Some of you may know that I am sort of the headphones and headset guy around here.  I have reviewed quite a number of both consumer based, as well as, higher end headphones, earphones, headsets, and pretty much anything else that can pump audio and music directly into your brain.  We’ve looked at in-the-ear, out-of-the-ear, over-the-ear, even around-the-ear.  Frankly, I thought I had seen it all…the good, the bad, and even some of the ugly.  Then I came across the Flamingo Music Earphones, a new wired music solution which, frankly, stopped me in my tracks.  Their EarClick system, which allows the earphone to dangle in front of your ear like a musical circus act, was unlike anything I had used before.  I knew I would have to take a closer look and review this one.

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I think every family must have a hobby which all (or at least most) members of the family enjoy.  Such common interests are what tie them together (and gives you something to talk about at family picnics).  For my family, growing up, that common interest was photography.  We all played around with both video and still photos, but the true love was probably still photos.  Back then, we used to devise intricate plans for turning the basement into a darkroom (we never did).

Of course, that love of photography has carried me into the digital world, where I am happy to have a very nice digital darkroom on my laptop.  I have all of the tools I need, and the smell is much nicer than all of those chemicals you used to require.

Sadly, I have not been able to get a fancy DSLR camera, like the one my brother has, but then again, when you are shooting fast-moving children who do not understand the meaning of the words, “sit still,” a point and shoot camera is probably best.  As such, I was extremely intrigued when I read an advertisement for the new line of Nikon Coolpix cameras.  My first digital camera, which my Dad gave me when my oldest son was born, was a 2 megapixel Nikon Coolpix.  I have had other cameras since then, but I have to admit that I was extremely excited to attempts a return to the Coolpix line.  Thankfully, Nikon agreed to loan me the Nikon Coolpix S600, their newly released ten megapixel point and shoot camera with an advertised, fastest power up time of any camera in its class.  A bold statement, which we will be putting to the test, along with all of the features of the new Coolpix from Nikon.  Hit the jump and, please, keep your arms and legs inside the review at all times.

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Mother’s Day is coming up quickly, and although it’s only a few days away, we know that some of you are still pulling out your hair as you try to figure out what to get mom. We’re here to help, so with that goal in mind Wayne and I culled through past reviews and posts to see which gifts might make mom smile. We’re going to assume that you won’t have a problem if our suggestions tend to have a decidedly gadgety lean…

Under $50

LapWorks Laptop Desk Futura: For mom’s who like to take a walk on the wild side, the Largely Leopard version will appeal; other colors and patterns are available to suit more conservative mothers’ tastes.

Painted Futuras retail for $49.95 and are available directly from LapWorks.
What I Like: Fun patterns that make a functional product really stand out; can be used as a laptop stand or a lap desk; folds flat so it can be carried in a laptop bag
What Needs Improvement: Nothing

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Doug Goldring has posted a cool write up over at My Today Screen on OmegaOne’s 1-to-Go, a cool new way to access the Internet.  From Doug’s review:

Overview: So.  What is 1-ToGo?  I think I have never had so much trouble in a review explaining just what a program is.  It’s a little bit of everything.  So, let’s start with what this is not.  It is not a mobile web browser.  You will still need one of those (Pocket Internet Explorer will work just fine).  This is a web-based applet which will open within your existing browser.

The application looks pretty cool; and offers quite a bit.  Doug’s got a very thorough write up on it, and its definitely worth a read.

Link: My Today Screen for OmegaOne’s 1-to-Go

Judie: Here’s how it all started. I got a press release from Kevin Doel regarding FlipSide, a new Windows Mobile MP3 Player which features “”Swooshing” Album Art as Part of Acclaimed Visual Interface.”

FlipSide, the MP3 player from Electric Pocket that has had BlackBerry users buzzing, is now available to users of Windows Mobile devices such as the Treo 700xw, Mogul, Ace, and Blackjack. The feature that has made FlipSide such an instant hit among BlackBerry users is its iPhone-like interface that allows users to visually “swoosh” through their music quickly and easily.

Navigating through music and selecting tunes is a simple process with FlipSide: scroll through the Album Covers, or flick through them using your finger on the screen, then click on the navigation button to open up a vertical list of the tracks. The spacebar is used to start, pause and skip songs, while the navigation button is used to scroll either left or right to either fast forward or rewind within a song.

