I wrote about the Android app TouchDown by NitroDesk as an ‘App I Can’t Live Without’, so naturally when I got my Kindle Fire, one of the first things I did was load up TouchDown from the Amazon Appstore for Android to configure my work email account. The problem came when I went to switch from a ‘trial’ to licensed mode. On any other Android device I would simply download the TouchDown License from my ‘purchased apps’ on the Android Market. But, since there is no access to the Android Market, I couldn’t do that on the Fire. Further, when I asked the developers, they said that different terms and… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Atari has made major inroads on the iPhone and iPad, being the centerpiece of a number of accessories such as the iCade … and also having major success with their retro game collections. Now they are bringing what they call an ‘evolved’ version of the classic Asteroids to the iPhone and iPad with enhanced dual-stick controls and 150 levels! Here are a few features: Three all-new galaxies to explore and conquer, with 150 waves of asteroids and alien warships to obliterate Dual-stick controls for firing and movement, perfect for non-stop blasting action Access to three unique space crafts to pilot: the Miner, the Bomber and the Dart Legions of power-ups and upgrades Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Image Courtesy of Tokyoflash Tis the season to start the holiday shopping. With Black Friday and Holidays sales popping up everywhere Tokyoflash decided to make things a little easier on your wallet this year. Their site now has a nice breakdown of the current specials including the under $100 category, a buy one get one 50% off, as well as some sale prices on regularly priced watches and gadgets. As an added bonus to the sale every watch purchased between the dates of November 16th and December 25th will give you an entry to win a new Playstation Vita + 1 game, an Apple iPad (no specs listed), or 3 watches from the 2012 lineup… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Yes, the world is simply full of Android crap tablets. The Cruz fit’s along those lines but for $74.99 shipped it offers a few features that just may get your impulse purchase juices flowing. Yes, I know this is a refurb, but look past that as just a capacitive touchscreen tablet running Android 2.2 with some expandability options. Not ever using a Cruz myself I can’t tell you what the Cruz Market has to offer but I do know that if this device surfs the web, plays music and movies, then it could easily double as a child attention magnet or some entertainment at lunch. The specs are somewhat decent but the content may be the biggest… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Apple may have a bit of a problem on its hands if a new report from Goldman Sachs (Via www.bgr.com)is accurate. According to a new report, sales of the iPad 2 are slowing even as we come into the holiday shopping season. There are, of course, many possible reasons for this. Among them might be the fact that people are waiting until the holiday season is closer (read Black Friday) to make a purchase and yesterday’s release of the Amazon Kindle fire which is just $199 as opposed to the $499 buy in to get the least expensive iPad. Still, regardless of the reason(s), if this slowdown is actually happening it is a problem for… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Get some holiday cheer on the Nintendo Wii this season. Dance, workout, shoot, and escape into new worlds, familiar franchises, and engaging active environments.

I’ve been waiting for the 2012 Ford Focus for a very long time. Even as Ford was rolling out the red carpet on the last generation Focus compact in 2007 I was waiting for this car. Heck, my anticipation goes back a decade. Well, it’s here and in usual Ford fashion Focus arrived in a flurry of product placement as it has been driven on nearly every reality TV show this year. I first saw the latest Focus in its new plant last December as Ford allowed us an insider view of the assembly facility it had completely rebuilt specifically for Focus. Funny thing about it, it is right across the parking lot from the old Focus plant. Continue reading on Gear Diary …

The pop-rock group Nickelback is one of those love/hate things for many – ‘hardcore’ rockers absolutely hate them on principal, yet they sell millions of records and there are people who either like them or – like my wife – consider them a ‘guilty pleasure’. If you are a fan of the group, or just curious to check out their upcoming release, here is your chance! For a limited time you can stream the entire album for free on iTunes! As with previous deals like this, you can’t skip songs or shuffle or otherwise control the playback – it is an all-or-nothing deal. But still – for a free early look at a… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

