Sometimes it is hard to believe how quickly technology marches on … and other times it seems amazing to look upon the relics of technology past, and think that folks used those as cutting-edge devices at one point. As someone who used a Macintosh Portable from when it came out until past the time it was really a feasible computer, seeing it get torn to bits doesn’t sound too bad to me! Technologizer takes us step-by-step through the entire system, using a handy iPod Touch to serve as a size comparison throughout.… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Google has just rolled out push email for the iPhone via Google Sync. Earlier this year they’d launched Google Sync which allowed you to synchronize your Gmail Contacts and Google Calendar with your iPhone, Windows Mobile, and S60 devices. Today, they’ve added Gmail support to Google Sync for iPhone, iPod Touch and Windows Mobile devices. To make use of Google Sync, navigate to http://m.google.com/sync for instructions pertaining to your device. If you’re using Google Apps then be sure your administrator enables Google Sync under the Mobile option. As of now there’s no ability to search Gmail email messages but messages that you read on the web are instantly synchronized to your iPhone and items deleted are moved to archive on the… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Sometimes a good title is all it takes. Take, for example, the title of a recent post over on CNET. It read- “AT&T takes the phone out of iPhone“. The title intrigued me. Better still, turns out the title was perfect for the piece. In it CNET’s Elinor Mills discusses the trials and tribulations of trying to make a phone call using a 1st Gen iPhone and AT&T’s service. It is, as she put it and far too many other know only too well, a hit or miss proposition. What I most appreciated in the post was the she called out AT&T spokesman Mark Siegel when he tried to (once again) place the blame for AT&T lousy coverage on the data demands iPhones are placing on AT&T’s system. She writes,… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Game Loft has definitely staked its claim as one of the top notch developers of games for the iPhone OS. Last year, one of its more popular titles Real Soccer 2009 was one of the most downloaded games titles in the App Store and also one of my personal favorites. Now Game Loft is back with today’s release of Real Soccer 2010 the sequel to 2009. The updated version features 8 different leagues, voice commentary, 14 stadiums, the ability to play against friends over your local WiFi network, new game modes, better graphics, better controls and more. With the recent release of Madden 10 by EA and… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Collections of music or movies called ‘box sets’ have been popular for quite some time – I remember buying a 3-record collection of Richard Wagner’s Orchestral music in a nice box with a huge book of information 30 years ago! Over the last decade, though, Box Sets have become a major industry, especially around the Christmas holiday season. Now Columbia has opened up the vaults to unleash a massive collection that one has to see to believe!… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Listening to satellite radio is great provided you’re near an antenna. Sure, earlier this year Sirius tried to push out an iPhone application that used wireless to stream their content. And the iPhone application would probably be fine for most people except that certain major segments of programming (like MLB® Play-by-Play, NFL Play-by-Play, SIRIUS NASCAR® Radio, and Howard Stern) were painfully missing from the lineup due to contractual SNAFUS. Here’s a chance to score a Stiletto 2 plus a home kit for only $19 (formerly $219). This is a refurbished item with a 90 day warranty. This portable Stiletto can record up to 100 hours of programming for later playback or use the built-in antenna anywhere you can get a line of… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Here’s a quick tale of Snow Leopard incompatibility that was resolved quickly but should not have happened in the first place. I purchased an upgrade to Roxio’s Toast Titanium Pro at the cost of $100. That’s a pretty expensive upgrade, but the full-featured nature of the application plus the ability to transfer shows recorded on my TiVo and automatically convert them for my iPhone or touch made it worth the price. Problem was, once I upgraded the TiVo transfer would bounce a few times and then crash. I tried to reinstall the application, but nothing seemed to work. I went back and forth with their customer service, and within a relatively short period of time received this…… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

