I discovered self-publishing site Lulu.com a couple of years ago when I bought Wil Wheaton’s Sunken Treasure. I wanted it electronically, and that was the place to get it. Lulu is a great site for a bunch of reasons, mostly because it allows authors to self-publish, to put out paperbacks as well as PDF books and also push ePUB to the iBooks store. Here is what they say about themselves: Lulu.com brings the world of online book publishing to you. Looking to self-publish? Lulu’s print on demand (POD) solutions make it quick and easy. Create a book in minutes, publish with the click of a mouse, distribute, sell and print books Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Good news this weekend – nothing for me to make corny jokes about! But that doesn’t mean the deals have stopped! As usual, everyone is getting in on the action with great deals, so let’s get right to them. And as always thanks to the crew at Deals4Downloads for their help finding everything. So let’s get straight to the deals! Good Old Games: StrategyGames Weekend Sale – 50% off the whole set, or 30% off individually DISCIPLES: SACRED LANDS GOLD JAGGED ALLIANCE JAGGED ALLIANCE: DEADLY GAMES PORT ROYALE 2 GamersGate: Valentines Weekend Sale Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Few retailers use social media as well as Scott Jordan and SCOTTEVEST. Scott tweets constantly, often sends voice messages via Twitter instead of making a phone call, and is never one to run from controversy such as the Delta Baggage-gate conflict. Scott is never one to shy away from taking risks and it has paid off in a huge way. SeV is growing significantly in a challenging economic environment and has added tons of new items to their portfolio. In fact, Scott recently hired a President for the company. Well Scott just took a huge risk and decided to broadcast their… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Word spread yesterday that Apple might be looking to radically change the makeup of the batteries they use and, if this rumor bears fruit, have batteries in their devices that last much much longer. Just imagine how great it would be to have an iPhone that gets a few DAYS of runtime!? Unfortunately it is just a rumor. Moreover, while such advances would be great they do nothing for us as we sit her using the current devices available to us. For that we need external batteries and, as the saying goes, bigger is better. We’ve looked at a few external batteries already and today we’ll be looking at the Mili Power King Continue reading on Gear Diary …

What is this crazy old man in the nightgown doing? Is he- A. Playing the bongos on his head B. Pretending to be Carnac the Magnificent C. Taking his temperature without anything having to actually touch him? If you said C you are absolutely right. Elana took her dad to the hospital for a follow-up on some surgery… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Developer Playlithium has just released Super Ball Escape, a fun looking action game that has caught quite a bit of pre-release buzz on iOS game forums. That itself is great news, but they are sweetening the deal – from now until February 20th you can get the game on the iTunes App Store for FREE! Here are some details: Developed and published by Playlithium, Super Ball Escape is an action adventure game that will challenge your balance and agility skills to the max. Take control of your robot ball and help him in his epic escape from the evil corporation that created him. Using precise tilt control from your device, roll your Continue reading on Gear Diary …

In a world of “new and improved” sometimes the best things are “old and broken in”. I mean seriously, if you compare the build quality of the appliances we put into our first house almost 20 years ago with the ones we installed in our current home 6 years ago it quickly becomes apparent that older things are sometimes far more durable. That goes for some clothing too. That’s where Inventory Magazines treasure trove of old Swedish Army belts comes in. As they explain, The perfect belt always seems to elude us, well some Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Today G5 has launched their latest hidden object game, Romance of Rome, for iPhone and iPad on the iTunes App Store. To celebrate the release, they are having a contest that could net you a free copy of any of their games! Here are the details: Travel to the legendary days of the Roman Empire in our new game Romance of Rome for iPhone and iPad! This week’s Thursday contest invites you to step inside the game, and you can select any of two ways to enter: 1. Take a screenshot from the game Romance of Rome and hide 5 objects inside of it. Post it to our Facebook wall with the Continue reading on Gear Diary …

The automotive audio industry has been a busy and competitive business segment for several decades. What began on the west coast in the 1970s spread to the rest of North America in the ‘80s and from there to the OEM side for automakers around the turn of the millennium. Entering its 10th year with luxury brand Lexus, Harman and Mark Levinson recently celebrated their latest partnership for high-end mobile audio with the release of the new Lexus CT200h hybrid sport wagon.… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

When it comes to Windows Phone 7 our friend Johan van Mierlo knows his stuff. When we were in Las Vegas he spent a fair bit of time trying to convince me to get one and, now that I have one in my possession, I have to say Microsoft has done a good job. Sure the operating system is first generation while iOS is in version 4 and Android is up to version 27 (or is it 223?). (I… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

We end the week with a Gear Deal that I think I’ll be grabbing for myself in just a few minutes! Just think, a portable external drive that provides a full terabyte of storage!! But I’m getting ahead of myself. Today/s deal is on the Seagate Expansion 1TB USB 2.0 Black External Hard Drive (model no. ST910004EXA101-RK). The drive is USB powered, has built-in power management to ensure energy-efficient operation and, at dimensions of just 5.97″ x 3.31″ x 1.06″, the 5400RPM drive is small and light. This drive normally has an MSRP of $119.99 but our Gear Sponsor found it for the lowest price ever. That’s right, with a coupon code for $50 off… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Given how much I talked about Jason Parker since discovering his music & intriguing business model early in 2010, it is not surprising that I’ve been eagerly anticipating more news on his Nick Drake project. Well, now we have more … but it wasn’t what I expected! Jason works with a rapper/remixer named Spekulation, and as he notes here had sent him early cuts of stuff from the upcoming Nick Drake project for feedback. Spekulation, as Parker says here: cut up our take of “Day Is Done” with Jay-Z’s “Can’t Knock The Hustle”, and lo and behold it was magic! Spek then asked for more mixes, so I sent him all 10 Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Sometimes there is nothing more pleasant than a casual game to pass the time. And while it seemed that all of the casual games have migrated to either Nintendo systems or Apple’s iPad and iPhone, there are still companies providing solid casual entertainment for the PC and Mac gamer. And more and more companies are providing casual games for the PC as well as iOS devices. One such game is Frogs vs. Storks, which is available for the PC, Mac and iOS devices. The Hype: Evil storks have invaded the pond!! But the frogs are putting up quite a fight!! Navigate your frogs on the other side of the pond… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

The other day I reviewed TokyoFlash’s  Console watch. (We will also be giving it away soon!) Today I have the opportunity to review another watch from TokyoFlash-  the Kisai Sensai Pure.  The Kisai Sensai Pure watch is not only unique in its design and features multicolored LED’s for telling the time. It looks more than a bit unusual and I like that! The face of the Sensai Pure has 3 different sets of LED’s and each has its own purpose.  Like the Kisai Console, the Sensai Pure’s face is totally dark until you press the button to activate it.  Unlike the Kisai Console, however, the Sensai Pure will spring… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

You know the saying that “beauty is only skin deep”? Well it is not quite accurate. More fitting might be, “Don’t believe everything you see.” Why? Because Photoshop or some other method of retouching images can have a lot to do with how things looks and the distance between “the final image” and “reality” can be great. How great you ask? Well, the above picture actually looked like this before it was “worked over”. Now don’t get me wrong, the woman in the second picture is far from unattractive but from picture number two to picture number one is a world… Continue reading on Gear Diary …