(photo courtesy Phandroid) Think you’re a hardcore Android fan? Sure, you can get tattoos of your favorite corporate logos, but nothing says true fandom like sewing!… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Kids acting up?  Tired of coming up with news ways of punishing them? Wheel of Doom, a new application for the iPhone OS, from One Moxie Ventures, doles out punishments to misbehaving children with a spin of the wheel. The app removes parents from the difficultly task of coming up with a method of controlling bad behavior while making an immediate decision on an appropriate penalty for inappropriate actions. Wheel of Doom Punishments include, No allowance, Sit ups, No video games, Time out, Push ups, Early bedtime, No dessert, Apologize, No Television and Write Out lines. The Wheel of Doom application also has one ‘free’ slot, giving… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

I love IMAX movies because they are always beautifully shot, intelligently narrated, and because the impressive screen and massive sound system combo is generally enough to make even the most meh topic appear amazingly inspired. Yeah, I said it – there have been IMAX movies that I watched on subjects only because they were IMAX movies. But based on the subject matter and the preview, the upcoming Hubble 3D movie is already in the running to be my all-time favorite IMAX movie. Through the power of IMAX® 3D, Hubble 3D will enable movie-goers to journey through distant galaxies to explore the grandeur and mysteries of our celestial surroundings, and accompany space-walking astronauts as they attempt the most difficult and important tasks in NASA’s history. The Continue reading on Gear Diary …

CES proved there’s an onslaught of Android tablets headed our way this year, from the Entourage Edge to the Dell Mini 5 to the Notion Ink Adam. And of course, Judie and Dan have been familiarizing themselves with the Camangi Web Tablet. But something’s missing from this Android tablet equation: Where are the big eBook stores on Android?… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Here’s a quick post that starts out rather awfully but, thankfully, ends on a positive note with lessons learned. Monday morning I check out my hotel in Las Vegas and headed to the airport about 5:30 AM. I was on my way to Cabo where I was to meet Elana, spend a few days relaxing, and then join with our friends to celebrate their daughter’s wedding. I got in a cab and 12 minutes later was at the airport. I grabbed my backpack, my suitcase and the extra bag I had borrowed from Larry because, while he was truly the king of swag in Las Vegas, I hadn’t done too terribly myself. I check my baggage in. It took only a matter of seconds. I went upstairs to go through security. I went to passport control and began taking off my shoes and my jacket etc. I went to pull my laptop out of my backpack… it wasn’t there. I looked on the ground around me. It wasn’t there. I looked in the other bag I was carrying. It wasn’t there. I panicked. I grabbed everything that I had with me, explained to the TSA representative who was checking baggage [...]

When I began teaching twelve years ago I had no cell phone.  At one point, we bought a bag phone for my wife, since she commuted to work.  The day after September 11, 2001, I made the decision that we both needed a cell phone.  In the early days of owning a phone, I turned it off during the school day and kept it in my desk.  It is amazing how things have changed in nine short years. Cell phones are allowed in our classrooms now, and they are the primary communication device for the coaching staff.  All of our scheduling and coaching business is allowed since nobody uses the school phone system any more.  In fact, I have not logged into my school phone account in probably a year and a half.  Most coaches just email or text their communications, since it is so convenient. My students know I am an iPhone fanboy, and they are completely used to it being used daily in my classroom.  Here are some of the ways we use the iPhone in the classroom.… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Call me an Evernote evangelist if you like. It’s actually rather accurate. Evernote is probably the single most important productivity tool that I use. Looking back over my “relationship” with the service I realized that I’ve been involved with Evernote from early on. I joined the beta program within days of that initially rolling out. And I became one of their premium users every day it became available. There isn’t a single day that goes by that I don’t actually use Evernote numerous times and I never miss an opportunity to tell others about service and to encourage them to give it a try. That’s why it was such a pleasure for me to spend an hour meeting with Evernote CEO Phil Libin during CES last week. The conversation gave me some insight into where the company was, where it’s going and why, under his leadership, it has been so successful so quickly.… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Photo courtesy of Flurry Flurry has generated some good numbers on first week sales results for some of latest handset hot sellers. The Nexus One first week sales numbers are nothing to write home about. You can see the data from above that the 3rd Gen iPhone sold a mind-blowing 1.6M handsets in the first three days. While these are only estimates, Flurry agrees that the Nexus One is a whole different animal when it comes to phones. I also believe most people bought the phone unsubsidized and at full price. I have had hands on the device and can honestly say the phone is quite impressive whether you like Android or not. The Droid… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

