Image courtesy of theSpecterGroup The military often has some of the best tech and gadgets the world has to offer. Sometimes they make it to the battlefield, but often times they don’t. I’ve been in the Army for 13 years now as a communications and IT support technician and honestly have seen some stuff that really blew my mind. Most prototype stuff never get’s out of prototype stage or budgeting kills it before it ever gets released. I’m an avid fan of any type of weapon or targeting tech because better weapons result in less bad guys, one way or another. Lockheed is currently working on has a working model of a weapon scope that automatically compensates for… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

As a kid whose Dad was a Naval Engineer specializing in submarine design (who had served on subs during the Cold War to boot), I was totally fascinated by subs.  My Pop took me on them a number of times, we talked about how they worked, and I had several of those submarine toys that came with special tablets that made them sink and float in the bathtub. Obviously there’s some designer ant USBFever who’s a lot like me, because they came up with this submarine model that also, incidentally, double–well, quadruples, honestly–as a card reader, a USB hub, and a Bluetooth dongle!  If you’re a submarine geek, what more could you possibly need?… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Motorola’s DROID X is one of the many reasons the newly revealed Windows Phone platform is jumping into a field that already has some heavy competition. The DROID X is impressive. It has a large 4.3″ display, an advanced 8MP camera with dual flash, an HDMI Output for enjoying media on a large screen, a 1 GHz Processor, it is Flash-capable, offers 3G Mobile HotSpot Capability and 3 microphones for noise cancellation. In all it is a powerful, feature rich handset that is running a fast-maturing mobile operating system. The people I know who have one love it! With today’s Gear Deal new Verizon Wireless customers can get the $499.99 handset for just $99.99. It will… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Dave Chappelle got there first: But Samuel L. Jackson is big, really big, far too big to be contained by Quentin Tarantino, genre movies, or beer commercial parodies, don’t you think? The folks at Heatwave Interactive definitely think so, which is why they’ve created an iOS and Android app starring none other than the Hand of Vengeance himself.  Need I say more?  No, I don’t think so.  Just surf on over and check it out, and then grab it from your Android store or iTunes.  Because it’s about m****r-f**kin’ time you got some Samuel L. Jackson on your m****r-f**kin’ smart phone, don’t you think?  (Both “clean” and “17+” versions available.)  After all, it’s free… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

The media, both traditional press and bloggers, clearly have their share of journalistic work to do; many writers and reporters do this job admirably. Sometimes, in fact far too often for my taste, the facts get twisted and turned in such a way as to make a story more compelling or salacious than it would otherwise be; to compound matters, headlines are generally worded in such a way as to draw readers into the story. Sometimes neither is necessary, and sometimes both can be a bit misleading. Fact: the more readers you can grab with a compelling title or salacious comments means more click-throughs for the site, which ultimately means more revenue. Sometimes the story gets shaped in such a manner as… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

asd The game SimCity came out in 1989, but its presence is still felt in every corner of the gaming industry. From new incarnations on consoles and PDAs and phones to new versions for PC and other platforms to influenced games for a variety of platforms, it is clear that Will Wright had SOMETHING right! The iPhone and iPad have been home to a number of games in this style, and I have just found my new favorite – Virtual City from G5 Entertainment! The Hype: Build a city of your dream – a residential paradise or an industrial center. Build dwelling houses and industrial buildings. Produce goods and deliver them to the shopping… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

So you have an iPad and you love the design, feel and functionality of the Apple Case. The only problem is… you aren’t a huge fan of black. No, your style leans more toward something brighter. You know, you want a case in something like… say… red. Well you are in luck! The Hard Candy Candy Convertible has the feel and function of the Apple Case for iPad but it comes in bright red! (Oh, and it comes in black too!) Let’s take a look. From Hard Candy- The Candy Convertible iPad case combines the practicality of a flip Continue reading on Gear Diary …

And surprisingly enough, it is pretty good! Of course, it is also only 15 minutes long! When you think about it, the core story of airplane is a classic – literally! The production team bought the rights to the 50′s drama Zero Hour!, which allowed them to use anything they wanted from the script. Check this summary out: Ted Stryker is an ex-World War II squadron leader and fighter pilot who, 10 years after the end of the war, is still haunted by a decision he made that resulted in the death of several of his men. He’s been unable to keep a job and when he gets home one day, he finds a Continue reading on Gear Diary …

