Jumat, 15 Agustus 2008

‘Gadget or the Girl’ Reality TV Show Is Sillier Than Most Reality TV Shows!

gadget-or-girl.jpg


Omigod.


And I thought that ‘Farmer Wants A Wife‘ was the worst reality TV show there is! I mean seriously, why again would I want to marry a farmer???


Anyway, Playboy TV is coming out with a new reality TV show called ‘Gadget or the Girl’.



In each episode, a bachelor will be introduced to three women–presumably with some connection to Hugh Hefner–and must immediately pick two to continue the game.



The threesome will go on a date, and at the end, the guy will choose one girl to be his solo companion for the evening. After a few hours together, he must decide if he is going to enjoy an awkward exciting weekend getaway with the stranger, or give her up and leave with some potentially cool gear. - Crave


The thing is, the bachelor won’t be too sure about what kind of gadget he will get. It could either be a really cool gadget like a plasma TV or a really expensive laptop. But then he could also get stuck with, let’s say, a Goatee Saver. Hahaha.


Anyway, as silly as the show sounds, I would definitely love to see an episode, haha! And as much as I hate those really dumb reality TV shows, I’m really a sucker for reality TV. Hahaha.


‘Gadget or the Girl’ airs on September 1, 2008 at 7:30 EDT on Playboy TV.



[ Image source from Techfresh ]


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Again, Polaroid Is Definitely Not Dead!

polaroid.jpg



I guess we really had no reason to be alarmed when Polaroid announced that they were stopping the production of the Instant Polaroid cameras since just recently, they announced that they’re bringing back instant film!


Except it’s not really instant film anymore, but more of ‘instant printing magic’!


The new Polaroid cameras will come with a built-in printer (PoGo, using Zink technology). The pictures though will still be the 4×3 rectangular size of the old Polariod cameras.



I will miss, however, the excitement of having your pictures “magically” appear on Polaroid film paper. Hehehe.


Who used to shake and fan their developing Polaroids before? (raises hand)


The new Polaroid cameras are expected to be available in 2009.


[ Image source from Oh Gizmo ]


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GMap for FSX (iPhone Edition) Released!

FSWidgets has released the fourth member of the GMap for FSX family. This latest arrival - the iPhone Edition - runs inside what could be considered an “iPhone emulator”, displaying the look and feel of Apple’s iPhone with all of the functionality of previous editions of this freeware moving map system.


See the Free Tools/Utilities section on the Download Page - http://fswidgets.com





Eee PC 901 small keyboard cool features

DSC_9475 I’ve wanted to get an Eee PC for a long time. I came really close to getting a 900, but with the 901 announced I was convinced to hold off. I’m so glad I did.



Over the weekend I got my usual NCIX e-flyer, clicking through because the 900s were on sale, I saw that the 901s were in! Wasting no time I bought one for in store pick up.


This is a cool machine. Keyboard, yes, it’s very small and will take some time to get used to.


That said this little XP-powered machine is pretty peppy. Bluetooth, Draft N wifi, 3 usb ports, ethernet, vga out, sd card reader.


Out of the box I found it pretty useful.  Except for the fact that I had to copy the touchpad drivers from the DVD to a usb key to tweak the touchpad settings (I hate tap to click).


I’m going to be giving this a serious test over the next while. I’m taking it on vacation instead of a full laptop for pics and writing.



This is going to be fun!


Try the New iGoogle!

New iGoogle

Ionut Alex Chitu posts an great review of the new iGoogle. You really should try it for yourself. Here’s the trick to unlock the new features: Read More



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5 Things Common Sense Tells You About Gadgets

lolcats and funny pictures


Whenever a sad story of gadget idiocy reaches our ears, it’s hard not to laugh. That’s because a lot of gadget problems would’ve been avoided if we all listened to our common sense. It desperately competes with effective product marketing and casual carelessness, to no avail.


Treat Your Expensive Piece of Delicate Electronics… Like an Expensive Piece of Delicate Electronics. Stop treating that new laptop like a toy! You don’t have to baby it, but casually throwing it on the bed and slamming the monitor shut with a vengeance are definite no-nos.



