Every morning it’s the same routine. You’re sound asleep, and then your iPhone/Droid/alarm clock/dog starts going off and announcing WAKE UP TIME! Basically, something blares in or around your head and you start moving. What if you were hearing impaired, though? How do you make sure the alarm wakes you up? That’s where the Amplicom alarm clock comes in. Amplicom makes a number of accessibility devices, and they sent me the TCL200 to test. This is an alarm clock that offers a number of hearing and visually impaired aids, including a vibrating pad (for the hearing impaired), a speaker that announces the date and time (for the visually impaired), and even the ability to hook the clock… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

I was selected to be one of a group of bloggers who’ll get the use of an ASUS Eee PC 1008 netbook for a year. This isn’t quite the typical netbook though, as this is a “Seashell Karim Rashid Edition” … and before you ask, no — I had never heard of Karim Rashid until I saw his name attached to this netbook. With that said, this is easily one of the most intriguing case designs I’ve ever seen. The entire surface of the netbook is covered in Karim Rashid’s soft-touch “Techno-chic Digi-wave design”, and instead of being the type of shiny finger-print gathering plastic laptop case that I can’t stand, this… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

There is an old story about an illiterate man who was walking along when he saw a rock with a perfect hole drilled right through it. Amazed, the man stopped and looked a bit closer. Upon examination he realized that every few minutes a drop of water fell from the top of a cliff far above and landed on the exact spot where the hole was. It was then that he realized what had happened. One drop of water had little impact on something as hard as the rock, but one drop of water, followed by another and then by another eventually became powerful enough to wear the hole into the rock… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

I’m really digging this whole Kickstarter concept. If you are not familiar with Kickstarter, it is an online threshold pledge system for funding creative projects. Kickstarter has funded a diverse array of endeavors,ranging from indie film and music to journalism and food-related projects. One of a new set of fundraising platforms dubbed “crowdfunding”, Kickstarter facilitates gathering monetary resources from the general public, a model which circumvents many traditional avenues of investment. Project owners choose a deadline and a target minimum of funds to raise. If the chosen target is not gathered by the deadline, no funds are collected (this is known as a provision point mechanism). Wikipedia Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Keith Jarrett was a great pianist of some renown before ‘The Koln Concert‘. But with that 70 minute solo recording he created one of the great works of modem music … and he did it all on the spot, fully improvised as he sat at the piano. It is a thing of beauty, and while Jarrett still performs improvised solo concerts, he has gained fame for the demands he exacts on his audience. In fact, just last weekend he walked off stage during a performance at Carnegie Hall … and it certainly wasn’t the first time. The culprits? Coughing and the click-beeping of digital cameras. From an impromptu discussion at… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Loads of people from Apple haters to Apple fans have expressed displeasure at the sometimes seemingly arbitrary way that the iTunes App Store will reject apps. And for good reason – it is one thing to disagree with written and universally applied rules, as those are for the App Store owner to develop and enforce. But when the rules are vague and randomly applied … then it is correct to complain. Which brings us to the Android Market. Last week the Android Market got the popular Flash ‘game arcade’ Kongregate, bought last year by GameStop: Kongregate has been a popular, casual game arcade since Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Actually, Kobo just wants to see you reading in your office. If you head over to Kobo’s Facebook page, and either post on their wall or add a picture of your office. That enters you in a drawing to win a Kobo eReader! They’re giving away 4 Kobo eReaders AND the Grand Prize winner also gets 10 ebooks too! I reviewed the Kobo Wifi Reader here, and found it to be a great little device! Again, if you missed The Office the other night, here’s a clip of Darryl checking out the Kobo reader: Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Arctic has developed into a company who primarily made cooling solutions for computers to a company who releases high quality products of everything from speakers and keyboards to now hobby items. I have reviewed many items from Arctic and have yet to find something that was not high quality while staying affordable. Their newest line of RC toys.  As you can see in a post here, the first offerings were all service related vehicles.  They are now announcing a new line of Land Riders for those with faster tastes.  Take a look at the full release and product line.  These look awesome! Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Carly Z has written quite a bit about ailing Borders, including a recent look at why Barnes & Noble shouldn’t buy them. Turns out she was prophetic, as a DailyFinance article today listed them as one of the 10 most likely companies to disappear in 2011. Here are their thoughts: The large bookstore chain is almost gone already. The only question remaining is whether it will be dissolved or sold to a related retailer like Barnes & Noble. It appears Borders has little choice other than to go bankrupt, given its debt and cash-flow situation. Two ominous signs for the bookseller: It says it’s unable to pay some of its largest publishers Continue reading on Gear Diary …

