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Consumer logic dictates that the Treo 650 should be a country mile better than the Treo 600, right? At least in terms of key specs like memory. But some eagle-eyed users are claiming that PalmOne’s playing some serious sleight-of-hand with the 650’s storage. Treonauts does the math, and it ain’t pretty: “Existing users will have…
This is my hotel lobby. You select which cylinder you would like to be freeze-dried in for the night, and the lady in back there administers the seaweed-derived brain emulsion. Or, uh, actually, that’s the Nissan Experience showroom in Ginza. They actually had a couple of cars there, too, but they were sort of lame.…
Monday November 15th, 2004 11 Small Business Owners’ Gadgets DoCoMo NEC 900iL Apple’s Wireless iPod Ideas Hitachi’s Fuel Cell Video Player Burberry iPod Cases More Flash iPod Rumors Montego Portable Video Player T-Mobile Offers Samsung P735 Siemens -> Skype USB Adapter Not Coming to US Nintendo DS Preorders at 2 Million World Exclusive Review: Voltaic…
It’s funny to me that I had to go to Japan to see my first iPod photo. I know they’re out in the US, but I hadn’t seen one up close and personal. They had the white Sony MDR-EX71SL earbuds, which I had previously resisted purchasing, but I just couldn’t help it. I guess that…
We’re well on our way, flying over Canada—my first time over that great country up North—and my first time, with the exception of a four hour cruise into international waters on a Floridian gaming ship, out of the country. I’ve had my first bit of panic at missing bits I forgot to pack, left my…
Ever heard of furniture specifically made for 5.1ch surround sound? Err, you might have, but here’s some more anyway. Matsushita Electric Works, known to the rest of the world for parent company Panasonic, is offering a new line of system furniture called the “CUBIOS High Class Spec.” Not only is it specifically designed for audio/video…
A new technology from Epson combines electronic paper (Update: developed by E Ink Corp.) with RFID tags to display the prices of products at stores. According to Nikkei Electronics, Epson has presented the technology at the “Embedded Technology 2004” convention, going on since the 17th. Clearly intended for storefronts, the small displays can show 8…
Clearly I’m not the only one who has thought it would be really cool to be able to choose from some 4GB of MP3s while cruising the lake on the old Seadoo. H2O Audio thought the same thing, and rather than wistfully staring into space, hoping the day might soon come in which portable audio…
The Motorola A630, once the source of furious chatter and buzz, has launched at long, long last on T-Mobile. It’s still got some pretty good features—the time lapse between buzz and launch hasn’t dimmed the usefulness of a QWERTY keyboard for AIM, nor of Bluetooth, nor of the pretty neat clamshell-esque stylings. Not a bad…
A lot of cities have talking pedestrian aids these days, but many more don’t. I can’t imagine how dangerous it must be to cross the street by ear alone. I’ve heard that when you can’t see, you get used to relying on your other senses so that they become more acute, but it still seems…
I can’t believe I didn’t see this sooner—I hope this puts to rest the cruel rumors that I spend my days refreshing the Apple Store looking for new iPods and iPod accessories. The truth is, I spend my days refreshing the Apple Store while rubbing my chest with baby oil and a lock of Steve…
LCoS (Liquid Crystal on Silicon) TVs tend to fit neatly in the chasm between LCD and traditional rear-projection madness in terms of picture quality, brightness, size and weight, etc. This big 50-inch Olevia from Syntax is no exception, at $2099 for up to 1920 by 1200 (DVI), progressive scan, 1,000 nits of brightness—all the while…
Despite my dapper sense of dress and my long, personal history of colonial wars for empire, I am not British. That leaves me with only the vaguest sense of cultural relevance when it comes to the significance of the Christmas Mince Pie. Perhaps it is like our mythic Fruit Cake, often spoken of in jocular…
Looks like somebody finally made a malicious trojan for cellphones—specifically phones running Symbian. Called the ‘SymbOS/Skulls’ trojan, it is often advertised as an ‘Extended Theme Manager’ by ‘Tee-222.’ If you install the program, your phone will often stop booting up and when it does, most of your program icons are swapped with skills (I suspect…
The Ziga USA Media Tablet sure is an odd product. It’s built around an 8.4-inch 800 by 600 pixel LCD and runs Windows CE, but it also has a built-in DVD drive and MPEG 2 hardware decoding on board. So it’s a slate-style DVD player, but also a Pocket PC. Oh, and get this—you can…
Japan’s NHK has announced they will be broadcasting one of the first pieces of programming to accept input from both remote control and cellular phone. A special Christmas Edition of the “Two Way TV World * Go Round” quiz show will add capabilities to accept input from not a single person at a household, but…
Seagrand Corporation offers up their new line of portable MP3/WMA players, the “XSEVEN” series, which appear to be pretty straightforward. Set to be released early next month in Japan, the players will be available in capacities ranging from 128MB to 512MB, comparitively cheap prices for the Japanese market. In fact, the 512MB model will set…
A dolphin in a Japanese aquarium has received the world’s first artificial fin—not counting scuba gear, mind you—to replace one that was amputated due to disease. Developed by Bridgestone tires for about $95,000, the rubber fin allows the 34-year-old dolphin ‘Fuji’ to swim and even jump. Bridgestone developed many different versions of the fin before…
A pretty neat little Korean flash player, the SR-M800 supports MP3, WMA, and OGG, and you can view JPG images on the 1.5-inch 65,000-color LCD in capacities up to 1GB. You can also apparently play games on it, although exactly what kinds of games (beyond ‘not Half Life 2’), and whether they’re in ROM or…
Gateway appears to be the first manufacturer to break the $1,000 price barrier on Media Center PCs (not counting barebones and refurbs) with the 3250X (pictured) at only $800. Not a lot to complain about, either, despite the low price: the guts consist of a 3GHz P4 with 512MB DDR, and 160GB of storage. The…