Another day, another Direct2Drive Holiday Deal! Now in time for Christmas they are back – they are featuring a game a day for now until Christmas! Deals so far have been great, and it just keeps rolling today! Game #13 is the excellent Street Fighter IV. Here is the announcement Tweet: D2D’s 24 Days of Christmas – Day 13- deal is here! Company of Heroes: Tales of Valor is 75% OFF – now just $7.50! http://bit.ly/5w5ISJ This special includes the last expansion to the classic strategy game released earlier this year for a solid 75% off – $7.50 rather than $29.95! But be quick – this deal ends at noon EST on December 10th!… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Being our Facebook Friend can pay off in a big way. Just ask our friend Linda Worthington. She will soon be receiving a brand new red Mophie Juice Air. The Mophie Juice Pack Air is the perfect way to protect your iPhone 3GS while extending the battery life significantly. It has an MSRP of$79.95 and can be purchased directly from Mophie. Linda’s will be arriving in a few day thanks to the good folks at Mophie! More “Facebook Friends Giveaways” coming up. Join us over on Facebook!… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

There is a certain kind of gadget that I really want. It uses only flash memory, has about a 7-9″ touch screen and runs either OS iPhone or Android. I tried the Archos IT and, while it only has a 5″ screen it came close to being what I want. Unfortunately it was so incredibly buggy that it went back. Ideally the device would come from a little company known as Apple but I’m no longer holding my breath. I REALLY want one however. And I’m not the only one. Judie is interested in such a tablet as well and for months we have laughed about who would order an Apple tablet more quickly. But we, and everyone else, continue to wait to see what, if anything, they offer. That is why both of us took a leap of faith and pre-ordered the Camangi WebStation when it went on sale last week. We had never heard of the company and had not heard early stirrings of the device. No we just saw the teaser video and said, “It is worth a look!” We both ordered. Since then I have had my questions. Again, I don’t know the company, the device [...]

Nokia had a chance.  They had a huge chance.  Nokia was the first to have a easy to use version of Linux on a portable device.  Since the N800, people have been wishing and pleading with Nokia to release Maemo on a cellphone.  Instead, they wasted time.  They brought out the N810 and while it was a very cool device, it was not a cellphone. Then Google purchased Android and was able to attract HTC , Motorola and Saygus.  HTC released the G1, myTouch 3g, HTC Hero(European), HTC Hero (sprint) and the Droid Eris.  Motorola of course released the Droid and the Cliq.  Saygus has the V1 waiting in the wings.  Plus Motorola is on track to sell one million Droids this quarter.  With the number of handsets released plus the number of handsets waiting in the wings Android is now a force to be reckoned with. What did Nokia do?  Continue to sell mundane handsets with the ugly Series 60 OS and el cheapo handsets.  Yes they sold a lot of phones, but the world is starting to move to smartphones.  Nokia had the chance to be the first Linux based phone to get serious traction and they squandered that [...]

Unless you really hate Verizon. Engadget broke the news that the Pixi has been cleared by the FCC for Verizon, and it includes WiFi!… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

UPDATE: After posting this I received an email from a higher-level support person. He promised me he would “look into” the “support” I received and asked me to send a log showing exactly what was happening. I’ll update as things move along. Here at Gear Diary we love to publicize GREAT customer service. At the same time we also like to share stories of limited or poor customer service with the hope that it will encourage an improvement. Here is my latest story…… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

In conjunction with Headsets Direct, we recently gave away a Plantronics Discovery 975 Bluetooth Headset (reviewed here) to Gear Diary reader synapticapple.  Michelle (that’s her real name) has just posted an unboxing video of the headset, and I thought it was good enough to share. Enjoy! … Continue reading on Gear Diary …

There has been a lot of speculation about the existence of a Google phone.  Well, now it looks like they are finally owning up to the rumors.  Yes, it really does exist! From the Official Google Mobile Blog: At Google, we are constantly experimenting with new products and technologies, and often ask employees to test these products for quick feedback and suggestions for improvements in a process we call dogfooding (from “eating your own dogfood”). Well this holiday season, we are taking dogfooding to a new level. We recently came up with the concept of a mobile lab, which is a device that combines innovative hardware from a partner with software that runs on Android to experiment with new mobile features and capabilities, and we shared this device with Google employees across the globe. This means they get to test out a new technology and help improve it. Unfortunately, because dogfooding is a process exclusively for Google employees, we cannot share specific product details. We hope to share more after our dogfood diet. Continue reading on Gear Diary …

