Mac mini power supply for cars

The CarNetix CNX-P1900 is a dual output 140 watt intelligent DC-DC power regulator, so you can install your Mac mini in your car, boat or airplane for 99.95$.

MacOSX 10.4.7 supports Novatel U730 PCcard

From the "read me" files of MacOSX 10.4.7: adds support for Novatel U730 wireless cards for PowerBook computers. Unfortunately this is the US version of the Novatel HSDPA cards. No out of the box support for the European/Asian U740 and the globally usable U870, yet. On the other side, the U740 and U870 should work with the Novatel MacOSX 10.4 Connection Utility.

better fax receive with Apple USB Modem on MacOSX 10.4.7

From the "read me" file of MacOSX 10.4.7: addresses an issue that prevented the Apple USB Modem from receiving faxes on some computers.

new Warhol aquisitions in the Artmosphere gallery Vienna, Austria

The gallery Artmosphere showed their newest Warhol aquisitions in their Vienna location in the Palais Kinsky.

Mobipocket reader soon for Symbian 40 devices?

Just found this posting from May 18, 2006: "Unfortunatly S40 aren't symbian phones, that's why we don't already support them. But good news: we will maybe support them in the future". With a Mobipocket reader for Symbian 40 devices you could load the complete offline Wikipedia onto Symbian 40 phones with built in flash memory readers, e.g. the Nokia 6131. BTW: a version of Mobipocket reader for J2ME devices would be hilirious!

SMINTAIR allows smoking on flights and treats its customers like customers

Even though I am a non-smoker and I even hate the bad air on non-smoking flights, I like the idea of SMINTAIR: flights between Düsseldorf-International (DUS) and Tokyo (NRT), scheduled March 26th, 2007, where you are allowed to smoke. SMINTAIR will treat it's passengers like the guest of an international Grand Hotel. It is an obligation to SMINTAIR to bring back the exclusivity in flying encountered in the 1960s and dearly missed by so many. The classic ambience pared with today's technology will make flying SMINTAIR a unique experience. Presentations of luxurious goods with all due countenance, Telephone, TV, DVD, MP3, Internet, are just some of the many envisioned tools and aspects of in-flight entertainment.

By the way, did you know that the NAZIs also sported a huge Anti-Smoking campaign? Yes, they did and the one we experience now carries exactly the same insignia.

Another great idea from consumerist.com: "Now if only someone would open an airline that makes parents stuff their wailing infants in pet carriers and shove them in baggage".

Sony Vaio UX Series now with 16GB flash drive instead of 30GB hard drive

Even before the first unit of the Sony Vaio UXSeries is shipping, a new model is introduced by Sony, this time with a 16GB flash drive instead of the 20 or 30GB hard drive.

Nokia 770 conclusion after a few months of use

After a few months using the Nokia 770 Linux tablet, now a short conclusion and recommendation:

-The biggest flaw a found until today, is that the LCD is not reflective, so it is nearly unusable in bright sunlight. If you need to use your Nokia in the sun, get a sun screen, umbrella or some other shade for it!

-The lack of a real SD slot is bad, but as I use the Nokia 770 mostly to access information via the internet connection, it is no big problem for me. But given the fact, that Nokia now uses MMC, RS-MMC and microSD in various phones, a SD slot would be great to be able to read and write to any Nokia flash memory card currently in existence.

-The mini USB port provides no standard USB power, so you can´t use standard USB peripherals like mice and keyboards.

-The mini power plug is not very reliable, the one on my power adapter is already bent and the "old" Nokia standard plug is available nearly everywhere in the world (solar charger, car charger, USB charger, crancing charger...). If they would include the CA-44 adapter it would be less of a hassle, but why change a working good standard?

-Bluetooth 1 is too slow to fully use HSDPA. Bluetooth2 with EDR would help a lot.

+800*480 LCD: after a few days with WVGA resolution, all the small PDA and cell phone screens just suck! For some applications a screen rotate function would be very convenient, especially for reading PDFs.