I’ve always been kind of interested in the Sony Dash Personal Internet Viewer. The $200 Dash uses Chumby’s technology to deliver a host of web content. Through a variety of different apps (there are up to 1500 different free apps available) the device serves up a seemingly endless variety of Internet radio, social media, video and more. Between the apps and its 7″ touch screen the Dash always struck me as being “the bedside alarm clock evolved”. Yes, I’ve always been interested in the Sony Dash, but I’ve never been “$200-interested”. Today’s Weekend Gear Deal has the Sony Dash on sale for half off. That means the normally priced $199.99 “Personal Internet Viewer” is available for… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

(Image courtesy BHConsulting) Dan: The conversation started early this morning when I read a post over on Apple Insider that just didn’t sit well with me. Apple Insider calls Tim Cook the most powerful gay man in Silicon Valley I wrote to the other editors This just offends me. Do we get articles that begin… “Most powerful heterosexual but currently celibate after his third nasty divorce” or “Most powerful 37 year-old virgin although we have no doubt she is straight”. ??? Who cares if he is straight or gay when it comes to running Apple… and who’s business is it anyhow? Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Wolfgang’s Vault is a site dedicated to preserving great live performances, started by Bill Sagan using the archives from legendary Fillmore promoter Bill Graham. We have written about the site often over the last few years (here, here, here and here just for a sampling). The reason? They are constantly updating their offerings, making more and more stuff available, having sales on great shows for download, adding video and so on. This week there were two things that really struck me: one from Miles Davis and the other from The Who. Miles Davis Live at Newport 1955 Miles Davis’ appearance at the 1955 Newport Jazz Festival is generally regarded Continue reading on Gear Diary …

CES Day 1: Dan to Judie “3D TV is one of the big things this year… I just don’t get it.” Judie to Dan “I KNOW, me either…” Kevin (thinks, but does not say) “Phew, one less new gadget this year…” CES Day 2, Morning: Judie, Dan and Kevin spend time with Oakley to learn about, and experience 3D TV using their passive 3D glasses. CES Day 2, Afternoon: Dan to Judie “WOW, I take back what I said about 3D TV yesterday.” Judie to Dan  “I was JUST saying the same thing to Kev… I WANT!” Kevin (thinks but does not say) “I take back… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Another great weekend filled with deals from all over! The weekly deal emails have started rolling in from publishers again, so I’ll look at those as well as my good friends at the ever-awesome Deals4Downloads for the round-up of weekend deals. And as always there are simply too many deals to list them all, with Amazon once again really stepping up … so here are a few: GamersGate: King Arthur Weekend Sale A.R.E.S.: Extinction Agenda (PC) for $9.95*, Save 34% Expires on Sunday MegaDrive Genesis Series 1 Complete Pack (PC) for $14.95*, Save 25% Expires on Sunday Orb Blast (PC) Continue reading on Gear Diary …

I have been using a Mac laptop of some kind for a relatively short amount of time — only since March 2008, but since then there has always been a MacBook nearby, whether it was the 15″ MacBook Pro, a first generation MacBook Air, a second generation MacBook Air, a 17″ MacBook Pro, or more recently an 11″ MacBook Air. I’ve been pretty vocal stating my opinion that Mac makes some of the best hardware available, even if I am pretty agnostic about whether their operating system is better than Windows or not. Beyond the all metal bodies and slimmer than usual bodies, one of the things that sets Mac laptops apart from all others is their… Continue reading on Gear Diary …