June, 2006 — Tech News and Analysis

Archive for June 2006

Does flash memory fragmentation affect performance?

Flash memory has been used in PDAs for a long time and with PCs rumored to start shipping with flash drives instead of hard drives the question about fragmentation is a timely one.  There has been a debate concerning the affect on performance that typical file … Read More »

Summer Scribbler savings at Electrovaya

Sorry, no new models to announce (not even the "new" Tatung!), but if you’ve been waiting for a price drive on Electrovaya Tablet PCs, you can stop waiting. Electrovaya just announced discounts on Tablet PCs and accessories through the end of August. The Read More »

 
 

Sandisk 1GB SD card down to $29 starting tomorrow

While I’m restoring Sammy to his factory defaults, I had some time to review the advertisements that hit the newspapers tomorrow. Circuit City will be dishing out 1GB Sandisk SD cards for only $29 after a $12 instant savings and an $18 rebate. … Read More »

New Samsung Q1 usage scenario: System Restore!

Help Mark name his Q1

Mark is the lucky guy we told you about who won a Samsung Q1 Origami from the Origami Project web site and now he needs your help.  He is searching for a name for his Q1 and would like some suggestions.  Here are the rules … Read More »

Mario and Luigi to sing Opera on Nintendo DS

First Japan gets the Slingbox and now they’re getting the Opera browser for the Nintendo DS too. That’s right, next month Mario can surf the day away using Opera on a DS. I always thought he was a plumber and should be working all … Read More »

Match paint colors with the Pocket Palette

I’ve tried every way possible to use technology for color and paint matching, but none of them have every worked well. I guess I should have just looked to a paint … Read More »

Listen in live on BloggerCon IV

BloggerCon IV is going on this very second and thanks to mobile tech, you can tune in to listen to a live stream; I’m listening right now on the Q1 via EV-DO and the 32 kbps stream is more than clear enough. BloggerCon started up … Read More »

Connexion from Boeing seems to have crash-landed

After six years of losses and a rumored billion dollars in investment, it appears that Boeing might be shutting down its Connexion service which provides in-flight Internet access. Having just flown last weekend, I easily got by without any Internet access during my 2.5 hours … Read More »

Evergreen MP3 player for $9

It is no powerhouse but at $9 the Evergreen DN-2000 MP3 player is certainly a bargain.  It uses SD cards for memory and runs on a single AAA battery.  Let’s see, you could buy what, 20 of these for the price of an iPod? Read More »

Slingboxes hit Japan next month

Japan is the newest addition to the place-shifting community with an announcement that Sling Media’s Slingbox will be available there starting on July 8th for a cost of 29,800 yen. Sling Media partnered with Itochu Corporation and I-O Data Device, Inc for distribution … Read More »

Big, Fat and Bulky: State of the IM Nation

This past week, while I was away in London, there was a frenzy of activity around the “instant messaging” client. Microsoft introduced its Microsoft Live Messenger Beta which is some rudimentary form cross talks with Yahoo Messenger. Yahoo opened up its IM and introduced … Read More »

More Must Reads

I almost missed this post from Loren Heiny that mentioned ActiveWords guru Buzz Bruggeman has picked up a Samsung Q1 Origami.  The UMPC is perfect for ActiveWords and I’m sure that Buzz will be showing that to all of us soon. -jk Read More »

Build a small car with a wide rear door, take out the front seat to create lots of room for a wheelchair and you have the Kenguru.  This Hungarian-made car is specially designed to be driven by anyone in a wheelchair and is a cool … Read More »

The T-Mobile Sidekick has been around for some time and has a strong user base that swears by the mobile email machine.  The company that produces the Sidekick has recently … Read More »

The Nokia 770, an Internet Tablet, is getting a lot of attention these days. Despite the improvements in the OS, and new add-ons, it is still a device that leaves a lot to be desired. C/Net News.com says it might get a webcam and … Read More »

Sequoia Capital Partners, which normally focuses on US-based start-ups is reported to have made an investment in Stardoll.com (formerly known as Paperdoll Heaven.) The total amount of funds invested in the company remain unknown, but highly reliable sources say that Sequoia Capital General Partner Mark Kvamme … Read More »

I was kind of bummed out after upgrading the firmware in the XV6700 this morning. Oh, it went without a hitch, so I was lucky, but I was disappointed … Read More »

Nokia still contends the 770 will not have a cellular radio, there is some thought to beefing up the Internet Tablet with a webcam and eventual WiMax connectivity. After … Read More »

I know that "free" means something can’t get cheaper, but Skype, Gizmo Project and other P2P VoIP services just got relatively less expensive. The … Read More »

OK, the reports of the Autobahn are unconfirmed, but we do know that one of our jkOTR readers from Germany just mounted his Q1 to his car! How do we know this? Christoph … Read More »

Put this one in the category – breaking but unconfirmed news. A tipster says that the seven-person Google Talk aka GTalk team has won Google’s Founder Award, which means not only recognition within the company, but also some serious GMoney. Google spokesperson declined to comment and … Read More »

