Bluetooth headsets, although very practical , still, in my opinion, haven’t received the widespread acceptance they deserve.  Perhaps it’s the fact that they’re just another battery that needs charging, perhaps people just forget them or perhaps it’s there size.  With many states introducing laws that require drivers to use some sort of hands free device when using their phone in their car it’s time people got behind owning and using a Bluetooth headset. If size is one of the issues that’s been keeping you from using one the SmallTalk Mini Bluetooth Headset from Mobile Fun is just what you’ve been looking for. Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Yesterday Judie and I posted our sad tale of woe after speaking to UPS and both being told that there is no Saturday shipping in our areas. I could understand Judie’s situation since she is in a totally rural area but I am in New Jersey! It didn’t make sense that I would not be included in the Saturday delivery of the iPad. But the UPS customer service rep was specific and clear. And no matter how I asked the question I always got the same response- NO SATURDAY DELIVERY. I even emailed Mr. Jobs to ask about it (twice). I did not hear back. This morning I decided to give UPS another quick call and double check… This is what I was… 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. Just when I thought I had played or reviewed just about every puzzle collapse game, I found Collapse! Chaos Free.  The game was number two on the free app rankings this week so I gave it a try.  At first I was leery of another match the color blocks collapse game and did not expect anything we have not seen many times.  To my surprise, this is a fresh and fun version of an old favorite style of game.  Details after the break…… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

The agency model is making some hardcore waves in the ebook world. First Kobo explained they would be discontinuing coupons, and now Fictionwise has quietly booted their membership program. Buywise offered 15% off books for members, along with special “micropay rebate” offers. It looks like the discount on the books clashed with the new clauses in agency contracts disallowing deep cuts on prices. Everyone will be offering the same prices on agency books, and, like Kobo, Fictionwise doesn’t want to confuse everyone with “Well, you get a discount on this book…but not this one, that one, or the one in the upper left corner.” It isn’t very consumer-friendly, and it sets the retailers up for the… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

One of the new apps that I am most looking forward to on the iPad is the Keynote application. The reason is simple. The app looks amazing, and I have been using Keynote more and more over the last two years. Having it available for both creating and presenting material on the über-mobile iPad will likely be a terrific step forward for me. It all started two years ago when I was playing around with iWork. I looked at Keynote and thought it might be interesting to use it to teach instead of printing up a series of handouts. I had a class coming up, so I prepped it on my MacBook and then, when… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Image courtesy of TalkAndroid Operating System updates are a funny thing – we just got one from Apple the other day (OS X 10.6.3), but how many folks who have applied it really even know what it does? Sometimes it is just the fact that something is known to be coming that builds anticipation – even if we don’t really know what we’re waiting for! With that in mind, I woke up to find that my Droid had downloaded the 2.1 update and was ready to install. I knew this was coming – but had already said I wouldn’t believe it until my phone told me to update. We were told in December it was coming … but that ended up being a minor update, then got ‘official’ word TWICE back in February, then in early March, then again later in March … and now it has finally arrived. With these months of anticipation you tend to forget reality and assume something earth-shattering is coming! So what has the 2.1 Update been like for me so far?… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

There are game franchises whose names are well known to just about every gamer – Doom, Final Fantasy, etc – but there are others whose influence over the industry and standing among older gamers outweighs their familiarity. Betrayal At Krondor is such a game – and now it is available in a Windows XP / Vista / 7 package for $5.99 on Good Old Games. Betrayal At Krondor is based on Raymond Feist’s Riftwar series of books and has been available as a DOS executable of the original release for several years, but required considerable extra effort to get the high-resolution sound and improved visuals working – not to mention tweaking DOSBox! Good Old Games… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Image courtesy of Wilson-Benesch I have been a huge fan of Louis Armstrong for decades, even having ‘What a Wonderful World’ as the dance I did with my mother at my wedding. The song was a huge hit for Satchmo at the end of his legendary career, and was re-released upon his death in 1972, as well as gaining huge success as a featured song from 1987′s movie Good Morning Vietnam. It has remained one of the top selling songs in the jazz store on iTunes, and is one of those songs that quickly fins fans across the generations. The song is closely associated with Louis, but has been redone innumerable times … Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Image courtesy of Wikipedia Think back to the first time you met a ‘big celebrity’ – not a sighting in a massive crowd, or perhaps getting an autograph scrawled on whatever you could grab, but when you had some actual human contact with someone considered a legend in their field; contact in the form of sharing kind words, having that person take an interest in you as a person and sharing some of their wit and wisdom. For me, that person was legendary jazz guitarist Herb Ellis, who died Monday night at the age of 88. When you’re a kid all of your music heroes are big stars – whether you like rock, pop, country, or whatever type of music. Even for me as a young person going against the popular currents as a fan of jazz, my early heroes were big stars – Pat Metheny, Miles Davis, Chick Corea, Jaco Pastorius. When I saw them live, I was one of hundreds or thousands in packed concert halls – these were bigger than life artists you only met in your dreams. At some point most of us realize that these folks are just people – and for me that goes [...]

