Sling Media, makers of the SlingBox, today announces the availability of the SlingPlayer app for the Kindle Fire. What is the SlingBox? It is a device that works with all of your various set-top boxes to:

allow folks to watch their TV from wherever they are with their PC, Mac, tablet or smartphone. And now, with SlingPlayer for Kindle Fire, they can bring their living room TV experience to their Kindle Fire tablets.

The SlingPlayer software is already available for Apple iPhone and iPad devices, Android Phones, Android Tablets as well as for the Blackberry, Windows Phone and other devices. We have written about the… Continue reading on Gear Diary ...

Are you a Hotmail user? I have had an account since … forever. And while it hasn’t been my primary email since … well, since I signed up for Yahoo mail around the same time, it is an account that I have maintained and used for a variety of specific purposes through the years.

I have found the Hotmail implementation on iOS to be adequate but not outstanding, although it is better than the native support on Android in my experience. But as I reported last fall Microsoft released a native Hotmail app for Android, and it is actually pretty good, featuring push support and a decent interface.

Now Microsoft… Continue reading on Gear Diary ...

A couple of weeks ago I wrote about the sale that Amazon was having that allowed you to make use of the $5 discount code they gave out at the end of 2011. That sale ended ONE DAY later … and since then the deals on the ‘best-selling games of 2011′ have been pretty thin. But this week Amazon is featuring a great deal each day.

Here is the list with links:
1/16 – Dragon Age Origins Ultimate Edition + Dragon Age 2 Bundle [amazon.com]: $11.99 – $6.99 with $5 Holiday Promo Code
1/17 – Medal of Honor [amazon.com] – $6.99 – $1.99 with $5 holiday promo code
1/18… Continue reading on Gear Diary ...

Amazon is having a fun sale – all about the ‘one hit wonders’. Someone at SlickDeals took the time to turn it into a list, so just peruse the entire list and you’ll find yourself nodding your head and saying ‘I know that song’! There are some great songs, some awful ones, and some ‘so bad they’re good’ songs as well! Check them all out!

7 Horns 7 Eyes – Convalescence
Alannah Myles – Black Velvet (LP Version)
Alive ‘N Kickin’ – Tighter, Tighter (LP Version)
Anna Nalick – Breathe (2 AM)
Arthur Conley – Sweet Soul Music
Baha Men – Who Let The Dogs Out
Barbara George – I Know

Have you ever been away from your home computer and realized you forgot a file or wanted to watch some videos or listen to some music? With Splashtop Remote Desktop you can access your home PC quickly and easily! And today it is FREE on the Amazon AppStore for Android!

You’re out and about with your Android device and you suddenly realize that you need to access a file sitting on your home computer. You’re stuck, right? Not if you have Splashtop Remote Desktop, an app that brings your entire computer to your phone or tablet.

What’s new in version 1.6.5.6
Support for more resolutions: 1024×600, 1280×720, and remote computer’s native resolution

Jeff Bezos has some extra spring in his step heading into 2011. Building on the momentum from years past, the Kindle line has once again been an Amazon bestseller, selling an undisclosed “millions” of units, and generally being a shining star. It’s almost stopped being news that ebook readers are big holiday gifts, but Amazon still managed to bury some interesting tidbits in their annual post-holiday press release.

One, Amazon sold over one million Kindles per week in December. So we know they topped over 4 million in just this month alone, which is pretty jaw dropping. Also, just like in years past, Christmas Day was a record-breaker for Kindle book downloads, though, again, Amazon is coy with… Continue reading on Gear Diary ...

For my family, board games are a great way to spend time together, and particularly over the holidays. This year we had my brother and niece and played two new games, but always love going back to the classics as well. And there are few board games as classic as Monopoly. It has been on the PC, Palm, Wii, XBOX, iPhone, iPad … and now Android! And now today Amazon is featuring Monopoly as the ‘Free App of the Day’.

