Image courtesy of Android Community Yes, folks, it’s CES time, and your friendly Gear Diary team is there!  But your humble news guy is still here, desperately trying to keep up with all the CES official news so that Judie, Larry, and Dan can give you the ground’s-eye view.  It’s a tough job, but we struggle through as best we can. What I want to tell you about now is actually something I wish I could see the launch of (full info below):  a new Android tablet by AOC called the Breeze.  It runs Android 2.1, sports an 8″, 800×600 touch screen, and a full USB 2.0 port.  According to the press info… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Considering that from the very start PSP Minis have largely been ports of iPhone games (Fieldrunners, Hero of Sparta, etc), it is little surprise that iPhone games constitute a large source of new games for the PSP Minis platform. Just before Christmas the popular (Halo rip-off) shooter N.O.V.A. landed as a PSP Mini (just weeks after the sequel hit the iTunes App Store), and kept me running-and-gunning over my vacation (look for a review soon). Now we have one of the best selling mobile games of all time – Angry Birds – coming out as a PSP Mini this week! Here is the description from the PSN Blog: Angry Birds — The Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Destination Treasure Island has point-and-click adventures with a great storyline, automatic save points, and considerable inventory management system.

Despite growing up only a few miles from the original Dunkin Donuts, I have uniformly disliked the advertisements for the shop since enjoying the original ‘Time to Make the Donuts’ commercial … not the least reason for which was that ‘Fred the Baker’ looked much like the guy I worked for through high school and for several breaks during college! The reason I mention that I find the most recent ads annoying, and my wife tells me to stop thinking so much. Over-analysis of movies is pretty much a given, and over the last year or so we have had two great examples: Inception was over-analyzed due to the depth and confusing nature of… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Considering how much music and how many apps I grab from the iTunes App Store on a regular basis, whenever I see an opportunity for a deal on gift cards, or sales, or just about ANY way to save money on apps and music … I jump. I am also a huge fan of cloud storage – not for so-called ‘mission critical’ stuff, but for more everyday stuff I like to be able to access across any of my devices. So when I saw this link at Dealnews I had to check it out. Here are the basics according to the promo offer … and augmented by my experience: Continue reading on Gear Diary …

(image courtesy Magazine Template) The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Google is looking to sell more than just books. Apparently they also want to sell newspapers and magazines, probably as a way to offer more content to the slew of Android tablets coming out this year! According to the WSJ: Google has discussed its intentions with a range of publishers, including Time Warner Inc.’s Time Inc. unit, Condé Nast and Hearst Corp., according to people familiar with the matter. The three publishers declined to comment on any talks. In recent weeks, these people say, Google has told publishers it would take a smaller slice on any sales they make of Android Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Now here’s a potential game changer: ebooks in the “romance” category are outstripping sales of their mass market counterparts in the UK. Now granted, you can hide that you love Harlequins more easily on the Kindle, and the prices are slightly cheaper, but this is still big news. Hardcore romance readers LOVE those books, and they stock up like crazy. When I worked at Borders the buyers of romance novels were first in line each month for new releases. And it’s not just my anecdotal experiences. According to Publisher’s Weekly, romance is a big chunk of mass market sales. Plus, they’re essentially ubiquitous. You can buy a mass market anywhere from airports to your local CVS! Back in… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Do you love Jazz? Do you like taking sound quizzes? Do you think you know the history of jazz well enough to take a huge online test? Well, the Smithsonian has a challenge for you! Next March, according to the Smithsonian site, an all-new anthology of jazz music, featuring 111 songs across 6 CDs. There is 80% new material compared with the classic 1973 collection – I had this one tape for years until I wore them out and bought it on CD back in the 90′s. Here are some details on the release: Seven years in the making, ‘JAZZ: The Smithsonian Anthology’ will be released by Smithsonian Folkways on March 29th Continue reading on Gear Diary …

I noticed changes to the look & feel of the Android Market over the holiday break when grabbing some apps for my Droid, but just had the chance to search the Android blog and found more details. Here is some info from the blog: This new Market client introduces important features that improve merchandising of applications, streamline the browse-to-purchase experience, and make it easier for developers to distribute their applications. With a focus on improving discoverability and merchandising, we’ve introduced a new carousel on the home and category screens. Users can quickly flip through the carousel to view promoted applications and immediately go to the download page for the application they want Continue reading on Gear Diary …

For some reason Gmail decided this was spam so I almost missed it! For this week only, Macgamestore.com is offering a great set of 10 games for $20! Here is what the package includes: – Bob Came in Pieces – Broken Sword: Shadow of the Templars Director’s Cut – Build-a-lot 4: Power Source – Cake Mania 3 – Fiction Fixers: Adventures in Wonderland Premium Edition – NyxQuest: Kindred Spirits – Heartwild Solitaire: Book Two – Midnight Mysteries: Salem Witch Trials – Puzzle Agent – Mishap: An Accidental Haunting Most of these games sell for $10 – $20 each! There are some really good items on the list, definitely a bargain for… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Don’t forget: This challenge is benefiting The Haiti Plunge – They are building a road and a new medical clinic among other things in a rural part of Haiti. Please take a second and support them HERE. Today is the day when the SCOTTEVEST No Baggage Challenge for Charity becomes a reality and moves into high gear. Yes, tomorrow morning Larry and I both fly out for Las Vegas and the Consumer Electronics Show 2011. That means today, Sunday, January 2, 2011, is the day when we need to pack our clothes into our luggage. Scratch that, not into our luggage but rather we need to pack our clothes and electronics into our jackets… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

It would be no exaggeration to say that after I placed the ElementCase Vapor 4 on my iPhone 4, no other case felt quite right. I loved the heft that my iPhone got with that ring of aluminum around it (because yes, I am weird like that), and the colors available made the iPhone unmistakably mine. Unfortunately, that ring of aluminum also managed to nearly kill my iPhone’s reception, and at the end of the review process the Vapor 4 had to come off. Since then I have tried quite a few cases — wooden, plastic as well as some composed of other materials, and although I’ve found some I liked, none… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

The past year has seen interesting developments in the gear we all use: the term iOS replaced iPhone OS as the OS that started on iPhone was also on the new iPad when it took the world and Gear Diary writers by storm, Android phones blossomed and became real competitors to the iPhone, and the iPad got its first real competition in the Samsung Galaxy Tab just a few months before 2010 drew to a close.  While there’s much more that happened in the past year, I thought let’s ask the following questions of the Gear Diary Team. 1. What was your favorite gear in 2010 and why? Continue reading on Gear Diary …

More than a year and a half ago I reviewed the DS version of Broken Sword, and mentioned how I had played pretty much every other version of the game ever released. I the review I highlight the awesome updates for the Director’s Edition, saying: More specifically, the original game starts from George Stobbart’s perspective as the cafe explodes and works from there. The new version starts with you controlling Nico – the day before. There is lots of added content due to this dual character interplay. It was a mandate that nothing from the original could change, so the developers added a subtext of dark secrets revealed that were merely hinted at Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Didn’t get an eReader for Christmas? Looking for a quality ebook reader with note-taking, but you don’t need the online capabilities of a Kindle or NOOK? WOOT has you covered today only with a Sony Reader Touch Edition for only $99.99! This is a huge savings, as Sony Style lists these for $229.99. They can read Adobe DRM ePUB, meaning you can buy books from Sony and Kobo, as well as borrow books from the Overdrive public library systems. It’s a touchscreen system, and you can take handwritten notes as well. Not a bad deal at all for $99! But hurry, it’s WOOT, so this deal is only good for January 2nd, 2011!… Continue reading on Gear Diary …