Posted by Jessica Fritsche in Diary Entries

New Droid owners (and other Android junkies) rejoice! eReader announced tonight via their weekly email newsletter that eReader for the Android platform is now available.
Posted by Dan Cohen in Diary Entries

The question was simple and straight-forward. The answers sometimes surprising. I asked everyone at Gear Diary the following…
Here is the challenge— you can choose one tech-related gift to either give or get. The only limitations are—-
-it must be currently available
-it must have an MSRP of $1000 or lessWhat would be on your super-short shopping list and why???
Here’s what they said.
Posted by Jessica Fritsche in Diary Entries

Do you have an old, broken Dance Dance Revolution dance pad collecting dust in your video game collection? If so, you might want to take a cue from Liz McLean Knight and make yours into a stylish yet uber geeky purse! Continue Reading
Posted by Jessica Fritsche in Diary Entries

Rumor has it that the upcoming 10.6.2 build of Mac OS X has removed support for the Intel Atom CPU, which is the processor under the hood of many netbooks on the market today, including my beloved Dell Mini 9. This isn’t an issue for most Mac users, but if you’re like me and you’ve Hackintoshed your way to super-portable bliss, you might be a little worried. See, Apple…this is why I wish you had your own official netbook!
Posted by Judie Lipsett in Diary Entries
Where were you when you first heard about the now infamous “Balloon Boy” incident? On Thursday, October 15th, at a little past 2 p.m. Central Time, Dan and I were IM’ing when he abruptly told me to turn on CNN.
Once I did, the screen was filled with the image of a large silver balloon speeding and spinning, thousands of feet above the Colorado countryside. The balloon supposedly carried a six year old boy, appropriately named Falcon.
Posted by Jessica Fritsche in Diary Entries
Do you have summer photos just hanging around on your hard drive, abandoned now that fall is here? (Well, or almost here if you live in Texas!) Don’t let them get forgotten–upload them to Picaboo!

Picaboo is a service that allows you to create photo books and cards from your digital photos, starting at just $9.99 for a softcover book.
They offer easy-to-use software that guides you through the creation process with tons of layouts, backgrounds, fonts, and sample albums to help spark ideas. Possibly the coolest feature of the software is the ability to auto-create a photo book in just minutes, similar to the Autoflow feature when creating a book in iPhoto.
They have different book options with various cover styles and sizes so that you can find the perfect fit for your album of photos from the summer trip, taking the kids to the beach, or documenting your honeymoon. You can also share photo books you’ve created online.
I really like the options they have available. I am a horrible former bride, and I still need to do something special with the photos from my wedding. I think this would be the perfect way to create a keepsake for ourselves as well as our parents. Christmas IS creeping up a lot sooner than I’d like–a photo book sounds like the perfect gift for my in-laws! I smell a project coming on…
Posted by Jessica Fritsche in Deals
Pocket Cocktails is a really fun app that I’ve loved having on my iPhone–it’s a really comprehensive library of drink recipes, complete with beautiful “action shots” of what the drinks are supposed to look like it. I reviewed it earlier this year at Daily Tech Diva after using Pocket Cocktails to help find a signature drink for my 29th birthday party. Not only did I find a great drink, but I really enjoyed browsing the drink library and coming up with new things to order when my friends and I go out for cocktails. The app has a great “Mad Men” sixties feel to it that just adds to my enjoyment of the app–I love retro and vintage style!
To celebrate the one year anniversary of Pocket Cocktails in the App Store, the developers are offering the program FREE for a limited time. If you’re in the market for a handy drink recipe library on your iPhone, why not give it a download while it’s free as in beer (or wine, or French Martinis as the case may be)?
Check it out here on the iTunes App Store. Congrats to the Pocket Cocktails developers on their app anniversary!
Posted by Jessica Fritsche in Diary Entries
So, yesterday in my daily perusal of the web, I saw that AT&T had started silently rolling out MMS functionality for the iPhone in small batches. It didn’t seem to have a rhyme or reason–some people on iPhone OS 3.0 had it, some on 3.01, and some on 3.1, all in different locations.
Some people in the Dallas-Fort Worth area were reporting working MMS, so the question at the forefront of my mind was HOW DO I GET IT!? I’m an impatient girl, and I didn’t want to wait another 11 days for MMS on my iPhone if I could get it now! A little more Googling and a few visits to the HowardForums gave me the answers I needed. How can YOU get MMS working on your iPhone? Well, I’ll show you.
Posted by Jessica Fritsche in Reviews