All in all: after using the VGA resolution HTC Universal/MDA pro for some time and now the Nokia770 my palm Treo650 is mainly used as a phone and PDA (address, calendar) and for reading of short texts on the road. Even my PowerBook 15" is getting less and less use, as the Nokia 770 is now my main information gathering device. Now let us see, how the Sony Vaio UX Series will be in comparison.

T3 does not understand the Nokia 770

T3 wrote in their April 2006 review of the Nokia 770: "Most phones let you check emails, a PDA has many of the same functions plus a powerful organiser, and Sony’s PSP does the Internet, movie and music playing stuff, for £65 less". As much as I like the T3 content once in a while, this time I think they just didn´t understand, what they are writing about.

Surely you can check email on any mobile phone, even on an old Ericsson T39, but there is a huge difference, if you can just see the subject of your mail, or the complete mail including formatting, tables and pictures.

Using a PDA as an eBook reader is possible, but once you read a long book on the gorgeous 800*480 LCD of the Nokia 770, you don´t want to go back to a screen where you see every single huge pixel. And so called PDA-functions like address book, calendar and to do lists live perfectly happy in your mobile phone, which nearly everybody carries nowadays.

And using a Sony PSP with 480 x 272 pixel resolution without touchscreen for web surfing can only be a recommendation for masochists.

TomTom GO 910

The TomTom GO 910 is a stand alone GPS navigation system with a 20GB hard drive, that contains the maps of USA, Canada and Europe, is usable as a MP3 player, comes with a free starter safety camera database that alerts you every time a safety camera is near and with the optional TomTom RDS-TMC traffic receiver, which should be available Q3 2006 you get real time traffic updates as well.

tomtom NAVIGATOR 5, software and maps of Western Europe

The tomtom NAVIGATOR 5 provides software and maps of Western Europe for your PalmOS or PocketPC device. Just add a Bluetooth GPS receiver and you are ready to go for 199 Euros.

TomTom GPS navigation systems show speed cameras, too

At tomtom you can get a one year subscription "Safety Cameras" for one European country at a price of 39.95 Euro.

Navicore GPS navigator for Symbian 60, 80 and UIQ mobile phones

The Navicore Personal GPS navigator runs on Symbian 60, 80 and UIQ mobile phones and includes a SiRF III Bluetooth GPS-receiver and a speed camera warning system.

Kodak EasyShare V610 is smallest camera with 10 times zoom

The 6 megapixel stillvideo and 640*480 MPEG4 video recording Kodak EasyShare V610 costs less than 500$, yet with an optical 10 times zoom, Bluetooth2, 32 MB internal memory, SD slot and a weight of 160 grams, it is amazingly small (111 × 55.5 × 23.2 mm). The "click to capture" of 0.3 sec seems a little bit slow but I will try to test one in real life as soon as possible.

Brando SIM MAX 12 in 1 SIM Card

Brando has the SIM MAX 12 in 1 SIM Card including a USB SIM Card reader for 42$. It lets you change between various mobile phone numbers without turning off mobile phone. Software is Windows only, but thanks to Bootcamp and Parallel Workstation, you can use it with the new Intel based Macs, too.

Ettus Research Software Defined Radio for 550$

Sensational: Ettus Research offers the hardware, to do your own Software Defined Radio for 550$: The Universal Software Radio Peripheral, or USRP, is a device which allows you to create a software radio using any computer with a USB 2 port. Various plug-on daughterboards allow the USRP to be used on different radio frequency bands. Daughterboards are available from DC to 2.9 GHz at this time. The entire design of the USRP is open source. The USRP works with GNU Radio, a free-software (open source) framework for the creation of software defined radios. Both the USRP and GNU Radio work on all of the following operating systems: Linux, Windows, Max OS X, PPC and Intel processors, FreeBSD and NetBSD.

Sony VAIO UX Series screen reflective?

I wonder, if the screen of the upcoming Sony VAIO UX Series will be reflective, so you can use it outside in bright sun light, too? Any comments?

