Watch closely.  I am about to break one of the cardinal rules here at Gear Diary.  It has always been our practice to put a break immediately after the first picture.  But I am going to eschew that rule for a minute.  So I can show you exactly what One Terabyte looks like…

There it is.  One Terabyte!!  Now, some of you may be looking at that wondering what the big deal is.  So, let me tell you about my first computer.  I was a sophomore in college.  Yes, you read that right.  I went to college with a Smith Corona electric typewriter.  For you youngsters, well, I will leave you to research exactly what a typewriter is – or was.  And bonus points to anyone who can pinpoint the reason for the QWERTY keyboard that you find on every computer ever made.

Anyway, my first computer was a speed demon 386, running MS DOS.  I somehow managed to cram Windows 3.1 in there by tweaking the 4 (yes f-o-u-r-4) megabytes of RAM.  I can also tell you that Windows used a disproportionately large amount of space on the 20 Megabyte hard drive.

To those of us who used computers back then, a terabyte was almost a mythological place, like Mount Olympus or Atlantis.  And to be honest, I am still just a little amazed to have found it at all.  So, sit back, relax, and we’ll explore the mythical land of the terabyte, as interpreted by Hammer Storage and their Morespace external hard drive.

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Have you ever heard of David Farrow?  Probably not.  Who is he?  Well, let’s start with who he was:  a dyslexic young kid with Attention Deficit Disorder.  What does this have to do with the Sony Reader?  Well, it seems that Farrow has long since overcome these challenges and become a World-renowned speed reader, as well as a Guinness World Record holder for memory.  That is part 1.

Part 2 starts with the designation of October as the Sony Electronics “Reader Revolution.”  This brand new program is designed to, “combat a nationwide decline in reading, particularly among young people.”

In order to raise awareness and help celebrate the Sony Electronics Reader Revolution, Farrow is going to spend 30 days (720 hours) living in this storefront window, reading books on his Sony Reader (and boy am I jealous).  For every page he turns, Sony will give an eBook library of 100 classic titles to a U.S. school.

Read on for more details from the press release.

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Last week, I told you about the fantastic new B&W Music Club.  I love this club, which allows me to discover a new, talented musician each month.  In fact, I loved it  so much, that we arranged to give away three 6-month subscriptions to the club.  This way, three of you lucky winners can enjoy all of the musically downloading fun. 

Picking three winners was more than a little difficult.  With only four entries, it was more like picking the one who did not win rather than the three who won.  But, pick we did (using my usual double blind method of numbering the entries and having my wife call out numbers).  Apparently, she does not like the number 3, so with apologies to Michael Anderson, our winners are:

Uzziah0

Breley

Tamaracks

Watch your emails, guys.  And we will get you a special code for your own 6-month subscription to the club.  Happy Listening!!!

How would you like to be the first person on your block to hear some fresh and unknown musicians?  Want to show off your musical aptitude?  I just posted on the B&W Music Club, which features some incredibly diverse and amazingly talented musicians.  Want to check it out for yourself? 

We are giving away three subscriptions to the service (6 months each) absolutely free (more information is here.)  All you have to do is leave a comment on this post and tell us about your favorite song, band, or album.  That’s it. 

Winners will be selected at random on:

Sunday, September 28, at 9:00 PM (EST). 

Happy Listening and Good Luck!!

I am a real lover of good music.  I was a radio DJ in college, and through that, I developed an admiration for good music and talented musicians…regardless of the genre. 

When I heard that Bowers & Wilkins, the makers of some extremely nice iPod speakers (watch for my review of their speakers coming soon) had begun a new kind of music club, I knew I would have to check it out.  And boy am I glad I did.

The B&W Music Club is unlike any music club I have seen.  Many of you are probably thinking, as I did, of something like select 12 CD’s for a penny and buy 5 at the regular price over the course of the next year.  Well, you can forget about that notion entirely.  The B&W Music Club is no Columbia House.  In fact, if you are looking to complete that last CD in your Guns and Roses collection then you are in the wrong place here.  However, if you are looking to discover new and exciting musical talent…well, just hit the jump and we will take a look.

