Judie attended Intel’s Upgrade Your Life event last week and wrote all about it in this post: Intel’s “Upgrade Your Life” Event.  She came away from the even with an Acer Aspire One Happy Netbook and we are giving it away! The Netbook has a 10.1″ screen, an N570 Atom processor, 1GB DDR3 RAM and a 250GB drive.

How can you enter to win? We explain it all in this video!

The fine print–

1. This contest will be open until Wednesday July 27th; the winner will be announced shortly after.

2. Shipping address must be in the USA

3. If you’re entering

It’s funny, really.  Just yesterday my 12 year-old son Joseph was asking me, “Dad, what does SSHD stand for?”  I’m a geek, of course, so I immediately answered “Solid state hard drive.  But why would that be in something you’re reading, Joseph?”  (Turns out he was looking at some nerd catalog or other, and the term/acronym was being used there.)

So it’s with full knowledge of my son Joseph that I mention the new products by Other World Computing (OWC), which include both solid-state and SATA hard drives for the netbook and subnetbook market.  And frankly, I assume that’s it’s not too very long from now when these will be hooking up with tablets and… Continue reading on Gear Diary ...

This is going to sound jaded and awful, but I am going to say it anyway: One of the absolute best things about being a product reviewer is that sometimes companies surprise you with packages containing items you didn’t know existed and you certainly didn’t expect to receive … and that you can’t wait to try out. But on the other hand, one of the absolute worst things about being a product reviewer is that sometimes companies surprise you with packages containing items you didn’t know existed and you certainly didn’t expect to receive … and you don’t necessarily even want to remove from their wrapper.

It’s true.

So today FedEx pulls up… Continue reading on Gear Diary ...

Speck has introduced two new bags for taking your netbook (up to 10″) or iPad on the go. The CorePack-10 and the PortPack-10 both feature Speck’s excellent design and high quality construction. Each has an MSRP of $49.95 and are available now.

Here’s a quick first look at both. We have review units of each and will have a thorough Gear Diary look in the next few days.

CorePack for Netbooks and iPad

Open up CorePack FLY 10’s butterfly design and it instantly becomes a portable work surface. The butterfly feature is also airport security checkpoint friendly, allowing you

Image courtesy of Pixel Qi

Just Yesterday Makershed.com started selling a Pixel Qi 10.1″ Do-It-Yourself screen kit and they are already out of stock and accepting preorders. If you’ve been living under a rock and are not familiar with Pixel Qi, then you should know this highly coveted technology is basically a normal viewable color screen indoors, and a super high contrast energy saving screen outdoors. The fact that it consumes 80% less energy while in outdoor mode wouldn’t even matter to me, just being able to see a screen at all really outdoors is worth it. Here’s the Pixel Qi definition of their screens:

Like standard backlit LCD displays, Pixel Qi displays renders quality full-color images

Longtime Gear Diary sponsor Skooba Design is offering a deal:  buy one of their red, white, or blue Neo-Skin iPad/Netbook sleeves, and get a second one for free.  (Red, white, and blue; fourth of July — you got that, right?)

The Skooba Neo-Skin has an MSRP of $19.95, and in these lean times everyone needs to save some change.  So if you’re looking for an iPad or netbook sleeve, surf on over to Skooba Design and check it out.

I carry my iPad with me pretty much everywhere I go these days. That means I need a good case… and a good bag. Tom Bihn was kind enough to send me one of their Ristretto bags. The Ristretto was originally designed for carrying netbooks but it works perfectly as an iPad bag. As soon as you look at the bag you are struck by the realization that this is a bag that was designed for use in the real world. It is relatively light when empty which is a good thing because part of the attraction of carrying the iPad instead of a netbook is the reduced weight. As you put items into… Continue reading on Gear Diary ...

The Neo Sleeve from Skooba Design is a protective case for your netbook or iPad.  Starting today and ending on May 6th, if you order one Neo Sleeve you’ll get a second one for free.  That’s right, two for the price of one.

The Sleeve comes in four color combinations and retails for $19.95.

To get in on the deal head to the Skooba web site and place any two colors of the Neo Sleeve in your shopping cart.  Then click the “UPDATE” button.

Made from neoprene it features a removable shoulder strap and smaller front pocket which can… Continue reading on Gear Diary ...

The tough part of trying to look professional is finding the right bag. It’s especially difficult if you are a woman; do you carry a purse AND a briefcase? If you choose briefcase, do you grab a bag small enough to double as a purse, or do you keep a small bag in your desk for lunchtime errands? Personally, I hate purses, small bags, etc. My pants came with pockets for a reason! Sadly, they don’t make cargo pants for women’s suits. That’s where bags like the Mobile Edge Netbook Bag come in…… Continue reading on Gear Diary ...

