My father’s favorite phrase is “People don’t plan to fail; they fail to plan.” I’m quite sure a very expletive laden version of this concept was bandied around Microsoft after the Sidekick backup debacle. So I posed the question to the Gear Diary Team: How do you back up your smartphone data?

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Buying a product without much information is always risky: whether it is food, a gadget, an appliance, or a car. Or, in this case, a video game. It is easy to let your personal excitement over a product or franchise or advertisement cloud your judgment and let you convince yourself that you are making a sound decision. But shouldn’t folks who spend loads of time analyzing and reviewing and writing about technology and video games and so on do a bit better at blocking themselves from making those impulse buys? Read on and see!

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It started innocently enough.  One morning last week Wayne sent an email asking if any of the writers liked Starbuck’s after he had accumulated a fairly large amount of points — $370 worth — on his own Starbuck’s rewards card.  Then today Carly spotted a great deal on Woot! for a Breville 15-Bar Expresso & Cappuccino Maker for $179.99 (that’s it pictured above).

These messages sparked an entire back and forth coast to coast between what gear we each used to  quench our lust for caffeine.    See what the team is using, and sound off in the comments on what gear you’re using to get the most java-goodness  from those wonderful fresh-roasted beans…

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Earlier in the week I threw out the following question…

What current technology, service or product do you see as totally passé… And why….?

The responses were quite interesting and while there was a good deal of agreement there were also some places where our diverse group parted ways.

Here are some of the answers… Continue Reading

If you see a friend with a gadget fetish carrying something different, chances are it is something new and trendy. Gadget-heads are seen as fickle and trendy, and bitterly loyal … for about 30 seconds until the next bright & shiny object comes along. But I have typically held on to the stuff I loved the most, and recently I’ve been alternating between 4 PDA/handhelds – my Axim x51v, iPod Touch, Psion Revo and HP200LX. Made me wonder – what sorts of ‘old school’ stuff does the rest of the Gear Diary staff use?

So I asked the question – and looked for them not to talk about stuff like the old Kitchen Aid, the ancient clock in the spare bedroom, or even something like my ancient HP Omnibook I use perhaps three times a year. I was talking about regular use. Read on to find out what they had to say! Continue Reading

Day in, day out, Gear Diary writers scour the web tirelessly, bringing you the latest and greatest technologies and gadgets. With all of the new gadgets that come out and are reviewed, there is always temptation to stay on the cutting edge. Want to know what the writers carry with them daily to work (at least today)? Read on to find out. You’ll be surprised at what some of us carry.

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(Cowritten with Dan)

America may run on Dunkin, but sometimes it seems like the internet runs on something else; caffeinated, sugary and at times, rude and disrespectful. Fanboys (and girls).

You know who we’re talking about. They are the first to yell “TROLL” if you dare denigrate their favorite subject. They are the first to jump to the defense of the oft undefendable actions of their heroes in a manner not dissimilar to the way in which one would hopefully defend the honor of their their significant other. And they are always the first to post on an internet forum when anything, good or bad, is written.

At the same time, they are also the first to try a new product, discuss ad naseum every aspect of a software update, and blindly take the role of cheerleader regardless of the reality of the situation. Yes, they are the next generation of those who continue to argue endlessly about whether “Star Trek: The Next Generation” or “Star Trek: The Original Series” was the better show, despite both being off the air for years. And sadly, they are the ones who will increasingly attack anyone who dares disagree with them.

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As the dust continues to settle on “The Week Of The iPhone” we’re all getting increasingly used to devices with a new OS or entirely new devices. That’s means the list of wishes for OS 4.0 begins now. It also means increasing familiarity and impressions that are more valuable than the initial “OMG did you know it can do this?” and “Wow! Wow! Wow!”

What follows are some likes, dislikes, tips, treats and more, disappointments and dreams for future updates.

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Judie: We can’t be in Barcelona for Mobile World Congress, but thanks to the generosity of Scott Rockfeld at Microsoft, we can show you some screenshots of Windows Mobile 6.5, which is officially being unveiled at the show. Rather than post just one person’s thoughts, we decided that this would be a good time to give impressions from several very opinionated people.

Bear in mind that these are judgments based on what is shown specifically in the screenshots, and that we recognize there are likely features present which may not be evident by the pictures shown.

Let’s start with the newly designed Home screen…

Judie: Hmmm…this should look familiar to anyone with a Zune. I like the use of lowercase letters, but I wonder if it will seem too informal to business users. I also like the immediate information given by the numbered notations on email.

Christopher Gavula: I like the new look overall.  I’m a big fan of usable interfaces and I felt the old WM learning curve was a bit high.   I really think MS is headed in the right direction with this redesign.   As I mentioned – I like this look, but I wish the numbers for calls/emails/etc. stood out a bit more.  Maybe making them a different color from the other text?  I agree, the “feel” is friendlier – more casual.  I don’t know how this will sit with the business set, but it should sit well with consumers.