Read More


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Wind-Up Remote Control Doesn’t Need Batteries

windup-remote.jpg


The EZ Wind-Up Remote Control is a positive boon for couch potatoes everywhere.


The remote does away with batteries completely by letting the owner turn a crank to recharge the internal battery. A full-charge, achieved by 30 turns, is promised to last for seven days. What really seals the deal with the EZ wind-up remote is its ability to control up to six other gadgets. British Amazon carries this product at a low price of 20 pounds. (product-reviews.net)


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Logitech Screws PC Users With diNovo Edge Keyboard (Mac Edition)

logitech-dinovo-keyboard.jpg


What’s up Logitech? You offer the diNovo Edge, a rechargeable Bluetooth keyboard that’s really slim, for $180. Then you suddenly offer practically the same product—albeit for Mac users—for $20 less. Can’t you give us poor PC users a break? Continue reading for more pics, more info, and more mellow writing.


Read More


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Rabu, 13 Agustus 2008

The Worst Kind of Scraper Sites

As an SEO, I don’t mind my content being scraped as long as those sites have a link to my site. For me that’s a good one way link. However, there are sites that not only scrape your content but worst is that they “no follow” your links. Those are the worst kind of scrapers in my book.



Here’s one of those leeches.


scraper sites


You can see this page at http://www.free2surf.org/?p=250<– this link definitely has a nofollow. I don’t want to send any drop of linkjuice from my site to his/hers.


Now check out the HTML source code.


scraper sites


So have you been “scraped and nofollowed”?



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NOKIA Mobile Phone : Nokia 6500 Slide Preview

Nokia N6500


Went on a provincial tour over the weekend and one of the guys on board was toting the 6500 slide phone. According to him this was out late May of 2008. Some sites have labeled this particular model as an Nseries phone, calling it the N6500 - but it isn’t as it’s using the new Series 40 platform. The 6500 slide comes with a 3.2MP camera (the Nokia site claims a 2MP camera but this one has 3.2MP — I’ll honestly have to confirm this) and a revamped user interface. As you can see from the photos, the menu screen is now located at the bottom of the LCD screen. They also changed some parts of the menu like the SMS screen, but for the most part - is really aesthetic.



Click below for more images.


Read More


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Philips M600 // SRS Wow!

Philips M600 SRS Wow



Looking more like an MP3 player than a phone, the Philips M600 (not to be confused with the ETEN M600 or the Sony Ericsson M600), the Philips M600 really shines with its music playback equipped with SRS Wow technology for “bigger” sound. It basically helps create a 3D audio environment by only using two speakers (stereo).


Here’s a rundown of the specs:


1.3MP camera


Bluetooth with A2DP support

microSD expansion

SRS Wow speakers with audio player supporting Midi (WTF!), WMA, MP3, AMR

Xenium 9@9 battery technology (over 40 hours of playback with a single charge)

3.5mm audio connector jack


So all in all, it really looks more like a kick-ass music player. The fact that it only supports up to GPRS will make you feel a bit wanting for more when it comes to data downloads. This isn’t a “world phone” by all means - it is going to be sold in China. I suspect upgraded versions to follow if this becomes a hit (and why shouldn’t it be — Philips is hot in China).



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Roaming, But Not!


Roaming?


I’ve been out of the country three times last year to different parts of Asia. Activation of roaming is automatic for post paid lines on my network. Because I love to be redundant I’d take a short trip to the service center at the mall and always reconfirm my roaming activation. And yes, the girl on the counter, patient as ever would always say the same thing - my post paid subscription entitles me to automatic roaming.


Trip one happened and I had to buy a SIM card because upon touch down, my BlackBerry refused to grab a signal. Trip two had the same result. Trip three was the last straw. Although not having a signal allowed me to grow a collection of foreign SIM cards, this still sucked.


So finally I made my last trip to my telco’s service center and narrated my anomaly. The system did say my account had roaming activated (SMART Network). But I told them to double check again just to make sure. The lady called up engineering and presented the situation. A few minutes later she came back to me and said that there really was something wrong!



