I like bags.  I like bags that can easily carry a lot of stuff, handle travel, look good and are built to last. I recently picked up a Timbuk2 Command Messenger, which does all of these things.  The Command is TSA compliant so you don’t have to take your laptop out of the bag even when you have to strip everything else off while going through those security lines. I’ve used Timbuk2 bags before, and have to admit I like them quite a lot.  They make custom bags and bags that can meet just about any sense of style out there, with a wide range of materials. My previous daily-duty bag (also a Timbuk2) is still in great shape, save for a buckle coming off in San Diego two years ago.   The only thing was that I used it carry quite a bit — laptop, chargers, cables, moleskin notebook, and anything else I may need on-the-go for work.    The problem is that if I fly I have to take my laptop out of the bag and hope that it doesn’t get bumped around while making it’s way through the TSA checkpoint.  While looking for a possible replacement I came across [...]

This is the one I’m jonesin’ for–to go with the iPad I’m jonesin’ for In case you haven’t guessed, here at Gear Diary we love us our ScotteVest nerdwear! In the typical news item here on the site, we’ll give you the news and encourage you to check out the products for yourself.  But all of us here have used ScotteVest products and, while I can’t speak for the others, I love ‘em.  I have two ScotteVest jackets, and I use them all the time.  They’re comfortable, they’re warm, they’re well-made, and they have lots and lots and lots of pockets for all your gear.  They make good stuff, and we like it. So if you’ve been waiting for a sale, yo, now is the time, because ScotteVest is having their annual anniversary sale (their 9th!).   If you’ve been jonesin’ for a ScotteVest product, then you should surf on over and check them out.  The sale will start tomorrow morning at 11, but since you’ve got the link, you can figure out what you’ll want now.  Decide for yourself as always, but know that their products bear the Doug Seal of Approval.  And that isn’t given out all that often.… [...]

Yesterday I reviewed one of Sena’s iPhone pouches –the Corsa Pouch. The company was kind enough to send one of their BlackBerry Bold 9700 cases, the Leatherskin, for review as well. This case takes a more traditional approach to protecting the smartphone — it wraps around the back, sides and part of the front of the phone giving protection to everything except the screen and the keyboard. Like everything else from the company the fit and finish are excellent and the leather is top quality. Let’s take a look. Continue reading on Gear Diary …

As you may recall, I threw down the gauntlet and vowed to engage paper, e-ink and LCD in a battle to the end. It has been tough, but I’ve forced myself to carve out time to read three books from my favorite author, all in the name of this review. Hopefully you all appreciate the sacrifices I made. To review, here were the ground rules: Readability: • How long can I read comfortably without my eyes needing a break? • Are the font and margins acceptable for reading? • Is it formatted correctly and without error? Navigation: • Are footnotes and other navigational items easy to locate? • Is bookmarking easy? • Can I easily locate and use the table of contents? Ergonomics: •Can I comfortably hold the book/device for a long period? • Are page turns fast and easy? So all in, there are 8 main scoring areas. There are three “bonus rounds” from some suggestions made by Doug in the original post, but I will cover those after.… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

(image courtesy ihasahotdog) Looks like the publishing industry needs to read a copy of Aesop’s fables. I strongly suggest the one about “biting the hand that feeds you.” The American Association of Publishers has some key sales information from 2009: E-book sales from the 13 publishers that report figures to the Association of American Publishers soared 176.6% in 2009, to $169.5 million, the AAP reported Friday. The jump in e-book sales coupled with a slight decline in sales of print trade books increased e-book’s share of trade sales from 1.2% in 2008 to 3.3% in 2009. Among the print trade segments, sales were down in the trade paperback, mass market paperback and children’s hardcover segments, but up in adult hardcover and children’s paperback. (via Publisher’s Weekly)… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Since last week’s official release of the Kindle App for BlackBerry, I’ve been putting it through its paces — and, quite honestly, comparing it to the other Kindle mobile app.  You know, the one for the iPhone.   How does the BlackBerry version stack up?  Is it good enough on its own merits to catch a quick read when you don’t have your dedicated eReader with you?  Can it substitute a full-size eReader?  Most importantly, are you be willing to read an entire eBook from your ‘Berry?  Don’t let that image above fool you, the screens on newer BlackBerry smartphones are bright, crisp and clear with sharp resolutions (my 9700 just happened to go through the AutoDim when I grabbed my point-n-shoot digital camera for this photo). To answer these questions, we have to dive right into the Kindle App on the BlackBerry… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

photo courtesy of mansikka at flickr As is typical for your faithful Gear Diary writers, I was prowling the ‘net this morning, looking for interesting news, gear, and tech-related oddities, and came upon an item regarding student privacy posted to Huffington Post.  In brief, a school in Pennsylvania, in the Lower Merion School District, in response to a suit filed by a student, has acknowledged that webcams were remotely activated 42 times in the past 14 months, but only to find missing, lost or stolen laptops – which the district noted would include “a loaner computer that, against regulations, might be taken off campus.” So in looking for missing equipment, the district used the capability of remotely turning on cameras to their student’s laptops.  To say this kind of thing gives me the shivers–along with similar technology that allows cell carriers to monitor your location, the government to monitor your internet usage, banks to distribute your purchase history, and many others–is putting it mildly.  That it came in the same day when Huffpo had another privacy-related story made me double-plus nervous: Twitter and Facebook users could see their home insurance premiums rise by as much as 10 percent in the [...]

