Scott Weaver used 1000,000 toothpicks, about 30,000 hours and Elmer’s Glue to create a visually stunning 9′ tall masterpiece with five different “ping-pong tours” through the various San Francisco landmarks. I have used different brands of toothpicks depending on what I am building. I also have many friends and family members that collect toothpicks in their travels for me. For example, some of the trees in Golden Gate Park are made from toothpicks from Kenya, Morocco, Spain, West Germany and Italy. The heart inside the Palace of Fine Arts is made out of toothpicks people threw at our wedding. This video… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

This is interesting to me in two ways: First, we’re big believers here at Gear Diary in competition.  Competition in the tech area is almost always a Good Thing™ for the customer/consumer/end-user.  More choices; pushes the other companies to keep innovating; holds down prices.  A Good Thing. Second, the new Amazon Fire is the Hot New Device, and a lot of tech folks (including your humble Gear Diary team) are wondering how it will fare in the apps/Android/marketplace/non-”just a reader” space. So now that I’ve buried the lede, what the heck am I talking about?  Why, the personal finance app Mint.com, of course!  You saw it right there in the title!  Helps you do… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

If you are into voice recognition, then you need to have a good microphone. It’s a basic fact of life. Yes, you can use the built-in microphone on the MacBook Air (for example), and you’ll probably get good results. But if you want great results you’ll need something that’s going to help filter out the background noise; that means a good headset. Among the issues with such headsets? The best of them have boom microphones that make you look like a Bell telephone operator. Sure, this is all about getting the work done and dictating your text but what if there were a way to not look quite as dorky? That’s what Andrea’s new headphones make… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

There are plenty of plastic, silicon, and even aluminum cases for your new iPhone 4S. But what about when it’s time for your phone to get a bit fancy? Or you want something more professional? That’s why we’ll be taking a look at the Yoobao Leather Flip case for the iPhone 4/4S. It’s a step up from a plastic snap-on case, but is it functional AND beautiful? Opinions vary on flip cases, but generally speaking I am a fan. There’s always situations where you want the screen covered, and a solid flip case is an easy way to offer protection without fumbling with a snap-on cover or encasing your phone in a brick-like case. The Yoobao definitely fits on that front, with a nice stiff cover that doesn’t add much bulk. The inside is lined with a soft material (I can’t tell if it’s suede or just  a really soft fabric) which I like, as it gives some cushion and protection rather than having seams or a rough cover near the screen. I don’t love that the screen cover flaps downwards, since it feels awkward and dangles funny, but it does leave the back camera hole open and unblocked. More [...]

Ready?  You have ten minutes; use both sides of the paper if necessary.  Go! But seriously:  In many ways, the whole idea of the Rubik’s Cube amazes me.  An eastern European mathematician comes up with it during the Cold War (they used to call Erno Rubik’s home country, Hungary, part of “the Warsaw Pact”, i.e. a client state of the Soviet Union), it becomes a huge worldwide hit, and it has managed to stay around and reasonably popular for 35 years. Honestly, that’s amazing to me. Anywho, in my native land of New England, they are using the Rubik’s Cube as part of a program to foster science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM)… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

To celebrate one of the busiest shopping weeks of the year, Amazon has put up an amazing array of ‘Black Friday Week’ deals on DVD and Blu-Ray movies. Here is what they have to say: This year, we did the shopping for you so you can skip the lines and shop from the comfort of your couch while still getting the best Black Friday Deals. See below for Movies & TV Lightning Deals as low as $1.99, running November 21- November 28. Remember: These are just the limited-time offers. There are some great deals, such as The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (Widescreen Theatrical Edition) for $1.99 on Black Friday!… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

If you just say the phrase ‘that one scene from The Matrix’, almost everyone immediately thinks of the lobby gunfight scene. Well, after watching this video of the scene synced up to Lou Bega’s Mambo #5 you might never think of it the same way. Check it out: And as an interesting aside, my first exposure to this song was through a Radio Disney CD our kids had, so I really had no clue what was going on when I heard the actual song! Source: Neatorama Continue reading on Gear Diary …

