Apple is on a roll! Yesterday Apple announced record earnings. In response their stock soared above $200 a share in after hours trading. And now… New hardware that rocks. The buzz has been going for some time now. Shipments of iMacs came to a crawl, discounts were seen on some sites and rumors began to fly. Would the update include new iMacs? New Mac Minis? Newly designed white MacBooks? New muli-touch trackpads to replace the ever-so frustrating mighty mouse? And maybe, just maybe might we see a tablet?, The speculation and excitement was typical when it comes to the company that seems to continue to have an excellent record of maintaining secrecy in a world of ever-growing leaks. So what would it be??… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Three great iPhone accessories that have been reviewed here on Gear Diary in recent weeks are the Agent 18 SlimCase, the MovieWedge iPhone/PMP stand and the Tenqa SP-99 Wireless Bluetooth Speaker. Using our super-high-tech-random-number-icking system (“Hey Larry, can you pick a number 1-15?”… “Why?”… “Just pick the number for cryin’outloud!”) we have picked our winner. And he/she is…… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

One of my favorite applications for iPhone is Wunder Radio (iTunes / review) . In addition to receiving radio stations both locally and world wide, police scanners, weather radio and more – the iPhone application allows me to listen to Sirius Satellite radio while away from my desktop computer. I’ve been waiting eagerly for Wunder Radio to appear on the BlackBerry and today it’s available in the BlackBerry App World for $9.99. Unfortunately the version that’s available only works on BlackBerry Bold and Curve. A version will be available later for the Tour and Storm. Also regrettably missing from the new BlackBerry version is the ability to listen to Sirius Satellite radio. … Continue reading on Gear Diary …

A bubble blast from the past, Pang is the game you love and remember from the 80’s, even better today on the iPhone and iPod touch. Test your reflexes in this hugely addictive official remake, “Pang”, also known as “Buster Bros” in the US. Travel from Japan to the tropical shores of Hawaii as you take up the task of saving civilisation from dangerously bouncing bubbles that threaten city landmarks across the planet. Can you save Mount Fuji from being flattened by spherical dangers? Will your reactions be good enough to defend the Eiffel Tower or the Statue of Liberty? Or can you wear them down while saving your own skin? Everyone’s favourite from the arcades, Pang is easy to learn but difficult to master as you progress through 17 locations saving the world’s attractions with an assortment of weapons from the grappling hook to the twin harpoon. The game is crammed with power-ups including a force field and time freeze; anything to give you the edge over those deadly bubbles! FEATURES: 17 locations, covering 50 levels An assortment of weaponry Power-ups and prizes for points World Tour or Infinite Challenge to choose from Leaderboards – beat your friends for [...]

Skooba Design is looking for the ultimate digital gear-head. Could it be you? Their new “Master of the Digital Universe” contest gives techies from all over a chance to “put up or shut up” as they duke it out for the title. The prizes look amazing! Among other goodies, the grand prize includes something truly unique the opportunity to work directly with a Skooba designer to create a custom-made, one-of-a-kind laptop/gadget bag, to be handmade by a Skooba craftsperson, only for the winner. As the company says, “as is fitting for the Master, it will be the only bag of its kind in the universe, made to the winner’s wants, needs and specifications. Once it is made, there will never be another.” The grand prize winner will get other merchandise and gadget gift card prizes as well, and may be featured in Skooba advertising and promotional activities. 2 runners-up will receive prize packages as well, and all entries will be included in a “second-chance” prize drawing. The total value of prizes is more than $6,000. Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Given that my first love of gaming is first-person shooters (FPS) based on my love of the original Castle Wolfenstein back on my Apple ][+, it is somewhat surprising that I was ‘late to the party’ on Unreal by nearly a year. But hey, gimme a break – I had a three-month old colicky baby when it was released in late May of 1998. Yes, that is right: Unreal is well past the celebration of its tenth birthday … but in terms of my ownership it has just passed the decade mark, so I guess that counts for something! You know what that means? Netbook Gamer Retrospective time! I am going to take a look at the original game and also touch on the other entries in the series as it has moved to being one of the premier online shooters. And as usual I will put it all into the context of how it works on my netbook.… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Within the last week the Google Wave invitations finally started arriving at GearDiary (sorry – we wish we had invites but we’re cleaned out). We’ve been working with Google Wave for the better part of a week and our reactions can be summed up by a phrase we all seem to keep typing into Wave – now that we’re in – what do we do? It’s a common question so here’s a quick guided tour of what we’ve been doing with Wave but more importantly what some of our concerns are. You’ll see that (for now) you aren’t missing much. This is all very early stage development. It’s not ready for prime time and the vast majority of Wave conversations ask nothing more than – ‘what do we do? – how does Google Wave help us?’.… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

