cell phone

Deck the Halls with Cell Phones and iPods?

iPod Christmas Ornament Walking through my local Target the other day, my husband, my daughter and I decided to meander through the Christmas area that is tucked away in the back corner of the store. It is seriously hard for me to wrap my head around the fact that Christmas is less than two months away.

My daughter and I slowly looked through the rows of sparkling glass ornaments. She is four years old and completely giddy with excitement that Santa’s visit is just weeks away. There were the typical snowmen, reindeer and Santa Clauses lining the walls. Then we looked through the assortment of Doras, Spongebobs and Disney princesses. And then out of the corner of my eye, I spotted some cell phone and iPod glass ornaments. I let out a little chuckle because this certainly demonstrates how tech-focused our society really is today.

Cellphone Christmas Ornament I didn’t purchase the cell phone or iPod ornament for my tree that day. Though, I think I will go back and buy them now. Every year, my tree is filled with ornaments that reflect the personalities, hobbies and memories of my family. And I live in a house of gizmo nuts. My husband and my daughter argue over who gets to use the one iPad. So, I think my tree should reflect that gizmo-mania. Don’t you?

So, deck the halls with cell phones and iPods? Sure. Why not? I’ll just stick the cellphone ornament next to the one of Princess Leia in the gold bikini. And let me just tell you, the Princess Leia one doesn’t belong to my daughter.

Multiple Device Charger Organizer

multiple device charger organizerHow does that saying go? If you’ve got 1 gadget, you’ve got 10? Maybe not, but you know what we’re getting at! Chances are you’ve easily got more than a few cell phones, iPods and PDAs competing for what seems like way too few power outlets.

Here’s a nice, tidy solution that lets you charge up to 3 gadgets simultaneously – the Desktop Family Charging Station. The nook in the rear keeps the adapter cords nice and clean and out of sight.

The Desktop Family Charging Station can also be wall mounted.

Buy now!
Price: $16.43
(Please note prices are subject to change and the listed price is correct to the best of our knowledge at the time of posting)

CES 2010: Dell Mini 3 Smartphone Will Run on AT&T

dell mini 3 android smartphoneDell is following through with their earlier announcement of an Android handset, and will be joining the ranks of the other AT&T Android smartphones.

The Dell Mini 3 smartphone [press release] is an iPhone/Droid/Nexus styled touchscreen phone that sports a 3.5″ 540×360 display, 3 Megapixel camera with flash, microSD slot, GPS and Bluetooth.

Expect availability in the 1st half of 2010.

Palringo Mobile Messaging Service

parlingoPalringo is the ‘ultimate Instant Messaging client for mobile phones and computers’. Imagine an IM service that’s a mixture of all other IMs out there, with a touch of GPS, Facebook and audio added; that’s Palringo. What makes it successful is that it’s essentially lots of very basic services bundled together to make a very useful application.

Available for pretty much any phone under 2 years old (and on any Windows or Mac computers if you so wish), the application allows you to hold multiple conversations with people on the most popular IM services out there, included MSN, Yahoo, AIM, Talk, Jabber and many more. Palringo also allows for multimedia messaging such as being able to send voice messages to other users and, of course, the standard sending of photos and videos. People can be grouped and then one message sent out simultaneously to all of them – perfect for a party announcement!

The best parts? It’s free and available worldwide – all that’s needed is a data package and away you go.

#CES09: Thoughts on the Palm Pre

Closely following Palm’s announcement of their brand new mobile handset, the Pre, and operating system (webOS), reaction was swift and unanimously exuberant. Palm has certainly hit this out of the park, and if the tech community’s reaction is any indication, this will certainly save the company for at least a little while to come.

My quick thoughts on the Pre and the OS:

  • the new webOS gets multitasking right
  • unified application for messaging (text, IM, Facebook, etc.) – Palm gets it
  • awesome that development for the platform is based solidly on ubiquitous, well-established technology (HTML, CSS & Javascript)
  • very sexy looking piece of hardware
  • love that they’ve retained the QWERTY keyboard and so maintain that link to their once solid Treo lifeline
  • disappointed that there’s no SD card slot
  • learned from Apple’s mistake of not including a user replaceable battery
  • hopefully they will upgrade the firmware quickly to enable video recording and Adobe Flash support.

One more cool photo for the road:

#CES09: Palm Announces Pre – raw specs

Here are the raw specs on the just announced, soon to be released cell phone handset from Palm. Stay tuned for another post on our thoughts on the product (hint: we love it!).

  • 3.1 inch HVGA (320x480px) capacitive multitouch touchscreen with gesture area
  • slide-out QWERTY keyboard
  • GPS
  • 3 Megapixel camera
  • 8GB internal memory
  • 802.11b/g Wifi
  • microUSB connector
  • user replaceable battery
  • new Web-centric Palm OS (named appropriately webOS) that offers true multitasking
  • integration of messaging (text, IM, Facebook, etc.) in 1 application without needing to switch between various apps
  • slide out QWERTY keyboard (yet still same weight as an iPhone)
  • development for apps uses HTML, CSS, & Javascript
  • curved shape (not perfectly flat)
  • Proximity sensor, which automatically disables the touch screen and turns off the display whenever you put the phone up to your ear
  • Light sensor, which dims the display if the ambient light is dark, such as at night or in a movie theater, to reduce power usage
  • Accelerometer, which automatically orients web pages and photos to your perspective

CWatch – a Cell Phone Watch

About time, right? A cell phone that you wear on your wrist, has a 1.3″ color LCD display that you can watch video/movies/photos on. Of course, you can listen to MP3s and take pictures with its 1.3 Megapixel camera.

The TFT screen is a touchscreen, and it has handwriting recognition similar to Palm’s gestures. For connectivity, there’s an integrated mini USB jack, a (1GB) microSD slot and it also has built-in Bluetooth.

Oh yes, lest we forget, it’s also a cell phone! GSM based with SIM cards, with a claimed 8-12 hr talk time. I’d like to see this available in typical retail outlets; currently uou have to call a toll-free # to order. I have to wonder what the quality of the phone calls is like.

You have to admit, the idea of a cell phone that sits on your wrist constantly does have its appeal.

More info from the manufacturer

Price: $249.99
(Please note prices are subject to change and the listed price is correct to the best of our knowledge at the time of posting)

Latest Blackberry rumor – iPhone lookalike

Rumor on the streets is that Blackberry is readying an iPhone lookalike with the focus being on having a full touchscreen, which would be a major departure from the traditional full QWERTY keyboarded Blackberry we’re all used to seeing.

This may be called the Thunder, and may have EVDO and HSPA capabilities. I guess we’ll see!

That’s not a real image, btw, just a mock-up.

via Boy Genius Report

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