(image courtesy Put Me In Coach) The new NOOK Tablet is out, and slowly but surely more details about how it is different from its NOOKcolor predecessor are being released. For most users, the Tablet is a great upgrade; better screen, more memory, more multimedia options…it’s a win all around. But what about the people who loved their NOOKcolors for their supreme hackability? According to The Digital Reader, it appears that B&N has locked the bootloader on the NOOKTablet. In english, this means they’ve added an additional level of security, making rooting (and installing the Android marketplace, etc) a far more difficult proposition. It’s hardly the easy sailing it was for the… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

I think we’ve established that I’m a space geek.  I had a scale-model of the Saturn V rocket that sent our (seriously insane but brave) astronauts to the moon when I was, like, 8.  The first book that my parents ever bought for me–I mean, for ME!–was called “Space”.  I’ve been reading science fiction since I was 11.  I was absurdly stoked to be able to review TouchPress’ Solar System app.  Etc.  Space geek. So I have no hesitation at all in telling you about Vito Technology’s updated Solar Walk app for iOS.  I have their earlier versions and will be downloading this one post-haste, and I have to say it’s one cool app.  The other… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

From the Editorial Staff of Gear Diary: If you don’t want to give your loved one something tangible this year, why not give them a subscription to a service that will enhance their life? Here are a few suggestions for subscriptions services we love and use on a regular basis … Tripit: Judie loves it and uses it all the time. Judie turned Dan on to it, and he’s now an evangelist for it as well. Tripit is a great way to monitor your travels, keep all in your information in one place, and, with a pro subscription, get real-time updates when your travel plans change. In fact, you may even know about a gate change before it’s announced at the airport! We find the service invaluable and especially love the new Pro feature that constantly scans your email for reservations and trip updates so you don’t even have to send the documents to the service. TripIt Pro is just $49 a year.  … Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Today’s Gear Deal brings us the 21.5″ Dell 1080p IPS-panel Multi-touch LCD Monitor. The monitor has a 21.5″ multi-touch screen with an IPS panel and optical touch technology. It supports finger, stylus or input from any other pointer. With 1000:1 Contrast Ratio, 82% color Gamut (100% sRGB coverage), 250nit brightness, DVI, VGA and HDMI connectivity, built-in USB 2.0 hub, tilt adjustment capability and more it is a “full-service” monitor with the added benefit of touch. Normally $329.99 with this deal you can save $80. That brings the price down to $249.99. Better still, it will ship for free and comes with a 3 year warranty. Details and ordering information can be found here on the deal page Continue reading on Gear Diary …

I think touch screens are a beautiful thing.  I have wondered for years and years why touch screens weren’t used more widely, and am very happy to see that you can now find them friggin’ everywhere.  But of course, that has some down sides, one of which is:  the durn things gets really, really dirty.  Some manufacturers have worked hard (and with a decent degree of success, I might add) on making the situation better, but the bottom line is that I still need to carry around a screen wipey thing in my pocket all the time. And Kimtech is well aware of that need, which is why they want you to know about their dry… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

I had already written about just how great the Samsung Galaxy S II commercial was a couple of months ago, but at the time Apple and Samsung were in the midst of the ‘copy me, copy you’ spectacle and so I wrapped it around a tongue-in-cheek accusation of copying. Certainly Samsung has learned that the macho specmanship approach of Motorola has a very narrow appeal, which shows very well in this new ad as well. The upcoming Nexus has gotten some very positive early looks, and should be a big success for Samsung and give a great look at the new Ice Cream Sandwich Android 4.0 OS. We even learned that the Nexus… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Friends, Romans, Countrymen; len me your … If you can’t stand being in a room without having all eyes on you — for any reason — then this may be the case for you.  Latest Buy is accepting pre-orders for this silicon rubber iPhone 4 case, and if you get one the puns and bad jokes are almost guaranteed to follow. $21.95, and it’s yours. Latest Buy’s Ear Shaped iPhone Case Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Okay, I know what you’re thinking:  you just read the title of this news piece, and you’re wondering, “What are they talking about?  Biometric-casual?  Gua-Le-Ni?  WTF?”  It’s okay.  Take a deep breath.  Let me help. So let’s break it down.  Here’s what the makers of this new iPad game say: It is going to be the first commercially-released casual video game whose development and tuning were guided by the analysis of its players’ psychophysiological responses. Okay?  That’s the biometric part.  But what is the game itself?  No problem!  Do you know what a Hippogrif is?  Or a Sphinx?  Or a Centaur?  They’re animals made up of parts of different animals kinda glued together, Mad Libs-style.  Well… Continue reading on Gear Diary …