The FREETALK Handsfree is… Ground breaking audio, the only headset you’ll ever need. In collaboration with Skype and MWM Mobile Products, a world leading ODM supplier of in-ear monitors, FREETALK has created the first Skype Certified super wideband in-ear headset. This sound isolating headphone delivers crisp, detailed sound with a significant base not usually associated with small diameter headphones. Multi-platform compatibility and a detachable super wide band microphone completes this great all around product. It is Skype Certified and offers excellent sound isolation and is compatible with PCs, Macs, iPhones®, iPods®, iPads™ and any 3.5mm jack audio. The kit includes a travel case, cleaning gel, a range of ear plugs and PC adaptors… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Image courtesy of ArsTechnica Many times I have mentioned that games today are relatively cheap – especially in light of my memory of paying $60 for a Sega Genesis game for my brother-in-law nearly 25 years ago! And that is exactly the point of a new article at ArsTechnica, which calls it an ‘inconvenient truth’ that game prices have actually fallen over time. From the article: During one of our discussions on the issue of game pricing, we tracked down a press release putting the suggested retail price of both Mario 64 and Pilotwings 64 at $69.99. Halpin says that the N64 launch game pricing only tells you part of the story Continue reading on Gear Diary …

I get packages with review items on an almost daily basis. That means there are numerous things to unbox and open each and every week. Sometimes the packages are easy to open. Other times they are not. For both types of packages Zibra’s Open It! looks like an interesting solution for quickly, and safely, opening pretty much any kind of package. With the gift-giving season on the way it couldn’t be a better time to highlight a product like this. Open It! is… left hand compatible and features five useful tools including a cutting jaw, steel blade, slicer, removable screwdriver and bottle cap opener [and features] • Cut It: Long cutting jaws cut quickly Continue reading on Gear Diary …

The funny thing is that just the other day I was researching trench coats at Nordstrom, Macy’s, Bloomingdale’s, PiperLime and Neiman Marcus. It turns out that finding a trench coat which isn’t too long, isn’t too rumply, is cute yet also true-to-size, isn’t ugly, has a pretty pop of color, and one which doesn’t inexplicably cost $900.00+ isn’t as easy to do as I thought it would or should be. Well, maybe I should just wait, because I have received word that SeV will be introducing a women’s trench in… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

One of my favorite and most used guitar apps is TabToolkit from Agile Partners.  I love the ability to search, download and read guitar tabs on my iPhone and iPad.  The application actually knows when a tab is available on the page and will download and store it with a simple tap.  As great as this app is, a huge update just went live in the app store.  This is a considerable update to an already amazing app.  Click here to read a full review of TabToolkit. Some of the new features: Guitar Pro 6 file format Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Fans of high-end cell phones know that Vertu has been making luxury handsets for a number of years.  The company just announced its next offering, the Constellation Quest and it features a QWERTY keyboard, making it the first Vertu device to offer one.  I think we have a new contender for the race to become Judie’s next phone – she’s been a fan and a user of Vertu for some time now. The Constellation Quest is crafted from matte or polished stainless steel or 18-karat gold with a leatherback and sapphire crystal or stainless steel keys. The handset also includes Vertu City Brief, a location-based concierge application that… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Our Gear Sponsor has just tracked down a rare $200 off Coupon Code from the HP direct store on a Core i7 HP ENVY 14 14.5″ Laptop. That makes for a great Gear Deal for anyone looking to get a sleek powerhouse of a laptop with awesome specs. The ENVY 14 is one of the thinnest and lightest quad-core Laptops for its size, measuring 1.1-inch thin and 5.25 pounds. Also features ATI Mobility Radeon discrete/switchable graphics, Beats Audio, up to 13.75 hours battery life, backlit keyboard, slot-loading optical drive built-in, HP TrueVision HD webcam, mini DisplayPort, HDMI, optional WWAN/3G, up to 256GB Solid State drive. Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Over the last three years I’ve run over 50 road races. From local 5-Ks to finishing 12 full marathons and every other distance in between. If there’s on thing that all of the races have in common, besides the running, it’s the “race-shirt.” For as long as I can remember road races have always rewarded their participants with a t-shirt which not only commemorated the event but also allowed for sponsors to get their names out to the public too. As you can probably imagine with all the running I’ve done I’ve accumulated a lot of t-shirts. For a long time they sat in my basement storage area tucked away inside a few rubber crates… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

