I’ve been writing for a long time, and one of the things that I learned early on, is that there’s a lot to like about most everything you get to review.  Your TRUE opinion usually hits after the honeymoon period is over.  THAT can last a couple of months, depending on the device/gadget/thingy you’re reviewing. Getting past the WOW factor is important, and most product reviewers just can’t do it in a couple of days to a week.

When I saw the Soda Stream Penguin Starter Kit, the wow factor for me was pretty high – a nine or a ten (on a 10 point scale), and I knew that any kind of review would take a while.  The device is, after all, pretty cool (more below); but let’s can the chit-chat and get down to brass tacks.  The Soda Stream Penguin Starter Kid – Yeah or Nay..?  Read on for a combo video/picture and text review.

The Soda Stream Penguin Soda Maker Starter Kit

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Wow!  What an awesome time!!  Its time to announce the winner to the ioSafe Slogan Contest, and I am happy to announce that we do have a winner to one of the most successful contests ever run here on Gear Diary!

After a great deal of consideration to over the 100 responses (some with MULTIPLE entries), I am pleased to announce the winning slogan to the ioSafe 500GB External Hard Drive Slogan Contest:

Its not safe unless its ioSafe

The writer of the slogan, uzziah0, has been contacted earlier tonight, AND he quickly responded to our e-mail with his shipping address.

Honorable mention was awarded to the following two slogans:

Hardware for a Hard World
The Harderdrive

Uzziah0, your shipping info has been passed to ioSafe, and you should receive your prize shortly.

If you’re interested in other chances to win safe storage solutions from ioSafe, you should check out their Facebook Fan page; and stay tuned to Gear Diary for other, cool contests coming up in the next couple of weeks!  We have some awesome give-aways planned for this fall!!

Over the past few days, I’ve been reading a lot on the rumors related to a Sprint/T-Mobile merger.  Honestly, I was really surprised when I initially heard this. From a business point of view, it makes tons of sense; but from a technology point of view, it really has me scratching my head.  Let’s stop and take a look at this for a moment…

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Scott Jordan is having a HUGE 2009 Clearance Sale!

So stop what you’re doing right now, and go check this out – SEV’s latest and greatest stuff is on sale up to 40% off.  40%!  You can’t beat that with a stick.

Directly from Scott -

Enjoy HUGE savings on our remaining stock of Explorer Jackets (only Smalls remain) and the older version of our Men’s Travel Vests and Women’s Travel Vests. All three of the items are on Closeout for only $40 each!!! (The Explorer was originally $200 and the Travel Vests $100). Because of the huge savings, All Sale Are Final—No Returns or Exchanges. The Travel Vests are the older version, with 2-way main zippers and no clear touch pockets. Click here to see a video about the differences between them and our current Travel Vests.

Details on all of the goodies, and the special coupon code, can be found after the break.

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If you haven’t written a slogan for our ioSafe USB Hard Drive contest, then you need to stop, check out Larry’s truly awesome video review, and then head over to the contest page and write a slogan for ioSafe.  The contest ends shortly after midnight tonight, Central Time. (Entries logged after midnight Central Time will not be considered.)

Again, the winner will receive a 500GB ioSafe with 3 year warranty and 1 year of data recovery.

The winner be announced here on Gear Diary on Friday, 25-Sep-09 : we’ll post when the email has been sent out, and the winner will have 24 hours to respond and claim their prize.  If the winner doesn’t respond in that time frame, a new winner will be chosen.

Again, decisions of the judges are final. Enter as often as you like (but HURRY)! If there are taxes, VAT/duty, etc., they will be the responsibility of the winner.

Backing up your data is important. Those of us with data loss problems will tell you, having a backup, and even a backup of your backup, can sometimes be the difference between having your wedding pictures and sleeping on the couch. When you’re on the wrong side of this situation, life can be very difficult.

Gear Diary recently ran an AWESOME streaming video review on a nearly indestructible backup device from ioSafe. We were so impressed with the drive, that when they offered to sponsor a contest on Gear Diary we couldn’t wait to take them up on it.

Now, you can win your very own ioSafe!

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My good friend and blogging buddy Mike Temporale has got a really good review of the AT&T Samsung Jack over at Mobile Jaw that you really need to take a look at.  The Samsung Jack was originally thought to be called the Blackjack 3, before it was officially announced and released on AT&T, here in the States.

Says Brother Temporale in his review:

It may not be called BlackJack, but the new Samsung Jack is the third release in the popular BlackJack series of smartphones. The original BlackJack and BlackJack II devices both reached the million plus sales mark.  Can Samsung repeat that success with this new phone? If first impressions are any indication, then the new Jack should easily live up to the reputation of the BlackJack’s before it and reach that million seller mark.

The Jack seems like a decent device; and the improvements in its keyboard and processor may make this something that you’ll want to consider if you’re looking for a new phone.

It seems that Apple has been busy lately with the software updates.  They’ve released yet another update to another OS component before they release their newest OS, Snow Leopard.