If you look back through the history of the classics of the RPG computer game genre, you will encounter the big names such as Baldur’s Gate, Wizardry, Might & Magic and Ultima. One that stands alongside those but has never gotten the same attention is Lands of Lore. The Lands of Lore games are epic role-playing adventures from nearly twenty years ago, yet with full voice acting from people like Patrick Stewart! The stories are well done and provides loads of twists and turns and opportunities for role playing. Here is an overview: Lands of Lore: The Throne of Chaos takes you on an adventure: save the dying king and Continue reading on Gear Diary …

You know, it’s kind of funny that I just did a post on Madden NFL a while ago, because one of John Madden’s signature lines keeps coming to me as I look at this particular new product:  BOOM! In the never-ending office wars, sometimes you have to blow off a little steam.  One of my favorite memories of my management days was when it was time for performance reviews and deciding who got the highest ratings, and my director brought into the staff meeting a bunch of multi-shot rubber-band guns.  What a great boss!  (Hi, Roger!) Dream Cheeky, the guys who make lots of insane stuff like that, have come up… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

(image courtesy Broken Mindset) I have a consistent problem with spilling drinks. No glass of water or bottle of beer is safe near me. It’s not my fault, of course; gravity just works more strongly on liquids when I’m nearby. Clearly. So when I saw this video today for NeverWet, I was not joking when I exclaimed “I want to coat my house in this!” It’s amazing…I have no idea how they manage to do it, but when and if this ever becomes a commercial product they will make millions. I could see this stuff coating clothing, rugs, tables, and athletic wear. Forget Gore-Ttex, imagine wearing boots coated in NeverWet! You’d never come… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

(image courtesy Spevack Law Firm) Uh oh…looks like Amazon’s Lending Library for Prime subscribers has a slight snag-they may not be legally allowed to offer them. The “big six” publishers wanted nothing to do with the program, which isn’t surprising, but Amazon has amassed almost 5,000 titles from smaller houses. Amazon is basically treating each “loan” of a book as  a sale of that book, and paying the publishers accordingly. Clearly Amazon believes this is within their contract rights, but the Author’s Guild is arguing it doesn’t count as a sale and should be a separate contract item. Specifically, here’s the meat of the Guild’s position from their blog: How can Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Earlier this summer, the final chapter was closed on the Borders bookstore chain. It led to all sorts of conjectures as to why, and what it means for the future of bookstores and readers. Some said it was ebooks, while others pointed out Borders had a long history of mismanagement and neglect. Businessweek has a good overview of the history of Borders, and some of the reasons why it died a sad death (spoiler alert: it wasn’t ebooks). What I found most interesting was this commentary from Borders’ last CEO, Mike Edwards: Edwards says that by the time he became CEO in 2010, Borders had already lost “the founders’ DNA, why the company was Continue reading on Gear Diary …

No, that’s not a screen shot of Madden NFL 12 for the Blackberry, and I’ll tell you why:  the screen shots from the Blackberry are just too durn small.  Here, take a look: But that shouldn’t stop you if you’re a football fanatic, or a gaming fanatic, or a Madden NFL fanatic.  This is Madden NFL!  You can have it on your Blackberry!  If I didn’t already have you in the title of this post, I’m never going to get you, so I’m just going to encourage those of you with the interest to read the detailed information below, and surf and buy… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Today’s Gear Deal brings us the Dell XPS 8300 Core i7 “Sandy Bridge” Desktop PC. It features an angled chassis with a sleek black/white design and a black bezel. It also has a tilt-back design with top-recessed tray, integrated 7.1 with THX TruStudio PC sound, a 460W power supply and Windows 7. The base configuration (yes, the BASE configuration) includes 8GB DDR3 memory, a 500GB Hard Drive, 802.11n WiFi, 1GB Radeon HD 6450, Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit OS and more. Our Gear Sponsor let us know that is it now available starting at $649.99. That includes free shipping and a two year warranty. Details, ordering and other configurations can be found here. Gear Deal: Dell Continue reading on Gear Diary …