With Steve Jobs no longer guiding the helm of day-to-day operations at Apple, it was unclear what would become of the company. Would they manage to continue to produce innovative technologies like the Apple ][ and Macintosh … or would they succumb to producing generic grey-box computers that look like everything else on any given desktop workplace? Well, based on a product introduction held in London (you can see the video for it here), we know that Apple will not give up its industry-leading technology advancement position anytime soon!

Here is the product – called ‘Newton’, this device allows you to use a pen-like stylus to interact with a software system and… Continue reading on Gear Diary ...

Every now and then a product comes along that is, to use a word, magical. The new item does something new and, in doing so, promises to “change everything”.

That’s the case with the brand new Parker 51. The Parker 51 is not like anything you have seen before. It promises to solve many of the issues that have a long plagued those of us who use a traditional fountain pen. It employs brand new technology and is a taste of the future, NOW. At least that is what Parker is telling us. Does it live up to the hype? Let’s take a closer look… Continue reading on Gear Diary ...

I have talked a lot about business models in the music industry, about popular, indie and niche genres, sales trends, and more … but today I have the great fortune to talk about an invention that will undoubtedly revolutionize the world or recorded music: ‘digital’ music stored on a ‘compact’ disk. What is this all about? Let me tell you!

Digital Music
We live in a world of digits – all of the information on our mainframes and personal computers and even our pocket calculators are stored as a series of 1′s and 0′s. This ‘binary’ format can represent just about anything, if you can afford the bits! For example, the screen… Continue reading on Gear Diary ...

I give indie games developers loads of coverage – they are hard-working, dedicated, and customer-focused, providing a service to long-time gamers that EA and others have long since abandoned. One such developer is Thomas Riegsecker of Basilisk Games. I love his Eschalon games, and am hotly anticipating the release of Book III.

But today Thomas surprised everyone by going back the series origins and introducing Eschalon Book Zero. And while the other games have targeted the gamer who has a love for the classic PC RPGs such as Baldur’s Gate and Wizardry, the new game targets another abandoned gamer – the classic console gamer. As each new console generation comes along, the old… Continue reading on Gear Diary ...

As anyone who has whiled away the hours playing Dungeon or Trek on your PDP-10 or S/360 knows – video games are fast becoming a BIG DEAL! Atari has caught on to this phenomenon, and already released the exciting Pong arcade game a couple of years back. But now they are ready to take it to the next level – with the C-100 Pong console they are bringing all the thrill of pong into your HOME!

The Hype:
Pong is a two-dimensional sports game that simulates table tennis. The player controls an in-game paddle by moving it vertically across the left side of the screen, and can compete against either a computer controlled opponent… Continue reading on Gear Diary ...

I am training for a half-marathon that’s coming up like a freight train (three weeks!) So I am on the prowl for easy to use energy food while on my long runs and during the race.

Unfortunately, many energy gels upset my stomach, so imagine how excited I was to see that Gu Energy has a new line of osmos-based energy gels! Now I won’t need to worry about water to wash down a gel, or get my hands all sticky trying to eat and run!

Here’s an excerpt explaining all the science behind skin-based energy gels, though I strongly encourage you to visit Gu’s official DermaCharge site. They are giving away a trial of their… Continue reading on Gear Diary ...

It just doesn’t get any better than this! Geeks and Watch aficionados alike have been eagerly waiting the Light Emitting Diode (LED) technology found in the Omega Time Computer, and it is finally here — just in time for Father’s Day and graduation! Available in 14K white or yellow gold-filled, or 18K solid gold for those who want the very best, the Omega Constellation LED Time Computer I has a gorgeous and futuristic red LED dot display, and it is accurate to within five seconds a month.

What is an LED and how does it work inside this watch?

A light emitting diode is a semiconductor diode. The dimensions are

Fire! It cooks our food and warms our caves.

Fire! It keeps the predators away and let’s us see when the flaming ball of light goes away for a time.

Fire! It can be hard to start and, once going, an ever-present job to keep stoked.

