Comcast- 1, JK- 0

The move was on schedule as expected at the start of the day today with Comcast scheduled to arrive for the new installation between 8 and 11 am.  I was stuck waiting for the technician to arrive to install the cable TV equipment and especially the cable modem for the Internet service.  When they had not arrived by 12:30 I called Comcast and after a 5 minute menu system I finally got a real live person.  They checked their system and all they could tell me was that the techs had not cancelled my scheduled service so they would be out later. 

Back to waiting for them to arrive and by 5 pm another call was in order.  They were terribly sorry for missing the scheduled visit so they were issuing a $20 credit and escalating the installation.  Someone would call within 30 minutes to let me know when to expect them to come out.  It is now 3 hours later and I've not heard from anyone so not only do I not have service but at this point I have no idea when they are going to reschedule the installation.  Now that's Comcastic.

T-Mobile raising SMS rates 33%, but you can bail with no ETF

So you've waited patiently for T-Mobile to roll out a 3G network. You've stuck with them through thick-and-thin and you even have enough friends to use the "MyFaves" feature. But T-Mo just isn't buttering your biscuit and you want to switch to a new Treo 800w or (dare I suggest it?) an iPhone 3G. Sorry Mr. or Ms. Commitment: you've got time left to serve on your contract.

What's that? T-Mobile is increasing their per-message SMS rates on August 29th from $0.15 to $0.20 a pop? Well now, that just might change things, no? If you're on a unlimited messaging plan already, you're still behind bars, but if not, this price increase could be construed as a material change to that ol' contract. Meaning: you might be able to sneak out faster than a drive-through divorce court in Vegas without paying an ETF or Early Termination Fee. Any takers?

Mobipocket bringing eBooks to masses with Java client

Must be an "alpha" day because this is yet-another pre-beta today. It's still exciting news though since up to now Mobipocket was absent from regular or feature phones that support Java (J2ME). If you have a device that can run it, you can find the software right here. It bears repeating: this is an alpha, so it's clearly a first-look and you should expect bugs. In fact, you won't even get support from Mobipocket, so only the adventurous need apply.

This current version was developed for Sony Ericsson Phones, so if you have a different brand, you're likely to be limited to free books only. Regardless of your handset, this is great news considering how many phones out there support J2ME. Good on you Mobipocket!

(via Mobile Read)

BlueAnt Z9i headset first impressions

I've only been using it for a few hours but I'll offer up my initial impressions of the BlueAnt Z9i Bluetooth headset.  It's very small and so light that I don't realize it's on after just a minute of putting it in my ear.  It comes with two earpieces for a proper fit and a loop over the ear for security.  It also comes with a second clear plastic ear loop for those who don't want others to know they have an ear loop on.  There is a tiny A/C adapter for dedicated charging and it also comes with a short USB cable for charging the Z9i on a PC so you can leave the adapter at home.  That's pretty much all there is to tell.  The audio quality so far has been good and the dedicated volume buttons easy to use while wearing the Z9i.  The ant logo flashes blue when it's on and connected to a phone.  It also shines red when charging until fully charged when the LED goes out.

I haven't tried the dual phone usage yet but will do so as I use it more.  It's definitely smaller and better looking than the original model Jawbone I have which is pretty big and ugly.  I'll keep using the BlueAnt and report back as time passes.

Better Gmail 2 extension adds sweet features to Gmail

Has it really been 24 days or so that I've been living inside a web browser? Luckily there's plenty of air in here. ;) I'm not ready to rejoin the client application world just yet, so I wanted to share a fantastic extension for Firefox that has noticeably improved my Gmail experience. It's called Better Gmail 2 and it's actually a compendium (ohh! word of the day!) of functions that was put together by Gina Trapani of Lifehacker fame. I don't use all of the features (yet), but some of key, useful ones I've enabled include:

• Forcing the more secure, encrypted connection for Gmail. A must for mobile device users hopping from hotspot to hotspot.
• Mail composotion in Gmail when clicking a mailto: link. No need for Outlook to pop open everytime right? Come to think of it, I might free up some space and remove Outlook. Yup, crazy silly, I know.
• Show attachment icons... it's nice to see a little JPG or PDF icon instead a paper clip.
• Hiding my Spam Count and Invites Box. Seriously, do I NEED more pressure in my life? I don't think so.
• Changing the Gmail Labels into "Folders" by showing a hierarchy. Yes, it's just a visual change but when you're used to folders and sub-folder organization, you want to see folders and sub-folder organization.
• HTML signatures. Just because I love to send my cartoon head over to places around the world. Seriously, there's plenty of good usage for an HTML sig... your company website, Skype name, etc...

Gina gave the extension an update earlier this month, so it works fine with Firefox 3. There are plenty more nuggets of productivity in there, but I don't want to spoil all of the exploration for you. If you're a regular user of Gmail on Firefox, I highly recommend the 199 KB download.

