Poll: Would you pre-order an Apple Tablet right now if you could?

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Apple, Features, Handhelds

Gear Live Poll

Would you pre-order the Apple Tablet right now, sight unseen?

• Definitely. I know it is gonna be hot.
• No, I really need to see it first.
• Don't think I'm gonna buy one either way

Submitting ...

Poll Results

• Definitely. I know it is gonna be hot.
  58.03% 
• No, I really need to see it first.
  15.58% 
• Don't think I'm gonna buy one either way
  26.39% 

Okay, we know that Apple will be launching their new tablet device at their January 27th event next week, and the hype for the device is unlike anything we’ve experienced in the tech world, and that includes the pre-iPhone hype. We just wanna get a gauge on what you guys are thinking right now. So tell us, would you pre-order the Apple Tablet/iPad/iSlate today if you could, with no concrete knowledge of what exactly it does or how it will work?

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Giveaway: 10 FastPencil Book Publishing Packages

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Announcements, Features, Internet

If you’re an aspiring author who’s been wanting to publish a book, or if you’ve got a blog that you think would be fantastic as a printed work, pay attention. FastPencil has hooked us up with 10 giveaway packages that will let you take your work and put it into a physical, published form, for free. In case you aren’t aware, FastPencil is a super-simple way for anyone to write, organize, sell, and distribute physical books, as well as ebooks. Ten of you will win:

• A free printed book
• A free eBook
• Free shipping and handling

In order to redeem, you’d just put in your original work in the FastPencil system, or if you have a blog, it can be automatically imported. Seriously, it’s very cool, and we’re gonna hook up 10 of you with the prize package. How do you enter? Simple. Just leave a comment here on this post, or over on the Gear Live Facebook page. We will choose ten people randomly a week from today!

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Diddy Beats packaging revealed

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Accessories, CES, CES 2010, Features, Music, Portable Audio / Video

During CES 2010, Monster announced the Diddy Beats, an addition to the Beats by Dr. Dre headphone line. The Diddy Beats are leather-wrapped in-ears that sport a high-polished enamel end cap with the letters “db” on them. They should be available in March or April for $179, but for now, we’ve got a look at the packaging to hold you over.

Gallery: Diddy Beats packaging revealed

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Follow Gear Live CES updates on Twitter!

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Announcements, CES, CES 2010, Features

We’re on hand at CES 2010, capturing the sights and sounds as normal, and we figured we’d let you guys know that you can get instant updates from us over on the Gear Live Twitter account. We are posting live findings and images of some of the coolest gadgets that we find during events and from the show floor. Be sure to check it out!

Read More | Twitter: Gear Live

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Top 10 Gear Live Videos of 2009

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Apple, Cell Phones, Features, Handhelds, Music, PC / Laptop, Software, Video Games, Videos

2009 is just about over, and we are just in time with our annual top 10 list of the most-watched Gear Live video episodes. Over the past year, as expected, there was a bunch of Apple gear that made the list, but Microsoft gets the top two spots with our Xbox 360 dashboard tour, and the Zune HD hands-on preview. Also getting an honorable mention is the Motorola DROID and Elgato Turbo.264 transcoding device.

Oh, and if you wanna be sure to get our new video episodes as they come out in 2010, be sure to subscribe to us in iTunes, on YouTube, or in your RSS reader!

Click to continue reading Top 10 Gear Live Videos of 2009

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Winner of our HP Envy 13 notebook

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Announcements, Features, PC / Laptop, Videos

When we announced our HP Envy 13 giveaway, we knew you guys would show up with some videos showing what it was that you wanted the Envy 13 to do for you (or in some cases, someone else, holiday season and all.) In all, 57 of you guys hit us with video responses on YouTube to enter. We figured it would mostly consist of people talking into a webcam (we were right,) which was fine with us. The winner was chosen by random, so there wasn’t really any reason to go all out anyway.

Imagine our surprise when we went in today and chose a random winner (hat tip to Random.org,) and it turned out to be a music video! We then started peeking around at some of the other entries, and there was definitely some creativity going on. The video at the top is done by YouTube user TheSumbiProject, and he is our random winner. We will reach out to him as soon as we hit publish on this post. That said, we wanted to share some of the other interesting entries we received, so you’ll find those after the break.

