Both Michael Siebenaler and I have reviewed Destination: Treasure Island in the past year, Mike looking at the PC version and myself the iPad release. Now, the game is getting a HUGE discount in honor of ‘Talk Like a Pirate Day’! Talk Like a Pirate Day is generally regarded as having been started in 1995 by John “Ol Chumbucket” Baur and Mark “Cap’n Slappy” Summer but only became popular in 2002 based on an article by humorist Dave Barry. It is one of those things that is as simple as it sounds. Arrgh! Anyway, to celebrate the day Coladia publishing has discounted the Mac and… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Running is a pretty simple sport. All you need is a pair of shoes, a good pair of shorts, and a cheap watch. All the extra bells and whistles are optional (and really, even shoes and watch are optional — just don’t run naked, as police tend to frown on that.) But there are always ways for technology to creep in, and GPS watches such as Garmin’s Forerunner are near-staples in the running community. For those of us who don’t want a small computer on our wrists, or who carry a smartphone anyway on a run, there are apps that offer similar data. I’m a huge fan of Handy Runner for Android, but I’m always up to try… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

QuikClot is an emergency wound dressing loaded with blood clotting agents. You can go to YouTube and watch some extremely graphic training videos of QuikClot in action, but I suggest that you not do so if you have a weak stomach. If you are able to handle the graphic images, I’m sure that you’ll agree the results are pretty impressive. I had never heard about QuikClot until I stumbled on a recent Lifehacker post, “How to Survive a Gunshot Wound.” Yikes. QuikClot is the consumer version of a Z-Medica product that has long been used by the military, law enforcement and emergency medical responders to stop blood loss in what would ordinarily be… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Recently, I was laid off from my day job.  As a result, for the first time in my life (literally!), my main system will be an Apple system, specifically 15″ MacBook Pro running OS X “Snow Leopard”.  And as I’ve made the move, copying my iTunes library over, setting up a backup disk, and all the other nonsense in which one must engage when one makes a big move of this type, I’ve noticed a few things.  If you’re someone who is considering making the jump, but has been hesitating for one reason or another, maybe my experiences here will help you make a final decision. Let me state right out that I am most definitely… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

The name is a mouthful, unless you shorten it to Mobius, but the idea is simple: place a solar panel on the back of an iPhone 4, and you won’t ever need to worry about not being able to charge — assuming natural light is plentiful, of course. Differentiating itself from solar-charging solutions on the market today, Mobius features a quick charge time and the ability to store charge until you need it. The high-efficiency monocrystal solar panel re-charges the 1800 mAh rechargeable lithium ion battery pack on the back of the case. Only one hour of solar charging provides an additional 25 minutes of talk time. Mobius can also be Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Power! That’s what today’s Gear Deal is all about. The HP Pavilion Elite h8xt has an 2011 Intel “Sandy Bridge” Core i7 processor which, along with the other specs, adds up to one tremendously powerful desktop computer. The computer looks great too and features a brand-new design with metal surfaces, polished finishes, subtle curves and illuminated accents. With this deal you will get a free upgrade to a 1.5TB hard drive. This HP h8xt base deal is usually $999.99 but with the 30% coupon code our Gear Sponsor found that comes down to just $699.99. Better still, the computer will ship for free. Details and ordering information can be found here. Gear Deal: HP Pavilion Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Are you familiar with the phrase “trade dress”? If not, you should be by the end of this post. Yesterday I posted on a garment that looked an awful lot like the SCOTTEVEST clothing I have been enjoying for years and, since joining Gear Diary, have had the pleasure to to review. I like SeV’s clothing and appreciate a small company that makes great products and works hard to build their brand. I was ticked off after finding what appeared to be a blatant rip-off, and I said so in the post. It seems to me that if you have… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Well, Friday night came and went and the Duke Nukem giveaway has closed, and I consulted good ol’ Random.org to help me dig up 5 random numbers out of the 26 valid entries. So … here are the winners! 11 Rodney St. John 4 Ion Popescu 9 Zed Mort 18 Steve Mathis 1 Ramses Rivera The winners have all been contacted regarding their prize! Thanks again to all for participating!… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Welcome back to the GearGames weekly video game release feature here at Gear Diary! This week has an absolute monster release … and some other stuff. The big release is Gears of War 3 for the XBOX360, which is already getting excellent reviews and is sure to be a huge seller. There are other games like the PC port of Might & Magic: Clash of Heroes, the PSP release of Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 2: Innocent Sin, as well as some others. Every platform has something worth checking this week – read on to find out! Burnout Continue reading on Gear Diary …

The CR-Z from Honda was a bit of a surprise for me: A surprise it took Honda so long to come out with a modern version of its popular little car; a surprise it came out as a hybrid; and a surprise that I found myself a little disappointed by the whole thing. As a modern CR-X, it has gained a bit of size and heft and as a hybrid it comes up a bit short on gas mileage. The new CR-Z gets worse fuel economy (highway and averaged) than quite a few gasoline-only cars currently in the Honda fleet and even gets bested by both Civic and Insight hybrid stable mates. I am surprised… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

  Tablet computing is all the rage now.  Microsoft coined it, Apple popularized it and there are many others including Microsoft itself that are vying for a piece of the large pie that Apple already owns.  It isn’t the death of the PC, but I am convinced it’s a device almost everyone will eventually own.  Some may replace their computer entirely with a tablet device, while others will just use it to augment the laptop or desktop they use.  Either way, it’s the future and I’ve decided I need to look at getting one.  Follow me along the journey of selecting my first tablet device. About Me If you know me, I am a… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

I’m a simple leather wallet type of girl. In fact, I’ve had the same worn men’s wallet from Target for several years. But when I’m out at a business meeting, or at a formal event, it’s not the best image when I reach for my wallet and whip out my Target special. So when Oberon offered me the chance to review their women’s wallet, I jumped. When I opened the package with the wallet, my first thought was that it was almost too nice to take it out of the house. Also, it seemed huge compared to my everyday wallet. But so much prettier! Like the large… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

We won’t be announcing the winners of the Day 2 Giveaway of the Orbino Padova and the Aranez K-Leather cases for iPad 2 until tomorrow, you can read about that contest and how to enter it, here. Still, we wanted to get another new item posted (new to you, slightly used for review by us, anyway) and ultimately into the hands of one of our readers. And here it is… We have an Element Case Vapor Pro for iPhone 4 to give away. The full review may be found here, and some of the high points include: MSRP: $149.99 What I Like: Precision crafted with highest quality materials; fits the Continue reading on Gear Diary …

  We won’t be announcing the winners of the Day 2 Giveaway of the Orbino Padova and the Aranez K-Leather cases for iPad 2 until tomorrow. (Read about the contest and how to enter here.) Still, we want to get something new (new to you, slightly used for review by us) into the hands of one of our readers. And here it is… The BookBook for iPhone 4 is a great way to carry your iPhone 4 AND your wallet at the same time. Here’s what we said about it: Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Some claim that imitation is the highest form of flattery. Maybe it is sometimes, but at other times it is just simply a rip-off and a poor quality (never mind illegal) one at that. Take for example this garment that shall go nameless, because I don’t want to help promote it. Look familiar? Well it should, because it is a poor, cheap knockoff of the designs we have been seeing from SCOTTEVEST for the past decade. It is a rip-off, and something tells me this company had better start licensing the idea from SeV, or they may end up in court. (I have no inside knowledge of this whatsoever, but I don’t like seeing companies Gear… Continue reading on Gear Diary …