When my wife Elana finally let go of her Palm Centro and made the move to BlackBerry she grabbed an iSkin case I had lying around to protect the handset. More than a year later I can’t get her to try another case. She loves it. She loves the simplicity, the great protection it offers and the way it feels in her hand. I can’t disagree. iSkin’s cases tend to be high quality, rather simple affairs that get the job done and, in the process, add a bit of style and color. I’ve been checking out a few of iSkins new iPhone 4 and iPad cases and I am rather impressed. Today we’ll take a… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Just over six months ago I posted that Good Old Games had brought the classic Betrayal at Krondor to fans for $5.99. Now they have sweetened the deal – they are adding Betrayal in Antara to the “Betrayal at Krondor pack” and keeping the price at $5.99. Even better, if you already bought Betrayal at Krondor, you will see a ‘Bought – Re-Download’ icon on the game page that will direct you to your account where you can grab the full pack (i.e. both games) for FREE! Here is the description: Betrayal in Antara is a role-playing game that uses an updated version of Krondor’s engine. It isn’t a sequel, however, as its Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Like many of you, I rely heavily on my laptop. Even with an iPad, I use my MacBook Pro all day and every evening. As much as I love this computer, one thing that totally annoys me is the speakers. It is not that I expect theater sound and booming bass, but half of the time I just cannot hear. When I am watching Hulu or Netflix I want to know what is being said and not strain to be able to pay attention. I have tried many laptop speaker solutions, but the Philips Notebook SoundBar is a clever and unique speaker product. Let’s take a look. Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Scoche’s switchBACK g4 is a neat polycarbonate case with interchangeable backs for the iPhone 4 that it includes a kickstand back in gloss black that makes it easy to do FaceTime video conferencing or viewing media in landscape handsfree. (It also includes two smooth backs in Dark Chrome and Blue Chrome.) The case has an MSRP of $34.99 and can be ordered on Scosche’s Website. We had one to give away… …and the winner of the case is Emily Santos And what did Emily say are the pros and cons of the iPhone 4- What I like about iPhone 4 1) The Retina Display: With earlier models, I Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Amazon today announced their “Kindle Singles” program for longer than “short” stories but shorter than full length novel type works. What’s fascinating (and great) about this program is that it’s a trojan horse of sorts that further positions Amazon as a publishing house replacement. It’s very hard to publish novellas as independent works. They aren’t long enough to justify printing and binding just for the one work, so you either need several stories or have an existing reputation to get your work into a larger anthology. Even then, short stories can be tough sells in traditional form…so Amazon swooping in with this program makes perfect sense. This is practically tailor-made for ebooks, where you don’t have… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

A few months ago I had a prolonged layover coming home from a business trip, and coincidentally my wife had an afternoon class she was teaching canceled so she was home. As a result, we took the opportunity to chat for quite a while and catch up on the stuff we never got to talk about during the week. By the time I hung up my ears were quite uncomfortable from pressing my Droid against my head for so long! Now Yanko Design has a solution for just that type of problem: Earos! These ear cushions easily slide over most cell phones without blocking the speaker, allowing you to hear properly while keeping your… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

My younger son bought my older son a cool Nerf gun with easy-load clips for his recent birthday … my younger son already has a chain-load Nerf blaster he got for his birthday earlier this year. The result? A weekend filled with Nerf darts flying everywhere! And – especially with the new one – those things can still hurt when they hit! Last summer our kids had built PVC-pipe marshmallow launchers, neither of which worked well, but they looked cool and still get used as guns and other weapons on a regular basis. It was against this backdrop that I saw this cool new toy. Here is the description: Ideal for pillow Continue reading on Gear Diary …