My first Smartphone was a Motorola MPX 220. That was followed a short time later by an iMate Jam. In both cases, I was impressed with the functionality of the device. The goal was clearly to have the devices run mobile versions of their desktop equivalents. Hence the names Windows Mobile and Word Mobile. As the devices gained power and functionality the applications they ran also became increasingly powerful. In the process the gap between mobile versions and desktop versions has closed. Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Augmented reality is soon to be a hit with cell phones.  Augmented reality is when a program, in this case the Layer Reality Browser, uses the cell phone’s integrated camera, GPS and compass to help locate where you are and then overlays the image coming from your phone’s camera.  This is useful to tell you things about where you are, similar to Where and Sherpa except you new also have a visual reference as well. Excuse the view of my cube as I discovered this at lunch.   This is a example of how this works.  I did a search for Columbus Convention Center, and Layar Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Disclaimer: The video above contains graphic images and pulls no punches with the depiction of an auto accident.  Gear Diary is in no way liable for any nightmares or post-traumatic stress syndrome caused after viewing this video.  You’ve been warned… Last month Carly shared the interactive game that shows the likely consequences of texting while driving. The Gwent police department of Wales has taken the message even further with this video using local actors to drive (literally) the message home.   If you’ve texted or emailed while driving (and we’re all likely guilty of it at some point or other), you should definitely watch this video.   If you have a teen driver in your Continue reading on Gear Diary …

The story that is almost everywhere is that the G1 may be at the end of the line for updates.  This comes from one tweet from a android engineer.  Now I personally think that this is being blown completely out of proportion.  Could it be true?  Sure, it’s very possible that this is true, but the real story isn’t out yet and nothing has been officially announced from Google or T-Mobile.  However, I find it hard to believe that this ONE engineer can speak for the entire Android team.  Plus as a member of the open source community, I caution people to never underestimate a community that is dedicated to the advancement of open source software.… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

It’s back to school time. Can you believe how fast the summer went? While there are still several more days of fishing fun left, there’s no ignoring that the sale signs are rapidly appearing in nearly every store. This Acer AS5516-5474 is one good deal for someone needing a student laptop. With a respectable 15.6″ screen, 2 GB of memory and Windows Vista Home Basic – this laptop is just enough to get your student productive with school. There’s built-in wireless B/G Wi-Fi as well as a DVD+/- RW and CD R/W. The hard disk is 160GB and the memory can be increased up to 4GB. Acer AS5516-5474 via Gearsponsor Logicbuy Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Ahhh, the beginning of a brand new week.  The slate is clean and it’s time to get your Monday started off right.  So sit back, grab (another) cup of coffee and let’s take a look at some of last week’s highlights.   You know, like Microsoft being ordered to stop selling Word within 60 days.  There’ s just nothing quite like software patents  to throw a kink into your week.  Que sera, sera.  At least Mac users will finally be able to look forward use Outlook when Office 2010 hits the streets. So, what else was going on last week…. Continue reading on Gear Diary …

It appears that the folks at TomTom have now release their navigation app in the United States as well. In the AppStore this morning (in the U.S.) you can now see the U.S and Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and Western Europe versions. As pointed out in our earlier post, the price point seems a little steep. The U.S. version is fine ($99.99), but why is their Western European version at 139.99  more expensive than the “complete” Europe versions offered by most of their competition?  Their Australian and New Zealand versions are also expensive. It also should be mentioned that TomTom uses TeleAtlas maps (TomTom bought TeleAtlas in 2007) and that, in the U.S. TeleAtlas… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

The running joke behind the scenes here at Geardiary is the phrase “ladies and gentleman introducing the new DELL PRE”. Truthfully we don’t have any idea of whether Dell’s in the market — or whether Palm’s selling — but it makes interesting speculation. Now it seems by this information that the idea of Dell gobbling Palm is nothing but a nightmare dream. A China based site is reporting that China Mobile is going to launch the Dell mini3 today. According to the site the Android phone has a 3.5″ 360 x 640 pixel screen with capacitive touch. It lacks Wi-Fi or Chinese WAPI, is strictly 2G and the phone will pack a respectable 3 megapixel. No word on whether Mini… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

