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. Labyrinth style games are nothing new to the iPhone.  You know the games where a ball or marble rolls on the screen and is controlled by tilting the phone like it is a table.  This style of games are fun, but are usually the same.  Move the ball around avoiding the holes and reach the end of the maze.  Dark Nebula takes this idea, puts a fresh, futuristic style and adds a new class of obstacles.  As the developer puts it, “it’s like a labyrinth game but on steroids.”  Check out the review after the break. Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Just another sign of the times I guess.  Nothing’s done the old fashion way anymore. Now you can show the one you love your affection via candy and Twitter.  “Twitter and Sweethearts candy today will unveil plans to stamp Tweet Me on the familiar heart-shaped, fruity candy that has embraced short messages long before Twitter was even a glitter.” Twitter will be announcing it’s newest partnership, this time with Sweethearts candy, the makers of those little tasty Valentines Day hearts. “Tweet Me” will be featured stamped on some of this years batch of the little candies. Sweethearts also will be launching an iPhone… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

I was critical of the lack of DSiWare releases in my review of the Nintendo DSi last year, but don’t tell the folks at Nnooo. Last year they brought us myNotebook in a variety of colors, and that is a great add-on utility that is quite useful. Now they are introducing myPostcards, another fun and useful utility for DSiWare store. Pricing is not yet finalized, but is expected to be ~200 DSi points (~$2). Read on for more details and a nice introductory video!… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Many folks continue to look for ways to help the millions of already impoverished folks in Haiti deal with the awful impact of last week’s quake. We have posted about sending relief help by cell phone, efforts in the mobile community, Gear Diary’s three ways to help, and even scam warnings. Many, many places are trying to help consumers find a way to help out, and we applaud those efforts. However, when they start taking a significant overhead to make the donation, it stops being magnanimous and becomes self-serving – and a bad deal for consumers! Latest entry to this – Hilton Hotels. According to their statement: How to Donate Your HHonors Points Continue reading on Gear Diary …

So you’ve just gotten your shiny new Nexus One, but you’ve been plagued by some of the problems that quite a few other proud owners of the smartphone have run into over the past few weeks?  If you’re using T-Mobile’s network, maybe you’ve been frustrated by frequent 3G connectivity drops (if you’re able to get full 3G speeds  at all).   Kevin Tofel found a workaround that may get you surfing at full mobile broadband speeds.  The best part?  It’s not a complicated “hack” or OS update.  It’s merely a few simple changes to your Nexus One settings that could make you love your new smartphone all over again. What Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Here we go, all the news about Google that is fit to print: Dont Call it the GDrive:  Users of Google Docs rejoice! You can soon upload any file type into Google Docs, whether its an office document or not.  The only restriction is that the file cannot be more than 250MB.  This feature is rolling out over the next few weeks.  And remember, if you need more than the 1GB of storage, you can always buy more from Google. Third Party Memeo connects to Google Apps for sync: Memeo Connect now offers a way to sync your Google Docs to your desktop.  Users can now have offline access to all… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

It was rumored last week and now it is reality- the NYTimes is going to try to make some money from its online news sharing. Starting early next year the times will allow any visitor to its website a certain number of visits per month. After that they will have to pay a flat fee to access the site and its news. According to the Times article on the change- Starting in early 2011, visitors to NYTimes.com will get a certain number of articles free every month before being asked to pay a flat fee for unlimited access. Subscribers to the newspaper’s print edition will receive full access to the site. But Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Please don’t tell my in-laws about this GearDeal! When they needed a new notebook a few months ago I got them a good deal on an HP Pavilion. It was a good deal but nothing like today’s find from our GearSponsor . This deal will nab you a 13.3-inch HP Pavilion DM3-1044nr LED-backlit Laptop that ships with a 6-cell battery, 4GB DDR3 RAM, a 320GB 7200RPM Windows 7 Premium for just $449.30. That is a full 40% off the normal $749 and it even included free shipping. 40% Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Do you have problems with your games and accessories getting borrowed because you live in a dorm or fraternity house and your ‘friends’ never seem to remember to return anything? Well, newPCgadgets has a great idea to help with that – the Security Locker for the XBOX360 and Wii! According to the Official Site: Adults can use the Security Locker as a parental control device by simply locking up controllers and games. Prevents friends and siblings from using your Xbox 360 without permission. By putting a padlock on the locker, you send a clear ‘hands off’ message, keeping your favorite games and accessories neatly organized but also quite secure. Here are the specs for the XBOX360 Locker: Secures controllers, games, hard drive and accessories Steel frame, wire mesh panels and 30mm brass padlock with 2 keys Measuring 15 1/2″H x 8 1/2″W x 6 1/2″D Attractive black powder coat finish Works as Xbox 360 parental control device Prevents use of Xbox 360 console by locking up controllers Holds up to 4 controllers, hard drive and 15 games (up to 30 games without controllers) Continue reading on Gear Diary …

