Two interesting pieces of contrasting TouchPad news: one about failure and the other success. From AllThingsD, we get a snip from the recent HP earnings report specific to Palm, webOS and the impact of folding up that business on their results. Here is their quote from the earnings report: Non-GAAP earnings and operating profit information excludes after-tax costs of $3.3 billion, or $1.56 per diluted share, related to the wind down of HP’s webOS device business, impairment of goodwill and purchased intangible assets, amortization of purchased intangible assets, restructuring charges and acquisition-related charges. Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Cell phones are featured on one of my kids’ ‘wish lists’, which we know is true for a huge amount of kids (and adults) all over the nation. So if you venture out on Black Friday you can be sure that cell phone shops will just as busy as every other store selling trendy gadgets! One of the worst trends of this year is for stores to remain open on Thanksgiving Day. U.S. Cellular has a Thanksgiving Day sale planned that won’t require a store to be open or anyone to lose their holiday! Here are the details: On Thanksgiving day, U.S. Cellular is offering a one-day, web-only promotion for customers looking Continue reading on Gear Diary …

As someone pointed out in response to the Galaxy Nexus commercial – that was made by Google, which is why it was excellent. Now we get one for the Galaxy S II made by Samsung … and it is NOT. Back in the 80′s Apple produced two infamous commercials – 1984 and Lemmings. They are well known by name more than 25 years later for very different reasons: 1984 showed a single person striking out against tyranny to choose her own path and give others the opportunity to make their own choices as well. Lemmings was infamous for … well, calling PC users a bunch of mindless idiots. Which is pretty… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Image courtesy Zap2It Everything is turned up to 11 as we frantically approach Black Friday and the traditional start to the holiday shopping season. If you watch network television, you have likely seen and heard two amazingly annoying ads: Kohl’s ‘Rebecca Black Friday’ commercial and Target’s ads featuring the simpering presumed cokehead who hasn’t slept in days. Have you seen these? Well, here they are! Kohls: Target: Which Black Friday Commercial is More Annoying? Kohl’s ‘Rebecca Black Friday’ Target ‘Haven’t Slept in Days’ Lady View Results  Loading … Are there other annoying ads you want to share? Link them in the comments! Also, what are your plans for Black Friday?… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

This one is for all our friends across the Atlantic . . . I don’t know what the traditions are in your family, but in mine, Thanksgiving weekend is the “Call all those relatives that you usually don’t talk to” day.  Not just Granny and Grandpa, but Cousin Bill and Uncle Harold and all the other folks that you don’t see nearly often enough.  Which, of course, runs up the old phone bill something ‘oriole. Well, Localphone wants to help you out.  Here’s what they have to say: For four days (from 5am GMT Thurs 24th to 5am GMT Mon 28th) we’re giving away completely free calls to the US, no strings attached. Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Here’s just one small indicator of how much things have changed over the past few years. One of our cars died and is on its way to the junkyard. Prior to having it shipped off we cleared out the glove box. Buried deep inside with these relics of travels past. Me, “hmmm, New car has nav. I don’t think we need these any longer.” Elana, “Yeah, I guess you’re right. Let’s just put them in the recycling bin.” It is a new world and one in which, like phone books, maps are really a thing of the past… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Today seemingly everything we use – from computers to smartphones to dumb-phones to tablets to land-line phones to TVs to DVD players to car stereos to cars themselves to microwave ovens to conventional ovens to newer furnaces and on and on and on …are powered and controlled by a microprocessor. Last week marked the official launch of the first commercial processor, the Intel 4004. Intel has been making a little bit of a PR fuss about the 40th anniversary of the microprocessor. And they are entitled to. The Intel 4004 was the first customer-programmable chip. Of course if you look at it’s capabilities today they are laughably minimal, and even looking at the chip Continue reading on Gear Diary …

