Image courtesy of Natalie Jean Lovin Holbrook I find corner-cases.  I don’t want to; I don’t try to; I just do.  Like last week, right?  I was working with some fairly sophisticated online documentation build and publish tools–and they weren’t working right.  I was making my co-workers upset.  I was making my boss upset.  Heck, I was making my wife Sami upset, because I was griping about it so much.  Was I missing something?  What had I done wrong?  Why wasn’t it working? Because there was a bug in the software.  I had found a corner-case.  Again. How Doug felt Friday… 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. The iPhone has become a great puzzle gaming platform.  A style of game I have come to enjoy are physics puzzles.  There are many different versions of the genre, but each of them use the amazing physics possibilities on the iPhone to create a unique game.  So to carry on the idea of uniqueness, how about firing rag dolls out of a canon to solve the puzzle?  Well, that… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Didn’t we just finish their LAST sale?!?! Not that I’m complaining, mind you! Anyway, instead of a ‘deal a day’ like we got at Christmas, we are now getting some major week-by week deals. To see all of them head on over to Direct2Drive! Some of my favorites: Atari Spring Bundle – $64.95 – this might sound expensive, but check out what is included: “Tactical Ops: Assault on Terror, Atari: 80 Classic Games in One, Atari Arcade Hits, RollerCoaster Tycoon® 2: Combo Park Pack with Wacky Worlds Expansion, Act of War: High Treason, Tycoon City: New York, Indigo Prophecy, Desperados 2: Cooper’s Revenge, ArmA: Armed Assault – Combat Operations, Alone in the Dark Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Looks like the Alex Reader is actually, finally shipping. It’s been quite a ride, from humble beginnings, to a lawsuit, to finally reaching a few reviewers’ hands. Now it can be in your hands, if they aren’t already occupied by an iPad! We’ve been hardon the Alex reader here, but it is good to see the device making its way to people’s hands. Hopefully it will be hitting stores soon too (and possibly at an indeterminate lower price?) Did you pre-order an Alex? Let us know if you received a shipping notification! Spring Design to Ship Alex eReader Wednesday April 14 International Versions to Be Announced Shortly FREMONT, Calif. – April 13, 2010 – Spring Continue reading on Gear Diary …

A few weeks ago, I reviewed BugMe! for the iPhone. Then, last week, Doug posted about the release of BugMe! for the iPad.  In my review of BugMe!, one of the items that I noted needed improvement was the ability to use the keyboard for input. Using a finger to write on the iPhone’s small screen just didn’t allow me to write more than a few words.  Fortunately, the folks at Electric Pocket, the makers of BugMe! were ahead of me.  They have now updated BugMe! for both the iPhone and iPad with support for keyboard text entry, which definitely adds to the app’s functionality.  Both versions of BugMe! now also support the… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Evernote for iPad was available right out of the gate when the iPad started shipping. It was good. Really good. But it has already been updated and now it is even better. This Evernote update brings significant improvements with regard to sync performance. This is true on both the iPhone and iPad and is especially welcome by those of us who have a tremendous amount of information in our Evernote accounts. Having to wait a long time for your notes to sync is a pain… especially while the devices still do not multi-task. (something that will thankfully change soon.) You will likely see the biggest improvements in the “Syncing headers” phase. In addition, if location data is… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Back in the day, a cable station renamed itself from “TNN” to “Spike TV,” and positioned itself to be “the first television channel for men.”   Frankly, I have no idea what that means in the abstract–to me it would be lots of James Bond movies, interspersed with The Three Stooges–but the Spike programming folks interpreted it as lots of wrestling and police procedurals, with Sponge Bob reruns mixed in.  Go figure. But while Spike may have been the first, Canada has chimed in with the much more blatantly-named “Men TV:  For Dudes.  Definitely.”  And Men TV is releasing a new series called Gadget Continue reading on Gear Diary …

