Angry about Amazon capitulating to Macmillan? Ready to take to bittorrent to show your displeasure? Before you do, stop by the University of Chicago’s site for a free copy of “Piracy: The Intellectual Property Wars from Gutenberg to Gates” by Adrian Johns. The hardcover is normally $35, but Univ of Chicago has a special one day giveaway of the ebook! You will need an Adobe ePUB compliant ebook reader to enjoy your free book, but at least you can learn about piracy that extends far beyond napster! From Publisher’s Weekly: “[Johns] traces the tensions between authorized and unauthorized producers and distributors of books, music, and other intellectual property in British and American culture from the 17th century Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Ok, we all know that logically, texting while driving isn’t a smart thing to do.  It’s too distracting from driving, and one could wind up with some serious repercussions. And, in cases where the state hasn’t enacted the law about requiring a Bluetooth headset while talking on the phone, the same thoughts apply.  This is just common sense. So, state legislatures have been working hard to put laws in place to ban phone usage and texting while driving to save us from those ‘serious repercussions.’  Has it worked?  Well, according to a study put out by the Highway Loss Data Institute, the answer is no. “The laws aren’t reducing crashes, even though we know that Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Skooba Design has just released carrying solutions for the much anticipated Apple iPad.  Even though the iPad is not available, you can still have everything ready for it when it finally arrives.  Here is what Skooba says… Step 1: Buy an iPad bag Step 2: Stare at the empty bag and dream for a few weeks Step 3: Run to the Apple store in a month or two and enjoy your new toy! So everyone is pacing around frantically waiting for the day they can sleep outside the Apple store and be the first to get an iPad. Skooba wants to help… they can ship you the carrying case now, and you can slip your i-prize into it in a month or two. Skooba already has three carrying solutions for the upcoming MacTablets. At least now you can get all of your gear in order before the ship date!  If you plan on getting an iPad, check out the Skooba lineup after the break. Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Remember when a “big” computer monitor was a 15″, it weighed a ton and it cost a small fortune? Well those days are long past and our GearSponsor has a great deal on a 20″ monitor from Acer. The 20″ Acer P205H LCD Monitor has a 5ms response time, 20000:1 dynamic contrast ratio, integrated speakers and VGA and DVI with HDCP. It even comes with a 3 year warranty. Normally priced at $139.98 with this Gear Deal you can get it for $99.98 shipped! $40 off Acer P205H bmd 20-inch 1600 x 900 LCD Monitor via LogicBUY.… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Image courtesy of Wikipedia You know the story – every February 2nd at 6AM the alarm goes off and … wait, wrong GroundHog Day! Anyway, each February 2nd in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania the world watches as the groundhog called Punxsutawney Phil either sees or doesn’t see his shadow, which will tell us whether we’ll see an early spring … or six more weeks of winter.… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

It looks like Google decided to take on a small chunk of Microsoft, specifically their Internet Explorer v6 web browser, and won. As of March 1st, Google will no longer support the IE6 browser for Google Docs or Google Sites. IE users will have to upgrade to at least version 7 if they want to use those products, as “many other companies have already stopped supporting older browsers like Internet Explorer 6.0 as well as browsers that are not supported by their own manufacturers,” said in the Official Google Enterprise Blog. What is supported?  IE7, Firefox 3 (and newer), Chrome 4 (and newer) and Safari 3 (and newer).  Why did they decide to do this… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

It is hard for me as someone who grew up in Massachusetts to believe that I was born into a time when segregation was widespread throughout the country and that there were actually places that legally and officially disallowed someone service based solely on the color of their skin. So it is amazing to me that it was a mere 50 years ago today that the so-called ‘sit in’ movement started at the counter of a Woolworth in Greensboro, N.C. I read an article about this in my local paper this weekend, and searched out more information, which was readily available at the Greensboro web site, and also covered by many news sites: The four Continue reading on Gear Diary …

I’ve always enjoyed reading Clinton Fitch‘s reviews and articles, because not only is Clinton a friend, he is also an extremely knowledgeable and well-spoken (err, written) mobile device reviewer. I’ll go ahead and say it, though — I never felt like his site was easy to navigate or quite the proper showcase for his considerable talent. The old site used a lot of drop-down menus, and it was more old-school web 1.0. That is no longer the case. Clinton has completely redesigned the site; it is now uncluttered, easy to navigate, tagged, includes a mobile version, and it is optimized for your social rebroadcasting pleasure. If you enjoy reviews… Continue reading on Gear Diary …