With the new Facebook Timeline it is possible to discover who has unfriended you, which might cause some distress in general. Add to that last week’s ‘National Unfriend Day’ on Jimmy Kimmel’s show and you add to the possibility of being unfriended. But on a holiday weekend there is even more cause for concern: I got a notice that my high school graduating class is having an informal mini-reunion, and my brother is going to his 30th high school reunion, meaning there are more opportunities than ever to come face to face with someone who has unfriended you. Fortunately William Shatner is here to help. Watch and enjoy!… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Earlier this week Apple sent all of their customers an email containing the image above promoting a Black Friday sale but not specifying anything. It is a classic Apple move intended to generate interest without actually revealing anything. Well, the folks over at 9-to-5 Mac have gotten their hands on the actual sale brochure for Apple’s Black Friday event! Check out the image below:… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

One of the very tastiest Thanksgiving dinners I ever had was when “the guys” got together and decided to throw ourselves a big holiday feed.  One of us was an actual restaurant cook, and he took charge of the turkey which, believe it or not, he cooked out on the grill.  I don’t know how he did it, and honestly I didn’t want to know at the time; all I knew is that it turned out great. Now, I’m not much of a grilling kind of guy, but let’s face it:  I’m very much in the minority.  So if you’re a member of the majority who does grill, you want to read on about this giveaway… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

This amazing collection has only been available for a week, but the great folks at GamersGate have already put it on a mid-week sale! Here are the details on the package: Dungeons & Dragons: Neverwinter Nights Complete, a PC gaming classic for the ages, brings together every game and expansion of the critically acclaimed franchise into one compilation. Dungeons & Dragons: Neverwinter Nights Complete features two Game of the Year winners, every expansion pack, never before collection release of Neverwinter Nights 2, and a limited edition gift, all for $29.99. · Neverwinter Nights + 3 Expansion Packs · Neverwinter Nights 2 + 3 Expansions Packs That listing was from Atari, listing… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

If there is something Google knows, it is how to do ‘free’ – never before has a company made so much by charging so little. So as they simultaneously try to crank up their niche Google + ‘social network’ and also their late entry also-ran music ‘service’, the immediate tool they pull from their bag is ‘free’. In this case what is free is a live EP of Coldplay. Here is the description: This EP was recorded in a Spanish bullring during an American Express Unstaged event that saw nearly 20 million live streams on YouTube, and it pretty much sounds like every single person who watched is singing along. The crowd starts Continue reading on Gear Diary …

And the deals just keep rolling! Today we get the launch of the latest Humble Bundle, which give you a great set of games from small developers, and in turn your payments benefit both the developers and charities! Here is the word from the Humble Bundle team: Be sure to pay what you want for Darwinia, Multiwinia, DEFCON, and Uplink — the complete catalog from the British indie studio, Introversion! If you beat the average price, you also receive Aquaria and Crayon Physics Deluxe! This DRM-free collection of games works on Mac, Windows, and Linux, and you can support two worthy charities with your purchase (Humble Bundles have now raised over $2.5M Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Some of you will recall our ‘Guess what I am and Win‘ contest series which offered a prize package consisting of: 2 one-year Pandora One premium subscriptions 4 movie tickets a month for a year from MovieTickets.com A $250 OpenTable dining card The clues were: My screen width is wider than an iPad I can help you plan your dinner-and-a-movie night out. and I can read your SMS texts for you…and even respond, if you like. The answer, as EdifyHimDaily soon guessed, was the 2013 Lexus GS. Some of you might have wondered… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

I love Amazon.com’s MP3 store for the great selection – and even more for the low prices. I have yet to find a single piece of music that costs more on Amazon than iTunes, so I have reverted to buying from Amazon and using iTunes Match to keep everything together. But of course, the one thing better than cheap is free – and Amazon has TONS of Free music available. As noted, there are 269 Free Albums and more than 3200 Free Songs on the Amazon MP3 store! Many of these albums are collections, but there is some great stuff! My personal choice is the Philip Glass Orange Mountain Music Sampler. Continue reading on Gear Diary …