There were a few utilities available pre-Snow Leopard which allowed you to set up the Mac’s built in Mail client in three columns.  Unfortunately all of them stopped working with the release of OS upgrade. Letterbox is a small utility from Aarom Harnly.  It works with the built in Mac Mail client and allows you to view your mail application in three columns.  Aaron released a new beta last week that works with Snow Leopard. In my opinion this little add-on makes the mail application look like it should be by default.  I’ve been using it for a little while and it’s been performing exactly as I’d expect, making my mail reading experience just a… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

By default the iPhone allows you to set the double clicking of the home button to one of five tasks.  You can set it to go to home, search, your phone favorites, camera or the iPod.  Sort of limiting don’t you think. That’s where Custom Home Button comes in.  Available for jailbroken phones only the application, which is available via the Touch Mania source (http://cydia.touch-mania.com/) allows you to set the double clicking of your home button to anything your hear desires.  You can choose from your App Store applications, Cydia Applications, Web Sites or one of the default actions.… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Blue is coming out with a new line of studio grade microphones by the end of the year.  The enCORE line of Microphones all use Blue’s Aria Dynamic Capsule with the enCORE 300 using a condenser capsule.  Each microphone looks a little different and has slightly different specs.  All three  use XLR so you will need a Mixer or adapter of some sort to use with your computer.  All three promise to have excellent construction and are designed hold up to being dropped, thrown and yes, they say even after a 7 ton truck drove over the microphone it will continue to produce high quality sound.… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

I’m quite happy using the iPhone/iPod touch RSS reader Newsstand these days. Since its last update it syncs beautifully with Google Reader. In addition, it offers a terrific set of added functionality such as integration with Twitter, Instapaper and ReadItLater. It is fast, it is stable and it is quite enjoyable to use. (Heck, even Larry who cursed me out for encouraging him to buy YET ANOTHER RSS app had to admit it is worth purchasing!) Still, word that the new version of NetNewsWire for iPhone is on the way and, like its desktop cousin, syncs with Google Reader has me pretty happy. … Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Do you love the idea of cutting back on driving your car? Have you been considering biking more, but fitness and speed hold you back? Do you love the idea of exploring new areas? Want to share it with a friend? Do you have about $2300 to spare? Pedego, makers of electric bikes, have debuted an electric tandem bike. It’s coming just in time for the holidays, though if you live in the Northeast you MIGHT want to wait until after the snow has cleared. Read on for the press release, and then start checking your couch for pennies!… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Welcome back to the Direct2Drive 5th Birthday Sale! Over the past several years more and more of the PC gaming industry has moved to Digital Downloads, and while Steam definitely has the dominant position, Direct2Drive has seen tremendous success and growth. Now they have hit their 5-year anniversary and WE get the presents! Week 1 featured Ubisoft & strategy games, Week 2 had Action games, and now we are ready for the 3rd week – RPG / MMORPG games! Read on to find out more – and to find out what I learned during week 2!… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

¡Hola Amigos! Even though I had the new Dan Brown book, The Missing Symbol, delivered wirelessly to my Kindle DX this week, and even though I have spent every spare moment I could trying to sneak in a few chapters, I still managed to get a good chunk of my TOTALe lesson done. Yay me! Now I can tell you that “Me llamo Judie,” which will probably not sound as elegant as Julia when pronounced properly, since the J’s in Spanish are essentially H’s. Hoolia verses Hoodie…guess which one wins? … Continue reading on Gear Diary …

If you see a friend with a gadget fetish carrying something different, chances are it is something new and trendy. Gadget-heads are seen as fickle and trendy, and bitterly loyal … for about 30 seconds until the next bright & shiny object comes along. But I have typically held on to the stuff I loved the most, and recently I’ve been alternating between 4 PDA/handhelds – my Axim x51v, iPod Touch, Psion Revo and HP200LX. Made me wonder – what sorts of ‘old school’ stuff does the rest of the Gear Diary staff use? So I asked the question – and looked for them not to talk about stuff like the old Kitchen Aid, the ancient clock in the spare bedroom, or even something like my ancient HP Omnibook I use perhaps three times a year. I was talking about regular use. Read on to find out what they had to say!… Continue reading on Gear Diary …