A while agoI reviewed the iPhone and iPad versions of Virtual City, noting that my only real complaint was the lack of a sandbox mode – and the high initial price of the iPad version (which has been lowered). The game already took advantage of the high resolution Retina display which made it shine on the iPad, so my assumption was that there would be a minimal difference in the move to the Kindle Fire. Turns out I was right … and wrong. Read on to find out what I mean.

The Hype:
Build a city of your dream – a residential paradise or an industrial center. Build dwelling… Continue reading on Gear Diary ...

Mix together a crime-drama mystery, puzzles, hidden objects, and tons of twists and turns and intrigue … and you have the makings of one of the most compelling casual games made this year. The name of that game is “Special Enquiry Detail: The Hand that Feeds” from G5 Entertainment, and I reviewed the iPad release earlier this year. Now it is available for Android! Let’s take a look and see how the port stands up to the original release!… Continue reading on Gear Diary ...

I loved the PC version of SuperMarket Mania 2, and now that it is available for iPhone and iPad I wanted to take another look and see how it would work as a port! Read on and find out how they did!

The Hype:
Nikki and her friends are back in Supermarket Mania 2! Help her uncle Ross manage and run his chain of grocery stores on the other side of the country. Keep the supermarket shelves stocked up, floors clean and customers coming as you work on improving the stores and increasing profits. It’s not all peachy though, as the evil Assistant Torg and his robotic… Continue reading on Gear Diary ...

I had bought and enjoyed Mystery of the Crystal Portal for my iPad and also loved the PSP version in spite of some issues with having to pan around the scene, so I was excited to try out the Kindle Fire version. It had been a while since I played, so it felt fresh as I had forgotten most of the game. Let’s take a loot at hwo the experience translates to the Kindle Fire!… Continue reading on Gear Diary ...

In my review of the ebook version of Fahrenheit 451 I was sharply critical of the massive amount of typos and mistakes in the text. It was suggested that I take my complaint to Amazon, which I did … but honestly never expected anything. It wasn’t the first time I had complained, but I had never heard anything back in the past.

But last night I got a happy surprise – an email from Amazon’s Kindle Store that an update had been made to Fahrenheit 451, and I could download it from my account. So I headed to the link, and wound up wading through the sea of too many unread books… Continue reading on Gear Diary ...

(image courtesy nikdaum)

eBooknewser reported today that Amazon quietly shut down Mobipocket, an ebook store that those of us with PDA roots probably remember fondly. Amazon purchased Mobipocket and still uses their format as the basis for Kindle books. After reading the post, I headed over to Mobipocket and found what appears to be the internet equivalent of a broken, abandoned storefront. There’s no announcement that Mobipocket is gone, but the files appear to have all disappeared. Bestsellers, fiction, non-fiction, everything is just gone, with the exception of a handful of classics that appear on the main page.

Meanwhile, things aren’t exactly hopping over at eReader/Fictionwise. They haven’t carried a new bestseller or mainstream… Continue reading on Gear Diary ...

There’s an interesting (and honestly, inevitable) trend in the book world lately: no one’s talking hardware anymore. Yes, there’s new devices, and sales are touted when they’re impressive. But the big announcements that come up again and again are “ebook sales are increasing by these triple digits/these authors are making this much money through ebooks/we have this many free ebooks, etc”. Plus, all those lovely ebooks are available on tablets, computers, smartphones and dedicated ebook readers…so does it pay for a company to offer the hardware without the ebooks anymore?

In my view, the answer is no, and I think 2012 is the year we see many of the unaffiliated hardware drop by the wayside. Sony, Ectaco… Continue reading on Gear Diary ...

The Kindle Lending Library and Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) program debuted this past fall, and so far they’re off to a great start whether you’re a consumer or an author. As a refresher, the Lending Library is available to anyone with a Kindle and an Amazon Prime account, and you can download one book per month free of charge through the service. The KDP program offers perks to authors willing to sign up exclusively with Amazon, including a share of a $500,000 pool per book borrowed through the program. Needless to say, the exclusivity clause has been a subject of debate among ebook fans, since it tightens Amazon’s hold on the digital book market immensely, and… Continue reading on Gear Diary ...

