klutz noun \ˈkləts\ Definition of KLUTZ : a clumsy person Are you a klutz? Do you have a tendency to not look where you are going and trip over the smallest of things? Do you drop your iPhone more than your iPhone drops calls? (Okay, we know THAT’S not possible but still…) If you answered yes to any or all of these questions this is the iPhone 4 case for you. Yes, Speck has produced an iPhone case for the klutzes among us. It offers amazing protection and a good bit of varied use scenarios. Here’s a close look at the Speck ToughSkin Case for iPhone 4 Continue reading on Gear Diary …

GarageBand is part of Apple’s iLife suite, originally envisioned as a sort of musical ‘scratch pad’ with a limited tool set but plenty of software sound capabilities. Several years and iterations later it offers a fairly robust solution for musicians … to the point that any musician working with a Mac absolutely owes it to themselves to have a copy. When GarageBand for the iPad was announced it looked cool … but does it perform? The Hype: GarageBand turns your iPad into a collection of Touch Instruments and a full-featured recording studio — so you can make music anywhere you go. Use Multi-Touch gestures to play pianos, organs, guitars, drums, and basses on your… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Apparently the Revolution WON’T Be Televised … Last week I wrote about Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution, and while I took some issue with his cost models and plans for implementation, I agreed with his core point: our country is rapidly becoming ‘the land of the morbidly obese’, and rather than worrying about ‘long form birth certificates’ or who won celebrity whatever, we should get up off our butts and DO something about it! So what should we do about it? Apparently the answer is that school districts will learn to shut Oliver out, and his response to the lock-out will make for bad TV, and so the ABC network… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

I just wrote a huge article about Rdio and MOG, and have covered Spotify quite a bit. When you look at the 9 million Spotify users in the EU as well as the great interest in the service in the US, you might think that there is a huge amount of money in this rapidly growing sector. You would be wrong. Spotify is doing everything possible to force more than the less-than-10% (i.e. under 1 million) of users who actually pay for the service to abandon the free version, and estimates peg the US subscription market between 1.5 and 2 million paying users largely between Rhapsody, Rdio and MOG. Rhapsody… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Do you like the Scene It? Games? We have a few on DVD and really enjoy playing them as a family. I have never tried any on the iPad … but I will now! For today only Scene It? Comedy Movies HD for the iPad is FREE on the iTunes App Store! Here is the iTunes description: AS A THANK YOU TO OUR FANS – SCENE IT? COMEDY MOVIES IS FREE! HURRY THIS SALE WON’T LAST LONG! The funniest Scene It? ever is now available in high definition on your iPad! Scene It? Comedy Movies delivers laugh-out-loud clips and questions from Hollywood’s most hilarious hits and delivers the Continue reading on Gear Diary …

In my angst over not being yet able to go see the big hit Fast Five, I took out a little aggression while testing a new wireless keyboard I received from USBfever.com. Seems when they announced this item a certain multi-syllabic word caught my attention – waterproof. Just days before seeing word of the new keyboard, I had almost destroyed my wireless keyboard that came with my iMac. In a split-second I knocked my coffee tumbler over enough to spill a few sips worth onto the keys. Arggghhh. Alas, the keyboard was not damaged, but for my early morning time spent in front of the computer perhaps I needed to find something a… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

I have already reviewed the OnLive gaming service, and also wrote about the introduction of the ‘all you can eat’ PlayBack subscription gaming service they offer and a previous deal for a free MicroConsole with pre-purchase of the mediocre Homefront. Now OnLive is offering a free system with a pre-order once again – this time with the upcoming Red Faction: Armageddon. This is the follow-up to the solid 2009 shooter Red Faction: Guerrilla, which itself was a follow-up to Red Faction I & II from earlier in the decade. Here is the deal – you pre-order Red Faction: Armageddon, and OnLive sends you a MicroConsole NOW and then… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

