These days, there’s an app for almost everything, right?  Well, what was the case before there were apps?  How did people get info before they could search the web?  How did every interest niche–large and small–communicate to its fellow niche-members before there was a web, or Facebook, or apps? Hey, with magazines, for one!  When I was younger, I was always astonished at the sheer variety of magazines available that discussed one thing.  Like cars, say:  Motor Trend, Car and Driver, Road and Track, and I don’t know how many others.  Another big one was music.  Not only were there magazines like Rolling Stone and Cream, but there were musician magazines, too, for guitarists, and… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Welcome back to the GearGames weekly video game release feature here at Gear Diary! Hopefully you have been enjoying the game releases so far – there has been a steady trickle of solid releases, and that continues this week. There are multiple major releases across consoles, handhelds and PC. For multiple consoles we get de Blob 2, the sequel to the surprisingly fun 2008 Wii game. There is also Bulletstorm, the over-the-top shooter featured in a massive media blitz recently. For handhelds we get two games: the PSP updated port of the classic Ys I & II Chronicles, which follows a line of solid releases from the Ys franchise after a rough start… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

A number of us here at Gear Diary quite like HTC products.  Heck, I even had one myself for a while before I got my iPhone.  Apparently, though, we’re not the only ones:  GSMA has chosen HTC the “Device Manufacturer of the Year” award, beating out rivals like Samsung, Apple, Nokia, and all the rest.  Pretty impressive, honestly.  I’d go on about HTC devices, but heck, why don’t you just read about the award below? HTC Corporation, a global designer of smartphones, has been honored this week with the highest industry honor as ‘Device Manufacturer of the Year’ by the GSMA at its Global Mobile Awards ceremony in Barcelona.  The award follows a year of global Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Luke and I have drawn the winner of the Kisai Console Watch!  The winner is jazboy and his favorite TokyoFlash watch is a Kisai RPM SS.  I have to agree that it is a very cool watch, but I think he will also like the Kisai Console!  Thank you to TokyoFlash for making this happen! And if you didn’t win, be sure to check out TokyoFlash’s website to buy one for yourself!… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

If you take a close look at the site over any given period of time you’ll notice that there are some types of content you see elsewhere that is rare here are Gear Diary. You won’t find a lot of posts having to do with the latest rumor coming from the blogosphere; after all these are simply rumors, and more often than not they end up being false in the end anyway. This is particularly the case with Apple, although I’ll admit that when it’s a day or two before a key press announcement, if the overwhelming consensus is that the rumor has merit, then we will cover it. But I digress. But speaking… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

This Vostro 230 Mini Tower: Small in Size and Price but Big on Power Today’s New Gear Daily Deal brings us big savings on the Vostro 230 Mini Tower. How big? It has a starting MSRP of just $687 and this New Gear Daily Deal cuts almost $300 off right from the start. From there you can customize it for even more speed, power or storage! For details, customizing and ordering visit the Deal’s page right here. And if you are looking for a laptop make sure to check out this deal on the Vostro 1015 Laptop. NewGearDaily: Because everybody loves a good deal. Continue reading on Gear Diary …

It is pretty amazing to consider the variety and range of styles of iPhone cases that you can find.. There are simple silicone cases, leather cases that double as a wallet, and metal frames that suspend the iPhone in the midst of what looks like an exoskeleton. Today we’re going to take a quick look at one of the more unusual cases we’ve seen, The Gasket Brushed Aluminum Case from id America. From the Company: Conceptual inspiration: Inspired by the shape of a head gasket on a performance engine, our Gasket Brushed Aluminum Case transcends technology with its Continue reading on Gear Diary …

When the iPad was first released Apple make sure to immediately offer a keyboard dock so that people who wanted to use the device for productivity would be able to type on it with great speed and accuracy. The dock was rather expensive and because of its size, shape and weight it wasn’t the most mobile accessory. I purchased one immediately I found myself not using it all that much. This was in part because, when my iPad was in a case which is 99% of the time, the dock was unusable. It assumed the iPad was entirely naked and so the distance between the dock connector in the back of the stand was only… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Picture yourself using the 15.6″ Dell Vostro 1015 laptop. The Dell Vostro 1015- it’s big, it’s fast and it’s on sale. With this New Gear Daily Deal you can get your own Vostro 1015 for as little as $489. You can check out the details, customize to your liking and order your own right here. NewGearDaily: Because everybody loves a good deal. Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Have you ever eaten at the mall food court and had your kids drop stuff on the table and say ‘hey don’t eat anything that falls off of your tray, the tables are filthy!’? Well, it turns out that the trays themselves are no better! According to a non-scientific study done by the CBC: Swabs taken from trays in food courts at three malls were sent to University of British Columbia microbiologist Bob Hancock, who analyzed the samples. The malls involved were Pacific Centre in downtown Vancouver, Park Royal in West Vancouver and Metrotown in Burnaby “We saw as many bacteria on some food trays as we saw on a toilet,” said Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Content Matters has taken the time to give a more honest interpretation of Mike Edwards’ email, and it does a great job of hitting the high (er…low) points in Borders’ history. My favorite bits: So around 3 years ago, Amazon came out with this Kindle e-reader. As my mama said – who the heck wants to read a book on a computer? So we did the smart thing and ignored it. Our friends at Barnes & Noble came out with their own version, called the Nook. And we ignored that one too. Then last year, our private equity investors told us that without an e-book strategy, they weren’t going to keep funding us. So, we partnered with a company Continue reading on Gear Diary …

There has been a flurry of tabloid-style reports on Steve Jobs lately – one will say he was on the Apple Campus, another will say he is at a cancer treatment center with ‘expert’ opinions saying he has six weeks to live. So tech watchers of all sorts were anticipating Thursday night’s dinner held by President Obama, featuring Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg, Google’s Eric Schmidt, and of course Steve Jobs. Now we have a couple of photos released by the White House of the event, and can see Jobs seated to the left of the President. He looks gaunt to be sure, but also to my eye looks less frail and… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

I had never been one to peruse YouTube for songs and music video clips … until I decided to start including them with my music reviews as a simple way for folks to get a sample of an artist’s sound. Then I found myself hooked! Now I will regularly check out artists of interest on YouTube to see their songs performed in a number of settings, and also use it to check out full versions of songs when the measly iTunes / Amazon sample just isn’t enough – or if I get a desire to listen to a song while at work that isn’t on my iPod anymore. My intent it to… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

During GearDiary.com’s days of CES coverage last month we told you about the next generation infotainment technology coming to GM vehicles called MyLink. Chevrolet has announced that its first two models to offer this will be the 2012 Volt and Equinox. This is the automaker’s answer to systems already in use or coming very soon in other brands. From the press release: Consumers who seek a higher level of in-vehicle wireless connectivity and customized infotainment options, plus the unmatched safety and security of OnStar need look no further than the 2012 Chevy Volt and Equinox. When these vehicles go on sale later this year, they will be the first to offer Chevy MyLink 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. I have a running joke with one of my students about the iPhone being so much better than her Android phone. We joke about battery life and applications and games. The other day she was so proud to show me a new game where you tilt the phone like a board to guide a ball around a maze to. I laughed and told her IOS has plenty of games like that and… Continue reading on Gear Diary …