With my family in Austin, and my work in the San Francisco Bay Area, I both travel a lot, and spend a lot of time on my own.  As a result, I listen to music, podcasts, audio books, and watch a lot of movies and TV on my iPhone (and soon, hopefully, an iPad). As such–and because I simply can’t stand ear buds–I’m pretty much constantly on the search for some decent headphones.  iFrogz, makers of cases and headphones (and ear buds) for iPods and iPhones, among other things, obviously felt I was suffering, and so into this mix they tossed me a pair of their new Comfort Series headphones, the CS40 (in black, because I’m, ya know, a guy.)  What did I think about them?  Read on!… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Gear Chat #5 is live. In this episode Larry and Dan talk iPad, iPhone, Flash Wars and more… The podcast is also now available from iTunes… You can get it HERE. If there are topics you would like to see us cover in the future please drop us a line… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Anyone who has ever tried to camp where there is sand knows that it is nearly impossible to not track those demonic little grains into your tent or worse — into your sleeping bag. It’s just as bad at the beach, when you are trying to tan without wearing half the beach on your lower legs. CGear has a solution which they say will eliminate the problem – their Multimat. “The CGear Multimat was originally designed as a deployable helimat to eliminate dirt, dust and debris from being kicked up by the helicopters rotors when landing. The product was so successful in eliminating sand, dirt and dust from helicopter landings that we applied it to camping sites.”… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

(Underlying image courtesy Sacbee) The Alex Reader was announced for pre-order this week, and I reached out to their public relations representative for an explanation of their pricing. If you recall, back in January at CES the following announcement was made (it is also worth noting this is the most recent press release on their site, where you can read the whole thing). An excerpt: “Our agreement with Spring Design represents another step in our digital strategy, which continues to focus on offering book lovers—including our more than 35 million Borders Rewards loyalty program members—high quality content on the device of their choosing,” said Borders Group Chief Executive Officer Ron Marshall. “We look forward to bringing a world class eBook experience to Alex users.” The Alex eReader will initially be available February 22, 2010 for $359 in the online store at www.springdesign.com. I’m including this excerpt of the press release because I want to emphasize two things. The price is listed at $359, and it seems pretty clear that Borders will be the bookseller for the Alex Reader.… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

My mother-in-law sent me an email with the message– IT’S AMAZING WHAT PEOPLE CAN DO WITH A COMPUTER AND EXTRA TIME ON THEIR HANDS. Sadly she was not talking about me. (I suspect the “real” message was something like… “this guy spends as much time as you do on the computer but he actually created something whorthwhile!” (sigh!) No, she wasn’t referring to something I created but to this amazing piece of computer animation. I think it has been around for a while but regardless, it is an awesome way to spend a few minutes on this March Friday… Watch it Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Back in January I reviewed two apps that take the iPhone’s address book in a different direction. NameCatcher and NameCatcher Biz strive to make it easier to remember people we meet and refresh our memories so that we can contact them again in the future. I liked the way in which the apps let you quickly grab just enough information about someone so that you can fill in the details later on. The voice note feature is especially useful since you can just speak the information you want to remember and then come back to input it as text. The apps were polished and did exactly what they… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

My niece and nephew love playing games on their Nintendo DSi. Me, I prefer playing games on my iPhone and iPod touch. My sister isn’t ready to get them one… yet … but I have been working on her. Until then, they will have to make due with the DSi (or come visit their uncle more often). Today’s GearDeal will save you a bit of cash on Nintendo DSi. The package comes with the device itself, a stylus and a power adapter. This version of the handheld gaming device is 12% thinner than the previous generation Nintendo DS. It has two of 3.25 inch LCD screens, two cameras, an ST… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

I have never been a big fan of prepaid gift cards such as the ones you can get from American Express or Visa but after my experience a few days ago I hate them. Seriously, I think they are complete scam and should be avoided at all cost. Here’s what happened. Continue reading on Gear Diary …

