ToDo for iPad is a fantastic task manager for the iPad. That’s what I thought when I first saw it last week. That’s what I wrote when I reviewed it. And that’s what I continue to think as I use it more and more. And lots of people agree if you are to go by the fact that it is the number 4 paid app in the App Store and most of the reviews are overwhelmingly positive. ToDo is currently $4.99 but we had two copies to give away. The copies go to… phoenixfire1965 who wrote… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Today’s gadgets are often a great source of wasting time, especially for kids.  Many complain that all of these games and mindless fun keep the youth from learning the important things.  Who wants to study math flash cards when an iPhone or iPod Touch is sitting there loaded with games?  As an educator, I love to see games that build knowledge especially in children.  I remember the pain I felt when my parents forced me to sit down and memorize my flash cards.  I also remember the joy I felt when my friend’s parents would let us play Math Blaster on his Apple IIe.  I kind of see Math Ninja as the modern equivalent… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

A few weeks ago I noted the upcoming release of the sequel to the indie game Eschalon Book 2. As noted, the release was May 12th – same as Steam for Mac … so I’ve been quite busy with all of these new gaming opportunities! I’ve only had a couple of hours to get started, but wanted to give some early thoughts. If you played Eschalon Book 1, the new game will immediately feel familiar. Which is a wonderful thing for me. As background, I thoroughly enjoyed Basilisk Games Eschalon Book I (in fact, if you look on the link page you’ll see the 4.5/5 star rating from GamerDad … that was my… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Welcome back to the GearGames weekly video game release feature here at Gear Diary! This one of those ‘cross your fingers’ weeks … after a long development, the highly anticipated Alan Wake comes to life, but only for the XBOX360 at this point – PC gamers will have to wait – and everyone is hoping it manages to live up to the promise. We also hope that Bioware’s alternate history look at Fereldan in Dragon Age: Origins – Darkspawn Chronicles lives up to the generally positive course they’ve been charting with their DLC thus far. There are two huge movie tie-ins this week: Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands and Shrek Forever After. The first… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Yes, I’m a nerd.  Yes, I’ve read too much science fiction.  But even so, I want to embed chips in my head so that when I’m, say, in Paris, I can check out the opening and closing times for the Musee d’Orsay by just closing my eyes and accessing that stuff, instead of having to pick up that vestige of 19th Century technology, the phone. Well, we’re not quite there yet, but we do have iPhone apps coming out with “augmented reality“, like Poynt (reviewed by our own Larry Greenwald).  Another new app in this category is by Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Over the last several years computer game Digital Downloads have been taking hold, to the point where there are several major amd minor players all succeeding and finding their own niche. The latest entry is from DotEmu, the publishers who brought us the iPhone game Golvellius that I reviewed last fall , calling them a “publisher specialized in bringing retro games to life.” The DotEmu site features PC, iPhone and Online game entries, all of which are DRM free and are able to be downloaded again and again if needed from your account. Here is the announcement: We are very pleased to announce the launch of DotEmu.com portal, the place to get Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Personally, I am easily flustered when I’m lost, or suspect I might be.  So if the voice of Darth Vader came issuing from my GPS, let’s just say that wouldn’t get me back on track, ya know? But that’s not you!  You get a charge out of Darth ordering you to “turn right, to the dark side!”  So maybe what you want, what you need, is the new VoiceSkin for your TomTom GPS system.  While right now there’s just Darth, over the summer they’ll be introducing Yoda, Han-Solo (who shot first, durn it!), and others.  Available for an MSRP of $12.95. Full information below … VoiceSkins.com, in association with Lucasfilm Ltd. and Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Bill Maher ended Real Time with a great bit on how we can’t seem to fix anything in America. He pointed out that a penny now costs two cents and a nickel costs nine cents, but a proposal to use some cheaper material could not even get the vending machine. Then he offered a solution… Apple. Yes, his suggestion was that we let Apple step in and reinvent America. Hey… it worked for the music player, the phone and now… the computer. Enjoy Continue reading on Gear Diary …