More Sprint Treo 800w specs, features emerge

Allegedly there's just a few weeks left to wait for the Palm Treo 800w. What's a mobile tech geek to do while waiting? Dig around the rumor-mill, of course! Actually, since we're so close the anticipated launch date of July 13th, I gather that most of this info is more fact that rumor. Here's some additional deets on the next Windows Mobile Treo from Treonauts:

• 333 MHz CPU on the inside, which is the fastest yet in a WinMo Treo if memory serves. Why no 424 MHz or better?
• Speaking of memory: 256 MB is pretty reasonable for a Windows Mobile 6.1 device.
• 320 x 320 for the display, an improvement over prior 240 x 240.
• EV-DO Rev. A, WiFi and Bluetooth 2.0, and GPS... although if when this phone shows its face on Verizon you might see that GPS function disappear or add an additional monthly charge to use
• Goodbye standard headphone jack, hello mini-USB port. Ugh... I'm just not a fan of this HTC "innovation" but I understand design constraints.

Overall, if these and the additonal specs are correct, this is nice looking package for the expected $249. Battery and talk-time are still up in the air, but otherwise, everything else loooks pretty solid. Do we have any Sprint folks eagerly awaiting this handset or is the lack of MMS support putting you off?

MSI Wind desktop headed for Asian market

MSI has the mini-notebook to beat right now in the Wind and earlier this year they announced they would be producing a desktop version of the Wind for the Asian market.  Engadget is reporting that the Wind desktop will be hitting the market in September and will be sporting the same Intel Atom mobile processor, 1 GB of RAM, 160 GB hard drive and Windows XP for about $300.  Color me confused but I still don't see the point of putting a mobile processor designed for low power consumption into a desktop configuration.  Maybe I'm missing something?

Sure the Wind desktop is cheap at $300 but why not just pick up one of these Lenovo desktops for $379?  It comes with real desktop components along with the performance those provide for not much more money.  Am I missing something?

Dash Express updated: faster GPS fix, leverages preferred routes

Think you've got more street smarts than the Dash Express GPS? You can now prove you mettle thanks to the June 2008 update for the Internet-connected navigational device. I've read some reports from Dash users that the re-routing sometimes doesn't make sense, so obviously those folks have a little local knowledge of their own. The new MyRoute feature leverages those preferred routes and shortcuts so the device will actually learn from them for future use. Hey, technology is great but a little human intervention can make a good thing better, right?

Also included in this software update is a "Search along route" function and various performance enhancements including the FasterFind feature powered by SiRFInstantFix technology. The updated Dash will download location information at regular intervals to assist with GPS fixes in areas of low signal.

BlueAnt Z9i bluetooth headset in da house

The first item up for review has already reached the new Mobile Tech Manor and I'll be giving it a look today for future publication.  The folks at BlueAnt have sent a Z9i Bluetooth Headset with a dual microphone for advanced noice cancellation.  The Z9i will have a tough time competing with the Jawbone headset I got for free at the CES during their promotion but it's smaller and lighter so we'll see how it does.  The cool thing the Z9i does that the Jawbone doesn't is maintain pairing with two phones and you can toggle between them on the fly.  I'll give it a go and meantime here's a photo of the little BlueAnt:

Cheap laptops are everywhere

I have said it before and I'm sure I will say it again, the only distinguishing features the increasingly large crop of mini-notebooks have over their "normal" laptop cousins are size and price.  Let's face it, mini-notebooks are just laptops with lots of the same features as their bigger siblings, albeit often lesser capable.  The mad rush from folks like Asus to keep making mini-notebooks bigger and bigger remove one of the those features, size.  The bigger the mini-notebook, the more like the bigger laptops they compete with.  Along with making those minis bigger we are finding higher and higher pricing creeping into the mix.  Remove feature advantage #2 I mentioned.  That leaves you with a mini-notebook that is not much smaller and not much cheaper than the bigger laptops on the market.  Niche removed.

Don't believe me that there are many cheap laptops available that can compete with (and outperform) these larger minis?  Here's a quick look around the laptopscape this morning:

Best Buy
Compaq Presario- Dual core AMD, 2 GB RAM, 250 GB HDD, Vista.  $499.

Circuit City
Acer Extensa- Dual core Intel, 1 GB RAM, 120 GB HDD, Vista.  $479.

Dell
Inspiron- Intel Celeron, 1 GB RAM, 80 GB HDD, Vista.  $499.

Newegg
Toshiba- Intel Dual core, 1 GB RAM, 160 GB HDD, Vista.  $549.

These are 4 full-sized laptops with good specifications that are cheaper than $600.  I found these with only five minutes of searching and from major retailers.  Sure, they are not as small nor as light as even the bigger mini-notebooks but they can run rings around them as a rule.  So as minis get bigger they start to compete with these cheap laptops.  The market may just shrink smaller as a result.

eBooks and comics on a Nintendo DS

Sure, there's no official eBook software available for the Nintendo DS, but you do have a few options if you need a break from Mario Kart. The DS does have WiFi and can browse the web for reading content. What about offline content? It won't work for any material with DRM protection, but you can try ReadMore, an alpha (as in pre-beta, so be cautious) application that displays .txt files on your handheld gaming system. You can hold the DS sideways with ReadMore, making it similar to a traditional book experience: book pages are shown on both the left and right screen in this orientation.

More into graphic novels and comic books? Check out Comic Books DS, a project over at Moon Books that looks pretty slick and takes advantage of the nice color screens on the DS. The typical downside applies here: you'll struggle to find comic book content for the reader. There is a nice app that will convert scanned comic book images into the right format, but scanning comic books could be a painful chore.

