[image courtesy of clintonfitch.com] Our pal Clinton Fitch is a huge Formula One Racing fan.  Huuuuuge. So when the F1 2010 Timing App for iPhone and iPad came out, you bet he installed it and put it through its paces.    Since most of the races are in Europe and Asia, and Clinton lives a busy life filled with travel he needed the app to keep him up to date and watch those races.  Does the F1 app make the grade? If you are a Formula One fan and want to enjoy a full action packed racing season no matter where you are, jump… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

RadTech is one of my favorite accessory companies.  Why?  Because they’re smart.  The company doesn’t take the “throw some spaghetti at the wall and see what sticks” approach to marketing.  Meaning, they don’t make a thousand items and hope that one or two of them sell well.  What they actually do is carefully decide what the consumer wants and needs, and then, only then, do they bring an item to market.  This keeps their inventory of stocked items new, innovative and always exciting. The company recently sent me a few items to review, the first of which we’ll look at today. The RadSleevz is a form-fitting sleeve for the iPad.  It comes in 6 colors… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

As I have mentioned before I am a huge fan and supporter of small-shop indie RPGs, and have also been able to help out by beta-testing games for Spiderweb Software for the past several years. As the last Avernum game released, Spiderweb’s Jeff Vogel announced that a new property would be announced this year. That time has come – the new game world coming from Spiderweb Software is Avadon: The Black Fortress, and is due early next year. Spiderweb Software brings you Avadon: The Black Fortress, the first chapter in a new, epic fantasy saga. You will serve the keep of Avadon, working as a spy and warrior to fight the enemies of your homeland. As Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Normally I like to be light and jokey for the news items, but recalls because of danger–particularly with toys–can be scary business.  So rather than make jokes about Saturday Night Live or something, I’m just going to give it to y’all straight: Toy (or “sundries,” as they say) maker Maxfield and Oberton has issued a recall notice for their popular Buckyballs magnetic toy.  The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission has found that the toy is a swallowing hazard for children; two kids have swallowed the magnets, but not been injured.  Still, the notice has been issued. Full information below. FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE May 27, 2010 Release #10-251 Firm’s Recall Hotline: (888) 847-8716 Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Evernote has been rapidly expanding their various partnerships and the ways in which it integrates with various iPhone apps to create a seamless system for capturing, and later accessing, all kinds of information. One of those apps, Egretlist, ($2.99)  is a bit different. It is the first app that was actually designed from the ground up to be integrated with Evernote. In fact, that is how the app got its name. How so? Well Evernote’s symbol is the elephant head and the Egret is a bird that rides on top of an elephant’s head. In the same way, this app adds a layer that rides on top of Evernote to turn it into a simple but powerful task… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

When you use a laptop as your main machine, we all know how sore you can get after hunching over the non ergonomic keyboard, toiling away on e-mails in your hotel room while on a business trip.  Well, no more.  Artwizz has brought out their new AluStand that is styled to give your laptop a lift and give you a place to put your external keyboard if your brought one with you.  The whole thing collapses down small enough to put in your suitcase when you head out on your next trip.  Artwizz’s AluStand is only about $37.00 direct from Artwizz. Update: US Customers will want to order this through Harmonic Inversion’s site.  US… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

I saw a Barnes and Noble nook in the flesh for the first time this week. (I bought one when released but sold it without opening the box.) I was impressed. Seriously, I loved the hardware and could definitely see myself using one. The only problem is… I have a huge number of books that I purchased through Amazon and Kindle books won’t work on the nook (and nook books won’t work on the Kindle.) Currently if you have books that you purchased through one but a new eReader that you would love to buy comes out on the other you either have to pass on the eReader or buy all new books. That might be fine if you… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Remember the old fashion Good Humor Ice Cream Trucks? Me too… Remember when the highlight of the day occurred when that specific jingle would fill the air? Me too… Remember when, a few minutes later, that yummy push-up-pop filled your tummy? Me too… Remember when you thought, “I wish I could also buy a t-shirt and a custom iPhone case from the truck?” Nope, me either but that is pretty much what you’ll be able to do this summer if you live in Los Angeles only with Coolhaus’ custom ice cream sandwiches instead of pushup pops. The t-shirts will come Blood Is The New Black and the iPhone cases from Case-Mate (I Make Continue reading on Gear Diary …

