Nuance’s Dragon Dictation is one of my “must have” apps for iOS devices. Their Dragon Search app is also a mainstay on my iPhone. Actually it WAS  a mainstay… until now. For the past few weeks it has lost its place on my home screen. In its place has been a Beta version of Nuance’s new Dragon Go! app. Dragon Go! is the next step in the evolution of mobile search and it is coming to the US App Store today. With the new app: …people simply speak a query, and the app automatically determines and then delivers the best content destinations via the newly optimized Dragon CarouselTM. Gone are the days of endless Continue reading on Gear Diary …

And we’re off! It’s mid-summer, and Amazon is gearing up to take the spotlight. First we have rumors of a tablet and two new Kindles this fall. New Kindles aren’t too shocking, as fall tends to be Amazon’s go-to release timeframe, and the tablet rumor has been flying around for some time. A tablet from Amazon has the potential to be amazing, especially if Amazon Music, Movies, Appstore and Kindle are all integrated! It’s a necessary move for Amazon, with Apple and iTunes on one side and Google’s Marketplace muscling in on the other side. Meanwhile, Amazon hasn’t forgotten their core Kindle market. It’s been only a short time since the Kindle 3G with Special… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

If you ask gamers to name the company that embodies the term ‘casual gaming’, chances are you’ll hear PopCap. They are the makers of Bejeweled, Zuma, Peggle … and one of my favorite games in recent years – Plants vs. Zombies. Now they are part of the EA family – something that is great news for EA and Popcap founders, but that has many gamers and PopCap fans concerned that they will continue their trend of making every property into a generic cash-cow (like Bioware). Fortunately EA realizes their image as the worst thing to happen to gaming properties and specifically addressed that: “It’s already a rapidly expanding, margin-expanding business before Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Looks like Google Books is taking some tentative steps towards being more than just a hobby. The folks at Google have fired a shot across the bow of Amazon, B&N and Kobo by partnering with iRiver to offer an ebook reader with integrated Google Books access. According to the Google Blog: We built the Google eBooks platform to be open to all publishers, retailers and manufacturers. Manufacturers like iriver can use Google Books APIs and services to connect their devices to the full Google eBooks catalog for out-of-the-box access to a complete ebookstore. You can also store your personal ebooks library in the cloud—picking up where you left off in any ebook you’re reading as Continue reading on Gear Diary …

One of the big claims of the new Sony Vaio S-series laptop is that not only does it deliver great performance in a svelte package, but combined with the sheet battery can deliver up to 15 hours of usage between charges. That requires certain settings, and while I definitely plan to put it to the test very soon, I have also had the opportunity to test the Vaio S-series in other usage scenarios. There are two in particular that I found particularly useful – ‘Gaming Mode’ and ‘Normal Usage’. Each of those tests the S-series in different ways and therefore has different settings. In this article I test out my ‘Gaming Mode’ scenario -… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

  I am very fortunate to have landed a review HTC 7 Pro unit from U.S. Cellular. A month or so ago I wrote about the 7 Pro launching as the first Windows Phone 7 device on U. S. Cellular. I will be doing a full review in the coming weeks, but wanted to give a few first impressions on (a) the phone, (b) the operating system, (c) the apps and (d) the service based on several hours of use this weekend. The Carrier – U. S. Cellular It probably would have made sense for me to check out the plans in my area BEFORE I got… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

My family went to the midnight showing of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 last year, and we were all so exhausted that we said ‘never again’. But as we get more and more excited for the final film, my wife said “are you guys up for another show” and we all said YEAH! Early reviews are saying the finale is excellent, which makes us even more pumped to see it – not that it would matter at this point! I thought that by now all of the pre-show hype would settle down, but apparently Warner Brothers has at least one card up its sleeve: a look back through the movies… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

A number of years ago, when I was working (seriously) three jobs at once, I splurged on a pair of Mephisto sandals.  They put me out something around $300, which is more than three times what I had ever paid for shoes before.  ”And why,” you might ask, “did you pay so much much for a pair of flinkin’ sandals?”  Well, aside from the fact that I got them from Nordstrom, and love shopping there (and hate shopping anywhere else), there’s one incontrovertible fact: I’m wearing the damn things right now, and they still look like I bought them yesterday. Sometimes you want to shell out a bit extra for quality that’s going to last.  Not always… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