(via TeleRead)

Asus plans Eee PC 904, 905: same screen, larger keyboard

Is it me or is Asus taking the whole Eee PC concept a little too far? I was all for some welcome updates on the original 701, like a bigger screen with higher resolution added to a larger keyboard. I'm just not getting the latest news coming out of Digitimes. They indicate that Asus plans two new models in the 900-series (shown), the 904 and 905.

Each of these will use the sam 8.9-inch display of the current 900s, but it sounds like they'll be on the 10-inch chassis of the 1000-series. That will get you a bigger keyboard, but also has the potential to bring back the ugly, oversized bezel we saw in the first models. I suppose they can make good use of that extra space somehow, but I'm not hopeful.

Where I'm really lost is in the vision. What was once a ground-breaking device in terms of size and cost appears to have become a giant test lab for Asus and consumers alike. Maybe I'm over-reacting or this is what the market is becoming: quick moving and in constant flux in terms of choice? Perhaps, but Digitimes says that the new models will replace the 901. There's just something unsettling to me when notebook models last a few short months...

Working in the clouds

Kevin may think he's all productive working in the clouds but he's got nothing on me as I am REALLY working in the clouds:

New Mobile Tech Manor is open for business!

It was a very long day yesterday as the movers did not show up at the old house until 5 pm but they wasted no time getting down to business.  By 11 pm we were totally moved into the new place and I was working on my study until the wee hours of the morning.  Several more hours this morning have been put into getting ready for business and I am thrilled to report I am at least 80% there.  I won't have broadband until sometime tomorrow if I'm lucky but EVDO and I are already hard at work and getting settled into the new Mobile Tech Manor.  I am listening to Deep Purple and getting after it so I am back!

Friendfeed- smart subscriptions are key

Just got an email that someone was subscribing to my Friendfeed and I went to check them out.  I won't give any names because it's a private thing but looking at this person's subscriptions I found it cool to be in good company:

As you can see smart subscriptions are the key to getting the most from Friendfeed.  :)

Revisiting my mobile tech roots

I'm sitting here in a soon-to-be-abandoned Mobile Tech Manor with everything packed except for a few gadgets that I need to use during the moving phase.  All of the mobile gadgets have been packed with care, many of them hand carted over to the new Mobile Tech Manor but right now I have found myself back to the simple mobile tech life.  I am using the MacBook Pro all by itself, wirelessly tethered to the intrawebs, the rest of my workspace clean and bare.  What I am finding is that working this way is delightfully simple.  I don't have to contend with the extra monitor, wireless keyboard, wireless mouse or any other piece of technology.  Just the MBP and me, doing our thing.  Makes me think about the complicated way I usually work.

Time to clean up and organize your digital domain

While James has his entire house boxed up, I'm looking at clutter everywhere in my own home. Time for a little post-spring cleaning today for us. Ironically, Web Worker Daily hit this very topic just yesterday, although they were speaking of things on a digital level. Although many of these thoughts are common-sensical, I'm sure we could all use a little reminder to clean our digital workspaces. In fact, I just popped a recurring quarterly appointment into my Google Calendar to do these WWD suggestions and more:

• Application inventories
• Duplicate file and app removal
• Deletion of old download files and installers
• Examination of digital organization systems
• Move data to external or online systems
• Consider your active e-mail datastores... is it time to archive?

As mobile devices gain more connectivity options, some of them seem to be offering less storage capacity, so a cleanup like this is likely to become more important in the future for many folks. That doesn't mean we won't continue to use local storage, but we might as well keep it optimized, no?

Moving day- I love 3G

The big moving day is here at Mobile Tech Manor and everything (mostly everything) is packed in its little box for moving to the new place.  I am waiting for the movers to show up and start hauling everything away.  I will not have broadband at the new place until Monday but with EVDO available I am not sweating that at all.  In moves past not having broadband for a few days was a show stopper but not with EVDO.  I have my ExpressCard modem which works in every laptop I use so I am not concerned about the lack of broadband at all.  That's a big step forward and yet another reason to sing the praises of 3G.  Wish me luck with the move.  :)

MobileTechRoundup 138: don't mess with the "Nerd Club"!

CLICK HERE to download the file and listen directly.
MoTR 138 is 35:20 minutes long and is a 32.5MB file in MP3 format.

INTRO: Based on “Time v2.1″ by Meta Sektion, additional mixing by James Kendrick.
HOSTS: James Kendrick (Houston), Matthew Miller (Seattle) and Kevin C. Tofel (Philadelphia)

TOPICS:
Kevin's cranky... find out why. :(
So what will an iPhone upgrade really cost?
Nokia's N78, N800 and N810 all support over-the-air upgrades now. w00t!
Hoo-rah for WiMAX! The second wave of cities in the rollout were announced. But for how much?
Ubuntu MID Edition is looking pretty darn nice.
Opera Mobile 9.5 is right around the corner: July 15th, to be exact
Are you in the "Nerd Club"? If not, just ping Matt... he'll hook you up! ;)

• If you like the show, please consider voting for us at Podcast Alley. It only takes a minute and it helps us get the word out about the show!
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Could UMA be the iPhone's "one more thing"?

Just a random thought as the morning caffeine gets my brain jump-started this morning. Besides, you all know how much I like to try and predict things in the mobile tech space... as they say: "sometimes even a blind squirrel finds a nut."

