Ring-back tones are not to be confused with the ring tones that sound off when you receive a call. Rather, ring-back tones are snippets of music that are played to callers while they wait for the phone to be answered, instead of the usual ringing we now hear. [Wired News]
Reviews of the Treo 600
Julie (the Gadgeteer) has posted her review of the Treo 600 and is essentially positive though somewhat critical of the lower resolution screen (not 320 x 320) and limited bundling of additional apps.
Treo Central has a review as well of the Orange (GSM) version…
iRecordNow turns iSight into digital camcorder
Boinx Software has announced the release of iRecordNow 1.0, new software that offers an easy way to use an iSight FireWire camera to record video… [MacMinute]
iPod Bluetooth Audio Transmitter
No, it’s not from Apple… but this ExtremeTech article reports on currently prototype designs of Bluetooth (wireless) audio transmitters from a company called Infinite Range.[MacRumors]
Good Stuff
If you have access to an Exchange Server and are thinking about a Treo 600, you might want to check out this video. It’s clearly a marketing piece, but an amazing demo of the full capabilities of a connected Treo. I just wish they supported Notes…
Treo Obsessive Compulsive
So I can’t stop thinking about the Treo… This always happens when I find the opportunity to consider a new gadget and time is ticking…for when I will make the leap.
Today I was thinking seriously about what my options are for connecting to Lotus Notes. Seems pretty grim actually… I was previously led to believe that Good would be supporting the Treo and Notes, but after speaking with them today confirmed that in fact only Exchange is supported. We just switched to Notes from Exchange, so no hope there.
Sprint offers a desktop redirector which I guess is similar to Visto (if not actually Visto). You need a PC to run and send messages from the PC to the device. This is less than ideal as I a) don’t have a PC and b) am a (Mac) notebook user anyway. I’ve discussed the potential of having a dedicated redirector box with our CTO and that remains an option, though I am not sure how cost effective that is. I guess that depends on the cell plan you get and with what carrier. So far Sprint is the only one with an option. I spoke to T-Mobile, but they have no idea (officially anyway) as the device is not yet available.
My hope is that as the GSM/GPRS version rolls out, carriers will have some kind of solution. Seems like it will be all based on the desktop redirector model. I guess that is why the RIM units are so solid… They are integrated with the Server and beam out your messages in real time. I could certainly consider a Blackberry, but was thinking I would prefer to stay with Palm if possible.
Cingular now carrying the Treo 600 GSM version…
Just caught the Treo on Cingular’s web site under phones, not PDA/Handhelds for some reason and only in the NYC area according to posts on TreoCentral. It’s 500 bucks for a 2 year contract… but there is currently no data plan. The only data plan seems to be for the Mobitex/RIM products. argh…
Boob Tubes Going Digital By 2007
A U.S. appeals court upholds FCC requirements that TV manufacturers install high-quality digital broadcast signals in new sets starting July 2004. Under the new rules, the lagging transition to digital TV will be completed by July 2007. [Wired News]
Assign Shortcut Keys to iTunes AppleScripts
“Panther has a cool feature that allows you to set keyboard shortcuts for pretty much any application, including iTunes. However, one thing I discovered is that you can set keyboard shortcuts to the AppleScripts in your iTunes Scripts Menu. [macscripter.net news]
Something I will certainly have to deal with when my system gets Panther… This would be a great and simple way to initiate my connection with my SliMP3.
Time for a New Phone…
I learned today that my company was planning to officially cut off my cell plan as I have a carrier they no longer wish to pay for… This led to an immediate panic as the phone I’ve been coveting (the Treo 600) is not yet available beyond Sprint… As much as I like CDMA and think I would appreciate the slightly higher speed available for data services, I would prefer to have the GSM/GPRS version if possible. From what I’ve read you get much more battery life as well as better SMS/MMS capabilities since Sprint does not support a standard SMS system yet.
I was successful in my lobby to get one more month of cell service with my old carrier so I will be able to move my number when I switch at the end of November. Great news for me… but in checking while a bit panicked I realized there is no formal date set for the release of the non-Sprint Treo. Rumors indicate a 3rd week of November release, but they also led people to think that this past Monday was the day.
I’m thinking of T-Mobile as my carrier and will be moving my wife over as well… The rate plans seem to be very strong there. Currently there is a promotion for a three day weekend, anytime minutes and no mention of roaming, for which Sprint has the nerve to charge $.50/min. If you travel as I tend to, this could add up to a great deal of extra charges… I also like the data-friendly nature of T-Mobile. I plan to get the USB cable and possibly the Bluetooth card (whenever it becomes available) for connecting my laptop when out of range of wifi.
Now that my plans have moved a few weeks, I can’t help but keep thinking about getting that damn Sprint phone anyway… Gadget lust I guess. Though I do know that the Sprint phone supports Lotus Notes redirection, which may in fact be the reason I have to pick them. I would really like to use the Treo as my mobile office when possible… I know I can do my personal mail through IMAP or POP, but Lotus has it’s own issues. hmmm…
Can Cable Fast-Forward Past TiVo?
