I have written several times (such as here, here and here) about Quiescence Music, the site headed up by piano instructor Edward Weiss that takes a casual, hands-on and emergent approach to learning to play and compose based on the New Age style. During that time, I have shared some of the materials from Quiescence with my family, and had my pianist son play around with some of the approaches. While he is already an advanced pianist and has solid techniques, the approach Weiss teaches in terms of exploration is similar to how I have always encouraged my kids to play and I could see and hear some atmospheric… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Well, you knew that Flipboard wasn’t going to have the entire field to itself, right? Software mavens/boffins/hackers the world over have struggled since the beginnings of the Web (as a commercial space, anyway) to figure out how to filter and deliver information to the average Joe or Jane (or Jean or Ivan or Sathish or whatever) on the street.  Twitter, Facebook, thousands (millions?) of web “news” sites, aggregators . . . Good Lord, it can make you insane. “Brief Me” is a new entrant in the field, a news and social media reader Available both on iOS and Android (yay!).  Check it out; after all, it’s available at Doug’s Favorite Price™ of Free… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

If you have been thinking about getting an HD camcorder this Gear Deal is for you. Our Gear Sponsor gave us the headsup that you can save up to 50% on a number of different Panasonic Digital Camcorders. Panasonic HDC-TM40K Camcorder: Was $399.99 but is now $189.99 Panasonic HDC-TM41H Camcorder: Was $379.99 but is now $189.99 Panasonic HCD-SD80K Camcorder: Was $449.99 but is now $289.99 Panasonic HCD-TM80K Camcorder: Was $499.99 but is now $289.99 Check out all the deals and get the coupon codes over on our Gear Sponsor’s Deal Page.   Gear Deal: Panasonic: Get up to 50% off select Panasonic HD 1080p Digital Camcorders via… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

When it comes to cases, PDAir simply does not sit on their hands.  If you think it’s hard for you to keep up with all the new smartphone releases (and it seems to me like a new one is released every other day), think how they must feel–not only do they have to keep up, but they have to come up with a bunch of cases for each one! But they do it.  And this week’s bunch is below.  Surf on over and take a look for yourself. This week’s set of releases from PDAir includes: Aluminum Metal Case for Samsung Infuse 4G SGH-i997 – Open Screen Design (Silver) Aluminum Metal Continue reading on Gear Diary …

In case we haven’t mentioned it often enough, the folks here at GD are big believers in competition (in the tech world, anyway!).  So while I am wedded to iOS, and others here are confirmed Android users, we have Linux folks and Windows folks and all kinds here. Which is why I’m glad to see that, though RIM does seem to be running behind iOS and Android in the mobile market right now, they’re still in there swingin’.  And in that vein comes the newest beta version of eBay 2.0 for BlackBerry.  I’m personally not a big eBay user, but plenty of folks are and if one of those folks is you and you’re still addicted… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Earlier today I was IMing with Judie. Both of us have ditched our iPhone 4s in anticipation of the next generation iPhone. We are both looking forward to it and want it NOW. At one point I IMed “You know, as much as I am excited about the possibility of an update to the hardware for me it is all about the voice. Voice recognition baked deeply into the OS will be THE feature!” Now I have no idea if the rumored Nuance integration voice technology integration will see the light with this release and my contacts at Nuance aren’t saying but, as I have noted repeatedly, it does make a lot of sense and… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Yes, it is time to announce the winner of the Sceptre 24″ HDTV / DVD Combo but before we do, here’s a reminder that we already have some great contests going. There is the Gear Diary at 5 Giveaway: Trick Out Your iPhone 4 and the Gear Diary at 5: You CAN Get There from Here, Magellan RoadMate 9055-LM Giveaway and finally the Gear Diary at 5: Sena’s Got Your iPad 2 Covered Contest. Hurry and enter because the GPS contest ends tomorrow! And now to announce the winner of the TV…. Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Normally in laptop reviews I try to apply some generic context about where the laptop falls in the market in terms of segmentation and price, then invite the reader into the main body of the review to find out how it fits in that segment and the value offered. For the Toshiba Satellite P745-S4250 (S4250 from now on), I will just come out and call the segment the HOLY-CRAP-DID-YOU-HEAR-THE-SOUND-ON-THIS-THING-IT-IS-UNBELIEVABLE-FOR-A-LAPTOP … and the price is just under $800 nicely equipped. With my hand fully tipped, come on along for a look at this wonderful 14″ laptop! The Hype: No-Nonsense Multimedia Performance While nice and nimble, this laptop series has some serious skills… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

