The deal of the day today is a Nokia BH-211 Bluetooth Headset. In typical Amazon style they list it without any description, review or other information. They also claim it will ship in 1-4 weeks…
I found the user manual here and found out that it’s a Bluetooth 2.0+EDR headset (a good thing) and that it supports the handsfree and headset profiles (also good).
For ten bucks you really can’t go wrong with a brand name headset.
There are a handful of software companies that have been making mobile products for as long as I can remember using mobile Windows devices. Mobimate, maker of Worldmate is one of them. Until recently you had to pay to get your hands on Worldmate, so when they announced a free version, I had to take it for a spin, and was not disappointed.
Think of Worldmate as an all-in-one application for people that travel. In the application you’ll find everything from the local weather to a converter for worldwide shoe sizes. It’s the Swiss Army Knife of travel applications.
Installation of the application is a breeze, Mobimate has 2 options for you; download the application to your desktop and run it, or download it over the air. In my case I opted for the “OTA” installation but at 4.5Mb it’s not for those on a slow connection or on a metered data plan.
Once the application has been installed, you need to provide a few pieces of information, it needs to know your home city and will let you know that not all the features of the application are free, we’ll get back to that later.
Those of you following the news will undoubtedly have read about the newest joke the TSA (and FAA) has decided to play on us. I’ll spare you the details (If you want to read more about the changes, check out this article by fellow blogger Gary over at View from the Wing).
Instead, I’m going to focus on how totally absurd the decision is. Apparently they have decided that a handful of incidents with bad quality battery packs is enough to limit the number of packs you can carry on a plane. But they clearly don’t understand that it really doesn’t matter whether you have one battery pack, or ten, all it takes is one bad pack. There are no more than 20 or 30 documented incidents of exploding batteries (The CPSC has 16 documented cases), and the vast majority of these battery packs have been replaced by their users. In fact, the last case I could find of a Li-ion battery fire was back in July. So why did they even bother waiting this long? My guess is that they were bored and hadn’t done anything new to annoy us in a few months. There really can’t be any other explanation. Li-ion batteries are safe, no other manufacturer of these batteries has had any kind of recall. Only Sony battery packs from one specific factory location were made with the defects that caused these fires.
What the TSA should have done, is alert people to the various recall lists, have them check their battery serial number for recalls, and let us get on with our (flying) lives. But I guess annoying us is so much more fun.
As a public service, please check these links for battery recall programs:
The deal of the day on this cold Sunday is the Slingbox AV. This version of the Slingbox does not have a Tuner, so it’s best suited for those of you with a cable box, Tivo, Satellite box or other source that connects to your TV with AV cables (you can usually recognize these by the 3 colored connectors, red, white and yellow).
This box doesn’t do HD hookups like the Sling Pro or Solo, but that shouldn’t matter for most people anyway.
At $69.99 it’s a real bargain.
Source: Woot
Engadget has a gallery of photos of a laptop that never made it to (mass) production. I’m of course talking about the Palm Foleo. The Foleo was Palms solution to their slowing Treo sales, and was supposed to give them a much needed boost back into the markets they once dominated. But alas, it was not to be.
Partly due to a scathing (p)review by Engadget, and partly because Palm probably realized they should be putting more time and effort into bringing new life to their smartphone business they canceled the Foleo. Just like that.
And now Engadget has managed to get their hands on a Foleo and is treating us to a gallery full of its goodness (or lack of). I’m sure Palm is mighty disappointed, especially when they see Asus has shipped 350k EEE PC’s in just a few short months, but the truth is that the Foleo was too little, too late for too much money.
Thankfully Palm has promised that 2008 will be a better year, and hopefully that means new and improved Treo devices, and not just a simple redesign of their 2003 form factor.
When Asus developed the EEE PC they kept the emphasis on "simple". No Bluetooth, no touch screen and no cellular modem. But EEE wizard "jkk" clearly wasn’t satisfied with that.
After fitting his EEE with a touch screen panel, he’s now taken it to the next level by installing a 3G HSDPA cellular modem card. Sadly it’s not the kind of modification most people would feel comfortable with and requires ripping open the machine and soldering some wires. But it clearly shows that this little machine has more potential than Asus had intended.
What he now has is an EEE with touch screen and the ability to be online anywhere he can get a signal. Pretty awesome for a $399 notebook.
Source: jkkmobile
Today’s deal of the day is the Canon S5 IS digital camera. This semi-professional camera has an 8MP sensor and 12x optical zoom. A popup flash (and flash boot) and rotating screen complete this awesome camera. And to make it even better, Amazon will throw in a 2Gb SD card if you apply the promo code "X24XNRBC" at checkout.
