Resco Software has informed us of the upcoming release of the new version of their Windows Mobile image viewer & editor software ‘Resco Photo Viewer’. The great utility is hitting version 7.00 soon, but Resco is releasing a public beta of the software tomorrow, September 8th!… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

[Editor's note: This article first appeared in Chinese on the site PALMisLIFE.com. Past Gear Diary contributor Larry Liaw did the modifications and translated the story for our readers. Larry has done some pretty radical upgrades in the past, most notably to the Palm Treo series; this marks the first time he has shared an iPhone mod with us, and what a mod it is!] And here’s the story… Once upon a time, a key webmaster of “PALMisLIFE.com”, Hui, owned an iPhone 3G and was happy with its features and elegant looks. He used it for texting, messaging, gaming, web surfing and even photographing. He never left his it alone, until one day he found his lovely iPhone had cracked… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Stranded on a Boat?  There’s an App for That… There is nothing quite like a vacation.  Just taking time out to get away from it all.  Recently, I got a chance to enjoy an extended weekend away with friends.  Funny thing is, we didn’t get away from it all.  Not really.  We enjoyed a weekend full of friends, boating and beaches, for sure — but as most people in the digital age — everyone had their gadgets of choice with them at all times.  Be it an iPhone, BlackBerry, digital camera, Wii, or Kindle, it proved to be a weekend full of tech and fun.   Some gadgets made it, while others succumbed to the wrath of the sea.… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

As I posted yesterday, I’m even surprised by how much I am enjoying my Blackberry Bold. I never expected to be a two-handheld guy, and the fact that I am still feels odd. The fact that the second handheld is a BB is even more striking. THAT, however, wasn’t the biggest gadget surprise in our home this week, though. This is… Elana LOVES the Palm platform. She’s used it for years and has rejected any and every attempt I have made to move her to a more modern platform. (She did humor me for a week last year by trying the iPhone, but I don’t think she was ever really open to the possibility of making the move.) ] Then Elana rubbed it in my face when she found an old Centro that has been outside in the elements for six months but still worked. “Think your iPhone would do that? Huh??” she said. Then came the shock last week. Elana came into my study and said, “I’m tired of getting no reception here at home. I’m finally willing to give up the Palm if we can find one the will work better for me. Maybe a Blackberry?” Say what?!?!?!?… [...]

Apple’s “It’s Only Rock And Roll, But We Like It” event is almost here. At this point it is pretty much a given that we’ll see new iPod touch and nano versions, and that one or both will include a camera. Rumor is that the next version of iTunes will be revealed as well. And, hopefully there will be a surprise or two in store. We can only hope. During the one year run of the 2nd Gen iPod touch we have had a chance to review cases from some of our favorite vendors. Among them… Agent18, Speck and iSkin. Hopefully at least one of us (ME!!) will have a new touch in our hands by week’s end. That means new accessories reviews to bring you! Yeah! That also means clearing out old review units. We have a few and they are there for the taking. We’ve got…… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

One of the more frustrating things about owning a Windows Mobile Standard device, particularly the ones which are tied to a certain carrier, are the sometimes you’ll find that there are these inane application locks in place. You usually won’t even know about the lock until you try to install a program that you think will make your life easier or your device usage more satisfying. When you try the installation, it is error city and the application will fail every time. I ran into this with the Pantech Matrix Pro that Julie and I reviewed this spring: Is the Matrix Pro perfect? Of course not. It comes loaded with AT&T bloatware Continue reading on Gear Diary …