Photobucket, the plain vanilla photo hosting site is now officially the king of online photo business. It now has a whopping 44% of the total market, ahead of old timers – Yahoo, Webshots and Flickr. According to data collected by Hitwise, “its share … Read More »

I am having a lot of fun playing with the Sony UX50 and will have a review covering the UX50 in use in the real world soon.  Meanwhile, you can … Read More »

CNN Money’s Paul La Monica thinks it is time for New York Times, the Gray Lady of Journalism to join the merge-or-be-purged trend sweeping across old media. Given the severe under-performance of NYT stock, well, he is right. The New York Times Co. chief executive officer … Read More »

The center of the tech-journalism universe has proclaimed it so it must be true. Yes, Men.Style.Com has announced the five gadgets that are doomed and both the UMPC and the Sony PlayStation 3 are on the list. Doomed? UMPCs and Sony’s new high-def gaming … Read More »

Remember that firmware upgrade for the XV6700 we mentioned last night? After getting a good night’s sleep to prepare for the experience, I ran the upgrade this … Read More »

Linda Epstein of TabletPC2 has published a review of the Toshiba M400 Tablet PC and it sure looks like a nice Tablet.  I am happy to see that the display … Read More »

We ask that question all the time here on jkOnTheRun so Warner Crocker did a video demonstrating what he has in his gadget bag.  The video is first rate although Warner cheated by having a professional actress appear on camera.  :)  Check out the video … Read More »

I hope that Origami OEMs will start putting ExpressCard slots in the devices now that Novatel is soon to release their Merlin EVDO card.  The small ExpressCard slot is tailor-made for the Origami … Read More »

TabletPCReviewSpot has a Fujitsu Lifebook T4210 in their hands and there’s plenty of first look pics to gaze at. Some of my observations while they work up a full … Read More »

The Samsung Q1 is the only UMPC available (so far) that allows rotating of the screen and there have been reports (Kevin has experienced it too) of the rotation occasionally having problems.  A Q1 owner (Boris) has written a utility in .NET 2.0 that allows rotating … Read More »

When school starts this fall at River Dell Regional High School in New Jersey every single freshman will be issued a Tablet PC and training on the use of it for all school work.  The program is ambitious in scope with each subsequent freshman class receiving … Read More »

I’ve downloaded the 39.5 MB file, but haven’t installed it yet. There’s no official info from Verizon, even though they’re hosting the file. Could the MSFP finally be here? Is Direct … Read More »

I’ve used mobile devices with touchscreens for at least six years and in all that time I’ve never been a fan of screen protectors. I’m not implying that you shouldn’t use them: if you feel more comfortable protecting your mobile device screen, don’t let … Read More »

Actually, unless your name is Dick Tracy, these Wrist PCs probably are for the military. The Zypad WL 1000 runs either Windows CE 5 or embedded Linux on a … Read More »

While everyone at the MoTR meetup got to see us slinging TV from a SlingBox to the Samsung Q1, what they likely didn’t see was a skin designed for UMPCs. We kept it on the down-low because Sling hasn’t yet announced the … Read More »

Cablevision, a Bethpage, NY (Long Island really) based cable company has announced that it is increasing the speed of its standard broadband connection to 15 megabits-per-second and 2 megabits per second upstream, without any additional costs to the customers. In comparison, the company used to … Read More »

If you haven’t signed up for a SkypeOut account yet, you get a bonus for waiting. New SkypeOut customers that opt-in for Skype e-mail news get 60 minutes of free PC to landline international calls. I’ve had my SkypeOut account for some time and … Read More »

After several years of proprietary obstacles, it looks like the eBook industry is starting to wise up. Adobe, MobiPocket, Motricity, iRex and eBook Technologies are among the players that plan to adopt a non-proprietary eBook standard. The ultimate intent here is presumably to have a … Read More »

Can’t get enough good software for your Windows Mobile device or Smartphone? If you’re in this category, Smartphone and PocketPC Magazine has just the deal for you. Each year, the magazine selects the best of breed software for their annual Best Software Awards. Once the … Read More »

I must still be tired from my travels, but I’ll let you be the judge. GottaBeMobile shares the news on Fujitsu’s B6210 notebook that can run the Tablet Edition of Windows XP for an additional $50. I’m not questioning the $50, I’m questioning the option … Read More »

Om Malik mentions that a SoonR beta client for Mac is available today, although I can’t find it on the SoonR site just yet. Previously just for Windows, SoonR allows you to use your cellular phone to connect to your home computer to extend … Read More »

Richard Kuo, co-founder of Houston based SnapStream Media, sent me a link to an interesting article (PDF) by Fujitsu that covers the technical challenges of producing LCD screens for mobile devices.  The article has an interesting section discussing the differences between Tablet PC screens … Read More »

Dennis Rice of GottaBeMobile is reporting that the Microsoft Tablet PC team now has a new name.  In an apparent move to bring the Tablet PC and UMPC under one roof the tablet team is now known as the “Mobile and Tailored PC Division”.  This … Read More »

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