Today’s Gear Deal brings us HP’s 17.3″ HP Pavilion dv7 Quad Edition (dv7tqe) Laptop. It comes equipped with a 2nd Generation Intel processor “Sandy Bridge”, Beats audio, USB 3.0, a fingerprint reader, HP Coolsense technology, a 2-year warranty and more. In addition, there are new customizable options like a 1080p (1920 x 1080) anti-glare screen, steel grey / dark umber system colors, 2GB GDDR5 Radeon HD 6770M Graphics and up to 16GB RAM. The base dv7 Quad Edition deal starts at $1,249.99 . With this deal you will $375 off plus a free upgrade to Blu-ray ($100 value), a free 8GB memory, a free 750GB Hard Drive, 15-month Norton Internet Security Subscription and more. With the… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

One of the coolest looking sets of games for iOS was SUPPOSED to launch last week from Elite Systems. Called ‘Elite Collection’ (HD version, too), this was a set of 25 games from the classic 8-bit era of gaming. Here is the full story from Elite director Steve Wilcox: Elite Systems, the long established UK based developer and electronic publisher of games for portable, mobile and other devices has announced a brief delay in the release of the ‘Elite Collection’ and ‘Elite Collection HD’ Apps – which had been scheduled for release during the weekend of 28th October, 2011. We spend countless hours tracking down the current owners of the Continue reading on Gear Diary …

It comes as no surprise to anyone who lives on this planet that the iPad is finding its way into pretty much every aspect of our lives and certainly into pretty much every room of the house. Among the places where it can come in particularly handy is the kitchen. Thanks to the iPad, the days of needing a special under-cabinet television if you want to watch a show while cooking are gone. Similarly, the days of needing a separate music player/boombox are over. In fact, unless you are my purest, like my wife Elana, you don’t even need  paper cookbooks and longer. Yes, the iPad can fulfill all of these functions and many more… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

If HTC and Beats Audio have their way, we aren’t going to be able to immediately dismiss the headphones that come with mobile phones as being anemic or lame for much longer. Today HTC announced the first and only phone in the U.S. with integrated Beats Audio™, the HTC Rezound. The HTC Rezound is a multimedia powerhouse with unparalleled audio and entertainment capabilities which allows customers to experience music and entertainment on-the-go like never before. Its style is unmistakably HTC, but the Rezound appears to have been jazzed up a bit by the addition of a red speaker grill and red capacitive buttons along the bottom of the screen. A flashy Beats Audio logo on the back will also… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Last week my 15-year old son ran a load of laundry. That would be a great thing … except that he failed to remove his cell phone from his jeans! Another phone on the heap of teenage abuse! So when I heard that US Cellular was releasing the rugged PCD Wrangler later this month, all I could think was … THERE is a phone made for my son! Here is the description: Rugged and tough, the PCD WranglerTM works and plays as hard as you do. The compact clamshell design has been tested to withstand rain, extreme temperatures, high humidity, dust or sand. The dual-band Wrangler comes fully loaded with a scratch-resistant 2.2″ Continue reading on Gear Diary …

The Child’s Play Charity has raised millions of dollars and collected loads of toys for kids in hospitals all over the world. What started as a small effort by gamers headed by the Penny-Arcade guys has grown to a massive charitable effort with huge reach! Here is a bit of their history: Since 2003, we’ve set up and organized Child’s Play, a game industry charity dedicated to improving the lives of children with toys and games in our network of over 70 hospitals worldwide. Over the years, you as a community have answered the call and come together to raise millions of dollars. Child’s Play works in two ways. With the help of Continue reading on Gear Diary …

The other day we received an email from Case-Mate telling us about an upcoming iPhone case – the Case-Mate Tank. The Tank, which is the company’s first foray into ruggedized cases, will be out in a week or so and they wanted to know if I was interested in seeing it before its release, which I was. I got some information, pictures and a video of it in action. The video showed an iPhone in the Tank case being “mistreated” and surviving intact; it was rather impressive. I then took a closer look at the information being provided, and I realized that the Case-Mate Tank looked eerily similar to a case we reviewed here… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

