When I came across the Super Travel A/C USB Wall Chargers from USBFever.com, I thought they were a great idea! So I asked USB Fever to send a set to me, I received it yesterday, and I like it even more than I thought I would. This charger is going to save me from carting 3-4 charger adapters along, plus it will also save precious power outlets in my hotel room when I go to DC in a week.
Are you a BlackBerry user addicted to instant messaging but hate that mobile chat eats batteries for breakfast? Constantly watching in the background for incoming chat requests tends to cause these programs to use battery power like crazy. Shape Services IM+ All-in-One Mobile Messenger is the answer for instant messaging users — Push instant messaging. The way it works is when your BlackBerry chat closes Shape’s servers keep you logged in and send an email message whenever someone tries to chat. This prevents your BlackBerry from having to constantly poll the servers. They’ve also just added Facebook chat which so…
Julie and I have been using the AT&T Pantech Matrix Pro for a while, and it is time to share our experiences with this Windows Mobile 6.1 Standard Edition smartphone. This review will be appearing on Gear Diary and The Gadgeteer; before reading further, you might want to start with my First Impressions of the AT&T Pantech Matrix Pro. My comments are in black, Julie’s are in blue italics. The Pantech Matrix Pro is a chunky little brick measuring 4.17″ tall x 2.0″ wide x 0.85″ thick and 5.34 ounces, but I have to say that it is so nicely…
Last year I wrote about the Jaguar XKR convertible as one of the cars I love the most on – appropriately – Valentine’s Day. This year I find folks green with envy as I enjoy the 2009 model on (wait for it) St. Patrick’s Day, as well as the first day of Spring.
I had really high hopes for the eReader (beta) for BlackBerry which I have been testing on my BlackBerry Bold. At first glance the layout is decent and I had no trouble scrolling around and reading the text. The smaller display screen isn’t going to give paper books or the larger screen Kindle a run for their money any time soon – but I was hopeful that I’d at least have a decent backup book reader for when I didn’t have a paper book or the Kindle. Unfortunately ignoring the eReader’s many annoyances – starting with the price of books…
When I’m barreling down the highway meeting and greeting folks, it can be a challenge (but NOT always safe) to call whoever is deserving of a return call at that moment. I have an iPhone that allows my fingers to flip through the spinning wheel of contacts, but dialing and driving are frowned upon. Some places even have laws against such behavior. The other time tested alternative is to wear a Bluetooth earpiece. I have a favorite reviewed here, but in some places there are fashion laws displaying such behavior. So what’s a road warrior to do? Kensington has introduced…
Proporta just released a leather case for the BlackBerry Storm. The case includes an inner aluminum screen saver to protect against crushing and impacts. Instead of crowding the front of the case with a leather sleeve – the Storm clips into the front of the case. Since my sister Lynn has a BlackBerry Storm – I’ve asked her to give us a look.
It is not often that I’ll spot someone carrying a bag which prompts me to ask questions about it, but that is exactly what happened at Digital Experience, when I saw Vincent carrying his black ACME MADE Courier. His bag looked sharp; it was stylish, not bulky at all, and I liked the way it conformed to his hip. Vincent flipped open the front flap to show me how much room the bag had and how the sections were laid out, which brought on something I have not felt in ages…bag envy. Bag envy is an ugly beast; even after two…
The following is a review submitted by Nan Palmero – Chief Inspiration Officer at SalesBy5. Telenav, as most of you may know, is the software behind many of the branded GPS applications found on AT&T Navigator and Sprint Navigation. The Telenav Shotgun is their first entrance into the crowded stand alone GPS space. Fortunately, though, Telenav has a few tricks up their sleeve to differentiate their device from the sea of other GPS devices out there.
