I recently reviewed the Amplitube application along with the iRig hardware.  Check out the full review here.  The Amplitube app is a robust guitar effects studio used on IOS devices.  Version 2 has just been released and adds some exciting functionality to an already great app.  The ability to use my iPhone or iPad while playing the guitar has been a wonderful experience.  I can play privately in my home without annoying my family with the loud music and am totally mobile.  If I wanted to play silently in the past, I had to connect headphones to my amplifier which meant sitting in the same room it is located.  Now, I have a mobile… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Over at Milo.com’s Daily Bark, they are featuring a subjective list of the ‘best gifts ever’! It is interesting because it is focused on someone who would have been born in 1980, therefore turning 30 this year. The infograph looks back at what the hot gifts would have been for boys and girls over time. Personally I am too old and my kids are too young to have wanted the kid-centric stuff, but the later stuff … well, who said you ever really had to grow up?!? As I look back over time it is hard for me to peg things by year, but I remember Big Jim and GI Joe action figures… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

UPDATED! Now with Review! Here is a video I put together using my Nikon D-SLR camera shooting several thousand still images and combining them for a pseudo-motion video highlighting the all-new Ford Fiesta. How will automakers counter the predictions for five-dollar-a-gallon-gas this year? Ford wants you to celebrate – with a Fiesta! Yes, the car you simply could not get enough of during last season’s American Idol is in dealer showrooms giving consumers ample time to secure one as fuel prices begin the roller coaster ride back northward. While the nameplate is not new to our shores, this gen-forward… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Just like the natural universe, the Star Wars universe seems to keep expanding ever since the Big Bang of 1977. Some of the expansions – such as Splinter of the Mind’s Eye – have been trashed by the ‘canon’ of the films, while others like the Thrawn trilogy have spawned ideas and characters that have carried through into the movies, games, and even further into book releases through the years. Most recently the end of the prequels has thrown open the era of conflict between Episodes II and III (Clone Wars) and III and IV (Jedi Purge, Imperial Control), and there has been a stream of products ready to fill the gap. The… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

We’ve been looking for a good bag for my wife’s new laptop.  Her new laptop would not fit into her old bag since she was using a netbook.  When Mobile Edge’s Sumo Messenger Bag came up for review, I jumped at the chance.  Will my wife be happy with this new bag? I was sent the Sumo Messenger bag in red.  Chalk up one point for Mobile Edge picking a color my wife likes with red being a favorite! This bag has a ton of pockets on it.  On the exterior there is one on the flap. two on the front panel, one on the back panel and one on each side with one of those made… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

You can’t even make these things up … or maybe you can. It’s hard to imagine that your two-day old Motorola Droid — or any other mobile phone, for that matter — would explode next to your ear while in a call. But that’s exactly what Aron Embry says happened to him yesterday. A North Texas man talking on his cell phone was rushed to a hospital after his phone apparently exploded Thursday morning. Aron Embry was at Ray Elementary in Cedar Hill at the time of the incident. The man said he had just finished a call when he said he heard a loud “pop.” He then Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Image courtesy of comicbookmovie One thing I love about being in the US Army is that we take the Tony Stark approach on weapons: “they say that the best weapon is the one you never have to fire. I respectfully disagree. I prefer the weapon you only have to fire once. That’s how Dad did it, that’s how America does it, and it’s worked out pretty well so far” T.S. It’s no secret in this country we like our weapons big, bad, and deadly. The US Government contracts all these tools of war to our wonderful defense contractors and sometimes budgets get cut, money shifted, political changes, etc can effect whether… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Late on the December 2nd, Ubuntu released the first Alpha quality code of their next version, 11.04, due out in April.  An alpha release is code that isn’t ready to be used for production work.  This release is designed more to get people testing and looking for bugs that cna be fixed before the beta, release candidate and final release.  Today I downloaded the iso so I could share a little of the future of Ubuntu. Those like myself already know a lot about this upcoming release as Mark Shuttleworth had announced in November that the new default desktop will be in 11.04.  The new desktop takes queues off of the desktop in the Netbook Edition… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