All photos by the Author The tide has turned on large, mobile real estate-hogging vehicles here in the U.S. and the new trend is small – OK, mini. And one of my favorite vehicles of the past decade has been the MINI Cooper. It was love at first sight (and drive) when the millennial Cooper hit U.S. shores in 2000. Built by BMW, this is one of my favorite overall vehicles and they offer one of the most enjoyable driving experiences – of any sized car. MINIs are available in hardtop, convertible, supercharged, Clubman and, coming soon, full four-door Countryman variations. Our most recent time was spent zipping around town in a convertible with the… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

It seems like only yesterday that I was talking about navigating in my car using my iPhone (oh wait, it was yesterday!).  Not wanting iPad owners to feel left out, ProClip USA is now offering a selection of their dashboard holders for the iPad.  Available in several different styles that range in price from $40-$50, you can get them right now from the ProClip web site. Full information below. Apple iPad – Holder with Tilt Swivel This Holder tilts/angles 15 degrees for optimal viewing. It is a high quality custom made holder with a neat and discreet design. It keeps your device in an upright position for better reception. Easily Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Larry: In case you missed my post from last week, I’ve started the Couch to 5K running plan. Or as a few of us at Gear Diary have turned to calling it, the “Blogger’s Chair to 5K” running plan. This running program helps you get from doing little or no exercise to running a full 3.1 miles in 9 weeks. Each week I’ll be updating the site with a post about the program, how the week went, some of the gear I used and more. Surprise #1: After I posted my initial article I got messages from both Dan and… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

At long last Steam has officially arrived for the Mac – and rather than just announce it, I figured I’d give you some quick impressions after using it to download and play a few games. For those who are not aware, Steam is a digital download, automated patch management, and multiplayer matchmaking service … and more. From Valve’s ‘About Steam’: Steam, the world’s largest online gaming platform. Steam turns any PC (and soon any Mac) into a gaming powerhouse by providing instant access to a huge library of titles, and by automatically keeping a user’s games completely up to date. With an active user-base of over 25 million, Steam also connects gamers with each other Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Image from Crunchgear Have you recently been in GameStop and bought a used game? Or perhaps you belong to a used game trading site like Goozex? If so … YOU are the enemy of the gaming industry! At least according to Blitz Games Studios’ co-founder Andrew Oliver in an article at Develop-Online: In fact, Blitz Games Studios co-founder Andrew Oliver believes that piracy is not the biggest problem facing the game industry, but instead one part of a bigger, underlying issue; lost revenues. “Arguably the bigger problem on consoles now is the trading in of games,” he tells Develop. “I understand why players do this, games are expensive and after a few Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Two Worlds II, the sequel to the 2007 open-world RPG that is regarded as being full of promise but held back by an over-ambitious design, mediocre console port, and lousy multiplayer implementation, is getting a sequel, announced for release on September 14th. Here is the text of the announcement: SouthPeak Interactive Invites You To Take Up Arms And Return to the World of Antaloor in Two Worlds II™ on September 14 The Long Anticipated Second Chapter of the Epic Fantasy Series Dated for Consoles and Windows PC this Fall MIDLOTHIAN, Va.–SouthPeak Interactive Corporation (OTC BB: SOPK) and TopWare Interactive today confirmed that Two Worlds II™, the second installment in the hit fantasy role-playing game Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Via cnet news. A post over on cnet News caught my eye this morning because it celebrated the 50th birthday of the LASER. The article begins Fifty years ago Saturday, a Hughes Labs researcher named Theodore Maiman changed the world. That day, Maiman became the first person on Earth to build a working laser, something that colleagues at a number of other companies and institutions had been feverishly trying to do for months or even years. That’s right, it was just 50 years ago this Saturday that the Light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation or LASER was invented. That is a big deal. Why? Because that technology makes so many of the things we Continue reading on Gear Diary …