Once again I get to mention how Soldak Entertainment is one of my favorite developers, with Depths of Peril and Din’s Curse as two of my favorite RPGs of the last five years. CEO Steven Peeler has been hinting at his upcoming ‘spaceship RPG’ for a while now, but I was holding off saying anything until it was official – which is NOW! The game is called Drox Operative and is currently planned for Q1 2012. Here are some details: Drox Operative is a starship action RPG with warring alien races, fierce space battles, a dynamic, evolving galaxy, and co-op multiplayer. Eons ago the Drox ruled the galaxy through their Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Daft Punk has been a popular techno act for years, but after scoring the underwhelming Tron:Legacy (my family all find the soundtrack the best part) and with the rise of dubstep and techno-house artists like Skrillex and Deadmau5 they seem to be having a resurgence in popularity amongst kids too young to have caught them before. Their song ‘Prime Time of Your Life’ is a great example – released as a single in 2006 from the 2005 recording ‘Human After All’, the song – like the album – was deemed ‘too repetitive’ and lacking development, and pretty much ignored until the live versions brought renewed attention. The video for the song was… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

When we go to CES one of our favorite “stops” is the Kensington suite where we get to see what new items they are cooking up. There’s always something notable. Last night I had an additional chance to see what’s new at the company and the answer is- a whole lot. I saw a few notable items that can extend your mobile experience and we are looking forward to getting our hands on them for review. For the time being, though, lets take a look from afar. The first new accessory is the BungeeAir. Imagine… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

A while ago I posted a cool infographic about what it took for an artist to make minimum wage. This week Digital Music News worked with EU group ‘Uniform Motion’ who had detailed what they make per album from all of the various sources. The bottom line … is that while streaming presents an attractive option for listeners it is very difficult for artists to make money. Aside from the very low ‘per play’ royalty, the band notes that there is definitely some heavy ‘profit sharing’ between the streaming services and major labels (he discusses Spotify and EU-only Deezer, but the same would be true for MOG and Rdio… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

There are times when the virtual world seems very real. I know that I consider my fellow writers on Gear Diary my friends, even though all of us have not met in person. But there’s a difference between real and virtual friendships, and I recognize the difference. Apparently, for some very orthodox jews, there is no difference, and that’s what Faceglat is for. Effectively, it’s a Facebook-style website, but it’s gender-separated. Women and men maintain separate Faceglat areas, just as they would in a real life gathering. On the surface, it’s not that weird, but if you stop and really think it through, it’s just an empty gesture designed to make very religious jews feel better. The reality… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Note: This contest has ended. What better way to celebrate the fifth anniversary of Gear Diary than to do a series of awesome giveaways?!?!? Those giveaways start today, so keep reading. The contests will cover the next two weeks leading us to September 30th, the actual anniversary of Gear Diary. This week we will be giving away a ton of review items. Almost all of them have been opened and lightly used for review, but all are in perfect working order without any significant cosmetic blemishes. Most have original packaging and any accompanying paperwork. Each contest will last no more than two days with some taking far less time than that. To enter… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

I’ve written it before and I’ll write it again, the iPhone and the iPad are like eRorschachs; the device and what it can do changes depending upon what app you are using. Want a school device? It is one. Want a good GPS? It can handle it. And the list goes on and on. And as the iPad becomes useful in more and more settings the accessories that make it even better matter more and more. Belkin understands that the iPad is a great device for the kitchen at Pepcom’s Holiday Extravaganza I got a first hand look at three of the ways it can be even better. As Jamie Elgie, senior director of product… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