(image courtesy Marketing.fm) NASA rocked the scientific world today with a HUGE announcement: Possible aliens! That’s the gist of it, at least. The less exciting part is that they found a bacteria that eats arsenic. But if there’s a bacteria that can survive on arsenic, it proves something that’s simply been a theory so far, that life can exist on non-traditional elements. According to CNN: The bacterium — strain GFAJ-1 of the Halomonadaceae family of Gammaproteobacteria — was scooped from sediment in California’s Mono Lake, an area rife with high levels of naturally occurring arsenic, it said. Scientists were able to grow the microbes from the lake with only small portions of phosphorous — considered an Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Nokia’s falling star is hurting more than just the company’s bottom line. It was once the pride of Finland, and a decent size chunk of the country’s GDP. So it’s been nasty all around to see Nokia get decimated by the iPhone and Android. Surprisingly, Finland has been more than a hotspot for iconic phones; I learned reading Businessweek today that there’s a big software startup movement there, including Rovio (makers of Angry Birds). Yep, the game that seems to have singlehandedly slowed down worker productivity worldwide is helping to fill the gap left by Nokia. Not only that, but there’s a big movement among Finnish software developers and the government to push this momentum farther. According… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Lenovo has really upped their game in the design department. One shining example of this is today’s Gear Deal- the Lenovo IdeaCentre A310. The IdeaCentre A310 is an update to the A300 lineup and it offers a choice of a Core i3 or Core i5 processors. It is just 0.75″ thick (that’s 1/4″ less than the A300!) and features HDMI in/out ports, a fully-adjustable screen with support-post construction and a Bluetooth wireless keyboard and mouse. It also has an integrated webcam, an 8-in-1 Card Reader, a TV Tuner, 4 USB 2.0 ports and more. There are a number of different configurations that our Gear Sponsor is highlighting… lets take a look. The IdeaCentre… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

H2O Audio is building on the popularity of its new mono colored Surge line of headphones by adding splashes of color in the new FLEX line of sweat proof and waterproof ear buds. The headphones can be submersed in up to 3 feet of water. So if you have a case that can protect your phone or MP3 player from the water you can finally listen to your tunes in or near water.  If you workout a lot then these buds could be for you! The FLEX Earbuds are available in four colors: Onxy Black, Super Hero Blue, Envy Green and Power Pink! They are available now for only $29.99 direct… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Let’s face it, laptop sleeves can be boring.  Well if you just can’t find the pattern or design that fits for your taste, then check out Caseable.  Available in two different styles, the sleeves can be made with images that you provide or you can just pic a color, add text and even add handles to your design. The prices also seem pretty reasonable at only $69.99.  That may sound expensive, but when you think that your case will be handmade in Brooklyn, NY and only with images and colors you approve it’s not bad. Oh and they even make a sleeve that will fit everyone’s favorite… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Actually we have a new champion. The iPad case from designer David August, rings in a a whopping $6,900.  The case is part of a five piece collection that also includes a soft laptop attaché case for $12,900, a Dopp kit for $7,800, a watch holder for $7,800, and a change tray for $2,400. Or you can grab the whole set for only $37,800. Crafted of the world’s finest alligator skin hand cut and stitched in Italy by a skilled family of artisans, the collection of five pieces is available in both a glazed and matte finish in over 20 different colors. If you’ve got $6,900… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

When Fusionwerkz reached out to us at Gear Diary to see if we’d be interested in reviewing their RAW case for the iPhone 4 I was admittedly a little hesitant. After our experience with the Element Vapor Case I was worried about how the RAW, which is also an all aluminum case, would affect the iPhone 4′s reception. The case arrived a few days ago and I’ve been using it ever since. The RAW is made completely in the USA and crafted from 6061 T4 aluminum. That’s “Greek” to me but I do know this – it’s super light weight and super durable yet it feels glossy and silky in your… Continue reading on Gear Diary …