image courtesy CNET Here at Gear Diary, we love ebooks. We also love to debate all manner of gadgetry, so of course we had to share our thoughts on what Apple’s foray into ebooks would mean for the world… Doug: I’m wondering how much shaking out we’re going to see in the next 6 months or so. Carly, do you think Apple is going to yank the non-Apple eBook readers? Carly: No. What’s the point? iBooks seems like a “oh yea, let’s get in on this too” project, rather than a serious effort… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Strategy games have become entrenched as a core genre for PC gamers in recent years, which has caused the genre to adapt to the expanding audience. For some this has allowed entry to the massive world of RTS games for the first time, but veterans of the genre sometimes feel that their hardcore grognard needs are being ignored – particularly those who choose to play games on a Mac. Don’t worry, guys, Paradox has your back – Hearts of Iron III is a game with a steep learning curve that will reward the investment of tons of hours learning the intricacies of its systems. But is it any good? Read… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Back in September of 2009, when Apple launched the 3rd generation iPod Touch and touted the gaming capabilities of the system, I expressed concerns about what this new ‘everything under $10′ business model might mean to the $30 – $60 gaming industry. While we don’t have any long term results yet, analysts at Flurry have tried to piece together some sort of story about what trends we can get from comparing 2009 sales to 2008. And put simply, what is good news for Apple’s gaming aspirations is bad news for Sony’s beleaguered handheld and a shot across the bow of the juggernaut Nintendo DS. With the recent release of the iPad, and the ‘upscaled pricing’ of… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

No, there aren’t any Ninjas as we saw with the Nexus One unboxing posted not too long ago; instead there is stark simplicity, great music, and amazing animation as the iPad sheds itself of its retail confines … seemingly without any human assistance. Enjoy! iPad – Unboxing Video from Brian Stark on Vimeo via TUAW.… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

My wife recently began a new job which allows her to work out of our home part of the time.  She’s created an office in our finished basement (away from our kids.)  In order to separate her work related calls from our personal ones she’s decide to use her iPhone as her home office phone instead of paying for the addition of a second line. If you’ve ever used an iPhone, or any cell phone for that matter, you probably know that it’s not the most comfortable device to talk on for very long periods of time.  Mostly because you have to actually hold the phone with your hand.  If you really skilled… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

If you need a program that makes quick and easy work of converting all your media to your mobile device, then doubleTwist might be the answer your looking for. The public beta client is currently available for PC and Mac, and it requires a free account to use. doubleTwist will convert and sync all of your music, videos, and pictures easily, and it will auto-detect whatever device you have plugged in. Software is free and pretty simple to use. They’ve also recently added some new features for Android and the Marketplace. The Android Marketplace is now fully integrated into the doubleTwist Mac platform and soon will be available for PC. There is no app… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

How do you know that ebooks have hit the mainstream? Check out the New York Times “The Ethicist” column this week. In it, a letter was received from someone inquiring about the ethics of downloading an illegal copy of an ebook if the downloader already owned the paper copy. Specifically, the inquirer needed to know: I bought an e-reader for travel and was eager to begin “Under the Dome,” the new Stephen King novel. Unfortunately, the electronic version was not yet available. The publisher apparently withheld it to encourage people to buy the more expensive hardcover. So I did, all 1,074 pages, more than three and a half pounds. Then I found a pirated version Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Image courtesy of laptopmag If you follow any kind a social networking than you probably heard already of the announcement of HP’s new slate. They have been teasing us with video snippets over the past few months after a quick preview at the Microsoft CES keynote. Engadget mysteriously happened to get their hands on some HP company documents just in time to take some of the fire out of Apple’s new iPad. Unfortunately, the specs would say otherwise. The slate looks like they took the internals out of an HP netbook and put them all back together in a sleeker tablet/slate package. This looks Continue reading on Gear Diary …

The iPad is out. It’s awesome. I don’t think I’ve ever liked a device this much before. My MacBook Pro is feeling unloved. At the same time, there are some issues… biggest among them? The device is sturdy but it is still delicate. While, it’s not as delicate as the iPhone 3G’s back or the iPod touch’s (which is also metal but is more prone to scratching), the back of the iPad can easily get scratched. Add in the fact that the screen is incredibly strong but is a fingerprint magnet and you have the need for… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Remember those funny colored socks that Apple sold for older iPod models?  Remember how they did a good job of protecting your device from scratches without adding bulk?  Remember how for $30 you could get 6 of them, but at least 3 of them were in colors you wouldn’t use? Well, now there is a similar option for your new iPad from iPadSock.net.  Like their smaller cousins, these will protect your iPad from scratches without adding bulk. Even better, you get to pick from a range of color combinations, so you will get a color that you’ll actually use. Order them directly from iPadSock.net. for $14.95 each… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Did you just get a new iPad? Looking to stock it up with some good music? Amazon’s offering 100 albums for under $5.00 this month, specially hand picked by their staff. It’s a very diverse list, ranging from Radiohead and Coldplay to Alice in Chains and Norah Jones. Chances are there’s an artist you might like on that list, so check it out! Load up your favorite music player, and then head out to enjoy the beautiful spring weather!… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

With the plethora of netbooks on the market today sporting 9, 10 and 11” screens, is easy to forget notebooks weren’t always so small. Meet the Dell Vostro 3700, a huge 17.3” desktop replacement powered by Intel’s new Core i3, i5 and i7 range of processors. The 3700 is part of Dell’s Vostro refresh which includes the 3300 (13”), 3400 (14”) and the 3500 (15”). Out of the box there is no getting around the fact this is a very large laptop. While it is not overly thick, it makes its presence known with that big screen. It feels heavier than it’s advertised 2.7kg weight would suggest too. Continue reading on Gear Diary …

What fun is the iPad if you can’t use it to enjoy a bit of downtime? Astraware has taken advantage of the iPad’s gorgeous screen by updating three of their popular games, OddBlob, AWSolitaire and AWSudoku to perform flawlessly on Apple’s newest tablet. I’ve been playing each of these games since Saturday, and I liked them so much I wanted to share them with you! OddBlob has you navigating a happy little purple clay man through a squishy maze “to grab bonuses, chomp fruit, and win points as quickly as he can as the chasing tiles disappear behind.” I’d already been playing this one on my… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

This isn’t another post about Zinio on the iPad. No, this is a post about why certain types of magazines will continue to have an uphill battle in an always- connected world. All the magazines I looked at on my iPad since the Zinio app was released look great. The colors a brilliant, the navigation is simple. And there is no lag when moving from page to page or from magazine give to text view. It is a gorgeous way to read eMags. But it has one fatal flaw. Let me explain… Last a week, March 31st to be precise, I was notified that my May edition of Macworld was available for download. (See… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Dan got a chance to call into NPR today; the discussion was quite lively, and he had a good time explaining why he disagreed with their “expert”. Watch for him at the 6:50 mark. Dan and Gear Diary on NPR Some notes that Dan sent after the fact … In all seriousness I’m a little bit surprised to hear so-called experts still making claims that the iPad is simply a media consumption device. The whole point of the iPad is that it’s pretty much a blank slate (sorry for the pun). The device is going to Continue reading on Gear Diary …