We had some amazing stuff to give away in our Holiday Giveaway.  Seriously, the things we included were some of our favorites. We were giving away a pair of Etymotic HF2 headphones. Dan loves these and uses them daily. We included a size Large SeV 5.0 Fleece with a gorgeous Gear Diary embroidered logo and an SEV hat. Seriously you know we’re all loving ours! There was also a Mophie Juice Pack Air. Pretty much everyone on the site who has an iPhone is using one of these. They’ll be a mainstay when Judie, Larry and Dan are at CES for sure! There was a two year subscription to AT&T Navigator for iPhone. I (Dan) have tried almost all the GPS apps for the iPhone, and I keep coming back to this one as the one I rely on. It does turn by turn with street names, does traffic and rerouting and seems to hold a GPS signal best when I use it in New Jersey. There was more… -An open box but new Jabra Stone Bluetooth Headset, GorillaTube iPhone Case, a Dexim P-Flip Power Play Dock, X-Mini 2 Speaker and  Apple In-Ear Headphones. And then there were some of [...]

Once again, Barnes & Noble was ill-prepared when it comes to the nook.  Now, don’t get me wrong–I really, really love mine.  Since I got mine on the 8th of December, I’ve read somewhere in the vicinity of twelve books and can’t wait to read more.  But today, when I tried to buy the Sookie Stackhouse 8 book set (a really great deal!) and Under the Dome by Stephen King, my nook let me down for the first time.… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Merry Christmas to all Gear Diary readers out there. We have winners for our new series which was announced about a week ago. Winners: Quicklaunch for BlackBerry (Courtesy of Nikkisoft) – kiffmeister ToDo for iPhone/iPod Touch (Courtesy of Appigo) – lloydv, Julie Guarducci PhotoCopy Mobile for Windows Mobile (Courtesy of Wizcode) – cutiger1993, poqeteer, alese Congratulations to all. Don’t be disappointed if you don’t win anything this month, because you can try again next month. We will be giving away the latest featured software for all 3 categories (BlackBerry, iPhone, Windows Mobile) every month to show… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

It is Christmas Eve and your last chance to get yourself a slew of awesome gear. We’re giving away… – New Etymotic HF2 headphones (Dan’s favorites!) (MSRP $179) -A new Mophie Juice Pack Air (we all have one, love it, and Judie is totally psyched to have just ordered a second one in their newest color – red) (MSRP $79.95) -X-Mini 2 Speaker (MSRP $29.99) -GorillaTube iPhone Case (MSRP $99.99) -An open box but new Jabra Stone Bluetooth Headset (MSRP $129.99) – Apple In-Ear Headphones (MSRP $79) – Dexim P-Flip Power Play Dock (MSRP $54.95) -2 years AT&T Navigator for iPhone (A $240 Value) – 6 months of Toodledo… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

After moving this year, Kevin and I realized we were a bit light on Christmas tree decorations; but instead of going out and buying a bunch of them, his girls and I spent a day making salt dough ornaments. This is something that my mom used to do with my brother and me when we were kids. Mom thinks it’s because play-dough wasn’t easily available living overseas, but it could just as easily be because we were on an enlisted military man’s budget and she was a stay-at-home-mom. Whatever the reason, salt dough is very similar to play-dough, and the best part is that if you like what you’ve made, you can bake it and keep it forever. The recipe couldn’t be simpler, and I think that you will agree that it is an inexpensive and fun way to pass the day. Here’s how you do it …… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

