It had become a running joke in the family. “Dan, did you FourSquare here?” “Dan, still one day away from being mayor?” “Dan, when you can’t even become mayor of your own house what does that tell you?” “Dan, you know the ‘no fly’ list? I think FourSquare has you on the ‘no mayor’ list.” Yes, I was one day away from becoming the FourSquare mayor at well over a dozen venues. Despite this I had only actually become major once and then it was only for one day. And to add insult to injury THAT location was a tram stop in Vegas during CES 2010. Yes, it seemed I was a FourSquare pariah. Turns out… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Here’s a simple stunner that may convince you to ditch your bulky iPhone 4 case. Beyzacases has come out with a new “Zero Series”, which has to be some of the thinnest — yet most sumptuous – leather I have everhandled. Why “Zero”? Zero Series are the thinnest genuine leather cases ever made in the market. Beyzacases quality meets with magnificent art of traditional leather craftsmanship and the engineering of Beyzacases artists. “Zero” term comes from the thinness of the craftsmanship of the Zero Series which does not add any bulk to your carrying experience in any terms. Zero Series for iPhone 4 can be carried in your bag or pocket without any fear of thickness. World’s thinnest leather Continue reading on Gear Diary …

I just landed in Boston on my way to Martha’s Vineyard for a wedding tomorrow. Of course I brought my iPad with me. (It’s how I took this picture and wrote this post during a flight that was shorter than the time it took for me to get to the airport and through security.) It was a 38 minute flight. For the first ten minutes I could not use the iPad. For the last ten minutes I was told to turn it off as well. That left 18 minutes or so that the iPad was “legit” and usable. This has never made all that much sense to me. While I understand them asking us to put devices in airplane mode so the… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

  We have a winner in the first round of our huge 5th Anniversary giveaway. And the BlackBerry PlayBook goes to…   Not so fast! Before we get there we wanted to remind you that we are giving away both the Orbino Padova for iPad 2 and the Aranex Kangaroo Leather Folio today. Continue reading on Gear Diary …

G5 Games is one of the big publishers of so-called casual games, and my favorite publisher of those games for iOS devices. They have found a sweet spot of hidden object, puzzle and time-management games that play well and present an excellent value on those platforms. Some of these games – such as Treasure Seekers and Supermarket Mania – have spawned full franchises that carry from one game to the next and bring the audience right with them! Now the next entry in another time-management favorite has arrived – Stand O’Food 3! Let’s take a look. The Hype: The most popular burger-serving game gets a much-awaited sequel! The classic fast-paced, simple… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

If you were to ask me my LEAST favorite thing about Android gaming, it wouldn’t be the inferior graphics or slower performance or system-hogging behavior … it would be the artificial system limitations that force you to endure TWO downloads to get any non-trivial game to play! The Android OS limits apps to 50MB … so anything larger requires a secondary ‘data download’. As you can imagine, for larger games this can be a real issue! For iOS users this might seem odd – I mean, when I grabbed Shadow Guardian during the latest GameLoft sale, it was nearly 600MB. But all I did was click ‘buy’ on my iPad, set… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

I made a strategic error a few months ago. My iPad-loving father-in-law was looking for a new stand for his iPad, and I let him try the ProClip MultiStand I reviewed here. I never got it back. ProClip [affiliate link] makes some of the most impressive stands and mounts for a host of devices. Among the tablets they design for: the Apple iPad 1 & 2, the Motorola Xoom, the BlackBerry PlayBook, the Samsung Galaxy Tab and more. Now they just got better. If you are thinking about using an iPad for in-car ProClip USA has a new product for you, a new line of Crash Tested Headrest Mounts for Tablets. Interested?… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Largely because I tend to switch devices and platforms regularly, I keep coming back to the same password manager – who for now shall remain nameless – because it is available for Blackberry, Android, and iOS devices, as well as having desktop applications for both Windows and Mac OSX. It’s not the most aesthetically pleasing software from my perspective, but it works well enough. Syncing my mobile devices does require that I sync with the same computer, but I can’t sync between computers. Cloud syncing isn’t an option. I may have to consider switching now, however, as mSeven Software’s mSecure 3.0 ups the ante by combining software that works across multiple platforms with cloud syncing capabilities. mSecure 3.0 Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Look, Big Media Companies:  I don’t want to buy physical objects retail. Your humble GD crew has opined on many occasions that we think that the BMC’s “strategies” for releasing their content electronically doesn’t make sense, that it doesn’t discourage piracy, and that it’s just plain nonsensical.  Today:  a perfect example. Consider the movie X-Men: First Class. As of  last Friday, it was available on both DVD SD and Blu-ray. Not available on iTunes until Tuesday, but that’s okay–that’s the way it always works on iTunes. No big deal. But here’s the thing with the iTunes version:   you can’t buy an HD version.  Also, you can’t rent an HD or DVD version. So if you’re… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

It is Day 2 of our 5 Year Celebration Giveaway and we have even more awesome stuff to give away. First, we want to remind you that there is still time to win our BlackBerry PlayBook review unit and two Case-Mate cases for it. Hop over to the contest post (HERE), read the instructions CAREFULLY, and enter to win. Bear in mind that only entries that actually follow the instructions are eligible to win. Which leads us to Round 2 of our Giveaway. We are giving away… wait for it… the amazing Orbino Padova 2 Continue reading on Gear Diary …

(via Organic Authority) A friend sent me this, and it was too awesome not to share. Basically, these are all naturally occurring vegetable shapes, that just, uh, happen to be NSFW. Sarah and I joined a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) earlier this year, and we’ve really loved getting a box of fresh produce once a week, but now I feel robbed! I honestly don’t think I can include most of the pictures here, so you’ll have to head to Organic Authority to see them all. Just make sure your boss isn’t watching! Special thanks to Rob at Peak Integrative Health for forwarding this to me!… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

I just reviewed Stand O’Food 3, saying: Stand O’Food 3 is a very easy game to recommend – because chances are if you are considering it you have at least tried one of the other Stand O’Food games. If not, grab the free download and try it out. Chances are you’ll have a blast and want to use the in-app system to buy the full game! Well … now we get news from G5 that they are having a special promotional sale of 40% off all weekend! Here are some details: To celebrate the long-awaited launch of the sequel to one of the most popular games ever, G5 Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Welcome back to another weekend of insane game deals! I am sure I’m getting jaded – it seems with each week I am unimpressed by the list of hundreds of games at 50% off or more and have a hard time grabbing five favorites … but when I dig in I still realize how awesome the deals are! Mac gamers have reasons to be happy this week – two of my five picks are Mac games, with a first ever pick from the Mac App Store for the excellent ‘Modern Warfare’ clone ‘Modern Combat: Domination’ from GameLoft. I am focusing my lists more on the deals of 75% off or more to keep things… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

This Biblical inspired one player adventure game follows the adventures of Enoch and his God-given quest to return seven fallen angels to heaven.

Sure I know I have my weekly list of deals coming up … but THIS is just too good to pass up! From now until September 20th you can get the classic 2007 physic-based puzzler Portal for FREE from Steam. The single version supports both Mac and PC, and you have unlimited install/uninstall rights from your account. You will need to install the Steam client to play. If you haven’t played this classic yet … DO IT! Head on over to Steam and grab Portal for FREE! Continue reading on Gear Diary …