photo credit: Voxphoto It’s officially the end of Summer for those of us in the U.S.   It sure flew by!  Before you rush off to hit  one last barbecue — or tear it up on the water — we thought you might want to take a look at some of the past week’s best from the Gear Diary team. Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Here’s a sneak preview of the unreleased BlackBerry 9700 — aka Onyx. Looks as if this is the result of mating a BlackBerry Bold with a BlackBerry 8900. Biggest improvements – addition of a trackpad (hopefully this spells the end of trackballs), improved camera with 3.2 mega-pixel images, OS 5.x, micro-USB moved to other side of device, tighter build quality. Crackberry Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Two Australian girls aged 10 and 12 raised a few eyebrows, and undoubtedly received stern lectures from their parents, when they used Facebook instead of their phone to request help after becoming lost in a storm drain. Despite having a mobile phone with which they could have called local police, the girls posted a cry for help on social media site Facebook. Luckily one of their friends noticed the status message and called the police who promptly rescued them. ABC via Techradar Continue reading on Gear Diary …

photo credit: Victor Svensson I first touched an iPhone in late July of 2007. I was immediately taken with this revolutionary device, and within a few days had one of my own. Like many I found the iPhone to be revolutionary. I initially got the iPhone, planning to use it as my “recreational” device by using a windows mobile handheld for work. Within a week of getting the iPhone however, it was the only device I was using in my windows mobile handheld was on eBay. Its impact on my computing life was remarkable, and with each new version of the operating system it became less and less a “smart phone” and more and more a handheld computer. When the App Store opened a little over a year ago the mobile space was changed forever. So enamored of the iPhone was I, that for a year I owned and operated an iPhone application review site. When I left that site to put the entirety of my blogging attention here on Gear Diary, I came on board as one of the resident Apple-dedicated site members (aka “crazy fan-boys”). The overwhelming majority of my posts initially focused on iPhone apps and accessories, [...]

I’ve been greatly enjoying the HP dv6 that I recently upgraded to Windows 7, and that got me wondering about Snow Leopard (OSX 10.6). Dan was evil kind enough to send me a link to the latest Apple refurb sales last week, and I couldn’t help myself…after perusing the wares, I bit.… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

The Franklin Institute, one of the county’s best science museums has announced the winners of their most recent contest. Over the last few months the Institute has run a Star Trek exhibit featuring the world’s most comprehensive collection of authentic Star Trek objects.  From the Next Generation Bridge, to the Engine Room, to sitting in Kirk’s original captain’s chair, STAR TREK: THE EXHIBITION “not only relives the legacy but invites you to be a part of the Enterprise” Now one lucky couple will be married inside the exhibit in a themed out Star Trek wedding. Brad & Kate, from Phoenixville, PA, who won the… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

In addition to the Smooth Case Case-Mate recently sent me for review, they were also kind enough to include one of their Chrome Barely There Cases for the iPhone 3G/3G with a mirrored screen protector. With visions of 20″ chrome spinners on a tricked out car from some episode of Pimp My Ride I slapped the case on my iPhone 3GS and took it for a test drive.… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Welcome back to the GearGames weekly video game release feature here at Gear Diary! This week brings us the hotly anticipated Beatles Rock Band, which comes in three forms – profit, more profit, and mega-profit! Seriously though, you can get game-only for ~$60 if you want to use your existing Rock Band or Guitar Hero World Tour hardware; ‘value bundle’ for ~$160 which has the game and standard Rock Band hardware; or the ‘special edition’ for $250 which has all Beatle-themed hardware and a couple of extra items. Expect heavy demand and limited supplies of this.… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Yesterday Larry took a look at the Case-Mate Smooth for iPhone 3G/3GS. I would say he liked it! I too have long been a fan of Case-Mate’s products. In fact, a Case-Mate case was the very first cases I got for my original iPhone. The company doesn’t limit itself to iPhones however. They offer solutions for protecting a wide variety of handhelds including, as luck would have it, the Blackberry Bold I began carrying last week. I always tend to prefer a minimalist approach to protecting my devices. I like a “real” case so invisible skins don’t do it for me, but a low profile case that keeps the device from scratching and offers some degree of protection from bumps and bruises is always my preference. The Barely There fits that bill just fine! Let’s take a look.… Continue reading on Gear Diary …