Gadget Access

Posted Feb 10th 2008 2:31PM by Ryan Block
Filed under: cellphones
Oh yes, this bad boy is real, alright. More over here.

Much like cartoons, most gadgets and videogames are really not meant for kids. Let your toddler play Grand Theft Auto for a while or mess with your iPod and you’ll probably not be too happy with the results.

As a safer and more education alternative, LeapFrog Enterprises has been selling the Leaspter educational gaming system for about four years in retail stores across the US. This Summer (2008), LeapFrog will update the Leapster with web connectivity and also release a new handheld, web-enabled system called Didj.

The web element for both systems will be LeapFrog’s upcoming Learning Path where parents will be able to log in to track their children’s progress in each educational area.

Read [Gamertell]

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Posted Feb 10th 2008 2:20PM by Chris Ziegler
Filed under: cellphonesThis is a phone we’ve seen in the wild on a couple occasions, but we had one detail dead wrong: the model number. It turns out that Sony Ericsson’s newest Z series flip is actually the Z770, not the Z660 we’d heard before. The company is billing the Z770 as a phone fit for people who need access to the internet (web and email, specifically) but aren’t necessarily interested in stepping up to a full-fledged smartphone, featuring “easy” email setup, zoom / pan features in the web browser along with an actual mouse pointer (anyone familiar with S60’s browser will get the idea here), and integrated support for Exchange ActiveSync. The GSM / EDGE 900 / 1800 / 1900, HSDPA 2100 handset will hit shelves in the second quarter in Vogue Red, Graphite Black, and Exquisite Gold.

A report from the Wall Street Journal says that Yahoo has denied Microsoft’s $44.6 billion bid to buy the company which operates the most frequented site/portal on the internet today. Yahoo’s Board of Directors has determined that the $31 per share price that Microsoft offered “massively undervalues” the company. Yahoo’s board seems to be looking for a bid no less than $40 per share, which would bump Microsoft’s offer up an additional $12 million. Yahoo, over the last week since Microsoft’s offer, has considered a partnership with the giant of this fine series of tubes, Google.

Personally, I think Microsoft is trying to take advantage of the fact that Yahoo has recently slipped, by lowballing (relatively) them. However, Microsoft’s bid in the first place shows how low they stand in the web game, and the extra $12 billion they might have to pony up may not be too bad for them. Honestly, I think this is smart on Yahoo’s part, seeing as how a Microsoft takeover would take quite a while to get approved, and wouldn’t help either company all too much.

Stay tuned for more, as it happens.

Read [WSJ]

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Posted Feb 10th 2008 1:29PM by Chris Ziegler
Filed under: cellphones, Handhelds
Microsoft has now won a veritable superfecta of licensing, landing deals with four of the top five phone manufacturers in the world to provide handsets based on Windows Mobile. The latest, announced today at Barcelona’s Mobile World Congress, is Sony Ericsson — a company heavily vested in Symbian by way of its UIQ division, so it’s unclear how the licensing deal will ultimately affect UIQ-based offerings. Stay tuned for more on the deal and details on Sony Ericsson’s WinMo-based hardware!

If you happen to own a brand new iphone (or are a seasoned iPhoner by now) and want to unlock your handset, I bring you good news. There is now a brand new iPhone unlock solution that works on all firmware versions, allowing you unprecedented freedom on your iPhone as never before without being shackled to AT&T’s contract. This revolutionary unlock software will work with all firmware versions from 1.0.0 till the current 1.1.3 version. Another wonderful aspect about this software is its compatibility with iPhones all over the world, so you don’t have to worry whether you’re in Africa or in Asia - as long as you have an iPhone in your possession, you will be able to use it freely without having fears or worries about turning it into an expensive (albeit good looking) brick.

Looks like you finally get to use your iPhone in exactly the way you want to - all you need to do is follow the directions on the full video tutorial to the letter and you’re good to go. The entire process will take less than 10 minutes before you reap the full benefits of this unlock. I wonder how Steve Jobs and the rest of the Apple team feels about this unlock software. Will they be introducing even more Draconian controls in the near future so that they will be able to exert total control over their products? I think such a move will only lead to a cat-and-mouse game where the consumers will be the loser as hackers won’t take too long before they reverse engineer a solution.

