We begin the week with a Gear Deal that can have a 20″ All-In-One PC in your home for less that $400! HP’s 20″ Omni 120 is now available with Intel-powered models that take their place alongside the AMD-powered versions. All Omni 120 models feature 20″ 1080p nonglare display with LED backlighting, piano-black and chrome finish, integrated stereo speakers, Beats Audio, a built-in webcam and mic, a 6-in-1 card reader, two USB 3.0 ports and more. Pricing on the computer starts at just $449.99 but our Gear Sponsor is highlighting savings that will drop that price down to just $369.99. Add in free shipping and you have a great Gear Deal. You can check out… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

If you are an Amazon Prime member and sign on to the Amazon.com homepage, you will see the letter from Jeff Bezos above. I’ve pasted the text in below, but basically it says that Amazon Prime members will soon have access to a wide array of shows from FAX, including The X-Files, Ally McBeal, and The Wonder Years amongst others. They also note FOX movies, but none are listed as of yet. It is clear that with Netflix in a weakened position after losing 600,000 customers after raising prices and then splitting DVD and Streaming businesses, Amazon is looking to assume the #1 video streaming position. Dear Customer, I have big Continue reading on Gear Diary …

As the Dad of two teenagers with cell phones, I’m worried more or less constantly at what might be going on with said cell phones while I’m not in direct line of sight with said teenagers.  I was a teen once, and I remember all the stuff that I did sight unseen, and with new tech making so much more available, I worry.  Worry, worry, worry; it’s item #1 on the “Dad’s List o’ Things to Deal With”. Protext Mobility has an app that they hope will provide a partial solution:  AmberWatch SafeText.  The app provides you “auto-analysis of text messages with real-time alerts to text message violations, as well as reporting of pictures, mobile… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Not to put too fine a point on it, but it has been one horrifically, brutally hot summer here in Central Texas this year.  85 consecutive days at more than 100 degrees, and a record-breaking number of days total greater than 100 (with more to come this weekend, supposedly!).  Which means, for me and Isabelle (the Corgi) and Rosie (the Shih Tzu/Poodle mix), that we can either go out for walkies in the brutal heat of the day and hope we don’t faint, or wait until the temperature drops below 90.  Which usually means 11pm or later.  Which means it’s pretty durn dark. We live in a very safe neighborhood on a seldom-traveled street (especially at… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

photo taken at the FDR Memorial in Washington D.C., by Flickr user Damon Green Let us be perfectly upfront here: this post is overtly political, and we don’t apologize for that fact. It is not Conservative or Liberal or even a Libertarian post. It is overtly political, but it calls out Democrats and Republicans alike. Yes, this post is political, but it is a “people post” because it is talking about our lives, our livelihood, and the American economy. Okay, enough disclaimer. Dan is reading a book called Here Comes Everybody: The Power of Organizing Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Let’s get this out of the way right up front:  I really liked this case. I’ve tried out a bunch of different iPad cases, from the Apple one to the really nice one from Case-mate to plastic sleeves to this bizarre deal with a rotating handle on the back (which seemed like a neat idea reading about it, but didn’t quite fly in real life).  And of them all, I think that for a case of this type, it strikes the best balance between bulk, features, price, ease of use and protection of all them.  Is it the best in every category?  Nope; you can get a much more beautiful and protective case from, say, Vaja . … Continue reading on Gear Diary …

It seems silly to refer to an external battery as “good-looking”, but mophie’s new juice pack power station is one good-looking battery. It is sleek, solid and feels great thanks to the combination of polished metal and soft touch material. And with a footprint that is a bit smaller than an iPhone, this 4000mAh battery is simple to carry around all the time. From mophie: juice pack powerstation: This powerful 4000mAh external battery can charge virtually any USB device in the world including the iPhone and iPad. With completely reengineered battery and electronics, the powerstation can charge your device Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Welcome back to the GearGames weekly video game release feature here at Gear Diary! This week I think we have hit the official ‘fall release rush’ in more ways than one! Obviously the official start of fall has arrived, but we are also seeing a broad list of releases across platforms and genres. Big releases include sports games like FIFA Soccer 12 and Pro Evolution Soccer 2012, action games X-Men: Destiny and Resident Evil Code: Veronica X HD, and more. There are other games like the PC release of the Book/TV tie-in A Game of Thrones: Genesis, as well as the indie sequel Dungeons – The Dark Lord, as well as some others… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

