As my final note for the 20th anniversary of Nirvana’s Nevermind (after highlighting Spin’s tribute MP3 album and VEVO’s release of the Paramount Theater concert), I wanted to highlight something I see as the video convergence of the peaks of two careers: Smells Like Teen Spirit. For Nirvana the song epitomizes everything they were trying to do musically, with a captivating visual style that makes the video one of the most memorable I have ever seen. Which, of course, made it irresistible for Weird Al … here are some factoids about his parody: This was a parody based on the popular hit Continue reading on Gear Diary …

“Buy locally.”  Honestly, it’s not just a slogan; it’s a genuinely good idea.  Yes it’s nice to get Kiwis from Argentina in the middle of winter, but do we really have the planetary resources these days to be shipping fruits and vegetables via tanker just for that?  Personally, I don’t think so. When I was in France, one of the things that I absolutely loved were the regular farmer’s markets, even in the heart of cities, multiple times a week.  How do you know your fish is fresh?  Because the fish-seller has the durn things swimming in the tank right in front of you, that’s how!  The same with local vegetables, and fruits, and meats.  It… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Welcome back to the GearGames weekly video game release feature here at Gear Diary! Whenever id software, the company responsible for the popularization and many of the foundations of the first person shooter genre, releases a game – it is big news. This week we get not only a new game, but a whole new franchise in Rage. The other huge release is Dark Souls for the PS3, the follow up to the fun and brutally difficult Demon Souls. Other releases include NBA 2K12, Just Dance 3, Spider-Man: Edge of Time, Disciples III: Resurrection, and more. There are other games like the PC release of the Book/TV tie-in A Game of Thrones: Genesis Continue reading on Gear Diary …

I’m happy to see that people are working to try to use the capabilities of the iPad to push the boundaries of what we consider a “book”.  There are the Vooks, of course; Inkling’s innovate approach to textbooks; apps like The Elements and Solar System, which are midway between a book and an app; and a smattering of children’s books (for some reason). Into this mix comes 101% Studios’ Pinocchio3D.  For my money, Pinocchio was the creepiest of all the Disney fairy tale adaptations, and if the screen shots I’ve seen of this app are anything to judge by, this eBook/app doesn’t give anything up in the spookiness factor.  Very much in that “Coraline” vein, if… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

When my son Joseph saw this picture, his comment was, “You should show that to Maggie; she loves pink.” Does your kid love pink?  Or are they an anime/otaku/cutesy Nihongo-style gadget fan?  Because if so, this might  be the right gizmo for them.  Shaped like a hog–well, a cartoon hog–this is an external speaker that gives you that kind of feel.  Interested?  Surf on over and check it out.  Available for around $118. Show Press Release (1 More Words) Speakal www.speakal.com, a lifestyle-oriented home entertainment company with intelligently designed technology solutions driven by a passion for sound, launched today iHog, the stylish hog-shapediPod/iPhone docking station speaker system.  Available in pink and white, the booming iHog speaker system makes a fun holiday Continue reading on Gear Diary …

If you’re looking for proof that Amazon and Apple are very different in their approaches to hardware/software, look no further than how they handle library books. Or, more specifically, how Amazon handles ebooks and Apple handles audiobooks. Let’s look at the process to download an ebook to my Kindle from my local library. I head to the library website, select the book I want, check out, choose “Get for Kindle”, and then Amazon handles sending the book over WiFi to my Kindle. If I’m not near WiFi, I can download the title and use USB to transfer it to my device manually. The downside is that I have to use a computer for at least part of… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

A few weeks ago we were out to dinner with some friends. When the time cam to pay, Laurence reached into his pocket and pulled out his wallet. Without thinking I said, “Where did you learn about the Flipside 2X Wallet?” To which he replied, “Uhm, I think some guy named Dan reviewed it on Gear Diary a year ago.” Okay that was dumb of me but it is good to know my friends read the site. And I do love my FlipSide wallet. In fact, since yesterday I love it even more. Yes, my Flipside Wallet got some extra storage thanks to the new FlipsideKick. The $9.99 add-on is money well… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

