Image courtesy of GameSpot There are two paths I take when working on games to review for the Netbook Gamer: on the one hand I love to dig up classic PC games from the late 90′s that will still run on WIndows XP. On the other hand – particularly recently – I have been pushing the boundaries of what a standard netbook is capable of doing. Sometimes – like in the recent Tron review – things go very well. Sometimes – like in the Thief Deadly Shadows review – they work at a level that is barely acceptable. Sometimes I even get to review a NEW game, as was the case with… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

I’ve written enough about Good Old Games by now that you should know two things: 1. I’m a huge fan and love buying from them whenever possible. 2. They are an awesome source of classic games, configured to work on modern PC’s, and released DRM-free! Hailed as the progenitors of the 4X (eXplore, eXpand, eXploit, eXterminate) genre of games, Master of Orion I & II were released in 1993 and 1996, and remain the standard against which all space strategy games are based. Named one of the ‘30 PC Games To Play Before Continue reading on Gear Diary …

It’s good to be prepared.  No one wants to think about disasters but being prepared for one is a good thing and insures that you and your family will survive if you’re displaced from your home because of an emergency situation.  We were reminded of the need after 9/11 but many of us failed to act.  After worldwide catastrophes like the earthquake in Haiti and the tsunami’s of Asia it’s good to be reminded of this once again. The 10-person survival kit from 1-800-Prepare has everything you’ll need to get up and go all neatly packed into a Deluxe Hikers Backpack. Packed inside… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

original image courtesy of Android Android is soon to get another upgrade in the form of yet another delicious treat codename “Froyo”. Froyo will be Android OS version 2.2 and is speculated to include some great new features for all phones capable. Although the massive 2.1 rollout has yet to take place on some earlier phones, the newer superphones should have no problems receiving this update with open arms. A key feature of the new OS is putting a stop to OS fragmentation. With so many different handsets running Android, we have some running 1.5, 1.6, 2.0.1, and 2.1. Google claims to focus on alleviating this issue with a more unified approach that should be rolling out… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

I’m not an aggregator kind of guy; I tend to go to a site–HuffPo, or Talking Points Memo, or whatever–and just kind of poke around.  The closest I get to aggregating is with the iPhone app Instapaper, because I like to read, well, in the reading room, if you get my drift.  And Instapaper lets me save articles for later reading for when I need to toddle off to said reading room. Which is fine by Newsy.com, because their new iPad app is, as they tell us, “not an aggregator.”  Newsy’s app allows you to . . . well, I’ll let them explain it: Newsy’s iPad app allows users to drag and drop videos to Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Photo courtesy of Allan Dexter James Brunke Here at Gear Diary, we love us our zombies.  Judie, curse her, has gotten almost all your fair writers (and in many cases their spouses) addicted to PopCap Games’ Plants vs. Zombies.  And personally, I’ve had a soft spot for zombies since Michael Jackson’s Thriller, ‘way back when, as Bowling for Soup tells us, “there was music still on MTV.” So I was kinda stoked when we heard from Skot, one of the creators of Lost Zombies, which their web site describes as a social network whose goal is to create the world’s first community generated zombie documentary. Members of Lost Zombies Continue reading on Gear Diary …

I’m finding myself using ReaddleDocs more and more on my iPad. There are a number of excellent options out there if you want to transfer PDFs to your iPad and later view them… and ReaddleDocs is one of the best. As I concluded in my review, it is “Powerful, connects to a wide range of web-storage systems, very stable and priced well at $4.99″. We had two copies of the iPad version of ReaddleDocs to give away… and two of the iPhone app as well. And the Promo Codes go to… Gear Diary readers andreasr2d2 and MiKeN get copies of the iPhone version and Gear Diary readers leesuiip and ignar get copies of the… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