I’m old enough to remember the days when, unless you got a Mac (and even the early Macs!), you could get any color you liked, so long as it was beige plastic.  Nowadays we’re seeing more colors and materials, but believe me, for a while there it was lots and lots of beige plastic, and man was it dull. Brinell feels that they don’t want that dullness to extend to peripherals, either, so they’ve taken some time and expended some effort to makes stuff that looks–let’s face it–pretty!  Now, I don’t have a generic thumb drive myself:  I use a rather pricy one by Corsair called The Survivor, which has a case that looks like… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

We brought word of Twelve South‘s new PlugBug Mac/iPad accessory the other day. Within seconds of learning about the new product Judie and I had both ordered one. It is a great traveling companion if you have a Mac and an iPad or iPhone, so it seemed like a no-brainer. It is! Mine just came and, once again, I’m impressed with what Twelve South has done. Here’s a quick video look at the PlugBug. You can order yours for here on the company site for $34.99… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Over the last couple of years the XBOX360, already doing well in this console generation with second-place sales and the best library of games, has seen near total dominance of the console scene. The XBOX360′ Slim has been a huge success, and the rampant reports of systems failing, with some folks reporting being on their fourth or fifth console seemed to be a thing of the past. But apparently now – a new report shows that the XBOX360 failure rate is STILL twice that of the Wii or PS3: The number of people who need to send in their Xbox 360 system for repairs is more than double that of its competitors, despite Continue reading on Gear Diary …

We love TOM BIHN’s bags and are always happy to see them bring out a new design. Today that design is the Cadet, a bag that is a laptop briefcase designed for Apple laptops including the 15″ MacBook Pro, 11″ and 13″ MacBook Air and the iPad 2. The Cadet is designed to carry your laptop or iPad, a few files or magazines, power supplies, pens, notebooks, and other small accessories. The Cadet is also a checkpoint friendly laptop bag. The Cadet comes in two sizes with one designed for a 15″ or 13″ MacBook and the other sized for the 11″ MacBook Air or iPad. Both have a removable protective laptop sleeve (the company calls… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

PlayStation 3 owners can rejoice this holiday season with more PlayStation Move games, promising music game, PlayStation Home relaunch, and high profile action/role playing games.

Jawbone, known for their awesome Bluetooth headsets and iPhone accessories, is now shipping their new UP health bracelet accessory. The UP connects with a free iPhone app to track and monitor your movements while challenging you to do more, sleep longer and eat better. The UP combines a neat fashion accessory look with a free iPhone app to push you to live a healthier lifestyle. For example, each UP bracelet has a small vibrating timer that silently tells you to GET UP AND GET MOVING! It looks like the ultimate geek health aid! Here are a few brief snippets of the UP’s functionality. UP’s combination of wristband + Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Today’s Gear Deal brings us a 27″ Planar 1080p LCD Monitor at a great price. It features a thin black bezel, HDMI connectivity, a 1200:1 Contrast Ratio, has built-in stereo speakers and more. Normally it sells for $469.99 but our Gear Sponsor has pointed us toward a $250 coupon code that drops the price down to just $219.99. Better still, the monitor will even ship for free. Details and ordering can be found here on the deal page. Gear Deal: Planar 27″ 1080p 2ms LCD Monitor for $219.99 via LogicBUY Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Social media, social network; hey, it’s all the rage.  As a tech writer, I’m hearing a lot of big companies talk about how they need to figure out a good way to hook their documentation into this whole “social network” thing, leverage off the stuff that people are doing out there in the so-called Real World. Like, for example, this new sports fan social networking app.  I’ll let them tell you about it: The free app bringing sport and social together combines real-time scoring, free messaging and fan hangout rooms during every NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL, MLS and college football and basketball game, as well an assortment of games from sports leagues around the globe such Continue reading on Gear Diary …