The public beta for BeeJive’s popular instant messaging application tailored specifically for the BlackBerry Storm is slated to be available today. A final release is planned for late July for either $19.95 (single device) or $29.95 (transferable device license). BeeJiveIM for BlackBerry Storm now includes push background notifications just like the iPhone version. Instead of leaving your messaging client running in the background draining battery life you’ll receive notifications via push, instantly alerting you to incoming messages. Battery Save Mode: to use this feature you will need to have a BIS email set up on your Storm (ex: xxx@xxx.blackberry.net, visit your provider’s website for more information). On the preferences screen, be sure that the “Battery Save Mode When Idle” Continue reading on Gear Diary …

I’ve just noticed the Palm Pre Touchstone charging base (does not include backing or charger) appear in the Amazon store. While there are vendors selling it for $39 – an even better deal is to click on the “more buying choices” and snag one from Amazon for only $29.99 (Note: Shows shipping delay of 1 to 4 weeks). This does not appear to include the required Palm Pre charging back which can be purchased separately here. While you’re at it pick up another battery (or three) for $23.99 each. Amazon (Remember – to order the Touchstone for $29 you must click the “more buying choices” in the lower right corner)… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

I received my brand new 13” MacBook Pro about a week ago and for the most part (a few software issues at the moment), I am loving it. One thing I have noticed is that the battery life I’ve been getting hasn’t really been all that close to what others have been reporting online. Anandtech tested the 15” model they have and were able to quite happily achieve close to what Apple said you should be, so why is it I’ve been getting quite a fair bit under 4hrs out of my machine? Initially I thought it might be because my battery was so new and hadn’t been “broken in” yet. It is now nearing on 10 cycles and life hasn’t really changed. That was until last night, when I was using it for the first time on battery at home. I had an indicated 6hrs of battery life remaining, something I had yet to see on this machine. This intrigued me, but initially I couldn’t figure out what it was. Then it came to me: 3G. Whenever I take my laptop out of the house, it is faithfully accompanied by a USB 3G modem. And almost every time I [...]

OK, I just inundated you with TLA’s, I know! (TLA stands for Three Letter Acronym, by the way) DRM is ‘digital rights management’, or the software encryption used to restrict use of files. NWN2 is Neverwinter Nights 2, the popular role-playing game sequel for the PC. And MoW is Mysteries of Westgate, a $9.99 ‘Adventure Pack’ recently released from Ossian Studios. I reviewed the module for RPGWatch after it was released recently, and a decent chunk of my introduction was focused on how the game’s release was delayed more than 18 months due solely to Atari coming up with a specialized DRM protection scheme for this sort of module. The DRM scheme they adopted was that the module would require online activation (despite being a single-player only campaign), and could only be activated three times with no de-authorization tool to revoke and free up an activation.… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

When I upgraded my MacBook Pro to a superfast SSD drive last week, I knew I was taking a little bit of a gamble. You see, it had just come out that the new MacBook Pros drives were capped at 1.5 Gbps instead of the 3Gbps speed found in the prior generation. This wasn’t an issue for anyone using a spinning drive, but it did mean that a SATA II drive like the OCZ Summit series driver I installed would be underutilized. (The drive has read speeds of up to 220 MB per second and up to 200 MB per second write speeds.) I install the drive anyhow for two reasons. First even if the… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

There are a lot of free apps in the Android Marketplace.  One app that I came across recently  is the  Handmark Express News. Continue reading on Gear Diary …

It has taken a good few days, too many as far as we’re concerned, to see any real movement regarding the release of new or updated apps that make use of Apple’s new Push Technology. Word is Apple was taking its time to make sure their servers could handle the sudden demand the system will place on it. Well, the wait is over.… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

