Borders is shrinking and possibly dying, B&N is seeing major headwinds, and everyone in the book world is sweating bullets over what ebooks (and lower pricing) will mean for the future of reading. If we go by the financials of Simon and Schuster, however, it looks like ebooks are doing more than just bringing in readers; they’re bringing in plenty of cash as well. According to Teleread, S&S was able to raise profits by lowering shipping costs. In other words, that commonly held belief that ebooks should cost less because printed books inherently are more expensive, is, in fact, true. Yes, it costs less to distribute an ebook! Amazing! Sarcasm aside, this makes complete sense… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Every now and then a product comes in for review that surprises me… in a good way! That’s the case with iSkin’s new earTone earbuds. They are bright, colorful earbuds that use the company’s Microband, a technology that inhibits the growth of odor, fungus and stain-causing bacteria on the earbuds and remote. At an MSRP of $39.99 I figured the earbuds, which come in a rainbow of colors, were largely a fashion-statement product with the Microband as an add-on for extra hype. I was wrong. The little things sound fantastic, are super-comfortable and, at under $40, they are a great choice if you want to replace the crappy earbuds Apple includes with their devices. Let’s look… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

I really like Apple’s AirPlay which allows you to use your Mac or iOS device to stream video or music to an Apple TV, powered speakers connected to an AirPort Express or one of the growing number of AirPlay enabled speaker systems. (In fact we have reviews of two such systems on the way.) I have expanded the “reach” of AirPlay in my home so that it is now available in four different rooms. I have, however, resisted jumping fully in because I don’t want to be completely and totally locked into Apple’s ecosystem. (Like I’m not totally locked in already?!?!) This concern, however, just evaporated with word that DoubleTwist for Android has added support… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

I just reviewed Legendary Wars, which is a fun Tower Defense style strategy game – and one of the better ones for the iPhone. Liv games has been great about updates, and now has launched an iPad version of the game! To celebrate, they are offering the original game (normally $2.99) for FREE and the iPad version for $0.99! This is a great sale, and will only last a limited (unspecified by the developer) time! LW is FREE For a limited time! We’re celebrating the release of Legendary Wars HD for Ipad, on sale for only $.99! Grab them both NOW! iPhone version of Legendary Wars iPad version of Legendary Wars Continue reading on Gear Diary …

I have a long-standing love of ‘tower defense’ (TD) games, so when there was an opportunity to check out Legendary Wars from Liv Games, there was only one possible answer: YES! Let’s see how they did! The Hype: Welcome to Legendary Wars. Take command of your heroes. Build up massive armies to destroy the undead forces of the Netherworld! It’s time to fight back! Legendary Wars Features: -Huge world to Explore -Unique Gameplay: Action-RTS-RPG -Gorgeous Retina graphics and animation -ZOMG Monsters! -New gear and attacks -Epic Soundtrack The Reality: Legendary Wars isn’t strictly a… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Welcome back to the GearGames weekly video game release feature here at Gear Diary! A few solid games this week, headed up by the multiplatform shooter Brink, which has been getting solid early reviews. There is the LEGO tie-in for the upcoming Pirates of the Caribbean movie … don’t expect much there! There is the interesting RPG The First Templar, the sports sequel Virtua Tennis 4, and eh WiiWare release of the PC classic MDK2! And while there isn’t really anything else big getting released, there are a few other releases this week – read on to find out! Continue reading on Gear Diary …

