Arrival from ZumeLife: Zuri
Posted by chevybythesea on 09/10/08 in Development, Previews
Recently I was contacted about beta-testing a revolutionary new, portable medical device from ZumeLife, called a Zuri. This post is just to announce my unboxing of said device, and to whet your appetite, as the review will come in the next few days, as I test it out.
The Zuri is (as found on the ZumeLife website):
The Zume Life system includes the Zuri (a handheld device) and personal web pages that significantly enhance people’s ability to track and adhere to their treatment programs and wellness regimens. It also enables users to stay connected with and draw inspiration and motivation from those in their Personal Wellness Ecosystem.
Remember that this is a beta test, and inevitably, there will be a noticeable change in the equipment supplied now compared to its public offering.
For more on this system, tune in next week!
Dell DJ Redux?
Posted by Radimus on 07/30/08 in Dell, Music Players, Previews
Dell is looking to revamp its consumer electronics unit again by delving back into the PMP arena again with a new MP3 player and web portal
The company currently sells several MP3 players on its site, including Microsoft’s Zune, but chose not to ally with Microsoft when building its new device. According to the Wall Street Journal, which broke the news, Dell will offer a tighter, seamless experience between PC, music player, and music store. The player itself will be cheaper than Dell’s previous line of Dell DJ products, will offer WiFi on at least some models, and should come in under the $100 price point.
Also new this time around is Zing, a startup company Dell bought back in 2007. Zing will serve as a comprehensive portal for a variety of Dell entertainment devices and services that will eventually encompass both consumer PCs and consumer electronics.
MP3 players may be old business for Dell, but the company has never tried to launch its own media hub or an all-in-one media service. Historically, these types of business initiatives have not fared well; Gateway’s attempt to reinvent itself as a consumer electronics company failed miserably, and Microsoft hasn’t been able to put much of a dent in Apple’s market share, despite the company’s best efforts (though it is beating out other competitors like Creative).
Link: http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080730-dell-designs-own-music-player-again.html
Saddleback Leather Company’s Backpack/Briefcase Preview
Posted by Forge42 on 06/12/08 in Accessories, Previews
I recently found myself in the market for a new briefcase. After some extensive web searching, I came across www.Saddlebackleather.com It is a small, family owned and operated company based out of Texas. They specialize in leather goods of all types. Their website is full of some of the most entertaining (yet simultaneously, effective) advertising copy I’ve ever encountered. With a slogan like “They’ll fight over it when you’re dead.”, it seemed that the company had a lot of character. I, personally, like working with smaller companies if I can choose to do so. This company seemed like a really interesting organization that just happened to be offering a bag that appeared to be just what I was looking for.
DriverMax, free solution for your drivers issues
Posted by ctitanic on 06/12/08 in Fuzesite, Previews, Software, Windows Vista
Since I got my Fujitsu P1610 I have been searching for the latest Vista Drivers for this machine. The available drivers at Fujitsu Website are not the latest in some cases and most of them are not completely stable. And if you have a portable device with a driver that is not working stable you whole machine becomes unstable, slow and that’s simply annoying.
During all this time I have been testing different programs that you can find around the web that promise you to find the latest drivers and I even pay for one of them to discover that during the trial version the developers made you believe that they have some drivers for you and the reality once you pay and download the drivers is that they are not compatible with what you have.
Jawbone 2 Review On the Way!
Posted by Steve Laser on 05/27/08 in Headsets, Previews, Wifi / Bluetooth
As Jack Cook stated in his Aliph Jawbone announcement last week, the new Jawbone bluetooth headset is indeed smaller than the original and even better looking. It is extremely light and good sounding. I’ll post a full review shortly.
Tritton’s AX Micro BT Headset Preview
Posted by warthog on 05/10/08 in Accessories, Headsets, Pocket PC Phones, Previews, Smart Phones
While I was out of town last week the good folks at Tritton Technoligies sent me a review sample of their AX Micro Bluetooth Headset with charging cradle.
The TRITTON AX Micro breaks the mold of traditional Bluetooth headsets by providing innovative features in a discreet stylish design. The AX Micro incorporates a new design with flexible finger grips that rest on the in-curve rim of the ear. This headset offers great stability and comfort whether used in an active or corporate environment.
