Image courtesy of CODE website After Vietnam our troops were nearly abandoned after returning home from war. I can’t imagine what they went through during those times coming back to a cold welcome home, no jobs, no medical aid, and no assistance from the government. Well, thankfully today things have changed for your returning veterans. There are countless programs, benefits, groups, and society’s dedicated to helping our troops transition from their war life back to home life.  Back in November 2009, Activision Blizzard created a program called Call of Duty Endowment (C.O.D.E.) program which was designed to raise awareness for Veterans needing employment. More recently they announced CODE “Service Ops” which is a 25 day… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Welcome back to the revenge of the sequels! The fall gaming season is always filled up with a myriad of games seeking to repeat the success of earlier franchise entries. Civilization V is definitely in line with that trend, attempting to capture sales based on the commercial and critical success of 2005′s Civilization IV while also taking the franchise in some new directions. So how did they do? Read on and find out! The Hype: Sid Meier’s Civilization V is the fifth offering in the multi-award winning Civilization turn-based PC strategy game series. As with earlier installments in the series, Civilization V features the famous “just one more turn” addictive gameplay that… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Like any good admitted fanboy, I often find myself looking for Apple products on TV. Lately I’ve been spotting more and more iDevices popping up on many of the shows I watch. So I’ve decided to start a new weekly segment entitled “Apple On TV.” The premise is simple. Whenever I spot an Apple product in one of the shows I watch (and I watch a lot of TV), I’ll take a screen shot of it and post it here, in a weekly recap, with a short description. But I need your help too! Although I watch a lot of TV I don’t watch everything. So if you come across an… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Image courtesy of Tokyoflash Yet another big day for Tokyoflash watch fans. Today marks the launch of three new watch designs for our time telling geek pleasure. The new designs are all part of the Kisai series, and all three offerings are available in both black and white casings. The square face watches are being introduced at a special launch price of $83 for the Lightspeed, and $93 for both the Transit and Joypad models. These budget friendly designs are made of a plastic housing and strap with a stainless steel buckle style clasp for durability. Most of the same features apply such as USB rechargeable battery, LED animations, and user replaceable battery. If… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

A couple of months ago I reviewed the iPhone version of Virtual City, noting that my only real complaint was the lack of a sandbox mode. The game already took advantage of the high resolution Retina display, so my assumption was that there would be a minimal difference in the move to the iPad. Turns out I was right … and wrong. Read on to find out what I mean. 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 malls. Setup mass-transit system to take your citizens to places… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

If you’ve been longing to wrap your iPhone in alligator skin, but the idea of spending $300+ just didn’t appeal, this sale will be right up your alley. Until the end of today, you can purchase an Alexandra Knight iPhone case, 3G/3GS or 4G in sumptuous alligator skin without breaking the bank! Usually $295, they are slashed 50% and for the rest of today are only $147.50. There are many colors available – matte and glazed, so there’s sure to be something for everyone. I am debating the matte cognac or the matte army green or the glazed emerald or the glazed lime, or maybe the … Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Update: This giveaway is not closed, and the winner of the three Droids is johnsderek02; the extra Android swag will go to TheGeek. Thanks to all who entered, and please keep an eye out for future giveaways! We have three of the first series that I picked up at the Big Android BBQ Francis and I attended in Austin a few months ago. Obviously one of them is the black “Darknet” droid shown above, but the other two are unopened and remain a mystery. There are 16 in the series, and if you’re a collector, you won’t be able to pass this quick contest up. Heck, even if you’re not a collector, you … Continue reading on Gear Diary …