Remember, these deals are only around for a day, so if you are in the market for a new product, don’t delay! Ships for free, and no tax for most states.
For the longest time a Bluetooth headphone was considered a “no go” in my gadget collection. When the very first Bluetooth headset in the world hit shelves I purchased one, and vowed to never do it again. Of course, times have changed since I owned my Ericsson HBH-10 and it was time to find the perfect Bluetooth headset. My demands were modest; Bluetooth 2.0 (for the range), good battery life, no bright blue “I’m a dork” flashing light on the front and most importantly; Stereo audio support.
I tried out everything from cheap Chinese models (don’t bother) to the Plantronics Pulsar 590E (great sound, but massive). But when Plantronics announced the Voyager 855 back in September I couldn’t wait to get my hands on them. Sadly it took till November for me to finally find them (at the local BestBuy of all places) and here is my quick and dirty review.
The Voyager 855 looks like any other Bluetooth headphone available at the moment, with one exception; a wire for a second earpiece coming out of the earclip. This second earpiece allows you to use the headphones as Stereo headphones (Bluetooth Advanced Audio Distribution Profile aka A2DP) on a compatible Bluetooth device. In my case I connect it to my smartphone or laptop.
In the box you’ll find the headset, a non-stereo earclip (if you just want a mono headset), a set of ear gels and a pouch. You also get a MicroUSB charger (not shown).
Answering a call is easy; you can press the “call” button, or simply slide the boom forward. Using a sliding boom is brilliant; it brings the microphone closer to your mouth so the person on the other end of the call doesn’t think you are calling from the Moon.
The Voyager with the “mono” ear clip installed.
In day to day use I’m extremely impressed. Even though I don’t carry a headset I have tested 100′s of them over the past years, and without a doubt I have to say that so far the Voyager 855 is the best. Every aspect of this headset is great. Audio on a phone call is bright, loud and free of static (when used on a Bluetooth 2.0 phone). My fellow callers never complained about too much background noise or volume issues.
Using the Voyager as a stereo headphone is equally impressive. Audio sounds just as crisp as with wired headphones. In addition to the stereo Bluetooth profile you also get the Bluetooth support for remote control of your media player (with the Bluetooth AVRCP profile). Of course, none of this is any good if your device doesn’t support it, so be sure to check the manual or manufacturer web site to find out. In my test I paired the headset with an HTC TyTn II and installed Coreplayer. I placed Coreplayer under a softkey so I could start it with just one push of a button. As soon as the TyTN discovered the headset all audio was routed to it. On the headset I could start and stop audio and control tracks forward and back. When a call is received the audio stops, and starts again as soon as I hang up. I’ve also paired it to my UMPC (Samsung Q1 Ultra) and used it to control iTunes and make a Skype call. I had to boot my machine in Windows XP as Windows Vista users may not be able to stream audio over Bluetooth.
My main complaints were that the 2 earpieces don’t feel the same; the headset earpiece doesn’t go in your ear as much as the wired portion which gives a weird sensation that it isn’t on right. My other complaint is the use of MicroUSB for the charger; meaning most of us roadwarriors will need yet another charger cord in the carry on.
iPod users can use the Voyager 855 with an optional iPod Bluetooth adapter. iPhone users will be disappointed to know that Apple does NOT include stereo audio support, despite the iPhone having Bluetooth integrated.
The Plantronics Voyager 855 is widely available at the moment, and priced as low as $69. The MSRP is $149.
Manufacturer website: Plantronics
It’s not often you run into a piece of software that is both feature rich and free, but Mobilemate (makers of Worldmate) have announced "Worldmate Live" for the Blackberry.
Essentially it’s an all in one travel planning/itinerary manager for your Blackberry. The application is so smart that it will even monitor your flights and alert you of delays or other mishaps when on the road.
Take the product tour here or click here to signup for this FREE service.
Source: Mobimate
In a surprising move, Amazon and Warner announced that they have reached an agreement to allow Amazon to sell music from the Warner collection without DRM. What this means to us is that we can fill our iPod, PC, PDA and any other device with their music and not worry about DRM (Digital Rights Management). Anyone that has paid $0.99 for a song, only to discover that they don’t actually "own" the song will know how frustrating DRM can be.
Having Amazon get their hands on this music before the iTunes store shows that Amazon is serious about their music store. It’s a great development, and clearly means the end of DRM infested music is getting closer and closer. Amazon already has Vivendi, EMI music and Universal in their DRM free collection. Only Sony seems to be missing from the "big 5" music companies, and they have not shown any intention to change that any time soon.