Included in the package:
1) TRITTON AX Micro BT headset
2) “Flexible finger ear grips” (2 sizes included)
3) A/C charging cradle
4) neck lanyard with cradle to hold the earpiece when not in use.
I’ll be putting this headset through its paces in the next week or so and provide a more thorough review then. Stay tuned . . .
Hands On with the Microsoft Surface
Posted by Chris Leckness on 04/20/08 in Microsoft, Previews
I was able to get some hands on with Microsoft Surface and let me tell you one thing right now. I want one for my living room bad. This is such a great idea. I can see hours in front of this in a home environment just looking through photos, interacting with music, playing games with company, and many more cool things. Ask AT&T though, they have found some really great uses for Microsoft Surface in the business environment too. Pardon the photos and video, they were shot with a camera phone…
Read on for some more…
Tax Time Toys
Posted by Steve Laser on 03/29/08 in Apple, Devices, Headsets, Previews, UMPC, iPod Touch
I saw a great article at Computerworld called Top 10 tech toys to blow your tax refund on, and it inspired me to write this article. According to USAToday.com, the average tax refund in 2005 was $2436. Expect that to grow 8-10% for this year’s refund. In my fantasy world I get to actually spend that money on gadgets. What should I buy?
When I was young we didn’t have computers or internet. We shopped from catalogs. I remember the Service Merchandise catalog very well. I yearned for high end stereo equipment and would read that same catalog every morning with breakfast. I used to leave the pages open (bookmarked - yes that’s where that word came from) to the items I desperately wanted, and hoped my parents would notice and surprise me. I’m still waiting. But gone are the days of 4 head cassette decks, turntables and $1000 cd players. Catalog houses are falling to the wayside, and internet shopping has grown outrageously. I have put together a list of the top 10 gadgets I salivate for. In no particular order, here they are.
iPlayer… could actually be something to do with the iPhone
Not so long ago, back in the days of iPhone Fever, I posted an article entitled iPlayer, absolutely nothing to do with Apple. Well it seems like I may have to eat some words. The BBC’s plan to put their last 7 days worth of programming online for free, may now have succumbed to the world encompassing love of the iPhone. Despite the fact that there is no launch date, network, or even hardware spec for the UK iPhone, a promotional video from the BBC features iPlayer running on Steve Job’s new best friend. Anyway, you can see the video itself here
Source: Engadget
Somo 650, Corporate Axim Replacement?
It’s either a case of ‘Nature abhors a vacuum" or "when one door closes another opens" but either way the classic PDA isn’t dead. With Dell stepping out of the market there is a business niche that Socket hopes to fill.
Here’s some specs that may seem familiar to Axim users on the Somo 650
Intel PXA270 @ 624 MHz
Windows Mobile 5
CF and SD slots
128m Ram
235mb of flash
Wifi/BT
1100/2200 battery
Ok theres no VGA but it does come in a rugged casing and you can buy one for the next 3-5 years… and there’s going to be a full set of corporate management tools, to allow you to roll out as many of these as you like.
source: IT Week
Tomeraider 3.5 Beta now available
The first portable app that I ever bought was a copy of Tomeraider for my Psion 5MX.. For those of you that have never had the pleasure, Tomeraider has nothing to do with Lara Croft. Instead it’s the best reference E-book reader in the world ever. You buy the reader but all the books are free, and no DRM stuff to get in the way either
There are loads of free reference works, including Wikipedia, the IMDB, CIA World Fact Book, and a load (including fiction) at Memoware.
Last year Tomeraider had a major face lift, and er,,, well it probably didn’t do it any favours. So with version 3.5 they’ve gone back to the drawing board and come up with a better idea. You can get the beta from here
What else is new?
- Total Interface rewrite. We have come up with what we think is the close to perfect interface for big file browsing. It still works great on smaller ebooks but on the 1.3 million entry Wikipedia or the IMDB TR3 file it really shines.
- Aesthetic Improvements. The last version worked well but nobody liked it stark UI. We are back to pretty with 3.5.
- In page index list. This is a huge advance. No more zipping back between page view and index view. You can now navigate the file from within the page using the pop up index list.
- Elastic Scroll bar. This is like in Picassia, it works really well on large files. There is no point having a traditional scroll bar when you have a million plus entries because one pixel equates to tens of thousands of entries.
