Centro is the first smart thing Palm has done for years. By pricing it at $99, they have cornered the market on entry-level smartphones. Instead of trying to compete with the iPhone, Palm is carving out a niche of their own, undercutting the iPhone and out-buttoning the Blackberry Pearl.
Here is a review of the Centro from Treonauts:
It’s just a shame that the cellphone providers do such a shoddy job of supporting them.
Owen Thomas from ValleyWag has written a scathing critique of print magazines and suggests that they are unable to keep up in our ever changing world.
But the painfully slow publication cycle of monthly magazines is crashing into the ever-faster world of gadgets — with embarrassing results, as seen in the October issue of Entrepreneur.
He goes on to talk about the October issue of Entrepreneur magazine and how they provided a review of the Palm Foleo, which was squashed by Palm before ever hitting the stores. My instinct was to agree with Owen, but anyone who is getting their gadgets advice from Entrepreneur magazine probably won’t be bothered by an inaccurate article.
What do you think? Do you like to read the gadget articles in magazines? Do you think they’re outdated? Are they good enough for light entertainment?
I have been watching the third party applications eagerly for anyone to create a Nike+ app for my iPhone. It has been the one thing that I have wanted on my iPhone since before it was available. There is hope that Apple might support Nike+, so I had given up the idea of unlocking my iPhone. I don’t actually CARE about ringtones and NES emulators.
Jason Kottke’s idea, however, is the one feature I would unlock my iPhone for:
A feature I would like on my iPhone: every single call gets recorded (at a low bitrate to conserve storage space) and stored on the phone for a short period of time. Playback works like the visual voicemail feature.
Any time I have ever had to record a phone call, I have realized it AFTER the call is over or during the call, when I can’t really grab a tape recorder easily. This feature would be great for resolving arguments, protecting ourselves and recording the voice of shy loved ones. God, if I had had this feature, I could have had a recording of my grandpa before he died. Why didn’t I think of that?
Yes, please, third party app creators: create this for me!
Microsoft has created a new online service for you. It’s a portal called Health Vault where you can keep track of all your health information online. It’s free and you are supposed to be able to give your doctors permission to upload your data there. Sheldon Comics eloquently put into words my gut reaction to it:
Sheldon Comics by Dave Kellett (10-10-07): Click to see full comic
The worst thing about this situation is that Microsoft is our BEST option here. Our healthcare system is in such shambles that a website like this is the best we have to keep track of everything. Where other countries like Germany require doctors to give you all their information on your personal microchip, we are trying to drag our doctors into the twentieth century (much less the twenty-first).
According to the Washington Post, doctors are a bit shy of technology:
About 90 percent of physicians and more than 80 percent of hospitals still use paper records, according to Nancy Szemraj, a spokeswoman for the Department of Health and Human Services.
Good luck getting your doctor to upload his manila file into Health Vault for you. If you actually trust Microsoft enough to use Health Vault, it’s YOU who will be doing all the work of inputting your data.
Sorry, Microsoft. Software can’t solve this problem. Our entire system is broken and half of us can’t even afford it. Canada looks better and better all the time.
Update 10-11-07: Sheldon did it again and said EXACTLY what I was thinking!
More thoughts on the User Agreement for Health Vault here:
No, this photo hasn’t been squashed. This is a one-person scooter that protects you from the rain and snow. With a top speed of only 10 miles an hour, however, the Shoprider Flagship falls into the Segway category of usefulness, but it’s a great start:
Sadly, it will cost you almost as much as a “real” scooter that can hit speeds of 40-50 mph. For $6595, it’s merely a toy, but it looks so cute I just want to get it! Red, please!
Via: Popgadget Personal Technology for Women: Shoprider Flagship: Tiny scooter car
Engadget held a poll about the firmware update to the iPhone. Did you upgrade your iPhone? Was it injured (iBricked) in the process? What was the overwhelming answer?