I play a lot of hunt and find type games on my iPhone 3Gs.  Many of them look and run the same.  You use the pinch and zoom function of the iPhone OS to move around the screen searching for a items in a list.  While this can be incredibly fun it can be difficult to find the sometimes tiny items amongst the various screens. StarHunt takes the point and click adventure genre to a whole different level with stunning 3-D graphics, quick rendering and over 1,000 detailed still frame images. You task is to explore a house which contains 200 hidden stars.  Find all 200 and you’ve won the game.  But this task isn’t easy.  Some stars are found right in front of you while others are hidden behind locked doors, drawers and other obstacles. The developer was kind enough to send me a code to download StarHunt and you can read my full review after the break. Continue reading on Gear Diary …

As a member of the emergency services community I can say that as a group we don’t look to be rewarded in any way other than a simple thank you at the end of the day.  I’m sure I speak for my co-workers when I say we don’t do our jobs for the paycheck.  Well, the money’s nice and all but I assure you it’s not a lot.  The real reason we do what we do is because we enjoy helping others. I received an invitation from my Chief recently and I wanted to share it with you. My local Best Buy has extended… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

In a world of industrial (i.e. boring) looking business phones the newly announced Panasonic KX-NT400 seeks to break free. The KX-NT400 is marketed as an elegant and powerful IP network telephone that redefines the traditional business phone through its use of a 5.7-inch color touchscreen that provides quick and convenient access to Panasonic network cameras and business applications on your company intranet. The heart of the NT-400 is a colorful, touch sensitive and intuitive interface that provides easy navigation to multiple options, including a Camera Screen that displays (live) video feeds and captures images from up to 20 network cameras, allowing users… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

We love our Scottevest gear around here at Gear Diary and when it goes on sale we get to love even more of it! Scott has just announced that today (March 18th) only his new Flex Cargo Pants are 30% off.  He’s calling it a surprise sale item of the day! The Flex Cargo pants feature all the cool pockets you’ve grown to love in your Scottevest gear but they are stylish enough to be worn while traveling or to the office. Normally $60 now… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Here’s the recipe for a powerful notebook that can easily serve as your only computer. Take one part Core i7 720QM 1.6GHz Quad-core processor, one part 15.6″ HD Anti-glare LED backlit LCD and 2 portions of DDR3 RAM. Mix in a 320GB 7200RPM Hard Drive, a DVD+/-RW and an NVIDIA NVS 5100M 1GB DDR3 graphics card. Finally, add a 2MP webcam and make it WWAN ready. Even at the MSRP of $2,059 you have cooked up a tasty desktop replacement! Thanks to our GearSponsor, however, you can get $460 off PLUS a 15% stackable coupon bringing the price down to just $1359.15. The notebook will even ship for… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

My iPhone takes pictures, video, voice notes and more. It rolls so many useful items into one package that I don’t know what I would do without it. But what if you don’t have an iPhone (or similarly powerful smartphone)? What if you don’t want the monthly data service plan? What if you want those functions for only a few dollars? That’s where this great little item from USBFever comes in. The new Mini USB DV / Camera / Voice Recorder / USB Card Reader lets you take a camera, voice recorder, card reader and video recorder with you wherever you go for without breaking the bank. The company… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Looks like Amazon is whipping through their to-do list quickly! Hot on the heels of Kindle for Blackberry comes Kindle for Mac! This means you can now read Kindle books on your PC, Mac, Blackberry, iPhone or iPod Touch. Presumably an iPad version is coming soon too, as Amazon lists it in the press release. And if you’re like me and never upgraded from Mac OS 10.4, this should be a big kick in the pants, as it’s only for 10.5 and up. Now that you’ve pumped out a mac version, Amazon, let’s get talking about Kindle for Android, ok? Grab Kindle for Mac here, and check out the official press release below.… Continue reading on Gear Diary …