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 #24 is the solid Spore. Here is the announcement Tweet: D2D’s 24 Days of Christmas – FINAL DAY – Spore is 50% OFF – now just $19.95! http://bit.ly/5w5ISJ Merry Christmas! This special includes the original game released last year for a solid 50% off – $19.95 rather than $39.95! But be quick – this deal ends at noon EST on December 25th! Source: Direct2Drive Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Its getting close kids.  Its time to track the Big Red Guy as he makes his way from the North Pole to all the girls and boys in the world.  Do you want to check and make sure he is on his way?  Well, the good folks at NORAD are stepping up once again. This year they’re providing radar coverage and up-to-the-minute info on his every move. Every year volunteer military personnel work through Christmas Eve to track Santa. He is tracked via some “special equipment” that shows him on Google Maps and Google Earth. It’s a special duty that the volunteers are glad to go for all the children of the world. There… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Photo courtesy of ZAGG ZAGG recently added portable power to their lineup of mobile products. The ZAGGsparq is portable power pack and wall charger for almost any mobile device that uses a USB charging cable. The small power block features a slim power strip friendly footprint, LED indicator lights, and two USB power ports. It even holds enough juice to charge the battery devouring iPhone up to 4 times on a single charge.  The ZAGGsparq has a built-in 6000 mAH lithium polymer battery, and is ready for world travel with 100-240 v/50/60 Hz input. This is perfect little charger for anyone constantly on the go. Measuring only 3.5″ X 3.5″ X 1″, you can throw it in your bag or backpack and have… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Who says Dell can’t do sexy? The Dell Adamo is one good looking ultraportable notebook and our GearSponsor has found a super deal on it! It has a 13.4-inch screen and is just .65 inches thick. It is available in silver aluminum and pearl finish or brushed onyx aluminum. Featuring a 1.2GHz Core 2 Duo processor, 2GB DDR3 800MHz RAM and 128GB SSD it may not be the fastest notebook available but it sure is powerful enough for most mobile needs. It features a machined, torsion-tested aluminum chassis, a full-size backlit keyboard, an ultra-compact power adapter, Windows 7 64-bit, Wireless-N, Bluetooth 2.1, Ethernet port and nearly 5 hours battery life. The Dell Adamo is rarely discounted… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

We are all feeling the financial pinch!    Blue Plate Special is a weekly review of bargain apps for the iPhone and iPod Touch. Nothing over $.99. Through my search of Blue Plate applications I have learned two things.  First, there are some great games and apps available for $.99 or less.  Second, well executed simple design makes for a better app than one who tries to throw in the kitchen sink.  Zlider falls into this category.  The gameplay is a simple concept, but with plenty of challenge and nice graphics they present a really fun game.… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Image courtesy “paul goes pop” I was walking down the hall in my office the other day and found two coworkers engrossed in a discussion about their iPhones. They were comparing apps and enthusiastically discussing Dragon Dictation, Google Maps and a barcode scanner app. What was really shocking is that while one of them is a big techy, the other one was definitely not. But they both were excitedly talking about their smartphones, and comparing the iPhone to the Droid, etc. Afterward, I made an offhand comment that smartphones have become the new “watercooler” topic. My techier coworker responded, “Well, yea. We all DVR everything, so it’s not like we can sit around and discuss shows… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

We all know the song The Twelve Days of Christmas?  Well, how about instead of turtle doves and lord a’ leapin’, you can get some freebies compliments of Apple and the iTunes store. From Apple: 12 Days. 12 Free Downloads on iTunes. The 12 Days of Christmas app will allow you to download a free gift from iTunes every day from December 26 – January 6 direct from iPhone or iPod touch. You’ll receive an alert each day when your gift is available and get the chance to connect to Facebook to recommend free downloads to your friends. Like the music, TV, apps and movies you receive? The app also offer recommendations of Continue reading on Gear Diary …

A few quick items from Barnes and Noble’s Nook, just in time for Christmas: Despite all the up and downs concerning the Nook, it looks like they made out ok in 2009.  According to B&N, they sold 60,000 nooks this year.  They are projecting over  500,000 sold in first quarter 2010 alone.  High expectations for a device that has been plagued with firmware issues and delivery problems. Remember that B&N said that if you didnt get your Nook by Christmas, you’d get a $100 gift certificate?  Well, B&N was able to rally the troops and have promised folks who ordered their Nook for Christmas that it WILL be under the tree. “We’re happy Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Evernote has had an iPhone app since 3rd party apps were allowed on the iPhone a year and a half ago. The initial release was good… but limited. Among the biggest issues with it was that notes stored in Evernote were only available when the device had a data connection. Some time ago Evernote took the plunge and began to allow off-line notes. While it was a step in the right direction it was still more than a bit limited since each note you wanted had to be individually selected. All that changed this morning with the release of Evernote for iPhone 3.2.0. Premium accounts can now store entire notebooks offline. It is a feature many of us who swear by Evernote have long wanted. Better still, it adds other great new features, as well.… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Hello and welcome to this week’s State of the eBook! We’ve got news and reviews, so let’s get started!… Continue reading on Gear Diary …