The Gadgets Page

October 11, 2007

The iPhone Feature I Would Unlock My iPhone For

Filed under: PDAs and Phones — Laura Moncur @ 10:50 am

The iPhone and Nike+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!

October 10, 2007

Health Vault: Do You Trust Microsoft With Your Health Data?

Filed under: Software — Laura Moncur @ 9:11 am

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: Click to see full comic

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!

No Health Insurance with Health Vault


More thoughts on the User Agreement for Health Vault here:

October 8, 2007

Finally, An Enclosed Scooter!

Filed under: Cars & Transportation,Misc. Gadgets — Laura Moncur @ 5:00 am

Shoprider Flagship Enclosed Scooter, Blue at Amazon.comNo, 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

October 4, 2007

Sick of the iPhone?

Filed under: PDAs and Phones — Laura Moncur @ 5:00 am

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?

Still sick of the iPhone

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:

PostSecret: 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.

October 3, 2007

Electric Bikes

Filed under: Cars & Transportation — Laura Moncur @ 5:00 am

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:

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:

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.

October 2, 2007

Sprint Just Doesn’t Get It

Filed under: PDAs and Phones — Laura Moncur @ 5:00 am

Palm Centro photo from EngadgetThose 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.

October 1, 2007

Press Play On Tape: The Geekiest Band in the World

Filed under: Toys and Games — Laura Moncur @ 5:00 am

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:

  • Guitar Hero controller
  • PS/2 controller
  • Xbox controller
  • Donkey Congas from Nintendo Gamecube
  • Synth controller that they got with a really stupid game, but it’s a cool controller
  • Dance Dance Revolution dance mat
  • Atari controller

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!

September 28, 2007

Tracking Twitter

Filed under: PDAs and Phones,Software — Laura Moncur @ 5:00 am

If Twitter’s unreliability hasn’t worn you down, you’ll be happy to know that they have added a new feature called tracking:

You can follow friends on your phone through Twitter, but what about concepts? What if you wanted an update anytime anyone mentioned your name, your favorite band, “NYC,” “earthquake,” or “Steve Jobs?” In real-time? What if you were attending an event and wanted to know who else was there?

If anyone in the public timeline mentions the words “Steve Jobs,” you can have their tweets sent to you by tracking those words.

Turn on tracking: track Steve Jobs
Turn off tracking: untrack Steve Jobs

You can track many things at once. To turn off one, use the untrack feature, to turn them all off:

Turn off all tracked concepts: track off
Get a list of all tracked concepts: track

I am racking my brain to think of a topic that I’m willing to let any moron interrupt my day with and I haven’t been able to think of one. Quit adding features, Twitter, and get the IM and SMS to deliver messages in order and within an hour. Or deliver them at all. I’m sick of missing out on half of everything. We’re trying to have a conversation here.

Via: Twitter / Daniel Johnson, Jr.: Twitter tracking enabled Thanks, Daniel!


For more information about Twitter:

September 27, 2007

Wil Wheaton Reminisces About Video Games

Filed under: Toys and Games — Laura Moncur @ 5:00 am

I laughed out loud at this segment of Wil Wheaton’s PAX ’07 Keynote:

He talks about his first exposure to the NES game system as a child. After hours of playing, his parents pulled them away from the games:

When we were in the car, my brother said, “Mom! Dad! That Intendo is GREAT!”

“It’s Nintendo, Jerry,” I said in my very best serious and mature voice, “and it’s probably the most advanced computer system that will ever be made.”

Wil says that if you can only attend one conference a year, it should be PAX (the Penny Arcade Expo). Since E3 has become such a snooze-fest, he might be right.

September 26, 2007

Rocket Mail Went First Where Email Came Later

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets — Laura Moncur @ 10:48 am

The concept of mailing something and someone receiving it within minutes is commonplace now. I can email a letter using my Treo and my mom can get it, even if I am across the country. What email does for us everyday, the proponents of rocket mail tried to bring to the 1940’s:

When I was a child, I would watch the Disney cartoons that promised that I had a big bright future ahead of me. Rocket mail is just the kind of thing that they promised me. It never came to pass, but its surrogate is far more efficient and safe. I wonder what the surrogate for flying cars will be…

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