I got to thinking about a few developments over the past few months and while it's a stretch, I'm starting to wonder if we'll see UMA capabilities in the iPhone... no, "UMA" isn't an iPhone speed-dial setting to Ms. Thurman. For those not familiar with UMA, or Unlicensed Mobile Access, it's a relatively new technology that seamlessly routes your cellular phone calls over a WiFi network when it can.

Nokia N810 room appears on FriendFeed

Wow, it's already 9am and I haven't posted a blasted thing. Blame FriendFeed, which continues to get more and more of my attention. Actually, I mean that in a positive way as I've noticed my Google Reader Trends diminishing daily due to FriendFeed. I'm finding a much wider array of information there than over my subscribed feeds, which are of course limited by my subscription actions. I'm also finding that I'm reading much more than I'm writing these days, so I may need to curb my enthusaism a bit. ;)

So what does this have to do with you and mobile tech? Glad you asked. One of my new FriendFeed contacts, torr, has set up a FriendFeed room for the Nokia 810. A "room" in FriendFeed is like a private feed that members can view and participate in. While there's no lack of good forums and on-line communities for the N810 and other devices, this might be another way to connect with those passionate about the devices they use. Stop on in and consider joining the room. Since it just started up, you're getting in on the ground floor. Oh, and if I was Nokia PR and I was watching... I'd be participating there. Just a thought.

Working in the cloud- documents only or apps too?

I have what could only be called a morbid fascination with working in the cloud.  I've watched Kevin toiling up in the stratosphere and listened to his findings and his excitement about it and it is certainly contagious.  I realize the advantages that can be gained by keeping all your data in the cloud, duly backed up and accessible from any device you might be using.  That's pretty heady stuff and something that can be game changing for many folks.

I see the value of keeping all of my work in the cloud but where I'm not quite feeling comfortable is in the area of using only cloud apps to create new work.  One of the benefits of having my work performed on my local clients is that should I need to work with a document created 5 - 10 years ago I'm pretty sure I can do it.  Sure, the application that created that important document will surely have changed but with some effort I can probably get to the information in that old document in a pinch.  Will that same thing hold true for documents created with a cloud app?  What if the company that created the app goes under, or gets sold to someone else who changes it in a major way.  Will I be guaranteed the ability to interact with my older documents in either scenario?  That keeps me up nights worrying about that.  Having my old business documents around forever won't do me a bit of good if I can't open them or access the information.

The same fear applies even more for my old email.  Sure I don't need to access an email from years ago very often but if I need to do that I really need to do that.  If I switch to a cloud email app like GMail will I be able to work with my older stuff in the future?  What about the GBs of archived Outlook email I have now?  If I switch to cloud email can I bring all of those archived conversations into the cloud?  You can see why I'm hesitant to embrace the cloud.  It's a future accessibility thing.

Opera Mobile 9.5 beta 1 coming July 15

I just heard from the Opera folks who have finally said that the Opera Mobile 9.5 beta 1 will be available on July 15th.  You can get full details from the Opera Mobile blog but from what I've seen I would jump on this beta with both feet.

Weave your Firefox 3 data across multiple machines

Now that Google Browser Sync has gone bye-bye for Firefox 3, the search for alternatives is on. Foxmarks has been nominated by many of you, and for good reason, but let's not rule out Mozilla's own offering in the works: Weave.

Weave is still in a prototype state at version 0.1.30, but version 0.2 should be right around the corner. Actually, it was expected early this week, but we won't quibble over a few days. Like Google Browser Sync, Weave is a server-based system to keep your browser settings in sync. You'll need to set up a free Weave account and install the add-on to Firefox 3 to get started. After that, you can pick and choose what browser data you want synced through the cloud:

• Bookmarks
• History
• Cookies
• Saved Passwords / Saved Form Data
• Tabs
• Extensions / Themes
• Search Plugins
• Microformats

For most, the service is probably a little hit-or-miss at this stage, but this is worth watching. Especially for Firefox users with multiple devices.

(via Make Use Of)

XP going away means good deals on Fujitsu tablets, notebooks

Nomo, a long-time reader and frequent commenter here, forwarded me a note from Fujitsu just last night. Looks like the "end of XP" for sale with new computers has put a few (and old) Tablets and notebook PCs into the Fujitsu Outlet Store. You might be able to shop around and find better deals, but some of these look pretty decent to me. Some current examples:

• Some P-series notebooks are $400 off
• There's a P1610 for $1,499
• A T2010 Tablet with 6-cell battery is also $1,499

Again, it never hurts to shop around, but if you one that prefers to buy direct from a manufacturer, now might be a good time. Just be sure to check the detailed specs. Thanks nomo!

MSI Wind and Asus EEE PC 1000h faceoff

As the lines between notebooks and mini-notebooks blur due to increased screen size and price, there's a big camp that is all excited about the 10-inch screened notebooks.  The MSI Wind snuck up on everyone and has impressed on just about every level and the recent release by Asus of the EEE PC 1000h has many wondering how the two compare.  Joanna Stern of Laptop Magazine doesn't have to wonder, she gets to play with every mini-notebook produced and she's published an in-depth head-to-head comparison of the two notebooks.  She looks at build and design, keyboard and touchpad, display webcam and speakers, and performance storage and battery life so no stone is left unturned.  So which one did she end up pronouncing the winner?  You'll have to read the review to see for yourself.  I'll just say "the answer my friend, is blowing in the wind.  The answer is blowing in the wind."

