Case maker M-Edge has announced their new custom case program.  The new program, named My-Edge, allows users to create their very own custom case for the Amazon Kindle, Barns and Noble Nook and the iPad. Starting in February you’ll be able to choose from a selection of artists work or upload your own personal image which will be used to create your custom case. The case itself is made from a combination of leather and canvas.  It’ll retail for $50 for the iPad and $40 for the e-readers. Once you’ve created your case on the M-Edge web site you can expect to receive your finished case in about 10 days.… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Why carry around a boring, old fashioned USB stick flash drive when you can spice your life up with some style.  Mimobot, who creates designer flash drives have introduced an all new line.  Teaming up with Warner Bros., the company has created a fun line of flash drives inspired by comic super heroes.  The initial release includes a really cool 1939 era Batman and will expand throughout the year.  Here is the full release along with some other designs. (Las Vegas, NV South Hall Booth #37015 – January 6, 2011) – Mimoco, creator of the MIMOBOT® Continue reading on Gear Diary …

I have reviewed several products that have revolutionized iPhone use for guitarists.  I can play guitars with effects and make recordings with ease on my phone thanks to the likes of IK Media’s iRig.  I have often made recordings and wanted to have a couple of my students sing on the track but have not been able to add the vocals easily.  If you are wondering, no I cannot sing good enough to record, but I like to add vocal tracks to my guitar recordings.  Just like they were answering my requests personally, IK Media has just released the perfect solution for vocalists.  The iRig Mic does what the original iRig did for the… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

The original Rock Band for the iPhone was a decent hit in spite of trading real-feel instruments for tapping on a screen. This is because it was designed to look and feel like the console game and had a good selection of songs to go along with a well designed and functional interface. Now Electronic Arts is back with the next entry in the series … Rock Band Reloaded! Let’s see how they did, and whether it is worth paying again for the new game. The Hype: – PLAY 33 SONGS! Instantly launch into 15 legendary tracks, with additional FREE songs available in the Music Store. Spanning 6 rock music genres… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Cobra has a ton of new and exciting products for both the home and the car in 2011.  This morning I had the chance to preview them and I wanted to share a few of them with you. The Phone Tag (seen above) is a Bluetooth enabled device that looks like a key chain.  What it does though is much more.  When you move the Phone Tag away from your cell phone the device omits an audio alert.  If you lose your phone it’ll send you a Google maps image with your phones location.  The device will be available in the summer of 2011. Phone Lynx is a small Bluetooth enables device that plugs into your home’s… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

The world of auto GPS units has gone through many changes in the short life of the product.  Newer versions of the technology provides an ever expanding amount of travel information.  I personally have gone from using a GPS unit to using my phone and am contemplating going back.  I think I preferred having a dedicated device in my personal vehicle.  For a while, small was the way to go, but with new vehicles coming out with beautiful, large screens big is back.  Magellan just announced a large screen GPS for those of us without a new vehicle that carries all of the cool features.  The screen as well as features are large in… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Blue Lounge is all about products that are extremely simple yet extremely functional.  At CES this year they’ve announced their latest instalment. The Nest is a stylish yet simple iPad stand that doubles as a store anything area.  Think of it as a cup holder for your home. The stand works in both the portrait and landscape position and comes in a variety of colors. When it launches sometime next year it’ll retail for $14.95. Learn more here. Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Day Three at the 2011 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas and things have begun to wind down a bit, at least where the flurry of press releases is concerned. Down on the show floor it is a completely different story as doors have opened and the world’s media are dividing and conquering. One of the biggest stories of the day may have tipped the hand of part of the keynote speech being delivered today by Ford CEO Alan Mulally, specifically that Ford is bringing an electric Focus to market soon. Later today we should get the rest of that story and perhaps our first glimpse of a working model. Here is that and more from Day Three in Vegas, baby:… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

What do you do when you have nothing of substance to say but it’s the biggest technology event of the year? Why you hold a press conference of course! And then you use words like “digital revolution” and “create fantastic works of art” over and over and over and over again. That was the experience we had yesterday afternoon at the Casio press conference. Yes, the company that first brought digital photography to the world had nothing of substance to offer today but that didn’t keep them from holding a press conference and talking for a seemingly endless period of time. The company’s top executives took to the stage and told us about… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Whenever you buy an EA game, you basically agree by installing it or even opening the case that you accept that the game’s online support is guaranteed only for 1 year. This has been the case for a long time and is true for most non-subscription-based online games … but few others ever actually enforce it! According to the article at GameIndustry.biz, the shutdowns are part of EA’s “ongoing schedule”, which is based on the number of players using the services. Titles affected will include The Sims Carnival and Tiger Woods PGA Tour 09 for the Wii. Also included in the schedule are the cessation of the online services for EA’s various… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Each year at CES the Finish bag company Golla launches its new collection. The company makes a variety of universal pouches as well as device specific cases for the iPad, iPhone, Mac Book Air and others. The designs are bright, colorful and refreshing. Learn more about them by visiting the company’s web site here. Continue reading on Gear Diary …

“It’s a phone!” “It’s a computer!” “It’s a phone!” “It’s a computer!” “Relax!  No need to fight!  It’s a phone and a computer!” (I wanted to embed the video, but you’ll just have to go to the  NBC Television site, alas.) But seriously.  In this, the post-iPhone/smartphone era, the simple cell phone has, essentially, evolved into a computer.  (A durn powerful one by the standards of even just a few years ago.  I mean, 32Gb of SSD on a phone?)   Interestingly, hardly anyone has seen fit to do something similar on the desktop, and combine a desktop phone with a computer.  But Speakal has decided to fill the gap.  Their phone is… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

We’re having a great time at CES.  The show has been very hectic so far. But that’s a good thing. I’ve taken quite a few videos for my YouTube channel. And I thought I’d share that I’m here with you. Some of the products you may see might have already been covered in press releases. Or maybe reviewed in the future by other writers. But I thought you’d enjoy seeing them now nonetheless. The videos below are from the first four days of CES and the events we attended. CES Unveiled: ioSafe Demo: Digital Experience: The Show Floor Day… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Today at CES Verizon had their day in the sun! During that announcement they officially announced what looks like a great handset in the new Droid Bionic, plus the new Xoom Tablet.  Both are due to hit Verizon early this year. The Droid Bionic boasts from the press release: Packing a dual core processor with each core running at 1GHz, delivering up to two GHz of processing power, and 512 MB RAM, the sleekly designed DROID BIONIC smartphone with 4G LTE delivers a mobile Internet experience that’s up to 10 times faster than 3G. This means consumers can stream their favorite music and the latest TV shows with unparalleled quality experience. DROID BIONIC also races through loading of Continue reading on Gear Diary …

In case you’re just tuning in, the music industry has seen year after year of declining sales, due to many factors starting with their own greed and unwillingness to embrace the digital age and shift away from over-priced and under-delivering albums. They have always pointed to piracy as the sole reason, and while it most assuredly IS a huge factor, I believe that their constant and complete unwillingness to look within to seek the source of their problems has been central to the issue. Oh, and streaming music satisfies most pop fans according to the numbers. So now we have the Official 2010 numbers … how did it go? Not so great, as… Continue reading on Gear Diary …