photo credit: Tiago Rïbeiro Have I mentioned our TradePub affiliate store lately? It’s a place where you can sign up for magazine subscriptions and technical documents based on your profession … and assuming you qualify — you’ll get them all for FREE. Sounds good, right? Well to get you started, here are two new documents which might be of interest. The Underground Guide To The iPhone Read about the basic user interface and a ton of incredible iPhone features you would’ve Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Let me get this piece of business out of the way– as much as it pains me to admit it– Larry was right. (Wow that was hard.) Let me explain… When Dragon Dictation was first released I was darn near giddy over how great the voice to text application was. Larry, on the other hand, was impressed but saw a major flaw with it. You see, with the Dragon application you need to dictate your text right into the application and then “send” the text to e-mail or the clipboard or the sms application. From there you need to format the e-mail with a recipient and a subject and then send it. The multiple steps that were required to get from speaking your message to actually sending it was a bit of a challenge. For me, the speed and accuracy of the application make the multiple steps worthwhile. In addition, I have become pretty quick with the process. Larry, on the other hand, finds it remarkably annoying and, as a result, he doesn’t use the application nearly as much. When Vlingo updated THEIR voice to text iPhone app last week it included an “in app paid upgraded” that resolves Larry’s [...]

I used a lot of Tablet PCs over the years, and one of my favorites was the Lenovo ThinkPad X60 Tablet PC. It came in any color you wanted- so long as you wanted black, it was quite powerful (for its day), and it was clearly designed for serious use. I loved using it. Lenovo is still in the Tablet PC game, and their latest offering is pretty impressive. Weighing less than 3 pounds, the X201t is powered by a Core i7 processor and Intel HD graphics. The base configuration is impressive. It has a Core i7 processor running at 2.13GHz (with Turbo Boost it shoots up to… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

We all know AT&T has connectivity issues. Even with the recent upgrades they have been doing there are still significant issues. And yes, some (many?) of them are due to AT&T being the only carrier supporting the data-sucking iPhone. And with the release of the iPad 3G in two months it is about to get worse. The problem is real and it is getting worse. US smartphone use has grown almost 700% in the past 4 years and mobile-data use is more than doubling each year. The current systems just weren’t designed to carry that sort of load. And the result? We all see it every day. Well, according to BusinessWeek there is some potential relief on the way and it comes in a surprising form… CABLE.… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Judie: When Dan, Larry and I attended Digital Experience, a product showcase at CES, there was one particular device which caught our immediate attention. Unlike all of the other gadgets and electronic items we saw on display and which were currently available for purchase, the HTC Google Nexus One was the one that we gathered around, drooled over, and  all immediately made plans to order. Dan and I purchased ours as soon as we got back to our rooms that evening to be delivered FedEx overnight to my hotel in Las Vegas by Friday afternoon. Our experience would later become blog post fodder, ultimately ending up in a month-long quest to get our original purchases refunded. Larry was patient and smart; he waited until he had returned home before placing his order. While Dan’s and my returns were in limbo, Dan just couldn’t stand it … he ordered his second Nexus One before the first had been refunded. I decided that I would wait until I got my money back before I tied up any more. While I was waiting for my refund, I was pleased to receive notice that I would be sent a sample unit on 30 day [...]

My mother is going to watch the Academy Awards over streaming video tonight. Is it because she’s embracing the web, and discovering new ways to enjoy media? Not quite… If you had to chart my mother on a technology adopter scale, she’d fall somewhere around mid-to-late adopter. The first time I recall getting a text message from her was in 2006, when my parents were traveling abroad and they wanted to touch base at home. Since then she’s learned to text more in large part because my brother communicates almost solely by texting. But the larger point here is that my mother, like most non-technolusting folks, adopts technology for two reasons: out of necessity and because it becomes so ubiquitous that it becomes integral to remaining connected to the mainstream.… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