I got notification from Software Update that Remote Desktop Client Update 3.3.1 was released. The package contains two update packages:

This article describes Apple Remote Desktop version 3.3, which includes two update packages:

• * Apple Remote Desktop Client 3.3.1 updates the software that facilitates Remote Management (enabled in Sharing preferences, in System Preferences).
  * Apple Remote Desktop Admin 3.3 updates the Remote Desktop application, which can be used to remotely administer Apple Remote Desktop clients.

You can see the specifics of everything that these update packages contain here. The update is recommended for all Remote Desktop users.

My good buddies over at Just Another Mobile Monday have gotten an awesome opportunities to interview Jason Surguine from PDAMill. This multipart series is a must read for all PDA/gadget gamers! The interview is very insightful, and gives you the unique opportunity to look into the mind of a game designer.  Stop what you’re doing and check it out!!

Interview With Mobile Designer Jason Surguine. Part 1 | Just Another Mobile Monday

All the Internet’s a Blog…or something like that. I think I just made William Shakespeare groan.  I truly think I heard it.

Wayne turned me on to a cool new blogging service that I wanted to clue everyone else in on.  Posterous allows everyone to blog; and you don’t have to be a geek to do it. It not only posts your information, but it also auto-posts your blogs to a number of different social networks including Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, Tumblr and WordPress (among others).

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I am a Software Update junkie. I constantly boot my machines and always either check Windows Update, Software Update or Update Manager (Linux).  I don’t know why, but I’m really obsessive when it comes to insuring that I’ve got the latest system software.

Today, Apple released yet another update, iPhoto 8.1. While not mission critical, the update adds 3 distinctive features to Apples digital photo editing package.  This update is recommended for all users of iPhoto ‘09:

What’s New in this Version
This update adds several new print product options to iPhoto “09:
- Hardcover books can now be ordered in a new extra-large (10″ x13″) size
- Includes three new book themes with travel-oriented designs: Tropical, Asian, Old World
- A variety of new holiday greeting cards themes are now available

You can get the the update via Software Update, or directly, here.

I saw, but can’t remember where, that Apple’s Snow Leopard, OSX 10.6 might be shipping as early as 28-Aug-09. While most people might think that’s nothing more than rumor, and it truly might be, I have reason to believe that if its not on 28-Aug-09, then its going to be shortly after that.

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Two words – THANK GOODNESS!

I have been saying for years how horrible Entourage is.  Its awkward, clunky, bloated, and so NOT compatible with Outlook for Windows. However, that layer of pain for those of us needing/wanting some kind of (more) Outlook-for-Windows-like app for Mac will soon be at an end…hopefully.

I just saw on Apple Insider that Microsoft Office 2010 for Mac, scheduled to be available by the 2010 Holidays will include a newly built from the ground up version of Outlook.

Eric Wilfrid, general manager of MacBU, Microsoft’s Mac Business Unit, announced the new application during a conference call Thursday morning. Outlook will rely on a new database, sync with Microsoft Exchange, and be compatible with Outlook for Windows.

“Outlook will be a Cocoa application,” Wilfrid said, citing the development layer of Mac OS X. “We’re building on the most modern OS X framework to make Outlook beautiful, to make it high performance, and to make it well integrated with the operating system.”

The article goes on to mention something about an upgrade to Entourage in a new sku called Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac Business Edition, currently scheduled to launch in mid September. While that may be of interest to some, it was completely lost on me.  Synching Entourage with my Exchange Server as well as Outlook 2003/2007/2010 has completely screwed up my calendar.  Everything was fine on the Windows side between the three versions of Outlook.  Once Entourage was brought into the mix, I got all kinds of duplicate events (but not all events were duplicated, which has really confused me…)

Again, Office 2010 for Mac, including the new Outlook 2010 for Mac is scheduled for release before the end of 2010, in time for the Holidays.

I’ve had a Mac laptop since 2006.  I love my notebook and carry it just about everywhere I go.  That’s part of my problem.

The contents of my Gear Bag

My Gear Bag holds just about everything that I might need in my portable office.  I have my 13” Unibody MacBook, my MSI Wind, a copy of Windows Vista Ultimate Windows Vista Business, Office 2007 Ultimate, various other CD’s, miscellaneous paperwork, a 320GB USB hard drive and charging bricks and cables for all of the above. The bag weighs near 40 pounds. This weight is the major reason why, when I considered a new computer purchase, I decided on the 13” unibody MacBook. The 13” MB is a full pound lighter than its 15″ counterpart. That is a big difference in day-to-day use.

I got mine and love it. But I’m not the only MacBook owner in the family. Nope. there are currently three of us. And each of our notebooks are just the slightest bit different. I spent some time with all three and it gave me a rather unique perspective on Apple’s current notebook offerings.  Continue Reading

ITWorld has an interesting article comparing Windows 7 to OSX that’s worth a read.  While it is definitely a one sided comparison (the way its written at least), it compares 10 different UI points.  I can’t say that I disagree with the conclusions or the UI points chosen for comparison. The items compared include:

• Startup
• File Window
• The Taskbar
• Gadgets
• Control Panels
• etc.

If you haven’t tried Windows 7 yet, and are curious about how it compares to OSX, then this will give you a decent idea of how things line up.