While we patiently wait for a new — hopefully WebKit-based –  BlackBerry Web Browser, RIM just filed a stop-gap measure patent to help speed up their mobile browsing experience.  The patent details using a proxy server to compress data from web requests and  serve up standard HTTP while automatically downloading and caching images.  Sound familiar?  Opera Mini does the same thing today. We’re all for improving web browsing for BlackBerry devices; but hopefully this is something that RIM is doing to complement a forthcoming overhauled browser  — and not just compensate by merely speeding up a mediocre browsing experience. [WSJ Continue reading on Gear Diary …

I’m a big fan of the iPhone application “Mail Tones.”  The app. allows you to set a custom sound and assign it to any of your contact’s e-mail addresses.  You can also choose to set custom sounds for specific domains and subjects as well. For me the app. is super valuable.  I get e-mail all day long.  If I stopped to grab my phone every time a new message was delivered I’d probably never get anywhere.  With Mail Tones I can decide whether or not I need to grab my phone from my hip to check my mail based on the sound it makes. This usually works well but sometimes, especially in crowded… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

I am a huge user of Evernote for saving, storing and accessing my documents. I find that it works remarkably well. I especially love the fact that, thanks to the ability of it to apply OCR to documents and images that are put into the system, it lets me search for information using just a few keywords. I have a Fujitsu highspeed scanner and find that it works quite well in conjunction with Evernote. I have many friends however who are not all that comfortable with storing data “in the cloud”, even when local copies can be kept as well. For them I suggest taking a look at Mariner’s Paperless. Paperless is… One of the only eco-friendly software packages for Mac OS X, Paperless is software that helps you cut through the clutter. Using the Paperless Optical Character Recognition (OCR), you can scan your receipts, warranty cards, deposit slips and other paperwork and Paperless will automatically recognize and categorize these documents. The built-in search functionality even lets you find and organize receipts and documents into Smart Collections. Already have your documents as PDFs or other file formats? No problem. Simply drag and drop them into Paperless. Let’s take a look… [...]

James Kendrick over at JKontheRun had an interesting opinion piece yesterday on ebook pricing. He believes competition is keeping prices low, and therefore dedicated ebook readers are a poor value proposition since they lock you into a content store, which may lead to less competition and in turn price inflation. I read his piece with some misgivings. I know that James has many years of experience in mobile tech, and he’s been writing about his ebook experiences for a long time as well. But in my opinion he’s missing a few important points, and I fear that he’s fallen prey to a few ebook myths which need to be addressed.… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Speck offers a wide range of ways to protect your devices. In recent months they’ve kicked things up a few notches in the style department. One of the newer cases that they’re offering is the SeeThru Satin shell for the MacBook Pro. I’ve been using one for a week now and am quite fond of it. Let’s take a look … Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Here’s another slightly offbeat, community designed product from the folks at Quirky. The Space Bar is the 23rd product designed and developed by the community initiative that gives creative thinkers the opportunity to get their product ideas out into the marketplace. (Previously we reviewed the PowerCurl and the number of us continue to use them here on the site.) This is a great idea that not only looks good but also has a highly practical function. It creates a low shelf that sits on your desk. You can place anything from keys, to iPhone’s, too sticky notes on top. You can stick your keyboard beneath it (so long as it is 18 inches or less in length). And by using it you give yourself six easily accessible USB ports. What I really like about this product, at least from the initial renderings of it, is that it gives you a way to enjoy numerous USB connected devices, and at the same time a place to put those devices when they’re sitting on top of your computer. The item is available for presale at the quirky online store in sets of three for $42.… Continue reading on Gear Diary …