I was reading on Lifehacker, and I found this awesome site which reports your weather by telling you what Star Wars planet your weather is like. So thanks to the cold and snow, Columbus is like Hoth??  I’m not sure 2 inches of snow count as a frozen tundra.… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

I have been more than a bit quiet about the whole hubbub surrounding the potential for Apple announcing a tablet sometime in 2010. Part of it has to do with the fact that I’ve gotten so caught up in the rumors in the past… only to be disappointed each time. I don’t like being disappointed and am trying to avoid it happening yet again. More than that, however, I have tried to avoid getting caught up in the rumor mill, because for the entire time that I’ve been involved in the blogging world one of the things that has been consistent has been the fact that, no matter how many rumors emerge about Apple’s upcoming devices, they are inevitably wrong. The rumors may get some aspect about the device correct, but by and large they tend to miss the overall picture of the device and the impact it may or may not have. In other words, while there are real leaks that you can build a rumor around in other markets, Apple continues to have enough control over their communication to ensure that anything we’re being told right now is nothing more than a guess. It isn’t even an educated [...]

(Image courtesy Seidio) I stopped by Seidio Case’s website today to peruse their Moto Droid accessories, and came across what could best be called a “cart before the horse” graphic.… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

I have to admit, I am not a big fan of music that uses Auto-Tune.  On the other hand, I found the Ocarina app from Smule to be fascinating.  Of course I had to briefly learn the Legend of Zelda theme.  The app is truly amazing.  With that in mind, I decided to try out the I Am T-Pain app.  Whether you like the genre of music or not, the app works well.  Two of my students, Kelsey and Danielle, gave it a try.  Both of them can sing and Smule was able to transform them into virtual hip-hop stars. Continue reading on Gear Diary …

I received a voicemail today from a good friend; she asked if I had spoken to <mutual friend>, and did I have any details? She was sure he was suffering from a barrage of calls. I was completely perplexed, and after first checking CNN (thinking I’d missed something important in the world), I realized I should check Facebook. And that’s how I found out <mutual friend> had lost a close family member last week very suddenly.… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

There’s no denying the “cool” factor of Apple’s Magic Mouse.  The sleek top, which allows for not only clicking but also swiping and pinching is a tremendous update to its previous version, the Mighty Mouse. But if you need even more out of your Magic Mouse, well then I’ve got the application for you. Magic Prefs is an add on for your Magic Mouse, which allows for a staggering amount of configurable add-ons.  “It features the ability to bind a variable number of finger clicks, taps, swipes, pinch and other gestures to functions like Middle Click , Hold Down Both Mouse Buttons , Spaces , Expose, Dashboard etc.” The application… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Netbooks are crazy popular.  Dan‘s recent, unsuccessful search, for one showed us that.   I believe there might not have been a more popular gadget gift this holiday season. Last month Dan wrote a post called “Getting the Most From Your Tosiiba NB205 Netbook” here.  The information is so helpful I feel it’s worth repeating as I went through a similar process myself just this week with my new netbook and if many of you got new netbooks this holiday you might want to consider doing some of the same things.… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

(image courtesy FEAST Online Bookstore) When I started my first day at my office, a coworker asked (begged, really) if my handwriting was decent, since we deal in note-taking a fair amount. The apologetic look on my face said it all; my handwriting is awful. Years of typing have ruined any chance of something legible coming out when I put pen to paper. … Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Thanks to Evernote, WebIS’ Pocket Informant and Appigo’s ToDo and Toodledo, we had four “Get Organized In 2010″ packages to give away to our FaceBook Friends. Each “Get Organized In 2010″ included a one year subscription to Evernote Pro (value $45), a copy of Appigo’s ToDo (value $9.99) and a copy of Pocket Informant (a $9.99 Value) and a six-month subscription to Toodledo Pro (a $7.50 value). Entering was simple- you just needed to visit our Facebook page, become a Fan and a tip or trick you use to get and stay organized to our “Get Organized In 2010“ note. The tips… and the winners… follow.… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

It’s not news that eBook readers were big sellers this holiday season. Apparently, though, they were even bigger than everyone expected.… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Learn from my pain so that you don’t have to repeat it. As I mentioned before, the Barnes and Noble iPhone eReader software has an awkward bug.  This bug will not bite you if you stick to short books, but if you’re into anything longer than about 700 hardcopy pages, well, you’re kind of hosed.… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

XBMC is a full screen media center program similar to Apple’s Front Row, Windows Media Center, and Moovida.  XBMC started out running on hacked versions of the original Xbox hardware.  However, as the years have progressed and the original target, the first generation Xbox got old, the project ported the interface to Linux, Windows, OSX and Apple TV.  There is even a version bootable from a thumb drive.… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

I suspect it feels like December has been Scottevest month here on the site. And for good reason. All of us are now sporting some of their garb thanks to Judie’s holiday gift. We reviewed the company’s Evolution jacket. We reviewed the Soft Shell. We are giving away a dozen SEV hats. And our grand prize winner just received an SEV fleece jacket and hat as well. In fact I’m in the midst of writing a review of the company’s hoodie and am thinking about picking up one of their t-shirts or pants to round out the series. (After all we’re so close… why not review EVERY product in the SEV lineup!) Yes, there have been an abundance of posts recently, and we’re all huge fans. After today’s news I suspect that there is now even more reason for anyone planning on traveling this year to purchase at least one of their items. Yesterday saw yet another misguided individual attempt to take down a US airplane. Thankfully he failed and fast thinking passengers subdued him. (In fact as I’m writing this report just came out that he’s been charged with the crime.) You know what that means… a panic response [...]

Using your iPhone with gloved hands is tough.  More often than not I end up having to remove my gloves if I want to access anything on my device.  I’ve tried some of the gloves with specially designed finger tips that are supposed to allow you to use the iPhone’s touch screen without having to remove the gloves but had little success. Glovepod, which is now available in Cydia for Jailbroken phones, isn’t an app. as much as it is a simple utility which allows you to advance/reverse, pause and play tracks playing on your device’s iPod via the side volume rocker and home button. Pressing the Volume Down button will go to the previous… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

‘Twas The Day After Christmas And All Through The Town Not One Single Netbook Could Somewhere Be Found I set out today to grab a netbook for someone and got a bit of a surprise… I went to the local Walmart and, when I asked about getting a netbook, I was just about laughed at. “None in stock!” they said. OK, I thought… so I went to my local BestBuy. There were tons on display. I waited in line to get the Samsung netbook only to be told they had none in stock. “Okay, I asked, how about the Dell?” “Sorry, the… Continue reading on Gear Diary …