(image courtesy Cartoonstock) It’s finally springtime, and that means getting out and getting moving! Snaptic, developers of the 3Banana notes app, are looking to encourage more Android users to work out! They’ve partnered with HopeLab to run a contest offering developers the chance to win awards for apps developed around the idea of getting healthier. Personally, I think this is awesome. I’m trying to lose weight and get in better shape, and I’ll be watching closely for the apps that come out of this challenge! Snaptic and HopeLab Announce the Android “Move Your App” Developer Challenge TED to invite winner to attend TED Global 2010 in Oxford (PRWEB) April 22, 2010 Continue reading on Gear Diary …

http://www.vimeo.com/11189252 When the video of the original iPhone dual-booting Android first appeared, I was intrigued about giving it a shot. Unfortunately, I’m not super savvy on command-line activities, and I was lost about 1/3 of the way through the first how-to I found. Luckily, the sharp-eyed folks at Android Central came across more user-friendly instructions over at Redmond Pie. While it still looks like a long, time consuming process, at least now it’s easier to understand! If you’re a visual learner, check out the above video, or hit up Redmond Pie for the text instructions if you prefer those. This weekend got away from me, but hopefully next weekend I can carve out some time to try this for myself. Who wants… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

It’s been a big week for dedicated ebook readers! Sure, everyone wants to talk about the iPad, but the Kindle, nook, and their comrades have been generating some headlines of their own this week. Barnes and Noble nook: The nook has had a busy, busy week. First, it hit Best Buy shelves, so if you have a craving for an ebook reader but an aversion to bookstores, you’re all set. To go along with this new retail takeover, B&N is airing a series of commercials about the nook during primetime. It’s actually a very effective commercial, and plays on the strengths and positive feelings people have about books and Barnes and Noble. Finally… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Welcome back to the GearGames weekly video game release feature here at Gear Diary! Finally seeing a week with some decent releases after a string of thin weeks. The big releases are Super Street Fighter IV and Dead to Rights: Retribution for both the X360 and PS3. And while Super Street Fighter IV is getting great reviews and seems like a blast of a fighting game, Dead to Rights: Retribution is being seen as a promising effort that falls flat really fast and ends up as a mediocre experience … which reminds me of my only experience with the franchise on the PSP. The other releases include DLC for Dante’s Inferno: Trials of St. Lucia Continue reading on Gear Diary …

The iPad was released three weeks ago today. Released only in the USA, the device quickly made its way to many a distant shore. It was, however, immediately placed into cherem (ie banishment) and prohibited from visiting Israel’s shores. This was the case whether the device was accompanying an Israeli citizen or a tourist. Well, just three weeks later word comes that Israel has now welcomed the wonder-device to its shores. According to Business Week, Israel’s Communications Ministry just issued a statement reversing the ban that had thus far prevented the device from making its way to Israel. As the Business Week article notes, The ministry earlier this month requested that Israeli Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Last night I encountered the most elusive of musical creatures… the perfect album. That’s right, last night I listened to an album and when all eleven tracks were done playing  I  realized that I had not been tempted to skip a single song. I liked every single one… hence… the perfect album. I won’t even bother to mention the particular album since “likes” and “dislikes”, let alone “perfect”, are highly subjective with it comes to musical taste, but it did get me thinking about the state of the musical experience. More accurately, it made me realize what a shame it is that albums are a dying breed and, as a result, fewer and fewer people will get… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

I like lots of different kinds of cases and switch depending on what I need at a given moment.  For quite a few years, I was really into aluminum cases (Rhinoskin, anyone?), then slip cases, pouch cases, play-through cases… you name it. More recently, I’ve preferred to put as little on my devices as possible.  With my iPhone, I’ve settled into using just a screen protector and an Incipio Feather case much of the time to protect it from scratches.  So when I picked up a Nexus One, I started looking for ways to protect it, but with minimal weight and bulk.  I looked around, but wasn’t really finding anything that suited my taste.  Then… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Image courtesy of ActFourScreenplays The big DVD news this week – well aside from watching Peter Jackson continue his spiral into mediocrity with The Lovely Bones – is the mega-release of the wonderful but over-hyped Avatar on DVD & Blu-Ray. This should be a good thing – I know my kids are looking forward to seeing the amazing visual spectacle again in our home theater. But – there was a problem! According to a post at the Consumerist, many folks are unable to watch the Blu-Ray version due to DRM that Fox has on the disc. They reference an animated discussion at Amazon, where this comment was made… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

