July 31st, 2008
We all remember that scathing letter addressed to Palm last year, when Engadget emeritus Peter Rojas et al. bashed the manufacturer for letting things get stale and offering practically the same thing year-after-year. The ultimate point of the lengthy criticism is easy to swallow, because real gadget geeks have all shed a tear for Palm’s slow yet painful slide into irrelevance.
So it’s somewhat good news that the Palm Centro has reportedly passed the two million mark. That’s less than a year after the smartphone came out last October, and is comparatively good compared to the diminishing sales of the Treo line. But, is this a real sign of recovery?
On one hand, sales are apparently picking up. Yet on the other, you’ve got a smartphone market growing leads and bounds, while Palm posts only modest gains. This means all those new transactions are coming from somewhere else: Palm’s competitors. What do you think?
Tags: Palm Centro, Palm Centro 2008 sales, two million sales, two million unitsShare This
By Rico -- 0 comments
July 31st, 2008
Let the study wars begin! To recap, a group of researchers previously documented the apparent (and note the word apparent) effect of cell phones on concentration. Now the premise of an Ars Technica feature looks even more compelling. What’s anyone to think after seeing “Correlation found between cell phone use, childhood problems“? Read More
Tags: cell phone studies, dangers of cell phone, studies of dangers of cell phonesShare This
By Rico -- 0 comments
July 30th, 2008
To be sure, nothing about the Femisapien is even remotely, er arousing? Yep, it has a busom and a slim waist, but it’s unimaginable anyone mistaking this for the real deal. Still, in man’s quest to create an artificial companion for their companionship and intimate needs, the Femisapien is perhaps a step towards realistic artificiality. Read More
Tags: fem-bot, female robot, Femisapien, WowWeeShare This
By Rico -- 0 comments
July 30th, 2008
Chris Morris speculates about next-generation gaming systems, conveniently throwing around terms like “PlayStation 4″ and “XBox 720″ even years before they’ve bene concepualized. While it seems like a cynical ploy to attract visitors from search engines, Chris does have something to say about the gaming gadgets we’ll be seeing in the near or not-so-near future. Continue reading for a summary. Read More
Tags: future consoles, future gaming, next-gen gaming, Nintendo Us, PlayStation 4, XBox 720Share This
By Rico -- 4 comments
July 29th, 2008
Once upon a time, a PlayStation Portable Slim owner bought some rubber caps for his console’s analog stick, much like the current offerings of Caps4stix. However, during the excitement of gaming, they slipped off. The owner would dutifully put them back on, with some effort, but they would slip off again.
Eventually though, he saw no point in putting them back on. It’s easy to see the use of rubber joystick covers; they preserve the most used parts of a gadget from wear and tear, keeping them in pristine condition for a high resale value. But do you really buy a gaming console to keep it mint? No, you buy it to play games! Besides, by the time you want to sell it, value won’t matter as much, especially when everyone’s paying attention to the next-gen consoles.
So again, why would you buy joystick covers?
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By Rico -- 3 comments
July 29th, 2008
The American summer’s about to end, but you’re still probably planning that long roadtrip right? Highway driving is obviously much more efficient than urban journeys, as your automotive gadget gets to stretch its legs out a bit, without stopping and slowing down every so often.
But there are also some things to keep in mind if you really want to maximize your fuel for roadtrips. Like did you know cruise control isn’t always ideal for certain kinds of roads, no matter how clear of traffic they are? Eco Friendly Driver features the full story at Saving Gas on Long Trips.
(fittingly enough, image courtesy of canada.com, eh?)
Tags: fuel saving tips, improve gas mileage, roadtrip tips, save gasShare This
By Rico -- 0 comments
July 29th, 2008
Has hell froze over? Mr. Walt Mossberg, who we can count as a pro Apple fanboy along with Applemodo, is actually criticizing an Apple product!
iPhone 24 x 7 has the scoop:
Walt Mossberg, technology expert for the Wall Street Journal, recently delivered a negative review for Apple’s new push service, MobileMe, due to its several failures…
I know Apple’s doing its best to fix it, but it really is significant when your most popular fan gives you a bad review.
Well said JT. Next up: Walt Mossberg revisits two-year lock-ins, and finally squarely blames Apple for depriving lots of its customers of the iPhone experience.
Tags: Criticism of Apple, Free My Phone, MobileMe, Walt MossbergShare This
By Rico -- 1 comment
July 28th, 2008
Looks like the Nokia 5800 will be part of the XpressMusic line of phones, which include luminaries like the 5310. At least according to the leak by the Chinese peeps, though why the new moniker “XpressMedia” wasn’t used will be a question.
According to the source, The upcoming Nokia 5800 XpressMusic phone feature:
- A 640 x 360 (16:9) 3.2″ 16-million color display
- the Symbian S60 “5th Edition” OS
- An accelerometer for auto screen rotation
- A 3 megapixel camera with Carl-Zeiss lens dual LED flash
- some GPS, WiFi (b/g), and Bluetooth 2.0
- a 3.5mm jack for audio and video output (includes TV-out!)
- 140MB of internal memory
- a microSD that accepts up to 8GB (SDHC)
- 1320mAh of battery power via the Nokia BL-5J. W00t!
- a length of 115mm, width of 52mm, thickness of 14.55mm, and a weight of 104 grams
Continue to see more pics and a bit of trivia. Read More
Tags: Nokia 5800, Nokia 5800 XpressMusic, Phone in The Dark KnightShare This
By Rico -- 2 comments
July 28th, 2008
It’s not on the market yet, but everyone’s buzzing about this concept “Costume” Samsung hard disk by Joongoo Lee:
A 2.5″ hard disk that’s more at home among women’s cosmetics than in a gadget guy’s bag (Especially since it was apparently inspired by those makeup compacts). Continue to see more pics. Read More
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By Rico -- 1 comment
July 27th, 2008
Folks over at J. Gold associates think Android and Symbian will eventually merge, since both platforms are pursuing and open-source-based strategy (see Why Going Open Source Works to Nokia’s Advantage). The former is the mobile OS initiative of Google, with the latter the most widely-used mobile OS in the world. Controlling stake of Symbian is owned by Nokia.
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