A whopping 43% of the people answered, “I’m still sick of the iPhone.” Mike has had his iPhone for two months now and I just got mine last week. It works as well as everyone said it does. The new firmware added some benefits like the double click on the space bar which adds a period without going into the punctuation keyboard. Mostly, it’s my phone.
Last week, PostSecret posted this secret from someone who owns an iPhone:
It said:
I bought the coolest phone on the planet – but it still only rings as often as my old phone did.
In the end, it’s just a phone. It’s the best phone that I’ve ever owned, but it doesn’t solve the world’s problems. It just made it terrifically easy for me to answer email, surf the web, listen to music and watch videos when I’m out and about.
How did I answer the poll? I chose:
Upgraded, factory fresh phone (no SIM unlock or 3rd party apps): NOT bricked!
I was among 23% of the people who answered, but the majority of people just want us to stop talking about it.
PostSecret‘s beneficiary is the National Hopeline Network. It is a 24-hour hotline (1 (800) SUICIDE) for anyone who is thinking about suicide or knows someone who is considering it.
It has been a while since I talked about human/motor driven bikes. Now that winter is coming, it’s strange that two new bikes have been announced:
The Matra MS1:
Aside from the cheesy LCD display strapped on the handlebars, the Matra MS1 bike looks as if Apple could have designed it. Okay, that’s a lie. It looks like they want you to think Apple designed it. Human powered and electric powered.
Via: Matra shows off its human / electric-powered MS1 bike – Engadget
The Electrobike Pi:
If the Matra bike is borrowing from Apple’s style, the Electrobike Pi is borrowing from the VW New Beetle. The arch and two wheels was VW’s logo for the New Beetle for the first few years of its marketing. I don’t feel like I could ride this bike around town with a straight face.
Via: Electrobike Pi: the pricey hybrid electric bicycle – Engadget
The market DOES need good hybrid bicycles for commuting, but I don’t think I like either one of these. Plus, at the prices that they are selling, it’s probably a better option to buy a cheap motor kit for your traditional bike or the Synergy Cycle.
Those Palm Centro Photos from Engadget were pretty enticing. They said Sprint had just announced the Palm Centro for only 99 bucks. I was excited about it and was hoping that they might have a fake plastic one to look at at my local Sprint Store.
Mike said, “Don’t even go in there. You’ll regret it.”
“But Mike, that phone is only 99 dollars. I could get my laptop online. And the Palm isn’t THAT bad…”
“They’re not going to have one there.”
“I know, but maybe they can tell me when. They have red…”
It was the red phone that really enticed me, okay, that and the fact that I could get my laptop online using EV/DO. That’s something that the iPhone just CAN’T do. And it was only 99 bucks!
I walked into the yellow and white store. It was empty except for the one salesman behind the desk who was ignoring me for now. I scanned the phones on the wall, looking for something that might be a plasticy mockup of the Palm Centro, but didn’t see anything. The uninterested salesclerk asked, “Can I help you?”
“I was wondering if you knew anything about the Centro?”
“… The what?”
“The new Palm Centro?”
He reached for the mouse on the computer next to him and fumbled.
“Nevermind.”
I turned around and walked out of the store as he mumbled an apology. He never got out of his chair behind the desk.
I bought an iPhone two hours later.
Maybe if the sales experience at Sprint hadn’t been a colossal let down, I would have bought the Centro. Maybe if Palm hadn’t been so slow, I would have bought the Centro. Maybe if the Apple Store experience wasn’t so easy and enjoyable, I would have bought the Centro.
In the end, it’s the WHOLE experience of the purchase and owning, not just the features that makes me buy a gadget.
Press Play On Tape used to be the Geekiest Band in the World because they used to only play video game songs. They got some competition in that category, so they took it up a notch.
They are the Geekiest Band in the World because they play only video game songs on GAME CONTROLLERS!
Here is a list of the controllers they used:
Next time anyone says that video games are a waste of time, I’m going to smack them upside the head.
Via: Email submission from Stacey Vest. Thanks, Stacey!
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