Gadgetopia

No Keyboard? And You Call This a BlackBerry?: David Pogue somewhat savages the much-vaunted Blackberry Storm.

In short, trying to navigate this thing isn’t just an exercise in frustration — it’s a marathon of frustration.

I haven’t found a soul who tried this machine who wasn’t appalled, baffled or both.

Sad. Looks like I’m back to a Samsung Instinct, just as soon as I can get an SSH client for it.

In a larger sense, why is every “iPhone killer”…not? Same with “iPod killers.”

I got this email from the woman who emailed me about her grandmother, and whose question I tossed out for help from you all:

I truly appreciate your offer to help me. In one of your posts someone mentioned a Mail Bug by Landel and that looks almost identical to the old Mail Station. I am looking into it a bit more but I am pretty sure we will purchase this product thanks to all your help! You have just helped us find the perfect Christmas present for my grandmother. Thank you so much for helping :)

Ahhh, shucks. Good job, guys.

Rovio is a “Webcam with wheels.” So, a camera that you can drive around in its space. It connects via wifi, and has a microphone so you can project your voice through it.

iRobot makes something similar (a “virtual visiting robot”), and the usage example they offer is grandparents “visiting” their grandchildrens’ home — driving the robot from room to room to visit the kids.

I think there would be a security angle too. If you were on vacation, you could drive the robot around the house once a day just to make sure everything was in order. My wife is always paranoid about some water leak wreaking havoc while we’re away, so this would let her make sure everything was dry.

But what do you do about stairs? Get one for every floor?

Rovio is $300.

The True Price of SMS Messages: Wireless companies appear to make a killing off text messaging.

So far I can make the following statements concerning the costs of bandwidth […] Cost to transfer 2560 songs:

From my ISP: $1
Via SMS messaging: $15,339,212.80

He goes through all the math and reasoning, and it’s pretty solid.

Don’t alienate developers: Apple is really screwing up this App Store thing. This is a good article with the sordid details.

Their first idiotic move was to place an NDA on a finished product like the iPhone SDK (including the final version). […]

Apple then decided that it was a good idea to charge people for the privilege to develop for the iPhone: $99 (that’s a hundred bucks, we are not idiots and this is not a grocery store). […]

Some [developers] spent months trying to create excellent, innovative applications for the iPhone, only to see their work rejected for no good reason other than that it competed with Apple’s own products (e.g. Podcaster) or was inconvenient for their business partner AT&T (e.g. NetShare).

A First Look at Googles New Phone: David Pogue has a pretty good review of the new Android phone — the G1.

Here’s a neat feature:

They’ve even added a feature to Google Maps: in Street View (photos of actual locations taken from ground level), you can hold the phone perpendicular to the ground—and as you turn your body, the photo rotates, too, like a photographic compass, so that it matches what you’re seeing with your eyes. It’s amazing and actually useful, especially when you emerge from the subway and have no idea which way you’re facing.

And Pogue nails the joy right here:

But here’s the thing: Android, and the G1, are open. Open, open, open, in ways that would make Steve Jobs cringe. You can unlock this phone after 90 days—that is, use any SIM card from any carrier in it. The operating system is free and open-source, meaning that any company can make changes without consulting or paying Google. The App store is completely open, too; T-Mobile and Google say they won’t censor programs that they don’t approve of, as Apple does with the iPhone store. Yes, even if someone writes a Skype-like program that lets people avoid using up T-Mobile cellular voice minutes.

Suck it, Steve.

Critics leave Google’s Android phone on hold: This first reviews of the first Google Andriod phone — the HTC Dream — are not good.

“It ain’t no iPhone,” said John Jackson, an analyst at Yankee Group, echoing a widely held view.

Disparagement of Android has touched on everything from an alleged lack of sophistication and stability in the software, to the fact that successful devices such as the iPhone and the BlackBerry are based on a different technology model. “The best experiences out there today are ‘vertical’ experiences, where the hardware and software come from the same company,” said Tom Conrad

A Dream Come True: U.S. Approves The First Google Phone: The FCC has approved the first Google-powered phone: Dream.

[…] with the smartphone’s certification behind it, it is possible for T-Mobile, the nation’s No. 4 wireless carrier, to go ahead with plans to debut the phone next month and begin selling it ahead of the Christmas shopping season.

I still have my Sanyo Katana, which badly needs to be replaced. Hopefully, unlike an iPhone, I can get service for this Android phone.

I need a new phone. I have had a Sanyo Katana for over a year, and I absolutely love it.

