The concept of conciousness and awareness has always fascinated me. It was what drew me to science fiction as a kid, and to philosophy as I got older. One of the tropes of science fiction is artificial intelligence, the idea that a computer robot can become sentient and move beyond the limits of its programming.… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Amazon has the new(ish) BlackBerry 8900 on sale now at $29 after $100 rebate, 2 year agreement. I’ve had an 8900 since they went on sale at Amazon a few months ago and think it’s a great phone. The selling point of the BlackBerry 8900 is T-Mobile’s integrated Wi-Fi calling. The technology they use is called UMA and it connects your voice and data to available Wi-Fi which can greatly increase reception in fringe areas. The T-Mobile MyFaves is very helpful. This plan option gives you unlimited calling (incoming and outgoing) to any 5 of your friends no matter what carrier they are on. If one of your friends happen to be named Mr. Google Voice, then you pretty much have… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

This combination LED light and indoor planter is agreat idea. The grow system starts off in a closed (domed) position so your seeds get the maximum lighting. As your garden grows – the top to the light can be raised. How cool is this? Can a Chia Lamp be far behind? Unfortunately this is still a prototype but once the design hits stores expect it to be a great alternative for those without the space for a full AeroGarden Pro 100 system. Via: Gizmodiva Continue reading on Gear Diary …

StationStops has just been updated to include the newest April 5, 2009 Metro-North train schedules. In addition the application now links to Google Maps for all stations that it provides a schedule for. … Continue reading on Gear Diary …

I reviewed Cronk both here on Gear Diary and over on WhatsOniPhone a while back. Cronk is in the Zuma-family of games which made me an instant fan. It is one of those games that I will have on my iPhone for a while, remove it for a bit to make room and then reload some time later. That, in and of itself, is a good endorsement of a game. When I first reviewed Cronk it was $7.99- a bit pricey in my opinion. Shortly after that it dropped to $4.99 which was more in line with where I thought it should be. Well, we just found out that it is currently on sale for $2.99 which makes Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Waterfield Designs has announced 2 new cases designed to appeal at the largest demographic of Nintendo DS users – men and women in their early 30s – rather than most case designs aimed at a younger audience. Their 2 new cases are the DSi case – which is made of nylon and leather, and the DSi Suede Jacket – a custom-fit pouch made of ultrasuede. The DSi case is priced at $39. The DSi Suede Jacket is priced at $11, or $15 with an accessory pouch. More information about the cases is available on the their web site Continue reading on Gear Diary …

According to an article at Yahoo! Tech, Nintendo has reported that the European and US launches of the new DSi handheld gaming system have sold more than 300,000 units each, eclipsing the launch figures for the original Nintendo DS in 2004 and the 2006 launch of the DS Lite.… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Yeah, that’s right…I said FREE!  Sony! Camera!  So, how do you do it?  All you have to do is play the game.  Yup, that’s right.  Sony has set up an online game.  Just head over to the Giveaway site, and follow the instructions.  you could be just three simple rounds from being one of 25 winners of free Sony cameras.  So, what are you still doing here?  Head on over to the game and get started to enter. Continue reading on Gear Diary …

In the old days I would print out handouts whenever I had a class I was going to teach or lecture I was going to give. Inevitably however, half of the packets were left on the seats or on the floor and ended up being wasted. About six months ago I decided to try a different approach. It was an experiment but it’s turned out rather well for me. Instead of handing out packets of information, I simply use my MacBook and Keynote with one of the flat-panel televisions that we’ve installed in our building. It works phenomenally well — especially now that I can use my iPhone is my remote. I’ve even found a nice side benefit to doing it this way — instead of everyone looking down at their individual packets of paper, everyone’s attention is focused in the same place during discussions and, as a result, classes become far more interactive. There is, however, a difficulty. Unless I want to actually sit on the computer during the class there’s no easy way to put additional information up on the screen. At least there wasn’t until I tried Papershow. I wasn’t sure what to expect when the review [...]

Everybody knows a person who is obsessed with the weather; who knows, maybe you are one. That is how my family is. As far as they are concerned, the television could stay on weather news non stop. They call each other to find out how the weather is “there”, even if the other person is only a couple of miles away. Except for me that is. I can’t stand waiting around watching reports of areas that have no affect on where I am. Internet weather reports are better, and at least I can get the information instantly. The problem is that since I live so far from a major city, most of the news does not exactly match my location. That is where the Professional Weather Center from La Crosse Technology comes in. Continue reading on Gear Diary …

I’m a Mac.  I’m a PC.  Of course the Linux Foundation had to get in the act and they sponsored a video contest.  The winner of which is an Israeli by the name of Amitay Tweeto produced this video which sums up my views of Linux quite nicely. Continue reading on Gear Diary …

As early as mid-2006, we were being regaled with tales of a forthcoming UMD-free PSP 2 portable gaming system. In the ensuing three years there have been more rumors as well as the release of the evolutionary PSP-2000 and PSP-3000 systems, both of which are based on the UMD, a Sony-proprietary DVD-like storage device. The UMD has been a constant source of criticism for the PSP, with many claiming it is the major cause of the long load times that plague the majority of games on the system.… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

TheStreet.com is reporting that Barnes & Noble may be partnering with Sprint on their own eBook reader to rival Amazon’s Kindle. Last month, Barnes & Noble purchased eBook seller FictionWise for a cool $15.7 million, which would fuel the notion that B&N is looking towards ramping up their own eBook store. The Kindle uses Whispernet for its wireless connection; which runs on Sprint’s 3G data network… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

I have long since accepted two things as fact: that I like music very few others like and many find intolerable, and that I have been an Apple supporter since they made the first computer I bought with my own money (Apple ][+ in ~1980). And while there were many years that found me as a PC-only person looking at my Apple hardware as something from the past, I was there at the release of the first iPod along with my new G4 Powerbook ready to believe that with the iPod and OS X Apple was ready to lead once again. I have also always been strongly anti-piracy, so I applauded the opening of the iTunes store and hoped it would convert many of the vast sea of music pirates into customers willing to pay for the art they were enjoying. The value proposition was compelling – $0.99 per song, $9.99 for most records (double-cds and box sets costing more, of course) – and it led to a revolution in the music industry. Apple went from people saying ‘why would ANYONE buy for $1 what they are currently downloading for free’ to Apple becoming the #1 music retailer in the [...]

Last year role-playing game fans worldwide mourned the loss of Dungeons and Dragons co-creator Gary Gygax. Gygax developed the popular table-top gaming system along with Dave Arneson, and today we learn that Arneson has died this week.… Continue reading on Gear Diary …