This has been a huge week for Spotify. As I already noted, they are a ‘featured partner’ in Facebook’s new music service. But this week they also opened up North America to ‘Free’ signups and also announced they had reached 2 million PAID subscribers! From Digital Music News we get word of Spotify passing 2 million subscribers worldwide: The top-level figure was shared with Digital Music News on Wednesday by a Spotify executive, and later announced by CEO Daniel Ek. Specifically, Ek referenced a figure of “over 2 million” on CNBC, a global (US+European) number. At this point, we’re unsure of the continental mix. Last month, Spotify revealed a Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Back in December of 2009 I wrote about the initial unveiling of the YouRock Guitar. It was released in 2010, but if you look around for reviews you will find them starting in mid-2010 but mostly from spring 2011 right up until now. Why is that? A few reasons I can see. First, because You Rock Guitar can be used as a Guitar Hero controller, it has dealt with the drop-off in interest in THAT market segment. It has also faced criticism from those who look at the plasticky design, low-grade on-board sounds, and the gimmicky ‘you rock’ mode that makes your playing sound better than it really is and records… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

This fall is going to be tough on ebook fans. Or at least our wallets. Amazon, Kobo, and possibly B&N all have big new releases in store! What’s in the pipeline? Read on to find out! Amazon sent out press invitations to a big event next week. The timing is definitely right for a Kindle refresh, since Amazon seems to traditionally release new models in the fall. The last few Kindle updates and price cuts have been quiet releases very suddenly, so if Bezos and company are holding a big, flashy event, it’s for something bigger than a mildly refreshed Kindle 4. My guess?… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Bioware and LucasArts have announced the launch date for Star Wars: The Old Republic, a highly anticipated massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG). The project brings together one of the biggest names in RPG games and the holder of the most popular movie franchise ever, and enters a gaming space dominated by World of Warcraft on the subscription side, and a bunch of ‘freemium’ games on the other. According to the official Star Wars: The Old Republic (SWTOR) site, the game will launch on December 20, 2011 in North America (and two days later in Europe). The pricing is set for the fairly standard $15 per month similar to World of Warcraft, with… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

So back when I worked at SiliconGraphics, when it was “The Coolest Computer Company on the Planet” (we had T-shirts that said so!), we released a high-end graphics workstation called “Oxygen.”  ”Ignite your mind!” was its marketing catch-phrase.  But the problem, see, was that we sold a bunch of them to a Japanese company, and they put them all under a workbench, really close together, pressed back against the wall.  And what happened is . . . well, they caught fire.  Not enough venting space under the workbench.  The number of jokes that came of that were limitless.  ”Ignite your desktop!”  ”Ignite your building!”  Etc. So now, every time I see an ad for the BlackBerry… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Another day, another giveaway contest celebrating our 5th anniversary begins. This time we’re going to trick out the iPhone 4s of three of our readers. First up, we are giving away an Energizer Qi-Enabled 3 Position Inductive Charging System. The system comes with a charging tray and an iPhone 4 sleeve. We reviewed it here and had this to say about it: I’m impressed with the system and am seriously considering keeping the charging sleeve on my iPhone. There are, however, a few things that might Continue reading on Gear Diary …

We’ve got winners! Three awesome laptop bags, lightly used review samples, were up for grabs and today we are announcing who is getting them. But before we get to that here’s a bit of a reminder. We’ve got two other contest currently running. There’s the “Gear Diary at 5: You CAN Get There from Here, Magellan RoadMate 9055-LM Giveaway“. Check it out and enter here. And then there is the “Gear Diary at 5: Win a Sceptre 24″ HDTV / DVD Combo AND Continue reading on Gear Diary …