Longtime Gear Diary sponsor Skooba Design is offering a deal:  buy one of their red, white, or blue Neo-Skin iPad/Netbook sleeves, and get a second one for free.  (Red, white, and blue; fourth of July — you got that, right?) The Skooba Neo-Skin has an MSRP of $19.95, and in these lean times everyone needs to save some change.  So if you’re looking for an iPad or netbook sleeve, surf on over to Skooba Design and check it out. Continue reading on Gear Diary …

(image courtesy CNN) If the jetpack I told you about isn’t really your speed, what about a flying car? It’s called the Transition Roadable Aircraft, and it will run you around $194,000 (plus your pilot’s license!) What’s amazing is that this isn’t really a traditional “flying car”, at least not in the DeLorean sense. Instead, it’s more like a plane that can fold up and drive home. Might be tough to use it in your everyday life, unless you have an extra-large driveway at home. Supposedly, it’s going to be a fairly versatile plane-car (plar? clane?): Going from plane to car “takes about the same amount of time as putting down your convertible top,” and the Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Looks like Fictionwise is becoming more obsolete by the day. During the spring they discontinued their membership program in the face of the agency pricing changes. Now it looks like “micropay rebates”, the last bastion of their old system, is being discontinued. Micropay rebates were essentially an incentive program to shop at Fictionwise on an ongoing basis. You earned the rebate credits for books you purchased and could apply them towards other transactions on the site. Effectively, the rebates significantly lowered the overall cost of buying through Fictionwise, even if the individual items were not cheaper. Specifically, Fictionwise says: Until June 2010 Fictionwise had a Micropay System that allowed deposits by members and supported micropay rebate Continue reading on Gear Diary …

If you’ve got an iPad, some of the first things you probably considered after purchasing it were how to protect the screen from scratches and how to protect the device from bumps and dings. Here at Gear Diary we are having fun exploring all the options, and this latest — the M-Edge Flip Jacket for Apple iPad — will appeal to anyone who likes simple, clean lines and a no-nonsense stenographer’s flip-top notebook style. Constructed from black, Scotch-Guard treated canvas with smooth, tan leather trim, the Flip Jacket uses a 1/2″ strip of elastic to keep the case securely closed. The black canvas looks business-like, but be advised that it will snag every bit of… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

I carry my iPad with me pretty much everywhere I go these days. That means I need a good case… and a good bag. Tom Bihn was kind enough to send me one of their Ristretto bags. The Ristretto was originally designed for carrying netbooks but it works perfectly as an iPad bag. As soon as you look at the bag you are struck by the realization that this is a bag that was designed for use in the real world. It is relatively light when empty which is a good thing because part of the attraction of carrying the iPad instead of a netbook is the reduced weight. As you put items into… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Back in April I told you about the Native Union Moshi Moshi 01.   The sleek and sophisticated handsfree unit allow the users to make and receive mobile calls while experiencing the ease of comfort of a landline base. Native Union is out with the next release in the Moshi Moshi line.  The Moshi Moshi 03 draws from the original 01 unit but now adds Bluetooth into the fold.  And it’s not your regular old Bluetooth stack either.  The 03 uses a multipoint chip which allows two Bluetooth devices to be paired to it simultaneously.  At home I paired the o3 up with both my iPhone 4 and my iMac.  When a… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

