This fall marks the 20th anniversary of the release of Nirvana’s epic grunge masterpiece ‘Nevermind’. As a tribute, Spin Magazine is doing a few things: they have collected a bunch of opinions from artists and friends and managers and so on to share, including this one from Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam: It was summertime in 
Seattle, and our record Ten was coming out in about a week. There were a few copies of Nevermind floating around on cassette before the record was out, and I remember hearing it on a Walkman, walking by myself on a rare nice day when the clouds broke for the first time in months. Just hearing that Continue reading on Gear Diary …

The newest 17.3″ HP ENVY 17 laptop is a powerhouse. At just 1.25″ tick and 7.25 lbs the ENVY 17 is completely portable while requiring few, if any, compromises in the process. It features a brushed aluminum chassis and is powered by a 2nd Generation Core i5 or Quad Core i7 processor. The computers also come equipped with 1 SuperSpeed USB 3.0 port, an optional Blu-ray, dual hard drive bays with SSD drives available, a backlit keyboard, a TrueVision HD webcam, a Triple Bass Reflex Subwoofer, a mini DisplayPort, HDMI 1.4, Beats Audio and an optional high-resolution Full HD 17.3 HD+ LED (1920 x 1080) display. In other words, this laptop is enough to easily address… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Last year I posted about the early demo for a great-looking new indie RPG called Telepath: The Servants of God by Sinister Design. I absolutely loved the game for the unique design and style, but never finished writing up my review of that demo! Anyway, Sinister Design has been hard at work on the game, and has sent over this update: Soon–within the next few weeks–I’m going to release an updated version of Telepath RPG: Servants of God. Starting with that update, the game is going to be distributed exclusively as an AIR installer, meaning that it can be installed and played on any computer that Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Spotify has arrived in the U.S. as noted here. But as of now there are just two ways to get it – pay for a subscription or wait for an invitation. Well, that isn’t exactly true! Spotify has been partnering with loads of different folks to offer promotional invites (have to pay publishers somehow, right?). Here is a list of a bunch of possible ways to get an invite. I have tried several of these with different email accounts and had pretty good success! http://www.spotify.com/us/amanda/ http://www.spotify.com/us/coca-cola/ http://www.spotify.com/us/britney-spears/ http://www.spotify.com/us/bruno-mars/ http://www.spotify.com/us/aplusk/ http://www.spotify.com/us/trent-reznor/ http://www.spotify.com/us/shakira/ http://www.spotify.com/us/kelly-rowland/ http://www.spotify.com/us/pete-wentz/ http://www.spotify.com/us/talib-kweli/ http://www.spotify.com/us/mrskutcher/ https://www.spotify.com/us/padmasree/ http://www.spotify.com/us/sprite/ Continue reading on Gear Diary …

There has been tons of analysis and debate about whether the cultural move to everyone getting a trophy, ribbon, award, and so on for every event makes sense and has the intended effect of removing negative feelings associated with not winning (as opposed to the obvious impact of removing the positive feelings for actually excelling at something). But what happens when it happens to grades … particularly at the collegiate level? Last month I was sitting at a college graduation for my alma mater watching my nephew graduate, and found that the number of people receiving Cum Laude and higher honors seemed unusually high compared to my memory. Of course, a quarter century… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

The Total War franchise is one of the most popular and beloved in the strategy genre, combining an approachable gameplay with an intense strategic depth. I did a review of Empire: Total War back in 2009, saying: Make no mistake, Empire: Total War changes everything. You can no longer just plow across the map on a rampage of destruction. You need to balance aggression and diplomacy, walk the narrow path of building a massive army and appeasing rivals. Because if you start to look like Napoleon, your neighbors will treat you that way – and they don’t behave like binary switches Continue reading on Gear Diary …

image by signap I haven’t posted in a while.  Life has a way of getting in the way of the things you’d like to do sometimes.   I missed writing here – a lot – but the world is a crazy place (a new job, a new city, a new apartment).  Things are finally getting back to a semblance of calm and order.  I finally have some time to start writing again.  In a twist of divine comedy and coincidence, I have run into a support incident that has got me completely annoyed and provided me with an excellent platform from which to jump back to the the wonderful world of blogging. I am a Macbook… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

photos by Kevin There is not much worse than being in an unfamiliar dark area with no idea where to find a light, or that feeling you get when you have dropped something vital into a dark crevice, but you aren’t sure if there is a “critter” down there that might bite or sting. Carrying a pocket flashlight (or penlight, as we’ve always called them) is an easy solution, and I’ve found one that you might like to consider. The Maxxeon WorkStar 220 LED Pocket Floodlight is a slim penlight that uses three AAAA batteries, the first set of which is included… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