Ordinarily I am skeptical of “solar powered chargers”, as they seem more gimmick than useful gear, but a solar powered Kindle charger is a stroke of genius! Kindles don’t require charging more often than once a month or so, meaning finding sunlight to charge isn’t an inconvenience. Plus a Kindle is one of the few devices that might get used regularly on the beach, or camping, or other places where outlets aren’t available, but sunlight is free and plentiful!

The specifications on the SolarKindle cover sound very impressive! From the press release:

Makes Unplugged E-Reading Come True

The first practical solar gadget that makes unplugged e-reading come true, SolarKindle is designed with the utmost

Okay, so you just got a new Kindle Fire, and you’ve started happily buying up books, movies, TV shows, magazines, and I don’t know what-all.  Excellent!  Now the problem is:  how do you keep that data secure, eh?

Well, the Keeper password and data security app is now available for the Kindle Fire.  Keep them passwords and data safe and secure for a nominal annual fee, and stop worrying.  Available on the Amazon Market for an MSRP of $9.99 a year.  (Which honestly strikes me as a pretty good price.)

Full information below.

Downloaded by millions of users worldwide and published in 10 languages, Keeper® is the world’s most trusted mobile security software.

Now

If you didn’t get an ebook reader this Christmas and you really want a bigger screen, Woot! has you covered. They apparently still have some Kindle DX models left over from their pre-Christmas blowout, so if you missed it last time now’s your big chance to snag one.

The DX is basically the only “large screen” ebook reader, so if that is important to you or a loved one this is an amazing deal! Amazon is selling brand new units for $379, so $199 for a refurbished one with a warranty is a steal!

Via Woot

I reviewed Supermarket Mania for DSiWare, and Supermarket Mania 2 for PC and iPad … and I really just thoroughly enjoy the lightly story-based time management fun the games have to offer. And it looks like I will soon be enjoying it on my Kindle Fire, as “G5 Entertainment invites Kindle Fire users to join Supermarket Mania obsession December 29th”!

Help Nikki make her supermarket chain prosperous in this fantastic time management rush.

San Francisco, California – December 21, 2011 – Leading casual games publisher, G5 Entertainment, today announced that its award-winning time management adventure, Supermarket Mania, is coming to Kindle Fire on December 29, 2011. Developed and

I swung by my local library today and discovered they put together a very clever way of promoting library eBooks. They had free “gift cards” out for “free eBooks”, which was just a printed card with the library’s website on the front and QR code for the site on the back. The marketing campaign signs around the library suggested people could give them alongside Kindles, NOOKs, etc.… Continue reading on Gear Diary ...

M-Edge makes some awesome cases for the Kindle and other ebook readers. They made the case I had my original Kindle in for many years, and I loved it. We’ve also covered many of their iPad cases here at Gear Diary and they consistently receive high marks for build quality and useful, eye-catching designs. Unfortunately, M-Edge is alleging in a lawsuit that Amazon doesn’t feel the same way about their Kindle cases.

According to the Wall Street Journal, M-Edge is claiming some pretty unpleasant business dealings have gone down with Amazon:

M-Edge said in the lawsuit that in November 2009, it signed a three-year agreement to pay Amazon a roughly 15%

Yesterday I got a message from SugarSync, one of my favorite Cloud Storage companies. They were announcing, amongst other things, that:

Kindle Fire – SugarSync is now available for the Kindle Fire, so you can access all your files from the SugarSync Cloud.

That was great – I clicked on the link in the email, checked out the blog post, then clicked the link in the article to grab the new version and … landed at the Android Market as shown in the image below.

Now don’t get me wrong – this is an excellent update… Continue reading on Gear Diary ...