Lenovo’s ThinkPad X120e just started shipping but our Gear Sponsor has already got some nice savings on them. The ThinkPad X120e is the first laptop to feature AMD Fusion E-series Accelerated processing unit. It gets 30% better battery life than existing model, and ups the graphics performance by up to 65% thanks to AMD’s Radeon HD 6310 integrated graphics. The laptop is Energy Star 5.0 compliant, EPEAT Gold rating, has an HDMI port and a full-size keyboard yet weighs under 3 pounds. You can configure the X120e to include options such as integrated Bluetooth, mobile broadband and more. The base model start at $629 and, with the $230 instant savings that is… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

I’m taking a day trip to Florida today to visit some folks who spend the winter down there. It’s going to be a long day that begins with a 6am flight (the alarm will go off before 4am), and, if everything goes according to plan will end when I get home at about midnight. Among the items coming south are both my iPhone and the MyTouch 4G I’m reviewing. I wanted to have some extra juice with me since I’ll be using my iPhone as my camera. I have a number of other external power options that I could use with the iPhone, but I choose to bring the QYG-Power iPhone 4 Power Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Oh, this is so totally cool! Think Geek is now offering the first of 52 “Geek of the Week” trading cards! The cards are broken into sets of eight — I guess because doing sets of seven didn’t look symmetrical enough(?), but anyway! Seriously! How can you resist Veronica Belmont dressed as a warrior princess? In 2010, illustrator Len Peralta set upon a challenge: interview 52 members of the geek-elite, and use that newfound familiarity to create likenesses of them. Each geek would be depicted in iconic representations that best reflected their style and personality. His medium of choice: trading cards, naturally. Each geek is a leader in their respective industries Continue reading on Gear Diary …

An article in the New York Times this morning entitled “After iPad’s Head Start, Rival Tablets Are Poised to Flood Offices” does a nice job of discussing the impact tablets have already had on the world of computing. It also goes on the describe the changing landscape as real iPad alternatives finally begin to enter the market. While the article notes that Apple’s unchallenged run into the tablet market is about to end it also does a good job of describing the impact Cupertino’s device has already had and its rapid, and somewhat surprising penetration, into business. The article notes that while Apple’s own advertising tends to position the iPad as a casual consumption… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

It seems like everything in life has a login,or needs a credit card or an account number. There’s tons of information to track, and you certainly don’t want to leave it open in a memo on your computer or saved casually on your phone. That’s where an app like SafeWallet comes in to help. SafeWallet, from SBSH Software, is probably familiar to anyone who came from Symbian, the iPhone or Blackberry. It’s been around for those platforms for some time, but since I have never tried it this is all new to me. Basically, the app works Continue reading on Gear Diary …

A couple of weeks ago when I was reviewing Trey Gunn’s Modulator, I referenced Pat Metheny’s Zero Tolerance for Silence as forming my expectations. But as I was writing that I realized it had probably been a decade since I had listened to it and so naturally I pulled out the CD and popped it into my car for my commute to work for a few days. When Metheny released Zero Tolerance for Silence (ZtfS from here on) back in late 1992 I bought it straight-away as I tended to do back then (and still do now). I had read previews on USENET (this was really before the Web, kiddies)… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Last year I reviewed Divinity II: Ego Draconis, noting that “I very much enjoyed Divinity II, but I also have to say it didn’t meet my hopes and expectations. After a few hours I truly loved the game, but after a few more the weaknesses started showing through.” I ended up giving it a weak ‘Buy It’ recommendation, really focusing on the audience who would naturally be biased in favor of the game. The Hype: Divinity II – The Dragon Knight Saga also includes the brand new adventure Flames of Vengeance, which adds dozens of hours of gameplay to the original story, and packs loads of new quests, creatures and items… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

If you are either undecided about getting Dragon Age 2, or just want a small taste of the game before launch, get ready to queue up big download! The Dragon Age 2 demo is now available to download for the XBOX360, and is coming tomorrow to the PC and PS3. The demo is 1.98GB, so get ready to do loads of waiting! Dragon Age II has already ‘gone gold’ and is scheduled to release on March 8th in North America and March 11th throughout Europe. Source: Bioware Continue reading on Gear Diary …

I really have some catching up to do … TellTale Games last week released both Back to the Future Episode 1 for iPad and PS3 and Back to the Future Episode 2 for PC/Mac. I have played the first one on both PC and iPad, and have started the second … but really need to finish my review! Well, since one reason to read reviews is to see if there is adequate value to warrant a purchase, for a short time TellTale is helping me out: they are making Back to the Future Episode 1 FREE for Mac or PC download! All you need to do is head to the… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Why is it that music files were the first ones that were widely pirated, yet now account for ~3% of files downloaded in a recent survey? Bandwidth – or more to the point, convenience! But as internet access speeds and download methods have evolved people are downloading movies and games and other massive files more frequently than music. For a long time folks in the RIAA and MPAA and other related media industry groups have keyed on THAT – the ever-increasing ease of piracy – as a route to eliminate piracy by making it inconvenient / uncomfortable for pirates. Their methods have included adding DRM, prosecuting casual pirates, seeding virus-containing files… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

With so many keyboard cases being introduced in the past few months for the iPad, people who were using their iPhones as mobile offices might have been feeling a bit left out. They need feel that way no longer. With the introduction of Mobile Fun’s TypeTop iPhone 4 Keyboard, the iPhone comes into its own. Swivel design gives many different angles to use iPhone and Keyboard Adds a stand to your iPhone for FaceTime and viewing media Full QWERTY keyboard makes typing easy Built in battery won’t take power from your iPhone 4 Connects wirelessly through Bluetooth Adds just 0.9mm to the overall thickness of your iPhone Cutouts for Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Maybe it’s just me, but doesn’t it seem like there are more and more apps and devices linked directly into Facebook since that movie came out?  Hey, call me crazy. Crazy or not, one of today’s news offerings is this new phone from INQ, which is Facebook-integrated.  The folks at INQ say that this set of phones “will be the world’s first to come embedded with the text prediction technology behind SwiftKey and TouchType.”  Which I personally would take as a bit of a poke in the eye to Apple, but you don’t have to–I’m a pretty cynical guy, after all.  No word on carriers or price or the like yet, but the specs Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Just can’t quite hear your iPhone or iPod Touch but hate earbuds and a big-honkin’ add-on amplifier unit is nowhere in sight? The folks at dB Cases have a solution for you.… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

If Apple keeps messing with their customers and providers in such a blatant fashion, I’m (unfortunately) going to have to re-think my support of the iPhone platform and move to something else.  Like, say Android. Which brings us to this device which, I must say, looks spectacularly cool:  a solar-powered Android phone.  Built by UmeoX Mobile, this new phone (the Apollo, which I think is cool, honestly) uses what I presume to be a lower-powered chip that they have integrated with their solar collection grid and tied in to their phone in such a way that it’s, well, solar powered.  Here’s some specs to get you all thinking: Continue reading on Gear Diary …

I joined Amazon Prime last year by way of a free one-month trial and somewhat reluctantly paid the $79 annual fee, but by the end of the year the service had easily paid for itself in terms of greatly reduced shipping costs, no minimum to qualify for free shipping, priority treatment and so on. At the same time, my wife bought me a Roku XDS for Christmas and my family has greatly enjoyed the simplified access to Hulu+, Netflix and rental movies through Amazon On-Demand. We recently decided to (once again) cancel Netflix due to the selection and our usage not warranting even the $8 a month we were paying! Now Amazon… Continue reading on Gear Diary …