Now that you’re carrying your music collection on your smartphone, why bother having to fumble with extra cords or docks just to play all that great music at home?  The Canadian-based company Cignias just launched the NAO Symphony music station that will let you stream your music via any Stereo Bluetooth (A2DP)  enabled phone.  iPhone and BlackBerry users get the added benefit of being able to play and control their music directly over Wi-Fi. Want to make of your mobile music really sing? Read on for pricing and the full press release. Continue reading on Gear Diary …

So there you are, outside in the winter in the northern latitudes, playing in the snow, having a good time.  And then what do you have? Frozen friggin’ hands, that’s what you got. So after fun times are over, and you want to warm up your poor abused digits but don’t want to go inside, what do you do?  Well, you shove ‘em in your pockets.  And it’s even better if you have something snuggly and warm in there to help.  And the ezGear people think they have the help you’re looking for:  their $29.99 rechargeable hand warmer.… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Remember how cool it was when you first got your GPS unit?  3D graphics, voice-guided turn by turn directions, the list of features just went on and on.  Then, the love affair just continued to dim bit by bit, day by day with that same inhuman voice droning out left and right turns.  Then GPS manufacturer TomTom got the idea to incorporate downloadable celebrity voice “skins.”  Want Homer Simpson to give you directions to the local donut shop?  No problem. Sometimes, though, ol’ Homer just isn’t who you want helping you along those long road trips.  Nope.  Sometimes you want to take the drive a little more laid back.  OK, a LOT more laid back.  Sometimes you’d rather just have the wisdom… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Multiplied Media’s popular local search application, Poynt, recently won first place in the “Life On BlackBerry” category  at the 2009 BlackBerry Alliance Program’s EMEA Innovation Awards in Rome, Italy.   Not resting on their laurels, Multiplied Media showed us some upcoming changes to their BlackBerry application…and a sneak peek at their upcoming iPhone app! Want to know some of the new features you can look forward to seeing from Poynt?  Let’s jump right in…… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

A few months ago Direct2Drive had the awesome 5th anniversary sale. Now in time for Christmas they are back – they are featuring a game a day for now until Christmas! I can’t judge how it will go, but if today is any sign, it will be great! Game #1 is the unique ‘Mirror’s Edge’. In my review for VGBlogger I said “I believe that everyone should give this game a fair shot instead of dismissing it based on the mixed reviews.” It is far from perfect, but is very original and worth playing – especially for $5! Check it out! But be quick – this deal ends at noon EST on December 2nd!… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Role playing game fans should all know of Jeff Vogel and Spiderweb Software by now. Vogel and Spiderweb have been producing ‘old school’ RPGs since the shareware days back in 1994. His classics include the Exile, Geneforge, Nethergate, and Avernum games. The games are characterized by having huge areas, loads of well written story and dialogue, nice combat systems, and just tons to do. Spiderweb has gone from being a ‘shareware’ developer to a great example of the ‘indie’ developer movement. They provide something that meets a need not being served by mainstream development – in this case, classic role-playing games in a style long since forgotten. Read on!… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

It’s one of the reasons I choose to have my iPhone forward to Google Voice when I don’t answer it. AT&T has launched a new Voicemail to Text service. The service, which can be added to your monthly plan for $9.99 per month, allows you to skip having to dial in to your voice mail mailbox to retrieve your messages.  Instead the service sends your messages, transcribed, in text format, to your phone in the form of a text message, e-mail or both. You can then respond back to the message however you choose, via the phone, text or e-mail.  You can even forward… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Just a few minutes ago I spotted a tweet by our old Senior Editor Wayne Schulz regarding the approval of a new live video application called Knocking Live Video. Knocking, which is in the App Store now, for free, is a streaming video application that supports live video over 3G on the iPhone.  There are a few streaming video applications in the iTunes App Store (Qik for example) but none work over a 3G connection, until now. Dan, who is on vacation down in Aruba, and I just tested the application out. And while it’s very buggy, when it does work it’s pretty slick. First, it supports push notifications.  You… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

At what age do kids need cell phones?  It’s a question my wife and I have been struggling with lately. I’ve heard stories of six year old kids getting iPhones from their parents.  There’s no way we’re prepared to go that route. My oldest daughter is nine and has been hammering us for a cell phone over the last year.  It’s on her Christmas list this year and she’s recently started an all out campaign to make sure it’s under the tree this year.  By campaign I mean she’s making sure she’s cleaning her room every day, being more responsible with her things etc. All things we as parents try to get her to do regularly. But the real question is at nine years old does she really need a cell phone?… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

A new update (version 2.1) of Documents To Go for iPhone/iPod touch is now available in the App Store.  After adding support for editing Microsoft Excel spreadsheets in version 2.0, back in October, Dataviz immediately “went back to work” to improve upon the current functionality of the product based on the many feature requests and recommendations received from their customers. The 2.1 update is the result of this feedback and adds the following: A new enhanced PDF viewer with support for: *”Go to” page *Maintaining last viewed location *Opening password-protected PDFs *Thumbnail, Fit To Screen, Fit To Width & Actual… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Its a problem I’ve actually run into before. I’m at the first tee about to start a round of golf.  I begin my pocket routine of emptying my pockets of the stuff I carry on a regular basis (keys, wallets, knife etc.) and replacing it all with the stuff I carry on the golf course (tees, balls, divot tool etc.) The one problem I have most often is where do I put my iPhone?  I don’t want to shove it into some random pocket in my golf bag where it might get dinged up.  I certainly don’t trust placing it in… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

The iSponge iPod and iPhone speaker from USBFever is a portable docking system which allows you to play your iPod’s music through its generous speaker. The iSponge looks like, yep you guessed it, like a household sponge.… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

In order to win our Plantronics Discovery 975 Bluetooth Headset from Headsets Direct giveaway, I asked readers to answer my tongue-in-cheek question with an equally tongue-in-cheek reply: “What excuse do you give the cop who pulls you over for not using a BT headset?” synapticapple had the winning reply, with: Officer, I really was wearing my bt headset when I started this conversation, but it flew right off my ear while I was driving to fast through that last stop sign back there. I wasn’t able to stop soon enough before you pulled me over. If you let me go now I will just turn around and go back and Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Mac and PC Turn-Based Strategy game fans know the title “The Battle of Wesnoth” well, as not only one of the best genre games on either platform, but also for being open source and free. Now Kyle Poole, along with countless helpers, have brought the game to the iPhone! It is not free, but for fans who have played the game through the years, the $4.99 price is a very fair price for what is already the best strategy game on the iPhone – and will only get better as more and more features and fixes are applied. Read on for more info and a gameplay video!… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

At long last we are seeing phones that can compete with the iPhone spec to spec. In fact, there are now some phones with better specs than the iPhone. Some have better screens. Others have the ability to multitask, something many of us have longed for and have had to jailbreak in order to get. And yet others are less expensive to purchase and to use than the iPhone. None of them, however, have the iPhone’s secret sauce. And it is that sauce that will help keep the iPhone ahead of the pack in the foreseeable future. What is the secret sauce? In less than three years the iPhone has achieved the status of cultural icon. It has become a cultural phenomenon in a way that no other smartphone currently is and that will serve it well for a long time. Need examples? The iPhone finds its way into movies. It appears on more television programs than I can list. And on the plane yesterday I noticed someone reading a magazine that had a full-page advertisement for the Time Magazine iPhone app. I mean seriously, when was the last time you saw a full-page print ad for a cellphone application? [...]