The roll of smartphone users is increasing exponentially, and perhaps not surprisingly the amount of people ignoring what used to be common courtesy has also increased. What I DO find intriguing is that it is extremely likely that many folks who complained about people speaking loudly on cell phones years ago are now doing exactly that themselves! From a Yahoo report of a Reuters survey: “The poll of 2,000 adults revealed that most U.S. adults wished people practised better mobile etiquette and found the lack of cellphone manners extremely annoying, even though about 20 percent admitted to poor etiquette themselves. Nearly 75 percent said the lack of mobile manners has created a Continue reading on Gear Diary …

New Gear Daily Deal: Nikon D3100 14.2MP SLR Camera Kit with AF-S DX 55-200mm VR Zoom-Nikkor Len I LOVE my Canon G11, but lately I’ve been starting to check out DSLRs. And when I come across a good deal on one I do a double-take. No, I haven’t bit yet, but this deal caught my eye and I wanted to share it. This Nikon D3100 14.2MP SLR camera kit comes with an AF-S DX 55-200mm VR Zoom-Nikkor Lens and some nice savings. How nice? Well the whole kit has an MSRP of $949.99 but with this deal you can save a full $200. That’s means you can get it for just $749.99 Continue reading on Gear Diary …

I am a firm believer in the idea that the best camera is the one you have in hand. With that said, I love my DSLR but often find myself taking more images with my iPhone 4. I have always been intrigued, with companies who offer add-on lenses for the phone. USB Fever recently gave me an opportunity to check out one of their lens kits. With all of the editing applications available, being able to use detachable lenses along with those solutions opens iPhone photography wide open. Let’s take a look at the lenses followed by some sample images. Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Yesterday we kicked off our “Countdown to iPad 2″ Series with a great giveaway. That’s right, we are giving away a Joby Gorillamobile Ori for iPad 1. All of the “Countdown to iPad 2″ giveaways will be continuing until Friday at 5pm (the hour of the formal release) so you can still enter the first contest right here. Today, however, we are going to introduce the next round in the series, and it is focused on protecting your iPad 1. We have two great items for today’s winner… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

I’ve been trying to wrap my head around how a watch that “[miniaturizes] the “flip-dot” technology found in bus signs and train depots” works, because it just seems so fantastically futuristic and yet so retro at the same time. What I do know is that Phosphor, the company behind the intriguing eInk watches we previously reviewed, has just released a big, bold and more than a little bit blingy watch that appeals to me on several levels. I like watching the crystals flip over to show the time, the seconds, or nothing at all in these .gif’s, so I can only imagine… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Last week we heard that Sony had dropped the price on the PSP-3000 – the last model to use their UMD spinning disk technology – to $130. You can grab it from Amazon at that price now, and there were plenty of great game deals announced along with the price drop to make it worthwhile. But later in the week we also heard that Sony had ‘officially’ dropped the PSP-Go price to $150. While the overall value might be questionable at that price, it at least brought it in line and made it something I could recommend to folks … since I have been vocal about adoring the hardware, while hating… 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 – this week has two major releases, and some other significant new games. The big release is the multi-platform sequel Dragon Age II. The demo has gotten mixed reviews based on either being a solid sequel or being too much a shift to console action games. I avoided that – and have the release version already downloaded from Impulse and waiting to unlock on Tuesday. Be sure I will review the game soon enough! The other huge release is Pokemon Black / White. These have been out for a… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Aspyr is one of the primary companies bringing games to Mac gamers, and have always been great advocates for those of us who love playing games on our Mac. They have had ‘Mac Games Mondays’ specials in the past, but this is the biggest yet – 50% off all of their games each Monday in March! One of the games they highlight is Knights of the Old Republic … the classic 2003 Star Wars RPG. I had done a retro-review on Knights of the Old Republic here, playing it on a netbook. It is a great game, and I know many folks who had issues with the old Mac… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

For the second year in a row, Chevrolet is a Super Sponsor of the interactive, film, and music festival South by Southwest (SXSW). Chevrolet is giving attendees the chance to experience new technologies from General Motors, drive the latest products and catch a complimentary ride to popular venues throughout Austin from March 11-20. Become an Early Adopter of Chevrolet MyLink SXSW interactive attendees will be the first to experience the power of Chevrolet MyLink in the Austin Convention Center (Trinity Street and 3rd Street). MyLink is an in-car, infotainment package that builds on the safety and security of OnStar and seamlessly integrates online services using hands-free voice and touch-screen controls via Bluetooth® device connectivity. “South by Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Now personally, this isn’t my thing, but if I were just a leeetle bit younger, it might be.  As Neal Stephenson pointed out in with regard to UNIX in Cryptonomicon,  As with anything else under UNIX (of which Finux is a variant), there are a million options that only young, lonely, or obsessed people have the time and patience to explore. Randy has been all three at various times of his life and knows a lot about these options. I too have been all three at various times of my life, and if I were still a heavy gamer — something that is hard to do when the number of family member > 2 –… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

I think everyone here at Gear Diary is glad to see that there seems to be some good competition coming out this year for the iPad.  As much as some of us love the durn thing–I’m guilty!–that doesn’t mean we don’t want other options out there.  Options Are Good™, we like to say here. Gear manufacturers seem to be taking on the same point of view, and are coming out with accessories for more than just the iPad.  Now, for example, Waterfield Design is offering a number of new sleeves, bags, and cases for the Samsung Tab.  Pouches, travel cases, jackets . . . take a look below at the list, and Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Both of our vehicles are a bit older and don’t come with the newest audio gadgets. When I travel, I usually plug into the aux jack of either my wife’s or my stereo to listen to my geek podcasts. Of course, while we drive, I use the opportunity to charge my iPhone. So, basically, I have a car charger plugged into the iPhone port in the bottom of the phone and an audio cord plugged into the headphone jack. The audio is great and the phone stays charged but there is a few problems with this set up. First, to there are two cords plugged into the phone one on the top and one… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

It was Wednesday, March 2. The iPad 2 was about to be announced or at least that’s what we were all expecting from Apple. No, we were not fortunate enough to be present at the media event but regardless, I was eager to keep tabs on the feed as the news rolled in. I figured I would watch one or two feeds and share the most salient points with all of you. Then I ran into a problem. Yes, I suddenly discovered one of the limitations of my 13″ MacBook air. While the screen is plenty big, in fact the 13″ MacBook air has the resolution of the 15″ MacBook Pro I was using last… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

In many ways CES is the blogger’s gift that keeps on giving. Here we are in March, months after the electronics show extravaganza, and some of the items that we saw on the floor are still making their way into our hands. Today we are going to take a quick look at one of the more than usual cases that we saw for the original iPad. The Joby Gorillamobile Ori for iPad 1 is a remarkable piece of engineering that will hold the iPad in a host of different heights and angles. If you are holding on to your original iPad, or are about to “inherit” one from someone who is picking up the new version… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

It’s a safe bet that if you aren’t a publisher you’re not happy with the agency model. It did more than just change the nature of publisher/seller relations; it actively changed how booksellers could sell ebooks. Suddenly everyone had to fall in line with the exact same prices, and discounts were banned. Needless to say, this raised some regulatory eyebrows, and according to the Guardian UK, there’s been some old-fashioned office raiding over it! According to the article: The European commission has launched morning raids on several publishing houses suspected of fixing the prices of ebooks, as a huge battle for the future of the sector is fought within the publishing and technology industries. Officials in Brussels Continue reading on Gear Diary …