How many times have you had to plan a project whether at work or home and best illustrated using a flow chart?  I know many times I have mapped out my plans in this form on a scratch piece of paper.  Instaviz makes this mind mapping possible on your iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad using a slick, yet simple interface.  The charts or maps you create will look professional and are customizable and quickly created.  Share your project easily with colleagues or friends right from the app.  Lets take a look at Instaviz and give you a chance to win a copy for yourself. Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Yup, the iPhone 4 and iOS 4.0 have only been out a few days (and just today, if you didn’t pre-order), but you can bet your favorite pair of glittery socks that the app developers haven’t been sitting on their hands since the 4.0 SDK became available.  And as part of the major iPhone 4/iOS 4.0 app rollout that you’re probably seeing everywhere right now, G5 has introduced their first pair of games compatible with the new New NEW hardware and software: Paranormal Agency (MSRP $2.99) Mahjongg Artifacts (MSRP ($2.99) So if you’re looking for new iOS 4 games, maybe it’s time to surf on over and check them Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Amazon is going to take over the world someday…one airport at a time. In addition to online and your local Target, you can now pick up a Kindle at select airports! Now you won’t be stuck browsing mass market paperbacks and old “People” magazines if your flight gets delayed! This has the potential to be incredibly disruptive in the ebook market. Imagine being on the fence about a Kindle, but you find one being sold right before a long flight. All it takes is five minutes with the wireless on and you’re stocked for a month of reading. No computer, no activation, just buy and use. The airport is the perfect place to sell Kindles, especially at their… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

One of the big news items for the release of the iPhone 4 was the availability of iMovie, so that you amateur filmmakers can create and edit your own short films.  (And it is cool; an Apple employee yesterday was showing me a film he had made with it.)  But that doesn’t mean the audiophile end of the (ahem) spectrum is being neglected. The DopplerPad iPhone app is an audio track creation and engineering app, and a group of nerds (and I mean that in only the best way) called Retronyms teamed up with a bunch of musicians (see below for the complete list) to produce an EP with it… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

At home I use a 27 inch iMac. I love the huge display. Having that amount of “screen real estate” makes it possible for me to have numerous windows open at the same time. That in turn allows me to work in a more fluid manner than might otherwise. With the iMac I can have not one, not two but three different browser windows open at the same time. Or if I’m writing a post for the site I can have the website for the item I’m reviewing open on one side of the screen and the window in which I’m writing a post on the other. Being away from my iMac for a few weeks… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Ooma, the company that makes the stand alone VOiP phone system that lets you buy the hardware once and then make and receive free calls for the life of the unit, has finally released the iPhone app we first told you about in January. The app lets you “put Ooma in your pocket and take it on the go!” As the company explains– Ooma Mobile allows you to make phone calls over Wi-Fi using your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad. Since these calls go over Wi-Fi instead of the cellular network, you can transform devices like your iPod touch and iPad into a fully functioning phone and make phone calls anywhere you have Wi-Fi access Continue reading on Gear Diary …

From the YouTube files comes this video every Apple fan boy will love, and even perhaps some non fanboys too. An Apple a day…Take a look at the design and progression of Apple computers from the Apple II to the current models. This video shows the computers I’ve kept for one reason or another morphing from one design to the next. It’s a little over 30 years in a little over 2 minutes. Sadly, it doesn’t include many iconic Apple products (Apple IIc, Apple IIgs, Quadra etc), only the machines I’ve personally owned or acquired over the years. Okay Apple users, how many of these machines have you owned?  Leave me a comment… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Last week I reviewed the Chrome Vega Utility Bag. I’ve become a fan of it due to its versatility and functionality. I can not tell you the number of times I’ve purchased an expensive gear bag because I thought it “looked” cool only to find it didn’t hold all of my gear, or made retrieving said gear impossible etc. Chrome takes on a philosophy of function first. If an item isn’t needed on one of their bags they simply do not include it. This makes all of their bags extremely comfortable to wear and makes getting to your gear when you need to a breeze. One of Chrome’s… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

For years I’ve insisted that the reason I don’t have carpal tunnel problems in my mousing wrist is because I carefully adjust the height of my chair armrest, and rest my forearm on the arm-rest, decreasing the chances of a bent wrist.  Well now someone at Belkin has obviously decided to give me a hand with their Arm Rested Mouse Pad for Table and Chair, just one of the items that they’re introducing this week. What else are they introducing?  The full list: USB 3.0 Adapter (Micro B male to A male) USB 3.0 Adapter (A Female to Micro B male) USB 3.0 Adapter (Micro B Continue reading on Gear Diary …