In the last 24 hours, quite a bit of information has been spreading about Google’s decision to end their censoring of searches in China, and potentially cease their business operations entirely with that country. The precipitator for this decision appears to be cyber-attacks on Google, including GMail accounts, mostly related to the emails of human rights advocates focused on conditions in China. But what does this all really mean? Is Google living up to “Don’t Be Evil”, or are they just making a pragmatic business decision in an environment that was hostile long before any attacks took place? The Wall Street Journal looked at the situation as a heavily pragmatic one, from the perspective of whether this… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Not sure how I missed this news update, since I absolutely adore Plants vs. Zombies! In early January Popcap announced via their Facebook page that they would be bringing Plants vs. Zombies to the iPhone later this month. Price and exact date are not yet known, nor is the status of the upcoming releases for XBLA and Nintendo DS. Keep an eye on the App Store, and I’ll report as soon as I have it … or perhaps not, since it will likely suck me back in the way the PC and Mac versions did for a lot of last year! Source: SciFiMania Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Actually the article is about the fact that 90% of console games are bought at retail, but to me that says that the market for DLC (downloadable content for already released games) and ‘Arcade’ type downloads (WiiWare, Playstation Network, and XBOX Live Arcade) is getting quite large. Beyond that, the article states that 79% of PC & Mac purchases are retail, and taht the overall landscape is changing. Dual format (digital and physical) video game purchasers distinguish themselves from purely digital purchasers in that they are notably younger, since 70 percent of dual format buyers are under the age of 35 as compared to 46 percent for digital only purchasers. Dual format purchasers represent just 19 percent Continue reading on Gear Diary …

One comment I received when I started the Netbook Gamer series was that it was as much a ‘Retroscpectives of My Favorite Games’ series as anything else … and to an extent that is true (though the next entry will be a game I never played before). The problem is that Netbooks are not designed pumping out pixels in a way that is needed for modern games. However, every once in a while something comes along that works – and when I started playing Torchlight and saw a ‘Netbook Mode’ under visual options I was thrilled. So is the game any good – and how does it perform on my netbook? Read on and find out!… 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. One of the lacking points of the iPhone is often the camera.  Even though there have been improvements made with the 3GS camera, it is still lacking.  Many apps are available to change the camera UI, edit photos or improve the experience.  I have used many of these apps with mixed results.  One problem with the camera is getting clear shots without blur from shaking.  Lets face it, holding the small phone still enough to get a great shot is not like bracing yourself with a nicely weighted DSLR.  ProCamera Basic proves to address some of the basic photo taking issues and is on sale for FREE for a limited time. Lets take a look… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

There were some rather neat audio products were on display at CES. One of them was the Eos Converge System. The Eos Converge wireless multi-room audio system is for people who use their computer as their main source of music but don’t want to be locked to sitting in the same room as it to listen. What makes the Eos Converge system stand out is that it requires no software or WiFi connection. The Eos Converge Transmitter and Wireless Receivers automatically connect to one another. That means there is no complicated setup or time lost fussing with connectivity. To start using the system to simply plug the transmitter into the USB port of a computer and then select the music to stream. That music can be anything from iTunes to streaming internet radio stations like Pandora and LastFM. More information on the Eos Converge system follows. We’ll have a unit for review unit in the coming weeks.… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Allow me to set the scene. You’re sitting on the beach in a faraway tropical location sipping on a fancy frozen drink, while listening to tunes streaming from your iPod touch which is resting gently on your towel. Looks good right? That is until the family of six comes marching by with a horde of beach toys, chairs, karts, umbrellas etc. kicking sand all over your precious Apple product along the way. Pelican has been in the business of protecting gizmos and gadgets for over 20 years. Their heavy-duty cases our industry known as ones that offer the maximum amount of protection your gadgets both need and deserve. During CES I visited the Pelican booth and was given their new i1015 iPod touch and iPhone case for review. How does the i1015 stack up against other heavy-duty cases I’ve reviewed? Read on to find out.… Continue reading on Gear Diary …