Surviving marathon sessions working on your computer is all about comfort.  Putting yourself in the proper viewing and reaching position goes along way towards keeping your body feeling good. Ergonomics! According to Griffin Technology, Healthycomputing.com, the premier source for office ergonomics, recommends positioning the top of your screen level with your eyes and sitting at least an arm’s length distance from the screen. Both of these key ergonomic standards are made possible using The Griffin Elevator with an external keyboard.… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

CES 2010 is over. Everyone else has taken off already and I’ve got one more night here in Las Vegas before flying out to meet Elana to celebrate a family friend’s wedding. I spent this morning getting a bit organized, trying to figure out how many get everything on the plane, and doing some wrap up with regard to all of many people I had the privilege of meeting over the past week. I have a tremendous number of business cards and, knowing myself as I do, I’ll lose most of them before I finally get home in week if I don’t do something first. That’s where Evernote comes in. I have written about Evernote numerous times in the past and as the service continues to improve I find it ever more useful for organizing my life. (In fact I had the privilege of meeting with the company’s CEO yesterday and will be writing that up sometime the next few days.) This time around Evernote is helping my gather, save and organize all the bits of information I have gathered here in Las Vegas.… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Adata is changing their corporate image.  To celebrate, from now until February 10th you can play a game on their website called Fly Catch Go. You can compete with those around the globe to win A-DATA portable hard drives, USB drives, and more.  Head  on over to A-DATA’s web site to try and win yourself some storage!… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xbtgfd The above video is an interview with Stephane Richard, the future CEO of Orange France. If you watch at right around the 6:10 mark (and you speak french) this is what you’ll hear: Jean-Pierre Elkabbach (the interviewer) : According to Le Point (a french magazine), your partner Apple will be launching a tablet Stéphane Richard: Yes. Jean-Pierre Elkabbach: … equipped with a webcam. Stéphane Richard: Yes. Jean-Pierre Elkabbach: Will Orange customers also be able to enjoy it? Stéphane Richard: Of course!, they will actually particularly enjoy it because the webcam will allow live video streaming. It’s a new take on mobile video-conferencing. (credit to Macrumors for providing the translation) Continue reading on Gear Diary …

CES 2010 has wrapped up. Both Larry and Judie flew out this morning. I have one more evening here before I head out to meet Elana and attend a friend’s wedding. Everything went more than smoothly here despite the huge number of people and the hectic pace. There was, however, one thing that was a complete and utter fail. It reinforced the fact that Internet shopping can’t rely entirely on technology. It needs to have at least one place where there can be immediate human interaction if it hopes to truly succeed in providing excellent customer service. Here’s what happened — and why Judie and I were, unfortunately, not able to review the Google Nexus One while still here in Las Vegas together.… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Welcome back to the GearGames weekly video game release feature here at Gear Diary! The anticipation is starting to build for some of the big upcoming releases … but this week doesn’t contain any of them. The biggest release is Army of Two: The 40th Day for the XBOX360, PS3 and PSP. I have played the PSP demo and it is not very impressive, but the console versions are getting solid early reviews. Aside from that, we get the video game associated with the upcoming winter Olympics (hopefully these are better than the games released for Torino, which were abysmal) and the new sequel to the Secret Files franchise. There are a few other games… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

(Image courtesy of Rhapsody) While reading Tim O’Reilly’s thoughts on the Google Nexus One, I came across several interesting tidbits in the comments. One of those was the fact that Rhapsody for Android will be in beta soon.… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Our GearSponsor has tracked down a great deal on a Sony powerhouse notebook! Better still, you can “Configure-to-order” Sony’s newest flagship gaming/entertainment while still saving. This GearDeal is on the powerful VAIO F series. The 16.4″ Core i7 Laptop starts at $999.99 and includes FREE shipping. It features a 16.4-inch display with optional 1920 by 1080 resolution powered by NVIDIA GeForce 310M GPU (512MB or 1GB). An optional Blu-ray, an optional backlit keyboard, up to 8GB RAM, and webcam & microphone round out the package. Base specs are, in and of themselves, impressive and include a Core i7-720QM 1.6GHz (TurboBoost up to 2.8GHz), 4GB DDR3-1333; 320GB HDD, a 16.4-inch 1600 x 900 LCD, a GeForce 310M 512MB, a DVD+/-RW and… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

