One of the great things about ordering from Amazon is that there’s no sales tax. Clicking “buy now” takes far less time than driving to a 0% sales tax state. Well, not so much if you’re the state government losing out on those juicy taxes. North Carolina is taking that VERY seriously, and is demanding Amazon fork over detailed sales information, the better to slap all those buyers with a bill for dodging taxes. Amazon’s response: See you in court. Now, to be clear, Amazon is happy to provide information up to a point. They draw the line at sending North Carolina an itemized statement with the content of each person’s purchase. It does seem odd that… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Apple is having a horrible week. Apple is having a great week. And in both cases we are talking about the same week. The week began with Apple playing its own game of hide and seek. Or more accurately, Lose and Seek. Years of building a culture of secrecy came tumbling down with one little career ending mistake that let a next generation iPhone loose on the world weeks before planned. As Judie and I noted yesterday it did let Apple dominate the recharge news cycle but still that was likely little comfort to Mr Jobs who, I can only image now has an intimate knowledge of the impact of Xanex on the human body. Things looked… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

There is a lot to be excited about with regard to the upcoming next generation iPhone hardware. After two full years the device will see a redesign and whether you love it or hate it it is, at least, new. That alone is a good thing. It seems to indicate the, unsurprising, jump in capacity. (I would have expected a typical doubling of capacity from 32 to 64 GB but the lost and found unit in California suggests a jump to 80GB. We’ll see. The device also shows a move to a micro-sim just like the 3G version of the iPad. The screen too seems to have a higher resolution. All of this is great… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

While it has yet to appear on The Netbook Gamer (don’t worry … it will!), I have frequently referenced Deus Ex in other reviews, stating that it is one of my all-time favorite games. The 2000 FPS/RPG hybrid offers an excellent story, great characters, choices with consequences and alternate endings … all while maintaining a true FPS action-centric gameplay style! And now you can get the original game and its sequel for $5 total ($2.50 each) on Steam – that’s 75% off! The sequel – Deus Ex: Invisible War – came out in 2003, and remains perhaps my biggest disappoint EVER in gaming. It isn’t that it is the worst game I’ve played… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Time for the second week of the Direct2Drive Spring Sale. As with last week there are loads of great deals on digital download PS games. To see all of them head on over to Direct2Drive! Some of my favorites: Grand Theft Auto IV – $7.50 – this isn’t the best optimized port, and is my least favorite GTA game … but is still a pretty fun game, and this is a great price for so much content! Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic – $4.95 – one of the best games of the last decade, and a great overall Star Wars experience. It runs great on my netbook (I have the Steam Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Speck Products was kind enough to send me one of each of the new cases that they just released for the Kindle 2.  While I have heard of Speck from Dan’s review and Judie sharing her thoughts on some of Speck’s line, this is my first hands on experience with a Speck case.  Will the cases match up to what I have been using? Since I received a Tom Bihn pouch from Judie, I have been using it to hold my Kindle 2 while commuting to work.  While the pouch is perfect in size in most every way, it does nothing to protect the Kindle 2 while I am reading.  Both of the cases Speck has… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

While the Google Nexus One has been on the market for a few months now, its HTC-branded brother has only just started to make it out. I’ve been using the HTC Desire for the last week or so, and it has surprised me just how good it really is. HTC have been a bit presumptuous from the get-go, calling the phone the Desire. While it looks quite different from it’s Google branded sibling, the two phones are very similar underneath. Both share the same 1Ghz Snapdragon processor, 3.7” 800×480 AMOLED capacitive display, and run Android 2.1. There are a few minor changes to the hardware, such as the inclusion of an FM radio in the Desire… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

I have an issue that’s a bit perplexing: I have the T-Mobile MyTouch 3G and the Verizon HTC Droid Incredible. Both are Android devices, and both have the Android Market, albeit branded differently based on carrier as you can see in the above photo. I was looking up a free software title on the Incredible — one that is definitely available on the MyTouch 3G, but on the Incredible it was nowhere to be seen. This happened to me again when I did a search for another title, only this time I could see that there were other results… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Gray Powell, the Apple employee outed by Gizmodo for losing the next-generation iPhone prototype, is probably not having his best week ever. After all, Apple is known for their secrecy, and they expected the utmost of care when prototypes were taken outside of their facility — witness the elaborate 3GS disguise Gray’s phone was found wearing. As the world now knows, Gray managed to lose his prototype, ultimately resulting in it being sold to the highest (or only) bidder – Gizmodo. We’re sure he’ll probably lose his job, and he may be in even more trouble than simply economic … who knows what the litigious Apple might dream… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Back in 2007 developer Reality Pump put out Two Worlds, a game that they all but called an ‘Oblivion Killer’, which was met with mixed to average reviews. From my original review (site no longer available): Speaking of … well, speaking … the written dialogue is stilted and stiff, even excusing the middle-English usage. None of it flows all that well, but listening to the actors speak the lines gives them a whole new dimension of bad. I generally muted the sound or removed my headphones as simply reading it was much less painful than the combination of sound and text. In terms of combat balance I would characterize my progression through the game as Continue reading on Gear Diary …

During last month’s CTIA event  I had a chance to sit down with CardStar’s CEO, Andy Miller.   If you’re not familiar with the CardStar application for the iPhone / iPod touch, you should do yourself a favor and download it immediately   It literally replaces having to keep up with multiple loyalty program cards in your wallet, or a keyring overrun with those plastic min-cards.   Simply put, CardStar makes your life easier.   It puts all those loyalty program cards right into a single application.  No more lost cards.  No more digging through your wallet or purse.  No more unsightly keyrings. So what does CardStar have… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Image courtesy of Joystiq OK, I know to some it seems like I beat on the PSP on a regular basis … but hey, I’ve bought four of the things, and thousands of dollars of games – I feel I’ve earned the right! Last week the NPD just announced their sales results from March, and according to an article at GamaSutra, this is how things broke out: 1. Nintendo DS: 700,800 2. Wii: 557,500 3. Xbox 360: 338,400 4. PlayStation 3: 313,900 5. PSP: 119,900 6. PlayStation 2: 118,300 Loot at how that breaks out graphically: Nintendo owns nearly… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Poor Palm just can’t get a break. They are up for sale, but no one’s showed up at their open house, and Jon Rubenstein even baked cookies! In all seriousness, there’s no concrete evidence of a buyer, and the last few days have just been one blow after another. First, their Senior Vice President of Software resigned, and from the looks of the stock grants flying around, apparently most of the office intended to follow him. Palm threw loads of stock at people to keep them around; if a new, deep pocketed suitor were around no one would be beating a path to the front door. Basically, not a great sign. All that went… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

The one thing that many road warriors still need is an easy and reliable way to access and print documents while on the go.   If you used Cortado Workplace, you’d quickly get around that problem and give yourself an edge over your competition.  Seriously, how many times have you been traveling with the hope to be truly mobile only to find yourself digging out a laptop to print a document (or connect through VPN just so you could find it to begin with)? You’ll get a free account with 1 Gig of file storage and the ability to print directly from your BlackBerry or iPhone/iPod touch.   Cortado Workplace is available… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

The iPhone makes for an awesome travel companion. You can create packing lists, you can check flight status and you can even us the device to find your way and make the most of the places you visit. And that’s where our GearSponsor has you covered. You see, LogicBuy isn’t just about hardware. When they see a great application or app they want to highlight it. And they aren’t just about items with a pricetag. Even if the app is free, so long as it is worthwhile they’ll make sure to bring it to our attention. Here’s a good example… Select Lonely Planet’s guides are free until April 22nd. These useful guides “can help out travelers that… Continue reading on Gear Diary …