You can protect your MacBook Air (or MBA, as we call ‘em around here) with your standard covers and protections–leather, nylon, whatever.  Or you could give it a nice, arty sheen with one of the new set of MBA skins from GelaSkins. Now look:  when it comes to art (or ahht, as my dear departed Granny would say), I’m pretty much a lunkhead.  I like Maxfield Parrish; I like Monet; I like DeGasse, but after that, I’m clueless.  But even clueless me can recognize the beauty in some of these offerings.  You should surf over and give them a look yourself, because for about an MSRP of $30, adding a little Beauty to… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Lest you think we leave out the needs of the humble, over-worked, under-appreciated IT person here at GD, let me assure you that we don’t.  Aside from the fact that the stellar IT guy (and veteran!) Dino is one of our writers, we also don’t try to miss posting news about new IT-related products that might help you out as you struggle through your interrupt-driven, bug-fixing, “Get it done now, now, now; the company’s life depends on it!” day, Mr. or Mrs. IT Person. Like Ekahau’s new Android-based Wi-Fi analysis tool.  I’ve been in plenty of IT environments, and I’ve seen all the crap they have to lug around to detect and debug network problems… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Today’s Gear Deal brings us the 15.6″ Dell XPS. Dell’s new Dell XPS laptops feature an anodized aluminum display back, a brushed aluminum palm rest and diamond cut trim around the keyboard and touchpad area. The laptops also sport a Skype-certified 720p HD webcam, JBL designed and certified speakers with Waves MaxxAudio and an optional backlit keyboard. Other key features include a 9-cell battery, an integrated TV tuner, an HDMI, Mini DisplayPort, a 9-in-1 Card Reader, a USB 2.0/eSATA combo port with PowerShare and on the XPS 15 and XPS 17 models USB 3.0. Our Gear Sponsor has found… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Mahjong — which like Channukah seems to have almost as many “correct” spellings as there are people trying to spell it — is one of those games that has been around forever, and makes its transition to new computer platforms with rather amazing rapidity.  I played Moonlight Mahjong on the iPhone for a long time (and I loved how they kept adding to it over time), and have the HD version installed on my iPad now as well. Now Astraware–a game maker that I quite like, personally–has added their version of Mahjong to the list.  Past Gear Diary Team member (and all around good guy) Clinton Fitch has a nice review of it up Continue reading on Gear Diary …

I’m really liking the look of the new cases iSkin recently rolled out for the iPhone 4 and the iPod touch gen 4. All of them build on familiar and time-tested iSkin designs but bring new flair and functionality to some of the more protective and usable cases on the market. For the iPhone 4 they are offering the new solo FX for iPhone 4, solo vu for iPhone 4, duet for iPhone 4. For the iPod touch 4G they have revealed the pebble for iPod touch 4G and touch Duo for iPod touch 4G. All cases have the style and quality that is synonymous with iSkin and all offer iSkin’s embedded Microban®… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