Legend has it that the modern version of the MONOPOLY board game was invented during the Depression by an unemployed man named Charles Darrow. Rebuffed by the major game

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%

As if matching price with Google Music – but with a better selection, much better client, and overall completely superior music service – wasn’t enough … today Amazon’s MP3 Store is offering some of the best selling music of 2011 at $3.99 per album!

Save on new albums by Coldplay, Rihanna, Drake, Daughtry, the Decemberists, Florence + the Machine, Mac Miller, Amy Winehouse, She & Him, and the Muppets, then listen immediately on your Kindle Fire, PC, Mac, iPad, or Android Phone with Amazon Cloud Player. You can instantly gift these or any MP3s from Amazon.

Whether these are ‘the best’ or even the ‘best selling’ is questionable (I don’t think the ‘She… Continue reading on Gear Diary ...

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer has a rather interesting history, and one that is completely and totally wrapped up in the commercial side of the Christmas holiday. It started as a picture book made as a giveaway for Montgomery Ward department store, and then a decade later was immortalized by Gene Autry in 1949 as one of the most popular Christmas songs ever made. The song and story became further engrained in popular culture when the Rankin/Bass stop-animation TV show debuted in 1964, and remains a holiday mainstay more than 45 years later! Seeking to help it cross into the digital app age, today Amazon is featuring of the biggest

Personally, I find the Charlie Brown holiday specials depressing and sad, but they are certainly part of the classic culture surrounding all of the major commercial holidays. And today Amazon is featuring of the biggest traditional TV classics, A Charlie Brown Christmas, as the ‘Free App of the Day’.

A Charlie Brown Christmas, the beloved Peanuts classic by Charles M. Schulz, is now available as a spectacular interactive storybook optimized for your Android device. Sit back and enjoy original dialogue, digitally remastered illustrations, animation, music, and narration by Peter Robbins, the original voice of Charlie Brown.

“Isn’t there anyone who knows what Christmas is all about?!”
Only Charlie Brown can turn

I should have known better than to rush into buying music on Google. As I say repeatedly, they have the absolute worst music service bar none. Yet that old siren song of ‘great music, low prices’ lulled me into not checking Amazon. BIG MISTAKE.

On Google I got the music, can play it on my PC or Android phone, and download it one … track … at … a … time. And THEN manually import it into iTunes. And THEN fix the FUBAR MP3 info and tags, because Google can’t even manage that 2002 level of technology.

Had I gone to Amazon, I would have gotten the same… Continue reading on Gear Diary ...

November 15th saw the release of what will quickly become the #2 selling tablet of all time: the Amazon Kindle Fire. Since then we have seen plenty of ‘race to be first’ reviews, but my goal was to spend some time integrating the Fire into my life before completing my review. This week we also saw the usability study that looked at the issues around the 7″ screen specifically with the Fire but related to mid-sized tablets in general. Dan and I each got one that arrived on the 15th: Dan’s has already gone back to Amazon, while I have decided to keep mine. So while we never got to do a… Continue reading on Gear Diary ...

There is the commercial for Kohl’s that says ‘it is like getting paid to shop’. Well, Amazon is now taking that to the next level. This Saturday December 10th, use the Amazon Price Check app on your iPhone or Android phone to check the price of an item you want to buy. You can then add the item to your Amazon Price Check cart, and if you buy it within 24 hours you get an additional $5 off the price! Better still, you can do this up to three times!

Here are the details:

Price Check In-store Deals
During the promotional period (see below), we are offering through the Price Check by

With the Holiday travel season already in swing, a great app like TripIt is more essential than ever! And today Amazon has the full ad-free version for FREE at the AppStore for Android!

Here is the description:

Say farewell to frantically searching for confirmation e-mails in your inbox–or worse yet, hunting down that pesky manila folder. TripIt is an easier way to organize and share travel information.

Don’t Sweat the Trains, Planes, and Automobiles

Organize and share all your travel plans
Juggling plane tickets, car rentals, train schedules, and hotel reservations while traveling can be logistically challenging, to say the least. With the TripIt Travel App for Android