Easter’s coming up.  How can you tell?  All those weird yellow marshmallow chicks in stores, chocolate rabbits staring at you every time you turn around, and pastel-colored clothes and accessories everywhere.  And I do mean everywhere. Well, chicBuds wants you to fight back with their new DJ Sports Headphones, available in two very non-pastel colors:  hot pink, and neon green.  If your goal is to stand out from the usual, pastel-clad, run-of-the-mill crowd, then these babies are definitely for you.  And they’re pretty decently priced at only $29.99.  So surf over to the chickBuds site and check them out. No one understands the demands of the fashion and electronics markets better than Continue reading on Gear Diary …

It’s HERE!. Oh wait, it’s not. OMG the iPhone is coming to Verizon! Uhm, oops, it’s not. Again and again and again this is what we have been hearing since shortly after the iPhone was first introduced. Every few months there is a small rumor about the iPhone coming to Verizon and then BAM! It is on every blog and even crossing into the mainstream media… as if it were true. It happened just the other day. Elana was listening to the news and called down to me saying “Just heard on the radio that the iPad was delayed until April 12.” I replied, “No that’s wrong”. Elana said, “No they said it twice. iPad delayed until… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

The people I have talked to who have and use the HP Envy love it. They love the sleek design. They love the power. They love the gorgeous screen. They love the fact that it is the “world’s thinnest quad-core notebook”. And if they did not have one already they would love the fact that our GearSponsor has tracked down a coupon that will save you a whopping $450 on one. Mix in $60 off an HP Wireless printer and free shipping and this is a sweet deal for anyone looking for a powerhouse notebook running Windows 7. The base specs on the HP ENVY 15 include… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Image courtesy of ioSafe Buy.com has a killer deal on the 2TB ioSafe Solo Disaster Proof  external hard drive.  They’ve knocked 25% off the normal price to bring the drive down to only $299 shipped.  A quick Google search shows the next best price from Amazon at $369. The 2TB drive also includes a year of (DRS) Data Recovery Service, which guarantees your data’s safety from almost anything short of nuclear war. Check out some footage from one of Larry’s earlier posts! ioSafe SSD Demo Quick Specs: 2TB single disk drive Quiet Air Cooled operation USB 2.0, 7200 RPM disk Weight: 15 lbs Features: Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Last night, Navigon released another significant update to their MobileNavigator product for iPhone – version 1.5. In this latest update, we get some interesting features including social networking connections to Facebook and Twitter, we get the presentation of multiple routing choices (Navigon calls this MyRoutes), as well as the addition of a 3D terrain display called Panorama 3D View (for an additional fee).  I went right out and I bought the 3D update and have been taking a look at it as well as the other new features. So let’s go take a quick look at the new features of Navigon MobileNavigator 1.5.… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Oh boy is Apple being devious.  Or are they? Dan just posted about the brand new update to iTunes.  Version 9.1 just dropped and is required if you plan to sync your new iPad with iTunes. But here’s the thing.  According to the Boy Genius Report some users are reporting that once they’ve upgraded to 9.1 they are no longer to sync their Jailbroken iPhones or iPod Touch’s with iTunes. Jailbreakers know well and good that anytime a new software upgrade to either iTunes or the iPhone OS it’s a good idea to wait to see what if any effect it has on Jailbroken devices… Continue reading on Gear Diary …