Last month we brought word of Seagate’s new GoFlex Satellite portable storage. The Satellite provides 500GB of storage that can be accessed from a computer, iPad, iPhone or other connected device on the go without a physical connection and even when there is no WiFi network accessible thanks to built-in wireless connectivity. (We will have a full review shortly.) Today Hitachi is announcing their entry into this wireless storage market. The new G-CONNECT offers wireless storage and allows up to five people to access data on the drive simultaneously. As the company explains: Wireless storage for on-the-go access Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Show your team pride with a pair of Coloud headphones sporting the NHL Champion Boston Bruins logo. And one lucky GearDiary.com reader will win a pair courtesy our friends over at the Max Borges Agency. So here is the deal: If you are a fan or know someone who is a fan, comment to this post why you/they want/need these headphones to make life as a Bruin fan complete. We will pick a winner and the agency will send out those cool new headphones pronto. Contest ends at 2359 hours (CST) on June 30, 2011. Coloud: NHL Headphones
Comfortable and durable… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Archos pulled a bit of a stunner today with the announcement of new tablets that feature a huge amount of both raw speed and storage capacity. The speed comes from OMAP 4 processors with an ARM® Cortex™ dual-core A9 running at an impressive 1.5 GHz. The large storage comes from a Seagate Hard Disk Drive (HDD) with 250GB of capacity. According to the release: The 8” ARCHOS 80 G9 and 10” ARCHOS 101 G9 are powered by AndroidTM 3.1 “Honeycomb,’’* the latest Android version. ARCHOS G9 tablets come with Google’s full suite of mobile applications and Android MarketTM, giving users access to over 200,000 applications such as games, books, social media and news. With the latest Continue reading on Gear Diary …

< One of the best games in the MMOG (Massively Multiplayer Online Game) genere is 2004′s City of Heroes. The game is based around the comic book superhero genre, with players taking on archetypes and then developing their characters along those lines. The game has seen continuous development and expansion for nearly seven years, and now NCSoft has announced that it is being changed to a ‘Free to Play’ model. As has done with previous games, current subscribers are moved to a special tier (VIP) and giving anyone who ever had a paid account access to the ‘Premium’ account. The Free tier offers enough to get started, but is very clearly limited. But as… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Avadon: The Black Fortress is an ‘old school’ role playing game (RPG) from ‘indie’ developer Spiderweb Software. I have already reviewed the Mac and PC versions of the game in detail, and since the core game is identical, much of this review will go over the same stuff. The main focus is to detail the ‘iPad experience’ – how the controls work, the graphics, and so on. In other words, I have already established that Avadon is worth buying for the Mac or PC, but is it worth a purchase for the iPad? The Hype: Continue reading on Gear Diary …

We are all feeling the financial pinch!  Blue Plate Special is a weekly review of bargain apps for the iPhone and iPod Touch. Nothing over $.99.   From time to time my wife mentions apps she has found or heard about that might be good for the Blue Plate Special. The other night as we watched the news in bed she said, “You should make that word game you always play the Blue Plate.” At this moment I realized, I had a problem with playing Word Scramble Challenge Edition. For some time I have played the… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

  Is your screen full of sheets? Is it full of crabs? Do people say “Wow, your screen is all fried up!”? Do you look at it and say “Holy Shoes that’s a dirty screen”? Fabulous! More Dirty Screens Cleaned up with Toddy Smart Cloths!   Some time ago we reviewed the Toddy Smart Cloths. The cloths are: Carefully crafted cloth provides effective, scratch-free cleaning for your iDevices, screens, lenses and more, and is offered in a plethora of fashionable designs Functional and fashionable toddy cloth built for extremely sensitive surfaces including iPhone, iPad Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Today’s Gear Deal brings us a huge offer on a 3D Plasma bundle. The deal includes LG’s 42″ Plasma 3D Capable HDTV and two LG 3D Glasses. The TV brings full 1080p HD 3D technology and a contrast ratio of 10,000,000:1. It features the company’s TruSlim frame that, at less than 1″ wide, “trims away the distraction of a wide frame”. Normally $980.99, our Gear Sponsor has found savings that will have the bundle on its way to you for just $559.00. That’s over $400 off a Plasma 3D capable bundle! Details and ordering can be found here. Gear Deal: LG 42PW350 42″ Plasma 3D Capable HDTV + (2) LG 3D Glasses Bundle Continue reading on Gear Diary …