In Europe, it is common for cellular phone carriers to allow you to have two SIM cards for one phone number.  This way, you can have multiple phones to do different functions, but on the same phone number.  Or how about if you are traveling and just want a phone to make calls only?  Instead of moving your SIM card from one phone to another, just grab your phone only phone and away you go.   Its not an idea we really think about in the US. US cellular carriers don’t allow for this at all.  The closest we get to this kind of situation is if you have a Google Voice account and forward the… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

The Barnes & Noble nook eBook Reader has been touted by some as a Kindle-killer, and after what seemed like a ridiculously long wait, when mine finally showed up today I was ready to be wowed. It’s not that I don’t already enjoy reading eBooks on my Kindle DX (Kevin is using the Kindle2) and on my iPhone, it’s just that the nook was the “next new big thing”, and I allowed myself to be caught up in the excitement. I was perhaps a week later ordering mine than many were, because I found out that American Express Rewards offers B&N gift cards when you redeem points. I felt fiscally responsible for not just whipping out my plastic to order, and I had enough points saved up that I was able to get my nook for free. Including tax, expedited shipping and a screen protector, my nook came to just shy of $300 — all covered by three B&N $100 gift cards. When I first ordered, I was ambivalent – I even went do far as to order a Camangi WebStation while waiting for the nook, and I knew that I would wind up returning or eBaying something, I just [...]

Techcrunch broke the news this morning that the mythical Google Phone was caught out and about (maybe its roommate, the Apple Tablet, asked it to pick up some milk?). According to Techcrunch, the phone is “really, really fast”, will have a Snapdragon processor, will have voice to text built-in, and is basically going to be an Android version of the HD2. Google, meanwhile, is playing coy. They claim they are “dogfooding”, or testing software internally to drive their research and development. That sounds great, but as Phandroid points out, this is an awfully vague statement. Is Google testing some awesome Android app? Are they testing an entirely new Android build? It could be anything…even a port of the ever popular iFart app for Android!… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

I lived at Pleasure Point in Santa Cruz, California for a couple of years (if you had a magnifying glass, you can even see my house in this photo–it’s the one on the seawall closest to the small rock in the middle of the picture).  Every morning at the crack of dawn, the surfers would fill up the street and march in front of the house, heading for the break.  Every evening, the streets will filled with the scent of wet neoprene as they stripped off, changed, and headed home. Once or twice a year, genuinely internationally famous people would descend on town for surfing events like the Cold Water Classic.  Top-tier surfers would be ripping… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

I had AT&T for close to 10 years. I remember when they were Cellular One in my area, and then Cingular, and then “The new AT&T”. I had always been reasonably happy with them and the service they provided…but in the interest of saving money (and since my fiancee made it very clear that nothing would tear her from Verizon), today I sacrificed my AT&T account and bought a Droid on Verizon. I’m sorry I didn’t do it sooner!… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

AT&T Navigator has been updated to v1.4i. Among the new features are- * Full landscape view integration * Enhanced iPod controls that offer the ability to search songs, artists, etc. * Inclusion of AT&T Wi-Fi Hotspots in the POI listings * Seamless blending of navigation prompts and music for easy listening We have another One Year Subscription to give away between now and December 25 and then, as part of our Grand Prize, we’ll be giving away a Two-Year Subscription. You can get the app HERE in the iTunes App Store Continue reading on Gear Diary …

http://www.vimeo.com/4219953 Do you have a library of books that are not available in eBook form? Do you love combining power tools with classic novels? Then give this DIY book scanner a shot! Apparently it can scan up to 1200 pages an hour, depending on how fast you can manually turn the pages. I highly recommend watching the video, as not only does it explain the reasons why the inventor created his book scanner, but he also gives a succinct, persuasive argument for the proliferation of eBooks over paper books. Plus it’s always worth watching when the instructions for how to build a scanner involve “dumpster diving”! Remember, this is not for distribution purposes, and Gear Diary does not endorse or encourage anyone to pirate books… Continue reading on Gear Diary …