The Gadgets Page

This entry by Ms. Jen started with a conversation about the difference between her Nokia N95 and the iPhone. She suggested that the N95 was for creating content, whereas the iPhone was merely for consuming it.

Considering I write several blog entries a day on my iPhone when I’m out and about, I had to disagree. The iPhone camera is nothing compared the Nokia N95 camera, but I am able to write much easier with the iPhone than I would be with the keypad on the N95. It just depends on WHAT you want to create.

So Ms. Jen asked the question:

• Mobile Playflow – Black Phoebe :: Ms. Jen

Now what are you going to do with your delicious, lovely, new iPhone?

No, don’t show me how it maps directions to Google Maps, my Nokia N95 can do that with the onboard GPS. No, don’t show me the two handed keyboard technique you have developed, as we both know that a teenager can kick your two handed technique with one thumb.

Show me what are you going to create with your iPhone on your iPhone. Don’t look at me like a deer in headlights.

She brings up many beautiful points about using the cell phone as a creative tool. I write with my cell phone. I even wrote with my Treo, despite the clunky interface.

What do you create with your phone? How do you use it? Does it just hide in your pocket, waiting for someone to call or do you pull it out several times a day?

Here is the original promotional video for iPod. We had this original iPod, but only PCs, so we had to have a special cable to plug the iPod into the computer. Aside from that, the iPod was oceans easier to use than any other MP3 player that we had tried.

Sad thing is, Mike commandeered it and didn’t let me use it until he got a Nano years later.

It still works, although the hard drive wheezes and whines as if it is near death.

I’ve just come home from babysitting my nieces and nephew. We put them to bed and had a couple hours to wait until their parents came home and our iPhones kept us busy. No laptop. No television. Just Mike and I using our iPhones to watch television, listen to music, answer email and read RSS. If you had told me that I would be able to do this much with my phone back then, I would have placed the laurels on Palm, but it was Apple who finally brought back the Newton, rechristened and MUCH more useful.

Thanks, Apple.

A couple of weeks ago, PC and Pixel ran this comic:

It highlights how the gadget industry makes me feel about the HD Vs. Blu-Ray choice. Both standards are completely unviewable on my “old fashioned” television. My “measly” 27 inch screen isn’t 1080p and it isn’t even digital, so why should I care?

I like to imagine this scenario in heaven. If you have ANY answer to the HD or Blu-Ray question, they send you back. If you say, “Aw man, I didn’t go with either. After the BetaMax vs. VHS fiasco, I decided I wasn’t going to upgrade,” they let you straight into heaven.

Looks like a lot of people are feeling like me:

• False starts in race to future of DVDs | CNET News.com

At an industry conference last week, representatives from Microsoft (HD DVD), Sony and Pioneer (Blu-ray), sniped at each other over the number of copies of 300 sold on each format. Blu-ray claims its version of the disc outsold HD DVD’s by a margin of two to one in the first week. The breakdown was actually 65 percent Blu-ray, 35 percent HD DVD, according to a Warner Bros. representative.

But only when you consider that the studio sold more than 5 million copies of 300 on standard DVD does it become clear that all this posturing is over less than 5 percent of sales. On the hardware side, DisplaySearch said 5 percent of sales of standalone DVD players in September were either HD DVD or Blu-ray.

HD Vs. Blu-Ray seems like a moot point. I bet the industry sidesteps BOTH formats and goes strictly download. The fact that industry’s biggest players are feuding about this just goes to show how out of the loop they are.

A special thank you to Ballard Street for recognizing the hackers and the makers.

VOIP stands for “Voice Over IP.” It’s a way to make telephone calls using your Internet connection instead of the normal phone lines. It can be incredibly less expensive if you make long distance or international phone calls on a regular basis.

It’s also a pain in the butt to set up and use. Many times the signal will cut out and the quality can be much lower than even your cell phone, especially if you try to use the Internet when you are on a phone call.

The first VOIP company I ever heard of was Vonage. It used to be REALLY cheap to use them, but slowly over the years, they have raised their prices. Now, it looks like there are lots of companies ready to undercut them. One of them is Ooma.

On JetSet this week, Zadi and Steve show off Ooma, which is a VOIP phone system that works differently than the others.

It is a Linux box that connects between your Internet connection and your computer. When you are calling, it will give priority to the voice data packets and manage the data packets around the talking.

Instead of a monthly fee like Vonage, Ooma only has the initial setup fee for the Ooma box and accessories. When compared to Vonage (2 lines over 3 years), Ooma would cost $438 and Vonage would cost $2100.

