Alphasmart NEO Portable Electronic Keyboard It has a full-size keyboard so it is definitely not pocketable and a sports a 5.75″ x 1.5″ Mono Liquid Crystal display which shows a “generous” 2 to 6 lines of type. It has a whopping 512K memory. It runs on 3 AA batteries. It has no ability to connect to the internet. Finally, to get “all this,”  you’ll have to pay a little more than half the price of a bargain Netbook. No, you haven’t just accidentally stumbled on a review from the Gear Diary Archives. This amazing little piece of retro tech is currently available… and it just might be one of the best digital Continue reading on Gear Diary …

I spend a lot of time on my own.  My family is in Austin, but I work in Sunnyvale, leaving me with a two-week period where I’m, in essence, a bachelor who doesn’t date.  So when I’m in Sunnyvale, I revert to my true nerd state, spending extra time at work, obsessing over work-related details, making a nuisance of myself to workmates, writing posts for Gear Diary, and chatting incessantly about gadgets and tech.  By the time I get back to my room, I’m usually so beat that I just flop down on my bed (after inhaling some food), and watch a video, read a book, or play a game on my iPhone.  Usually it’s a… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Photo courtesy of ABC News© We don’t talk much about politics here at Gear Diary.  It’s not our thing.  We’re geeks and nerds here, not PoliSci majors.  We like to talk about the positive side of tech. But every once in a while, tech news and politics do bleed into each other.  One of the classics is Net Neutrality, of course.  Gizmodo being raided by the police for purchasing an allegedly stolen device.  Early in my career, encryption software being treated as equivalent to a munition was a hot topic.  You get the idea. Since 9/11, a lot of… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Our winner was Emily Santos! Congratulations! If you didn’t win, keep tuned to Gear Diary for more great giveaways and prizes! If you missed the contest, check out the full review of the Mobile Edge Evo Backpack here!… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

I’m always happy to write up news items that come equipped with their own goofy wordplay (e.g., Ballz for iPad), and Sauce Digital has kindly obliged the 12 year-old in me with their new iPhone app, Space Balls. Obviously not just named, but also designed to appeal to that 12 year-old boy in everyone (yes, even women!), it has all the accouterments:  ”badass baddies,” adventure, explosions, and (it should go without saying) lots of . . . ahem . . . balls.  Coming soon to an iTunes store near you at an MSRP of a single, measly dollar. Sauce Digital announces Space Balls, their latest game for iPhone and iPod Touch. The game is Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Although I don’t own a Sonos system, it’s something that I’ve considered purchasing several times in the past. Sonos’ wireless, multi-room music system keeps getting more tempting, too, by adding new features, including streaming services and an iPhone app. Wolfgang’s Vault, on the other hand, I’ve been using for a while.  (In fact, you can find a couple of Gear Diary posts about it here and here.)  Drawing from the archives of the late Bill Graham, Wolfgang’s Vault contains decades of concert recordings from artists including Bruce Springsteen, David Bowie, James Taylor, Bob Dylan, The Doors, Elton John, Led Zeppelin, Queen, Tom Petty, U2…  you get the… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

I’ve been finding myself using the “snap-on-back-cover” style of case with my iPad more and more lately. I prefer the ease at which this style case allows me access to the iPad’s screen. There’s no cover to peel back and no annoying tab to push out of the way. The Speck SeeThru SATIN case has quickly become one of my favorite cases from this genre. The SATIN is made from a soft, grippy material. If you’re familiar with the See-Thru SATIN for the iPhone 3Gs, imagine it, just on a much larger scale. It’s fairly light-weight at 9.0 ounces and is available in three color variations, Black, Blue and Purple… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

One piece of the puzzle for a complete Droid X hack has fallen in place after only one week. Owners of the Droid X may now have root privileges on their phone.   Root privileges mean that you can modify any portion of the system area of your device., meaning in part that you can remove ROM built-in apps like the Blockbuster Application or the included games.  The thanks for this go mostly to a hacker known as birdman. The hack uses the same security vulnerability that has before been used to hack the European version of the Droid, the Milestone. It takes advantage of a vulnerability found in Udev, which is… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Say what you will about iTunes and the electronic age’s impact on music and the music industry but one thing is clear – they have been great about is giving talented people exposure long before they might come to the attention of agents, scouts and record labels. That’s the case with Applegirl, who caught the world’s attention with her rendition of Lady Gaga’s Poker Face performed with nothing more than a number of iPhones. Over three million views later she has a contract with a record company. Pretty neat. Then there is Ben, one of my students and an aspiring musician. I’ve watched Ben grow up and… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Sometimes the simplest gadget can be one of the best, or at least most useful! That’s been the case with the Scosche flipSYNC USB Charge and Sync Cable for iPod and iPhone that I reviewed back at the beginning of June. The small piece of plastic has a permanent place on my key-ring now and has already come in handy a few times. Always having a cable for my iPhone and touch with me is a huge help… and it means I no longer have to keep a long iPhone cable in my bag when I am out and about. Unfortunately a number of my devices, such as my Livescribe Echo Smartpen, are… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

It seems that almost daily, I am finding new and exciting ways to use my iPhone or iPad to increase productivity or bring enjoyment into my life.  My love for the guitar has been expressed many times through my reviews and news releases and these devices are increasingly becoming more integrated in this infatuation of mine.  IK Media has just released a new product to combine your iDevice and electric guitar to create a complete mobile jam rig.  The developers were gracious enough to let me take a look at this new product. The iRig is a small… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Here is an early draft of the email I sent to Apple accessory-maker TwelveSouth yesterday after opening their new Compass Mobile Stand for the Apple iPad. My name is Dan Cohen and I am one of Gear Diary’s Editors. I just bought a Compass and will be reviewing soon. It is by far one of, if not the, best accessories I have bought/received for my iPad. Beautifully built, thoughtfully designed and a great price-point. Well done. Dan Cohen Sent from my iPhone It kinda says it all… but why not read the rest of this review anyway? Continue reading on Gear Diary …

I love social media. I tweet. I run a website. I have a Facebook page. Gear Diary has two Facebook pages. But sometimes … sometimes it just goes too far. Sometimes people lose site of the public nature of these things … or maybe it is just that they don’t use good judgment. Regardless of the reasons, let me tell you a story… Two couples I know divorced earlier this year; ironically they were finalized on the same day, but in each case I had no idea that their marriages were even in trouble, that they had separated, or that they had been divorced until after the fact. Both of these women are Facebook Friends, and they… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

The more things change, the more some things seem to stay the same. Take Nissan’s Titan fullsize pickup. When first introduced it bowed with the highest power in the half-ton segment nearly eight years ago and was one of the first to offer more than four gears in an automatic. As we approach the arrival of the 2011 model vehicles on the lot, Titan has fallen nearly to the back of the pack. It is still a robust truck but Nissan has been putting most of its attention of late into the smaller spectrum of the lineup leaving the fullsize models Titan pickup and Armada fullsize sport ute a bit long in the tooth. Hope may be… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Amazon, Kobo, and Borders have all weighed in with their ebook apps for Android, and now it’s B&N’s turn. They’ve rebranded all their reader apps to “nook”, and finally they’ve released the nook app for Android. Right from the start, the nook app and I didn’t get off on the right foot. It almost froze the marketplace trying to download! As it turns out, it’s because the file is a whopping 17.69 megabytes! For reference, I have two games on my Droid (Replica Island and HSN Shootout) that are fairly graphic-intense. They clock in at 5.40mb and 13.47mb, respectively. The other ebook apps on… Continue reading on Gear Diary …