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Today, Navigon introduced their first GPS for the rest of us, with the entry level 2000S.  This easy to use GPS navigator offers many of the features for which Navigon has become known, including: Reality View Pro™, Lane Assistant Pro™, and advanced text-to-speech.  Additionally, weighing in at 3.5 inches, the 200S is among the thinnest GPS navigators on the market today.

Hit the jump for more details.

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When I bought my laptop a few years ago, I proudly brought it home, tore open the box, and set it up on my desk.  I was so excited to give it a try.  With a crack of my knuckles, I sat in the chair and reached for the keyboard, which sat flat on my desk.  I had to slouch a bit and sloop my shoulders inward in order to reach.  I then craned my neck to view the screen, which was below my eye level and slightly askew.  While this setup did result in many fantastic articles and reviews, it also resulted in significant eyestrain, back pain, and other ailments.  The keyboard does not rest at an elevated angle, which causes wrist strain.  The screen rests below eye level, causing neck and eye strain (not to mention blurred vision).  The keyboard is not necessarily an appropriate height or distance from your body, causing arm, shoulder, and elbow fatigue.   Generally, the whole setup causes you to contort your body into strange and twisted positions in order to access the keyboard, screen and mouse all simultaneously.  Frankly, I was starting to feel a little like Quasimodo.

The good news, however, is that there is a solution for these ailments.  A solution which raises the elevation and angle of your screen and keyboard to a more comfortable and ergonomic position.  Jetart has been providing such a solution in the form of their laptop stand for some time.  Their latest addition, however, the Jetart Coolstand 3 may just be their best one yet.  Let’s take a look and see how it fared.

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I just got an email from our good friend Doug Smith, who is the proud owner of his own brand new website, Tilt Mobility.  As you may have gathered, Doug (otherwise known as DSmithZ) is avid fan of the AT&T Tilt and HTC Tytn II devices, and has created a site dedicated to providing news and reviews specifically for Tilt users.

If you have not checked out the site, head on over.  It is already chock full of great tips, announcements, news, reviews, pretty much everything a new Tilt owner would need to know.

But that is not the best part.  In order to celebrate the grand opening, Doug and the crew at Tilt Mobility are giving away tons of free software and accessories between now and Friday the 12th.  Prizes include software from Ilium, MotionApps, and Astraware; as well as accessories from Boxwave and many more.  So, head over for the contest, but stick around for some fantastic writing.

Congrats, Doug.  And good luck to the whole gang at Tilt Mobility!

Digital cameras seem to be everywhere these days, and I am pretty sure you are all familiar with the basic premises of composing a photo on them.  Set subjects in place, aim camera, scream “everyone smile!” point, and shoot as everyone smiles or says cheese, or whatever other instruction you gave them.  Pretty simple.  Simple, that is, if you are not trying to take pictures of children.  My six year old and three year old are a mile a minute.  They rarely sit still, let alone, smile on command.  And even if one does listen, it is almost impossible for both to sit still, smile, and look at the camera at the same time.  This can become an exercise in frustration and futility.  Fortunately, the latest Cybershot camera from Sony provides a solution.  This camera will refuse to take a picture if your subject is not smiling, and then will snap one each time they smile at the camera.  Incredible!  Let’s take a closer look.

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With all the news lately about the price of oil, and our oil addiction, it is nice to be able to do a review that not only involves a very cool piece of technology, but is also environmentally conscious.  I actually got the idea for a review like this one a few months back when I was having trouble with my laptop battery.  Wouldn’t it be great, I thought, if I could just slap a solar cell on my laptop and continually charge my battery with the power of the sun.  Of course, it was not that easy, but the Brunton Solaris came pretty close.  And, in this new age of renewable resources and alternate forms of energy, this could be just what the doctor ordered to keep your energy hungry gadgets running day and night.

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