Everyone shares the pain and difficulty of the people of Japan dealing with the horrible tragedy, and many of us look for ways to help out in whatever way possible. Judie wrote about some ways to help, and more ideas keep pouring in every day! Here is one of the latest! For this week only, game maker Capcom has put their excellent iPhone port of Street Fighter IV on sale for $0.99, and are donating ALL proceeds to the relief effort! Here are the details: Our deepest thoughts and prayers are with people who were caught in tragic “Tohoku Region Earthquake” in Japan. CAPCOM as a Japanese gaming company Continue reading on Gear Diary …

My friend Holley just forwarded an email that’s making the rounds; maybe you got it, too. It shows the art of Terry Border, the artistic genius behind Bent Objects. Some of the pictures are cute… Modest pear … some are silly … Paper training our little dog, Frank … and some are creepy! You Say Tomato, I Say Tomato. You Say Potatoes, I say Zombies.… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Apple detractors love to talk about the “Steve Jobs distortion field”. I have never much bought into that. Sure, Steve jobs is a master showman. And yes, he is most likely among the more arrogant people living today. And yes, he does like to build hype when he brings out a new product or service. And, I will admit, he has been somewhat into overstatement at times. But then again, he’s got the stuff to back it up. There is an old saying from here in suburban New Jersey that there are people who “have no cattle but a big hat”. The thing is, that’s not Steve Jobs. No, Jobs and Apple have lots… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Last week I wrote about a Facebook promotion that WildTangent Games was having: if 15,000 people ‘Liked’ their Facebook page they would give away the game for FREE! Well, we did it! Since more than 15,000 clicked the Like button, everyone can grab FATE: The Traitor Soul for FREE! But hurry – it is for one week only! Here are the details: Here are step by step instructions to use your unlock code for FATE: The Traitor Soul. This unlock code expires on Monday, March 21, 2011. Don’t miss out on the fun, unlock your game before it’s too late! Step 1: Visit http://www.wildtangent.com/Games/fatethetraitorsoul. Click the TRY FREE button in Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Last month I wrote about a new tracker that shows the comparative data used by the iPhone on Verizon and AT&T and uses that as a comparison for the number of active phones. The initial data set was likely skewed by the ‘new user effect’ of folks over-using their data plan as they signed up for the new Verizon iPhone. A month later, however, it is clear that regardless of non-existent retail lines at launch, there have been HUGE Verizon iPhone sales, and folks are making great use of those phones. The latest data shows Verizon with a greater than 12% overall share of the iPhone market: Since the launch of the Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Okay, so here is a neat idea if you need to temporarily protect your iPad (or other tablet or eReader) for a limited period of time. The CleverWrap protective system is a disposable sleeve that lets you seal your device inside so it is safely kept away from the elements if you are at the beach or in some other setting where you might otherwise worry about damage. At the same time, however, the CleverWrap still lets you control the device’s touch screen. Pretty clever no? As the company explains, CleverWraps are the first-ever disposable, protective sleeves for electronic reading devices and tablet Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Back in the day, when Jay Leno was squeezing out Conan O’Brien (after flopping miserably in his new time slot), there was a lot of hooraw in the news and on the Web about which late-night host you should be watching.  Who’s funnier?  Zanier?  Braver?  Who has more interesting guests?  Who’s more of a penile-encephaleptic?  ([cough cough]JayLeno[cough]) Some brave souls didn’t put their money behind “Coco”, or Leno, or Letterman–they went for the more outré.  Craig Kilborn has a core of fans, for example.  But others put their weight behind someone else:  Jimmy Kimmel. Now, Kimmel is not my cup of tea, but I can definitely see the appeal.  And if you, Mr. or… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Everyone shares the pain and difficulty of the people of Japan dealing with the horrible tragedy, and many of us look for ways to help out in whatever way possible. Judie wrote about some ways to help, and more ideas keep pouring in every day! Here is one of the latest! The MacBundler Charity Bundle is a group of six Mac apps selling for the low price of $17 – and better yet, if you buy the bundle 20% goes to relief charities supporting the victims of the 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Japan. Here are the details: We bring you the charity bundle with 6 amazing apps. Pick a charity Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Now, I’ve never had that much interest in third-party navigation apps for my iPhone.  The vast majority of the time the built-in iPhone Map app is just fine for me, and for those times that it’s not, well, not to put too fine a point on it, but those apps are usually pretty durn expensive, you know what I mean?  Putting a $70-100 app on a $300 device, when said device already has some of that functionality seems, well, weird, ya know?  (Yes, I know it takes a ton of work to produce some of those maps and render them in 3-D with turn-by-turn navigation, but still.  I mean, Google Earth is free, for crying out… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Ya know, there’s really no two ways about it: I really wish I had had iPads and iPhones and the Web and WikiPedia and the like available when I was cramming for exams.  (Back in the day.  Before indoor plumbing and the electrical grid.  During the Reagan Administration.)  I don’t think it would be fair to say that those tools would have made it easier–there’s really no “easy” when it comes to cramming–but it would have made it less egregious.  After all, what do you want–to have to spread out your notes and friends’ notes and several textbooks and the xeroxed slides of your professor’s lecture notes and god knows what all else over the table… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Today’s Gear Deal brings us the 15.6″ IdeaPad Y560p Laptop. It is powered by the second-generation Intel Core i7 2011 CPU. Yes, the next generation Intel processor is now shipping after the Sandy Bridge delay of last month and our Gear Sponsor has some nice deals ready and waiting. The IdeaPad Y560p has a 1GB AMD Radeon HD 6570M discrete graphics, can handle up to 8GB DDR3 memory and has a 500GB Hard Drive. It also features JBL speakers, Dolby Home Theater sound, a one-handed hinge open design, OneKey Rescue and VeriFace face recognition. Better still, with this laptop you can get Blu-ray and RapidDrive for only $50 over base model! Our Gear Sponsor… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Bento 1, FileMaker’s personal database software for Mac, shipped January 2008. Bento 2 shipped October 2008 and Bento 3 shipped September 2009. In May of 2009 the iPhone and iPod touch version shipped and the iPad version arrived in April 2010. Yes, in a relatively short period of time this personal database software evolved into a remarkably useful productivity tool. This morning FileMaker is announcing the release of Bento 4. As the Press Release notes- FileMaker today shipped Bento 4 for Mac, now available on the Mac App Store, and Bento 1.1 for iPhone, and Bento 1.1 for iPad. With many new features including the ability to print labels, export libraries with data, automatically add Continue reading on Gear Diary …

