I have been angsting over a new phone for some time now. My original Droid is barely hanging on, and I am due for an upgrade. It was disappointing that Verizon didn’t pick up the Galaxy S II along with the other carriers, but the Motorola Droid Bionic hung on the horizon. I have been trolling various sites for reviews, but they all seemed to sum up with one word: Meh. All of them are quick to reassure readers the Bionic isn’t a bad phone, it is just…not great. In fact, most of the reviews seem to end with similar sentiments. Slashgear concluded: Meanwhile, there are faster phones on the horizon. Samsung’s freshly-announced Galaxy S Continue reading on Gear Diary …

It was bound to happen. With publishers desperately pinning their hopes to electronic formats to save them and Android tablets still looking to gain traction it was only a matter of time before a steeply discounted tablet was offered with a subscription commitment of a year or two. Well now the owner and publisher of The Philadelphia Inquirer, Philadelphia Daily News, and philly.com is offering a bundle with ARNOVA 10 G2 Android tablet for next to nothing. As Henri Crohas, ARNOVA President explains, “We are proud to partner with the Philadelphia Media Network on this opportunity to take media and the consumption of it to the next level. This is a partnership that both… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Way back in early January I noted Angry Birds and NOVA as the latest iPhone to PSP Minis ports. I didn’t know pricing at the time, but speculated “pricing wasn’t revealed yet, but given how many $0.99 – $1.99 iPhone games end up at $4.99+ on the PSP … I wouldn’t be surprised to see the same price point this time.” And, of course, it WAS released for $4.99! When the game came out … well, I bought it, played some, and was not particularly impressed. Some time later there was a new release by Rovio, but that wasn’t available if you bought the original version. I had written it off… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

If you have ever worked with a brainstorming / flowcharting / or other similar operation, you are likely aware of MindJet’s MindManager. Back in July MindJet introduced iPad and iPhone versions of their app, and now they have made it better in two ways – by improving the functionality … and by making it FREE! Here is the description: Mindjet® iPad® lets you easily enter ideas, tasks, and meeting notes into intuitive visual maps that help you quickly organize concepts and prioritize action items. Instantly create new maps or import them from Mindjet MindManager®. Finger Slide Topic Creation Just slide your finger to create a new topic! To minimize tapping, all gesture for Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Ever try working on two monitors at once? You should. There is something about having one monitor that can hold your email and social networking applications while you work and a second one that can be “in use” to aid in productivity. That’s where today’s Gear Deal comes in. Dell’s new 21.5″ S2230MX Ultra-slim 1080p LCD Monitor is the “thinnest Dell LCD monitor ever”. It features a contrast ratio of 8,000,000:1, 1920 x 1080 resolution, VGA and DVI-D (HDCP) connectivity and comes bundled with a DVI-HDMI dongle. Normally $219.99 our Gear Sponsor found it for $50 off. That brings the price down to just $169.99 and it will even ship for free. You can order Continue reading on Gear Diary …

A few months ago a April Fool’s Day joke turned into reality as the $99 iCade shipped. But for a single-purpose accessory that required external power and still works with just a single game … the price is a bit steep. Now we have the Atari Arcade Joystick, which offers an all-in-one solution for playing the Atari Arcade Classics on your iPad! The news of this came out last week, but I was waiting for more hands-on details before spreading the word … and also hoping for price and release date! A review over at DVice.com has appeared this week, saying: DiscoveryBay Games’ Atari Arcade is filling a Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Vostro 3550 with a Dell Color Laser Printer Designed for small business, the Vostro™ 3550 laptop packs in the features including a full HD webcam, array mics, preinstalled Web conferencing and voice-enhancing software. Add in a 2nd generation Intel Core processor and a 15.6″ screen and you have a portable office! Normally $1088.99 with this NGD deal you can get the Vostro 3550 AND a color laser printer for just $739.00. Details and ordering can be found here. New Gear Daily Because Everybody Loves a Deal NGD: Vostro 3550 with Windows 7 Professional and Dell Continue reading on Gear Diary …