Sumopaint: a solid looking online photo editor

Big props to JKK for shooting me the link to Sumopaint this morning. This free beta service is an online photo-editing application which could fit in nicely to my "web-only" challenge that's still going strong. It doesn't hurt that I nabbed that Canon XSi last night too... right before deciding to run a 5K race on a whim. Clearly, I haven't lost all of my "race smarts" as I was drafting behind the big boys last night. Then again, with my 120-pounds of "bulk", pretty much anyone in the race could draft for me. (Thanks to the 12-year old in mile 2!)

I've only spent a few minutes with Sumopaint, but I'm impressed already. That could be due to not looking into other online image processing apps, so excuse me in advance if there are better tools out there... and please share them in the comments! I see plenty off editing options and effects, plus support for multiple layers here. Final images can be saved locally or online if you have a Snap account. Sumopaint might not have all the bells and whistles of some apps I just started looking at (Aperture and Lightroom to name a few), but it just might do ya for basic photo editing, especially if your device doesn't offer a ton of horsepower under the hood. Thanks JKK!

Nokia N8x0 upgrades: over-the-air updates, A-GPS and more

Here's a very welcome upgrade to the Nokia 800-series Internet Tablets. The latest firmware makes that pocketable device a little easier to update in the future thanks to over-the-air support. Yup, you'll be able to download and install updates through WiFi or WiMAX instead of having to tether that tablet to a computer. If that wasn't enough, the upgrade process iteself becomes a little more mainstream: this firmware supports what Nokia deems SSU. No, not Sonoma State University, but Seamless Software Updating. Read: you'll be able to upgrade incremental bits of the firmware instead having to backup, flash and restore your entire device going forward. There's a few other goodies in there as well, including support for A-GPS on the newer N810 series.

I still believe that the N800 devices aren't yet appealing to most mainstream folks, but updates like this are definite step in the right direction.

(via BGR)

Plan your new room with Planning Wiz

The moving process is slowly but surely getting closer to the physical act of hauling all of our stuff from the old house to the new one.  It's a big process and one of the biggest tasks in planning the move is deciding how to arrange each room in the new place.  Room planning software is always good for that and I've tried a number of them in the past but the one I'm using now is the best for me.  Planning Wiz 3 is an online room planner that gives you complete control over defining the dimensions and shape of your room.  It provides either metric or imperial scales and has a big collection of object templates to put in your room.  Each object can be sized exactly and rotated to fit the desired placement.  It takes just a few minutes to try out a given room arrangement and plans can be saved and emailed to others.  Here's the one I'm working on now for the new Mobile Tech Manor:

There are predefined room templates that cover every room in a house to a small office and the furniture objects are very rich and I haven't run into an object that I couldn't find in the collection yet.  It's a cloud application so even Kevin can use it.

Do we need dual-displays on eBook readers?

I could very well be in the minority here, but I don't think sales of dedicated eBook readers are slow because the devices don't simulate the reading experience well enough. The key issues in my mind have always been DRM challenges, lack of content and price. The universities of Maryland and Berkeley think otherwise, or that there's an additional reason: current eBook devices only offer a single display and don't allow for the act of page turning. As a result, there's some prototypes with two displays in this video to allow for "page flipping" and other navigational uses.

Again, it might be me, but I'd rather see a single display with a simple but effective UI for navigation. I want my dedicated reader to portable and light; not double in weight due to a second screen. Still, these are interesting concept devices. Thoughts?

Dashwire 2.0 released- back up your mobile phone

The folks at Dashwire have let us know that they have just released version 2.0 of their cloud cell phone backup service.  Calling it a backup service only tells a part of the story as this new version does a lot more than that:

• Graphical phone experience featuring user avatar, status updates, and media gallery
• Mobile access to photos & videos located on your Dashwire web account - even if the actual media files aren't on your phone
• Photo uploads from your computer to your Dashwire web account, which then automatically appear on your phone
• Media editing, blogging, and sharing with friends - on the go as you're capturing your experiences
• Direct status updates to Facebook & Twitter
• Privacy controls & media publishing

Dashwire currently supports Windows Mobile 5 & 6 and there is an S60 version on the slate for late summer release.  You can access Dashwire 2.0 from http://m.dashwire.com.

Palm's GSM Centro unlocked: $299 and no contract

I know I caught the press release for this in my mail a few days ago, but I'll be darned: I completely forgot to pass the info along. Thank goodness the Official Palm Blog reminded me in my feeds! If you're allergic to long-term contracts or have general commitment issues, this GSM smartphone might be just the ticket. Since there's no subsidy, you'll pay the full $299 for this small but efficient handset. But of course, you'll have the freedom to use it with the SIM of your choice on a network supporting the 850/900/1800/1900MHz radio for voice and EDGE data. I see that if you order direct from the Palm store by July 1, your Centro will ship free.

One other tasty tidbit: the Centro is gaining the My Location feature in Google Maps for Mobile. While the Centro doesn't include intergrated GPS, it can use the local cellular towers with this feature to approximate your location.

