RIM has just announced three new BlackBerry Curve smartphones: the BlackBerry Curve 9350, the BlackBerry Curve 9360 and the BlackBerry Curve 9370. Those of you who love BlackBerry and have been chomping at the bit for a Curve upgrade will be glad to see features which include:  Slim, sleek design GPS and Wi-Fi support MP camera with flash and video recording MicroSD/SDHC slot supporting up to 32 GB memory cards New BlackBerry 7 Operating System – Featuring: Faster, more fluid web browsing  Voice activated universal search  Smoother navigation and optimized HTML5 performance for gaming and video  Pre-loaded premium version of Documents To Go  BlackBerry Balance Continue reading on Gear Diary …

    We have two great Gear Deals for you today. The first is the Alienware M11x r3. It is a small but powerful gaming laptop. The second is the Dell Inspiron 17r desktop replacement. Both of them look great and, thanks to our Gear Sponsor, can be yours at some significant savings. First up, the Alienware 11.6 inch gaming laptop. Check out the specs on this diminutive laptop and you’ll see why it’s small but powerful – 11.6-inch Dell Alienware M11x r3 ULV Core i5-2537 Gaming Laptop with 1GB DDR3 NVIDIA GeForce GT 540M & WLED 720p LCD for $999 - $50 coupon code: BHW1L0MX0D?MCX applied during checkout (expires soon after limited uses) Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Image courtesy of Live Auctioneers I’m the official Old Fart of Gear Diary, and even I–pushing 50 though I may be, and of the first generation of PC nerds–am simply not old enough to remember the origin of vending machines.  Sure, like you, I’ve seen some of the older ones in out-of-the places–old Coke machines that vend those little bitty Coke bottles by having you open a door in a refrigerator-like thing, with a bottle opener built in somewhere to let you pop the top. Why am I boring you with all this nostalgia-type stuff?  Because while yeah, vending machines have been big business for a long time (and the first mention of a vending… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

    The Plant Buddies caught my eye when Ali over on ChipChick posted on them last night. The Plant Buddies are selection of endangered cacti that you can carry with you, nurture for a time and then release back into the “wild” to help them repopulate and become less endangered. Each “kit” includes a starter plant (Stone Rose – Genus “Anacampseros”, Golden Marble – Genus “Opuntia Monachantha”, Eve’s Needle – Genus “Astrocylindropuntia Subulata”), soil, a plastic dome housing, and a keychain attachment. You can carry your little friend with you and, so long as you water it every 30 days, it should do fine. As Fascinations, the company behind the Plant… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Evitable comparisons draw video game companies Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo competitively closer as the important holiday season looms.

Last night I was listening to my iPod touch and an awesome song came on that I had never heard. I looked up the name and it turns out it was “All the World”  from the self-titled album Fauxliage. Having never heard of the group I did a quick Wikipedia search of the band. This is what I found: Fauxliage is a musical project made by members of the Canadian electronic music group Delerium (which, in turn, is made up largely of members of the seminal industrial band Front Line Assembly) and Leigh Nash in 2007. The vocals are performed exclusively with Leigh Nash of Sixpence None the Richer. I had… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

This falls under the “Well it is ’bout time!!!!” category, not that I’m complaining. Evernote finally updated their iOS app to include Rich Text Editing. That means Evernote can finally be used in the ways those of us who have used it from the beginning always hoped- as a true note taking app that works equally well whether you are creating a new note or trying to edit a previously existing one. Clearly this was a huge undertaking but the company seems quite please. In fact, they started the blog post on the update by writing-   There are updates and then there are UPDATES. Our users are not shy about letting us know Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Amazon adds eBooks, drops prices, and offers up freebies so often it can be a huge headache to keep track of them all. There’s Amazon’s free bestsellers list, but that gets cluttered with classics as well as new titles. And sometimes authors or publishers will showcase a freebie, but that’s very hit and miss. Aside from combing the usual suspects, there’s a fast, easy, and convenient way to find free and cheap Kindle books: eReaderIQ! There are a few different ways this site tries to help you sift through the enormous virtual pile of Kindle books. One, it lists new freebies. Two, it lists new price drops (and lets you set alerts for future price drops!)… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Welcome back to the GearGames weekly video game release feature here at Gear Diary! We finally have a big release again! Deus Ex: Human Revolution lands for PC, XBOX360 and PS3! I already have it pre-loaded into Steam to start playing immediately upon release. There are a few other interesting releases such as Street Fighter III: Third Strike Online Edition, Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor Overclocked and King Arthur: Fallen Champions. And while there isn’t really anything else big getting released, there are a few other releases this week – read on to find out! Deus Ex: Human Revolution X360 Continue reading on Gear Diary …

A few months ago we took a look at Vogel’s RingO system for the iPad 1. The accessory is a combination case/stand for the iPad that extends the utility of the iPad by offering various “modules” like a wall holder or car headrest bracket. It appeared toward the end of the original iPad’s “run” but with so many iPad “classics” in use and available as refurbs the timing, while late, wasn’t “too late”. Now Vogel has updated the system to work with the iPad 2. What’s great about the update is that the only thing that has changed is the iPad shell/holder which now accommodates the thinner, more tapered iPad 2 and its camera… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

While the rest of us are flying Coach and griping about baggage fees, Donald Trump is flying primo-class in his own custom “luxurious” 757 Jet, which he purchased from Microsoft co-founder, Paul Allen, for $100 million. Seating 43 and with a 16 hour range at 500 mph, the jet boasts: a galley, a first class sleeper area (where seat belts and everything else are 24K plated), a dining area, a main lounge with sky theater (57″ screen and  the sound system of a Hollywood screening room, 1000 movies and 2500 CDs on demand throughout the cabin), a guest area (wrapped in wood and sporting its own home theater system), and Mr. Trump’s bedroom, (which is covered in… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Sometimes the simplest accessories are the best accessories. That’s right, something it doesn’t need to be complicated for it to be remarkably useful. That’s the case with this new tablet/eReader stand The Stump. The Stump is what it claims to be – it is a stump of rubber. It looks like a tree trunk that’s been cut down at an angle. It’s simple. It’s not exciting. Best of all, it does the job. Here’s a quick look and a chance to win one. Truth be told, there isn’t a whole lot to say… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

We are in the full swing of summer, and in addition to great weekly sales, all of the sites are having massive ongoing sales. In capturing just the best of the ongoing sales, I have pretty much totally abandoned my rule of no more than 50 deals from all sites … there is just way too much great stuff out there at insane prices!! However, I am sticking with the >50% savings rule (and on bigger sales like GamersGate I stick to 75%!), and you will see that I have greatly pared down the list this week to try to focus on only the very best deals. I am continuing my ‘top 5… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine. image courtesy of John Lund Earlier this week, Carly told the other Gear Diary editors about a website that had added a donation button. It is an interesting idea and we wish them luck, but it’s not something we’ll ever do, here. As you no doubt understand, it costs money to run and maintain a website, which is why you see advertising on many sites including ours. It is also why we will accept Sponsored Post opportunities on occasion. We thought we would take a moment to share with all of you… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Sig Hansen photo courtesy of Fresh from Florida If you sit in an office all day, then you are used to having plenty of options available for surfing the internet, communicating with your co-workers or a loved one, or discussing strategies with your key team members; it’s something we take for granted. But what if your office was a ship in the middle of the sea, and you were well past any 3G or even EDGE coverage areas?  That’s when something like the Fleet Broadband for Fishing by Inmarsat would come in handy. If you watch the show ‘Deadliest Catch‘, then you will recognize their newest spokesperson, Captain Sig Hansen… Continue reading on Gear Diary …