OK, so I may be one of the only people I know that hasn’t jumped on the Blu-Ray technology yet, mostly because I can’t decide if I would prefer to by a Playstation 3. But for those of you not interested in gaming, there is a great offer over at Woot! A Pioneer Blu-Ray player for only $134.99, which is not a bad deal if you are just looking for a Blu-Ray player. Pioneer BDP-121 Blu Ray Player w/Remote $134.99 at www.woot.com Continue reading on Gear Diary …

As the poet wrote- “Accessories make the iPhone”. (Okay, a poet didn’t write that, but I needed SOME lead in into this awesome iPhone accessory contest) Let’s get right to it… We reviewed the Agent 18 SlimCase. ($34.95 from Agent 18.) Loved it! We reviewed the MovieWedge stand. ($9.95 from MovieWedge.) Awesome! We reviewed the Tenqa SP-99 Wireless Stereo Bluetooth Speaker. ($79.99 from Amazon.) Very useful! Now YOU! can win all three. Here’s how…… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Feel the Need for Speed? Buy two games at Amazon and you can pick up that game (or any other eligible title) free. This offer is valid for all platforms (PS3, XBOX 360, Wii, PSP, Nintendo DS) and ends 10/17. There is a very wide selection of popular games included and most of them are already discounted. Amazon Buy TWo Get One via GearSponsor Logicbuy Continue reading on Gear Diary …

“…or should that be “Walk your environmental talk”?? Who knows. One thing is for sure– It is one thing to talk about caring for the environment and quite another to actually do something about it. Samsung wants to let people enjoy all of of life’s modern conveniences, such as cell phones, while still acting with environmental sensitivity. That’s where their new Blue Earth cellphone comes in. It combines many of today’s best features- a 3.2 MP camera, a touch screen, music and video players, an FM radio, Bluetooth, a microSDHC slot and even 3G with some neat tricks that would make the huggiest tree-hugger smile. First off there is… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Apple has released a “perfomance upgrade” for its Snow Leopard operating system.  According to the support document released along with the upgrade it’s supposed to addresses intermittent hard drive related pauses reported by a small number of customers. The hardware possibly effected by the issue includes: MacBook Air (Mid 2009), MacBook Pro (17-inch, Mid 2009), MacBook Pro (13-inch, Mid 2009), MacBook Pro (15-inch, Mid 2009), MacBook Pro (15-inch, 2.53GHz, Mid 2009), iMac (20-inch, Mid 2009), MacBook Pro (17-inch, Early 2009), MacBook (13-inch, Early 2009), MacBook (13-inch, Mid 2009), MacBook (13-inch, Aluminum, Late 2008), MacBook Air (Late 2008), MacBook Continue reading on Gear Diary …

The BlackBerry Storm is a touch screen device that users either love or hate. It seems the love/hate line is often drawn between those who’ve never used a BlackBerry before (love) and those that have spent time with the BlackBerry devices that include keyboards (hate). The big deals with BlackBerry Storm 2? Updated BlackBerry OS 5.0, WiFI, ability to press two keys at once on the keyboard (increases typing speed) and a different method to using the touch screen which no longer requires as much physical pressure to move the screen up and down as you type. Read the full review below to find out all the new features added to the Storm2. And, no, there’s still no official Verizon release… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

The Motorola CLIQ is being looked upon by some as Motorola’s comeback phone. After releasing a few zillion iterations of the popular Razr phone the company is zeroing in on the open sourced Android platform as their savior. Earlier this month Motorola announced their intention sit out Windows Mobile 6.5 in lieu of Windows Mobile 7 slated for late 2010. Last night the Wall Street Journal’s Walt Mossberg rolled with his review of the Android powered Motorola CLIQ. Several other reviews have followed including this one from Engadget. What’d they like? More memory. What wasn’t so good? Well for one the phone is busy with a lot of social media icons that may confuse users, the keyboard is… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Back in August Larry and I both got a chance to check out an early version of Shape Services coming update to their IM+ Instant Messaging application. Well the update is out and is sports some nice improvements! Version 3.4… – Brings Animated Emoticons. – Allows you to copy text from chat bubbles. – Brings new email notifications via Push – for Hotmail, Yahoo and GMail. AND… it introduces Speech recognition as an in-app purchase feature.… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