$6 for an Internet radio application? That’s crazy, right? That’s exactly what I thought when I went to check out the Spark Radio app. I thought the pricing on it was absolutely ridiculous. After all, you can get a host of different Internet radio applications for free. You can use Pandora or Slacker Radio without paying a penny. And the list goes on and on. So why is it that you should spend $6 up front to get this application? It’s actually quite reasonable question. And there is a reasonable answer… I was given a review copy of the application (so I didn’t pay the $6 to get it) and I was rather skeptical at first. It is a well done app but still… $6?? But the more I use the application the more I realize that they’ve done a fabulous job with this particular application and it actually could be worth the money. Let’s take a look… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Welcome back to the GearGames weekly video game release feature here at Gear Diary! The irony of a game with a title of FINAL Fantasy reaching its 13th franchise entry (not to mention numerous spin-offs and add-ons) is not lost, yet the high quality of most of the games helps fans cut Square Enix some slack. Those fans are being tested again with the release of Final Fantasy XIII, which is coming for both the XBOX360 as well as the PS3. The ‘tests’ in this case are related to the fact that the graphics on the XBOX360 version are significantly scaled back from the PS3 version due to the PS3 using the much larger Blu-Ray disk for storage (for those keeping score expect a Force 5 Nerdstorm on Wednesday). Also, the game itself has been criticized for having very slow pacing and being extremely linear and removing many of the key features of previous games.… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Larry previously reviewed Gelaskins and we’ve recently posted about their release of National Geographic Gelaskins.  However, just this week Gelaskins has gotten a lot more super!  Marvel characters like Spider-Man, Iron Man, the X-Men, Wolverine, the Hulk, the Fantastic Four, Captain America, Daredevil, the Punisher, Ghost Rider, Doctor Strange and others are now available in various forms direct from Gelaskins. The company was kind enough to send me two of the Iron Man skins for netbooks and I decide to apply the skins showcasing Iron Man and War Machine.  The skins went onto my netbook in a flash and looks great!  Any air bubbles were easily pushed out and if I decide I want a different Gelaskin at a later date, it will peel right off and it leaves no residue.… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Browsers have become a huge part of all of our computing lives. Internet, operating systems, phones, music players all use a browser. It is interesting that most browsing experiences are similar. Other than slight differences or innovations, they really stay the same. The same rings true with the iPod function on the iPhone/Touch. Nothing is wrong with the music browser, but what if you wanted something different or new? Milk Crater takes browsing to the future turning your iPod library into a visual field of cover art. Click through to find out more.… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

photo credit: fensterbme Gear Chat #4 is live and available below (and on iTunes!!!) In this edition of Gear Chat Dan and Larry talk Bluetooth, Gmail, iPhone apps and… iPad… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Let’s face it, no one enjoys contacting their IT department at work.  By the time that call comes it is usually preceded by a lengthy bout of frustration, swearing and pounding of fists.  While it used to just be your PC or Mac giving you fits, now you are probably just as exhausted trying to get your new smartphone to work properly.    Add to the fact that you may be miles — if not an entire continent! — away in today’s global work environment and your aggravations multiply ten fold.  At the end of the day you just want the @#$%! thing to work. As more and more people bring smartphones into their lives, these mini-computers that surf the web, check email and even make a phone call now and again become our lifelines for both work and personal business.    If you are lucky enough to use one of these devices — be it BlackBerry, iPhone, Android, Symbian, or Windows Phone — you probably cannot imagine going back to when you did not have this convergence of functions with you at all times. But what happens when you do run into problems?   It will always occur when you’re traveling or [...]

Continuing my love affair with the Jedi Knight series (see my Netbook Gamer reviews of the original Star Wars Jedi Knight, the Mysteries of the Sith expansion, and the Jedi Knight II sequel), I now move to the last game in the series, after which I will return to the first game (Dark Forces) to complete my look at the life and times of Kyle Katarn! For now, let’s look at Star Wars Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy.… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Uh oh, Amazon…hope you’re sitting down for this one. Looks like a survey of future ebook buyers shows everyone’s waiting on the iPad. According to Changewave, specifically 40% of prospective ebookers are marking April 3rd on their calendars. The real bad news, though, is for Barnes and Noble and Sony. At least Amazon claimed 28% of potential future sales. Poor B&N and Sony are only picking up a 6% and 1% share, respectively. (Image courtesy Investors.com) So what’s going on with these numbers? Has Apple pre-emptively won the ebook war? Maybe not…let’s put some context into this.… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

While at CES 2010 one of the products which excited me most was the wireless charging system Case-Mate unveiled for the iPhone 3G/3Gs called The “Hug.”  We at Gear Diary are huge fans of everything Case-Mate does both from their products to their customer service.  They are one of the companies that simply get it. While there are a few companies making wireless charging systems for the iPhone the ones I’ve seen are flat out unattractive.  What impressed both Dan and me about the Hug was the fact that it not only charged the iPhone wireless but it looked super cool too.… Continue reading on Gear Diary …