It is big. It is bold. It is Bionic! It’s the Motorola Droid Bionic 4G smartphone for Verizon and it is today’s Gear Deal. The Droid Bionic isn’t a smartphone. No, it is a super-smart phone. It has a 1GHz dual-core processor, a 4.3″ qHD (960×540) display, dual-facing cameras with an 8MP rear camera, and 16GB built-in memory plus the inclusion of a 16GB microSD standard. It is hotspot capable, offers 4G LTE/3G connectivity, runs Android 2.3OS, and, of course, has WiFi, Bluetooth and GPS. It has all that and it still offers up to 10.8 hours talk time. The full price of the Droid Bionic is $679.99. At Let’s Talk it is just… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Gear Diary v1.0 circa 2006, courtesy of the WayBack Machine Five years ago, I stepped off a virtual precipice and left the safety of my regular writing gig at The Gadgeteer to start my own personal blog, an idea that was born while riding on the back of an elephant in Thailand. With the help of Joel Evans, formerly of Geek.com and now with CronkSoftware.com, I learned how to work with Wordpress, a relatively new blogging platform that was totally different from the “Ruby on Rails” system I was used to. My first Hello World post on Gear Diary ran late… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

As I have moved further and further away from using paper and pen and more and more into eEverything having a good, high-speed scanner has become increasingly important. My Fujitsu ScanSnap S1500 is my workhorse. It handles up to 50 sheets of paper at a time and does duplex scanning. When I am “covering” a book to an eVersion (a laborious process that starts with me cutting the binding off of it) this is the tool for the job. The NeatDesk Desktop Scanner (reviewed here) is perfect when I have a few pages or receipts to scan. When I am out and about or at my work desk however neither is a good… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

One of the reasons that Spotify became so popular was … well, because it was FREE. From a PC, with some ads, you could listen to just about anything you wanted to hear. Of course, over the last couple of years Spotify has dramatically trimmed their offerings for free users and put on ever-increasing restrictions to move them to paid subscribers. Now MOG has introduced a free model called ‘FreePlay’, that isn’t just better than anything Spotify has offered, it is simply a brilliant way to deal with a free usage model! Here is the announcement and details from their blog: In our quest to provide the most awesome music Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Name changes and new term agreements are in order as PlayStation®Network account owners will encounter the Sony Entertainment Network as well as a new Terms of Service and User Agreement (TOS).

The Wall Street Journal weighed in over the weekend with a very interesting and surprising rumor. Supposedly, Amazon has been shopping an “ebook subscription service” around to publishers, in an effort to bundle ebooks with Prime membership. Sort of like Netflix for eooks. The closest analog to this is the old “Book of the Month Club” type deals, but this is definitely a step up. It benefits consumers, but does it actually benefit the business of selling books? First, let’s look at the specifics, as far as they’re known right now according to the Journal: Amazon.com Inc. is talking with book publishers about launching a Netflix Inc.-like service for digital books, in which customers would Continue reading on Gear Diary …

The SeV Essential Travel Jacket is a great SCOTTEVEST piece to have in your wardrobe. Here’s how they describe the men’s version: As its name indicates, this is the jacket from SeV Travel Clothing that you can’t do without. From the outside, its elegant, understated styling doesn’t reveal the 19 pockets and compartments. The perfect SeV option when you want to be incognito-only you will be aware of what’s hidden inside. The Essential Jacket is made of a lightweight and extraordinarily comfortable brushed cotton blend. It almost feels like you aren’t wearing anything! You can even control your iPod® through the thin fabric, which is breathable and Teflon treated to repel water and stains. Take advantage Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Today’s Gear Deal brings us some great deals on HP’s new 23″ TouchSmart 520 1080p All-in-one Multi-touch PC. The TouchSmart 520t is powered by newest Intel 2011 Core i3 / i5 / i7 “Sandy Bridge” CPU, has a touch-enabled 23″ display that supports multi-touch gestures, is pre-loaded withTouchSmart 5.0, has an adjustable base and sports a 1080p screen. It has a slot-loading optical drive, a built-in adjustable-tilt webcam and mic, 802.11n WiFi, a 6-in-1 card reader, two USB 3.0 ports, a wireless Keyboard and Mouse and runs Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit OS. With this deal… Continue reading on Gear Diary …