(Image courtesy of Daily Mail UK) Leveraging a social network to market to a wider group, increase your fan base, or just create mass updates is nothing new. Rage Against the Machine, the rap-metal-punk band, have taken it to a whole new level in England, resurrecting a 17 year old song and making it the #1 Christmas song in England.… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Photo courtesy of ICD The ICD Ultra Android tablet has been getting some good coverage lately, as we get weeks away from CES 2009. The 7″ mini tablet packs some powerful features including the Tegra T20 chipset, 2G/3G bands, WiFi, BT, Android Eclair 2.0, and a 4GB internal SD card. The tablet will be on display at CES 2010, and ICD claims more insight to pricing and availability. Engadget’s own Josh Topolsky was a geek guest on the Late Night with Jimmy Fallon show last Friday night. Josh brought a nice assortment of gadgets with him — including  an ICD Ultra prototype. The tablet shows a snappy… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

The Electronic Frontier Foundation today released a chart outlining the potential privacy issues surrounding eBooks. It’s an interesting read, but I recommend taking it with a very large grain of salt.… 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 #22 is Champions Online. Another ‘no announcement’ day … but there were indication of a party on Twitter … This special includes the original game released earlier this year for a solid 50% off – $14.95 rather than $29.95! As an ‘online’ game it requires a subscription, which will kick in after the 30 day trial. But be quick – this deal ends at noon EST on December 23rd! Continue reading on Gear Diary …

I come from a relatively small family… …but I married into a far larger family (and they all stay in touch)! (It is so large, in fact, that two of my aunt-in-laws walked into a funeral I was officiating a few hours ago.) It’s hard to keep everyone straight. Fortunately somewhere along the line someone in the family signed us up for a service called Geni. Usually I don’t sign up for things like this but I did and I am glad I did. Why? Because it pings me with important dates, reminds me when someone has a birthday and generally keeps me in the loop. So, while I would not have forgotten it, it is nice that Geni reminded me that my brother-in-law turns 35 today! And it got me thinking, and now writing, about the service.… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Are you a Apple Fan Boy that still holds a little love for the Windows OS? Well the Bamboo Group has just released the iPhone OS application for you. Wind OS 1.0 is being billed as the first, true, Windows emulator for the iPhone OS. With Wind OS you will have a notepad for text editing, a browser for surfing and, of course, a world-famous Minesweeper. So keep cool, think fast, guess right – and find ‘em all! Is the cooler’s sound getting louder? No worries! A bit of shake of your iPhone should fix it. But don’t shake it too much, or… well, try yourself and see what happens. Managed with the rebellious cooler? There is a more complicated task for you. Hidden somewhere within Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Do you want to connect with family and friends, but find you won’t be able to travel to see every single person this holiday season?  TruPhone has announced their 12 Days of Christmas promotion, where you’ll be able to use their to make calls half-price beginning December 25th and lasting through January 5th.  The promotion includes all calls to mobiles in the USA, Canada, Hong Kong, China and Singapore — as well as 30 popular destinations supported through their “TruStandard landline” service.  This promotion is perfect for anyone needing to make international calls to make sure that special someone hears your voice. Need another reason to use TruPhone?  On… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Carly and I have been talking… okay.. more accurately arguing… about the virtues of dedicated e-book readers. She says they make total sense. I say they are a form of “transitional gadget” that is good for now but obsolete within a short period of time. A complete discussion is on the way in the next day or two but we thought we might share just a bit of what has been taking place between us… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

baby, it’s cold outside … This year, Gear Diary has hit several milestones; I wanted to do something super-special to mark the event and thank the writers, other than just sending items from their Amazon Wish Lists which is what I have done in the past. After wracking my brain, I wrote to Scott Jordan, a long time friend and owner of SCOTTEVEST; I asked him what kind of price break he could give me if I ordered jackets in bulk, and his answer was surprisingly do-able. Why go with SeV? The answer for me was simple: they are extremely well made, I love their products, these items hold up over time, I think their products look great, I wanted to support a business that I believe in, and I could get item ordered personalized with the Gear Diary logo! Scott set me up with his custom embroidery guy (Rick from S&R Monogramming), and together they made sure that the Gear Diary writers were perfectly outfitted for the winter weather. After everyone had received their packages, I asked them to send me a picture of them wearing their jackets, along with a few sentences telling what they like — or [...]

Google is a part of our everyday lives.  Someone recently asked me how many of Google’s services I use on a regular basis…I stopped counting at ten. So what would happen if someone hacked your Google accounts (Gmail, Apps, etc)? What can you do?  Are there steps to fix all this? Well, luckily or unlucky, one of the staff of Digital Inspiration had this happen to him and has posted ten steps for protecting your Google accounts, as well as the directions on how to get your account back. From the article: #3. Take a paper and write down the following information about your Google Account. You will need this to verify your Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Barnes and Noble are struggling with getting their Nook pre-orders out the door in time for Christmas.  There are a lot of people who wanted to see a Nook under the Christmas tree. Unfortunately, there may be a very small percentage of customers who won’t be receiving their pre-ordered units in time. Those unlucky few will be receiving $100 in store credit, almost 40% of the cost of the device, as a Christmas gift and an “I’m sorry.” While B&N may be acting like a Grinch with all of this Nook nonsense, they are still showing some Christmas spirit in doing a nice touch of customer service. Via Reuters Continue reading on Gear Diary …

When the newest iMacs were recently announced ooos and aaahhhs could be heard everywhere as the 27″ model was unveiled.  Apple’s largest iMac to date is sleek, sophisticated and downright sexy. However, beauty only runs skin deep and the first few 27″ iMacs to roll off Apple’s shelves experienced some issues mostly related to their screens.  These issues included some cracked screens, flickering displays and a yellow, nicotine-like graphical patina. The rumors was that Apple was scrambling to replace faulty ATI Radeon HD 4670 and 4850 GPUs in their iMacs and that what was causing sales of the 27″ iMac to… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Just a quick reminder to all of you that we have a number of different contests going on right now. Some of them are taking place right on the site, while others are through our Twitter feed and our Facebook page. What Would You Put In Your SCOTTEVEST TEC Continue reading on Gear Diary …

It’s no secret.  I’ve got  ton of iPhone cases.  Are many of them the same color?  Yes.  Are many of them the same style (i.e. slider, snap on etc?)  Yes. Are you in the same situation, and tired of looking at the same old style of case for you iPhone?  Hunkering for something totally unique and totally different? The EXOvault, recently reviewed by YouTuber ThatSnazzyiPhoneGuy, might be the case you’ve been looking for. Handcrafted, by NYC artists, from solid metal stock in two pieces, the case provides you with a distinctive and beautiful handcrafted object that… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Are you a small business owner or entrepreneur?  When things are tight and sales are slight, have you ever “forgotten” to process payroll before leaving the office for the golf course?  Well, SurePayroll, an online payroll service, has just ruined your day.  SurePayroll has just released a free iPhone app for small business owners who use their service.  No longer do you need to be at your desk or even in front of your laptop.  The iPhone app provides access to SurePayroll accounts and allows the user to: Enter payroll information and preview totals, including calculating wages and deductions.  The SurePayroll service automatically deposits and files all federal, state, and local payroll Continue reading on Gear Diary …