There are desktop computers and then there are DESKTOP COMPUTERS. Today’s Gear Deal is A DESKTOP COMPUTER!!! The new HP Pavilion Elite h8se designed for gaming and video editing. As such it comes with tons of RAM and huge hard drive. How much RAM? How about 10GB DDR3 RAM?!? How big a hard drive? How about 2TB of storage? It also includes a Wireless-N LAN Card, Blu-ray and more. The computer itself features a brand-new design with metal surfaces, polished finishes, subtle curves and angles, and illuminated accents. The computer also sports built-in valet tray atop the tower for easy cable management, tool-free access to various internal components, top-mounted 15-in-1 card reader and more. It is a… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

“Yes, but they’re coming in, aren’t they?” “Yes . . . in dribs and drabs.” “In what and whats?” Glen asked, grinning. “Dribs and drabs.  My mother used to say that.  You shitting on my mom’s way of talking?” “The day will never come in when I lose enough respect for my own hide to shit on a Texan’s mother, Stuart.” – Steve King, The Stand I was born in New England, grew up in Northern Virginia, went to High School and College in Northern California, married a Cajun, and live in Louisiana.  Let’s just say that my collection of slang is even wider than Stuart Redmond from The Stand.  And I’m never one to pass… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

While I regularly write about how the four ‘major’ record labels use their nearly 90% share of the market to control everything and stifle innovation while stuffing about a dozen ready-made Johnny Bravos down our throat, the good news has been that ‘other’ 12% of the market – the indies. Unable or unwilling to work with the majors, these artists have maintained integrity in the pop/rock genres while also using innovative ways to get their music to the audience. The biggest example of this success so far is Arcade Fire winning the Best Album Grammy this year. Another great indie rock group is Manchester Orchestra. They are a group from Georgia, taking their… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

So just the other day I was driving with my fam’ (including the dawgs) out to the ‘rents-in-law in Louisiana.  I killed our battery a while ago and had to install a new one, which means our GPS system in the van doesn’t work.  No problem: I use the trusty iPhone.  Unfortunately, I can’t mount the durn thing on the windshield without some kind of aid.  The kind of thing that USBFever puts out regular-like, not just for the iPhone, but for a whole host of devices, just like you see in this here post.  Among other stuff. And the full list of USBFever’s releases for this week is: CF to iPad Connection Continue reading on Gear Diary …

A few months ago I wrote about how possibly the best 2010 April Fool’s Joke – the iCade retro gaming console for the iPad – had been turned into an actual product from ION! Now the iCade is shipping! ION has released information and the official availability of the product: iCade is an authentic, mini arcade cabinet for iPad or iPad 2 complete with full-sized joystick and arcade-style buttons. ION is proud to be partnering with ThinkGeek to bring to market their concept for this must-have iPad gaming accessory. iCade’s specially designed cradle ensures safe loading and unloading of an iPad or iPad 2, and also provides a solid Continue reading on Gear Diary …

I checked out the HP TouchPad the day it was released and… didn’t walk out with one. I’m impressed with WebOS but I found the tablet a bit too laggy for my taste. Well the speed issue is about to be resolved with the new version of the HP TouchPad 4G that is coming to AT&T Mobile. The updated version will have a built-in 4G connectivity and a faster 1.5GHz processor (the current version has a 1.2GHz dual-core Snapdragon). According to David Gee, vice president, Marketing and Enterprise Solutions, webOS, Personal Systems Group, HP, “TouchPad 4G is ideal for anyone who needs maximum flexibility for productivity on the go,” “It’s particularly well suited for users who rely on… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

I spend a lot of time on the phone and have long thought about getting a good headset to use. I was close to buying the OfficeRunner some time back but did not. Why? In part because I read a fairly scathing review of it.The “review” that turned me off to a great extent and prompted me to not purchase the headset talked about the fact that this headset doesn’t work with cordless phones and that the volume that was so low that the person on the other end couldn’t hear the conversation. Both criticisms were, as I discovered, unfair. (I won’t link to it here because it was such a poorly researched and unfair critique.)… Continue reading on Gear Diary …