This week Good Old Games announced some planned downtime for site maintenance. That is fine – we all know that sites need to do this from time to time. The took the opportunity to introduce one new feature and bring back one that has been gone too long in a much-improved state. Early on, GoG introduced a Adobe Air-based downloader, which helped queue stuff up and track downloads. But it wasn’t terribly robust against errors, and didn’t work with the update last year. So they have come up with a new version that works much better. The other new feature is Personal Messaging. According to the site: Personal Messaging, the second biggest Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Mom, my brother Mark & me September 1970, in Camp Kue, Okinawa Sometimes it is hard to imagine the fact that our mothers had a whole different life before they became parents … but they did! My mom, Sarah Kate, was born to parents who were both from pioneer Texas families. Mom grew up riding horses on her family’s ranch. She traveled the western United States with her mother and brother, exploring national monuments and state parks. She had pen pals in foreign countries, some of whom she corresponded with for years. She grew up watching and learning from strong women like her mother, grandmother, and great-aunt. Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Dell Vostro 330 All-in-One Desktop Just $649 All-in-One? Check! Speedy? Check! Upgradable? Check! Under $649? Check. That’s today’s New Gear Daily Deal. Yes, today’s NGD Deal brings us the Dell Vistro 330 All-in-One computer. Here’s what Dell has to say about this slick-looking computer: The smooth lines of the Vostro 330 Desktop will look great on your desk from any angle. This all-in-one can fit as easily into your office environment as it will into your budget. Be productive. Feel secure. Help increase productivity and expand your view with a 23″ WLED Full HD display. Feel confident that your work is safe with Vostro reliable solutions for data protection and Continue reading on Gear Diary …

The plight of people subjected to identity theft is a terrible thing, and anything related to the havoc wreaked by BP and how many billions in profits they have made while leaving millions with their lives in shambles is a national tragedy. So I don’t want it to seem that I am belittling any of that … Writing for any online source, whether traditional article based where comments come via a ‘forum’ or on a blog like Gear Diary where you have an integrated comment system, one thing is for certain – you are going to see some crazy comments! The other day I got a comment on a review for… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Not much to say here – from now through tomorrow May 8th, Big Fish Games has put ALL of their iPhone and iPad games on sale for $0.99 – these games generally sell for $4.99 for the iPhone and $9.99 for the iPad. There are some really good puzzle and hidden object games there … so check them out! Here is the entire list: iPad Secret Mission – The Forgotten Island HD A Witch’s Curse: Princess Isabella HD Empress of the Deep: The Darkest Secret HD Haunted Manor: Lord of Mirrors HD Puppetshow: Mystery of Joyville HD Big City Adventure: New York City HD Amazon: Hidden Expedition Drawn Continue reading on Gear Diary …

If you check the various tech blogs and news feeds today you are likely to find stuff about talks between Apple and Nuance to bring speech recognition to iOS for the iPhone 5. These are all based on a report from TechCrunch and “sources”. In other words, this article is the stuff of rumors… for now. The article recounts Steve Wozniak saying Apple had bought Nuance last November, which was seen as a great idea … but ultimately false and supposedly based on Siri, a company Apple actually DID buy. And yet it goes back even further – because early last June Dan wrote an article called “Dear Apple and Nuance Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Remember back to the heady days in late February when Amazon launched the ‘Prime Video’ service and then a few days later made available ‘more than 5000′ movies and TV shows FREE for Prime members? Well, now about 10 weeks later Amazon has added new content! They just added 22 new videos … a whopping 0.5% addition to the library! Seriously, this is decent set of movies – Network, The Majestic, Superman (the REAL one), The Right Stuff, and more. Definitely worth checking out … I mean, they are free if you are already a Prime member! If you want to see all 22 new videos, head… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Vostro 3750 desktop-replacement solution for under $600   So you need a new desktop but you think you might want a laptop instead. What to do… What to do. Well today’s New Gear Daily Deal just might offer a solution. Dell’s 17″ Vostro 3750 laptop is big and powerful enough to serve your desktop computing needs but it is still a laptop so you can take with you when you need to work somewhere else. (You know… Like on the porch during a beautiful spring morning.) Here’s what Dell has to say about it: Specially designed for small business, the Vostro™ 3750 laptop is your desktop-replacement solution. Sophisticated, powerful and sporting a Continue reading on Gear Diary …

The weekend is finally here and once again the digital download sites are featuring some awesome deals! I am highlighting the Atari strategy games sale at Good Old Games – it is the typical 50% all / 30% off each deal … but also highlights The Witcher arriving next Tuesday for $4.99! This week I am continuing to choose no more than 50 deals from all sites … which is a tough one! And as always thanks to the crew at Deals4Downloads for their help finding everything. Now let’s get straight to the deals! Good Old Games: Weekend Sale – 75% off select JoWood games Dragonsphere Continue reading on Gear Diary …