Sometimes there is much truth to the saying “the early bird catches the worm.” Take the Walmart specials occurring this Friday – weeks before the Holiday shopping season officially begins. If you have an X-Box or a 15″ laptop on your list for a special person (maybe yourself!), then you must be at your local Walmart in time to snatch up one of these deals. Not only can you get an Xbox 360 for $199 with a $100 gift card, bringing the price to $99, you can get a 15″ HP laptop for $296. Granted, it’s not a gaming laptop, but it would be perfect for a high school student. Walmart… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Apple has made it official- there are now 100,000 apps in the App Store. That’s pretty amazing considering the fact that Apple didn’t even want 3rd party apps at first. But less than a year and a half later, the store is 100,000 strong and growing. Sure a lot of them are ebooks, fart apps and general crApp apps, but there are also tons of gems. For example, I left the office last night at 9:15pm and wanted to catch information on who my state’s next governor would be. A quick search and I had downloaded the official NPR app and the app from the Huffington… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

I reviewed the Moshi Voice Response Alarm Clock yesterday. I like its use of voice recognition a great deal and am finding it a nice addition to my night table. Now Moshi has released a travel version of their clock that employs the same voice technology. It is smaller but packs the same technology- perfect for travel… or daily use.… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

The Symbian Foundation released this video showing a hypothetical phone UI, which basically looks like a mashup of MotoBlur and Palm Synergy with a dash of augmented reality and Google maps navigation for good measure. This isn’t an actual future UI, but how fast would you line up for a Symbian phone if it were? Via Brighthand Continue reading on Gear Diary …

More details are leaking out about Spring Design’s lawsuit against Barnes and Noble. Engadget has information from Spring Design on the details of their “relationship” with B&N. Bottom line: it looks on the surface like B&N saw Spring Design’s ideas, chose not to use them, then implemented the best parts for their own eReader. Bear in mind this is all conjecture based on the limited information floating around the internet. Please keep your pitchforks and flaming torches at bay until someone is proven guilty! Via Engadget Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Quirky has just begun pre-sale of their latest collaborative contraption, the StashCan. $54, charged only if there are enough orders to produce the product, will get you on the list for a sleek looking trash can with a removable plastic liner. There will be no more fumbling in the kitchen cabinet for replacement trash bags, because they store handily in a compartment located in thee top of the StashCan. Clever, right?! quirky’s StashCan is a kitchen trash can with the added ability to store trash bags in the can itself. No more hassle with drippy bags, and time consuming trash removal. The StashCan makes your trash routine far simpler, cleaner, and speedier. (oh and it looks pretty too!) Step on StashCan’s foot pedal to open the lid to dispose of your garbage. Once your trash is full, simply open the stainless steel rimmed top and pull out the removable, lightweight, plastic liner containing the full trash. Remove your full trash bag and clean the liner (if necessary). Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Sunstorm Games developed the very first deer hunting game back in 1997.  I can remember playing the game on one of my Motorola flip phones, using the phone’s center navigation pad to move and the OK button to fire. Times have certainly changed.  The iPhone has brought cell phone games to a whole new level.  Real Deer Hunting, Sunstorm’s latest title, is described as a game that “boasts realistic deer behavior, outstanding graphics and the most immersive hunting experience.” Does the game’s revival live up to the iPhone experience?  Read on to find out. Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Shape Services released an iPhone and iPod Touch application over the weekend that they claim will help convert the mountain of business cards you’ve collected into names in your iPhone address book. The description of the application says it will “import contact information right from business card to your iPhone contacts! Just take a photo of a business card and a New Contact is added!”. So how well does this $5.99 program work in real life?… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Stereo Bluetooth is a great innovation for the freedom it grants from cables.  I was quite pleased when Apple finally added stereo Bluetooth functionality to the iPhone.  Not that being connected to a headphone cable is a huge problem, but it’s nice to be able to set my iPhone on my desk while listening to music, and still be able to move around my office without needing to pick up the iPhone and carry it with me if I’m just moving a few steps to get something off a shelf. Mobile Action understands the appeal of eliminating wires. Their new Voiis Stereo Wireless Music Gateway adds stereo Bluetooth capabilities to home stereo and computer systems.  It has both transmitting and receiving capabilities, so you can use it to stream music from your home stereo to a pair of Bluetooth headphones, or you can use it to receive music streamed from a Bluetooth-enabled device, such as an iPhone, and play it over your home system without needing a dock. The folks at Mobile Action were kind enough to send us a review unit.  Keep reading for our evaluation.… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Even though many of us are already taking videos on our smartphones, the Creative Labs Vado HD comes in handy for both convenience and affordability. The pocked camcorder is on sale at Amazon in 4GB and 8GB models. It captures video in high-definition 720p HD quality. Available in either 8 GB (up to 2 hours HD recording and playback) or 4 GB model ($99 Creative Labs Vado HD White). The Vado features high-quality HDMI connectivity and an HDMI cable, which allow you to connect your camcorder into your HDTV and immediately enjoy your videos and pictures in full 720p HD quality. You don’t need any special software or downloads–just plug it in and play. Creative Labs Vado – Continue reading on Gear Diary …

I came across a new website out there today called Greensteal.com.  It is kind of like woot.com in that they have one deal a day; the only difference is that the stuff Greensteal sells is all good for the environment.  All of the products concentrate on things like saving water, electricity or even gas.  Just like woot, there is only one product per day, and it’s only available for a limited time. So now you can save money and save the environment without putting a huge dent in your wallet. Today’s deal is a Showerstart Ladybug Adapter.  With this little device between the pipe… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

We recently posted on Apple’s upcoming plan to replace the Windows CE-Based EasyPay handhelds hey use in Apple retail stores with a new system that is iPod Touch-based. AppleInsider has an exclusive sneak peak of the new units. As they explain… Perhaps more significantly, the change to an iPod touch and Apple software will bring the entire point-of-sale (POS) system under Apple’s control. In addition, the system will have the added benefit of advertising the usefulness of the iPod touch to customers who see it being used right in front of them. More images and a few thoughts follow…… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

We love our mobile applications.  They make our phones so much more than just phones. Now, Ford is hoping developers will love yet another mobile application platform — the automobile.   Ford has opened up their Sync software development kit (SDK) for developers in the hopes that they can attract the best and brightest to build new applications to be featured in the Ford vehicle lineup. Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Remember the Alex ebook reader? And remember how everyone thought it looked awfully similar to the nook? Apparently Spring Designs, the creators of the Alex, agree, and they’ve filed a lawsuit against Barnes and Noble over it. Highlights of the press release: -Barnes and Noble and Spring Designs were working together on an ebook reader. -Spring Design shared information about the Alex with B&N (who were under NDA) -The lawsuit is alleging B&N stole Spring Design’s intellectual property by studying the Alex’s features and using them for the design of the nook. Now this does contradict a report from Businessweek that the nook (code named “Athena”) was being designed Continue reading on Gear Diary …

If you wear Zegna suits, have a home in the Hamptons, and if your other car is a Ferrari, then a plastic casing on your portable hard drive would be nothing short of gauche. It’s for you that the brinell purestorage line was created… With the brinell purestorage product series, brinell, the Karlsruhe-based creative designer, has put portable hard drives on the market, setting new standards in the area of IT peripherals. Not only do these units rank among the most compact USB hard drives in cheque card and pocket format with a capacity of up to 500 GB, they also have an eye-catching housing, made completely of exclusive, high-quality materials such as stainless steel, exotic wood, nappa leather or carbon” Continue reading on Gear Diary …