Arctic Cooling has recently entered the noise isolating earphone market.  I reviewed the Arctic Sound E361 earphones which proved to be a great solution that I carry daily in my away game bag.  The E352 earphones match the E361 in build and quality and add a touch of style with an attractive wooden chassis.  The E352 do not include a microphone, so these will have to be used for audio only, no iPhone for me.

Click through the break to see how the Arctic Sound E352 earphones stack up. … [visit site to read more]

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ScanSnap S1300 Closed

A number of years ago I wanted to begin moving toward having a “paperless” life. I was tired of being swamped by piles of paper. It was getting out of control. The first step in my trying to unclutter my life (it is still “in process”) was to purchase a high-speed scanner. I did a good deal of research and eventually ended up with one of Fujitsu’s products, a ScanSnap scanner. It blew me away. It had the ability to handle up to 40-50 pages at a time. It did two-sided scans. It scanned fast, Created high quality scans and even compressed large documents down to usable sizes.  In addition the software that came with the scanner allowed me to scan and have the documents that were created converted to usable text using OCR — optical character recognition. It was amazing, fast and although the scanner was rather pricey at the time it was worth every penny.

When I made the move to using a Mac I ran into a problem. My wonderful scanner was only usable with Windows PCs. I put it on eBay and immediately bought the Mac version of the scanner, the ScanSnap S500M. I’ve been using it ever since.

It’s not a small unit and there have been numerous times when I wished I had the ability to easily bring it with me to my office for a day or two so that I could get some scanning done there. That never happened. As a result you can imagine how excited I was when Fujitsu offered to send me a review unit of their new ScanSnap S1300 color image scanner. While it isn’t a tiny scanner — not by a long shot — it is small enough to bring with me when I need it on the go. Better yet, it has the ability to the USB powered so that it is usable even when you’re away from a wall outlet.

Let’s take a look –

… [visit site to read more]

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Every now and then we come across something that brings us back to the origins of our love for a hobby. For me and computer games, my first real love was Castle Wolfenstein for the Apple ][ in 1981. I have related that story more than once now, since I have reviewed the iPhone version of Wolf 3D, the iPhone game Wolfenstein RPG, and last fall's franchise reboot Wolfenstein for PC, X360 and PS3. In between all of that, Activision released Return to Castle Wolfenstein in late 2001. In this episode of The Netbook Gamer I see how the game has aged and how it plays on the netbook ... [visit site to read more]

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I play a lot of hunt and find type games on my iPhone 3Gs.  Many of them look and run the same.  You use the pinch and zoom function of the iPhone OS to move around the screen searching for a items in a list.  While this can be incredibly fun it can be difficult to find the sometimes tiny items amongst the various screens.

StarHunt takes the point and click adventure genre to a whole different level with stunning 3-D graphics, quick rendering and over 1,000 detailed still frame images.

You task is to explore a house which contains 200 hidden stars.  Find all 200 and you’ve won the game.  But this task isn’t easy.  Some stars are found right in front of you while others are hidden behind locked doors, drawers and other obstacles.

The developer was kind enough to send me a code to download StarHunt and you can read my full review after the break.

… [visit site to read more]

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We are all feeling the financial pinch! Blue Plate Special is a weekly review of bargain apps for the iPhone and iPod Touch. Nothing over $.99.

The number of puzzle games in the App Store is staggering. I have played or reviewed a fair amount of them myself. Many of the games are very similar with their own different twist. Once in a while we run across a puzzle game that is unique. Finger Physics Free is one such game. Find out what it is after the break.

… [visit site to read more]

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Now that the Nook has been around for a little while, some really great cases have started coming out to protect it in style.  When I saw the new lines of cases coming out from JAVOedge, I was immediately intrigued and couldn’t wait to get my hands on them!  Judie’s recent review of the new Croc cases for Kindle 2 only made me more eager to review the Nook cases.

JAVOedge was kind enough to send me two cases from their Cherry Blossom Collection to review and keep for my Nook–the Flip Style Case in Twilight Purple, and the Book Style Case in Cocoa–as well as a surprise…a Flip Style Case in Cork! … [visit site to read more]

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When Larry posted about the Case-Mate Mohogany Wood Case, I was smitten — there’s no other way to put it. I loved the look of the rich red wood on the iPhone, and I was thrilled when he sent it to me after the review was complete. I used the heck out of that case, even though it added quite a bit of bulk to my iPhone, and even though it had a flaw which turned out to be fatal. It wasn’t evident from the beginning that the lack of a cutout might be a problem, but because the bottom had to be removed every time I needed to charge my iPhone, it quickly became one. As anyone with an iPhone 3GS knows, the phone must be charged daily, so this happened often. The vertical grain of the case’s wood — the same grain that made the case so striking — played into the problem. The bottom of the case had to be grasped when being removed, and over time I eventually snapped off the bottom right edge — right along the beautiful vertical wood grain. I tried repairing the case several times, but each time it would eventually break during a removal; I finally got frustrated and quit trying.

