If you use a Mac, then you probably use iPhoto for basic image editing and iMovie for basic video editing. But what if you use a PC? The tools included there are not nearly as capable, friendly or integrated. And what if you want to go further than the basic editing capabilities of the iTools? That is where Adobe Premiere Elements 10 & Photoshop Elements 10 come in – offering integrated photo and video editing and production tools for both OS X and Windows 7.

The folks at Adobe sent me a review copy, so let’s take a look!… Continue reading on Gear Diary ...

Last fall I applied for and received a grant that will allow my synagogue to build a new technology lab. Within the next few months we will have a number of iMac desktop computers and a host of iPads being used by our kids and adults alike. In fact, I’m working on a special tutorial program for students becoming bar and bat mitzvah that will run on the iPad. It uses the awesome iOS application MentalCase. More on that at a later date.

When I found out we were getting the grant, I reached out to a number of companies with whom we work for some assistance. Both Kensington and Zagg were fantastic about… Continue reading on Gear Diary ...

This post brought to you by Norton Small Business by Symantec. All opinions are 100% mine.

The back bone’s connected to the neck bone, the neck bone’s connected to the head bone.

Small business’ the backbone of the economy, technology’s the backbone of small business.

Dem bones, dem bones, dem dry bones,

Dem bones, dem bones, dem dry bones…

All silly children’s songs aside, small business owners know that technology is the backbone of all they do. Yes, in a recent survey of small business owners, nearly one in three respondents (28%) identified technology as one of their top business priorities.

Unfortunately… Continue reading on Gear Diary ...

Here’s a great Gear Deal on a 15.6″ Dell Inspiron 15R Core i5-2330M that includes two awesome bonuses. The Inspiron 15r has a 2.2GHz Dual-core processor and includes 6GB RAM, a 500GB Hard Drive, Wireless-N, a DVD burner, Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit OS and more. To sweeten this deal you’ll also get a Canon ELPH 100 HS Camera (Grey), 36-months McAfee SecurityCenter and Adobe Elements 9.0 Photoshop and Premiere. Normally this bundle would be $777.99 but after all the savings our Gear Sponsor has found you can get it all for just $599.99 and it will even ship for free.

Gear Deal: Dell Inspiron 15r 15.6″ with Canon ELPH 100 HS Camera and Adobe Elements

I have been using the same password protection program for quite a few years. I’ve thought about switching on a number of occasions, but it’s always is too much of a hassle, or the software that interests me isn’t available on enough platforms. So when I was recently offered an opportunity to review mSeven Software’s mSecure 3.0 I was at least a little ambivalent about it. However, I figured it certainly wouldn’t hurt to review the software; I would just create some dummy data, load it on a test device, put it through its paces, do a brief write up, and be done.

I was surprised, though, to find that I actually liked mSecure… Continue reading on Gear Diary ...

One of the things that helps demonstrate to me that it is, as Hardison in the T.V. show Leverage points out, “Age of the geek, baby!”, is that stuff that used to be only of interest to math geeks, or computer geeks, or physics geeks, now gets wide coverage.  Like Pi Day, for example (3/14, in case you was wondering).

Today is another one:  it’s 11/11/11/11 (whether you’re in Europe or the U.S., it displays the same!).  And 25 years ago, only my geek friends would have made note of it.  Now?  Now, I’m reading about it on Twitter, and on blogs, and all over the durn place.  And some folks are using it… Continue reading on Gear Diary ...

If you use Microsoft Office, but found yourself dozing on the day they were sharing tips & tricks, now is your chance to catch up with the other power users!

“Microsoft Office 2010: Tips and Tricks – Limited Time Offer“ This $7 Value eBook Expires 11/16/2011.

Microsoft Office is one of the most popular and user friendly office suites in the market. With Office 2010, Microsoft had made it bigger by integrating features for Office Web Apps and Mobile Office and significant changes to User Interface and included a lot of new features in Office Suite. This eBook offers more than 50 tips and tricks focused on making sure that you get the most out of Office

Seems like our 5th Anniversary contest are spawning even more contests! So let’s keep going.