Digital textbooks have become a symbol of the growing ebook market. It seems that there’s so many expectations and debates around e-textbooks. They sound great, but what about the used textbook market? And how will they differentiate from their paper versions? Macmillan thinks they have an answer, and after watching their presentation today I think it has a great deal of potential! They are calling their e-textbooks DynamicBooks, and it is unlike any other digital book concept. Essentially it is taking the user input concepts from Wikipedia with the content of a digital textbook and mashing them together. Professors can rearrange order of the material, they can add video links and commentary, and they can even change around the content! For example, in their demo, they showed a professor adding in a YouTube video that tied in with the concept in the textbook. The entire process went smoothly, and the embedded video looked like it belonged with the content, it all flowed so well.… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

I sure remember it.  If you lived through the 1980s I’m guessing you do too. The “Mix-Tape.”  Whether you made one yourself or had one made for you, it contained songs that reminded you or your crush of the time you’d spent together.  I think I still even have one of these tapes in a shoebox in my basement, although I don’t own a cassette player with which to play it on. Well times have changed.  And here’s the 2010 version of that old icon, the “mix-tape.” Suck UK makes this clever way of presenting a mix tape to your modern crush. You… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Farwell Google Gears, we hardly knew you… For those of you not familiar, Google Gears was an API used by developers to enrich the web interaction between users and their data.  In layman’s terms, Google Gears allowed web-based services like Gmail and Google Reader to store content locally on a computer. This, in turn, meant that emails and RSS feeds could be accessed even when the end-user didn’t have an active data connection. In essence Gears turned a web-service into a hybrid-webservice that lived in the cloud but behaved more like a resident program that was ready and available all the time.  The API has only been around for three years. Well Google Gears as we knew it is going the way of the proverbial dodo. The development team has shifted its focus and is moving in a new direction. And that’s where it gets interesting. But first, the change in Google’s own words…… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Our younger son had his birthday at the local theater this past weekend, and part of that was getting a tour of the projection area, getting to splice a trailer into a reel, and even starting the movie they were seeing and checking audio levels. It is a really cool time, and the local theater manager does a great job with the kids. I took note that even after doing all of the start-up in the booth, getting his special theater display poster and other stuff for the kids in the party, and heading on downstairs and into our theater and being seated … we hadn’t even missed any trailers.… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Our GearSponsor has tracked down an impressive offering from Sony this time around. The Sony VAIO F1190X is the company’s newest flagship gaming/entertainment notebook. The notebook is “configure-to-order ” but even in its base configuration it is impressive with a 16.4″ display, a Core i7-720QM processor running at 1.6GHz (TurboBoost up to 2.8GHz), a GeForce 310M 512MBvideo card and much more. This GearDeal will get you the base configuration for just $999.99 plus free shipping AND a free upgrade to a Blu-Ray drive. The drive alone is a $250 value!) Sony VAIO F1190X 16.4-inch Core Continue reading on Gear Diary …

I have been at home in Miami, FL for the last few days.  It’s always fun to go home and see what has changed.  It’s about a four (4) hour drive, so to pass the time, I count cop cars, telephone polls and billboards.  It’s childish but it keeps me from a bad case of highway hypnosis. During the drive, I saw something that just struck me as 1. damn cool and 2. in the “it’s about time” vein.  What did I see?  I saw billboards with the name and phone numbers for local hospitals, the approximate wait time in the emergency room (ER)….and a number to text  (text “ER” to  23000 for more information) to get more… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Watching the Winter Olympics reminds one of the stamina required to perform at a high level for long events. In reviewing the StarTech DisplayPort KVM switch, I feel like I just completed a marathon, due to the length of time that it took to complete. Read on for impressions of this unique DisplayPort KVM which allows sharing of a DisplayPort monitor and USB mouse and keyboard with two computers. StarTech graciously lent me a review unit of their DisplayPort KVM switch since late November. Why did it take so long to do a review of it? I’ll get into more detail below, but first, let’s go over the specifications from the press release: StarTech.com, a leading manufacturer of KVM Switches and Server Management solutions has announced the upcoming release of a DisplayPort KVM Switch (SV231DPU) – the first KVM Switch available with support for direct connections to DisplayPort monitors and computers without using a converter. Continue reading on Gear Diary …

The war of words between Apple and Adobe continued this past week with Steve Jobs taking a direct shot at Adobe. As widely reported last week, Jobs apparently commented that were the upcoming iPad to use Adobe flash the battery life would be cut from 10 hours down to 1.5 hours. Ouch! There’s no question that Steve Jobs is trying to do to Adobe Flash what he did to the 3 1/2 inch floppy drive — kill it in favor of newer, seemingly better, technology. Having gotten a little bit of a taste of what that newer technology might provide thanks to a demo site showing high quality HTML5 video, I am increasingly convinced that he may not be wrong. While the transition from Flash to HTML5 may not happen overnight there is an excellent argument to be made that it should happen and sooner rather than later. Let me explain what I mean by going through some of the differences in non-technical terms. Continue reading on Gear Diary …