We have taken a look at SplashID several times before.  This is one of the great apps coming out of SplashData, who seems to have now come full circle.  They started out developing for PalmOS, moved on to Windows Mobile, iPhone, Nokia, and even several desktop platforms.  Well, now they have come back to their roots with Palm and their WebOS.  This is SplashData’s second app on the Palm Pre, following Infopedia. Now, some of you may recall that last week I briefly mentioned how I had tested SplashID and found it to be terribly buggy.  Heck, it would not even load most times at all.  Well, earlier this weekend, SplashData released an update of SplashID to the Palm Pre App Catalog, and now it is running better than ever, so let’s take a closer look.… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

The Washington Post has an article listing “the best 35 iPhone apps of the year” thus far.  Of that list almost half are games. Looking through those non-game apps I found there were some with which I totally agreed while there were others I saw it in an entirely different way. I thought it might be interesting to ask a few of us from the site to post our thoughts on whether or not the article hit it right. Here’s their list and description… and our thoughts.… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

From the Developer: Color Claw is an iPhone app that allows the user to adjust the color of a photo using another photo to provide the desired colors. Color Claw can be used to: Remove the effects of artificial lighting Add life and color to photos Give an exotic look to pictures There are 3 steps to using Color Claw. Step One: Select Your Photo Select the photo you want to process. Step Two: Select Coloring Photo The Coloring Photo provides the colors for your ColorClawed photo. Step Three: Color Claw It! Step 3 processes and displays the ColorClawed photo. Continue reading on Gear Diary …

A funny thing has occurred since owning an iPhone 3GS.  I am in no way an expert, but have become the iPhone guy.  How many of you are known among your friends and co-workers for your gear? I live in a small, rural South Texas town.  Yes, we have electricity and plumbing!  We even have high speed internet.  Being a ranching community, most people here are not technology geeks like I am.  There are iPhones and laptops and gadgets, but most are light users.  Since much of my spare time is spent reading or writing for tech blogs, listening to podcasts and playing with gadgets, many of my friends and co-workers have decided I know everything about all of this gear.  (Again, I am in no way an expert, but a wanna-be geek!)… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

A few weeks back, a big shot at Nintendo made comments on how he viewed the iPhone as serious competition for the Nintendo DS.  I really didn’t think much about it until I saw the iPhone implementation of Civilization Revolution, which had been very popular on the Nintendo DS.  He may have reason to be concerned after all. The Civilization Franchise is one of those, that has taken off in many directions since it’s original incarnations.  There is the mainline “Civilization” application, but there is also the Civilization Revolution game, which is a somewhat simplified form of the original game.  Civilization Revolution was very popular on the Nintendo DS, which is where I got my original exposure to it.  I enjoyed the simplified game play almost as much as I enjoy the depth of the original.  The simplified version falls much more easily into the Casual gaming category, where the total game time is much shorter and can be played while waiting for your train, or at the doctors office. So let’s take a look at this implementation of Civilization Revolution to see how it holds up!… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Today is day five of HP and Microsoft’s ‘Back to School and Better Together’ Giveaway, which means that Gear Live will begin theirs. Up for grabs is a computer combo containing an HP dv6, an HP Mini 110 and Syncables software – which allows you to keep the larger laptop at home but carry the smaller netbook (synced and carrying all of your data!) when on the go. The Winner will also get a customized Gear Live Timbuk2 bag to carry their loot! … Continue reading on Gear Diary …

The Mangroomer revolutionized personal grooming for hairy apes guys the world over. Using this electric razor on a stick the thorny problem of unsightly back hair could now be removed in the privacy of the bathroom. Now for the super hairy guys who’ve already worn through a blade on their Mangroomer – it’s the Mangroomer replacement blade! Wasn’t it embarrassing enough buying the Mangroomer the first time? But wait – is buying a replacement blade even more humiliating… Mangroomer Replacement Blade Continue reading on Gear Diary …