original image courtesy of alltechrelated For those of us still backing Microsoft on the MP3 player market, the Zune HD may have a little life left. After a recent firmware update that added support for Dixv/Xvid files natively along with smart DJ and a few other things we may still have hope for something on the horizon. While I love my Zune for playing music and movies, there isn’t really much else I do with it. The App market is so small, I think I can count the apps on one hand while stating the actual names of the 3 apps I actually use. They are all in are games… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Let’s end the week with another great Gear Deal from Lenovo. This time out our Gear Sponsor has a great deal on the new 15.6″ Lenovo IdeaPad Y560 Laptop. The Core i7 model starts at $1,399 but with $100 off and a $350 off coupon you can get this powerful notebook for just $949.99. It will even ship for free. The IdeaPad Y560 is available with Corei3, Core i5 or Core i7 processors. All models are well equipped 1GB ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5730 discrete graphics, a 6-in-1 Card Reader, HDMI, eSATA, ExpressCard slot, 3 USB 2.0 ports, 802.11n WiFi, Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR and, of course, Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit OS. This Gear Deal will get… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Mahjong is one of those games that has always fascinated me – both the solitaire version that most PC gamers are familiar with and the competitive version of mahjong (sometimes called the “real” mahjong). Shanghai Majong is one of the former – the solitaire version of the game. For those who have never been exposed to the game, the idea is simple – a number of tiles are places in a stacked pattern on the board and you need to find open (free on one side) pairs in order to remove the pairs from the board. The goal is to remove all of the pairs from the board. Shanghai Mahjong is one of the first I’ve seen on the iPad. So… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

The iPad is out, and lots of people are playing with this device, which is pretty much a category unto itself.  Some are finding it a great media platform, or gaming platform, or web surfing platform.  And a couple of folks here at Gear Diary are using it almost as a traveling netbook/laptop replacement, decreasing their daily bag lugging load considerably. And for all of those categories, you’re probably thinking to yourself, “Yo, self:  what if my iPad is caught in a fire, or a car crash, or some durn thing, and experiences catastrophic data loss?  What are you going to do then, huh smart guy?”  Well, DriveSavers Data Recovery is there for you and… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

As I explained in a recent review, about six years ago I lost a large amount of weight and began getting back into shape.  I have kept up a strenuous workout routine until just recently.  The stresses of work, kids, bills and most of all graduate school caused me to begin to slack on my workouts.  I was still jogging or lifting weights, but only a couple days a week at best rather than my six days of disciplined workouts.  During that time, I briefly tried a few apps on my phone to help count calories but my heart, energy… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

If you live in Minneapolis, MN or near a Target in Florida, good news! Soon you can wander in and buy shampoo, a few frozen dinners, a cheap tanktop, and an Amazon Kindle! So far it’s limited to those two areas, but the goal is to bring them to all Targets by the end of the year. I think this is pretty brilliant on Amazon’s part. Targeting Florida Targets (hehe) puts the Kindle into the hands of retirees, a group who are becoming increasingly tech savvy. On the other hand, the iPad may be too much eReader for them, between the size, price, etc. With the Kindle you just turn it on and go. If Amazon is smart… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Apparently this happened last month, but since there is 137 YEARS of content … I don’t think it will get old for a while! For my first search I looked up an area of interest in my current work: Multivariate. Here is what I found: I really hadn’t expected much, as multivariate statistical analysis isn’t exactly in PopSci’s wheelhouse … but the reference to the Journal of Irreproducible Results was priceless – and a complete time-sink! In fact, there was something linked off the front page that I just have to share: Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Well over a year ago we had one of the first reviews of the Mili Power Pack. I liked the style, the extra battery life and the color options offered by the external battery. Now Mili is back with a number of neat iPhone accessories. The first, the MiLi® Releases Power Skin purports to be the “thinnest external battery for the iPhone”. The Power Skin has an MSRP of $69.95 and adds 1200mAh of battery life to the iPhone.  That translates to an extra 230 hours, up to 3.9 hours of talk time and/or internet time, 19 hours of… Continue reading on Gear Diary …