Physical media by be under attack from the growing number of streaming services but there are still lots of people who swear by their Blu-Ray movies. That’s where today’s Gear Deal comes in. The Panasonic DMP-BD85 WiFi Enabled Blu-Ray Disc Player features “superior Video and Audio Performance, Wi-Fi enabled with super sensitive antenna, and ultra-fast 0.5 second startup”. The Panasonic DMP-BD85K WiFi Enabled Blu-Ray Disc Player is normally $249.99 but out Gear Sponsor has found it for $169.96 LESS! That brings the final price to just $79.99 and it will even ship for free. You can find details and ordering information here on the deal page. Gear Deal… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

I’ve probably said it before, but PDAir puts me in mind of those old Sherwin Williams paint ads:  ”We cover the world!”  (Roger Zelazny spoofed it in one of his Amber books, I think.)  PDAir seems completely and utterly determined to have a case for every single cell phone and PDA put out on the market.  I have this mental image of a room with one obsessive, sleep-deprived nerd with a laptop, sitting there in its warm glow, just surfing the web for news of a new device.  ”Here it is!” he or she cries.  ”New Blackberry!  Get the specs and start fabricating!”  And then he or she is back to his staring time. Anyway, without… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

A new iPhone can only mean one thing… new iPhone cases! Waterfield just let us know about two new ways to carry and use your iPhone. And while the cases are focussed on the new iPhone 4S they will work with other generations of the iDevice too. (Check the description for compatibility.) Here’s a quick peak at both of the new cases. The iPhone Wallet iPhone, Cash, Cards and Carry. You’re set with your wallet contents plus your iPhone—all in one compact, stylish place. Rather than having to take two separate items, now you can just put your iPhone into Continue reading on Gear Diary …

  UPDATE 9:33pm CT 10/4/11: It was brought to our attention that the runner up, kismetconnect, had used more than one and possibly as many as 12 Disqus and Twitter accounts to enter our contest. I tried to give him the benefit of the doubt, but while checking IP addresses it became abundantly clear that this had tried to defraud Gear Diary, and you — our readers. It is against Gear Diary policy to use more than one email address or user account to win a contest, and that policy is printed at the bottom of this page. Contest and Giveaways: We retain the right to revoke prizes for contest winners whose profiles appear to use multiple Continue reading on Gear Diary …

To enter our Skooba Design Skooba Skin Giveaway, we asked you leave a comment saying what kind of laptop you own, and to let us know which Skooba Skin you would like to carry it in … and we now have our winners! The 1617 in tough Black Ballistic winner is Heatwave96! The 1415 in yummy Blueberry Microsuede winner is breley! The 1012 in retro Brown Corduroy winner is JD Northwest! Continue reading on Gear Diary …

It will come as little surprise to anyone who knows me that I have been considering ways to integrate iPads or other tablets into our educational approach at my synagogue, and I hope to have more to say on this shortly. One issue that has arisen time and again as I have thought about this, is the need to secure any iPads we get so they don’t walk away mere hours after we put them into use. It is for this reason that I was more than a bit excited to see Kensington announced their SecureBack Security Case for iPad 2. Then I saw the SecureBack Security Case at Pepcom’s Holiday Extravaganza two weeks ago… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Aperture Science is the fictional company personified by the maniacal AI known as GlaDOS in the Portal games. In most games, such a company would simply be a throwaway (how many companies can YOU remember from games through the years?), but with Portal, Aperture Science has grown to be a fan favorite. A fictional rivalry with Black Mesa Labs (the fictional company from the Half-Life games) makes things more entertaining, but the whole thought of ‘we do what we must, because we can’ and the other humor-laced psychotic testing items makes Portal more endearing and Aperture more beloved. Now a group of fans have made an ambitious 22 minute long video ‘exploring the… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Mix together a crime-drama mystery, puzzles, hidden objects, and tons of twists and turns and intrigue … and you have the makings of one of the most compelling casual games made this year. The name of that game is “Special Enquiry Detail: The Hand that Feeds” from G5 Entertainment, and I reviewed the iPad release earlier this year. Now it is available for Android! Let’s take a look and see how the port stands up to the original release! The Hype: Try your hand at investigating a crime, crack the case and catch the criminal in this perplexing hidden-object game! Detectives Turino and Lamonte have been assigned to a… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Apple’s big day is finally here. As the news comes in we will be updating this post with the latest and greatest news. Analysis and commentary will follow.   The rumor mill has been more active than ever. With Apple not bringing out a new iPhone last spring there is more pent up demand and excitement than we can remember. Still, it does look as if Apple has tried to dampen expectations a bit as today approached. Is this because they have less to show or is it that they want to “wow” us with a surprise? We will all know shortly. And here we go! We’d like to thank Slashgear Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Every October Spiderweb Software puts their entire catalog on sale. Last year I included the Spiderweb Software 15th Anniversary sale in my weekly game deal posts. That sale – like all of their previous ones – featured 10% off games and 25% off collections. Here is the quote from Spiderweb’s Home Page: Glorious October Carnage Sale! – In celebration of a fantastic year (releasing Avadon and putting out our first titles on Steam and the iPad), we are permanently lowering the prices of everything we sell by 20% or more! Even better, for the entire month of October, all of our products for Windows and Mac will be Continue reading on Gear Diary …

