I got my Vertu Constellation in a round about way, and while I have greatly enjoyed owning it. But there has never been a day when I thought for even a moment that I was in the same financial bracket as the typical Vertu owner.

Today I got proof positive of that fact in the form of a repair bill; more on that in a moment…

I had noticed soon after getting my nearly new Constellation that the leather on its battery cover was starting to peel back. This is certainly not uncommon with the model, and mine was certainly much more minor than some of the peeling examples I have seen on say, eBay.

Nevertheless, on a $5,000 phone the peeling was an affront, so I made plans to send the phone in for repair. This was after calling and asking if I could just buy a new battery door and learning that it was simply not possible.

The peeling was occurring on the right corner shown; it hadn’t yet started when I took this picture

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While browsing my local Target store over the weekend searching out computer clearance deals, I happened across a large display of Peek wireless email devices. These are single purpose email only devices which retail for $99. The Peek has only one function - which is to send and receive email. There’s no web browsing, text messaging or camera. So how well does it work?

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Are your parents always asking you to program the remote control for their TV set? Mine do this about every six months. Since I can never remember all the steps for their 10 year old universal remote, I’m thinking it’s time for an upgrade. The only problem is that universal remote controls can be pricey. Here’s a quick way to get an early jump on your Christmas/Holiday shopping with an affordable universal remote control. Woot! has this Philips Icon 5 Universal Remote on sale for only $4.99. You program it by aiming it at the remote that it’s replacing and it learns the codes (if you’ve lost the old remote you can manually program this as well). There are 10 quick access channel hotkeys complete with a set of common TV channel stickers. The remote will control up to 5 different devices. Woot! charges a flat $5 shipping no matter how many you buy (limit 3). Stock up now and be ready for the holidays or you can be ready for the next time your kids say “I don’t know” when you ask “where’s the remote”…

Woot - Philips Icon 5 Universal Remote - $4.99

A slide deck that shows some additional features of the Blackberry Storm appeared over the weekend. There was also a “dancing Storm” video that leaked out last week which greatly played up the Storm’s multimedia prowess. There’s only one slight problem. Even though the Storm is going to allow you to sync iTunes music - it won’t sync/play anything from iTunes with DRM. OK - you already knew that. Believe me there are lots of people who will miss that slide bullet point and wonder why their iPod music that they purchased over the last few years doesn’t sync to their new Storm. (Note: Just pretend for a minute that people buy music legally via iTunes and yeah, I totally agree that DRM in any form sucks). Of course the workaround for this issue is to remove the DRM from your tracks by burning all 15,000 of them to CD and then ripping them…. I’m just saying before you buy a Blackberry Storm thinking you’re going to have a seamless way to copy your iTunes music — be sure to read the fine print.

BGR - Blackberry Storm

In the Wizard of Oz movie the Scarecrow spent his entire journey looking for a heart. In the end he found it was something he always had. Same goes for Mr. Smiley USB 4-Port Hub Man. Just like the Scarecrow, this little guy doesn’t not know he already has it (because his head won’t swivel so he can get a look). Deep within that 4 port USB 2.0 hub body glows a red heart transmitting a USB 2.0 quality signal. Just like electrical outlets - you can never have enough USB ports…especially Ports with Heart.

Smiley USB 4-Port Hub - $13.99

Watch closely.  I am about to break one of the cardinal rules here at Gear Diary.  It has always been our practice to put a break immediately after the first picture.  But I am going to eschew that rule for a minute.  So I can show you exactly what One Terabyte looks like…

There it is.  One Terabyte!!  Now, some of you may be looking at that wondering what the big deal is.  So, let me tell you about my first computer.  I was a sophomore in college.  Yes, you read that right.  I went to college with a Smith Corona electric typewriter.  For you youngsters, well, I will leave you to research exactly what a typewriter is – or was.  And bonus points to anyone who can pinpoint the reason for the QWERTY keyboard that you find on every computer ever made.

Anyway, my first computer was a speed demon 386, running MS DOS.  I somehow managed to cram Windows 3.1 in there by tweaking the 4 (yes f-o-u-r-4) megabytes of RAM.  I can also tell you that Windows used a disproportionately large amount of space on the 20 Megabyte hard drive.

To those of us who used computers back then, a terabyte was almost a mythological place, like Mount Olympus or Atlantis.  And to be honest, I am still just a little amazed to have found it at all.  So, sit back, relax, and we’ll explore the mythical land of the terabyte, as interpreted by Hammer Storage and their Morespace external hard drive.

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Fring is a new free iPhone application released on Friday that seems to have generated as much buzz in discussion forums about its Skype VOIP capabilities as it has confusion. The application web page describes Fring as:

fring™ is a mobile internet service & community that enables ou to access & interact with your social networks on-the-go, make free calls and live chat with all your fring, Skype®, MSN® Messenger, Google Talk™, ICQ, SIP, Twitter, Yahoo!™ and AIM®* friends using your handset’s internet connection.

How well does this all work? Unfortunately in my limited testing and usage I was deeply disappointed. My initial reaction was disdain for yet another social networking application that I’d have to load (and unload) with some frequency on my iPhone (caused mostly by the rule that iPhone apps can’t run in the background). Let me tell you where this application fails.

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Internet land is Ga-Ga over Fring which is a just-released-but-not-yet publicly-showing-in-the-store iPhone app. The buzz seems primarily to center around the fact that this is one of the first to allow you to connect to Skype to make free phone calls. The catch to this feature is that you must be on a Wi-Fi data connection (and due to lack of push services by Apple - you must have the iPhone running the Fring application - which is a deal killer for me). So far in my testing I’ve connected up to my Twitter feed (it’s ok but I prefer a native Twitter app like Twittelator or Twitterific or Twinkle) and it is pushing through updates from those I follow. I’m sure you’ll be hearing more gushing about this application by heavy Skype users over the next several days. If you’re a Skype user with Wi-Fi and and iPhone - you should check this out. My ID on Fring is MAS90GURU and Skype schulz.consulting if you find the need to test.

Fring (app store link) via Justanotheriphoneblog and Whatsoniphone

Here’s a deal for everyone looking for some DRM free old school rock for their MP3 player. It’s the weekend and Van Halen is wail’en. Ok, so truth be told they haven’t “wailed” since their last album Van Halen III in 1998 with whatshisname. That doesn’t mean that Van Halen isn’t great fun to listen to on your iPod while you’re out walking or exercising at the gym. Notable hits on this album include:

Runnin’ With The Devil
Eruption
You Really Got Me
Ain’t Talking ‘Bout Love
Jamie’s Cryin’

What more could you want for $1.99 - and DRM free too!

Amazon - Van Halen $1.99 via SD

I remember only a few years ago the SD card was considered small. If you were to say that now people would laugh at you. microSD is where it’s at, and Sandisk has achieved what to me seems impossible: a 16GB microSDHC card. If there was ever any evidence that the iPod touch needs a microSD slot, this is it!

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