  It is looking more and more like Microsoft’s Zune HD Video MP3 Player is nearing end of life. Now that Windows Phone 7 has Zune functionality built into it Microsoft’s attempt to take on Apple’s iPod touch has even less of a reason to exist. That’s a good thing for us as consumers because it translates into steep savings on some brand new gear. That’s the case with today’s Gear Deal. It brings us the 64GB Microsoft Zune HD with $80 in savings. The Zune HD features 64GB Capacity, a 3.3″ OLED Touchscreen and a Tegra processor. It weighs 2.6 ounce, has a built-in HD Radio, offers 720p output and is great for… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Here’s a New Gear Daily Deal that is only good until tomorrow morning at 7am so you will want to act fast. The Dell Vostro 230s Slim Tower has a starting price 605.00 but you can get huge savings that brings the price down to just $389.00. So what will you get for under $400? …a pretty impressive desktop computer system, that’s what. Here are some details… A space-saving slim tower with 3GB of memory, a high-capacity hard drive and a widescreen monitor From its space-saving design to its ability to integrate with the latest Dell business hardware and services, the Vostro 230s Slim Tower provides a strong foundation for Continue reading on Gear Diary …

“He who would travel happily must travel light.” — Antoine de Saint-Exupéry A few months ago (December 30th – January 15th), I took a 17-day trip through Florida, Texas, and New York without luggage.  I did this after coming in as a runner-up in the SCOTTEVEST No Baggage Challenge Competition and winning an SeV Carry-On Coat off of Gear Diary.  Scott Jordan was generous enough to give each of the runners-up credit for SCOTTEVEST gear.  I used my credit to purchase the SeV Sport Coat and, now that I had the sportcoard AND the Carry-On Coat, I decided to do my own No Baggage Challenge for Charity and… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

With the increase in streaming video options going alongside the improvements in broadband speeds and capabilities of tablets and smartphones, as well as the ease of getting a DVD from Netflix and Redbox, it is little surprise that DVD sales are seeing downward pressure – but 20% in one quarter? That is what the Guardian is reporting! According to the article, Hollywood is blaming all sorts of things, such as “the timing of Easter and a glut of blockbuster releases in the same period last year” for the shortfall. But as noted, Netflix saw a 33% increase in revenue during the same period. However, rentals also fell by 36% during the same… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

This photograph of the President and his staff watching the assault that eventually led to the death of bin Laden in real-time, is on track to be the most viewed image in Flickr’s history. The emotion on their faces, Secretary of State Clinton’s hand over her mouth and the laser focus of the President Obama’s eyes on the screen say pretty much everything that needs to be said about the importance of the moment. Since Sunday night there has been great speculation about whether or not an image of the terrorist’s body would be released. The debate has raged and it turns out we will get to see the image…  when hell freezes over. As… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

T’was our own Dino who noted that, with a few hacks, the nook Color could be turned into an actual, honest-to-God Android tablet.  And once you notice that, the next question you might ask yourself is, well, if it’s an Android tablet, what else can I do with it?  Zinio?  Other apps?  Games?  Why, the possibilities seem endless! But what if you want to be able to play games on your nook without rooting it and installing a new ROM? Shouldn’t you still be allowed to make use of that color screen? Astraware clearly thought so, and they’re releasing some games for the nook Color.  Now, they’re just getting started, so these are you basic “Boy… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

It is hard to believe that it has been a year already since the release of Eschalon: Book II from Basilisk Games! Especially since my review has been sitting in a semi-completed state for the last 9 months! Anyway, to celebrate Basilisk is giving away three Basilisk Games T-shirts. How do you enter? Here are the details: Next week (May 12) will be the one year anniversary of the release of Eschalon: Book II. To celebrate, we want to give stuff away! We will be giving away three Basilisk Games T-shirts to three lucky people! The shirt will come from our swag store and the size/style/color will be your choice. To enter, you Continue reading on Gear Diary …

We’re huge fans of mophie’s products here on Gear Diary. Their battery cases have saved us during CES two years in a row and, as a result, we’re kinda fond of them. Today we got word that they have just released their mophie new juice pack air™ – iPod touch 4G. The timing is interesting for me since just the other day I was lamenting the fact that while i find the touch’s battery life to be good I don’t find it to be “great”. I was hoping that mophie might, at some point, release a battery just for it and now they have. Here’s what Susan Schedel, vice president of sales… Continue reading on Gear Diary …