While FlipSide comes with the features expected of any MP3 player, the feature that gets the most buzz is the attractive user interface that makes FlipSide both visually enjoyable and very easy to use. Its ability to “swoosh” through the full-color cover art of an entire music collection within seconds using the navigation control button makes FlipSide stand-out as both a simple and fun MP3 player. FlipSide downloads and displays the cover art of each album and even links to FlipSide Extras to provide biographies of the artists, recommendations for similar artists and more.

FlipSide for Windows Mobile plays music stored on memory cards in MP3 & WMA formats. FlipSide retails for $19.95 and a free trial download is available now from the FlipSide website at http://flipside.fm.

As I’ll usually do when I get a product announcement, I forwarded this release to the team to see if anyone might be interested in covering the item or reviewing the product…and then their emails started rolling in. It wasn’t long before we had another full blown GearChat Roundtable on our hands.

Sit tight; this one was a doozy…

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So, I guess it has been a while since I tried to work with any of the video I shot with my Sony camcorder.  A few weeks ago, I decided to capture and edit some video from my son’s school concert.  After about a half hour of fruitless searching, I realized a critical fact.  My Toshiba Satellite laptop does not have an IEEE1394 Firewire port.  Of course, this is a critical feature if you want to work with video.  Without a Firewire port, there is no way to connect the camcorder to your computer.  Now, I know I have done this before, and my laptop is over a year old.  So, like I said, it has been a while.  I was frustrated and upset until Judie reminded me to check out Apiotek, purveyors of all manner of Express card adaptors.  Sure enough, the good folks at Apiotek had exactly what the doctor ordered.  The Combo Express Adaptor includes a USB 2.0 port and two (not one, but two) IEEE1394 Firewire ports.  Perfect!  Let’s take a closer look.

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Doug Goldring has just posted the first installment of his popular monthly round-up of freeware Windows Mobile games at My Today Screen.

For those of you who followed The Arcade over at JAMM, welcome back. For you newcomers, let me explain how this works. Each month, I scour the web, searching for free games. There are a lot out there and finding good ones is rarely a problem. Then, at the end of each month (on my calendar, it falls on the fourth Sunday), I post a roundup of five free games. Of course, I do take suggestions and recommendations, so if you have a favorite, please let me know. And if you are a developer, and you have a free game available, I am happy to feature it here.

This month the Arcade covers: CardHue, ArithmeTick, Xump, Creatonia, and Clickball. Take a look and see if one of these free games might become your latest favorite time-waster.

One of the problems I have always found with gadgets and technology is that the more useful they get, the less useable they become.  What does that mean, exactly?  Well, the best way to explain this is by looking at an example, such as digital video.  I know an awful lot of people (many of whom read Gear Diary) who like to watch videos on the media players or iPods.  The problem here is that digital video is not a particularly useable medium.  In fact, it can be downright difficult, with dozens of different formats available.  It always seems like the video I want to play has been recorded in the wrong format for my device.  This is incredibly frustrating, particularly when you actually paid money for the video.  So, what are you supposed to do?  Well, M2 offers one solution with their media converter, which can convert virtually any video to be played on an iPod, iPhone, Create Zen, Zune, Smartphone and more.  Stay with me and we will take a look at whether the M2 Media Converter worked as advertised.

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Based upon the fact that I write for a site like Gear Diary, it should come as no surprise that I suffer from a long-diagnosed addiction to gadgets.  Of course, one of the biggest problems with this collection of gadgetry is that each one comes with its own remote control.  Many components in my system are different brands, resulting in incompatible controls.  While I could find a universal remote at any electronics store, this usually involves a complicated system of programming the controls manually by entering a series of numeric codes for each component.  Setting up a remote like this with my system can take hours….assuming the codes are even available.  And this does not even consider the option of creating macros to control a complex series of functions.  Frankly, I usually end up programming the bare minimum before throwing up my hands in frustration.  There must be a better way!  Fortunately, I am not the only one who has recognized this problem.  Logitech has also found a significant degree of customer confusion in this area. The results of these observations were their award winning line of Harmony remote controls.  I previously reviewed the Harmony 890 over at JAMM.  Now, I am extremely excited to have been given the opportunity to check out Logitech’s latest redesign of the Harmony line, the Harmony One. 

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As many of you know, I have been desperately searching for a case for my Sprint Mogul.  I have tested cases by a variety of manufacturers, but never found the “perfect” case.  Who knows, maybe it is simply not out there, but I am not ready to give up yet.  Today, I have the fourth of four PDAir cases I was sent to review.  While the other three were variations on leather cases (pouch, flip, and book styles) this one is a hard shell aluminum metal case.  I like this kind of case because it offers the promise of significantly more protection.  Let’s take a closer look.

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