For those wishing all the latest news from media days at the 2010 North American International Auto Show here are a few suggestions: Follow: @NAIASDetroit or @FreepAutos Automakers will be generating lots of news at breakneck speed at this year’s shortened media preview event today, Jan. 11 and tomorrow, Jan. 12. When it is all said and done I will provide my own wrap-up along with my promised 10for’10, a look at the top 10 things to keep an eye on this year in the automotive industry. Ford Motor Company has already made headlines this morning by earning both North American Car and Truck of the Year honors for the Fusion Hybrid and Transit Connect models, respectively.… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

My time at CES is winding down.  I just finished walking the floor for what will probably be the last time this trip.  I brought my video camera along and tried to quickly cover all four halls of the show capturing some of my favorite things. Seen in the video below are: Speck Products – New Fitted Case for iPhone, New See-Thru Satin for iPhone, New Satin See Thru for Mac Book. OtterBox – New Tandem Case for Palm Pre. Blue Microphone – New Blue Mickey for iPhone. iFrogz – New Kindle Cases, New Soft Gloss Case for iPhone, New Lean Case for iPhone, New Blackberry Cases. Hyper Mac – New iPhone and iPod… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

My hands’ reaction to using a real keyboard on my iPhone When I read Larry Greenberg’s post a couple of weeks ago about using a BlueTooth keyboard on a jailbroken iPhone, I was quite pleased.  (Why do some people say “jailbreaked” instead of “jailbroken”?  Doesn’t that seem weird?  Sorry; I digress.) Although Larry would rather use a netbook in cases where a BT keyboard would be useful on an iPhone (and I would rather have an iTablet), there have been many cases when I would very much liked to have BT keyboard capability for my iPhone.  I travel a lot, and prefer to avoid the hassle of pulling out, booting up, and dealing with my laptop, for example.  I don’t have (and can’t afford right now!) a netbook.  Sometimes my laptop crashes–damn you, Microsoft!–and having a backup machine on which to answer my mail is critical.  And so on.… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

While here at CES, I have been running around like the proverbial chicken with my head cut off.  There is so much to do, but worse, there is so much to remember to do once I get back home.  Geez.  How in the world are you supposed to keep track of it all? Well, one of the writers over at Notebooks.com introduced me to my savior application– gTasks for Android.  I use the Google Tasks in my Gmail all the time.  Its my note taker, along with Evernote.  But, the issue was that I couldn’t sync the Google Tasks to anything.  Not good for me who sometimes has a memory like a steel sieve.  Well, with gTasks, now I can.… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

[image courtesy of FutureNet] One of the trends at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show was furthering the convergence of the Web with home entertainment.  Manufacturers will be rolling out more products that integrate internet access and rich web content without the need for secondary set top boxes to bring the services and applications you want directly to your television. One such company is Oregan Networks, who showed off their embedded television web browser and Onyx Widgetry that will customizable applications such  Twitter, weather, sports, and news along with  a mix of free and paid content to bring all of your home entertainment needs to your living room.… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

If you need maximum protection for your gadgets Pelican has you covered.  I had the chance to preview their 2010 offerings today at CES. Their i1015 iPhone/iPod Touch case features full protection from shock, dirt, dust and water and features an audio in jack which allows you to plug in your device.  There’s a headphone jack on the outside so you can listen to your music while your device is safely tucked inside.  Perfect for sitting on your towel in the sand on the beach while listening to your tunes. The case is available at Fry’s Electronics, REI and select Best Buy stores at the price point of $37. Expect a… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

I swear by my Swiss Army Knives. I started carrying them after college, when I worked in retail and could never find a switchblade to open boxes, or a screwdriver to tighten fixtures, etc. So I’m a big fan of Victorinox and their products, and I’m really excited to see their new packaging. Sounds weird, I know. But think about it this way: I’ve bought Swiss Army Knives that have come nicely packaged in boxes, etc, but I’ve also bought them from stores where they were packaged in what seemed like indestructible plastic. There’s an irony to breaking your old knife, requiring you to buy a new knife, and then discovering you desperately need the old knife to tear open the packaging for the new knife. Still with me? Victorinox is going to be using packaging that is not only easier to open, it’s also from a company using sustainable techniques, reducing the amount of plastic! Very exciting, and it’s good to see more companies jumping on the “green” bandwagon in a proactive and practical manner; not only are they doing something great for the environment, they’re also making life easier for their customers! Check out the press release below, [...]