I have written about the 3DS since it was introduced at E3 last summer, including some speculation and ‘final details’ reports. But now we have the official word from Nintendo themselves. Here are the important details: On March 27, Nintendo introduces portable entertainment in 3D – without the need for special glasses. The Nintendo 3DS™ system will be available in either Cosmo Black or Aqua Blue, and will have a suggested retail price of $249.99. I had speculated that the price would be between $199 and $249, so while it was on the top end of my range, I think the price will work in the market – at least in… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

When I heard that Microsoft was rumored to be working on OneNote for the iPhone I was intrigued but skeptical. I was skeptical because I have found most of the stuff Microsoft has released on iOS to be garbage, and with their own phone to support I had very low expectations. But since I use Hotmail, have data on SkyDrive with several of the Office Online apps, I was interested in how it would work. And then I saw on BGR that it was available … and for FREE, so it was time to check it out! Here are the details: Microsoft OneNote Mobile is the easy-to-use, powerful note-taking application for Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Hopefully by now you have checked out Dan’s post on the Amazon Buy 2 Get 1 Free Video Game Deal. While checking out possible games, I came across a great deal that is good for today only! Final Fantasy: The 4 Heroes of Light is 50% today, now just $17.99! Final Fantasy: The 4 Heroes of Light is the first all-new game from the team that did the excellent Final Fantasy III and IV DS ports, and here is part of the review from NintendoLife: Final Fantasy: The 4 Heroes of Light is certainly an interesting experience when it comes to many of its unique gameplay mechanics Continue reading on Gear Diary …

This amazing dancing game celebrates Michael Jackson’s amazingly inventive moves while players get some entertaining exercise.

Remember iDOS from last October? It was a full DOS shell that even allowed you to load Windows and old games and programs you had lying around on 5.25″ floppies! Of course, due to that, it lasted mere hours on the iTunes App Store before getting pulled! Now it is back as version 2.01, with important differences. According to the developer: The biggest change from iDOS 1.0: iTunes file sharing is now turned off. That means you will not be able to install windows nor games from your old disc collection. However, it has quite a lot of new features to compensate for the loss: – 6 shareware games Continue reading on Gear Diary …

At one of the evening events during CES Wrapsol was showing off their wares. The company offers protective skins for a wide range of devices. That is not big deal since there are a host of other companies that do the same thing. What was impressive was their Wrapsol Clean Screen Protection Kit. At $29.95 the iPad screen protector is on the pricey side for a kit that offers screen protection only but when you see it up close and personal it impresses. As the company explains, Wrapsol Clean screen protector film is the easiest to apply and the most Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Let’s get this out of the way- we love Speck Case. We love them on our iPhones. We love them on our iPod Touches. We love them on our iPad. We love the amazing variety they offer. And yes, we love visiting with Speck at CES because we get to try them all. This year was no exception and we wanted to give you a quick look at some of the cases we had a chance to check out. First off we wanted to see what Speck has to offer for the Samsung Galaxy Tab. They have a bunch and I was happy to see that one of our favorite style cases, the… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

I’m liking the Mac App Store a whole lot more than I expected. Because I, along with many of you, have a few years of dealing with the iTunes App Store under my belt the Mac App Store feels familiar. It is easy to use, easy yo find the apps you want, easy to update the aps you have bought and… Of course… Easy to drop a ton of money if you aren’t careful. There are, however, a few things that are really bugging me. Already Bought the Application? No Mac App Store Updates For YOU! Yes, it seems that if you already own an application the app will show as installed… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

I’ve long been a fan of Altec Lansing’s audio offerings, and when Francis and I had a chance to visit with them at CES my appreciation for the thought, design and sound expertise that goes into their products grew tremendously. We had a chance to take a closer look at a number of their current products, as well as some that we will likely be seeing some time soon. The first we had a chance to see was the Octiv Duo (M202) dual docking and charging speaker system. When I first saw a dock that had a spot for two… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Doing news items as I often do, I am constantly tempted to throw in words that pull traffic (“Natalie Portman”!), just to, ya know, pull traffic.  But I don’t, because I have some standards, durn it!  Also, Judie would yell at me. But I’m fortunate in that I get to use one particular word that both can pull traffic, and doesn’t make Judie mad.  Free!  Yup, FREE!  (It’s very similar to “fee,” but less taxing.  Ha!  A tax season joke!  Get it?  Taxing?  No?  Back to the news  U.S. Cellular is offering Samsung Messager Touch, Motorola GRASP and LG Mystique for free.  (Sorry:  FREE!).  I’m not entirely sure why U.S. Cellular is calling these… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Image courtesy of Tech2 A couple of years back, some laptops equipped with Nvidia chipsets started to die without any apparent reason. With almost no warning your 1, 2, or 3 year old laptop simply would no longer boot up, the screen would not come on, or you would have some random video issues. The problem was reported as faulty Nvidia GPU’s, and most unlucky owners would be left with a useless piece of hardware. Being the bloodthirsty consumers we are today, class action suits began to sprout up and manufacturer’s began to respond to the masses. Well, after a few years it looks like Nvidia still didn’t give in… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

I wasn’t initially sold on the “nano as watch” concept until I tried on at CES. Now I’m a fan. In fact, I’m a fan who is excited to see a number of options finally becoming available. One company that has bands available in the Apple Store already is iWatchz. Their Q collection is just $24.95 and is available in a number of colors. The bands have style… And so does their promo video. (See if you can figure out what other company might do this kind of ad …) In addition, the company is expanding their line. At… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

I love the thin protection of a folio-style case for the iPad but there are times when even that is too much. Then again, you still want to protect your iPad from life’s bumps and scratches. That’s where a form-fitting back shell can come in rather handy. iKit has released a new one, the iPad Exec Case, and it looks like a good value. As the company explains, The new iPad exec case combines a carved hard shell with an embedded brushed leather that gives you a stylish and sophisticated look and feel. Provides secure protection for your iPad. The slim impact-resistant case offers form-fitting protection, while Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Snow Day? Today’s Gear Deal will help keep you entertained. According to our Gear Sponsor Best Buy is currently running Buy 2, Get 1 Free promotion on a host of different games on a number of different platforms. The deal applies to games priced $29.99 and above and can be for the Xbox 360, or the PS3, or the Wii, or the Nintendo DS and more. Better still, you can mix and match Xbox 360, PS3, PS2, PSP, Wii or DS titles. The bottom line is this, with this deal if you buy two games priced $29.99 or more, you will get a third one of equal or lesser value for free. You… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Back in the days of yore, when I was running Windows Mobile (ack! thpt!) on an HTC Universal (the phone of a thousand names), one of the companies whose products I came to trust was SPB.  While I’m not quite as fond of their apps on the iPhone, they’re a solid software outfit, and I think their Windows apps are pretty durn good. If you think similarly, perhaps now is the time to surf on over and check out their new Windows Phone 7 game, Brain Evolution.  This is a Windows Phone 7 update to an existing Windows Mobile game that, maybe, some of y’all have already been playing.  It’s “an intellectual mobile game… Continue reading on Gear Diary …