Before we do, here’s a reminder that we already have some great contests going. There is the

Gear Diary at 5 Giveaway: Trick Out Your iPhone 4

and the

Gear Diary at 5: You CAN Get There from Here, Magellan RoadMate 9055-LM Giveaway

and finally there is the

Gear Diary at 5: Win a Sceptre 24″ HDTV / DVD Combo Giveaway (That one ends today, so hurry up and enter.)

Today we are starting our Sena’s

By now you should own World of Goo on some platform, be it Mac, PC or iPad. But in case you don’t … now you have another shot to get it at a great discount from Big Fish Games!

Here is the description:

Beautiful and surprising, the millions of Goo Balls who live in the World of Goo are curious to explore – but they don’t know that they are in a game, or that they are extremely delicious.

This is the FULL award winning game. Drag and drop living, squirming, talking, globs of goo to build structures, bridges, cannonballs, zeppelins, and giant tongues.

Mysterious Levels – Each level is strange and

Want richer bass, higher clarity and an all around enhanced audio experience? Bongiovi Acoustics: Bongiovi DPS (Digital Power Station) technology has it. The technology is currently available in iHome dock stations and select Toyota models and, for the first time, Bongiovi’s technology is available as an iOS app. The technology ”re-masters your compressed digital audio files at the source and then, using device specific profiles, optimizes the output for your listening device (headphone, speaker, earbud, etc).”

I tried the iOS app and was rather impressed with the enhanced audio pumped out by my iPod touch and my iPad.

As the… Continue reading on Gear Diary ...

Vostro 330 All-In-One  Ships Fast, Saves Dollars

Send your student back to college with a Dell Vostro 330 all-in-one computer. It is sleek, fast, takes up minimal space and… did we mention, you can even get it with a touchscreen?

Striking Presence. Serious Business. The smooth lines of the Vostro 330 Desktop will look great on your desk from any angle. This all-in-one can fit as easily into your office environment as it will into your budget.

Be productive. Feel secure. Help increase productivity and expand your view with a 23″ WLED Full HD display. Feel confident that your work is safe with Vostro reliable solutions for data protection and

If you depend on Livescribe Desktop on your Mac from day to day, they have some advice: don’t upgrade to Lion … yet! Here is what they are saying:

Livescribe Software Notice Regarding Mac OS X Lion
The current version of Livescribe Desktop 2.7.2 is not completely compatible with Apple’s new Mac OS upgrade (Lion) that will be available to the public this month.

We are working hard to complete an update to the Livescribe Desktop that will address this issue and plan to have it available for customers within the next few weeks.

Until this software update is available, we recommend that you do not upgrade your

We start the week with a Gear Deal on the HP Pavilion Elite h8qe Core i7 customizable Desktop PC. This desktop features a brand-new design with metal surfaces, polished finishes, subtle curves and angles, and illuminated accents. It also sports a built-in valet tray atop the tower for easy cable management, tool-free access to various internal components, a top-mounted 15-in-1 card reader and more.

The deal our Gear Sponsor found includes a free upgrade to a 1.5TB 7200RPM Hard Drive upgrade, a free upgrade to 9GB RAM, a free 15-month Norton Internet Security subscription, and nice savings on a 21.5″ diagonal widescreen monitor.

Normally $1,199.99 our Gear Sponsor has tracked down a 25% coupon… Continue reading on Gear Diary ...

The trend toward strangely-capitalized programs is really annoying. The mediaplayer aTunes is trying to follow the iTunes naming model somewhat slavishly, so we’re stuck with that I suppose. Of course, that means sentences starting with the name of the program are either capitalized wrong or the word is capitalized wrong. Such choices!

Installation was smooth and trouble-free, with a language selection dialog less impressive than Songbird, but sure to cover most use cases (darn, no Korean!). It also allows you to optionally install the source code for this GPL-licensed open source program, the only one in the set to do so. The encoders for FLAC and MP3 are another optional part of… Continue reading on Gear Diary ...

Clementine is a very clean-looking media player, inspired by the venerable Amarok player from Linux, and even using the Qt platform so it works in several flavors of Linux, Windows, and Mac OS X.

The installation is quick and simple, with no options presented to the user besides folder for the program. Unlike most media players, Clementine does not prompt the user for a music folder during the installation process.

My 4000+ track test library was read and available in just over two minutes, although the program remained responsive during that time so I could do other things while waiting. The default look for Clementine is a two-pane view plus… Continue reading on Gear Diary ...