Click to continue reading Winner of our HP Envy 13 notebook

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2009 Holiday Gift Guide: Casio Exilim Zoom EX-Z280

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Cameras, Features, Family, Women, Men, Under $250

Casio rocks it this year with the Exilim Zoom EX-Z280 digital camera, and we like it enough that we are recommending it in this years gift guide. It sports a dedicated Easy Mode, making it easy enough for pretty much anyone who enjoys pressing buttons to operate, while still maintaining the advanced features for more experienced pros, including ones that you don’t typically find on budget-priced digital cameras. One such feature is mechanical (instead of digital) image stabilization, giving you nice clear shots while you stumble around during a holiday party after one-too-many eggnogs, as well as a 4x optical zoom lens. In addition, it shoots video in 720p, so it can even take the place of your Flip-style camcorder. You can grab one now for $173 on Amazon.

Read More | Casio Exilim

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Barnes and Noble nook vs. Amazon Kindle: Size comparison shots

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Features, Handhelds

Hot on the heels of our Barnes & Noble nook unboxing gallery, we got a ton of requests from you guys asking us to compare the nook directly against the Kindle 2. So we put the nook right up against Amazon’s Kindle 2, and shot some photos. In a nutshell, the nook is smaller in length and width, but is a little but thicker than the Kindle 2. I personally don’t think one has an advantage over the other in terms of size, but hey, check out the nook vs Kindle size comparison gallery, and judge for yourself, mmkay?

Gallery: Barnes and Noble nook vs. Amazon Kindle: Size comparison shots

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And we have a Pwnedface COD:MW2 Xbox 360 winner!

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Announcements, Features, Video Games

Over the past month we’ve been running our Pwnedface Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 Xbox 360 giveaway, asking you guys to use Shoot It! to send us postcards of your best pwnedface. What’s a pwnedface, you ask? That would be the face you make when you get pwned in a game, or when you are doing the pwning. We got a ton of entries, and finally selected our random winner - that’s his entry above.

We’ve chosen some of the shots that we thought were pretty funny, and put then into our pwnedface photo gallery - we definitely loved seeing all the entries come in, and a lot of laughter was had. A big thank you goes out to the folks at Shoot It! for sponsoring the giveaway. All the postcards you see? They were generated by our readers using the Shoot It! app on their iPhone or BlackBerry devices, right on their phone.

The giveaways aren’t done! Be sure to enter our HP Envy 13 notebook giveaway, which is currently ongoing!

Gallery: And we have a Pwnedface COD:MW2 Xbox 360 winner!

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Win our HP Envy 13 premium notebook!

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Announcements, Features, PC / Laptop, Videos

Remember that HP Envy 13 we showed off a couple of weeks ago? Yeah, the one that was even featured in Lady Gaga’s Bad Romance music video? Well, thanks to HP, we’ve got one to give away to one of our readers. All you need to tell is is what you want the HP Envy to do for you. Need some ideas? Check out the video above. There are a few guidelines:

• Videos may be SD or HD, live-action, or animation, and must be under 100 MBs in size.
• Videos must clearly answer the question “What do you want the new HP Envy to do for you?”
• Videos must be posted to YouTube, and announced on Twitter with a link to the YouTube video. Start your tweet with “Hey @gearlive” and include the hashtag #HPEnvy.
• All content must be owned by entrant.
• Anything depicting violence, bodily harm (including cigarette smoking), profanity, nudity or explicit sexual content, or unlawful activity, including underage drinking, binge drinking, or gambling is not permitted in any video submission.

So, why is the HP Envy 13 cool? There are a bunch of reasons you should be interested. Aside from being slim and stylish, it weighs just 3.74 pounds and is less than 1-inch thin. It rocks a 1.86GHz Intel Core 2 Duo that lets you play Blu-ray movies or edit video without lag, and there’s even an optional ultra-high capacity battery that’ll last up to 18 hours. Lastly, the 400 nit display is gorgeous, twice as bright as other similar notebook displays.

Wanna win? You’ve got all the details - get to work on submitting those videos! You have until December 18th at 11:59 PM PST to get them in.

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