In spite of the system reporting that my roaming was active, in reality it wasn’t. Was this a system glitch? After this incident it makes me shudder just thinking of the other info I take for granted with my telco of choice.


So yes, to be safe it is always a good rule to be redundant.


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Contest: Giving away an Iqua SUN 603 Bluetooth Headset (It’s Solar Powered!)

I’m definitely green even if I’m Blue! Bluetooth that is. It’s CONTEST TIME and I’m giving this away:




Iqua 603 SUN


We have an Iqua SUN 603 Bluetooth headset up for grabs in this week’s online raffle! What I have up for grabs is the very first solar powered Bluetooth headset in the world! Batteries not included — because you don’t need em! The Iqua 603 SUN headset draws power from all available light sources indoors and outdoors which means that you will almost always be on a perpetual full charge. No more messy charger cables! No more low battery warnings!


Here are the rules for this contest:



1. This contest will run from the 12th of May to the 16th of May Eastern (23:59)


2. To qualify, all you need to do is leave a comment with a valid email address. To make it fun, you need to also answer the question “What charges me up?”


3. You can leave more than one comment to increase the chances of winning BUT you can’t repeat your answer to the question “What charges me up?”


4. Each entry entitles you to a raffle. I will enter all ballots into a raffle (most likely using Luck of the Draw) and choose the lucky winner. The winner will be announced on the 19th of May, the Monday after the contest closes.



This post is part of the b5Media theme day. For the rest of the posts across the network on Going Green you can access them here.



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HTC Diamond: Not in the rough?

HTC, formerly just another one of those OEM’s have gone a long way. After releasing such devices as the HTC Touch a mere hours before the iPhone, HTC is back with a new winner - the HTC Diamond.



HTC Diamond


From a technical perspective, the HTC Diamond offers an ultra bright high definition glass touch screen and a fluid user interface. Yes, it looks like the dawn of the iPhone competitors has reached its peak ladies and gentlemen. The smartphone is meant first and foremost for browsing the Internet and HTC did a good job of overlaying their own UI platform above Windows Mobile. This is a similar “hack” which they did with the Touch and since I’ve played with one, I am confident that HTC will make UI navigation much simpler and less “corporatey” with the traditional Windows Start screen.



In a nutshell: the HTC Diamond combines several great technologies to come up with one kick ass product. High definition screen, 3.2MP camera, WiFi, click wheel navigation ala iPod and “deck o’ cards” form factor are all in. The only con? Well it doesn’t seem to run on Google’s Android platform yet.


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Build Your Web Site With SEO

Yes. And I mean, you should be building your web site with SEO already in mind. In a news story from Direct News, it has been discussed that you would be able to be successful when you already put in SEO aspects as you go on building what you want your website to be.


Julie Batten, an expert on the subject, has also claimed that if you do such, the effects would be greatly maximized. Now that is something that most sites do not actually have. You would be having a greater advantage because of that. See, come to think of it, it would be like difficult to add in your SEO techniques if the site is already built. It would be like putting up a structure and you would want some designs changed. If you want the structure to be done well, you put in your design ideas right when it is still under construction.



Makes sense, right?


ASUS P527 Smartphone

ASUS P527



Depending on where you’re from you may or may not have heard of ASUSTEK’s P527. Although ASUS doesn’t come out with phones as often as the big players do, they seem to have some sort of cult following, not as zealous as Mac users pray tell, but zealous nonetheless. The P527 is jam packed with features — although it doesn’t have next gen HSDPA technology built in, it still makes up with 802.11g wireless Internet, 2MP camera, MP3 and multimedia functions, and an office suite solution for only USD $420.00.


A complete set of specs can be found on ASUS’ product page.


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Palm Treo 800w: Confirmed with GPS?

The Palm Treo 800w, ladies and gentlemen. No official word and surely a leak as we can see from this mock up shot. Is Palm getting back into the handheld game? Here are the specs, according to our source:


Palm Treo 800w


320×320 screen


400mhz CPU

128mb of RAM, 256mb of ROM

EVDO REV-A

GPS enabled

integrated WiFi

Bluetooth 2.0 with A2DP

2.0MP camera

Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional


Even if it didn’t have GPS, this would still be a slick device. What it basically is — Palm’s way of catching up with the current market of handhelds out there. There isn’t anything spectacular or innovative. Everything is standard. WHat this also shows is Palm abandoning their own OS for Windows Mobile to tap into the corporate market.