Of course, in three years, the entire world could be completely different than it is now. If you currently use Vonage, Ooma might be for you.

If you don’t know what Vonage or VOIP is, then stick with your land line or cellphone. Dealing with VOIP right now can be time-consuming and unreliable, even if you have an easy to set up system like Ooma.

Centro is the first smart thing Palm has done for years. By pricing it at $99, they have cornered the market on entry-level smartphones. Instead of trying to compete with the iPhone, Palm is carving out a niche of their own, undercutting the iPhone and out-buttoning the Blackberry Pearl.

Here is a review of the Centro from Treonauts:

• Palm Centro Review | Treonauts

It’s just a shame that the cellphone providers do such a shoddy job of supporting them.

Owen Thomas from ValleyWag has written a scathing critique of print magazines and suggests that they are unable to keep up in our ever changing world.

• Media: Why print magazines should stop covering gadgets – Valleywag

But the painfully slow publication cycle of monthly magazines is crashing into the ever-faster world of gadgets — with embarrassing results, as seen in the October issue of Entrepreneur.

He goes on to talk about the October issue of Entrepreneur magazine and how they provided a review of the Palm Foleo, which was squashed by Palm before ever hitting the stores. My instinct was to agree with Owen, but anyone who is getting their gadgets advice from Entrepreneur magazine probably won’t be bothered by an inaccurate article.

What do you think? Do you like to read the gadget articles in magazines? Do you think they’re outdated? Are they good enough for light entertainment?

I have been watching the third party applications eagerly for anyone to create a Nike+ app for my iPhone. It has been the one thing that I have wanted on my iPhone since before it was available. There is hope that Apple might support Nike+, so I had given up the idea of unlocking my iPhone. I don’t actually CARE about ringtones and NES emulators.

Jason Kottke’s idea, however, is the one feature I would unlock my iPhone for:

• A feature I would like on my iPhone… (kottke.org)

A feature I would like on my iPhone: every single call gets recorded (at a low bitrate to conserve storage space) and stored on the phone for a short period of time. Playback works like the visual voicemail feature.

Any time I have ever had to record a phone call, I have realized it AFTER the call is over or during the call, when I can’t really grab a tape recorder easily. This feature would be great for resolving arguments, protecting ourselves and recording the voice of shy loved ones. God, if I had had this feature, I could have had a recording of my grandpa before he died. Why didn’t I think of that?

Yes, please, third party app creators: create this for me!

Microsoft has created a new online service for you. It’s a portal called Health Vault where you can keep track of all your health information online. It’s free and you are supposed to be able to give your doctors permission to upload your data there. Sheldon Comics eloquently put into words my gut reaction to it:

Sheldon Comics by Dave Kellett (10-10-07): Click to see full comic

The worst thing about this situation is that Microsoft is our BEST option here. Our healthcare system is in such shambles that a website like this is the best we have to keep track of everything. Where other countries like Germany require doctors to give you all their information on your personal microchip, we are trying to drag our doctors into the twentieth century (much less the twenty-first).

• Your Health Data, Plugged In to the Web – washingtonpost.com

According to the Washington Post, doctors are a bit shy of technology:

About 90 percent of physicians and more than 80 percent of hospitals still use paper records, according to Nancy Szemraj, a spokeswoman for the Department of Health and Human Services.

Good luck getting your doctor to upload his manila file into Health Vault for you. If you actually trust Microsoft enough to use Health Vault, it’s YOU who will be doing all the work of inputting your data.

Sorry, Microsoft. Software can’t solve this problem. Our entire system is broken and half of us can’t even afford it. Canada looks better and better all the time.

Update 10-11-07: Sheldon did it again and said EXACTLY what I was thinking!

More thoughts on the User Agreement for Health Vault here:

• Use Health Vault, Lose Your Rights

No, this photo hasn’t been squashed. This is a one-person scooter that protects you from the rain and snow. With a top speed of only 10 miles an hour, however, the Shoprider Flagship falls into the Segway category of usefulness, but it’s a great start:

• OhGizmo! » Archive » Shoprider Flagship Combines Mobility With Style

Sadly, it will cost you almost as much as a “real” scooter that can hit speeds of 40-50 mph. For $6595, it’s merely a toy, but it looks so cute I just want to get it! Red, please!

Via: Popgadget Personal Technology for Women: Shoprider Flagship: Tiny scooter car