One of the things I enjoy most about being part of the Gear Diary team and whatsoniphone.com is the opportunity to get to know some the developers creating apps for the iPhone. Over-all I have found them to be a really interesting, nice and creative bunch. Best of all, as I have discovered more than once, many are committed to constantly improving their apps and are surprisingly receptive to end-user input. This is certainly the case with the game Cronk.

Continue Reading

Call me what you will- Apple-Fan-Boy, Mac-Convert, Lemming- regardless, I have happily been using Apple products pretty much exclusively for a little over a year now. It started with my Gen 1 iPhone in August of 2007 and it has been downhill (uphill??) ever since.

That “gateway drug” led me to a white 2.2 ghz MacBook.  That in turn led me to a 20 inch iMac. When the MacBook died shortly after getting it (yes Apple’s “it just works” is a distance memory) I used Apple’s willingness to replace it as an opportunity to upgrade to a black 2.4ghz MacBook. Thanks to my frequent visits to eBay to sell lightly used gear, there have been an assortment of Mac notebooks ever since. My current Apple arsenal includes an iPhone 3G, Touch (for reviewing apps for www.whatsoniphone.com) a 24 inch iMac and a new 13 inch unibody MacBook. It all works nicely and the sheer enjoyment I get from using devices built with an eye to both form and function is tremendous. The integration between devices is pretty nice, too. Yup, Apple had me at “Hello”.

So how is it that I a started this post last week from seat 24D on Continental flight 1638 to Aruba on… a 10 inch HP MiniNote 1000?

It all started a week ago when I realized that vacation would be a great time for me to catch up on some posting. (Happy hour margaritas, a nice view of the ocean and a bit of blogging… not a bad way to spend a week.)  Thing was, I haven’t had a chance to put an InvisibleShield on my shiny new MacBook and since I have no illusions that it will likely be part of my on-going serial-notebook ownership, keeping it in pristine condition was a must in order to get top dollar when it eventually makes it to eBay. Add to that the fact that I would have to schlepp it everywhere with me since the safe in our timeshare is not large enough to hold the 13 inch notebook and it didn’t make sense to bring it.

Apple may well come out with a netbook at MacWorld this year (Sir Steve is protesting a bit TOO much!) but that is still the stuff of rumor and wishful thinking. Add to that the fact that, as proficient as I am with typing on my iPhone, it is still not nearly in the same league comfort, speed and accuracy-wise as typing on a keyboard or using voice recognition and I was left with only one option… get a netbook. (Editorial note- as I posted over on whatsoniphone, I ended up using my Touch far more than planned.)

I had a brief flirtation with one of the original EEEPCs last year but found that while it was groundbreaking it was ultimately unusable. I hated the trackpad, it was painfully slow and, to be honest, I’m just not a Linux kind of geek. You get what you pay for but, for me, even if it were free, the eeePC wasn’t something I would ever use.

NetBooks have come a long way since then so I figured it was worth another try.

Continue Reading

So here I am on vacation in Aruba. The sun is warm, the waves are a bit rough and the WiFi is horrid. Seriously, the WiFi here brings me back to the good old days of dial-up, and they weren’t such good old days.

As a result of the anemic WiFi I have found myself using my iPod touch far more than the HP MiniNote 1000 I picked up prior to my trip. (it is, by the way, an awesome netbook!)

The touch seems to work far better for me when checking email, keeping up with my RSS feeds, and even writing. It isn’t that the WiFi is better on it, but that the optimized interfaces on the Touch just feel faster and work much better for me.

Add to all this the fact that I am having a good time playing some games while away, and the result is a Touch whose battery runs down super fast.

Enter the Mophie Juice Pack for iPhone 3G.

photos courtesy of the Mophie site

Continue Reading

The timing could not have been better. Our ancient multifunction printer had seen its last day, and we needed a good printer to replace it since I do much of my writing from my home study and my wife has recently started her own business.

I was in the midst of doing the research  as to which printer to buy when I was offered the opportunity to review the Epson Workforce 600. As luck would have it, the Workforce 600 was already on my shortlist.

I’m glad I said “Yes” to reviewing the WorkForce 600, as this is definitely a next generation printer. In fact, to call it a printer is rather inaccurate since the Workforce 600 is a Print/Copy/Scan/Photo/Fax office solution that will immediately become a key component of any small office.

