This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Contest Factory. All opinions are 100% mine. Is your office old and worn? Are you embarrassed to have potential clients meet there? Are you afraid that, were your mother to come visit, she would say “Clean your office” with the same inflection she used for “Go clean your room!” when you were just seven years old? Is your car a better work-space than your work-space? If you answered “Yes!” to any of these questions, then you need an “Office Slobs Anonymous” intervention. Before that however, why not make some money? Yes, thanks to the Pimp My Cube Contest you can benefit from being the office slob. Pimp My… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Having grown up in an area where my friends were equally likely to be Jewish or Christian, I had always simply accepted that everyone had their own religious holidays, traditions and celebrations. At my previous job in Massachusetts, I had a good friend who celebrated BOTH Christmas and Chanukah … which was due to her family accepting the dual pull of religion and materialism! Despite being a Christian myself, I firmly believe that pretending that the predominant thought at this time of year amongst Christians is religion, is just pretending. That doesn’t diminish the holiday we celebrate, it just reflects reality. It has only been in recent years that I have discovered… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Way back in January Microsoft released OneNote for the iPhone, taking aim at EverNote and others. Now they have upped the ante, releasing an iPad version of the versatile note-taking app. As before, it is free – but limited to 500 notes, requiring an in-app purchase to unlock. Microsoft OneNote for iPad is a note-taking app for capturing all of your ideas and to-dos on the go, brought to you by Microsoft Office. Create searchable notes with text, pictures and bullets. Make and manage to-do lists with checkboxes. Then keep your notes in sync using free Microsoft SkyDrive® online storage to access, edit and manage them from virtually anywhere, from your PC Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Okay, so there’s Facebook, right?  And there’s internet chat, and internet video chat, and web chat (and don’t get me started on ChatRoulette).  And there’s games–computer games, and internet games, and interactive games, MMPORPGs, and I don’t know what all.  All this different stuff. Well, Rounds for Facebook has kinda smooshed them all together and gives you a Facebook video chat gaming kinda thing to do with your remote pals.  I’m not a big Facebook guy myself–I simply don’t trust their security (or should I say, “security”)–but let’s face it:  I’m in the minority. Here’s what the makers say about it: With no other like it out there, Rounds for Facebook combines video chatting with Continue reading on Gear Diary …

You know, it’s stuff like this that makes me feel old. I was in college–college!–when the Mac was released.  As a nerd, I’ve kept up with the multiple waves of new tech.  Heck, I post articles for a tech web site, and work on cloud computing for my “day job”!–but something deep inside will always consider the first real personal computer “modern”.  I’ll be 70 and still feel that way, I bet.  So to put it on a cover for an iPad 2 and call it “retro”, well . . . old.  Old.  OLD! But you don’t have to feel that way; you can just buy it and appreciate the irony.  Because you’re young, and… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Because a day without a great set of indie games is like … well, unlikely to happen! Anyway, hot on the heels of the other indie bundles, the one that started it all is back again! Here is the description: Seven epic games. We’re ready to drop seven new cross-platform, DRM-free games down your digital chimney. Bandage your fingertips and prepare your mind for the challenges of Super Meat Boy, Shank, Jamestown, Bit.Trip Runner, and NightSky. If you pay more than the average price, you’ll also get two massive, well-loved indie favorites: Cave Story+ and Gratuitous Space Battles. Pay what you want. If you bought these games separately, it would cost Continue reading on Gear Diary …

The guys at Indie Royale just keep the bundles rolling! We barely get past the ‘Really Big Bundle’, and now the ‘Christmas Bundle’ has arrived! Here is the description: The six-game Bundle is led off by Wadjet Eye’s The Blackwell Trilogy Remastered, which includes the first three games in the award winning supernatural 2D point-and-click adventure series starring young New York writer Rosangela Blackwell. This specially updated version of the trilogy makes a world premiere in forms including Steam and Desura PC keys, plus a downloadable DRM-free Windows version. The remastered Trilogy includes updated voice acting and a ‘five years later’ audio commentary track for The Blackwell Legacy, as well Continue reading on Gear Diary …