* In a related note for Asian distributors of Palm, I was talking to some folks who were responsible for the glory days of Palm back in 2004. Turns out that the Palm Centro isn’t being prioritized in developing countries which is really a sad sad thing as this is Palm’s most affordable device ever. *shrug*


Image credit here.


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Contest: Giving away BodyGuardz and Mophie Juice Pack

Okay, this week we’re giving out around $160.00 worth of prizes. I have four items up for grabs and they are all accessories for Apple products.


Our First Prize: Mophie Juice Pack for iPhone (valued at USD $99.95)




Mophie Juice Pack!!!!


Your iPhone is more than just a phone. But it’s crap when it runs out of juice right? The Mophie Juice Pack is a practical and elegant way to add that extra charge to your iPhone. Exactly how much charge? Well read here:


This is the first Apple certified ”Works With iPhone” attached battery in the world!


The Juice Pack is a rechargeable lithium polymer battery in the form of a non-slip, soft grip case. It extends the time that you can use your iPhone in these ways (additional hours):


* Standby Time – Up to 250 hours

* Audio Playback – Up to 24 hours


* Talk Time – Up to 8 hours

* Video Playback – Up to 7 hours

* Internet Use – Up to 6 hours


From those stats, it looks like it turns your iPhone into an iPod battery :) And I’m giving this away!!!!


Our Second Prize: Three BodyGuardz iPod skins valued between USD $14.95 to 24.95 each




BodyGuardz


These are really cool for protecting your delicate little iPods. And here’s how we’re going to do it. I’m raffling off three iPod skins so whoever the winners are, they need to tell me which type of iPod skin they prefer whether it be a Touch, Classic, or a nano and indicate what generation it is. A good guide would be to look here. I don’t think they support iPod shuffles. Like those things need protective skins.


LU Products’ fashion forward BodyGuardz skin is made from the same scratch resistant material that protects the front of your car from abrasive materials. Paper-thin and transparent, BodyGuardz skins won’t detract from the natural sleekness and style of one’s iPod, yet will protect it from wear, tear, and scratching.



These things have won iLounge Awards as well.


CONTEST RULES


1. Contest will run from the 26th of May to the 30rd of May 2008, ending at 23:59 EST.


2. To qualify, all you need to do is leave a comment with a valid email address and location (indicate if you are from North America), answering the question, “What’s the best way to jazz up your gadget?” :)


3. You can leave more than one comment to increase the chances of winning BUT you can’t repeat your answer to the question “What’s the best way to jazz up your gadget?”



4. Each entry entitles you to a raffle. I will enter all ballots into a raffle and choose the lucky winners. The winners will be announced on the 1st of June, the Monday after the contest closes. There will be four winners.


5. The Mophie Battery Pack is extended only to residents within North America. If your name is picked and you aren’t from North America, you will be entitled to the other prize. The first raffle is the battery pack followed by the skins. First win, first served :)


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Samsung OMNIA Impressions

Samsung OMNIA Apps


The Samsung OMNIA is Samsung’s latest Windows Mobile lifestyle phone. It runs beneath a combination of Windows Mobile 6.1 and its own proprietary user interface. Samsung’s own UI is divided into a (1) main menu and apps list and (2) the famous drag + drop widgets layout we’ve seen in the SGH F480.



Samsung OMNIA Screen Specs


The OMNIA also includes the touch sensitive trackpad mouse navigation seen in its “SamsungBerry” counterparts allowing mouse functions to roll into the UI. This function can be turned off anytime, thus converting the trackpad into a 5 way directional pad. The OMNIA comes with a built in accelerometer allowing for tilting between portrait and landscape modes for left and right handed people. It doesn’t tilt upside down. Samsung’s proprietary UI also adjusts to the tilts in a rather seamless fashion. Other Windows Mobile devices (like those from HTC) tilt with a certain lag. I think Samsung added the special effects to hide the delay. Absolutely brilliant!


