One of the first things Kevin and I bought for our new house was a 55″ VIZIO LCD HDTV from Sam’s Club. I’ll admit that we were a little bit nervous about purchasing a VIZIO, because we had not heard much about the brand, and the only places that we had ever seen them were at Wal-Mart and Sam’s Club (we don’t have a Costco nearby, but they sell them as well). With recommendations from friends like Kerry Woo and a few others who owned VIZIOs and had nothing but good to say, we managed to purchase an HDTV with more bang for the buck than we were able to find anywhere else… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Remember the good ol’ Commodore 64? Between 1982 and 1994 more than 30 million of them were sold. And while they offered excellent programming capabilities and the ability to hook to a TV and run productivity applications, where the C64 found its biggest niche was in gaming. It offered great capabilities for a very reasonable price. And now it is BACK! What? Well, not the same one, but the concept of ‘the keyboard is the computer’ has returned, with Commodore teasing the release of an all new C64. Here are the very modern specs: Technology MODEL: Commodore 64x PROCESSOR: Intel® Atom D525 1.80GHz (Formerly Pineview-D) CHIPSET: Intel NM10 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 Apple product in one of… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Doug told us about the cool App for tracking the total Lunar Eclipse coming tonight, and now Space.com adds to the coolness of the event with a fact-packed page … and a timetable linked to your specific time zone. With the handy info they provide you can check out the eclipse in your area and know exactly what is happening when. Here is the time zone chart: And in case you were wondering what all of the ‘Stages’ are listed along the left column of the table, Space.com Continue reading on Gear Diary …

I don’t get to play with all the software we give you folks news about.  Heck, who would have time?  I barely have time to play with the stuff that I absolutely need to get through life, plus the stuff I review.  I have a day job, ya know! But this is a different case.  I’m a big fan of  converting (under the terms of “fair use”) my (legally purchased) DVDs into different formats to view on different platforms.  For example, I like watching cartoons in my iPhone in bed (just converted Despicable Me on Friday), but big, sweeping epic spectacles on my iPad on the plane (just converted Last of the Mohicans yesterday), when I… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

“Why Can’t Johnny Read?” is apparently not the question any more in our app-filled world; nope, now it’s “Does Daisy Jump?”  (I think the question “Is there an app for that?” has been pretty thoroughly answered by now.) You’re right; I’m just being silly.  But it made for a good opener, don’t you think? “Daisy Doesn’t Jump”, an action game like Doodle Jump or Mega Jump, has been updated with a Christmas theme.  With a free “Lite” version (with ads), along with an ad-free version for only a buck, you can fulfill your mindless game-playing jones for hours, tapping, jumping, falling down, and soothing yourselves with the Christmas decorations on screen.  Surf on Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Over the weekend a friend of mine told me he wanted to get an iPad and was looking for the least expensive way to get started. I suggested he look at Apple’s refurbished products since they carry a full warranty and, as I explained, “That is the only way to great a meaningful discount on Apple products.” Well today’s Gear Deal proves me wrong. Why is that? Simple! In today’s deal our Gear Sponsor presents a brand new 8GB iPod touch for $19 less than Apple is asking (that’s almost 10% off) PLUS you will get a $25 Amazon gift card with the purchase. Effectively that makes this a savings of $44 (almost 20%… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Inside this package is a one-of-a-kind iPhone 4 cases I have tried. It fits my iPhone perfectly, offers fantastic protection and… is completely and totally unique to me. It is a case that is an absolute please to use AND whenever I look at it it brings a smile to my face. What’s so special about this case? Read on to find out. The case is the result of a joint-project between Speck, maker of some of our favorite device cases, and Zazzle, a company that makes an assortment of unique, self-designed products. For all… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

A few weeks ago we had the opportunity to review the E FUN Nextbook Next2 here on Gear Diary. It’s a great little device for a bargain price, and definitely the best of the affordable Android tablets available this holiday season. E FUN is taking it to the next level (no pun intended) and is debuting the Next3 tablet with a larger 8.4 inch screen. It looks like it still has Borders integration, and they’ve moved the page turn buttons all to the right side, but otherwise the software looks very similar. One exciting part: It is running Android 2.1 under the hood, so there’s a much wider range of apps out there to try… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Well, while the big news this week is the combination of the Good Old Games mega-sale and the absolute barrage of iTunes App Store deals … there are plenty of other deals for the weekend. I am late getting to this, but all of the deals last until Monday and some last all the way through the end of the year! As usual, I am getting deals from emails from the various digital download sites, as well as the excellent Deals4Downloads who does a great job rounding up everything! There are just so many deals I can only give a sample from each site … but check… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Total lunar eclipse of August 28th 2007, seen from Australia. Credit and Copyright: Martin Pugh. My Dad, as an incentive to get me to read those horrible “Dick and Jane” books in 1st grade (yes, I really am that old), told me that for each “See Spot Run!” book I completed, he would buy me any book I wanted.  The first book I got?  A non-fiction picture-and-intro-text book titled . . . Space. So yeah, I’ve been a space buff from way back.  Heck, we still had black and white TV.  (“Next on ABC: The FBI . . . in Color!”) Why am I telling you this?  Because on… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Welcome back to the GearGames weekly video game release feature here at Gear Diary! Some folks were surprised to find out that there were new games still being released at this time of the year. Well, not too much, but a couple of things worth noting. First, the one I am excited about is the first episode of TellTale Games Back to the Future. TellTale has successfully brought back the Sam & Max and Monkey Island franchises, so I can’t wait to see what they do here! The other one isn’t a game but a series – a load of games for the classic NeoGeo console are being released… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

If you’ve ever made brownies at home you know the toughest part is the cutting.  You basically need a degree in geometry to determine where to make your cuts to guarantee you get finished brownies that are all even in size and shape.  Not to mention the problem of the brownies, which so often end up stuck together. The Perfect Brownie Pan promises to take the guess work out of making brownies.  It features a non-stick pan, divider and stand which combine to create brownie perfection. The pan is available at your local “As Seen On TV” store for $19.99. Currently, via this web site, the… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Setting aside the chorus of yawns that Google’s ebookstore was met with, there was one area that generated some positive attention. Google was partnering with “indie” booksellers to power their ebookstores, so stores like Powell’s in Portland, OR didn’t need to build out their own stores or cede the market entirely to Amazon and B&N. Sounds great in theory. But it turns out the reality isn’t as rosy. The way Google books works is that partner booksellers set their own prices. But an independent bookseller doesn’t have the margin flexibility of a B&N or Amazon, so their prices are trending higher. Google, on the other hand, has plenty of price flexibility, leading to an interesting issue according… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Even though when it comes to smartphones I’m pretty much an Apple kinda guy, that doesn’t mean I ignore the other markets.  (I can’t when I sit next to a former Nokia employee who is always ragging on me about it–hi Vince!)  Besides, I want other markets to succeed, because I think competitive pressure on Apple is a good thing. So I’m glad to see apps like Hiplogic’s new *Spark (yes, the splat mark is part of the name), a consolidation home-screen app that allows you to integrate Twitter, Facebook, Sky News (UK / Ireland), AP News Content, Weatherbug, and Groupon Deals into your home screen.  And it’s Doug’s favorite price:  free.  So if you’re… Continue reading on Gear Diary …