Because I was now convinced that I wanted another wooden iPhone case, albeit one with a bottom cable cutout, I began to research them. While Googling, I found several references to Miniot, a company from Amsterdam, and their iWood Classic iPhone and touch case series. I called myself ridiculous more than a few times, debated the iWood’s price, looked at other wooden iPhone case options I had also found online … and then finally caved in.

… [visit site to read more]

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I usually need several types of productivity and reminder applications. Tasks need either alarms or some sort of agenda view or I won’t remember them, but they need to have a date. Floating tasks tend to be forgotten and languish on my lists for days or weeks. To combat this, I’ve usually relied on the old “email it to myself” trick. I also leave myself voicemails and even use old fashioned sticky notes. It looks like I may have found a high tech solution to my issues; is it more effective than my various low-tech strategies? Read on to find out!

… [visit site to read more]

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I now come to the conclusion of my reviews of the Jedi Knight series (see my Netbook Gamer reviews of the original Star Wars Jedi Knight, the Mysteries of the Sith expansion, and the Jedi Knight II and Jedi Academy sequels) with the game that started it all – 1995’s Star Wars Dark Forces.

… [visit site to read more]

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If you’ve ever tried to grow a beard you know the first few weeks are the toughest part.  Why?  It itches!  New hairs growing in on your face can be bothersome not only to you but to your family members as well.  I’ve let my beard grow before, sometime just out of laziness on the weekend, other times just for fun, but my family members often complain that it’s scratchy.  Especially when my daughters ask for a good-night kiss and my wife often catches me scratching and pawing at my scruffy face.

I recently stumbled across Bluebeard Original, who makes products for the “bearded man.”  They company is located less than five miles from my home.  Not too long ago I started to let my beard grow in so I figured I’d give their stuff a try.

… [visit site to read more]

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The iTunes App Store is filled with GPS applications.  Destinator 9 from Intrinsyc is the latest addition to the category. Destinator has been running on a variety of other mobile devices and GPS units for a while now and it’s achieved a large following.

The iPhone version of the application brings a rich, featured filled GPS client complete with real time traffic updates, on-board maps, voice guided directions, extended POIs and more.

I recently downloaded the free trial of Destinator 9 from the App Store and took it out on the road for a drive.

Here are my thoughts.

… [visit site to read more]

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Update: This giveaway is now closed and timtim is the winner. Thank you for entering, and please keep an eye out for future Gear Diary giveaways!

I was sent a Toshiba 640GB Portable Hard Drive in “Rocket Red” to review, but since this one will also be given away, I was hesitant to use and abuse it like I might a memory device I would be keeping. Therefore, in return for this micro-review, you get a chance to win a pocket-size time capsule just waiting to be filled with your important documents and digital memories.

… [visit site to read more]

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Image courtesy of V-MODA

There’s some old saying the goes along the lines of “you’re only as good as the people around you.”  I feel the same way towards the relationship between my iPod or my iPhone and the headphones I use with each.  I may have the largest, most comprehensive music collection on the planet loaded on each of them but unless I’ve chosen a pair of headphones that allow me to listen to the music in decent quality what good is it?

I’ve carried a pair of V-MODA Vibe Duo headphones religiously for the past year or so.  They have a regular place in my left pant pocket not matter what I’m doing.  I find their feel and sound quality to be excellent and Dan agreed when I lent them to him during CES this year.

When Judie was contacted by V-MODA and subsequently reached out to the Gear Diary team to see if anyone was interested in reviewing their newest offering, the Remix, I jumped at the chance.

The Remix combines super quality audio performance along with the one thing that’s missing from my daily drivers (the Vibe Duo.)  A three-button remote, which allows users hands-free access to answer calls and control their music library.

So are the Remix headphones poised to oust the Vibe-Duos from my left pocket?

Read on to find out.

… [visit site to read more]

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We are all feeling the financial pinch!    Blue Plate Special is a weekly review of bargain apps for the iPhone and iPod Touch. Nothing over $.99.