Continue Reading

For the second time in 10 years our cabin in the Pennsylvania mountains was struck by lightning. And for the second time in 10 years walls had to be opened and the house rewired before it could be usable once again.  Not fun at all. (And that is WITH a lightning box installed!)

This time, unfortunately, it wasn’t just the wiring that suffered. The casualties were numerous.
The stove has cooked its last omelet.  The dishwasher has seen its last dirty dish.The washer and dryer have seen their last load of laundry.  In all, the damage was both extensive and expensive.

The one bit of good news in all of this is that I had the smarts to put a heavy duty power surge strip in the media cabinet and, as a result, the TV, stereo, and a WiFi router survived.

A few weeks ago Tributaries sent me two of their power strips to review. My mountain-top experience has made me truly appreciate these unsexy devices and I am impressed by the company’s ability to take such a boring item and come up with a significant innovation. So many of today’s electronics have such massive adapters that they often block a significant portion of the available plugs on any given power strip. What good is a ten outlet strip if only 6 of them are actually usable?

Continue Reading

A few weeks back I had the opportunity to use one of the new T-Mobile G1s. Since sending the review unit back, I have been struggling with how best to write about the experience. The highly anticipated, first Android-based device has been looked at and described from many perspectives. A tremendous amount of ink (or more accurately electrons) has been spent describing the unit, its features, and its many pros and cons. I won’t reiterate them here. Instead, I want to share a few random thoughts about the device.

By way of full disclosure, let me begin by noting that I am a “devout” iPhone user. I love the device, carry with me all the time, and I am continually amazed and astounded by all it can do. That either makes me the ideal person to look at a different device, or the absolute wrong person to do so.

When I had first looked at pictures of the device I described it as “ugly”. (Actually, there were a few additional words thrown in with “ugly”.)  I didn’t like its design, and I could not imagine how the offset keyboard would be comfortable in the least. I mean, how comfortable could it be to have to reach over the device’s base with your right hand in order to get to the keyboard? Add to that my own personal restrictions (I permanently destroyed my right wrist a number of years ago), and I couldn’t imagine not coming away from any amount of time using the device pain free.

Well, truth be told, when I actually held the device I was rather impressed.

Continue Reading

A while back the good folks over at Case-mate were kind enough to send me one of their Vroom cases for the iPhone 3G. To be honest, I wasn’t all that impressed upon opening. Its description explains why.

“Kick it into high gear with this new tire-tread pattern iPhone 3G case”

“Hooray,” I thought to myself “an iPhone case that looks like a car tire. What could be more exciting.” Fact is, I ask you find myself using it quite often now. Here’s why… Continue Reading

 

Continue Reading

I’ve got a thing for notebook bags and over the years I have collected quite a few. This was, however, my first experience with a Tom Bihn bag and boy am I impressed.

This is among the first of the new, TSA (Transportation Safety Administration) approved notebook bags that do not require removal of the device while winding your way through  the security checkpoint gauntlet.

The new TSA rules allow a notebook to remain in its case as long as there is an unobstructed view for the x-ray machine. That means there can be nothing blocking the notebook and that includes pockets, zippers or anything you may have packed next to the notebook. Numerous notebook manufacturers have been designing and releasing these TSA bags and each is taking their own unique approach to it. The Checkpoint Flyer was the first TSA approved case to be released and it is impressive.

Continue Reading

I had a chance to try out the Myvu Crystal media viewer this past summer and was blown away! While I never quite got over how “odd” I looked wearing them, the visual and auditory experience (they use Ultimate Ears earbuds!) was amazing. While wearing them it seriously feels as if the video is being projected onto a huge screen about six feet away.

Myvu Corporation just announced that the Crystals are now fully compatible with the Apple iPhone thanks to a new ‘Works with iPhone’ cable that is available from www.Myvu.com for $24.95.

The Myvu Crystal are available in black or amber and offer the highest resolution in the Myvu line (full VGA). They provide the truest DVD quality experience possible from the diminutive Apple devices and now, thanks to the new cable, are now compatible with all iPods capable of displaying video

The MyVue Crystals are available HERE and retail for base price of $299.95 MSRP.