To tether or not to tether, what to do? There has been a long-standing debate and rather good argument over whether tethering your phone is legal, ethical, or financially worth it. Most platforms today have programs available that allow you to tether a wired or wireless device to you phone without buying another data plan. Most wireless carriers do offer tethering at an additional cost, but even then they limit you data speed and connection options. These days almost everyone that has a phone capable of tethering and has an additional device or two that could benefit from sharing their 3G/4G data cellular data. So the big question is if you cheating your carrier by… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Hybrid cases are amongst the most popular style for the iPhone 4. And I understand why. The combination of silicone and plastic that they provide offers the end user both grip and protection in what’s usually a pretty cool looking package. The Hybrid Shell case from ingear is no exception. The case, which offers maximum protection by providing a hard front frame along with a softer back is available in five different color options. The back portion of the case remains the same gray color no matter which you choose. But what does change is the frame. In addition to the gold version I used in my review you can also choose from black, pink… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Archos has been experimenting with Android for a while now.  Dan did not like the Archos 5 and from what I have read from across the internet that was universal.  A friend of mine purchased a Archos 70 to use as an adjunct to his Sprint Hero since he still has a year on contract.   I was able to play with it for a few minutes, and what follows are some of the impressions I got while using it. The thing that most impressed me was how thin this thing is.  It’s thinner than an iPad and a lot lighter.  The case is made mostly of plastic, but it’s not a cheap feeling plastic.  It’s… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Google eBooks are here! They’ve been rumored for months, and everyone’s been expecting great things. Are they the best thing since sliced bread, or are they just another me-too offering? Let’s look at the good and the bad, and what it might take to really make an impact in today’s ebook market. The Good: -Digital rights management: While it’s disappointing that DRM is still necessary, at least Google is using Adobe Digital Editions (ADE). This is the same quasi-universal standard supported by the Aluratek Libre, the Kobo Readers, Sony Readers, even the NOOK. In fact, the only major device that doesn’t support… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Big Fish Games is a great place to get casual games of all sorts, such as challenges like Supermarket Mania, puzzle games like Sherlock Holmes & the Hounds of the Baskervilles, match 3 games like Jewel Quest, and hidden object games. For a limited time they are offering a classic of the Hidden Object genre, Mystery Case Files: Ravenhearst, for FREE! Here is the description: Rumors surrounding the history of stately Ravenhearst Manor have circulated for decades. The recently acquired diary of Emma Ravenhearst may hold the key to unraveling the tale behind this unsettling place, yet the pages are missing. Players assume the role of Master Detective to Continue reading on Gear Diary …

This is a crazy year. Usually by now developers have bunkered themselves down to support all of those huge fall game sales, writers are polishing their lists of best games of the year, and gamers are trying to sort through the massive backlog they built over the last few months! Not this year – their are new releases, tons of sales, and just a bunch of interesting stuff happening all over the place. So let’s get right to it! Flight Control HD on Steam As if on cue, just as Travis highlighted Flight Control as his Blue Plate Special this week and I was thinking that it was one… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Although you might have heard that the Tron Legacy soundtrack was released just before Thanksgiving, turns out that was a leaked pirate copy that got spread far and wide, to the point that I was getting emails from folks who would normally know better. But today the wait is over … you can get the official Tron Legacy Soundtrack – and better still, Amazon.com has it for $4! The ‘exclusive’ version comes along with a 12-page PDF booklet with some nice background and other typical CD-insert stuff. The offer is only good today, so if you want to pick it up now is the time! And if you were lucky… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Rumors are flying today that Borders (via their biggest investor William Ackman) is looking to buy Barnes and Noble. It seems a bit backwards, since B&N is the stronger company, but setting aside the incongruity of who is buying whom, it doesn’t change the fact that a merger would be a huge change for the book world. What would you even call such a place? Borders and Noble? Barnes and Borders? All joking aside, what will it do to ebooks? Common sense says that if such a merger were to occur, the NOOK would be the dominant brand. This would leave Kobo out in the cold, as they are Borders current ebook partner. It would also potentially… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

So you’re wondering about, but not carrying your entire back catalog of backed-up media around with you, right?  And suddenly you realize that the film clip of Joseph pulling over the umbrella full of rainwater onto himself that you wanted to show to his Nana is back home on your laptop, not here on your iPad.  Oops!  (Or maybe you’re really in the mood for listening to Tangerine Dream’s “Exit,” but the files are at home on your mega-Terrabyte drive.)  What do you do? Well, MiMedia has an answer for you.  Here’s what they say: MiMedia, the technology start-up and first-of-its-kind online digital media platform, releases its iPhone and iPad app, allowing mobile users… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

I know this will sound like exaggeration, but I assure you that it isn’t.  The Sears Catalog, and the ability to order stuff through the mail, was as big a change to life in the 19th and early 20th centuries as the ability to order stuff online is to us today.  Really. Back in the day–and by this I mean the 19th Century–it was a huge pain in the heinie to get manufactured goods if you were anywhere that was not a city.  Often, you had to just buy what the local stores stocked, and they only stocked what they thought they could sell, which then had to be hauled overland (or by river, if… Continue reading on Gear Diary …