Game On! Dell is taking orders for their new Alienware m11x Gaming Laptop. The 11.6″ notebook has a starting price of $799 and comes in either Cosmic Black or Lunar Silver. The specs on the base system are pretty good and include a Pentium Dual-core processor running at 1.3GHz, 2GB DDR3, a 160GB Hard Drive, 5.1ch Audio, a 1.3MP Webcam and a 1GB GeForce GT 335M. Of course the system can be upgraded with goodies like 8GB RAM, a 7200RPM or a 256 SSD. Dell Alienware m11x 11.6-in Dual-core Gaming Laptop w/ 1GB NVIDIA GeForce GT 335M via LogicBUY.… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

The Gear Diary Store is a great place to find software and accessories for your Windows Mobile, BlackBerry, Symbian, iPhone and Palm OS devices; together with our partner MobiHand, we are working to bring you one software title deal a day. You’ll get a great price while supporting Gear Diary, no special codes necessary. Today’s deal is Agenda One for Windows Mobile devices — at a savings of 50%.… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Who wouldn’t love more music for Valentine’s day?  Instead of giving your sweetie just one playlist, why not give them a music that they can customize all year long?  Many of us here at Gear Diary are pretty big fans of Slacker Radio.  Whether you want to create your own station based on artists you like — or select from Slacker’s own stations — you’ll be able to enjoy music your way streamed to your computer or right on your smartphone.  Since Slacker can be used on your iPhone/iPod touch, BlackBerry, Android, or webOS phone you will never run out of new music. Just last… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

I use a number of different voice to text transcription methods in my daily life. When I’m on my iMac or my MacBook Pro I use MacSpeech Dictate. It works quite well. When I’m on my iPhone I will either use Nuance’s Dragon Dictation application or Jott. Both of them work well and there are advantages and disadvantages to both. (Like the 30 second limits on speech before it needs to be transcribed.) Today a new method of transcription came online– MacSpeech Scribe– and I’ve begun to use it. What do I think? I am impressed by the accuracy of the transcriptions it yields. I’m also excited about the prospect of being able to record a voice note that exceeds the 30 second limit that is part of Dragon Dictation and Jott. With MacSpeech Scribe I am able to record a voice note that is as long as I like, transfer it to my iMac or MacBook Pro, and then, in short order, have the application transcribe it. Let’s take a look at the setup and use of this new application. Continue reading on Gear Diary …

For quite a while I used MacSpeech Dictate with the built-in microphones and both my iMac and my MacBook Pro. Recently, however, I began using a microphone whenever I dictate. While I find it a bit inconvenient to set up and use a microphone every time I want to dictate something, especially when using my MacBook Pro, the increased accuracy of the transcription more than makes up for the few seconds it takes to get ready. I have been using a number of different microphones but one of my current favorites is the Go Mic from Sampson. The microphone is highly portable, easy to setup and use, and offers great sound quality. Let’s take a look. Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Here’s something new and exciting for proud parents-to-be:  The Ritmo™ Advanced Sound System by Nuvo.  The Ritmo is a lightweight belt that pregnant women (sorry fellas!) can wear around their belly.  Expecting parents will be able to share sensory and emotional experience with their developing baby.      The belt has four speakers, a pocketable controller and can easily be connected to your iPod/iPhone, BlackBerry, or any other MP3 player.  You’ll be able to listen to your favorite music playlists as well as be able to read aloud to your developing child. While I don’t have kids, if I was expecting one I could totally see myself getting one of these for Junior!  That may be one of many reasons to explain why I don’t have children, but I digress…. Straight from the Nuvo Group’s site: The Ritmo™ Advanced Sound System by Nuvo is the most advanced and complete prenatal music player, delivering quality and safe sound to the tiniest listeners. Ritmo allows you and your baby to share the sensory and emotional experience of bonding through sound and music, while being supportive, safe, and stylish at the same time. Extensive scientific research shows numerous positive contributions of music to human fetal [...]