Structure08 cloud conference happening right now

We've all been following Kevin's attempt to embrace the cloud (those suckers are hard to hold) and from my frequent conversations with him it's going overall pretty well.  His posts on the cloud have demonstrated that quite a few folks are interested in keeping their data and apps in the cloud.  Structure08 is a one-day conference happening in San Francisco right now hosted by Om Malik and the GigaOM Network.  They have a bunch of panels, what will surely be interesting discussions and some good speakers so if you want to know what's current in the cloud computing space you should check it out.  They are covering the conference live on GigaOM and even promise live streaming video for those who want to pretend you are there.  Now that's the true cloud experience.

Don't pull the trigger too quickly for Amazon gadget purchases

I just had a video chat on Skype with James about this topic and realized that many "everyday" consumers might not realize what I've noticed on Amazon. I'm about to upgrade my faithful Panasonic Lumix DMC-F27 digital point-and-shoot for a DSLR. After doing my research and factoring in my budget, I've settled on the Canon XSi, which lists for $899 or so. Like any gadget-hound, I've hit up all of the major electronics websites for pricing and of course, Amazon is in the mix. Here's where it gets interesting: in the past 16 hours, the price for this camera has changed three times. Each time it was "Sold by Amazon" and each new price was lower than the prior.

Yesterday afternoon, the camera kit with lens was $845, or pretty much in line with many other retailers. Last night before bed, the price had dropped to $810, making it a very attractive deal. Still, I decided to hold off because it was too late for one-day shipping and I knew had time to kill before buying it for a Thursday delivery. This morning, I checked again and see that it's now $799 and it can still be here tomorrow.

James made a good point when we chatted about this. Since Amazon has so many places it can receive stock from and because they "represent" so many sellers, the pricing can easily fluctuate as suppliers compete against each other. Granted: you can't keep waiting for the price drops because you never know when they'll change back to price increases. But sometimes a little patience can save a fair amount of money. It's a crapshoot, of course, but it's an interesting phenomonon to watch... and take advantage of when you can. Anyone have similar experiences with Amazon? Did you "win" or "lose" by waiting?

4iPhone.net launches hosted Exchange service for iPhone owners

Up until October of last year, I used 4SmartPhone.net as my hosted Microsoft Exchange provider. In fact, I used them for a good two or three years until I decided that Gmail's IMAP would meet my needs... and at no cost. I was wondering if they were going to offer service to iPhone owners, since the 2.0 firmware for the phone will support Microsoft Exchange. Sure enough, they are and you can find out about it at their new site: 4iPhone.net. Actually, you can pre-register for it since there's not much info on the site. ;)

From the press release they sent out today, it looks like pricing will be around $10.95 a month and my guess is that's if you pay annually in one lump-sum. With an account, you'll have Direct Push services right from the server for your e-mail, contacts, and calendar events to your iPhone. There's also the Remote Wipe function to delete data from your device. Why would a consumer need that? Just ask Robert Scoble... he knows why.

If you're new to the "Microsoft Exchange" world, consider the "Hosted Exchange 101" article we put together last year; it gives you the high-level view of what the service is and why you might want it.

Kensington Portable Power Outlet- juice to go

One of the most indispensable accessories you can carry on a trip with you is a portable power strip.  Hotel designers have a knack for not only making sure there are not enough outlets to power your laptop, cell phone, etc., but that the lone outlet is placed in the most difficult to access location.  I always carry my Monster Outlets to Go with me on trips and it has served me well but a new accessory from Kensington would fill the bill nicely too.  The Kensington Portable Power Outlet brings 3 power outlets in a highly portable form but throws in two powered USB outlets for juicing those gadgets that need it.  It offers surge protection to keep your gear safe.  $25.

(via Gizmos for Geeks)

Canonical releases first public version of Ubuntu MID edition

Great news from the team at Canonical: the first public release of Ubuntu MID edition is available for download!  This version, 8.04, is really meant to help developers, so don't expect to see an OEM device with this exact environment. I'm actually on the fence: I'd love to try it, but it would cause a minor disruption to the web-challenge on my UMPC.  Then again I really have no local data, so it would just be a a matter of rebuilding Vista after trying the mobile version of Ubuntu. While I decide my next steps, see for yourself what this version includes:

In some cases we took some applications and modified them to fit better on MID screens and to be finger friendly for touch screens. In others we have included Moblin technologies. A notable feature of Ubuntu MID is a specifically-designed MID browser based on Gecko, that has zoom capabilities that optimize the browsing experience for users, critical for a device primarily designed for Web access.  It also contains applications for email, calendaring, document reading,contacts and a media player as part of the default install. All the applications are freely redistributable.

Sounds touch-friendly to me, and if it can on effectively on a device with relatively meager specs then the MID space is about to get much more interesting.

Please do not ship anything to Mobile Tech Manor

Due to the impending move this weekend to a new house this message is for OEMs, vendors and PR firms:

Do not ship anything to James Kendrick until further notice.  It is a regular occurrence for stuff to just appear on the Mobile Tech Manor doorstep via the FedEx or UPS man and as of right now if you send something it may not get to me.  Please email me for the new address of the new Mobile Tech Manor if you wish to ship something for evaluation.  Thank you.

MacBook Air shelved by blogger: exemplifies our "right tool for the task" maxim

I just read Jason O'Grady's most recent post at The Apple Core, where he says he's going to give up his MacBook Air for now. Why is his uber-sleek and thin Mac getting put aside temporarily? The main reason is one we've been repeating over and over for a few years here and it has to do with the intended usage of a device. Not to kick a dead horse, but this is the biggest reason we never answer the "What's the best device?" question that we get here. And believe you me: we get it almost weekly.

