone/iPod touch auto mount which I liked quite well. For testing I had it mounted with my iPhone 3G – however the device actually contains 3 different bases – one for iPhone (original), one for iPhone 3G and one for iPod Touch. I as just browsing Griffin’s site and notice this same model is on sale there for $15.99 with free shipping. If you’re tired of retrieving your iPhone or iPod Touch from the floor of your car after every sharp turn – have a look. Griffin WindowSeat Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Ok… show of hands – How many Mac users out there run BootCamp?  I know I do.  In fact, my new Unibody MacBook is running Windows 7 on its BootCamp partition. Believe it or not, it runs pretty well, AND Windows 7 looks really nice on that screen too. One of the biggest problems with running this type of solution is data storage on your Mac. Where do you put your data.  Having two copies of it on your PC is a waste of space (my Documents directory (or Library in Windows 7) is over 3GB is size).  However, not having the data where you need it so you can read AND write data to one specific data store is equally as impractical. Thankfully, Paragon Software seems to have a solution – and one that we will be reviewing here on Gear Diary.  Paragon Software is releasing version 7 of NTFS for Mac OSX.  The software allows for full read-write of data from either NTFS or HSF+ volumes in either Windows or OSX. The full press release can be found after the break.   Continue reading on Gear Diary …

A warning to all procrastinators that before you know it Mother’s Day will be here. Are you getting her the same old crappy flowers or will this be the year you step up and get something truly unique? How about a 30″ x 20″ doormat customized with a photo of you, her – or the grandkids. She’ll think warm thoughts each time she wipes her boots on the mat. Coupon code DOORMAT1399 takes the normal price down $6 to $23.99 (expires 4/4/09). Artcows via FW Continue reading on Gear Diary …