Gadgetell | Tech News, Reviews, and Interesting Things

This is where we call out by names the actions and companies that seem odd, out of touch or just plain straight up smokin’ crack.  Technology is an odd realm where PR speak doesn’t hold a lot of water if the 1s and 0s don’t line up.  This week sees posturing, positioning and flat out insanity.  Here is what caught my eye this week:

Click more to witness the insanity.

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So, the much talked about Blackberry Storm isn’t due out until November. Yet somehow, (as always seems to happen), new photos are circulating the ‘Net.  I caught sight of some of them, and if these are real...apparently the Storm had a little bit of a design overhaul from the last shots that were floating around.

The Vodaphone-branded Blackberry doesn’t seem to be all that worried about wooing over the glitz and glamour crowd.  Nothing too foo-foo on this phone.  It seems to be geared for the typical, well....Blackberry user. A kind of straight-forward, get the job done sort of phone.

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Clarion recently came out with a product that combines everyone’s on-the-go, PMP, GPS, and Internet, needs into one device.  Here comes the Clarion MiND (Mobile Internet Navigation Device).  Although it doesn’t come with cell phone support, so maybe not all your on-the-go-needs, but 3 out of the 4 isn’t bad.

When thinking of devices that incorporate all these essential features, only a few devices come to mind, such as the iPhone, UMPCs, and maybe NetBooks. However, each of those devices lack some features that the Clarion MiND has, except for iPhone which can make calls. 

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Alltel, the owner of the world’s America’s (meaning USA) largest wireless network, announced today they will be offering the nuTsie service on select phones bringing customers their iTunes music wherever they are, just like an iPhone.  nuTsie says they’ve got over 1 million happy users and the Alltel deal gives them direct access to even more.  Alltel will become the first wireless carrier to offer the service to their customers. 

Forget syncing, nuTsie works via low-bandwidth streaming.  No downloading, sideloading or waiting.  Seems like a simple idea.  In addition to offering access to users iTunes music, a clever “Serendipity Slider” allows music recommendations to be be played as well opening up users to new music.  Customers can also share playlists, check out lyrics and view YouTube videos, if the phone supports these features.  Alltel is offering the service for $5 per month or $19 per year.

Find out if this deal is for you, click more…

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With all the fun surrounding yesterday’s Android OS event and fondling combined with the lust still embodied by lines still at Apple stores for the iPhone, just how will Windows Mobile 7 compete?  Windows Mobile will not a have a new release for two-straight CESs according to C|NET whose sources say we’ll be waiting a full year before we see something that could possibly have been iPhone-inspired.

Microsoft spills the beans to manufacturers

Word is this delay has been announced to manufacturing partners.  After Microsoft is done with it, the OS has to go to manufacturers for their development and installation, a timely process for sure.  This lag has inspired new rumors that Microsoft may be thinking again about creating their own hardware.  Microsoft, with their proud admission that they “own” the business smartphone market thanks to Exchange integration, should have the cajones to create the ultimate business phone.  Instead, we get crippled, infuriatingly lacking phones that get email.

Click “MORE” to see how the new Android phone figures in to this.

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With last weeks train accident in California, the general public is waking up to how consuming flying thumbs on a small keypad can be.  It is said the engineer on the train was texting instead of doing his job and this contributed to the event.  Could technology have prevented this?

Hands free texting solutions exist
Jott thinks so.  Their voice-to-text software turns your phone into a hands free texting machine, email responder, even voice control for many of Microsoft Outlook functions.  When I spoke with a founder and Jott CEO John Pollard earlier this year, he was extremely excited about their new app for BlackBerry.  Indeed, it is impressive allowing great functionality like replying to emails by voice.  Simple say “reply with Jott” and what you record will be sent off, as simple as that.

Find out how you can use Jott to stay “thumbs off” your phone

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Iyaz is playing with the G1 right now after sitting through an upbeat press event.  Here is what Iyaz thinks via IM from T-Moible G1:

Pros:

• feels good in hand
• It’s open, so anything is possible

Cons:

• Keyboard is eh
• delete and enter keys are too close
• no flash
• no video playback (from camera)

Overall: Nice but not as slick as iPhone.  More from Iyaz as it comes.

Press release below:

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Well, apparently SanDisk feels Joe Public likes their music hands on.  This thinking may well be what led to their new line of music-filled microSD cards. They managed to pull in all the big record labels like Sony BMG, EMI, Universal and Warner.  Although, I’m not sure what the labels were thinking with this one. The songs on the 1 GB cards will be DRM-free MP3s that are encoded at 320 kbps for the record.

The first stores they have in on the deal are Wal-Mart or Best Buy.  So, you simply stroll into one of those two stores, nab your rockin’, grooving, bopping-loaded slotMusic, and pop it into your phone, and voila...you’re set.  However, if you are one of the millions who would simply rather get your music by downloading it, then this little slotMusic thing is pretty useless.

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Tomorrow, our Editor Iyaz will be on hand to witness T-Mobile’s debut of the first Android phone.  Android is the open source mobile phone OS from Google that we’ve been talking about for what seems like years.  Here on the eve of the preview, here is what we’ve collected on what we can expect.

Pretty?
With Google’s love for the iPhone, the UI will be good looking (surprisingly, not all UIs are—I’m looking at you, Windows Mobile).  From the image we’ve seen and what Google has shown, this is going to be a very appealing UI.  Google has their stuff together for their web properties; expect clean and simple from this phone as well.

What else can you expect?  Check out more after the break.

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Updated: 9/25/2008. Memeo has announced the launch of Memeo Share 1.0, MemeoPhoto and a public preview of Memeo Share for the Mac.  The services allow families and friends to share photos and video directly via PC, Mac, or the iPhone. It works by allowing users to set up “Sharing Circles” with the people they want to share with. Once completed Memeo Share runs in the background, automatically sending and receiving media and posting them to a private web gallery. This eliminates the hassles that come with emailing large image and video files.

The media is shared buy simply dragging and dropping from the desktop to the desired Sharing Circle. The photos and videos can be rated and commented on, and the application provides notification of all sharing activities. Members can choose what types of media they want to share or receive through filters based on media type, size, or rating. Memeo Share remembers users preferences once they are set.

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