05:33 PM by Colin Dunstan in Miscellaneous | Lounge

There has been a rash of recent editorials about privacy concerns with Google's gmail service. A number of organizations have asked Google to voluntarily suspend the service. One California legislator has gone so far as to say she plans to introduce a bill to ban it. This is nuts!

...says Tim O'Reilly from the famous O'Reilly Media publisher. Well, I did read his nine arguments, actually twice (!), but I cannot agree with him.

"Gmail is fascinating to me as a watershed event in the evolution of the internet. In a brilliant Copernican stroke, gmail turns everything on its head, rejecting the personal computer as the center of the computing universe, instead recognizing that applications revolve around the network as the planets revolve around the Sun."

To me it sounds as if Tim was among those celebrities like Arnold Schwarzenegger, Henry Kissinger, Shaq O'Neal who put money into Google in 1999 through Angel Investors. Now he might be waiting for the big bucks in return.

Would you want your mail being scanned by a bot for commercial purposes?

05:51 AM by Colin Dunstan in Archive | Handhelds and Smartphones

Today Brighthand blesses us with a hands-on review of the new Dell Axim:

"One of Dell's new Axim X30 models is an updated version of one of Dell's earlier handhelds, the Axim X3i. Like its predecessor, the new device offers Wi-Fi and a good amount of memory in a relatively small Pocket PC. To this, Dell has added a 624 MHz processor and Bluetooth wireless networking. Perhaps the most significant change in this model it the move to the latest version of the Pocket PC operating system, Windows Mobile 2003 Second Edition. This allows the X30 screen to support both portrait and landscape modes."

Brighthand conclusion is that the Axim X30 is a must have for 350 USD.

Edit: An even more in-depth review can be found at Aximsite, with a conclusion similar to that of Brighthand: "Over all I believe this is a A+ upgrade from the X3i."

05:40 AM by Colin Dunstan in Miscellaneous | Lounge

Did you play with Lego when you were a kid? Looks like someone didn't stop playing, even when he reached adulthood. JP Brown's Serious LEGO made a Lego robot that solves the Rubik's cube problem. Here is what JP says about it:

This robot solves the 3x3x3 Rubik's Cube®.

I started to think about this problem in about August of 2000. In Jan 2001 fellow Mindstorms forums user 'agiecco' announced his intention to work on a robotic solution and, simultaneously, I saw that Rubik's Cubes were on sale at www.target.com. So I bought a couple of cubes and started getting down to business...

I produced a 'late beta' version in mid-April 2001 that was a little clunky. The final version (presented here) is smooth and fairly reliable.

05:14 AM by Colin Dunstan in Miscellaneous | Lounge

Next time you shop at Belkin, make sure to use a 50% off coupon code - 12345. Yes, 50% off for ANY Belkin item.

Be quick as I am not sure for how long the discount works!

Related to this: Office Depot is running a Buy 1, Get 1 Free sale this week on Belkin PDA accessories.

02:34 PM by sUnShInE in Archive | Handhelds and Smartphones

Tapwave has officially announced that their award-winning Zodiac products and games for the Zodiac will be available in CompUSA stores nationwide starting next month. CompUSA has inked an exclusive deal with the up-and-coming Tapwave for distribution, new system software, tons of new games, and even Mac support for the Zodiac system.

According to the Tapwave press release, "In addition to launching at retail, Tapwave will release up to 10 new premiere titles by the end of the year, along with 60 to 75 Tapwave Certified titles, such as MicroQuad (arcade/racing game), Hellfire: Apache vs. Hind (helicopter combat game), Orbz (action arcade) and Acedior (RPG)."

The Zodiacs come in two different confirgurations, the Zodiac1 for $299, with 32MB RAM; and the Zodiac2 for $399 with 128MB RAM. Both units feature an ATI® Imageon™ graphics accelerator and Motorola® i.MX1™ ARM 9 processor, and "[i]n the near future, the Commodore 64® engine will be available for the Zodiac, and will be supporting Bluetooth multiplayer play."

For more info on the company and its current line of products, check out their website, or stop into CompUSA next month!

01:47 PM by Colin Dunstan in Archive | Portable Audio/Video

PC Pro magazine tested 18 different MP3 players, and concluded that there were several lesser-known brands that noticeably outperformed the iPod.

According to the writer, "[t]he iPod is over-priced when compared with these competitors," and "[i]t also falls down on battery life, with some portable MP3 players lasting three times as long, while its lack of support for Windows Media files will upset many PC users".

Its recommendations instead: iRiver iHP-100 Series, Rio Karma, Rio Nitrus, iRiver iFP-300 Series, and the iRiver iFP-500 Series.

10:41 AM by Alexander Turcic in Archive | Handhelds and Smartphones

Geekzone has a review of PalmOne's new trendset PDA Zire 72.

From the review, "the screen is, as with all the new PalmOne screens, gorgeous. You can't dim it as much as the T3, which makes it a little bright at night, but that's the only fault I can find with it. As for the processor – it plays Sonic the Hedgehog (via GuineaPig) only slightly slower than my 400Mhz T3, a nicety of the new PXA270. Sound is very similar to that of the T3 – solid, but nothing particularly special." Sounds nice, especially for $299 ESP.

Only drawback is that the device has no Wifi support, which I consider obligatory for my use (I personally don't care for BT).

10:14 AM by Alexander Turcic in Archive | Handhelds and Smartphones

According to Reuters, the House Judiciary Committee approved a bill on Wednesday that would outlaw "upskirt" photos and other forms of video voyeurism made possible by cell-phone cameras and other miniaturized technology.

The Inquirer goes even one step farther and predicts the end of the mobile phone business if the banning of cell phones continues. It concludes:

"Genuine fad for true sneak "intimate" photography of ordinary pictures is most unlikely to become widespread. The resulting images are unlikely to be even vaguely erotic, and boredom would set in quickly. But the law prohibiting such devices may rest on many statute books for many years, nonetheless."