My school was never this cool! Take a look at what happened when a T-Rex (driven by its fantastic puppet-master) arrived at a Sydney, Australia school. The looks on the kids’ faces when the dino roars at them are priceless … but what’s really cool is how it takes a moment to realize how the puppeteer is working the puppet, but even then — the T-Rex is so lifelike, you can easily forget it’s not some kind of digitalized movie extra. JWZ via Boing Boing Continue reading on Gear Diary …

First impressions mean a lot when you are talking about technology. No, it does not sell a device or keep you using it, but it does make the difference when you’re considering a purchase in the first place. Given that many of the initial reviews are less than stellar, I wasn’t sure what my first impression of the BlackBerry PlayBook would be. That noted, I just had the chance to have my hands on one for a few minutes, and my first impressions are actually quite good. I have always liked the size of the Samsung Galaxy Tab, and this is… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

One of the more interesting Bluetooth accessory manufacturers that I’ve encountered over the last year is BlueAnt. I wasn’t all that familiar with the company until the fall, but they have been making some impressive moves with regard to product design and innovation, and I’ve been quite impressed with their offerings. Currently their portfolio includes car speakerphones, the S3 and S4, with the S3 being the lower end of the two. Lower end does not, however, mean “not awesome”, since both speakerphones have impressed me quite a bit. Today we are going to look at the S3 and then follow-up with a review of its big brother sometime in the near future… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

A couple of months ago I announced that the Netbook Gamer series was transitioning to purely a Retrospective series – rather than just worrying about netbook gaming, I would be looking back at games that represented a certain classic style or genre. My first look was at Dungeon Lords, and now I am back with a retrospective review of the 2007 game The Witcher. The choice to play and review this is based largely on the upcoming release of The Witcher 2 in May. The game was highly regarded in RPG circles, but after nearly four years how does it hold up? The Hype Based on the universe created… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Despite growing up in the era of the LP and 8-track tape, in many ways it is hard to remember a time since the dawn of the digital era before the MP3 was a legitimately purchasable format. Sure we all remember the Napster days with fairly rampant piracy made easier by the rise in broadband adoption, but there was a fixation on those downloading files illegally over the internet due to the newness and general fascination with all things ‘net’ related back then. It seemed that even then the RIAA was simply scapegoating piracy way out of proportion with what was actually going on. One thing was clear – something needed to… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Plants vs. Zombies has long been a favorite here at Gear Diary, and I have reviewed the PC/Mac and iOS versions. I never got around to grabbing the DS version … but THAT changes today! Amazon.com is featuring the DS version of Plants Vs. Zombies for $12.99, and it is eligible for free shipping; here are the details in the listing: Get ready to soil your plants! Stem a zombie attack in the fun-dead action hit – now on Nintendo DS®! A mob of fun-loving zombies is about to invade your home, and the only defense Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Now that Borders has one and a half feet in the grave, all eyes are on what B&N will do now. It seems like opinion is split between believing B&N will be ok and predictions that Borders fall is a precursor to the same fate at B&N. Fortune thinks the answer is simple: Kill off the bookstore business, and go all digital. Specifically, here’s what Fortune thinks: The road ahead for Barnes & Noble will prove tough. Few brick and mortar companies have successfully negotiated the choppy waters to safe digital harbors. But Barnes & Noble, unlike Borders, has one bright spot going for it. That bright spot, in fact, might one day be Barnes Continue reading on Gear Diary …

It is difficult to keep track of all the Android handsets on the market so let’s refresh your memory. The Samsung Fascinate Galaxy S 4G cell phone features a 4′ Super AMOLED Touch Display (800×480), a fast 1GHz Hummingbird Processor, Android 2.2 OS, speedy HSPA+ 4G that can hit 21 Mbps, TouchWiz 3.0 UI, WiFi, an accelerometer, up to 32GB storage with 16GB already included and dual-facing cameras with the back sensor shooting 5MP images. The phone even comes with Qik, Slacker Radio and the Kindle App included and the movie Inception is preloaded. The Samsung Fascinate Galaxy S Cell Phone has an MSRP of $579.99 but with this Gear Deal it is just $99.99. Yes… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Earth Day is coming up!  What better way to support mother earth than to save a bit of power when charging your devices? At least that is what Belkin must have been thinking when they released the new Belkin Conserve Valet. The Conserve Valet is a 4 port charging station that has a unique ability.  It detects when an attached USB device is charged up and when detected, it shuts down the power to the port.  This helps us conserve at least a little bit of power; it also lets you manage those many cords with some built-in cord management. The Beklin Conserve Valet will draw no power when it’s not in use, which is much… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

