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 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.

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.

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.

[…], 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.

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.

[…] 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.

Google today plans to announce the formation of an “open phone” coalition, with the goal of developing an operating system for the so-called Google Phone.

The new operating system, geared specifically for cellphones, will be used to showcase and promote Google’s ever-growing panoply of services, much like Microsoft has done for decades with its Windows operating system.

[…] The new G-system will be based on Linux, a 15-year-old computer operating system that is available free over the Internet. Google’s version will be overlaid with Java, a popular computer language.

The first generation 30GB Zune—which 1.2 million of you already purchased—is getting all the new Zune’s features. All. Sure, the new Zune is more of a half step forward than a completely new design. But Microsoft’s done something fantastic here by rewarding first gen buyers with cool new stuff that also happens to be free by software upgrade. And talk about spin— Microsoft just took a middling jump in hardware and turned it into a genuinely good move for loyalists (as well as a PR miracle). Are you paying attention Apple?

But let’s not pat Microsoft on the back too much. They’re the kings of artificially crippling software to differentiate them and maximize profits. Access and Works will only get so good, folks, because there are more profitable products lurking above them.

A teenager in New Jersey has broken the lock that ties Apple’s iPhone to AT&T’s wireless network, freeing the most hyped cellphone ever for use on the networks of other carriers, including overseas ones.

George Hotz, 17, confirmed Friday that he had unlocked an iPhone and was using it on T-Mobile’s network, the only major U.S. carrier apart from AT&T that is compatible with the iPhone’s cellular technology.

Don’t get ahead of yourself, though — it ain’t easy.

The hack, which Hotz posted Thursday to his blog, is complicated and requires skill with both soldering and software. It takes about two hours to perform. Since the details are public, it seems likely that a small industry may spring up to buy U.S. iPhones, unlock them and send them overseas.

Everybody knows that the iPhone can make phone calls, play movies & music, surf the web, and a lot more. But, Will It Blend?

What I find amazing is how long the screen stays lit. Via Joseph Scott.

Coming soon could be a wireless broadband world in which consumers get to pick any smartphone or other device and load any software on it — not have to take what the wireless carrier wants to sell.

That’s the goal of Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin, who will propose sweeping new rules for wireless airwaves the government is auctioning early next year.

[…] the cell phone now has the shortest life cycle of any electronic device.

The question is: how can the environment sustain a society where even a $500 gadget has become a disposable object?

He’s right. Cell phones are so ephemeral — I’ve had my new one for less than a year and I already want another one, with a bigger screen. And this one was $220.

European regulators have cleared use of mobile phones and BlackBerry devices for passengers while flying, Airbus announced Tuesday.

Approval by the European Aviation Safety Agency means that, from September, passengers aboard Airbus aircraft outfitted with the OnAir system will be able to send and receive phone calls, SMS messages and e-mail messages while flying at altitudes above 3,000 meters, or 9,840 feet.

Cabin staff members will be able to turn off the system or restrict usage to text services like SMS, as they see fit.

And it’s totally free, right? Yeah.

The cost of a call, however, might make for short conversations.

While OnAir does not set the fees, Lake said the expected cost would be around $2.50 per minute for calls and 50 cents per SMS message.

The device, which kicks on when folks place their hands in it, dries hands in about six seconds. It pushes unheated air at great force — roughly 400 mph — through a gap the width of an eyelash that runs the length of the dryer. A special filter sanitizes the air.

The device works much like the compressed-air dryer at a carwash. The water isn’t evaporated by hot air, but rather is pushed away by compressed air moving at great speed. As a result, the Airblade uses roughly one-fourth the energy of conventional hand dryers.