(image courtesy Greeensheets) We [as a society] tend to rush to prescriptions for every issue. High blood pressure? Medicine. Sinus headache? Medicine. Achey joints? Medicine. Need more vitamins? Medicine. You get the idea. But there’s another way to stay healthy (and get healthy), and it doesn’t even require a co-pay! For starters, it requires 9 minutes to watch the video below…trust me, it’s worth it! Via Runners World Daily Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Wow … this is really cool – and just at the right time of year! If you or your kids own a Nintendo 3DS, you can now connect to the internet for free at hundreds of spots across the country thanks to Nintendo and Boingo! You can read the full press release here, but here is a snip: “With the holiday season approaching, more leisure travelers and families with children will fill our airports and have access to our hotspots,” Colby Goff, senior vice president of strategy and business development for Boingo Wireless. “Our state-of-the-art networks will provide Nintendo 3DS users with seamless connectivity and fast, reliable service to Continue reading on Gear Diary …

We love Sena’s leather cases for the iPhone, iPad and other assorted gadgets. Their products are always well-made, designed with gear-lovers in mind and look great. And right now Sena is offering savings of 25%. That is a huge savings on some great cases but hurry… this holiday savings spree won’t last long. Grab the savings here Continue reading on Gear Diary …

When the iTunes App Store first opened I owned and ran one of, if not the, first iPhone app review sites. It was a fun gig although, I must admit, being here on Gear Diary with Judie and the rest of the crew far surpasses that experience. In December of 2008 I reviewed a number of apps that would be good for Hanukkah. This year I did a similar roundup for a local newspaper. (I’ll be sharing it as soon as the article is published later this week.) One of the apps I reviewed in 2008 was iMenorah, which is a virtual menorah that is actually quite handy. The developers just released an iPad version of… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

This post had a different working title of “‘Evernote Food’ Not So Tasty but We Can Spice it Up” but I settled on the more descriptive “Evernote, There is a Better Way to Add Functionality than Releasing crApps”. Regardless, here’s what led to the post and what I want to suggest to remedy the company’s current trend of releasing all-but-useless-apps.… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

We have written about Mindjet before, once when they introduced their iOS products, and more recently when they gave them a major update and made them free! Now we have the next step in the mobilization of the platform – Mindjet for Android. From the Mindjet Blog: With Mindjet for Android you can access your work anywhere to review your plans, update your research and expand on your ideas. Like our iOS mobile apps, no data is ever lost as you move your map from platform to platform. At Mindjet, we’re creating a truly collaborative work management ecosystem across all platforms and devices – from PC and Mac through the Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Today’s Gear Deal brings us the updated HP ENVY 17 Laptop. The refreshed notebook is 1.28″ thin and weighs 7.37 lbs. It features a 1080p screen, wireless audio, a silver and black aluminum design, a radiance backlit keyboard and more. It also offers Beats volume control, DisplayPort connectivity along with HDMI, a 2-in-1 card reader, USB 3.0 ports, Bluetooth, 802.11n WiFi and a 2-year warranty. If you need a more powerful laptop optional upgrades include up to 16GB RAM, a faster Core i7 CPU and Blu-ray. The laptop has a starting price of $1,599.99 but our Gear Sponsor has found it for $1,099.99 with FREE shipping. Details and ordering can be found here Continue reading on Gear Diary …

During my week away I noticed that eReaders seem to have hit critical mass. Yes, this year, more than any other, saw Kindle’s, nook’s and iPads in use on the beach and at the pool. (Interestingly, I did not see a single Kindle fire!) I have seen an uptick in the use of devices over the past few years but this year seemed to show a huge jump in their presence. In fact, a cursory look this past Saturday saw MORE electronic devices than dead-tree reading material at the pool. But that was only a small part of the tech I witnessed while traveling. Here are a few more tidbits.… Continue reading on Gear Diary …