There are three types of gamers in the world: those who own a Wii, those who would NEVER own a Wii (likely because they are too ‘hardcore’ for it), and those who have been waiting for the long-rumored price drop to $149. Well, it looks like the third group will finally have to make a choice – according sources reported at Engadget and many other places, on May 15th the Wii will officially drop to $149. We try to stay away from rumors, but this one has become quite persistent as of late – for several months the same figure and approximate date have been tossed around. So let’s assume for a second… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Oops! … I did it again. I played with your heart. Got lost in the game. As the Brittany Spears song lyrics above suggest, someone “did it again.” Volkswagen. Once again they raise my ire as they deliver a minivan model “imported from Detroit” … literally. I am speaking of the Routan/Grand Caravan. When they first launched Routan a few years back I expressed in words that my opinion of the brand slapping their badge on someone else’s work was not winning any accolades from me. To be fair, this is a very good minivan and ALL the credit goes to Chrysler. Continue reading on Gear Diary …

If you have Dragon Age: Origins with loads of DLC like I do and have tried to play in the past week, one of four thing has happened: * You have been unable to use your DLC, and therefore unable to play your saved games. * You were offline and had no issues. * You bought a retail copy but have a ‘cracked’ executable and have had no issues. * You pirated the game and DLC and have had no issues. We’ll return to that list in a second, but yes – for nearly a week PC (and Mac) gamers were unable to properly access their game accounts, as admitted by BioWare’s Rob Continue reading on Gear Diary …

A week after the arrival of Atari’s Greatest Hits, I am still feeling enough of a nostalgia wave that I would surely buy this on the spot! The folks at Hyperkin are working on a handheld SNES, fully compatible with games and cartridges from the Nintendo SNES system! Called the SupaBoy, the system looks like an oversized SNES controller with a screen – and that is pretty much what it is! It has a 3.5-inch LCD screen, D-Pad action buttons and shoulder buttons from the SNES controller, and supports the original SNES cartridges. The system (still in prototype form) weighs in at 11.2 ounces and has a five hour rechargeable battery, as… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

If you look on the calendar hanging on our pantry door at home, there is a big note under my younger son’s name: PORTAL 2 RELEASE! He asked for it from my parent’s for his birthday – which was two months ago! Needless to say, he is pumped up for the release! Had he waited, we would doubtless take advantage of Amazon’s pre-order deal! The hotly anticipated sequel to the ‘something extra’ in 2007′s Orange Box that became Game of the Year at many sites! Better yet, if you are looking to buy it for the XBOX360 or PS3, Amazon has an amazing deal if you pre-order! Here are the details: * Get… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Thinner and lighter than the average 15″ entertainment laptop, the Lenovo IdeaPad Z560 features a chiclet keyboard, Dolby Advanced audio, Intel Core CPU, optional discrete NVIDIA GeForce graphics and more. Windows 7, Bluetooth, WiFi and a webcam come standard and, thanks to our Gear Sponsor, you can save nicely on various configurations. For example, the Lenovo IdeaPad Z570 Core i3-2310M 2.1GHz starts at $999 but with this deal you can save $300 and take 10% off with LogicBUY’s Exclusive Coupon Code. That brings the price to $629.10. The IdeaPad Z570 Core i5-2520M 2.5GHz is normally $1099 but after all the savings is just $899.10. The Lenovo IdeaPad Z560 with a Core i3-380M processor is… Continue reading on Gear Diary …