I don’t know why no one has done one of these things before, but that there is a dynamo-powered charger and handlebar mount for your iPhone.  (Next up will probably be one that’s solar powered to boot).  It just goes to show you that the folks at USBFever have kinda kicked it into high gear as far as releasing stuff for the holidays.  You don’t have to believe me; just peruse that list below, and know that it’s only a partial listing of what they’ve been cranking out in the last few weeks. What else have they released this week?  Well . . . Bike Handlebar Drink Holder 180° Fish Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Black Friday 2010 has come and gone. This year’s CyberMonday is now a thing of that past. Yes, the two big shopping days are over… but our GearSponsor still has tons of ways for you to save money on the gear and gadgets you want most. Todays deal is on a huge 55″ VIZIO HDTV. The VIZIO E550VA features 1080p Full HD, a 120Hz refresh rate, SRS TruSurround HD audio, an Ambient Light Sensor and 50000:1 Dynamic Contrast Ratio. It has 4 HDMI inputs, two 15W built-in speakers, and more. The 55″ VIZIO HDTV has an MSRP of $1,399.99. That’s not a bad price. With this deal however you will get $502 off… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

No, that exclamation mark isn’t there because I’m one of those people who’s free and easy with ‘em; it’s just that the bang symbol, as us old UNIX hacks call it, is part of the name of the BugMe! note taking and reminder app. BugMe! is a pretty popular sticky note/reminder/alarm app that now is universal across the iOS platforms.  So fear no fragmentation, BugMe! fans, for Electric Pocket has got you covered. Full information below. Electric Pocket Limited announces it has released a universal version of its BugMe! sticky ink notes and alarms app, enabling the same version to work on iPhone, iPod touch and iPad devices. The new universal version also improves Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Well I’m impressed!! We only ran our SCOTTEVEST CARRY-ON COAT giveaway for 24 hours to ensure that anyone who did not win could still order it at the discounted price while the SeV Cyber Monday sale was underway. We got a ton of entries and for good reason. After all, the CARRY-ON COAT has a total of 33 pockets and can actually be used to replace a carry-on. As the SCOTTEVEST site explains- Sometimes when going on a trip, people choose to “pack light,” and this usually means carrying a small bag or two. The Carry-On Coat redefines packing light by allowing you to replace the contents of a typical carry-on bag with Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Let’s face it, you can tell a lot about a designer’s aesthetics within seconds of looking at a single product they have designed. That being the case, it is clear that the designers over at AUTUM, a company I had never before heard of, have AMAZING taste. But I’m getting ahead of myself. Judie recently reviewed a leather iPad pouch and was rather impressed. It is beautiful, heavy-duty, rugged leather that, to paraphrase her, holds the iPad in the same manner that a holster hold a gun … and there you have the difference between the frames of reference a Texan will use as compared to someone from New Jersey! The double row of… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

My wife called me at work, saying “I just saw a great deal on the cool thing we wanted to get our son” (OK, she obviously didn’t say that, but I’m not giving it all away here!). So we walked through the deal, and then I compared it to the regular priced items, and then to a different deal. It turns out that the long list of included items were all part of the standard retail package, and the ‘value’ of the two additional items was based on their original MSRP and not current retail – even at the same shop! Simply buying everything à la carte would have saved us nearly $100, and… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

I have recently discussed the extent to which the success of the iOS devices for casual gaming has hurt Nintendo, so it only seems fitting to juxtapose some big iOS gaming news with major sales success for Nintendo! Angry Birds Christmas for Free for Halloween Owners Back at Halloween Rovio released a special themed version of Angry Birds for iOS devices, and people bought it up in droves! Now we have heard for a while about a possible Christmas version … but this weekend we got more details. From a post at UberGizmo, developer Rovio Tweeted: @nickbouwhuis it’s a free update to the Halloween game for iPhone and iPad Here… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Here at Gear Diary we love our gadgets, and between all of us we make use of a wide array of operating systems and gadgets; from Mac OS X to Windows 7 to Linux to EPOC to Android to Windows Phone 7 to iOS to Windows Mobile to … well, who knows what else! There are heated discussions, but loads of respect – despite differences of usage and opinion, we coexist quite happily. The ‘coexist’ logo as a way to communicate peace, tolerance, and a shared sense of community and understanding is nothing new, and the most popular… Continue reading on Gear Diary …