We are spending a few days up in the mountains. It is beautiful. It is peaceful. It is a great place to get some work done. Only problem is… The cell reception here is terrible and our landline costs a fortune. Luckily I still have my subscription to the Line2 VoIP app and it works great. Seriously the call quality is fantastic, and it is what I am using constantly up here. Better still, if your iDevice is jailbroken, then you can leave the app running and receive calls on it. Well an update just hit my iPad and iPhone, and it brings a nice surprise with it… The… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

It is small, portable and ready for play. The Alienware m11x is an 11.6″ gaming notebook that comes in Cosmic Black or Lunar Silver. The base specs offer a Pentium Dual-core SU4100 processor running at 1.3GHz, 2GB DDR3, a 160GB Hard Drive, a 720p WLED LCD, 5.1ch Audio, a 1.3MP Webcam, 1GB GeForce GT 335M and Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit OS. It can, of course, be customized to your liking. This configuration has an MSRP of $799 but our Gear Sponsor has found a coupon for $100 off. That brings the price to just $699 which includes FREE shipping. But hurry… this deal ends May 31. If Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Diner Dash is so ubiquitous that I imagine that most of y’all have already hear of it, and probably have played it at least a little, so I’ll spare you any long-winded discussions and stick to the point. In brief, PlayFirst, in anticipation of the European and Japanese release of the iPad, is putting out a “localized” version (that technonerd speak for “translated”) of Diner Dash: Grilling Greens.  The new version will be available in the Romance Languages (French, Italian, Spanish), as well as German and Japanese.  PlayFirst has put out a YouTube video to give you a taste. Diner Dash: Grilling Greens is available for $4.99 through the iTunes store… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

If you use Evernote and access it through either Google Chrome or Safari we have some great news for you. Now Evernote Web now lets you drag and drop files from your desktop into notes. Seriously, you just grab a file from your desktop, drag it into the browser (the left-hand notebook panel) and… bam! It uploads and creates a new note. It is a great way to easily get new files into your Evernote account. I just tried it and it works well; you can check it out at Evernote.com.… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

So you say you have a 27 inch iMac, and you’ve been wondering why the heck you can’t hook it up to your new Blu-Ray player, or your Xbox, or your PlayStation?  Well the folks at Kanex have been wondering the same thing, but since they have engineers and manufacturing facilities, they’ve been able to do something about it.  For your nerdly pleasure, they’re offering the new Kanex XD, which allows you to, as they say, “connect any HDMI source, such as the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and a Blu-Ray player, to an Apple iMac 27-inch. This HDMI to Mini DisplayPort Converter won MacWorld “Best of Show” 2010.” Available for your viewing and… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

M-Edge has a wide variety of case options out for the iPad.  We’ve had the chance to review a few of them already, but their Executive Jacket might be the most sophisticated of the bunch.  The book style case is available in 2 synthetic leather colors and 6 authentic leather colors; it features a four-point harness for mounting your iPad inside the case. Whether you’re in a board room, office, meeting or just off to school this case seeks to be your go-to, offering the protection you need with the style you want. I was sent a Black version of the authentic leather to review by M-Edge.  As… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Just over a month ago I wrote about the special launch-day deal Amazon.com was having on the MP3 version of Jeff Beck’s new Emotion & Commotion CD. Over the last six weeks I’ve kept the CD on my iPod in heavy rotation. Needless to say I have found something to like in the first studio release in seven years from the 65-year old legendary guitarist. At the same time, this is also my least favorite Jeff Beck release since his early 90′s rockabilly outing Crazy Legs. Let me give a bit of background and then dig into a song-by-song review. The Hype: Grammy-winning guitarist Jeff Beck’s new album Emotion & Commotion today sees it… Continue reading on Gear Diary …