One of the biggest issues with the Amazon Kindle 2 is the fact that Amazon cheaped out on the device by not including any sort of protective case. No, they didn’t need to include a leather case like the one that shipped with the first generation Kindle, but something – even a simple slip cover – would have been appropriate for a device with an open, vulnerable screen. They didn’t, and as a result any of us who have a Kindle and actually use it have had to scramble to find a way to protect it. I was fortunate enough…
In the last two years I’ve used a ProClip dashboard mount on my BlackBerry 8700, 8800, 8300, and now my 8900. What I like about this mount is that my BlackBerry is held firmly in a place where I can easily read the display and it stays up off my car seat where it could slide around onto the floor, become damaged and possibly lost from sliding out the door. I installed my first ProClip three years ago. Because you order a model that is specific to your car make, model and year – it clicks neatly into place with…
My entire philosophy when it comes to computers pretty much revolves around a single incident which occurred when I was in ninth grade. We were studying Romeo and Juliet in English class, my first exposure to Shakespeare. At the beginning of the unit, we were given a worksheet with dozens of short essay questions. The idea was, as we read the play, we completed the essays relating to the portion we studied in class. Being the diligent student that I was back then, I worked on that worksheet every day, sitting in the basement tapping away with Bank Street Writer…
The new Pantech Matrix Pro is a chunky and solidly built little smartphone, offered exclusively by AT&T. Measuring 4.17″ tall x 2.0″ wide x 0.85″ thick and weighing 5.34 ounces, it might be easy to dismiss this little beast as too thick and too heavy. But just like a story with a surprise twist at the end, there is more to this quad-band Windows Mobile Standard 6.1 device than first assumed.
If you love the look and comfort of retro DJ style headphones, then you might want to take a look at a special feature ifrogz has introduced to their EarPollution line – made to order Fallout headphones.
[Note: This is a joint review by Doug Goldring, Judie Lipsett, Dan Cohen, and Kerry Woo. It is being simultaneously posted on Just Another Mobile Monday and Gear Diary. If you haven’t already, then take a look at Doug’s The Kindle 2: First Look and Unboxing and Judie’s Unboxing the Amazon Kindle 2.] Doug: One thing about sites like Gear Diary and Just Another Mobile Monday, we love our gadgets (I know, shocking!) We love playing with them almost as much as we love writing and telling you about them. Rarely does a week go by when one of us…
This week I started back at uni, and I was instantly feeling the two problems I have with my MacBook Pro: it’s not overly light for lugging around, and the battery is gooooone. Basically this left me with a choice of either buying a replacement battery or finally getting myself a decent “netbook”. Carrying around the Shift showed me how nice it is to carry around a small and light notebook, so I decided on the latter, and today picked up an HP Mini 1001TU. This model has the 1.6Ghz Atom CPU, 60GB HDD, 1GB RAM and Bluetooth. I paid…
As if straight out of a “Pimp My Ride” episode on TV, General Motors is offering its compact pickup trucks with a fullsize V-8 powerplant under the hood, complete with a factory warranty and fully-intact fenders and hood.
With all of the hullabaloo over the Amazon Kindle 2‘s recent release, one might think that there were no other eBook readers on the market; not so! Those who eschew DRM protection and who can do without the convenience of an online content store (I’m thinking of Amazon‘s and Sony‘s, specifically) should pay particular attention to the Ectaco jetBook, a reading device capable of handling .txt, .pdf, .fb2, .jpg, .gif, .png, .bmp, and MP3 file formats. According to the literature I picked up at CES, the EPUB format is expected in Q1 2009*.
One thing I like to do when cleaning house is listen to podcasts or music. I don’t have much of a stereo system in my home, and I wouldn’t want to make to have the whole household suffer from me listening to the latest from one of my many Linux podcasts. So most of the time I have earbuds or headphones on while working around the house. Sometimes, it’s just not convenient to wear the headphones, so I need a small speaker. With that in mind, when I saw the Neek Speaker I couldn’t help but wonder if it would…
Just like nearly every business on earth, we’re constantly on the lookout for ways to save money during this economic depression. Recently I’ve been reading about a new device called Ooma. It carries no monthly fee (though you do pay extra for features such as second line, conferencing, enhanced voicemail and screening). In my office I use Vonage unlimited VOIP (voice over IP) to make unlimited outgoing calls for $65 per month. Voice over IP is a technology that allows for making regular voice calls via your landline phone using an Internet connection. Last week I installed Ooma so I…
Quite honestly when I started reviewing this T-Mobile BlackBerry 8220 a month ago there were a few people who laughed at the phone. They’d heard the build quality was so-so and told me the first time I jostled the phone it’d disintegrate in my hand. I’d read a few online remarks downplaying the overall screen quality. Imagine my surprise when I completely fell in love with this affordable BlackBerry.