- In page find. Sadly missing from the last versions you can now jump to any page just by typing the name. This was in version 1 and 2 of TomeRaider and its reintroduction changes the app quite significantly.
- Much better ergonomics. Try it, you will see what we mean.
Flash - Ah - Adobe will save ev’ry one of us
Posted by PsionAndy on 02/13/07 in Pocket PC Phones, PocketPC, Previews, The Internet
Barely a day goes by on Aximsite or Mobilitysite or anyothersite for that matter without someone asking about playing flash videos on their pda/smartphone.. and up until now the answer has been ‘err… umm… well the thing is … well if you er.. um sort of convert…er’
Well those threads are nearly over now due to adobes big announcement at 3GSM.
support for video will be integrated in the next generation of Adobe® Flash Lite™ software, Adobe’s award-winning Flash® Player runtime specifically designed for mobile phones. Flash Lite 3, expected to be available in the first half of 2007, will bring the Adobe Flash Player video format from the desktop to mobile phones and devices, enabling operators, handset manufacturers and developers alike to deliver more compelling and engaging experiences to mobile users.
And the reason is probably down to the huge amounts of money that the tv companies and social networks will throw at them.
Today, television shows like Lost, Desperate Housewives, Grey’s Anatomy and Friday Night Lights are being delivered online through FLV, the leading Adobe Flash Player video format, while the technology also powers the video capabilities of social networking sites such as YouTube and MySpace.
Flash Lite will support the same video formats supported by Adobe Flash Player and will directly support video streams delivered by the Adobe Flash Media Server, allowing users to view a broad spectrum of Flash Player compatible content. Videos can be viewed in different forms within the Flash environment, including downloadable video clips, streaming videos, applications with user interfaces based on Flash or personalized content such as wallpapers or screensavers.
Flash Lite runs on multiple platforms, including Symbian S60 v2/v3, Qualcomm® BREW® 2.x/3.x and Microsoft® Windows® Mobile® 5, in addition to embedded operating systems on a variety of OEM platforms. This allows consistent content delivery across device types, broader distribution of engaging mobile
So we’ll just have to find something else to talk about now…
Source Adobe
Use SD cards in your Mini SD Phone…
Posted by PsionAndy on 02/11/07 in Pocket PC Phones, PocketPC, Previews
If by some strange set of coincidences I am place in charge of the world, there are going to be a lot of changes… I have a list. Now until the day that I take power you’re not going to see it. But as a sneak preview one of the things on it will be Memory cards. It seems that every week someone invents a new format in a deliberate way to prevent me using my current collection in a new device.
Well until that day comes, there is now a way of using a regular SD card in a MiniSD device. Its an external adaptor that lets you connect your SD card into your new shiny thing… Its not going to be used all the time, but I’m sure it will come in useful for swapping data around
Now the bad news… Its going to be released by Diatec in Japan in March.. so it may be some time before we get to play with it in the rest of the world.. but hey, its only $30
Source Slashphone
iTeddy - the most cuddly media player
Posted by PsionAndy on 02/1/07 in Music Players, Previews, The Internet
If the idea of giving your little one an armour plated iPod doesn’t strike you as a good idea then there is a more cuddly solution. The iTeddy. Billed as a Teddy Ruxpin for the 21st century, This little fellow will play your mp3 collection or (with the deluxe model) your video clips as well. And of course he’s fitted with speakers rather than a headphone socket. He’s going to cost about £50 for the 2" colour screen version, which only gives you 512mb of storage.
Official UK launch is provisionally March 15th 2007.. and will be backed up by media that you can buy from the iTeddy Website.
TeDDy is accompanied by iTeDDy.co.uk. The main features of the website include
- Online help and tutorials teaching kids essential computer skills
- Hundreds of classic cartoons and magical stories as well as other kid specific downloads all in one place - quick safe and easy
- Customisable iteddy section from where you can send personalised gifts
- Talk to iteddy section - allowing children to be involved in the evolution of the site content
Source: Pocket-lint
CES 2007 - Video of the Cingular Palm Treo 750
Posted by Chris Leckness on 01/8/07 in CES, Previews, Smart Phones
It was announced officialy announced yesterday and took a shot and video’s Jack playing with this sweet phone!