To be fair, Jason's workflow changed as he no longer commutes to work, but instead works at home. It sounds like he works at a desk, not in multiple locations, but I'm simply guessing on that part. That aspect alone means that he doesn't need a light, think device, although that doesn't preclude him from using one either. It just becomes less of a requirement or need.

The nail in his MacBook Air's coffin is the device's performance for the tasks he needs to do. And this exmplifies the message we've been trying to send, but maybe we've done a poor job at it: figure out what you need your device for and then figure out what device fits those needs best. Jason listed all of the apps that he needs to run on his Mac daily: "lots of browser tabs open, NetNewsWire checking 500+ RSS feeds, Mail, Adium, Photoshop, BBEdit and iTunes running." I honestly would think that these application set would work fine on the 1.6 GHz MBA with 2 GB of RAM as only Photoshop (and maybe iTunes...) is what I'd call a truly heavy hitter. Still, the performance didn't meet Jason's expectations and at the very end of his post, he figured out that for his requirements set, the MacBook Air is a "capable second machine."

That's not to say that MacBook Air couldn't be a capable primary machine and this is a point truly worth highlighting. From what I've heard, Steve Rubel uses an Air (please correct me if I'm wrong Steve!) and is very happy with it. How can this be, since it's the same device that Jason isn't happy with? Simple: Steve doesn't run many apps and spends the majority of his time in a browser. Put another way: the MacBook Air is a very capable primary machine for Steve because he has a different requirement set than Jason. I simply can't underscore that point enough.

This is also why I can and now do use a UMPC as a primary device and happily live in the browser on my Samsung Q1 Ultra Premium. My actual computing and storage needs are quite meager as compared to many of you. I'm sure we'll say this again many times over, but you have to use the right tool for the task. It's really as simple as that and while I can't guarantee that you'll make the right device decisions, I can guarantee that you have a better chance at making one.

Firefox extension for Mac shows PDFs right in the browser

My life continues in the browser as it it's now day 19 without using client applications for any length of time. (You can check what I've used right here). About two weeks ago, I highlighted a way to read PDF docs in the browser simply by using the new PDF support in Google Docs on my Vista-based UMPC. What if you don't use Google Docs or even a PC for that matter? Mac users that don't want to use Safari should check out this plugin for inline PDF viewing within Firefox 3. According to Apple's Developer Connection site, PDFKit "allows you to display and manipulate PDF documents in your applications."

In my current light-computing experiment, I'd rather not gunk up my hard drive or SSD with the full Adobe Reader package, so extensions like these come in handy for some devices. Yes, my little Asus Eee PC 701 sitting next to me: I'm looking at you!

(via Download Squad)

MacBook Air SuperDrive, $9 and solder = works with any PC

I'll bet those Apple hardware designers thought they were pretty clever by making the MacBook Air SuperDrive work only with its namesake. Ahh... but they never met the mistress of mods: tnkgrl! She deftly determined the reason for the optical drive to work only with the Mac. It's not a power issue as some suspcected. It appears to be custom firmware in the conversation between the IDE and USB interfaces. Since firmware hacking proved to be a big challenge, tnkgrl just took it out of the equation by replacing the small circuit board with a $9 equivlient! Now she has a sweet optical drive that works not only with the MacBook Air, but with Earth, Wind and Fire all other PCs too. Now that's what I call putting the "U" back in USB!

Nokia's N78 arrives in the U.S. for $560

Earlier this month, I said that "Nokia's N78 is going to surprise you" and now's your chance to see if I was right. The U.S. version of the device becomes available today if you're willing to part with $560. Just to compare apples to apples, this is an unsubsidized price; it's a shame that no carrier will consider subsdizing these to make them more compelling to U.S. consumers.

The N78 has many features found in the higher-priced N-series devices, but doesn't cost as much. It offers a 3.2-megapixel sensor with famed Carl Zeiss optics, A-GPS, HSDPA for use on AT&T's 3G network, and something not found on many music-capable phones: an FM transmitter so you can weirelessly "broadcast" tunes on your car radio or home stereo. The device also includes WiFi and Bluetooth for additional connectivity options. Plus it has the latest and greatest feature pack for Symbian S60 3rd Edition. I'm not sold on the bar-like keys of the keypad, but Matt Miller found it to be very usable.

I still think $560 is a very tough sell for the mainstream phone market here. I realize that the original iPhone was more than that (I should know) and sold millions of units, but Apple is a much more powerful brand here than Nokia. If I were to walk down the street and randomly ask 10 people if they've heard of Nokia's N-Series phones or the S60 operating system, I'd be surprised if one said yes. Those same 10 people asked about the iPhone? 9 out of 10... there's always someone living under a rock.

I've joined the few, the slow... the "hypermilers".

Barb's going to hate me for this, but I've officially joined the ranks of the hypermilers. I couldn't have picked a better time to do it as she's away on business all this week. See, I've been trying to hone my skills on the last few tanks of fuel, but quite honestly, it was driving her batty as a passenger. "Stop driving like a granny" was her common retort, which is only marginally better than the "Make a legal U-Turn" that my GPS shouts when I go off-route and it can't keep up.