Nokia 770 screen NOT reflective!

After a few months of testing the Nokia 770 indoors (such a long winter!), I just recently found a really ugly design flaw in the current version of the Nokia 770 tablet: the screen is NOT reflective. That means, as soon as you try to use it outside, especially in bright sunlight, the screen is nearly impossible to see, no matter how much you turn on the backlight. I had the same problem on my old Palm Treo600, which was much worse to see outside than its predecessor, the Palm Tungsten W. The Palm Treo650 finally got a reflective screen again, so as soon as there is bright light (sun...), you just turn off the backlight to save energy and the visibility of the screen is gorgeous. Hopefully the sucessor to the Nokia 770 will have a reflective screen, too. Otherwise it won´t be the mass market device, that Nokia has imagined. I guess the Nokia 770 developers (Finnish and Linux geeks!) are not used to spend time outside their cubicles in the bright sun ;-)

Apple and GlobalVillage fax files not usable on MacOSX without Classic

While the included Fax send/receive funtionality in MacOSX is quite nice, there is one BIG missing link: you can´t open your Apple (or Global Village) fax files from System 7 to 9 on MacOSX. Right know you need Classic or a Mac emulator, e.g. SheepShaver, to install and use the ancient Apple and GlobalVillage fax software just to open and view those old fax files.

GraphicConverter reads one bit Paperport files since version 5.8.1

The newest GraphicConverter from Lemke Software is able to open Visioneer Paperport files, at least the b/w one bit variety. So one less reason to use Classic on MacOSX.

Brando USB 2.0 to SATA/IDE cable

Brando sells the USB 2.0 to SATA/IDE cable for 35$. You can use either a 3,5" IDE and a 3,5" SATA drive at the same time, or a 2,5" IDE and a SATA 3,5" drive simultanously. Especially nice is the power adapter that gives you a standard mylar power plug. Includes USB to SATA/IDE cable, SATA cable, SATA power cord, AC power adapter (100-240V, 50-60Hz) and AC power cable. The only thing missing is the shown mylar Y-cable to power two drives simultanously. Great product!

Letterbox, a widescreen plugin for MacOSX Mail

For me, this is one of the best time savers on MacOSX since years: Letterbox is a widescreen plugin for MacOSX Mail. Now I can finally make use of my wide display, that was always too short to display long emails. Only a portrait mode display could make me even more happy!

only Epson printers allowed to directly print on CDs in the US

I just heard, that due to patent issues, that only Epson printers are allowed to directly print on CDs in the US. So if you are located in the US and want to print to your CDs without buying an Epson printer, just import one from Europe or Asia, where nearly all major manufacturers sell printer models with Direct2CD printing capability.

Nokia CA-44 charger adaptor cable missing from Nokia 770 package

Most of the new Nokia phones, that have the new, smaller power connector, e.g. the Nokia 6101, have the Nokia CA-44 charger adaptor cable included. Not so on the Nokia 770. So if you want or need to use your Nokia 770 with a solar battery, car or airline plug..., don´t forget to buy yourself the Nokia CA-44 for 10$.

Nike + iPod Sport Kit

On the newly announced Nike + iPod Sport Kit the battery is not replaceable. So you just buy a new kit, when the battery runs down?

easily change MacBook hard drive

Contrary to the old PPC based iBooks it is quite easy to exchange the hard drive of a new Intel based MacBook. So rush to rip out the 60GB drive and put in up to 160GB S-ATA right now!

iSquint

iSquint is a free iPod movie converter for MacOSX.

Podner

Podner reformats movies for iPod use. Includes a batch mode. Cost 9.95$.

Boblbee Doubledecker

The Bobblebee Doubledecker is a huge (85 x 40 x 40cm) travel bag with 3 integrated wheels, that doubles as a backpack, too. Weight (empty): 6.8kg.

Karelia Sandvox

Karelia Software, of former Watson fame, introduced Sandvox, a powerful, playful new website creation tool, for Mac OS X 10.4.4 or higher.