I recently wrote about my hands-on time with music streaming service Spotify, and had previously written about the contract wrangling that has so far kept the service EU-only. Now we have some news that points to the possibility of a US launch sooner than later … and also some sobering reality about the financial aspects of streaming media in general. Spotify Edging Closer to US Launch On the ‘good news’ side, Spotify has just signed a deal with Sony to allow Spotify to work in the US. How big a deal is this? Well, all you have to do is look at what labels are owned by Sony Continue reading on Gear Diary …

As expected, during a 1AM EST press event, Sony unveiled the next generation of its portable gaming systems, called the NGP, or PSP 2 for short. I have attached full press release, but let’s walk through some of the details: 5″ OLED 960 x 554 Screen – also multitouch capable Multi-touch rear panel Quad-core A9 Cortex processor Dual analog sticks Accelerometer, gyroscope, compass Normal array of speakers, microphone, WiFi, Bluetooth, etc Yet another new proprietary storage format Of course, having the love/hate relationship I do with Sony … I have some opinions. Largely this seems like the PSP 2 they HAD to make: it Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Just yesterday I was speaking with a friend who commented that she was continually surprised by the weak volume coming from most MacBooks. “Sure,” she said, “the sound isn’t all that great to begin with but what’s worse is that they just don’t get very loud.” Well that’s not longer an issue thanks to a small utility called Boom. As the product page explains, Boom is a simple volume booster that lets you boost the volume of your Mac and your music files. Using Boom is simple. You know the ways to change the volume of your Mac. Boom Continue reading on Gear Diary …

One of the tools Judie and I made big use of during CES was the iPhone app CardMunch. CardMunch let us quickly snap images of business cards and then added all the pertinent information to either its own address book or the iPhone’s built-in one. The transcription accuracy of the returned information was amazing thanks to the “human factor”. That’s right, the service employed people to help in the process and, as a result, CardMunch was not only quick but also reliable. It also, as a result, was a bit more expensive than the totally automated approaches. Well CardMunch shared some big news last night: First, the app is now entirely Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Remember when a 15″ CRT monitor was considered huge, desirable and cost a fortune? Well if you are too young to remember trust me… there was a time when such a monitor was a big deal. My how things have changed. Today a 20″ monitor is common-place and, at times, might even be considered small. And prices? Well you can get a 20″ monitor for under $200 pretty much any day and with today’s Gear Deal yo can get one for UNDER $100! That’s right, our Gear Sponsor let us know about a one day deal on Dell’s new entry-level 20″ LED LCD monitor. Usually it is $159.99 but for today only, and while… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

One of the uses Sami and I have for the iPhone’s capability of being tracked is finding it when, as is inevitable, one of the kids mis-places theirs.  Sure, it usually ends up being under their tuckus (under the seat cushions where they sit), but sometimes it really is, well, lost.  And in those instances, having a finding utility is really invaluable.  (Also, it helped Holmes and Watson solve a case in “Sherlock”!) In that area, GadgetTrak has said that their new product will “provide the best available protection for iOS software for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch devices at Macworld this week.”  They want to be your one-stop shop for all things findy… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

How cool is this? While having my morning coffee I read a post that it was one year ago today that the iPad was first introduced. That’s right, one year ago today all the speculation about an Apple tablet ended, the computer world was turned on its head, and my all-time favorite gadget was announced. It was a huge day that will rightly be seen as a watershed moment in computing when people look back years from now. Then I saw a second post entitled, TV Hit the Public 85 Years Ago Today. So let me get this straight. 84 years ago the TV was introduced to the public. Its effect on… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

If you’re looking for a way to pass a single snow day, but you don’t want to commit to a blizzard-length novel, Kindle Singles are now available. They seem to be a mix of longer magazine-style pieces, fiction works, and inexplicably an essay on Octo-mom. These really are a cool concept. I scanned the list of titles, and while several were of no interest to me, there were definitely a few that caught my eye. And at a near-impulse price of $0.99-$2.99, I think I’ll be stocking up on them for later reading. One side effect of this feature is that Amazon can effectively showcase “exclusive” titles without authors having to commit an entire book… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Barnes and Noble released the 1.1.0 update today for the Nook Color. The update has a minor change log but promises some bug fixes, pinch to zoom, and improved WiFi connectivity. This is good news if you are one of the millions of people who dropped the cash this holiday for shiny new Nook Color. It’s bad news if you are one of the few who rooted the Nook Color for use as a worthy Android tablet. This update will probably destroy your root process and put you back to stock. I don’t have that confirmed yet but I would recommend if you are rooted to disable the updates by using the necessary ADB commands until… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Ask any former Windows Mobile user, and chances are they’ll tell you the first app they downloaded was Pocket Informant. It was a fantastic calendar and to-do manager on WM, and it’s since graduated to being equally wonderful on iOS and Android. In a very generous gesture, WebIS has decided to give one last gift to the WM diehards, and they’ve made all their Windows Mobile products freeware. According to the wee blurb on WebIS’ main page: Windows Mobile Free We have end-of-lifed our Windows Mobile products. They are now free with no support. Pocket Informant, Flexmail and Note2Self are all free on MobiHand. It looks like WebIS has removed them from their… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

I love my iPad.  I mean, I really love it–I take it practically everywhere with me, and I use it for every function I can think of–reading books, watching movies and TV shows, checking my email, looking at my Twitter feed, playing games, (sometimes) doing posts for this very site . . . pretty much everything.  And it’s so light that I can take it anywhere.  It’s great. And it’s a friggin’ magnet for finger prints, durn it! Fortunately, there are folks out there like Cloth Addiction who want to help.  Cloth Addiction has a microfiber cleaning cloth specifically for tablets, helping you get that durn gunk off the screen after you’ve finished a… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Welcome to another edition of Music Diary Reviews! In case you haven’t noticed, I’ve been on a bit of a tear since the new year, converting all of those hours listening and taking notes into actual music reviews! 2010 was an interesting year for music, because while there were a number of very good releases, the sales numbers were awful and folks were talking about reissues that put the new releases to shame. And that is my focus this time – reissues. While I have stated that my reviews would be rank-ordered from now on, that is only partially true here. I put the Henry Threadgill & Air collection and Chet… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

It seems like only yesterday that I was telling y’all about a deal that U.S. Cellular was having on their Android phones.  They were offering free (FREE!) stuff.  Yes, it seems like just a short time ago. Hey, wait a minute, it was a short time ago! But that don’t matter to U.S. Cellular, because they really want your business.  How much?  Enough to continue offering deals.  Like the current one I’m telling you about, which lasts until 2/17.  U.S. Cellular says: [We have] another great Valentine’s Day offer that’s perfect for wireless customers who want to get a great price and control their budget. We have prepaid plans starting at Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Last week I got an invite to Spotify, allowing me to join the service that so many across Europe are so excited about using. Of course, getting from ‘invite’ to ‘account’ required doing stuff that while not illegal, was nonetheless not something I would regularly choose to do. Basically I acquired a British ‘accent’ for a little bit in order to get my account created. My initial impression was completely positive. The desktop client installed quickly, launched instantly and quickly logged in my account and pulled in my local iTunes info. From there I was encouraged to search for stuff – and when I searched, I almost always found *something*… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

We are all feeling the financial pinch!  Blue Plate Special is a weekly review of bargain apps for the iPhone and iPod Touch. Nothing over $.99. This week was time for something new for the Blue Plate. I wanted something entertaining, yet entirely different. My search brought me to muBlip. It caught my eye since it was a memory game that used musical principles. As a musician, I enjoy games with a music theme but as a guitarist I have never been into guitar Continue reading on Gear Diary …