With ‘blockbuster’ video games such as Grand Theft Auto IV having a production budget of $100 Million back in 2008, and the average game now costing $20 – 30 Million to make, publishers have been scrambling to find ways to keep profits rolling in. They were able to raise game prices for the PS3 and XBOX360 to $60 from $50, but that only somewhat mitigates the issue. The latest idea – EA Games “Project 10 Dollars”. Read on for more details.… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

I have a Fujitsu Scansnap S500M that I use on an almost daily basis. The highspeed scanner rips through the job of scanning pages and pages of documents better than any scanner I have ever used. The quality of the scans, and the simplicity of using it, combine to make it as perfect a scanner as I could imagine. Recently it became even more useful to me after I connected it to my Evernote account. Now I scan documents and they are immediately available to me no matter where I am thanks to my favorite document and image storage service. The only problem I have with the ScanSnap S500M is that there are times I would love to have it with me when I am the go and it is just too big to carry. That changed today with Fujitsu formally announcing the new S1300 portable scanner for PC and Mac. The new scanner is full-featured, scans up to 8 double-sided pages per minute, yet is small enough to carry on the go. Better still, it is USB-powered for even more mobility. The Fujitsu ScanSnap S1300 is available now at an MSRP of $295. The full release follows. Continue reading on [...]

We’ve covered the great case selection from PDAir before.   Perhaps you’ve been looking for something a bit tougher than leather for your own case needs.  Well, today’s your lucky day as PDAir has just released their Anodized aircraft-grade aluminum metal cases for the HTC Google Nexus One! These cases are thin, Lightweight and strong.  They include a removable 360-degree belt clip, and the neoprene inner lining will give your precious Nexus One extra shock-absorbing protection.  Cutouts in the case provide you with easy-access to all of your smartphone’s buttons and features. These new aluminum cases are available from PDAir in… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Every now and then something takes place in the tech world that makes you stop for a moment and regain perspective. You suddenly understand the power of technology, the goodwill of people, and the ways in which the two can combine to make a significant difference. That was the experience I had a few moments ago.… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Howdy! Guess what time it is again! Yes, it’s Gear Diary’s Monthly Software Giveaway. This month, we have an amazing application for all our loyal readers. Before I announce the application up for grab for this month’s giveaway, I would like to take this opportunity to thank our sponsor, WebIS, for providing us with this wonderful application for all 3 platforms (Windows Mobile, iPhone & BlackBerry)! Without further ado, this month’s software giveaway is WebIS’s best selling application, Pocket Informant! Pocket Informant lets you manage your life in the easiest most versatile life management program on any mobile device! Use Pocket Informant’s exclusive Roles system to scale the interface to your needs and… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

I have just past 1.5 years with my current company after relocating after a layoff from the previous job I had for the better part of 20 years … and I knew I was truly ‘home’ a few weeks ago when I used some of the homespun jargon naturally without thought. Every company regardless of size or industry has its own set of jargon and habits, and a study by Opinium Research reported by Reuters finds the stuff most folks find annoying. Here are the workplace habits: 1. Grumpy or moody colleagues (37 percent) 2. Slow computers (36) 3. Small talk/gossip in the office (19) 4. The use of office jargon or management-speak (18) 5. People speaking loudly on the phone (18) 6. Too much health and safety in the work place (16) 7. Poor toilet etiquette (16 8. People not turning up for meetings on time or at all (16) 9. People not tidying up after themselves in the kitchen (15) 10.Too cold/ cold air conditioning (15) I can agree to many of these, particularly #7, having seen someone not wash their hands and then being in a meeting with them minutes later where everyone is introducing themselves and [...]

I do a tremendous amount of my writing using voice recognition software. It makes a tremendous difference for me both in terms of the speed with which I need to write sometimes and the difficulty I sometimes have thanks to rheumatoid arthritis. Being able to still compose text by using nothing more than my voice and then spend a few minutes cleaning up the text is far better, easier, and faster for me than having to type out an entire document. The software that I use on a day-to-day basis is MacSpeech Dictate. The underlying transcription comes from Nuance’s Dragon NaturallySpeaking and, as a result, it works quite well. One… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Image Courtesy of HardwareZone I think we all recognized the REAL intent last year when Apple finally caved to the music industry to allow for a new price structure in exchange for getting the same DRM-free music they were already giving everyone else: it was to make more money from every type of consumer. Anyone who didn’t get the message that day saw the truth soon enough – like my kids who instantly saw that a $15 iTunes Gift Card was worth about 4 songs less than before. Well, it turns out that folks are none too happy – and are voting with their wallets.… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

I have been bouncing between Beejive IM and IM+ as my IM client of choice on my iPhone. Lately IM+ has been the app I have used since it includes an in-app purchase that adds voice-to-text transcription. That will likely change today thanks to a heads up from our friends over on Just Another iPhone Blog. They noted that BeejiveIM with Push just received a new update that adds faster loading, searching and chatting. This would be a welcome change since I have found both apps to load relatively slowly and, as a result, have found myself using an iPhone-based IM client… Continue reading on Gear Diary …