TiVo, the best-known maker of digital video recorders, may need to worry about the cable industry, which is nipping at its heels. [New York Times]
We’ll see how far they get aiming to be a premium brand in the DVR space. It’s not about the features as much as it is about the simplicity. Being in the cable box, means a single remote and no installation complexity, since the cable company does it for you.
New Drive…
Just in time for Panther, one of my external drives started failing on me. This is sadly, not the first time this drive has crapped out. I took action and replaced it not wanting to risk losing the almost 80GB of music I’ve got archived there… I picked up a second La Cie D2 drive – 200GB – and consolidated my tunes which were spanned on both the 80 and another La Cie D2 120. Now all my music (all 134 GB) is in a single place which is nice so I have one folder neatly managed by iTunes – love that Advanced menu!
I wish I had a clue what was causing the issue on my drive… I was not able to maintain a finder based connection of any kind long enough to do a complete transfer. I tried moving through the finder and even FTP which worked mostly. I finally ended up resorting to rsync, whicih is an amazing tool. I was able to recursively copy all I had from two mega directories into a single one. I had never used it before, but I found all the help I needed with a bit of Google.
Photoshop for the Camera Phone
Photoshop for the Camera Phone
Here’s a pretty swanky server-based image manipulation tool designed for photoshop-style image manipulation of (primarily) camera phone images. It is still in the pre-production stage (assumably that means it works, but hasn’t been cleanly integrated into the morass that is MMS image standards), but a cool idea nonetheless.
Similarly, Scalado’s PhotoFusion has an image manipulation app that runs on some nokia cell phones.
[Corante: Amateur Hour]
Imagine the possibilities…
Hand-size Windows PCs within your grasp
Start-up Antelope Technologies is getting ready to release the Modular Computing Core, a Windows XP computer that fits into a person’s hand. [CNET News.com]
WOW – this is a very cool idea!
Stretched Out lets PowerBooks go wireless via CDMA
Stretched Out Software Inc. has released a Mac-compatible data driver for the Sierra Wireless AirCard 555 — a PC card that enables laptop computers to communicate through cellular telephone networks.
What’s more, Stretched out Software indicates that it’s working on a Mac OS X driver for Sierra’s AirCard 750, a tri-band card that supports global networks using GSM/GPRS. [MacCentral]
CNN to use mobile polling
Very cool…
CNN is about to start using mobile phones to enable viewers to send in opinions and vote on questions using their mobiles… [textually.org]
Sony, DoCoMo ally for smart-card chip
More on your Phone as Wallet…
The mobile communications company and Sony will team up to develop smart-card chips that will enable consumers to use their cell phones to pay for purchases, sources from the companies say. [CNET News.com]
Sony to ship PSX for $750
Just I need… a third DVR and a second PS2! Recordable DVD is very attractive…
Sony will offer its PSX PlayStation-cum-personal video recorder for under $800, the consumer electronics giant said yesterday.
Two models will ship later this year in Japan, one with a 160GB hard drive, the other with 250GB of hard disk storage – the latter enough to hold 13 and a half days’ worth of TV programming, and both larger than the 120GB capacity originally planned for the machine. As yet Sony has not said which of these will be offered to overseas markets – or when.
The Japanese models – dubbed the DESR-5000 and DESR-7000, respectively – will be priced at a US equivalent of $750 and $907. In addition to TiVO-style features, the machines contain PlayStation 2, which also provides PlayStation 1 compatibility.
Programmes recorded on the hard drive can be transferred to DVD using the machines’ built in DVD-R/RW drive. A DVD+RW version will be coming further down the line, Sony said. Current machines also provide a Memory Stick slot and a USB port for peripherals. [The Register]
Get Unwired…
Intel launched their database for WiFi Hot Spots… looks pretty good
Digital TV Ain’t Gonna Be Free.
Reuters: Digital TV Ain’t Gonna Be Free. I think this article is actually optimistic; if the broadcast flag passes, you just won’t be able to record HDTV at all, because products that meet the robustness requirements would be so crippled they’d be unprofitable. [Hack the Planet]
The trick will be to get a set-top with HD-DVR capabilities and built-in DVD recording. Assuming they are allowed. I am currently experimenting… trying to capture video from my Scientific Atlanta Explorer 8000… so far no dice. Just discovered it’s encrypted… even if I could reach it I would not be able to read it.
More on Digital TV from Werbach…
I don’t know where to start. The idea that digital TV adoption has been slow because of piracy fears is just plain silly. If we’d had the broadcast flag earlier, people would have rushed out to buy multi-thousand dollar sets so they could watch two or three channels of digital programming (which most cable operators just started offering in the last year)? Spare me. And the comment about new technology always being non-backward-compatible is a bad joke. It’s instructive that this is the attitude. Users shouldn’t expect that consumer electronics products they buy will work; the content industry reserves the right to blow them if it feels threatened. Ain’t progress grand?
[Werblog]