Aiming to be the leader in eBook content Google has just announced the launch of their own eBook service.  In the U.S. users can now visit the Google eBookstore and browse through what the company calls the largest ebooks collection in the world with more than three million titles including hundreds of thousands for sale. Many devices are compatible with Google eBooks—everything from laptops to netbooks to tablets to smartphones to e-readers. With the new Google eBooks Web Reader, you can buy, store and read Google eBooks in the cloud. That means you can access your ebooks like you would messages in Gmail or photos in Picasa—using a… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

In Neal Stephenson’s excellent novel Snow Crash, our main character is incredibly pleased and impressed when his (ex-)girlfriend gives him a highly-coveted program called “Earth.”  Earth allows you to see, based on satellite and other imagery, a real-time rendering of the entire Earth, with your location therein. Well, we’re not there yet, but ViewRanger GPS has taken another step in that direction with their new Global Open Maps app for iPhones and iPads.  The app provides you with “access to a range of global Open Mapping layers including street maps, open terrain, and aerial photo perspectives”, with your current location always displayed on-screen.  And you can store the maps to your iPhone or iPad locally… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Just because “Movember” has ended doesn’t mean all of us are ready to give up our beards.  After a month’s worth of growth, I for one have grown just a little attached to my new friend, my beard. However, with winter coming on fast here in the north-east it’s time to start thinking about how I’ll be protecting myself when I venture out in the cold.  And if you live in a cold weather area you should be doing the same. Like the hair on the top of your head, a beard does a great job of keeping your face warm while you brave the outdoor elements.  If… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

At this time of year many folks are looking for Christmas presents for their kids, and many people want to get something that is more centered around creative play instead of the pre-packed products that are most popular now. They look to the older toys, to Erector Sets, Lincoln Logs, LEGO sets, and so on. At the same time, as someone who writes some offbeat articles for Gear Diary I end up with all kinds of emails, from consumer safety information to import oddities to … well, badly named kids toy sets! At a time when there are seemingly weekly recalls of products containing lead or mercury or other harmful heavy metals, the LAST… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Fred Astaire points the way!  (Screen Cap courtesy of the Christmas Specials Wiki) (Okay, okay; so I’m reliving my childhood.  Sue me!  ’Tis the season of mawkish sentiment, and all that sort of thing!  Ho ho ho!) “There’s an app for that.”  Now there’s an iOS and Android app that lets the kiddies tell Santa what they want . . . and help you avoid having to play games with the U.S. Postal Service, one hopes.  Yup, it’s the All I want from Santa app, available for a whopping zero dollars (Doug’s favorite price!), where all your fine Android and iPhone apps are sold. All I want from… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

So, what do you call it where you live:  Soda, cola, or pop?  (For the record, my family calls it “soda”, but I dated a girl from Western Pennsylvania who called it “pop”, and called those things you drink out of in public buildings–which I call “drinking fountains”–”bubblers”.  Ah, the varieties of life!) Well, whatever the heck you call it, now Active Media Products has a USB drive that looks like a [soda | cola | pop] can.  A-yup.  I’ve seen bare, functional USB drives; fancy-pants ones that look like sushi; ones that are hardened to get you through the X-Ray machine at the airport without losing your data.  Now there’s one that looks like… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

We start the week with a truly impressive Gear Deal. The Dell Adamo Onyx is one slick ultra-thin computer. It has a 13.4″ screen and features a machined, torsion-tested aluminum chassis. Its keyboard is full-size AND backlit (take that MacBook Air!!). It has an ultra-compact power adapter, Windows 7 64-bit, Wireless-N, Bluetooth 2.1, an Ethernet port (!!!) and nearly 5 hours battery life. And while we are talking specs, this thin, light notebook comes with a 128GB SSD. The Dell Adamo in onyx has an MSRP of $999 but our Gear Sponsor has found a deal that will get it to you for just $799.20. It will even ship for free. It is also… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Welcome back to the GearGames weekly video game release feature here at Gear Diary! Most of the big releases are done, so we get a couple of movie tie-ins and some leftovers … oh, and a hugely anticipated MMO expansion!. The big release this week is World of Warcraft: Cataclysm for the PC. Fans have been awaiting this for a while, and I expect the game world to blow up after it is released! The other big release this week is Tron Evolution for every platform. The reason we don’t immediately assume it will be crap is that earlier Tron games have been excellent, even the non-movie Tron 2.0!… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