    It is not a secret that Apple is notoriously strict about “adult content” on the App Store, but a quick search over the weekend showed that Apple’s reach may go beyond just apps and into the catalogs of content providers as well. And since our findings indicate the same content is unavailable on a new Android app, does that indicate that self-censoring to avoid blockage on iOS devices is resulting in entire categories of material being unavailable on mobile devices? Zinio, the e-magazine company, sells subscriptions to Playboy on their website. But you can’t find Playboy in the iOS or Android Zinio stores. To be fair, Playboy has a separate web app… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Yes – ‘Fly From Here’ Yes – ‘Fly From Here’ My son had a couple of tag lines all ready for this one based on the terrible Asia recording “Omega” from last year: – Just Say No to Yes – Fly From This Record The bad news is he didn’t get to use them. The GOOD news is that means this is actually a good album! Let’s take a look at the first new Yes release in a decade! Summary: While reading the Bill Bruford autobiography early this year I ended up reloading music from Bruford, King Crimson and Yes on my iPod… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Images courtesy Chrysler To say the 2011 Dodge Durango is the best yet is an understatement. Previous versions were a bit overweight and somewhat unrefined so improving the SUV would not take much. For this makeover Dodge engineers went above and beyond. Choosing to begin with a clean slate, they tapped an architecture already in the pipeline from the days of corporate partnership with Daimler. The new Durango, as with the latest Grand Cherokee from Jeep, rides on the platform designed for the next Mercedes-Benz M-Class crossovers and boy do they benefit from it. While retaining rear-wheel drive… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Some days, it’s harder than others coming up with clever and/or innovative ways to inform you all that there are new cases out there for your gear from PDAir.  I mean, these guys just crank stuff out; it’s kind of amazing, honestly.  New gear introduced?  >Whammo!< New case from PDAir.  How do you say much about that, really? So:  PDAir.  New cases.  Samsung Galaxy Tab.  Many new cases.  What all does PDAir have for your Tab?  Well . . . Leather Case for Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1v GT-P7100 – Book Type (Black) Ver.1 Leather Case for Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1v GT-P7100 – Book Type (Black) Ver.2 Leather Case for Samsung Galaxy Tab Continue reading on Gear Diary …

We start the week with a Gear Deal on the HP Pavilion Elite h8qe Core i7 customizable Desktop PC. This desktop features a brand-new design with metal surfaces, polished finishes, subtle curves and angles, and illuminated accents. It also sports a built-in valet tray atop the tower for easy cable management, tool-free access to various internal components, a top-mounted 15-in-1 card reader and more. The deal our Gear Sponsor found includes a free upgrade to a 1.5TB 7200RPM Hard Drive upgrade, a free upgrade to 9GB RAM, a free 15-month Norton Internet Security subscription, and nice savings on a 21.5″ diagonal widescreen monitor. Normally $1,199.99 our Gear Sponsor has tracked down a 25% coupon… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

We’ve long been talking about starting a Gear Diary Video Podcast and saw this weekend as a great opportunity to kick it off. In this first “episode” we talk iPad 2 cases. Below the video you’ll find links to our reviews of most of the cases we discuss. Powis iCase for iPad 2 booqpad iPad 2 Agenda for iPad 2 Aviiq SmartCase for iPad 2 The Joy Factory SmartGrip 2 The Joy Factory SmartSuit 2 for iPad 2 Yoobao Executive Genuine Leather Case for iPad 2 XtremeMac TuffWrap Shine for iPad 2 Continue reading on Gear Diary …

(image courtesy McGill) I recently came across a brief news item about “memory jello”, essentially electronic components that can be placed in the human brain. Hopefully these have non-nefarious uses, such as assisting people with brain injuries to recover, but if you watched the short-lived “Dollhouse” series, you would likely walk away with a different impression. Dollhouse was a show that took the concept of implantable memory to a whole new level. In it, “Actives” were people whose brains had been wiped clean, and could be “rented” by someone with the right amount of money. The rented “Active” had memories implanted to fit the engagement. Before you drift to the obvious uses, yes… Continue reading on Gear Diary …