I’ve always has a sweet spot for convertible tablet pcs. I love how they can function as if they were a normal notebook and then, with the flip of the screen, become a tablet that is useful for taking notes, reading text and more. Mix in a multi-touch screen and you have an entirely new animal… and in a good way. Well our Gear Sponsor has a great deal on an HP TouchSmart convertible tablet that is worth a look. The HP TouchSmart tm2t is a 12″ Convertible Tablet that offers a multi-touch display for additional ease of use. It is powered by… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

ivolution Stripes starting at $ 220 No listing of available iPad cases could ever be complete without showing those offered from the premiere Argentinean leather company, Vaja. Not only have they released four new iPad cases, there is even a leather bag for those of you who aren’t yet sure how to carry the iPad in style. As expected, you’ll pay a premium for all that Vaja goodness, but we’ve grown to expect that and accept it as part of the price for carrying the best, right? ivolution Crystal 2 starting at $ 350 Continue reading on Gear Diary …

I enjoy reviewing gear.  I enjoy it even more when the product I’m reviewing just makes sense.  Such is the case with the Native Union Moshi Moshi 02. I still have a land line at home, but I know many people do not.  With today’s unlimited long distance mobile plans and even more companies offering unlimited everything, more and more people are choosing to rely on their mobile phone’s at home and well as on the road. If’ there’s one thing I’ve always struggled with when using my mobile phone at home for extended periods of time, it’s the comfort factor.  Mobile phones… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

PDF. ePub. Kindle. iBooks. eBooks. Nook. eInk. Web Browser. Laptop. Audiobooks. For over 10 years, I have been trying to move to an all-electronic workflow for reading and consuming books, especially technical books. It started when I was a consultant traveling in planes to a variety of locations all over the US and internationally. Even when I was working locally, I had a 3+ hour commute daily for a number of years. One of the first things I did was switch to listening to audiobooks (via Audible) for my long daily commute via car. It not only kept me more alert, but I was able to read 3-4 unabridged books a month while I drove… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Hello, L.A., you’re up way past your bedtime, aren’t you? That is the line that greets you when you arrive at your apartment ‘haven’ in Santa Monica after a poorly done cutscene and wonderful tutorial, coming from a radio show that is just one of the many delicious undercurrents that make Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines one of the absolute best role-playing games of the past decade. It is hard to think that a mere five years ago releasing a product based on vampires would be considered a commercial liability, and that there hadn’t been a game released based on the Source engine, but that was the environment in November of 2004. Released into the pre-Twilight… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Update: This task is now closed, and the winner will be announced shortly. Thank you to all who participated, and GOOD LUCK!!! Today marks the seventh and final day of our 32GB WiFi Apple iPad giveaway. As previously explained, we are doing a progressive contest, and by adding new applications or accessories to the prize package daily, the grand prize package will get bigger and better! As of today, the final package consists of the iPad on its own, valued at $599 plus tax; four Astraware titles – OddBlob, Solitaire, Sudoku and the soon to be released Casino; Hard Candy Bubble Sleeve Continue reading on Gear Diary …

I’ve been wondering where Cisco would take Flip since acquiring the pocket video company. Well now we know. Cisco has just announced their new Flip Video SlideHD. The Flip SlideHD will shoot up to four hours of HD video or store up to 12 hours of videos, photos and content from Flip channels. This content is then immediately viewable on the device’s widescreen 3″ display. In this way they are turning the Flip into a device for not only shooting content but consuming it too. It is an interesting move and an increasingly competitive market. As the Press Release says- It’s like having a portable life book Continue reading on Gear Diary …

One of the arguments that has risen out of the “iPad as an ebook reader” debate is the idea that books, as a platform for pure reading, are dead. That’s what Cody Brown argued in a guest column on Techcrunch, riffing off Paul Carr’s NSFW post. This concept that “everything is better as an app, with pictures and videos and SHINY HAPPYS” is, in my opinion, totally wrong. Are books going to change? Absolutely, and there are many ways in which they will continue to evolve and grow. However, the basic root of a book is going to remain the same. Cody Brown kicks off his argument with: “The mission of an author isn’t to get you Continue reading on Gear Diary …