The saying goes that the cloths make the man. Along the same lines one could argue that apps and accessories make the iPad. Think about it… the iPad is a pretty remarkable device in and of itself but the “magical” experience truly takes off when Cupertino’s tablet is used in conjunction with some amazing apps and accessories. One of the key accessories for any iPad enthusiast is the iPad dock. The right dock can make it easier to watch video on the iPad, work on the iPad, charge and sync the iPad and much more. We’ve already had the opportunity to look at a number of well-designed and useful docks but today we are going to look… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Wikileaks facility photo courtesy of tecca As anyone who is a regular reader Gear Diary knows, we tend to be a rather eclectic group here on Gear Diary. We live in a wide range of geographical locals, we do a wide range of jobs, and we use an ecclectic collection of gear. That often leads to some rather interesting gadget conversations. At times, however the talk turns from gadgets to the issues of the day. That was thd case earlier.in the week when we began talking about the WikiLeaks flood of documants. Here’s part of the conversation. Doug Moran Carly, this really reminds me of… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

It wasn’t all that long ago that your faithful Gear Diary team told you what we’ve discovered as we’ve used this “big ol’ iPod Touch” and integrated it into our lives.  But we don’t think we have all the answers–nosiree!  We have a few, but not all–you’ll have discover a lot on your own. And helping with that is the new edition of  My New iPad from No Starch Press, a book that “shows readers how to do useful and entertaining things with their iPad.”  Photo manipulation, web browsing, multitasking, troubleshooting–they’ve covered a bunch of areas that you, Mr. or Ms. New iPad User, are probably interested in.  It’s available for an MSRP of… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Amidst the holiday onslaught, it’s nice to read about giveaways.  You know:  you’re spending money right and left, and so maybe it’s time to get something for free.  And why not?  The economy still stinks, unemployment is high, and everyone needs all the help they can get, right? So surf on over to the iSouce contest web page, where you can win everything from iPads to Apple gift cards.  Because life is too short to pass up a chance at free stuff, right? iSource is giving away: (1) MacBook Air 11-inch model ($999 value) (1) iPad – 16GB Wi-Fi ($499 value) (1) iPhone 4 – 8GB ($199 value)* Continue reading on Gear Diary …

I’m not a big one on “holiday promotions” per se, but if you’ve read a few of my news items you know that I am a big one on deals, free stuff, getting money back, and anything else that give you more for your hard-earned buckos. So in their promotion for this holiday season, Visa is offering a buncha discounts and deals.  Rather than reiterate, here’s what the folks at Visa say: Visa’s theme for the holiday season is “go joy” which means spending time with friends and family and creating new traditions. To help create these joyful memories, we want to tell you about some amazing initiatives Visa is taking to help add joy Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Image courtesy of NotionInk We’ve spoken about it a few times here and now the net is starting to buzz a little more about the long awaited Notion Ink Adam. If you’ve been following along on their blog, you’re familiar with the binary/hex countdown that is located on the top right side of the home page. Basically this countdown is for the 9th of December but really it was only speculation of what was would actually happen this upcoming Thursday . Still no guarantee of what is so magical about Dec 9th, but I’m guessing/hoping that will be the beginning of pre-orders for the device. Rohan’s latest blog post let… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

The other day I highlighted GameLoft’s Twitter Advent Calendar, which brings something new each day. Day one was a free iPhone game, day two was a sneak peek at a cool looking upcoming game, and an Android game is free for the third day. But they aren’t the only ones! Good Old Games and 1C Publishing have gotten in on the deal! Good Old Games is having two weeks of ‘December Unveils’. First they unveiled a Holiday Carol contest, then on the second day they dropped Serious Sam: The First Encounter from $9.99 to $5.99 permanently, and for the third day have unveiled more of their games are Windows 7… Continue reading on Gear Diary …