Guess it is time for those living outside of the US as well as countries where Apple has yet to introduce the iPhone officially to pick up the iPhone, although folks bringing the handset into your country might charge you a rather handsome premium over the recommended retail price due to its desirability. As long as you’re on a GSM network, you’re good to go. Too bad the iPhone doesn’t support 3G - that would’ve been the killer feature which could potentially see a doubling of iPhone sales.

Press Release

I remember back when Dell finally wised up and decided to put some AMD chips in their computers. Being a longtime AMD fan, I was overjoyed (even if I wouldn’t touch a Dell with a 10-foot pole) at their decision to give consumers a choice in CPUs. Unfortunately it was around that time that AMD began to really lose ground against Intel. They’ve yet to really pull out of their slump, and now Dell is reconsidering their sales of AMD chips.

So far they’ve just nixed AMD CPUs from their online store. You can still find a few here and there, but that’s only temporary. They’ve add ed a few words of caution to those looking for AMD systems on their site:

Shop for Dell computers with AMD processors in retail stores. See our retail partners for details.
Computers with AMD processors are not available online.
Personally, I think Dell picked the wrong time to partner with AMD. Back when the X2 processors hit the scene AMD was kicking ass and taking names. They’ll pull out of their slump like they always do, and Dell will have another missed opportunity.

Source: DailyTech

Jim Rapoza’s list of 10 most overhyped products, technologies and technology trends of the century does not necessarily mean the products or technologies had failed, but instead they had received so much hype that it was impossible for them to ever live up to early expectations.

1. iphone
2. Social networks
3. Grid computing
4. Outsourcing
5. RFID
6. Virtualization
7. Blogs
8. Green technology
9. VOIP
10. Video on the web

Did he miss any from your list?

Via [Emerging Technologies]

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We all know that cell phones are dime a dozen, and basically everyone I know has one. I suppose only the retired segment of the population couldn’t care less about new features that are introduced with each generation of handsets, but a cell phone is an essential item for today and no longer considered to be a luxury gadget to have. While phone manufacturers have been pushing a whole bunch of handsets down our throats with each quarter (remember back in the good old days where Nokia released just a couple of handsets each year?), there are a couple of companies who have decided that the consumer should be the one who chooses what they want to see inside each handset instead of getting features which they don’t want/need.

First off we have Modu from Israel who rolled out a GSM handset that will be released this October, coming in the form of a tiny phone which can slide into special “jackets” that are actually phone exteriors with extra functionality. Not only that, you get software which instructs the phone about special color schemes in addition to other features. Imagine needing to snap a photo with your Modu at that moment, where you will slide in a camera “jacket” only to take it off and replace it with a QWERTY keyboard “jacket” whenever you don your business suit. The company is also working on other jackets that aren’t phone-based including GPS devices. Sounds like a dream, but do you actually want to carry different “jackets” with you wherever you go or one handset that has already everything packed inside?

zzzPhone is banking on its build-to-order phone business model, claiming that you order a cell phone in pretty much the same way one orders PC from Dell. Head over to its website, select your desired features and the customized version will be sent to your doorstep. A base model retails for $149, where you can throw in extras such as a 7-megapixel camera, TV tuner or GPS module for extra dough.

Source: Computerworld

Samsung has a new handset for this year that will be a culmination of all that it stands for, and what better moniker to choose than the Soul. This slim slider handset comes with an aluminum finish exterior complete with a 2.2″ QVGA display, a touch capacitance navigation panel, and navigation icons that change depending on the applications used. The Samsung Soul is also ably equipped with features such as a 5 megapixel camera with autofocus, face detection, an image stabilizer, quad-band GSM/EDGE, HSDPA support, Bluetooth 2.0 connectivity, an integrated FM radio, MP3 playback and a microSD memory card slot. Heck, a Bang & Olufsen digital power amplifier rounds off the list of impressive features. No idea on how much this costs, but it will be launched in Europe this April.

Source: MobileMag