Latest Gear Live Videos
24kt gold and sapphire Macbook Air

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Apple, Design, Mods / Hacks, PC / Laptop,

The fine folks over at Computer Choppers have decided it best to take an average, everyday Macbook Air and deck it out in 24 karat gold. As if that wasn’t enough, they also covered the Apple logo in multi-colored sapphires, which we actually think looks kind of mint. To complete the whole package, they’ve even gone ahead and gold-plated the MacBook Air SuperDrive as well. After all, you don’t wanna be rocking the iced out computer, only to have to break out the old and busted optical drive, do you? Didn’t think so.
Check out the 24k MacBook Air gallery for more images.
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Twinkle, the iPhone Twitter client

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Apple, Smartphones, Features, Handhelds, Internet, Software,
If you own an iPhone and use Twitter, you are gonna wanna keep an eye on Twinkle. The app was just released this morning, and it is already my favorite iPhone Twitter client. Better than the mobile version of Twitter, better than Hahlo, and better than MobileTwitter. It supports photos with your Tweets, taken right from the iPhone camera, as well as geolocation. There is even a “Near Me” section that will show you other Twitter users in your area.
In order to install Twinkle, you’ll need to jailbreak your iPhone, and then add “http://www.polarbearfarm.com/repo/” to your Installer.app sources list. We’ve compiled a few screenshots of Twinkle, which you can find in our Twinkle gallery.
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HP Garage photo tour

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Corporate News, Features, PC / Laptop,

We had the honor of getting invited to tour the HP Garage, considered almost universally to be the “birthplace of Silicon Valley.” In a nutshell, the HP Garage is a literal 12’ x 18’ wooden garage. This is where Dave Packard and Bill Hewlett founded the Hewlett-Packard company, way back when in 1939. Yes, even HP was a struggling, bootstrapped startup.
The Gear Live crew, along with Xavier from Notebooks.com, Michael from Hardware Geeks, and Rob from Windows Now, got a fantastic history lesson from HP Archivist Anna Mancini. If you are a geek like we are, you would have had a blast hearing all the interesting tidbits that Anna shared. For example, did you know that the company name was decided by the flip of a coin? Had the coin landed different, the company would have instead been named Packard-Hewlett, and would no doubt have been nowhere near successful. That’s how those things work, right?
Another interesting fact is that the bread and butter of HP was their line of audio oscillators, which they actually made by hand. They even baked the metal slabs in their kitchen oven. Way to save cash, eh? After Disney ordered eight of them to use in conjunction with the release of Fantasia, HP was well on its way to the big time.
We’ve put together an HP Garage tour photo gallery, featuring a good 26 images that Xavier Lanier graciously hooked us up with. Check it out for a fantastic glimpse into the history of consumer electronics.
Read More | HP Garage photo tour
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AirPort Express 802.11n unboxing gallery

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Apple, Features, Galleries, Networking,
A few days ago, Apple released the new AirPort Express with 802.11n Wi-Fi built-in. The release signified the completion of Apple’s wireless router line moving to the 802.11n Draft 2.0 standard, and they kept the price at an affordable $99 USD. We went down to the local Apple Store to pick one of these up to use alongside our AirPort Extreme and Time Capsule, which means we have a beefy N network rocking here at Gear Live HQ. Using the three in tandem is fantastic, especially for wireless Time Machine support.
We just put up an AirPort Express 802.11n unboxing gallery. We’ve got a good 12 images up there for your perusal giving you a look at how compact the AirPort Express wireless router is, as long as the ports and the power connector, among other things. Go give it a look.
AirPort Express 802.11n Unboxing Gallery
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Apple Time Capsule vs. Airport Extreme size comparison