As many of you tech-loving ladies out there know, it can be very difficult at times to find a nice, feminine looking case for your gadgets. I love clothes and accessories just as much as I love technology, and I hate putting a gadget in a boring case into a cute handbag. I just don’t understand why tech accessories have to be boring!
When I saw the CaseCrown Alligator Slim Case, the first thing I noticed was that it was stylish looking and came in PINK…not just soft baby pink, but bright hot pink! I knew I had to try it out. Continue Reading
Posted by Jessica Fritsche in Diary Entries

I am a huge fan of IKEA, the Swedish-based furniture and homegoods company. So, when I go to IKEA I usually have a list of items I want to purchase that I made using the website and the yearly catalog, as well as a running total in my head. Plus, once you’re actually in the store, you must keep track of the aisle and bin numbers for the items you want to purchase. I’ve been half-tempted to set up an Excel spreadsheet to keep track of everything I want at IKEA (with blank spaces to fill in the aisle/bin while I’m actually shopping) but today I’ve discovered something a little more helpful. Continue Reading
Posted by Jessica Fritsche in Deals
I received my weekly email from eReader today, and for a change I was actually SHOCKED when I opened it! Usually I find that, even on sale, eReader books are too expensive. New eBooks often cost more than a brand-new physical copy! Bestsellers have also been prohibitively expensive. Well, eReader is finally answering my wishes–no book will be more expensive than $12.95.

Posted by Jessica Fritsche in Diary Entries
This is Part One in a series about my journey with my new Dell Mini 9 into Hacktinosh territory…I’ll be talking about my installation process, my impressions of the Mini as a Mac netbook, performance, software, and more.
I was pretty early to jump on the netbook bandwagon. When I saw the original 7″ Asus Eee PC for the first time, I knew that I had to have it. I had been lusting after computers like the Sony Picturebook for a long time–something that could fit in my purse and go with me everywhere! As a writer, having a full computer with me at all times really appealed to me. As a geek, having a full computer with me at all times appealed to me even MORE! So, imagine my dismay when, as much as I tried to make it work, my precious Eee PC really didn’t cut the mustard. The keyboard was too small, the screen was too small and dull, the battery would barely last two hours, and the CPU was underpowered. I had it tricked out with a nice, stripped down installation of Ubuntu, but even that performed poorly on the Eee PC. So, what’s a geeky girl to do when she is disappointed with her technology? Continue Reading
Posted by Jessica Fritsche in Reviews
The Cocoon Innovations netbook case is pretty much my ideal netbook travel case. It’s durable, shock absorbent, airport friendly, comfortable, and it features a unique organizational system that I have never seen before in another bag. There are a few key things I wish I could tweak a little bit, but otherwise I was very impressed by the Cocoon netbook case.
Posted by Jessica Fritsche in Diary Entries

Belkin has announced a pretty awesome sounding product coming this fall. The TuneCast Auto Live FM transmitter for iPhone is a GPS-enabled FM transmitter that automatically finds the best FM station based on where you are. It uses the GPS to determine your location and then, using the ClearScan Live iPhone application, tunes to the right frequency for the clearest FM transmission. Continue Reading
Posted by Jessica Fritsche in Diary Entries
The sad rumor that I heard this weekend was confirmed today on the Direct2Dell blog…Dell is discontinuing the Mini 9. They are pushing the Mini 10 and 10v as the replacements to the popular 8.9 inch laptop, Dell’s first in the hot new netbook genre.
I am pretty bummed about this, though I am glad that I got my hands on a Mini 9 before they were phased out. I am constantly getting compliments, questions, and requests for netbook buying advice based on people seeing my Mini or knowing that I own one. The fact that I have been able to Hackintosh it into a perfectly functioning Mac netbook certainly adds to the charm of the Mini 9. I know that the uber hackability of the Mini 9 was a big draw for many geeks.
The Mini 10/10v seems like a viable replacement, but I’m of the opinion that anything above the 8.9 inch form factor is pushing the netbook envelope. 10 inches and above is really toeing the line between the netbook and a full-size laptop. I mean, my beloved iBook was 12 inches (and feels like a beast compared to a netbook!) The computer industry seems to disagree with me, since the 10 inch netbook seems to be the current sweet spot, but I am incredibly happy with my 8.9 inch (purse-sized!) workhorse. I’ll miss being able to recommend the Mini 9 to my friends and interested parties at Starbucks!
via Direct2Dell