You use your smartphone for everything from playing music, snapping photos, recording video, banking and playing game.  Are you ready to rent and view your next movie on your mobile phone?  mSpot certainly hopes so.  The company recently launched their mobile movie rental service, and allowed me to trial it for a few days. Take a look at the mSpot service in action, and find out whether mSpot deserves a spot on your smartphone… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

usbfever.com is a great place to browse and purchase both fun and helpful gadget items.  Two of their latest offerings caught our eye this week.… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

I’m on the hunt for a new Windows laptop and this just might be the one. Since Windows 7 is due out this week it makes no sense to buy anything except a laptop such as this with the latest OS already pre-loaded. Save up to $319 on a fully-loaded HP Pavilion dv8t Quad Edition 18.4-inch Laptop with Core i7-720QM, 1GB NVIDIA GeForce GT 230M, Blu-ray and 1080p Ultra BrightView Infinity display. Plus, FREE upgrade to 4GB DDR3 Memory, FREE upgrade to 320GB 7200RPM Hard Drive, Free 2nd day shipping, $60 off any wireless HP Printer and further $30 savings using stackable coupon. Note that the image in this post is close but not identical to the dv8t. Coupon expires 10/24/09. via GearSponsor LogicBuy… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

photo credit: keinepanik Those of us who weren’t stuck in a high-flying balloon hiding in a box in the attic scamming the media due to our obsessive need for celebrity had quite a bit going on this week.  In case you were glued to your television watching the Heene family, you may have noticed quite a bit of chatter over Android this week.  In particular, the excitement over Verizon’s “Droid Does” marketing for their upcoming Android device (the Tao/Sholes/Droid smartphone). If there was any doubt that Big Red is looking to Android & Motorola to compete with the Apple/AT&T behemoth, it was put to rest with the game-on “iDon’t” marketing campaign that has been launched.  Regardless of whether you are excited or merely curious, it is going to be a LOT of fun to put this new Android device head to head against the iPhone to see whether it can truly stack up against what many lovingly refer to as the “Jesus Phone”  (that’s the iPhone in case you were wondering ). So, balloon boys and girls, what else happened this past week?  Let’s take a break and quickly run down just a few of the highlights… Continue reading on Gear [...]

Instant Messaging (IM) has gained popularity over the years, and it has become part of our lives now in the communication world. With mobile devices gaining popularity, everyone would love to stay connected with their IMs. Some of the popular IMs out there include MSN®/Windows Live Messenger, Yahoo!®, and Google Talk. Those are all separate applications, requiring space on users’ devices and requiring them to juggle between each application when they want to IM their friends on the different services. What a pain! SHAPE services has come to the rescue, with IM+! IM+ is a messaging client that lets you access AIM®/iChat, MSN®/Windows Live Messenger, Yahoo!®, ICQ®, Jabber®, Google Talk, MySpace®, Facebook IM and Twitter services. Features:- All public IM systems in one client. No cost per message! Stay online in IM Push mode and save battery live! Friendly User Interface in English, German, Italian, French, Thai, Vietnamese, Russian and Spanish. Today Screen Plugin: see the information of all connected services, number of online/offline users and amount of unread messages. One-Time Purchase License: all further updates included. Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Buy.com has a refurbished 30gb 5th generation iPod for $99.99. So if you’re tired of hooking your iPhone up to your car stereo and you have too much music to fit on a puny iPod Nano, this is a great deal! Remember though, this is a version with a hard drive, so be careful if you take it running, or use it as an improvisational football while it is playing. Buy it here: Buy.com Continue reading on Gear Diary …

It’s another highly anticipated title to make its way into the iTunes App Store.  Available now, Rock Bank from EA brings the uber-popular consul game to the iPhone and iPod Touch. The game feature solo play or team play over bluetooth or local WiFi where you and your friends can form a band and jam together (up to 4 players.) There are 20 songs from groups such as Blink-182, Foo Fighters, The Beastie Boys and more. You can choose to play guitar, bass, drums, or do vocals. The game also features push notifications where your friends can alert you when they want to get the band together and rock… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Where were you when you first heard about the now infamous “Balloon Boy” incident? On Thursday, October 15th, at a little past 2 p.m. Central Time, Dan and I were IM’ing when he abruptly told me to turn on CNN. Once I did, the screen was filled with the image of a large silver balloon speeding and spinning, thousands of feet above the Colorado countryside. The balloon supposedly carried a six year old boy, appropriately named Falcon. Continue reading on Gear Diary …