Chris Spera: Exactly, Chris… From a consumer point of view, this is pretty nice, but I’m a business/professional user, and I want my meeting schedule on my home page. I want to pull the device, turn it on, and see what meeting is next.  If this doesn’t do that, I’m not gonna be a huge fan.

Wayne: Reminds me of a Zune. As I’m looking at the first image I’m wondering what’s going to be under the hood. Is this more attractive home screen just a coat of paint? I’ve got $10 that say’s this glossy opening screen is the most noticeable improvement to the OS upgrade.

Doug: I really like the fact that Microsoft has gone back to the drawing board and completely started from scratch.  This constant tweaking of a 10 year old design was getting old.  I also really like that they did not fall into the trap of copying the iPhone.  The great thing here is that it is completely finger friendly, but does not resemble the iPhone at all.   In fact, I love the fact that they are essentially incorporating something like the Zune interface.  I have been saying for some time that it really makes no sense for the Zune to be a seperate device from Windows Mobile.  I hope this marks a merging of the two.

I do agree with Chris though.  I am one of those people who really likes my calendar to smack me in the face when I turn on my device.  What I hope is that there will be some kind of popout.  So, tapping calendar would just expand that entry on your homescreen to display additional information about your upcoming appointment (which is what appears to be occurring with the clock in this first picture).

Judie: Right Doug. I think that tapping each entry will either cause other options to pop out or take you right to the application, but they will stay collapsed unless tapped. If that’s the case, so far so good…

Clinton: I really, really like this interface change. This really makes it quick and easy to get to the information that is important to me. This could very well be the source of the “Zune Phone” we’ve been hearing over the last few months. I like the Zune, so I guess it’s no surprise that I like this as well.

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A week or two ago during the Christmas to New Years span,Viacom and Time Warner had a dispute that’s now resolved.  However, as things usually do happen on our team member list, things go into another topic.  Wayne kicked it off with this message:

Wayne Schulz: In 5 years the concept of a cable tv box is going to be quaint. The vast majority will come via on-line. This the foreshadowing.

I thought….hmm….is that really true?  Other team members chimed in:

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The holidays are about to be in full swing, and after enjoying the good meals and time spent catching up, one of our favorite family activities is to watch a holiday movie…or three! I polled the team to ask what their top favorite holiday movies were, and these were the results.

Some are classics and immediately recognizable favorites. Some? Not so much. So in no particular order, here are our favorites:

Joel – mmm….hard one….but….

1. National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation – I AM Clark W. Griswold!

warning for language

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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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Once again, the Gear Diary Team invites you to listen in behind the scenes, while we talk about social networking. We also invite you to continue the conversation in the comments section…

Wayne: Isn’t it about time for a post on the use of Twitter? I see Judie and Joel on there. Anyone else? I find that FriendFeed is a pretty useful tool to keep up on what people are doing. I think techmeme overhyped it a little, but I enjoy seeing in one place what people are writing about, and especially when they post photos and YouTubes.

Do you think this is a passing fad? A lot of this seems pretty “early adopterish”. I know the blogging kings are all over it — but I’m not sure if it has “legs” beyond these hardcore folks that are connected 24×7 to a computer and more open to these faddish ideas.

Will the general public put up with what to many might be an invasion of privacy? Don’t know the answer.

I’m finding that it’s almost a replacement for social bookmark sites like Digg or Delicious, since you are filtering out people who you don’t know and other spammy submissions. It’s also a great way to track favorite writers and online friends.

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Wayne: I’m not sure if this will work for everyone or if it’s just allowing me in because I’m already into the Evernote beta (I think it’s an open URL because one of my friends was able to download directly). UPDATE: Some users are not able to get into the beta via the link shown at the end of this post – if you have trouble – leave a note in the comments and I’ll forward you an invite from my account.

Instead of applying for the Evernote Beta (which is just a marketing gimmick imho) — keep reading and I have a link that I found which seems to get you into the beta without having to wait for an invite.

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Once again, we invite you to eavesdrop on our email conversations…

Wayne: R.I.P. … the Internet slays another print publication…

Mitchell: I was a subscriber to PC World for about 5 years, and then I realised that I was paying for a magazine with content that I had read weeks earlier on the internet.

It really is inevitable I suppose, tech magazines just can’t stay ahead of the game with online news sites getting information out hours after release. They have to wait a whole month…

Clinton: This is the same problem that many tech magazines face. Granted, most have a much smaller circulation than PC World, but the net result is the same: very few subscribers but a massive uptick in online “subscribers”. Amongst us Gear Diary types, I’d be shocked if many of these magazines were still printing this time next year.

Mitchell: Yeah I have the same thought each time I receive various magazines I have subscribed to, they just feel out of date. They have to know the end is coming as well.

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