At the beginning of the week an important annual event happened in our household. It was the annual “turning on of the heat”. The ceremonial first day you realize it’s too cold in the morning to heat the kitchen using only an open oven door. Right behind the opening day of heater use comes another annual October event – Halloween. None of our pumpkins will look anywhere near as good as most of 130 that walyou.com has rounded captured in their photo collection. Geeky Halloween Pumpkin Carvings Continue reading on Gear Diary …

One of my first favorite ‘free’ Internet programs was Claria’s “Gator”. What I naively found out later is, so far as I’m concerned, Gator essentially invented the Spyware industry. It originally allowed you to store passwords to all your websites so that rather than remember them, you could allow it to fill them in automatically. However, over time they started pushing pop-up ads onto your computer and started overwriting Google search results. Eventually people found out about the adware but the product itself actually worked until Gator was shut down in 2006. In came RoboForm which has nothing to do with adware and instead offers a great password keeper program. I’ve been using it ever since and love it. Here’s why.… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

iSkin was the first company to create a silicone keyboard to protect Macintosh computer keyboards. Never one is to sit on their laurels, they’ve now released the next generation of their ProTouch keyboard protectors. The new line-up offers three different styles of protection — The ProTouch Classic, The ProTouch FX and The ProTouch Vibes. Each is made from high-grade silicone that is specially engineered to cover each key to ensure smooth and easy use of the keyboard even while protected. Each is designed for maximum comfort and the greatest degree of non-obtrusive protection so that all typists find the protectors useful without reducing their speed and accuracy. Finally, each offers embedded Microban® antimicrobial product protection helps inhibit the growth of odor and stain causing bacteria on the product.… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

The new Amber Alert GPS is a handy (albeit costly at $279 plus monitoring fees) device for parents wanting to keep track of their children. Slip the GPS into a backpack or other secure location. Throughout the day you receive text messages that show you exactly where your child is. Safety zones can be setup so if for example they were to wander away from school during the day you would automatically receive an alert. Once you’ve received an alert you can log into a web site to show the exact track that they’ve taken (requires unlimited service plan). There’s also an SOS button that can be activated by your child in the event of an emergency, a speed alert (handy… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

I love innovative solutions that let you charge portable electronics at home and on the go without having to deal with a scrambled assortment of cords, adapters etc. The newest comes from Technocel. Their new PowerPak replace an assortment of chargers and cords with a single universal solution that safely powers USB devices when at home, in the car, and anywhere else you might roam. Then, if you find your device running low on power the PowerPak’s built-in battery reserve can be used when outlets aren’t available. Now that’s what I call a useful combo. The PowerPak will be available November 1, 2009 for an MSRP of $49.99 on Technocel.com. Full Press Release Follows…… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

The Sims franchise has been a major powerhouse of sales and popularity on the PC for years, but has never really translated into success on consoles and handhelds, managing only modest sales and average reviews. As the franchise moved to the Wii in 2007 it was transformed into MySims, which removed all of the teen and adult-focused content and targeted a younger audience. The MySims franchise has been focused on the Nintendo platforms (aside from a single PC entry), and while it has been better than the dismal Nintendo DS entries, the response has still been mixed reviews and unspectacular sales. Electronic Arts hopes to change all that as they mix things up with MySims Agents for the Wii, and was kind enough to provide a copy for me to review and keep, so let’s take a look and see how they did!… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Larry reviewed GelaSkins last month and there were literally hundreds of designs.  Now there are an infinite number, as you can design your own artwork to put on your iPhone, Laptop, iPod or any other device that GelaSkins supports.  Prices range from $14.95 to $29.95 on GelaSkins.com.… Continue reading on Gear Diary …