One of the annoying things about tablets is lack of support for smartphone apps. For iPad users the ’1x/2x’ screen doubling for iPhone apps is the bane of their existence, and for Android tablet users they often find that their favorite apps simply aren’t available on the Android Market. Facebook is one of the worst offenders of this – though they ironically have one of their best versions for the now defunct webOS platform! Today brings a fresh update for Facebok for Android solves one of those issues by restoring it to the tablet market for Android devices! AndroidPolice notes the updates: Users now have access to the same Continue reading on Gear Diary …

This week you will read the dual-review for the PC & PS3 versions of Deus Ex: Human Revolution by Michael Siebenaler and I, but today we get the word that the cyberpunk stealth prequel is coming to play on the Mac from the folks at Feral Interactive. Here is the news from their site: Deus Ex: Human Revolution Augments Mac Gaming 12 Sep 2011 It’s just emerged from the Feral laboratories that the Mac has been wheeled into the operating theatre for an extreme gaming enhancement with Deus Ex: Human Revolution, the critically-acclaimed prequel to the legendary Deus Ex. Players control ex-SWAT commander Adam Jensen, who is forced Continue reading on Gear Diary …

As a child I remember waiting anxiously for Saturday morning to watch cartoons like the Bugs Bunny / Road Runner hour. This (obviously) was well before the era of cartoon-specific channels and 24 hour programming, so our choices were far fewer. Yet even then adults said that watching that stuff was ruining our minds, that the Three Stooges was creating a culture of violence, and that Batman was infusing us with bad pun-filled expressions! According to a report from FOXNews there might be some truth – at least to the thoughts on the impact of cartoons: The problems were seen in a study of 60 children randomly assigned to either watch Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Welcome back to the GearGames weekly video game release feature here at Gear Diary! If you were to look at the PSP library and try to find the best games for the platform, two of them would be the God of War titles. So … similar to what happened with some OTHER highly successful PSP games (the GTA ‘Stories’ series), these are now being released for the PS3 as the God of War: Origins Collection. Given the originals were solid, these should be pretty good as well. We also get the follow-up to the surprisingly excellent hit shooter game Red Orchestra 2: Heroes of Stalingrad. The Nintendo DS/3DS seeks to… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Wow … talk about simultaneously heating up the tablets wars and cranking the pressure cooker up on Nintendo and Sony! GameIndustry has a report that arrived today in my email … that made me do a double-take to be sure I was reading it right. Here is a snip: GameStop is using the Android operating system for its own-brand gaming tablet, which will launch with a number of titles pre-installed. The US retailer has already chosen the model of tablet, which president Tony Bartel told GamesIndustry.biz is considered by the company to be the “GameStop certified gaming platform” and will sell alongside hardware from Sony, Microsoft, Nintendo and Apple when Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Strategy First is a great publisher for folks like me who love offbeat games in under-served genres. For example, Gods: Lands of Infinity shown below is a turn-based, story driven RPG that encompasses both old and new styles of gaming and graphics, and represents a style of game that the big ‘AAA’ publishers simply don’t make anymore – but should! This week Amazon is celebrating the unique contribution of Strategy First by offering some great bundle deals – as well as great prices on individual games! The bundles include: -… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Last year Judie reviewed JustMobile’s AluPen. She liked it a lot. Then, last spring, Just Mobile introduced a stand for the AluPen. The AluCube was just that, an aluminum cube that serves as a perfect stand for the AluPen. To my mind it didn’t make all that much sense to buy a separate stand for a tablet stylus but when I heard they had created a deluxe package and were selling the AluPen and AluCube together I was interested. Just Mobile was kind enough to send a review sample so lets take a closer look. From Continue reading on Gear Diary …

I attended RIM’s rollout of the BlackBerry PlayBook and they were kind enough to give each of us in attendee one to take home and use. Since that time I have taken the device out of its box every week or so to play with it a bit. Unfortunately, after using it for a brief time back into the box it goes. Time and again this is what happens. It makes me sad. I love the hardware. The 7″ form factor is fantastic, the design of the tablet is quite nice and the OS is great. The screen is gorgeous and the speakers are probably the best speakers I have heard on a tablet yet… Continue reading on Gear Diary …