(Part 1 of 3) As much as I love my iPad, and I do, there are some tasks for which it just isn’t right. For example, have you ever tried using your iPad in bright sunlight? It stinks. That’s where a simple eReader like the Kindle comes in. It is small, light and it is easy to read in even the brightest sunlight. Better still, at just over $100 it is relatively inexpensive. That means were it to be lost or stolen the hit would be far smaller than if that were to happen to my $829 iPad. As a result, my Kindle gets used whenever we are on a beach vacation. It also… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

I took advantage of a recent W00t deal, and I now have a US Edition of the Samsung Galaxy S WiFi 5.0. This is the US edition, as opposed to the more common Asian/European version. Let’s take a look! Features • The 5-inch (12.7cm) display allows you browse full web pages and read small text without resizing the screen. The Galaxy S Wi-Fi 5.0 supports various video formats (DivX, Xvid, H.263, Ogg, MPEG4, Flac). It also delivers an impressive viewing experience on the large screen • SoundAlive maximizes the performance of Samsung mobile devices for real sound quality via Samsung Audio Signal Post Processing… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

The latest time-management casual game from G5 Entertainment is called Fix It Up: Kate’s Adventure. Centering around young Kate, who has just returned from college and needs to help bring her father’s auto-repair shop back up to standards after several employees have left, Kate’s Adventure continues as she moves on and seeks her own fortunes by expanding and branching out. How does it play? Let’s take a look! The Hype: Get ready for a time management adventure that will keep you on your toes! Kate comes home from college to find her dad’s auto repair shop grappling with financial difficulties. But she’s not going to let the family business go down… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

There was some sad news in the New York Post overnight, that soul and funk legend Sly Stone is broke and living out of a van in Los Angeles. Here is a snip: But those days are gone. Today, Sly Stone — one of the greatest figures in soul-music history — is homeless, his fortune stolen by a lethal combination of excess, substance abuse and financial mismanagement. He lays his head inside a white camper van ironically stamped with the words “Pleasure Way” on the side. The van is parked on a residential street in Crenshaw, the rough Los Angeles neighborhood where “Boyz n the Hood” was set. A retired couple makes Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Seems like our 5th Anniversary contest are spawning even more contests! So let’s keep going. Before we do, here’s a reminder that we already have some great contests going. There is the Gear Diary at 5 Giveaway: Trick Out Your iPhone 4 and the Gear Diary at 5: You CAN Get There from Here, Magellan RoadMate 9055-LM Giveaway and finally there is the Gear Diary at 5: Win a Sceptre 24″ HDTV / DVD Combo Giveaway (That one ends today, so hurry up and enter.)   Today we are starting our Sena’s Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Last night my son came to me with a message some of his Facebook friends had been circulating. He knew that there was a big Facebook announcement last week, but didn’t know if it involved instituting paid service levels. I told him ‘no’ and thought no more. Until this morning, when a post at the Consumerist told me that this message was much more widespread than a bunch of eighth graders. The image above is from the IT security blog at Sophos, and you can see it refers to ‘this summer’, as this message already got passed around earlier this year. But this weekend – likely in the wake of other Facebook… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Okay, yes, I agree:  an iPhone 4 case that looks like a smiley hamburger bun looks kinda ridiculous.  Yes.  Can’t argue.  But you know what?  I respect a company that’s at least trying to be interesting and fun.  USBFever cranks out a simply unbelievable amount of new releases every year–heck, every week!–and I give them props for going the extra mile, as it were.  Do you need some of their products?  Well, take a look at the list, and then surf accordingly. The full list of USBFever releases for this week is: Anti-Dust Dock & Earphone Plug Stopper Set for iPhone / iPod / iPad Custom-made Car Seat Headrest Mount for Continue reading on Gear Diary …