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Apple, Features, PC / Laptop, Storage, Wireless / WiFi,
If our Time Capsule unboxing gallery wasn’t enough for you, we’ve got a bit more for you in term of images of Apple‘s new NAS wireless router. We know that images can be deceiving, so we thought we’d put the current Airport Express router up against the Time Capsule and snap some photos so that you can see the size difference. The Time Capsule is definitely larger - understandable, since it has to pack in a 500 GB or 1 TB hard drive. Aside from size, the only other really obvious difference between the two is that the Airport Extreme has a white Apple logo, while Time Capsule’s is silver. Check out the rest of the shots in our Time Capsule vs. Airport Extreme size comparison gallery.
Read More | Time Capsule vs. Airport Extreme
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Apple Time Capsule unboxing gallery

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Apple, Features, Galleries, Networking,
Over the past day, we’ve been putting Apple‘s Time Capsule through its paces, and so far, we like what we see. We will be updating you with some impressions in a future post, but for now, we figured we’d hit you with another one of our unboxing galleries. We have a good 18 shots of Apple’s backup NAS wireless router that works hand-in-hand with Time Machine in all of its glory over in our Time Capsule unboxing gallery. Check it out.
Also, if you are interested, here is a Time Capsule vs. Airport Extreme size comparison gallery.
Time Capsule unboxing gallery
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The Big Skinny Wallet review

Posted by Sparky Categories: Accessories, Wearables, Misc. Tech, Product Reviews,
While overly-thick wallets are not an oft discussed problem in our modern world, having a big fat wad of a wallet in your pocket can lead to back strain and unsightly bulging of the pants. The folks over at Big Skinny have an ingenious (although blindingly obvious) solution: a line of thin, lightweight wallets.
We got our hands on two of their most popular models and took them for a spin. Check out our review after the jump, as well as our Big Skinny wallet image gallery.
Click to continue reading The Big Skinny Wallet review
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Gallery: MacBook Air unboxing

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Apple, Features, Galleries, Laptop,
Apple‘s latest gem, the MacBook Air, has been around for just about two weeks now. We got our hands on one of the SSD-based units, and are currently working on our full review. In the meantime, we figured this unboxing gallery might be of interest. We grabbed about 40 shots of the notebook that sports the mad thinness, all for your viewing pleasure in our MacBook Air unboxing gallery.
MacBook Air unboxing gallery
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iPhone 1.1.3 firmware feature gallery

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Accessories, Apple, Smartphones, Features, Software,

UPDATE: In case you thought this was fake, Steve Jobs just confirmed that our 1.1.3 coverage is real in his MacWorld 2008 keynote.
Looks like the soon-to-be-released iPhone firmware 1.1.3 has quite a few surprises. We were able to get a look at it, and here is what we found:
- The ability to send an SMS message to multiple people is now there
- Google Maps application can now pinpoint your location using cell tower triangulation
- Google Maps can now display the Hybrid map view
- You can now drag and drop application icons on your home screen
- The home screen supports pagination
- You can now add web bookmarks to your home screen
That is all we have found for now. We also know that is you used AnySIM to unlock your phone, you can expect the 1.1.3 update to brick it. Good times. Take a look at our iPhone Firmware 1.1.3 Gallery for a photo tour of the new stuff. By the way, if you are looking for an excellent program to create custom ringtones for your iPhone, check out iPhone RingToneMaker.
EDIT: We are answering your iPhone 1.1.3 questions! Check out our first batch of iPhone 1.1.3 answers here.
Read More | iPhone 1.1.3 Feature Gallery
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Gallery: Unboxing the Apple iPhone Bluetooth Headset

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Apple, Cell Phones, Features, Galleries, Handhelds,
We know the iPhone Bluetooth Headset has been around for a few months now, but we figured, better late than never, right? In the iPhone Bluetooth Headset Unboxing gallery, we show off the headset itself, the dual dock, the iPhone’s dual charge status screen, and we even do a size comparison between the Apple Bluetooth Headset and the Aliph Jawbone. We’ve got 20 pictures in all, so head on over to the gallery to check them out.
iPhone Bluetooth Headset Unboxing Gallery