Fire! We don’t want to live without it but living with it can be a pain.

Until now!

Yes, for the first time starting a fire is as simple as rubbing one magic stick on a piece of black paper. It is magical. It is revolutionary. It is the most important… Continue reading on Gear Diary ...

There’s been a huge leap forwards in book technology, and here at Gear Diary we have an exclusive first look! It’s exciting, it’s svelte and pocketable, it’s shiny and colorful and new…yes, I’m talking about the paperback book!

Sure, we’re all familiar with the usual hardcovers and scrolls, but this is a breakthrough. Now you can carry two, even three titles with you for the same space and weight as a hardcover title. But is the smaller size and convenience worth the tradeoff against the heft and comforting size of a hardcover? Read on to find out!

My first impression upon opening the review sample… Continue reading on Gear Diary ...

I have seen the future of mobile phones and it comes from… Dubai!?!? Yes, this phone comes from the up-and-comer I-mate, a company that is set to take the mobile world by storm and promises to be on top for decades to come.

When I first took the Jam out of the box I wasn’t exactly sure what I was looking at. Is it a big phone or is it a small computer? Well, in actuality it is both. The i-mate™ JAM is

the smallest Windows Pocket PC available. It includes GPRS for Internet or remote office access, and features Bluetooth, Windows Pocket PC Second Edition, 64MB RAM, an SDIO/MMC slot, a 64k colour transreflective

It never fails. You’re taking the lunch order for your office, and everything is fine until the total runs past $20. Suddenly you can’t just use YOUR fingers and toes, now you need to include your coworkers dirty feet too. And who wants to be near that many stinky toes right before lunch?

Luckily, a non-fingers and toes based calculator has been announced, the “Abacus”. Way more portable than a stone slate, and you can even customize with multiple colors! Support your favorite March Madness team as you add!

Check out the link below for some more information, and then tell us in the comments: how much are you drooling over all that sweet computing power?… Continue reading on Gear Diary ...

While Judie, Larry and I were ordering our iPads earlier today, Carly was watching Amazon.com. She was curious what, if anything, Amazon might do in response to the iPad’s pre-order going live. This was especially the case since it turns out the iPad does something awesome for eBooks.

Turn it from portrait to landscape and… bam… you get two facing pages- just like the “dead tree edition”.

Carly’s comment, “I sure hope this puts a fire under Amazon for the next Kindle.”

Well that got me thinking. I did some research and… discovered that Amazon.com got an order shortly after the iPad went online from none other than the big guy himself.

For a peek into what might be going on at Amazon.com’s head office check out this exclusive picture…

(underlying image courtesy Haunted Ventures)

Ever since the Droid landed at Verizon, everyone has wondered when AT&T would embrace the cuddly green robot phones. When it was announced that the Motorola Backflip, a rather unusual cousin to the Cliq, would be the first Android phone to hit the Deathstar AT&T, it sounded intriguing. It certainly would catch people’s eyes with it’s funky keyboard placement; no one is mistaking it for an iPhone wannabe! But there’s something different about the Backflip beyond the keyboard…it won’t be using Google for search.

Nope. AT&T took a long, hard look at Android, at the obvious Google connections, and opted to use the logical choice in search providers: Yahoo! Well, it makes sense if you are AT&T and use insane troll logic!

What could AT&T have been thinking? I polled some of the flies on the wall that were present during the brainstorming session with Darth Vader AT&T executives, and here’s the scoop.… Continue reading on Gear Diary ...

Worried about AT&T’s connectivity after the iPad starts gobbling up its already strained network? Yeah, me too…

Thanks to my friend, graphic artist Rich Awad for taking the kernel of an idea and putting it into this visual… Continue reading on Gear Diary ...

So Larry and I both have Nexus Ones to play with… and we are rather impressed thus far. Still, we aren’t getting rid of our iPhones any time soon and, no matter how nice the Nexus One may be we are still fanboys at heart…… Continue reading on Gear Diary ...