I have written about Lord of the Rings Online when it was announced that it would be free-to-play, when it actually launched, and included it in a review round-up as well. It is an excellent MMORPG … and apparently it has done extremely well in the transition from subscription to free-to-play. Turbine, the developer, noted at GDC Online that the game has doubled both the subscriber base and revenue since the game became free to play. The game’s Executive Producer, Kate Paiz, noted that the revenue had doubled in spite of removing the subscription fee. But there is even more good news for Turbine: 20% of LotRO’s former players have returned Continue reading on Gear Diary …

We told you a few weeks ago about Scottevest’s ad rejection by Delta. Of course, Delta is far from the only airline with restrictive baggage fees. It seems like every company has extra charges for heavier bags, less room for carry-ons, etc. So what do you do if you’re a voracious reader? John Naughton of the Guardian UK stumbled on this particular issue. He was looking to bring books on vacation, but realized his reading list would have eaten up a big chunk of the weight restrictions on his Ryanair flight. So he broke down and bought a Kindle, despite his previous objections to owning an ebook reader. Specifically, he says: It Continue reading on Gear Diary …

To celebrate their 10th Anniversary, PopCap is having loads of sales. Yesterday they had Bejeweled 2 for free at their website. Today they are putting most of their iPhone games on sale for $0.99! From their iTunes App Store listings: POPCAP 10-YEAR ANNIVERSARY SALE! BEJEWELED 2 + BLITZ, BOOKWORM, CHUZZLE, AND PEGGLE ALL 66% OFF UNTIL 20 OCTOBER, 2010! GET THEM ALL! These are all great games … the only one missing is Plants vs. Zombies, but since I assume everyone reading this already owns it, no big deal. And if you don’t, it is only $2.99 and well worth it! Either way, take advantage of PopCap’s generous sales and head Continue reading on Gear Diary …

With three young kids I find myself in this situation all the time – video or still?  When using my iPhone as my camera when out I almost always opt for still pictures.  But there are often times when I wish I could capture what’s going on over video in addition to stills.  With a new application from Jambasoft I now can. Camera Duo allows you to simultaneously capture of photos and video on compatible iPhone devices.  It does so by providing two different photo capture modes.  In “Real Photos” mode, the app will use the physical camera to obtain each photo. In “Extract from Video” mode, photos will… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Those of us who have learning disabled kids know that one of the most effective ways to help kids learn is what the experts (and my Sami) call “a multi-sensory approach”.  The folks at Motion Math have clearly taken that to heart with their eponymous new product: Motion Math creates movement-based learning games that give learners an intuitive sense of math. First conceived at the Stanford School of Education, Motion Math is developing a full suite of movement-based learning games for mobile platforms. Their first game, Motion Math, a bouncing star fraction game for the iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad, teaches students to perceive and estimate multiple representations of fractions. Motion Math is available for… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

We start the week with a Gear Deal on the 11.6″ ultra-portable Lenovo IdeaPad U160. The U160 weighs a mere 2.9 pounds and gets as thin as .9″. It features an Ambient Light Sensor, Active Protection System and data recovery tools. At first glance the U160 might appear to be a netbook but this small computer is anything but a netbook. No, the U160 can be configured with a Core i5-470UM ULV processor and 4GB of DDR3 RAM and that puts it squarely into the “Don’t Call Me a Netbook” territory. The IdeaPad U160 with a Core i5-470UM ULV processor has an MSRP of $999. Our Gear Sponsor has found it with $250 off PLUS… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

The very outspoken Terrell Owens sent a Tweet out moments before this Sunday’s game where he and the Cincinnati Bengals were set to take on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.  In the Tweet T.O. stated that a fan that was wearing his jersey would be getting a football signed by himself and Chad Ochocinco.    The message was posted an hour before game-time which apparently breaks the NFL’s social media rule which prohibits any tweeting within 90 minutes before kick off. This sort of fine is no stranger to the Bengals.  Owen’s teammate Ochicinco was fined $25,000 back in August for tweeting before a pre-season game against the… Continue reading on Gear Diary …