Sadly, however, it’s developed two characteristics which are undesirable in a phone:

1. Sometimes, it just fails to ring
2. Sometimes, it just shuts off

Additionally, the outer screen is broken. To find out who is calling, I have to answer. Given that I get a lot of sales reps who call me, this is a problem. Screening calls is not always rude.

I am holding out for a Android-powered phone. I really want one. They announced the other day that they’re still on track for Q4 2008 (though many manufacturers have pushed back their specific models back to 2009), which makes me think I should hold out, but how realistic does this seem to everyone?

Who here thinks Android phones will ship in Q4? Or should I just bite the bullet and buy the new Samsung Instinct, which I played with the other day and by which I was overwhelmed by its sheer awesomeness?

Update: Before you recommend an iPhone — we can’t get them here. Sioux Falls does not have AT&T service, thus no iPhone. There are all sorts of rumors that if you talk to “some guy” somewhere he can exploit some loophole and get you one, but, to date, I have never seen an iPhone in Sioux Falls.

Bug Labs: It’s kind of Legos, but more expensive and iPod-ish.

Bug Labs is a new kind of technology company, enabling a new generation of engineers to tap their creativity and build any type of device they want, without having to solder, learn solid state electronics, or go to China.

You can plug different sensory and interface pieces into each other — an LCD screen, a GPS, a motion detector, etc. — then write code to make them work together.

Blue Jeans Cable Strikes Back - Response to Monster Cable : If you’re fan of intellectual property bullies getting their comupence, then this letter is for you.

Monster Cable — perhaps the king of useless products — sent a cease-and-desist letter to a tiny audio cable manufacturer with grandiose and vague claims of the patents he was supposedly infringing. Sadly for Monster, the owner of the company was a former litigator.

He proceeds to completely eviscerate Monster’s claims in his letter and promises them that he will fight the claim to its nasty, bitter end.

My sense, in looking at these five patents, is that either you are attempting to present some argument that I simply do not understand or you are arguing for untenably broad coverage of these patents which would sweep every functional aspect of the typical solder-assembly RCA connector within the scope of a handful of mere design patents.

You need to clarify this, and frankly, I think you need to indicate to me which, if any, of these patents you actually contend are relevant to the present discussion. It cannot possibly be that you believe that more than one of these patents is pertinent, and if you insist that they are, we cannot have an intelligent dialogue on this subject.

The entire letter is an absolute joy to read. I loved every minute of it.

We use Quickbooks Online for Blend’s accounting. We’re relatively happy with it, but when I logged in today, I saw the above image, which is pretty cool:

As a QuickBooks Online subscriber, you can now view key company data anywhere you can use your iPhone.

Check your: Accounts receivable and payable …Vendor, customer, and employee lists…Bank account and credit card balances…Balance Sheet and Profit & Loss reports

I know app on your phone are nothing new, but the iPhone’s screen size and built-in usability has enabled a lot better apps. Look at the image above — I’m not going to get that kind of usability with my Sanyo Katana, as much as I love it.

Video: New Android UI Shows iPhone-like Animations: These shots of the Google Android interface from Gizmodo make me feel less bad that I can’t get an iPhone in Sioux Falls.

[…], today’s release of the refreshed Android SDK shows a UI that has more than a bit of polish. We took screens, but you should also check out the details, like this video showing smooth, animated transitions. Good on them: Some have speculated that’s where most of the iPhone’s charm comes from.

NERF N-STRIKE LONGSHOT CS-6: This Nerf gun is a little creepy. Though they’re careful to never mention the phrase “sniper rifle,” that’s essentially what this is.

This blaster is more than three feet long and can launch foam arrows up to 35 feet away! Aim with accuracy and precision using the targeting scope. Two quick-reload clips hold a total of 12 STREAMLINE DARTS. There’s even a fold-down bi-pod to help you steady your aim for important shots.

You had to see the kid in the ad — he was like a friggin’ Navy SEAL with this thing. All that was missing was a headshot on his buddy, two rooms away.

Google introduces software for mobile phones: Well, there’s going to be no hardware device called the “GPhone.” Instead, Google is building an OS which people at the demo said was very iPhone-like, then giving it away.

[…] there will be no branded Google Phone. The software running on the phones will not even display the Google logo. Instead, Google is giving the software away to others who will build the phones. The company invested heavily in the project to ensure that all of its services were available on mobile phones. Its ultimate goal is to cash in on the effort by selling advertisements that appear before mobile phone users, just as it does on the Internet.

It’s going to be an interesting clash of cultures. The iPhone was designed as very closed, and Android will be extremely open. It will be fascinating which one wins out.