Anyway, the inititiation was pretty simple and involved no hazing or car washing. I simply hit up the forums at CleanMPG and registered myself and my car.

Christmas in July at GottaBeMobile: a gear giveaway that would fill Santa's bag

The GBM team has a slew of gear, gradgets and generally good stuff that they're giving away right now. It's their Christmas in July contest and there's no less than three or four dozen items up for grabs. You won't know what's being given away when, so you have to stay active in the comments and forums for a shot! There's a UMPC in there, some Zunes, an iPod, software and more, so don't be shy on their site. Speak up!

VIA chipset driver updates reportedly boost HP Mini performance

When I say "boost" performance, I don't mean that your HP Mini-note will magically turn into an Alienware gaming rig. We're not one to get too hung up on benchmarks here, but HP 2133 Guide updated the VIA chipset drivers on their netbook and then re-ran their tests. You can look here for the numbers, which only show a marginal bump, but I think the more important bit is right here:

"Video playback was improved quite a bit on each OS. In Vista Youtube plays great small or full screen with no dropped frames. If you open another web page it will drop a few then though. Small screen Hulu improved quite a bit and was actually watchable after the first 3 or 4 seconds."

From my limited experience, one of the weaknesses in the current VIA mobile platform is in the graphics perfromance area. Just my opinion of course, and your expereince & expectations could differ greatly. I think we can all agree though: it's good to see VIA continuing to improve their product in mobile devices.

I'm not sure if James has installed these driver upgrades for the CN896 chipset and Chrome 9 that surfaced last week; let's give him a chance to check in on that when he has time and get his thoughts.

(via Small Laptops and Notebooks)

Evernote leaves beta- $5 per month

Evernote has had their online note-taking, storing, clipping, OCRing, productivity-enhancing service in beta for some time and have used that beta time for constantly improving the service.  They are now out of beta and are making the full version available for use for subscribers.  Free accounts will get 40 MB of storage but paid subscriptions ($5 per month) will provide 500 MB of storage and additional features for the note-taking public.  Evernote provides a complete note-taking solution with clients for Windows Mobile, Windows and the Mac and since notes are stored online they are thus available from the web or any device the subscriber may be using.  Evernote allows uploading images that are OCRed making any text in the image searchable so you can take a photo of a business card for example and search for the text on the card.

Nokia buys Symbian- sets it free

As if Google's experience with Android wasn't getting them frazzled enough Nokia has fired a warning shot across Google's bow with the announcement they are buying out all of the partners behind the popular phone OS, Symbian.  Nokia has 91% of the ownership locked up with lone hold-out Samsung expected to agree to sell out to Nokia shortly giving the Finnish phone giant total ownership of the Symbian group.  Nokia is no doubt looking at the Android and its open sourceness and thus will set Symbian free for license by handset makers through the newly established Symbian Foundation.  The Symbian platform is already one of the largest in use globally and making it free to use can only result in some OEMs looking at the sure thing of Symbian instead of the unknown Android.  Google has got to be feeling pretty low right about now.

Forget multi-touch, it's time for the Instinctive Interface

We have seen the User Interface (UI) evolve from the days of the command prompt (C:>) to today's rich graphical environment.  The UI is the most important part of the user experience and the user's ability to get stuff done easily, far more than the hardware on which it runs.  We have seen a number of technologies appear to this end over the past few years but they've all fallen short of providing the ultimate user environment, at least the way I see it.  Many of these technologies have done a good job of attempting to make our computing lives easier but have not quite reached the pinnacle.  The mouse made a huge improvement over the command prompt but can only do so much for us.  Speech recognition is the technology that shows such great promise in the area of UI but not the way it's implemented today.  Touch interfaces have recently expanded the ability to interact with the items on the screen, and multi-touch has the potential to get people excited.

I'm afraid that all of this is not enough, not even multi-touch, even though it's the big buzz phrase these days.  I think about how I work with my computers a lot and I realized that none of these things are going to give me the rich interaction that will make a difference in the way I work.  I think it's time to be thinking about what I term the Instinctive Interface (II), which I do believe is totally realizable today given current technology.  So what is the II?  One of the things that I notice about the way I work is that I quite often do the same things the same way for the most part.  Imagine this scenario:

Most mornings I fire up my PC at 8am and check my email.  My computer should be smart enough to learn from my actions which is what the Instinctive Interface provides my PC.  I resume my computer at 8am and tell my PC "good morning" which flags this as a normal day.  It opens up my email client, Outlook if that's what I always use, or the web browser opened to GMail if I use that.  It downloads new email from overnight if needed and presents it to me in the application.  I can open an email by moving the cursor over it like I do now, or telling the computer to "open Kevin" since that's who the email is from, or maybe I touch the email on the screen.  All of these actions will do the same thing which makes my life much easier because all I want to do is read Kevin's email.  The II has readied mousing, speech and touch control to handle whatever I throw at it.  It has learned over time what I normally do and it knows I will continue to do so this morning and it is focussed on letting me do it. 

After I finish doing my email, or even before I'm done if there are too many emails to do them all, I want to go to Google Reader to check all the items from my RSS feeds overnight.  I can open up Firefox or just say "check the feeds" or the equivalent and the II knows to fire up Firefox with the Google Read