There are plenty of folks who greatly dislike Apple’s “walled garden” approach to apps.  Aside from the fact that Apple takes a cut of the sale of every app right off the top, it also denies developers some of the flexibility that they like to operate with.  (I’m not totally on-board with that point of view, but I definitely understand it.) appMobi is definitely in that camp, and what they have done is design a mobile Web App Browser designed specifically to run apps written in HTML5.  Now, I personally find it ironical that the method through which some folks might be able to back-door Apple’s control over everything iOS app-related is a HTML5-based, something that… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Although it is only just being released this morning, I was able to pick up one of Jawbone’s new UP wrist bands yesterday. It truly is the height of “geek chic”, and whether or not it will be a passing fad waits to be seen. I wanted to share a few initial impressions of it but first let’s look at what it does and does not do. The UP is like a super-duper pedometer. It tracks your steps and can “challenge” you to do more. Or, if you set it at “X steps planned today”, it will tell you when you… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

In an obvious attempt to get everyone into the holiday shopping mood way early, Amazon is holding a 48 hour HDTV and video sale. One of the featured items is the Haier L32D1120 32-Inch 720p LCD HDTV, which usually retails for $349.99, but through November 7th it is on sale for $197.00. That’s a great price on its own, but Amazon upped the ante and added a $200 gift card for those who sign up for DISH Network. So if you have been putting off the move to satellite TV services, and if you don’t yet have a 32″ flat screen TV… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Back in the day, there used to be music on MTV: Those days are, alas, long gone, but no matter:  if you want to make your own music videos, “there’s an app for that.”  Yup; the new Video Star app lets you take music from your iPhone, utilize your iPhone’s camera, and go to town.  Here’s what the makers say: Video Star was just released by Frontier Designs and it uses your own music collection and the camera on your iPhone, iPod touch or iPad to create awesome music videos with a limitless assortment of special effects.  Get together with some friends or folks at the office and make a music video. Check Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Buying and selling stuff; it’s what we do in capitalistic societies, right?  And sometimes we buy stuff that we don’t want, or we have extra stuff that we’d just as soon sell, and then what do we do?  Craig’s List?  eBay? Well, EggCartel thinks that their new iOS app EggDrop will do the trick for you.  Here’s what they say: No more dealing with the hassle of Craigslist or eBay. Sellers simply take a smartphone picture of the item they want to sell and set a price. EggDrop does the rest. Interested buyers browse the site and contact the seller directly. No more dealing with the hassle of Craigslist or eBay. Sellers simply take Continue reading on Gear Diary …

RIM is . . . how shall we put this? . . . struggling of late.  In many ways, they remind me of Palm, and Palm’s product arc over the years:  huge, huge lead; inability to keep up with new innovations; massive scrambling to stay “relevant”.  Will they make it?  I don’t know; I’m not smart enough to say, but the signs sure don’t look good, especially when they keep committing unforced errors like their recent service outage. But they’re in there swinging away.  And as part of their efforts, they’re offering a bunch of apps for Doug’s Favorite Price–FREE!–until December 31 of this year.  In addition, they’re also offering a month of free technical… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

In the 50s, there were a lot of science fiction movies about giant, irradiated creatures that threatened the world, which folks from later eras said were a sublimation of our fears of nuclear war with the Soviet Union.  (I could go on and on about how You Kids Today Don’t Know Nuthin’ with regard to being constantly afraid of nuclear war, but why bother?  Glad it’s not hanging over our heads so much any more.)  Godzilla and Mothra and those giant ants and whatnot were just our fears of The Bomb.  Similarly, all the paranoid movies like “The Parallax View” and “The Manchurian Candidate” and even “Invasion of the Body Snatchers” were about our fears of being… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

I have always been a huge fan of minimalist iPhone and iPad cases. After all, why hide such sweet, beautiful pieces of metal and glass in large, bulky cases if you don’t have to? The operative word here is, of course, “cases”. While I have always liked minimalist cases, I’ve never been a huge fan of carrying my iPhone or iPad with nothing on it but a scratch protective skin. That changed earlier in the week when BodyGuardz was kind enough to send me their BodyGuardz Armor Carbon Fiber for the iPhone 4S and and the iPad 2. Both kits (the iPhone 4S is $19.95 and the iPad 2 is $29.95) consist… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Get ready for an onslaught of Xbox 360 video game releases including expanded Kinect camera/sensor games where players do not need a remote to play.

Welcome back to another weekend of insane game deals! I am sure I’m getting jaded – it seems with each week I am unimpressed by the list of hundreds of games at 50% off or more and have a hard time grabbing five favorites … but when I dig in I still realize how awesome the deals are! I am focusing my lists more on the deals of 75% off or more to keep things manageable … but still have some that are >50% off – but that is my lower limit! I am continuing my ‘top 5 weekend deals’ section where I grab my favorite 5 deals of the week and provide… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

While I may not personally a big fan of Windows Phones, that doesn’t mean that I don’t want them to succeed.  And part of succeeding (these days) means to have a big enough app base to make moving to the platform desirable. Living in Texas, one of my favorite apps on my iPhone is a translation program, that let’s me translate words and phrases between English and Spanish.  (And English and French–my daughter is taking French in high school.)  Nice to see, then, that there’s a new Windows Phone app, Utralingua, that gives you some English/Spanish translation capability.  You can get it at the Windows marketplace for an MSRP of $19.95. Show Press Release (1 More Words) Amid rapid growth in Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Dear B&N, I want you to succeed. Really, I do. I know it’s hard to believe, being the former Borders’ girl that I am. And sure, my personal library is pretty heavily Amazon-focused. But I like competition. And I like bookstores. And you bring both. But come on, you need to step up your game, and it seems like you’re falling behind at exactly the wrong time. Let’s look at your main competition, Amazon. They have the Kindle Fire tablet coming out, and the “special sauce” is their ecosystem. Point for point they offer more value to a new customer. Let’s see: Apps:Amazons AppStore is well stocked, and works on multiple Continue reading on Gear Diary …

This week we got news of rapper Chuck D suing Universal Music Group (UMG). As part of the court documents analyzed by Digital Music News, his lawyers revealed the payout process … and if you can figure out what all of the stuff in the image at the top MEANS – let me know! The bottom line is that on a $1 recording sold on iTunes (or Amazon MP3 for that matter), Apple gets 30%, the artist gets 8% and the label gets 62%. Looking deeper, the document is based on 1,000 unit sales – which would be $1,000 … we start with the total units, but then suddenly there… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

All during November the official Greatful Dead site ‘Dead.net’ will be holding a celebration, including giveaways, contests and more. As part of it they are giving away a free song ever day. Here is the description of the event: We’re on a mission to make a miracle every day. As a token of our appreciation for making 2011 an epic year, we’re giving away a high-quality 320Kbps MP3 download every day this month. That’s 30 days of unreleased Grateful Dead tracks from the vault, selected by tape archivist David Lemieux! Intrigued? We’re also going to put your knowledge to the test and give you the chance to win some sweet swag from the Continue reading on Gear Diary …

OK, folks, this is likely one of the last ‘real’ deals we’ll see on the HP TouchPad. We know that HP and BestBuy are colluding to sell you overpriced HP PCs and warranty plans to get a $149 32GB TouchPad, so it is SOMEWHAT refreshing that Tiger Direct is selling off THEIR inventory using a cheaper bundle. It pairs the $149 32GB TouchPad with some other accessories and charges $280 … a quick look on Amazon tells me the REST of the bundle could be had for < $100 combined – but THAT is the price of getting one of the dwindling supply of TouchPads. And of course it can Continue reading on Gear Diary …