There’s no denying the popularity of the video console games Rock Band and Guitar Hero.  Even my daughters, who range in age from 3-8, love to jam along to tunes on Rockband.  Tapulous has carried over the fun that is playing a musical instrument to one of your favorite songs over to the iPhone with its game Tap Tap Revenge Dave Matthews Band. Tapulous decided to honor the release of a the band’s newest album with their latest version of the game. Tap Tap Revenge DMB showcases one of the U.S.A’s most popular bands, the Dave Matthews Band.… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

It seems like every day there’s a new USB hub dressed up to resemble something else. I’m never sure if the actual product will look as good as the pictures. For example just the other day we had the heart shaped chocolate cake 4 Port USB hub. I doubt the cake will fool many people into thinking it’s edible. This toy transformer could be a different story though. This tiny toy folds into a mini Windows XP computer that in turn contains what appears to be a working 4-Port USB Hub. The site offering this gizmo looks to be in Japanese and the most I can make out is that it is destined for a September 2009 release for Windows… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

I’ve been following this story since late 2007.  Psystar is the upstart company who has been defying all odds, and Apple’s apparent copyright on where their signature OS can actually be installed, by battling the Cupertino company in court. It looks like they filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on 22-May-09. More information can be found after the break…… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

You’ve seen those sticky gel mats that go on car dashboards, right? They are convenient because you can lay a mobile device on them, and the gel will keep the device from sliding all over your dashboard. The downside is that they also tend to collect airborne detritus. USB Fever has taken the sticky gel pad idea and added it to a 4-port USB hub; the resulting device then serves as a handy desktop pedestal and charging cradle for your portable electronics. The idea is pretty nifty, but I can’t help but think of how it will attract and hold cat hair from curious kitties. With my luck… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Do you want to keep the form factor of your iPhone 3G in tact but still protect the back from scratches and scuffs?  Gogo makes high quality snap on back covers for the iPhone 3G.  The have a variety of lines and styles to choose from. The best part about Gogo cases is they’re scratch proof.  Weighing at 1 ounce and adding less than 1 mm of bulk to your iPhone, these cases keep the shape and feel of your iPhone. I was recently sent cases from their Mirror Series and from their Royal Series to review.… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

This weekend I was showing off my Acer Aspire One Netbook to my stepfather. His first question was “how does anyone see that tiny screen”. He’s got a good point. The smaller price of Netbooks disguise what can be a crippling flaw for those without perfect vision. Their tiny 10″ (or smaller) screen size can mean the screen is all but unreadable for those who are more visually challenged. GearSponsor LogicBuy checks in with a post Memorial Day deal for you on an HP Pavilion dv6t. The 16″ (diagonal) screen is better suited for those of us with diminishing eye sight. It’s packing 4GB of RAM and a 320 GB Hard Drive. And because good color is crucial to laptop… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

One of my Memorial Day Weekend adventures was to take a trip into New York to visit the Apple store. Jennifer’s iPod Touch has developed what may delicately be described as a split personality – meaning her screen is cracked but usable. To sum up the outcome, without any type of insurance Apple quotes $200 to repair a cracked iPod Touch screen. SquareTrade offers extended warranties that equal the manufacturers warranty and can optionally expand upon it should you purchase additional hazard coverage (recommended) that covers accidental damage from things like water, dropping, etc. Through 6pm PST today (May 26) save 40% (max of $100 savings) off an extended Squaretrade warranty (eBay excluded). You have 90 days from date of original purchase of… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

“Iran has blocked access to social networking site Facebook ahead of June’s presidential elections, Iran’s Ilna news agency and web users say”  [Per the BBC] Don’t you find this amazing, that due to politics in a country all users of FaceBook have been blocked.  Imagine if you tried to login to Facebook this morning and you received the following message “Access to this site is not possible”?  What would you think?  Once you found out it was your government blocking your access would you sit back and wait for someone to do something about it, or would you do something about it? Imagine the sinking feeling and the somewhat helplessness of having government intervention in your ability for free… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

I always find it hard to buy my dad a nice simple gift for Father’s Day, but this year I have an extra selection of gift ideas to peruse at Cufflinks.com. They have everything from the almost ordinary to the completely unique. Continue reading on Gear Diary …

I use Google Maps frequently for travels within the Chicago area.  In most cases, I have a pretty good idea of the major routes I need to get to my destination, but I may be uncertain as to which exact exit to use or what cross-street I should be watching for.  Google Maps can be a little frustrating, though, when its algorithms send me on routes that I know may be congested at the time of day I’m traveling or which for other reasons I may prefer not to use. So it was good to see on Google’s Lat Long Blog that the Google Maps team has instituted a “Suggested Routes” heading that provides alternative travel… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

iPopperz are an earbud/ ear-canal  headphone with added decoration. That sounds like a negative comment, but it’s not as they do not detract from the other. I have been using the headphones I was supplied with for a week on my PC for music, my laptop for Skype and on my Zune for music. Continue reading on Gear Diary …

I’m horribly addicted to RSS feeds. These summaries of web content allow me to read dozens and dozens of sites each morning in barely the time it might take me to manually page through one or two full via a traditional web browser. SBSH have just introduced a very cool looking RSS reader for Windows Mobile touch devices. Their GoNews Touch supports the full “finger flick” scroll and also embeds images from the feeds you track. Cost is only $14.95 and there is a 12 day trial version. You’ll need Windows Mobile 5 or 6 (or higher) and support for integration to Google Reader is promised for the 1.1 update. More (including YouTube demo vide)… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

You might ask why someone would want to use a 3-Port USB Hub that’s disguised as a heart shaped chocolate cake. Well let’s pretend for a minute that you’re a complete moron addicted to buying everything they see on the Internet. Perhaps you have a compulsion to click on every link that say’s “buy”. Maybe your closet is stacked high with unopened shopping items and buying new stuff gives you a happy feeling. Then again maybe you’re just thinking ahead to that fall tag sale and want to stock up on some early “tag sale starter” kits. To put it candidly – I have no idea why you’d buy – except wouldn’t this be cool as a co-worker birthday gift instead… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

You can shop at the AT&T web site and pay $299 for this brand new BlackBerry 8900. But then you’d be forced to fill out that annoying paperwork in order to get the price down to $199 by claiming a $100 rebate. Here’s a better idea. Join in with the smart kids and hop onto the Amazon web site. You’ll pay only $49 and you won’t have to wait around for any rebates either. My advice though is to hang on for another couple of weeks. When the T-Mobile BlackBerry 8900 appeared it was $49 on Amazon as well before fluctuating to it’s current price of FREE. Yeah, yeah – I know the site is showing a 4 to 6… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

When we first got out lake cabin some 12 years ago we had little more than the basics technology-wise. A single, wired phone line gave us dial-up access to AOL at an outrageous per minute fee. We had no TV and entertained ourselves by reading and playing board games. It was… peaceful… but isolating. Things have changed and while it is, on one level a mixed blessing, having moved forward technologically there is no going back. We now have cable with multiple premium stations. A cable modem is connected to a WiFi router so we not only get internet access everywhere in the house but all the way down on our dock as well. And since both of us now have Mac notebooks there is no difference computing-wise between home and here. In fact, rather than using the wired (expensive) phone we will likely be moving to Skype and SkyDeck (review upcoming) full time in the near future. One of the best tech advances here in PA just happened and it involves a little box known as the Roku.… Continue reading on Gear Diary …