05:27 AM by Alexander Turcic in Archive | Handhelds and Smartphones

Sad news for handheld owners of the HP iPAQ hx2000 and hx4700 series. According to HP, "due to unforeseen extended delays in the availability of a critical 3rd party driver, the upgrade kit for the hx4700 will be delayed to mid to late Spring 2006."

I hope that Dell doesn't run into similar problems with the planned WM 5.0 upgrade for its Axim series, originally announced to become available in October 2005.

[via iPaq HQ]

04:37 AM by Alexander Turcic in Miscellaneous | Lounge

Apparently in the British county of Cambridgeshire, people not only leave their laptops in cars, but they also don't switch them off. A local news article claims that some punks are using Bluetooth scanner devices to detect "valuable electronics, including laptops" inside abandoned cars.

"At about 8.20am last Wednesday, a Sony TR 1MP laptop was taken from an Audi A6 estate parked in Tesco car park off old North Road... We would urge people not to leave laptops, or anything of value, in their cars, and always de-activate these wireless connections when you're not using a laptop - otherwise you're making life easy for the thieves..."

Personally I would've preferred the Audio to the Sony laptop, but that's just me.

[via A Welsh View]

09:56 PM by Brian in Archive | Handhelds and Smartphones

Technology pundit Rob Enderle has written an opinion piece for Technology News World in which he predicts that the laptop's days are numbered and we are moving towards mobile computing devices that are evolving from PDAs, smartphones, and Blackberry devices.

The laptop will probably last through this decade, but we are exploring different alternatives and as such it is likely that conclusions on this subject will be different in 2011. The market desperately needs to move to a more appliance-like device that is much more portable and much less power-hungry.

If you look at the concepts behind Palm's LifeDrive and IBM's SoulPad, you can see a common theme in which your handheld device becomes your portable computing environment and primary repository for all of your personal data and media files. According to this recent article at c|Net, companies are starting to replace laptops with handhelds due to lower costs, increased acceptance, and the appeal of having the most commonly used business communication tools (web, voice, email, and Powerpoint presentations) in such a small package.

Are desktops and laptops becoming less relevant as our handheld devices become our primary communications and computing devices?

[via jkOnTheRun]

Brian

04:29 PM by MishaS in E-Book Software | Reading and Management

Let's suppose you decide to have a look at a new e-book reader. This is a new program indeed and, surprise, surprise, you've also found a help file/document for this very new program.

What kind of information would you look for in the help? What do you think is most important to be described first, and, in general, what else do you think is important to be covered?

04:28 PM by Alexander Turcic in Miscellaneous | Lounge

Over in the land of the rising sun, where paper is already so passe, Sony is planning to almost triple the number of popular manga comics offered for cell phone use. According to Business Week, for 315 yen ($2.90) you can download up to three manga titles out of 300 a month.

Cell-phone comics use a technology called Comic Surfing, developed by Tokyo-based venture firm Celsys, which takes viewers through manga stories at a carefully calculated speed and sequence. The manga frames are specially formatted to fit on tiny mobile phone screens. Pop-up frames and vibration during action scenes add to the drama. Cell-phone comics with preprogrammed sound effects are also coming soon, said Toppan Publishing spokesman Katsunori Onishi.

Thanks Gadgetguru for the tip!

02:54 PM by Bob Russell in Miscellaneous | Lounge

"Chris Loxley, 26, is reading all 17 books on the prestigious Booker Prize longlist in 21 days for BBC Four's Bookered Out show. He is writing a diary of his progress for the BBC News website."

Booker Longlists, Booker Diary, Bookered Out. I'm not quite sure what it's all about, but I'm pretty sure there's a book reading challenge involved.

You can follow his progress at the Booker Diary page at BBC. I like books, but that's a bit much!

02:25 PM by Bob Russell in Miscellaneous | Lounge

UPDATE: It seems like this may have been a hoax that PalmOne has passed on to us in its Treo newletter. According to About.com, it's an urban legend, as indicated by Pitcher23. I'm sure we'll get this sorted out in time, and determine whether or not the info is legitimate.

If you are like me, it may have just seemed natural that telemarketing calls don't come on your cell phone. But that's a convenience in the U.S. that seems to be short-lived.

According to a Palm Treo Newsletter from PalmOne, "[font=verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Very soon, cell phone numbers will begin being released to telemarketers. To help avoid those annoying and potentially expensive calls (yes, you will be charged for them) be sure to register your Treo smartphone number with the National Do Not Call list. Just call 888.382.1222 from your smartphone to protect your number for the next five years. Or register at their website: https://www.donotcall.gov/[/font]"

I'm on the Do Not Call list for my home phone number, and I can attest to the fact that it helps. But there are so many exemptions that I certainly am not free from sales calls. To be getting a telemarketing call that I also have to pay for is really not something I look forward to.

Some people are starting to fight back. For example, at AntiCall, where they ask people to call the telemarketers and provide numbers to do it hoping it will waster their dollars on long distance charges. Just symbolic, but reflects the growing frustration.

No doubt we will see two trends as a result...
1) People will become extremely rude toward telemarketers
2) No one is going to answer their cell phone unless caller id shows it's someone they want to talk with.

Spam, telemarketers, slogs, popups, viruses, trojans, ... where does it all end?!

01:14 PM by Brian in E-Book General | News

Amazon.com Books has recently launched Amazon Shorts, "short literary works delivered digitally for 49 cents each". These e-books are previously unpublished short-form works of 2,000 - 10,000 words, fiction or nonfiction, offered exclusively by Amazon.com. Shorts are available in electronic formats only (PDF, HTML, plain-text e-mail) for viewing with a compatible viewer or for printing.

From Amazon.com:

Amazon Shorts are never-before-seen short works from a wide variety of well-known authors, available only on Amazon.com. Try a new genre or a new author--there's something for everyone. Amazon Shorts are:

* New short-form literature from top authors for only 49 cents
* Delivered electronically; there are no printed editions
* Yours forever after purchase; save or print and read at your
convenience

More information about Amazon Shorts can be found here.

This is great news for e-books readers and authors alike, and it will likely help expose e-books to the masses. It's also a relief to see Amazon.com use standard formats without the use of restrictive DRM.

[via Palm Addict]

Brian