So you say you have a Mac that’s equipped with a mini displayport?  And you want a big ol’ honkin’ monitor to hook up to it to watch movies or do your spreadsheets or whatever?  Well, CinemaView believes they have the answer for you:  their new 24-inch LCD display for Mini DisplayPort Macs.  CinemaView tells us The new CinemaView display is 24-inches diagonal at 1920×1080 pixels, and is priced at $399. The CinemaView 24 is manufactured to an extremely high quality standard and includes a 4-port powered USB 2.0 hub, and an all-in-one cable that provides Mini DisplayPort, USB 2.0, and DC power. In the market?  Surf on over and check it out. Full information below… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

For whatever reason, iPhone game designers really seem to like them monkeys.  Space Monkeys, Super Monkey Ball, Monkey Preschool Lunch, Rasta Monkey, Burning Monkey Casino . . . believe me, there’s plenty more.  It’s enough to drive Ron Stoppable into a breakdown. Into this crowded monkey field comes Sauce Digital‘s Monkey Tennis, which they describe as “the most realistic tennis experience for iPhone and iPod Touch – even with the monkeys.”  Monkey Tennis is available on iTunes for an MSRP of $0.99.  Maybe Ron should give it a try. Full information below. Sauce Digital launches Monkey Tennis, the most realistic tennis experience for iPhone and iPod Touch – even with the monkeys Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Steve Wozniak, who along with Ronald Wayne and Steve Jobs founded Apple in 1976, recently had himself photographed drinking a beer, staring into an iPhone and wearing a T-shirt that reads: “I went drinking with Gray Powell and all I got was a lousy iPhone prototype.” Anyone who’s been following the iPhone 4G leak story knows by know that Gray Powell is the infamous Apple Engineer who lost his iPhone prototype while drinking in a bar.  It seems Woz. feels for Gray and at the very least empathizes with his plight. “I’d laugh if the same thing were done to me,” Woz wrote to his friend Dan Sokol, an engineer and long-time Continue reading on Gear Diary …

I remember when I was a car-crazed kid and I would anxiously await the next editions of Car and Driver, Road and Track and Motor Trend magazines. I loved reading about the next generation cars that would, hopefully, be hitting the pavement sometime in the near future. (My favorites… the next generation of the then Datsun and now Nissan Z series.) The best part of each magazine were the “spy shots” of those upcoming cars. I loved how the car companies would add plastic bumpers and fake side panels to the cars so that they real lines would remain a mystery… even to photographers shooting from a mile away with ultra-high powered lenses. Well that was nothing compared to… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

One of the things that is perhaps most fun about reviewing technology and being an iPhone user is the opportunity to compare and test various iPhone cases. Fortunately there are plenty of nice ones out there from which to choose, and boy have we had a chance to look at many. One of the more striking things about the iPad, now that I have been using it for three weeks, is that while Larry and I will often talk about the latest iPhone case one or the other of us have tried, when it comes to the iPad we have been focused less on the various cases that are available (and there are an increasing number of nice ones)… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

I want to take you back to the day the iPad was announced and the days that followed. After the jubilation began to wear off I began to ponder the pros and more often the cons of the device.  Upon doing so I was able to strip way most of the negatives (lack of flash, lack of multitasking, no camera etc.)  Those I can live without on a device like the iPad.  However there was one issue I kept going back to over and over again. Apps. It’s now been a few weeks since the WiFi iPad launched and here I sit asking, “where are the apps?” Here’s my issue.  If we, as consumers… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Earlier in the month I did a tour of the Jetbook Lite’s hardware. Now it’s time to delve into the software side, and really get to know this little ebook reader! Upon booting the Jetbook Lite, you have three choices; ebooks, pictures and settings. Pictures is nice, but only if you desperately love showing off your photos in black and white. Otherwise, you’re more likely headed into either settings or ebooks. Settings offers the usual complement of options, from font changes to serial numbers. You can also adjust settings within the book by accessing the contextual menu. Adding books… Continue reading on Gear Diary …