Gear Diary Headline News Reader

We talk up the folks at Eton quite a bit for their excellent emergency radios and lights. If your home and camping kits don’t have at least an Eton radio, stop what you’re doing and go shop for one. I’ll be right here waiting. They’re versatile, offer…

“The beginning of truly intelligent TV”… “A huge day for all entertainment”… These are some of the memorable quotes from today’s Microsoft Xbox announcement presentation, which included two female media executives sharing the stage, military dogs…

A bit less than two years ago, I excitedly drove to my nearby Verizon store to give up my Motorola Droid and jump ship over to an iPhone 4s. I was sure this would be a great match, and my days of smartphone-hopping were over. And they were, for quite a while.…

As noted pretty much everywhere last week, Google introduced new stuff at Google I/O. They also had a keynote by Larry Page, and one of the things he said that was picked up widely was: Every story I read about Google is “us versus some other company” or…

A good case on an iPad is a must have; not only do you need protection but also some function for many uses in different situations. I prefer cases that double as a stand while also providing some protection. Folio cases are also among my favorites since they…

OK, I will admit to being almost entirely negative about the state of music production apps on the Android platform. Much of this centers on one absolute reality – iOS has core audio services built-in that take care of things for developers, whereas on…

The Swann HD PenCam Mini 720p Video Camera and Recorder will let dad feel like a super agent man. The camera looks like a ballpoint pen one minute, but it transforms into a high-tech spying device the next. As a pen the Swann HD PenCam Mini 720p Video Camera…

For you tennis aficionados out there, the 2013 French Open is nearly upon us, and if you are gainfully employed (read: busy working away from the TV) you might have some difficulty keeping abreast of the latest match developments while at work. You know the…

I upgraded my camera to the Sony NEX-6 today, and I am already loving it. At $899 for the body and lens kit, the NEX-6 is pricey. But for the size, speed, and image quality — it really can’t be beat. One of the new features on both the NEX-5r and the NEX-6…

I remember being about 20 miles into my first marathon, and the pacer making a very big deal about breathing deeply and in general watching our breathing closely. Even then this was not news – after getting myself into ‘fuel trouble’ on my first…

I’m a big fan of Bluetooth enabled, wireless speakers in this age of cell phones, tablets, and computers.  We’re always on the go, always have our mobile phones with us, and therefore, many of us carry our music collections with us as well.  Even if you…

EA Sports, Amazon, and DirecTV have released details on great deals included in the upcoming limited-edition version of the Madden NFL 25 Anniversary Edition video game for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. These deals equal more than $400 at a $99.99 Madden NFL 25…

I don’t know about you, but when I think of “products from Germany”, I think of severe stuff, by and large.  BMW and Audi cars.  Fine engineering, expensive, heavy-duty.  When I think of Germany, I don’t think of goofy stuff.  Germany makes you…

If you own any device with a touchscreen, then you know all too well how quickly and easily they get dirt and grease and all sorts of crud all over them. I tend to have a small microfiber wipe with me in my car and my laptop bag at all times, and a couple of…

As far as I’m concerned, the more choices there are out there among cell phone service providers the better.  Yes, I have AT&T and I’m okay with that, but I would be more than happy to move to another service that offers a bit more flexibility.  For…

Gadgets have become packed with more and more features, many of which we end up forgetting about or just never use. When the Roku 3 was announced, we had an internal discussion at Gear Diary about how the headphone jack in the remote was a useless feature —…

At Google I/O last week we got to see a number of new things, including the music service we already reported on as well as the ‘-1′ to Google’s myriad chat options with ‘Hangouts’ combining chat and talk. But as a gamer who has enjoyed more and more…

“Industrialist” Dale Carnegie started a training course to help people learn to success in a capitalist system, and he did it 100 years ago.  By American standards, that’s almost unbelievable.  (If you’re in Europe or most parts of Asia, where you…

I reviewed Toast’s wood back for the iPad mini back in March. (Read the review.) It went on easily and looked good. Unfortunately a key shortcoming led me to remove it shortly after posting the review. My summary comments on the iPad mini cover say it all……

Handheld game systems are great on long summer car trips or on the beach, so grab a quality arsenal before you head out the door for warmer weather fun. Recently released exclusive Nintendo 3DS games generating some heat include LEGO City Undercover: The Chase…

When I began doing Couch to 5K again (something I need to do yet again tomorrow because I let too much time pass between runs) I needed a way to carry my iPhone. After all, during a run my phone is not only my music source but it is also my “trainer”……

Oh No Fractions! 2.0 for iOS is now available As a guy who, for a while, actually majored in math (or “maths”, for you British folks) in college, that most people “hate math” is something that always kind of baffled me.  To me, it was a always a game,…

Magic Paint with Math: Funny Math Tutor for Kids for Android and iOS Okay, I don’t know why but for some reason we’ve gotten not one but two different notices about new math apps this week.  (And no, they’re not from the same company.)   Given that…

Geneva Sound markets the Geneva Sound System Model XS as “the world’s first portable audio system with true Hi-Fi sound”. That’s a pretty daring claim to make and one that can easily be dismissed as a good bit of hyperbole. Does this Bluetooth speaker…

The never-ending battle for king of the smartphones has never been more interesting, with the Samsung Galaxy S 4 leading the charge. Looking much like its very successful predecessor, Samsung is banking on its new-found brand swagger to convince people its…