My addiction to word games is still growing at a dangerous rate.  Forming words seems to have become one of my favorite past times!  I am not sure if my vocabulary has improved or if my ability to apply spelling rules has improved, but I am improving on a number of word puzzle games.  Several weeks ago I reviewed Word Warp Free for the Blue Plate Special.  I enjoyed the game and continued playing until I found Word Warp Xtreme which is the sequel to Word Warp Free.  Find out what new features are included after the break. … [visit site to read more]

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I have to be honest and admit that I’ve never really been one to play around with custom ringtones for individual contacts.   I just look at the screen to see who is calling and decide at that point whether or not to answer.  So when Electric Pocket recently asked Gear Diary if we would like to take a look at Ringo Pro for Android, I’ll have to admit that I was a little slow to raise my hand.  Now that I’ve had a little time to play around with it, I’m finding it a little fun.

… [visit site to read more]

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Like everyone else, I get a lot of spam.  (My recent favorite was for penile extension “trial offer!”.  I didn’t want to know what happened once the “trial” period had concluded . . .)  The other day, something from Amazon actually caught my eye:

I tend to be highly suspicious when a big company uses my personal data and presents me with an offer to supposedly help me.  I mean, companies aren’t in the business of helping their customers unless it makes them money.  And I also don’t like to install extra plug-ins.  So yeah, I was reluctant.

But heck, I review stuff for Gear Diary, so I plunged in anyway.  And here’s what I found.

… [visit site to read more]

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My man cave/guitar room/sports memorabilia room/computer room is not the largest room in the house.  Last summer we decided to replace a large computer desk with a small one on wheels.  My only problem with new table was finding a place for everything.  I liked the smaller footprint, but needed a way to organize my desk while making it still look good.  One morning on my summer break I headed out the shop and built a small shelf out of some scrap wood.  I painted it black and slapped a couple of Apple stickers on it and had me a custom monitor stand.  This worked ok for a few months, but it was just some wood slapped together and painted black.

As fate would have it, USB Fever provided me with the Super Notebook Stand-Monitor Combi to review.  The stand is a non-homemade version of the product I was wanting in the summer.  The stand not only lifts my monitor up to create space, it holds many desktop items and solves the problem I had from downsizing my desk.  See what all the Monitor Combi offers and how well it worked for me after the break.

… [visit site to read more]

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Newsy takes a different approach to delivering the latest news content over the net. Their unique method of  compiling the same news story from many different sources gives you all angles and aspects of each story through various news agencies. The site has an easy to use interface and it is simple to search out the story you are looking for. Overall the site is quite impressive, the news delivery is great and the site is free to subscribe to. Lets take a look at the mobile app offered through the Android Marketplace.

… [visit site to read more]

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Be.ez (be easy), a French brand that designs stylish accessories for the mobile lifestyle, announced a new addition to their popular line of protection sleeves for netbooks – LA robe Netbook 11.6. This netbook sleeve is nicely made with a very thick shock absorbing material, and it’s available in 2 different colors — Black & White and Red Kiss.

So, how good is this sleeve in doing its job, protecting your precious netbook? Read on to find out!

Features:-

• Low Resilience Polyurethane (LRPu) Technology
• Robe protection Thickness 5MM
• Trendy, Unique Design
• Inner Lip for maximum protection
• Stand alone or in your bag
• No more scratches for your Netbook

… [visit site to read more]

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I am doing more than ever before by way of shooting video these days. No, I’m not like Larry with his 3000 You Tube subscribers, but I am taking some video pretty much every day. In part, this is the result of the iPhone having a “decent enough” video recorder. More than that though, I have come to appreciate that there is nothing like video when it comes to sharing an experience or review with the world.

The iPhone is great. It allows you to shoot and then edit video on the fly. At CES it was often less than a minute between shooting something and it appearing on the site. Still, all that flexibility still doesn’t make up or the fact that the QUALITY of the video is only decent. I also have a Flip Mino video camera. It’s a standard definition version, so it’s not nearly as good or crisp as the new high definition ones, but it does the job. It has the advantage of including onboard storage that pops up as soon as you plug the camera into a computer’s USB port. Between the iPhone and the Flip, I have two okay ways to shoot video. Okay, but not ideal.

What I’ve really need is a pocketable high-definition camera. The problem with that? Price. Most high-definition cameras are relatively expensive, and I’m not inclined to pick one up when I’ve got “good enough” already. That was the reason I was so interested in seeing a new high-definition video from Aluratek while we were in Las Vegas for CES. The camera is small, pocketable, shoots video in high definition, and, better still, it can be found on Amazon for under $120. That’s right, you read it correctly the camera can be purchased from Amazon right now for under $120.

But for your $120 do you get your money’s worth? Let’s take a look.

… [visit site to read more]

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