I’ve never played Mahjong in reality.  I’ve played it on plenty of platforms, though, including iPhone and iPad.  (I personally find playing Mahjong on the iPad to be awesome, but that’s me.)  I currently “only” have two Mahjong apps on my iOS devices, but after reading the description below, I went ahead and installed the “lite” version of Shanghai Mahjong, just to check it out.  (And maybe I’ll tell you all about it later. In the meantime, if you’re a puzzle-game person, if you like good Mahjong programs, and if you’re running a Mac, this is something to check out.  The iPhone and iPad versions run about a buck; the new Mac version, available Continue reading on Gear Diary …

I hate Outlook.  I hate it for reasons too numerous to mention here (without causing you the dreaded fate of Death by Boredom™, anyway), but one of the reasons is that, for whatever reason, it simply refuses to play well with my iPhone calendar.  The dichotomy between “Home” and “Work” calendars is enforced incorrectly all the time, giving me duplicate entries, leaving out entries on my iPhone, or not entering them into my Outlook calendar.  It’s maddening, honestly. Well here’s an app that might actually help me (and you too, if you suffer from similar problems): Calevents.  As Damibu Ltd says, “Calevents lets you sort and view your work, personal and family iCal appointments… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

(image courtesy Discover Seaside Heights) The good folks at Kobo LOVE contests. It seems every month they have a new promotion out there, and they clearly have fun making each one more interesting than just clicking a link. This time it’s a spin-the-wheel type contest like at the Jersey shore, but without the grease and Axe Body Spray odor. You can win everything from discount coupons to ebook readers to the chance at staying in a super-nice hotel. Sure beats just clicking “like” on a Facebook page! Here are the full details from Kobo’s blog, and you can enter daily through March 20th. Good luck, and if you win a trip… Continue reading on Gear Diary …