Samsung OMNIA Widgets


Samsung OMNIA


The 5MP camera doesn’t have too many bragging rights. Blame it on Windows Mobile camera phones being so sub par. What may be considered as innovative is Samsung’s proprietary software for video editing and panorama mode which allows you to create panorama shots around you. A heed - since the camera isn’t very good, it would be best to practice this under daylight. The OMNIA’s flash isn’t impressive, as it really saturates. Not Samsung’s fault, I’d think. Again, a Windows Mobile issue.



Read More


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DMS002SH: Sharp’s New Walt Disney Phone does Cinderella

Disney is really picking on the merchandise - and who can blame them. With less than fantastic movies coming out for the big screen (Enchanted was good though), why not just concentrate on a completely odd competence: mobile phones.




Walt Disnet Phone


In partnership with Sharp, Disney unveils their new line of phone collaborations. The theme for this series is Cinderella and here are the specs:


Clamshell design

50MB of internal memory // microSD slot

2.0MP camera

Bluetooth microSD slot

TV Tuner (editor’s note: this is an odd feature for this segment)

Three Cinderella color themes



Personally, if phones were to be labeled with the Disney brand, I’d want them to have big eyes and burst out into song at random moments.


[Image courtesy of Akihabara News // Sharp]


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Selasa, 12 Agustus 2008

Samsung OMNIA Tech Specs



Samsung OMNIA


Proud to report we’ve gotten our hands on a Samsung OMNIA. Our first impression is that the OMNIA is akin to Samsung’s design philosophy, albeit with fingerprint magnet on the screen. The OMNIA runs on Windows Mobile 6.1 and boasts a 5MP camera. It has Bluetooth and WiFi. What’s interesting about the OMNIA is it’s custom UI and widget interface like the SGH F480.


Samsung OMNIA Widgets


We’ll be posting a hands on within the next few hours. In the meantime, here are the product tech specs


Samsung OMNIA (SGH-i900) Specifications

HSDPA (7.2 Mbps), EDGE / GPRS 850/900/1800/1900


Microsoft Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional

3.2” WQVGA TFT LCD (240 x 400)

5 Megapixel CMOS Auto Focus, Image Stablizer, Geo-tagging, Auto-Panorama Shot, Wide Dynamic Range (WDR), Face Detection, Smile Detection

Support for DivX / XviD / H.263 / H.264 / WMV / MP4

Video recording and Video Editing: Trim video, Audio dubbing, Live dubbing, Add subtitle, Image capture

FM Radio with RDS

Support for MP3/ AAC / AAC+ / WMA / OGG / AMR

Bluetooth Stereo Headset (A2DP)

GPS


TouchWiz UI

MS Office Document Viewer, Advanced PIM Apps, Push Email,

Auto Rotation, TV Out

Bluetooth 2.0 / USB 2.0 / Wi-Fi

8GB / 16GB Flash + External Memory slot : microSDHC™

Size 112 x 56.9 x 12.5

1440 mAh battery


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Let’s Keep Those Smartphones Varied

smartphone_parade.png


Hear hear Steve O’ Hear! You understand that with smartphones, one size doesn’t really fit all:


Yet I remain convinced that for all of Apple’s innovation - especially on the mobile browsing front and major improvements in usability - the iPhone in its current incarnation will have significant but limited appeal. There’s only one iPhone, and in the smartphone market, one size doesn’t fit all.



Read More


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Potheads Disagree on Which Camera is Best for Cannabis Close-Ups

nikon-d300.jpg



Apparently, macro photography is really important marijuana connoisseurs. Over at grasscity.com (”world’s best online headshop”), user DayHota asks: “So, to the cannabis photographers, what are some cameras that will do my buds justice?”


The answers: The Sony DSC-W55, “a dslr or my sony wsc-w90″, “I use a Nikkon D-300 with a AF-S VR Micro-Nikkon 105mm R/2.8G IF-ED lens”, Canon 570IS, Canon PowerShot SD1100 IS, and the Nikon COOLPIX P60. Wait a minute, potheads can afford the $1,500+ Nikon D300?! (grasscity.com)


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