I remember when I first heard about the so-called Defense of Marriage Act back in the early 90′s my first thoughts were naively that there was actually an effort being made to help prevent so many misguided kids get married and thereby decrease the divorce rate and number of so-called ‘broken’ homes, or in some other way try to bolster the institution of marriage as the core of the family unit. Nope … it was a buzzword laden title that the neocons really meant ‘we find homosexuality abhorrent, but since we can’t make it illegal we have to at least stop them from getting legally married’. And Bill ‘Slick Willie’ Clinton signed it… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Last week the Pottermore web site suddenly appeared with a countdown timer … and rumors ran amok about whether it was an online game or and Android phone or … well, who knows what else! This morning we got the ‘reveal’ in the form of very little information and an announcement video with a few more tidbits. Here is what the website says: What is Pottermore? Pottermore is a free website that builds an exciting online experience around the reading of the Harry Potter books. Come back on 31st July to find out how you can get the chance to enter Pottermore early. and from the introduction video… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Yesterday my cell phone battery was dead just after lunch – poor signal combined with heavy use killed it quickly. That is a tale all-too familiar to many. But imagine if walking could help recharge your devices, or typing on your phone screen? That is exactly the technology being described in the new edition of the technical journal Advanced Functional Materials. Here are some details: This ANU article quotes lead co-author Dr. Madhu Bhaskaran from RMIT: This is the first time we have been able to say that applying a particular amount of pressure will create specific values of voltage or current. By characterising piezoelectric thin films for the first time, it Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Amy Winehouse hit the scene with her retro-Motown sounding ‘Back to Black’ in 2006, particularly with the song ‘Rehab’. As that song faded into oblivion, she became known for substance abuse and mental health issues … as well as repeated trips to rehab. In spite of that report of her going to rehab just one month ago, apparently Winehouse is still having issues controlling her addiction, as evidenced by a video widely circulated on YouTube showing her being unable to sing or remember her lyrics and getting booed off stage eventually. This is being called ‘the worst concert in the history of Belgrade, Serbia’, and watching it is at once horrifying… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

LG recently brought all their IPS goodness to Android with the Introduction of the T-Mobile G2X. Before getting this phone I was happily running a HD2 that still holds a spot on my shelf as my number one backup phone. With more dual core superphones launching by the minute, LG really had not dropped a flagship into the Android Community. The specs on the phone are at  the top of most lists with a 4″ IPS screen, Dual Core Nvidia Tegra, and TMO AWS bands topping 14.1 Mbps. The phone shipped with a *stock version of Android 2.2 with a promise of Gingerbread right around the corner. Months later as problems are popping up left and right… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

A while back I tried the emWave Desktop software for stress relief.  There were and are still many things that I did not like about the emWave Desktop, but my major discouraging issue with the product was that I had to be tethered to a computer during the session.  Jim from HeartMath send me the new emWave 2 Portable Stress Relief Device, which alleviates my biggest pet peeve.  Will it help me to be more diligent about using the device?  Maybe.  Did it enhance my prayer and meditation, and did it really work?  Let’s find out. The emWave 2 is a… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Back in February we reviewed Joby’s gorilla mobile Yogi for iPad 1. It is one of the most flexible and functional cases ever and is the case that is on my iPad 1 the majority of the time. I was happy to see Joby release an updated version for the iPad 2, and I liked the original version so much that I ordered the new one as soon as I could. The case came the other day, and I am loving it. Because the iPad 2 is thinner than its predecessor, the new Yogi feels even better in the hand when used without the legs. And when the legs are attached the iPad can be… Continue reading on Gear Diary …