We’ve had a great time doing all these giveaways in celebration of our 5th Anniversary. We’ve already given away some great items but there is a ton more to win. We’ll start closing down the contests some time tomorrow. That means there’s still time to enter them all. Oh, and if you were hesitant to enter the other contests for fear winning would disqualify you from winning the huge, awesome, amazing Grand Prize… fear not. You can enter them all and winning one of the smaller contests won’t affect your chances of winning the big one. So what do we have going on still? There’s the Gear Diary at 5 Giveaway: Trick Out Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Borders is officially gone, but if you were a registered Borders Rewards or Borders.com user,your data is still out there. B&N owns it now, in an attempt to both secure your business and block competitors from luring your dollars to them instead. For most people this is not a big deal, since you likely are ok with a bookstore having information about you. However, if you always regretted being bullied into that Borders Rewards card (sorry about that!) or you gave your email address and never used the coupons, this is your chance to make sure that data gets nuked for good. B&N’s CEO William Lynch sent out an email this morning with all the details, so if… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

If you look through rock music history, there are loads of albums that are called ‘masterpieces’ or ‘necessary listening’ or ‘classics’ … but FAR fewer that actually deserve the accolades. One of those is certainly ‘Dark Side of the Moon’ by Pink Floyd. The 1973 recording is interesting musically, has plenty of thematic material that develops throughout the recording and has some fun and catchy songs. Pink Floyd has been notoriously stubborn in their desire to limit digital downloads of individual songs, wanting listeners to hear the music in its full and original album format. As a result their material has appeared and disappeared from sites such as iTunes and… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Here is a great deal for those of us who are on Verizon and have one of the supported phones: Madden 12 for Android is Free Oct 1 – Oct 3 for Verizon Customers! To get it call **MADDEN (**623336) From your Verizon Wireless Android phone. According to SlickDeals: Supported devices include: Incredible 2.2, Vortex 2.2, Continuum, Thunderbolt 2.2, Droid Pro 2.2, Fascinate 2.2, Incredible 2.2.2, Commando, Droid Charge, Revolution 2.2, Droid X 2.2.2, Droid X 2.3 Head to the Verizon site to see more details, or just call **MADDEN to get the game! Source: SlickDeals Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Amazon made a splash a few days ago by rolling out three new eInk readers and their first tablet. The Kindle 3 is still available and is cheaper than ever. The NOOKcolor is going strong but we suspect there has been a lot of aspirin popped at B&N headquarters over the last few days. We reviewed some great Speck cases for the Kindle 3 and the NOOKcolor and we are giving them away. Here’s what we have… There’s the WanderFolio: This design is excellent as it lets you keep a number of items with you without the need for Continue reading on Gear Diary …

In case you missed it, Amazon debuted not one (or even two) but FOUR new Kindle models this week. Even more shocking, only one of them was rumored! Apparently Amazon has hired Apple’s rumor crackdown team; either that or everyone was so excited for an Amazon tablet we didn’t see the signs of new Kindles right under our noses. So here’s the new Kindle family: -Kindle: $79 [eInk] -Kindle Touch Wifi: $99 [eInk] -Kindle Touch Wifi+3G: $149 [eInk] -Kindle Fire (Android tablet: $199 [color] Note that the three eInk Kindle prices are the “special offers” versions. Non-subsidized… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

It has been a few months since I wrote about Valve offering part 2 of the Portal 2 soundtrack called Songs to Test By: Volume 2 … which came after Songs to Test By: Volume 1. Now they are back with the THIRD and FINAL volume! Here is the quote from the blog entry: Anyway, the third and final volume of Songs to Test by is now available to download. We’re not sure how many times the last two volumes were downloaded–five times, maybe, or six, if we had to guess–but according to the number currently being sky-written by a plane outside Valve’s windows it was actually two million Continue reading on Gear Diary …