I’ve been writing for Gear Diary for a long time now. In fact, one of my very first, BIG reviews was on a “new” (in 2006)computer I had just purchased – my 15″ MacBook Pro. It was pretty cool; but I had sworn off becoming a switcher for a couple of reasons.  One, was the introduction of Windows Live Writer, and its ability to post to WordPress blogs like Gear Diary, and to Windows Live Spaces where I have my blog, Pocket PC Guru. Honestly, while blogging directly in either WordPress or Live Spaces is cool, sometimes the tools just aren’t enough; and then there’s the whole computing in the cloud thing that just doesn’t sit well with me (those that compute in the cloud can lose data to the cloud.  Just ask Judie; but then duck and cover, as the rant about a site crash is both raw and legendary for EVERYONE here at GD…) So, enter Windows Live Writer. It blogs to both WLS and WordPress, allowing me to use WYSIWYG tools for all of my posts on both sites. Very nice.  Oh, and yeah… it saves data locally, so you’re not banking on the cloud (though, you [...]

If you live in the US but travel internationally, you probably already know that using mobile data while out of country can be a pretty expensive proposition.  When my wife and I have traveled overseas, I have generally just used WiFi in our hotels because I didn’t have an air card until recently. Just how inflated international data costs are for US customers was really driven home for me on a trip to Hungary in March.  … Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Ok – I’m mixing media a little bit in the title, but the sad news today is that Kodak, after 74 years in production, has decided to retire Kodachrome film.  In recent years, the film, primarily used to make those wonderful vacation slides your parents annoyed everybody with, has been replaced by newer film technologies and digital film technology (currently about 70% of Kodak’s business). The last rolls of the film are headed to the George Eastman House International Museum of Photography and Film. On their website, Kodak has a really nice gallery dedicated to Kodachrome… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

The net is abuzz with the news that Apple moved over 1 million 3G S handsets. That’s impressive, but it is only part of the story. Here’s why… Here’s a link to the original Press Release Continue reading on Gear Diary …

The foxL is a portable speaker, about the size of two chocolate bars but considerably heftier. It comes in two versions – the plain old foxL, and the foxLmb with bluetooth connectivity. I’ve had the foxLmb for a while now, and I was wondering whether it was time for an upgrade. I went to the Bose store ready to purchase a battery powered SoundDock but then I sampled it and decided to stick with the foxL. The SoundDock doesn’t sound bad; it’s just that the foxL manages to hold its own against the SoundDock in terms of audio quality. And now that the iPhone and iPod Touch can stream music wirelessly over bluetooth, the foxlmb has gained a new lease on life. Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Welcome back to the new weekly feature here at Gear Diary! As noted last week I will highlight the major video game releases for the coming week, talk about releases from the previous week as well as what I’m playing … and hopefully you will join the discussion! The summer blockbuster movie season is in full swing, and that means we are seeing more and more movie tie-ins. This week it is Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, a movie dominated by CGI robots and the kid from Even Stevens but whose media campaign spent more time on Megan Fox. The game is out on every platform, and as happened last time also gets TWO DS releases – one for Autobots and the other for Decepticons. That is what we call the Pokemon factor … and it seemed to work last time, as there was just enough differentiation to make it worth getting both if you liked them.… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

This is Part One in a series about my journey with my new Dell Mini 9 into Hacktinosh territory…I’ll be talking about my installation process, my impressions of the Mini as a Mac netbook, performance, software, and more. I was pretty early to jump on the netbook bandwagon.  When I saw the original 7″ Asus Eee PC for the first time, I knew that I had to have it.  I had been lusting after computers like the Sony Picturebook for a long time–something that could fit in my purse and go with me everywhere!  As a writer, having a full computer with me at all times really appealed to me.  As a geek, having a full computer with me at all times appealed to me even MORE!  So, imagine my dismay when, as much as I tried to make it work, my precious Eee PC really didn’t cut the mustard.  The keyboard was too small, the screen was too small and dull, the battery would barely last two hours, and the CPU was underpowered.  I had it tricked out with a nice, stripped down installation of Ubuntu, but even that performed poorly on the Eee PC.  So, what’s a geeky [...]

Review: Unibind MyBook 4×6 Photobook OK so I am a man, I am wired to take the photos and get them to my wife in some way shape or form. She does the scrap-booking because 1) she likes too and 2)I have no patience for making any type of photo book…way too cumbersome and it just plain takes forever. But then I get a little package in the mail!… Continue reading on Gear Diary …