Larry: Week 5 done! Only four more weeks to go before Judie and I are officially 5K runners. Judie: W00t! Larry: This week the workout schedule got a little different, and we were both in for a little shock when we took a look at the schedule. Instead of like previous weeks where each of the three weekly workouts were exactly the same, during week 6 all three were different… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Welcome back to the GearGames weekly video game release feature here at Gear Diary! The end of this week sees the release of the sequel to the Pixar franchise Toy Story 3, and of course there is a video game based on the movie coming to every platform. My kids were small enough to watch the ‘Buzz Lightyear’ animated series when it was new, and we had fun with Zurg and the LGMs, and are all looking forward to this one. The Nintendo DS sees the release of the 100 Books Collection, which is a cartridge with 100 public domain books formatted for the handheld. Personally I’d love to have seen them set up a… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

I’ve tried them- RSS readers for the iPad that is. Seriously… I have tried pretty much every RSS reader that is available for the iPad. Why? Because the iPad is the perfect platform for catching up on numerous feeds quickly and easily and I don’t love the Google Reader web interface. Yes, I’ve tried them all and have been disappointed in all of them for one reason or another. In the end I started using the iPhone app Reeder and applying the “pixel-doubling” to it. The text and images weren’t the ebst but the RSS reader had everything I wanted feature-wise, was super stable and synced with Google Reader faster… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Are you old enough to remember the “mix-tape?” Popular in the 80s, these cassettes tapes were made by friends and loved ones and contained a mixture of songs that reminded the person making the tape of the one receiving it. With technology advancing at a rapid pace it’s becoming harder and harder to find cassette players. My car no longer has one. Most of my audio playing is done via an iPod so that’s out. A do have a CD player around the house but it doesn’t have a tape option either. So what to do with all those old memories? The Grace Tape2USB plugs into one of your computer’s available USB ports… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Since there are no specific Droid armbands, I had to get creative to find a way to carry my bulky phone while I run. A bit of google-fu led to some posts over on Droid Forums about iPhone and iPod Touch cases holding the Droid reasonably well. I’ve been using a Belkin Dualfit for the last few weeks. How does it stack up as a Droid case? Read on to find out! First of all, the Droid is a heavy phone. It’s fine when you’re carrying it in a pocket, but on your arm you definitely notice the weight… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Earlier this month I had a chance to review one of the most unique bags I’ve come across, the Feuerwear Scott Laptop bag, which is made from recycled fire hose. Feuerwear was also kind enough to send along one of their Jack Vertical bags after I mentioned that I thought it would be the perfect fit for the Apple iPad. I prefer vertical style bags to the more traditional horizontal briefcase or messenger style. Vertical bags just seem easier to carry and they’re more of an “eye-catcher.” The Jack is no exception. Since each Jack bag is handmade, you’ll select the exact color and style you want to receive on the Feuerwear… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Yesterday I mentioned that Steam was having a big Bethesda Software sale – and that is a pretty big deal! At the same time I knew that the Mac version of Team Fortress 2 was *supposed* to launch, but given it has already seen a couple of delays I wanted to be sure it showed up and installed on my Mac before I said anything. Well … Team Fortress 2 *IS* out for the Mac NOW! And, to celebrate the release, Valve is having a couple of special deals: All weekend long you can download and play Team Fortress 2 for FREE! Free Weekend – Play Team Fortess 2 until for FREE Continue reading on Gear Diary …

I love items that are custom-made. I love custom suits. I love custom shirts. I even like the custom skin I made for my iPad. But I never thought I would get a chance to use and review a pair of custom headphones. Well, thanks to JHAudio I’ve had just that opportunity. For the last week and a half I have been using their JH5 custom in-ear monitors. The monitors were custom-made from molds of my ears. Does it make a difference? Let’s take a look. But first… let’s look at the steps it took to get them made. From JHAudio- The original, and still Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Apologies in advance, but we are about to change hosts, and you may notice some wonkiness with the site today as the move is made. Expect to see everything back up and running properly in the next 24 hours, or as soon as everything resolves. You’ll know if you are on the new host if you no longer see the “Old Host” notation in our footer. More on the WHY later … Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Ever wanted to design your own jewelry but don’t know where to start? Well, you no longer need to pore over the aisles at the craft store–just jump online at gemkitty.com and design your own earrings! Next week GemKitty is introducing their custom earring platform that allows users to customize a pair of earrings with five different styles, two quality metals, and over seventy real semi-precious gemstones. I was able to preview the site and it’s super easy to use–just a few clicks allows you to set your style, select from sterling silver or 14K gold filled findings, and choose the different gemstones for your earrings. The looks are… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

OK, this seems like a rather blatant ploy to get folks to ‘Like’ them on Facebook … with the also rather obvious intent of increasing their marketing exposure. But since we know WHY they are doing this, let’s look at what we get in exchange: WildTangent Games You asked for it and we listened…on Monday, June 14 at 3PM PST we will be giving away a free unlock code for FATE to all of our Facebook followers! Invite your friends to join our page so they can get a free copy of FATE too! Visit this page for details: So what *IS* Fate? Well, it was made by some folks (Travis Baldree in particular) who… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Call it a simple misunderstanding or an experiment in the power of the new social media, but General Motors quickly found out yesterday just how fast and wide a wildfire of emotion can spread electronically. No sooner did word come out from the General that anyone with corporate connections needs to shy away from using the nickname “Chevy” than the interwebs heated up to a frenzy level calling this decision anywhere from a bad choice to downright un-American. Wow, Chrysler did not get this much guff when they told everyone last year they had to start calling their pickup a Ram instead of a Dodge. I guess the next memo will notify us to… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Here’s a deal I don’t expect we’ll see staying around for very long… The Samsung 320MP-2 LCD monitor is a 32″ monitor. It features two built-in speakers, a built-in fan and temp sensor with connectors:. Its wide range of connectivity include VGA, DVI, CVBS, HDMI, BNC and component. The monitor also features 1366×768 resolution (720p), 40,000:1 dynamic contrast ratio, 500 cd/m2 and 8ms response time. It is an impressive monitor that has an MSRP os $589. Online you can find it for as low as $478 but our GearSponsor has found a deal that offers a special coupon code that will bring the price all the way down to just $289.99. That even includes… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

When I was first contacted by 7pipe about reviewing one of their products, I sent an email out to the Gear Diary team asking if any of them were smokers; assuming one of them was, I asked if  this might be a product they would be interested in. I’ll admit that I was a bit surprised (albeit impressed) when none responded affirmatively. Because I thought the 7pipe to be an interesting piece of engineering, I figured I might as well take a look at it myself. I am not going to call this a full review, because I didn’t actually load the bowl and smoke anything (I’m not a smoker, either!). And before we… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

I recently posted about the new ‘digital pre-order packs’ from Bethesda for the highly anticipated upcoming game Fallout: New Vegas. Turns out they are going a step further, offering all of their previous ‘Game of the Year’ collections for amazing cheap prices! The image above tells the whole story, but here is a breakdown: The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind GotY: includes Tribunal and Bloodmoon expansions, on sale for $5.00! The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion GotY: includes all nine DLC (Fighter’s Stronghold Expansion, Knights of the Nine Quest, Spell Tome Treasures, Vile Lair, Mehrune’s Razor, The Thieves Den, Wizard’s Tower, Orrery, and the infamous Horse Armor Pack ), on sale for $8.50!… Continue reading on Gear Diary …