A couple of weeks ago rock music lost perhaps the greatest ‘college band’ of all-time: R.E.M, as noted at Spin Magazine and elsewhere. The Georgia group defined the alt-rock sound for close to twenty years before coasting along on a massive contract for the last decade. And while it is easy to criticize their recent output (though Collapse into Now is decent, if not up to the high standard set back in the late 80′s and early 90′s), the music the group put out in their prime ranks with some of the greatest of the entire rock era. Most groups would be happy for a memorable song, thrilled for a major… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Welcome back to another edition of Music Diary Semi-Quavers, the quick-take reviews of recent releases. Last time I explored some recent pop & rock album releases, now I jump over to the world of jazz! And similar to before, when I say ‘jazz’, it can include just about anything in a very broad spectrum from traditional ragtime through swing, bebop, modal, free, fusion, post-bop mainstream, modern, smooth jazz and who knows what else. I believe there is good and bad music in every genre, and try not to bother too much with genre labels – though I obviously separate jazz from popular in my review focus, but that is as much due… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

I’m a big fan of Sony’s Cyber-shot cameras. I’m also a fan of saving money. Today’s Gear Deal brings us both. The Sony Cyber-shot DSC-HX9V/B features a 16.2 Megapixel resolution, a 16x Optical Zoom and accepts SD/SDHC/SDXC/Memory Stick Duo/Pro Duo/PRO HG-Duo Card Slot. Normally $399.99 with this deal you can get $120.99 in instant savings.  That brings the price down to $279. It will ship for free and there is no sales tax in most states. Note: May need to register for Free in order to see this deal on BuyDig. Details and ordering can be found here. Gear Deal: Sony Cyber-shot DSC-HX9V/B 16.2 MP Exmor R CMOS Digital Camera via LogicBUY. &nbsp… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

One of my annoyances with mobile email has always been Hotmail. Not the service itself, but the seeming inability of any of the default email clients to properly handle Hotmail – I would get repeated streams of mails, deletion never seemed to work right, and so on. To the point where I don’t get my Hotmail on my Android phone and just check it on my iPad with full knowledge I’ll have to manage it elsewhere. We have already heard and seen how Microsoft and Apple have implemented a native sub-client for the iOS 5 Inbox that will work like all of the other easily configured email accounts such as Yahoo! and… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

There’s no doubt that handwriting apps and handwriting recognition have come a long, long way since the 90s and the heyday (such as it was) of Apple’s much-maligned, but in the opinions of some ahead-of-it’s-time, Newton.  Now that we have color touchscreens with Gorilla glass that are multi-gesture sensitive, with proximity sensing and I don’t know what all, we’ve come a long way, baby. One of the earliest iOS handwriting apps, Penultimate, has just released a new update.  The update includes the incorporation of a lot of changes that users sent in for things like left-handers (like my son Joseph), people with “unusual writing scripts”, and more.  So if you’ve been waiting to jump aboard the… Continue reading on Gear Diary …