Hardware Beyond the Hype
Gizmodo’s got a great rant and review about how great the new Sidekick II is, and about how awful T-Mobile is. I’ve got one of the original Sidekicks, and have been waiting for the II to come out, so I can upgrade. But now I’m not so sure.
Anyone feel like making suggestions?
Does anyone else feel for Imation every time the news media shows the latest Al-Qaeda
computer discs seized in Pakistan, and they’re always Imation-brand CD-Rs? I mean, do they know that they were on Imation media, and what difference does that make if they were? I would think a company would really sweat such evil association, sorta like Kool-Aid and the Jonestown massacre.
Ubisoft has opened the doors on a Web site preview of Myst IV: Revelation. The site does a pretty decent job of recreating the look and feel of the game itself and there are the usual puzzles to solve and mysteries to contemplate. The press release says there are also “exclusive bonuses to discover and collect.”
While everyone wants to be able to surf from wherever they happen to be, I have a feeling that PocketSurfer isn’t the solution most of us are looking for.
On the pro side, the screen is an decent size and the speed optimization seems useful. Using a phone you (likely) already have for the communications is a nice modular concept, and allowing either Bluetooth or a cable connection should give the company a wide potential user base.
On the con side, the keyboard looks pretty iffy, and you have no local storage, which, however unnecessary it may be for many surfing, will put many people off. For one, it means you won’t be able to cache valuable information for use in places where your phone won’t work. Battery life of just 4-6 hours is also pretty poor compared with modern laptops, but perhaps carrying extra (proprietary?) batteries is an option. Finally, you must subscribe to their ISP (on top of cell phone charges) in order for this device to work.
At US$200 a pop, I could get a pretty decent PDA, so I think I’ll keep looking…
Looks like FCC has cleared the way for you to share your 10 Seasons of Tivo’d “Frazier” legally!
“The new technology would allow subscribers to download those broadcasts to their computers and then send copies of recorded shows to their offices, homes, or to different rooms within a home. A recording could also be sent to a few friends as long as they’re on the subscriber’s registered account.”
[Ed Note: This video is hysterical. I like how it sorta starts reasoanble and then progressively decays into complete technobabble. -Gareth]
For a number of years work has been proceeding in order to bring
perfection to the crudely conceived idea of a machine that would not
only supply inverse reactive current for use in unilateral phase
detractors, but would also be capable of automatically synchronizing
cardinal grammeters. Check out this fascinating video on the topic. I think I need one for my data center.