If you’re in need of a new bag for your gear and have been holding off, or are looking for a change, wait no longer!

Many of us here are Skooba bag fans (myself included), and they are having a ripper of a sale across their range of bags and accessories. The catch? You have to checkout their blog at www.skoobablog.com, which keeps you up to date on the latest news and product releases from Skooba. Amongst the posts you’ll find a 7-digit code hidden in a post or a photo that will give you 40% off a cart filled with over $40 worth of items! The coupon ends on 3/26/10 so get in quick!… Continue reading on Gear Diary ...

Everyone knows that a trip to the airport can be a tedious adventure.  Long lines, security checks and baggage checkpoints can all lengthen what is our fastest mode of travel.  Very few people travel without a computer any more.  Not only do they travel with a computer, but a growing number travel with a netbook or small laptop.  Many of these travelers want something more than just a sleeve for their netbook.  Something that can become a small gear bag.  To speed up the check-in and boarding process, the TSA has set guidelines for check point friendly carry-on luggage.  Mobile Edge has created a nice selection of bags that meet these guidelines and has just expanded their offerings with ScanFast Netbook Cases.… Continue reading on Gear Diary ...

Be.ez (be easy), a French brand that designs stylish accessories for the mobile lifestyle, announced a new addition to their popular line of protection sleeves for netbooks – LA robe Netbook 11.6. This netbook sleeve is nicely made with a very thick shock absorbing material, and it’s available in 2 different colors — Black & White and Red Kiss.

So, how good is this sleeve in doing its job, protecting your precious netbook? Read on to find out!

Features:-

• Low Resilience Polyurethane (LRPu) Technology
• Robe protection Thickness 5MM
• Trendy, Unique Design
• Inner Lip for maximum protection
• Stand alone or in your bag
• No more scratches for your Netbook

Larry previously reviewed Gelaskins and we’ve recently posted about their release of National Geographic Gelaskins.  However, just this week Gelaskins has gotten a lot more super!  Marvel characters like Spider-Man, Iron Man, the X-Men, Wolverine, the Hulk, the Fantastic Four, Captain America, Daredevil, the Punisher, Ghost Rider, Doctor Strange and others are now available in various forms direct from Gelaskins.

The company was kind enough to send me two of the Iron Man skins for netbooks and I decide to apply the skins showcasing Iron Man and War Machine.  The skins went onto my netbook in a flash and looks great!  Any air bubbles were easily pushed out and if I decide I want a different Gelaskin at a later date, it will peel right off and it leaves no residue.… Continue reading on Gear Diary ...

Some people decorate and adorn their laptops with stickers or Gelaskins.  Sometimes you can buy a laptop that comes with a design on the back of the LCD that just begs to be shown off all the time even when it’s in the case.  That is exactly what the Altego Laptop Sleeve was made for.… Continue reading on Gear Diary ...

Tell me that you haven’t been bothered when it came time to pack for a trip, and you didn’t have an organized and protective way to carry your cables, chargers, and miscellaneous gear. I’ll tell you what I usually do with mine – charging cables get put in the side pocket of my carry-on, syncing/charging cables go into my laptop bag, and camera chargers and other items that don’t get put in my laptop bag usually get shuffled into the cracks and crevices of my carry-on. This arrangement works fine for the most part, but I have accepted that anytime I do this I am going to forget something – for instance it was my miniUSB cable when I went to CES. This wouldn’t have been that big of a deal, but I needed it to transfer photos to my laptop. Okay, it was a big deal. This could have been avoided if I had a better system of organizing my cables and smaller gear when traveling — or even when at home, for that matter. And that’s where the completely redesigned Cable Stable DLX from Skooba Design comes in.

The case, which looks and opens like a book, features a grid of elastic hold-downs in different sizes and orientations. The elastic strips “float” freely under reinforced retention strips, so they can easily stretch and contract to accommodate a nearly limitless assortment of portable gadgets, cords, adapters, and other accessories. According to Skooba spokesperson Lorri Diggory, “It’s not at all unusual to travel with a laptop, phone, music/media device, digital camera or compact video camera, and more. That means bringing along at least a half-dozen cords, adapters, media cards, extra batteries, and other ‘support gear.’

It seems like packing chargers and cables in this would be much more effective, if for no other reason than because you could get an immediate view of what was present and what was missing. And who says you can only use it for tech gear? Lori Diggory from Skooba Design says the Stable Cable DLX is  also handy for “using as a netbook case, cosmetic/toiletry kit, and even a storage case for kids’ travel distractions.” Not a bad idea, and they can be had for $39.95.… Continue reading on Gear Diary ...