The respected Gadling blog recommends (in the States) the T-Mobile Blackberry Curve:
… I’ve written about the scam that is international roaming charges in the past …
Why the curve, and not the sexy iPhone? Well, the Blackberry Curve has 2 very interesting features you won’t find with any other carrier, or any other phone. One is unique to the phone itself, and one is unique to T-mobile.
click through to read the rest of the article – The best phone for international travel?
In Florida last year we stayed close to a new toll freeway that had almost no traffic. It was eerie in a dystopian future sense of the word eerie.
Could we end up with empty freeways in future?
I doubt it.
Perhaps we’ll end up driving something like the Tato Nano.
Tata Nano, the $2000 Indian ‘People’s Car’, Finds Factory a New Home in Gujarat – Treehugger
Some people thinks it looks like a Box Fish.
If the Nano is too conventional for you, check out another (Apple inspired) vehicle, the AirPod.
Finally saw the latest installment of Batman. On IMAX no less.
It’s the best movie I’ve seen this year.
In fact, I deem it almost perfect … for a mindless “Action” blockbuster.
My only complaint is that it ran a little long. A good edit could improve this movie.
Heath Ledger should be a strong candidate for best actor at the Academy Awards. His role as the Joker was superb.
All the actors were excellent, I thought.
I missed 2005’s Batman Begins. But will see it soon.
Best TV Commercial of the Year?
Boom De Ya Da! – Discovery Channel
Discovery Boom de ah dah – official home page
Something tells me this is the iPhone competitor Apple will be looking at most closely.
… how does this one stack up against the one and only iPhone? It doesn’t have quite the finish of the iPhone (both in terms of hardware or user interface), but it comes pretty damn close. (John Biggs at CrunchGear calls it “almost perfect”). And more importantly, it matches the iPhone on many fronts. It’s got GPS, WiFi, a touchscreen, an accelerometer, a camera, Gmail, Google Maps, a Webkit-based browser (just like Safari on the iPhone), and an App market.
The first Android phone even has some things that the iPhone doesn’t, like …
Touching The Android: It’s No iPhone, But It’s Close – TechCrunch
In the States it’s only available on a crappy network, T-Mobile.
When people first hear of Facebook they all think the same thing: “Why would anyone want to do that?”
… users didn’t think they wanted constant, up-to-the-minute updates on what other people are doing. Yet when they experienced this sort of omnipresent knowledge, they found it intriguing and addictive. Why?
Social scientists have a name for this sort of incessant online contact. They call it “ambient awareness.” It is, they say, very much like being physically near someone and picking up on his mood through the little things he does — body language, sighs, stray comments — out of the corner of your eye. …
NY Times article – Brave New World of Digital Intimacy
I log in to Facebook a couple of times a day myself.
The concept of “ambient awareness” is so new, by the way, that there’s no Wikipedia page for it.
(via Lightspeed)
David Sykes recommends his new laptop: $330. Weighs only 2lbs. Comes preinstalled with Linix.
Note to self: buy in October.
Apple In-Ear Headphones with Remote and Mic – Apple
On Wednesday Apple updated their iPod lineup:
Touch Changes: Minor
The iPod Touch expectedly gets a dramatic price drop that brings it more in line with the iPhone 3G’s pricing, if you want to pay a slightly higher price for a multimedia player that doesn’t have phone capability. The 8GB iPod Touch will sell for $229 ($30 more than a comparable iPhone 3G), while the 16GB model will sell for $299–which means you’ll get double the memory for the price of the old 8GB iPod Touch.
The design of the new iPod Touch remains similar to before, but like the Nano, the Touch thins down compared with its predecessor. The chassis remains contoured stainless steel. The biggest hardware additions: Integrated volume controls on the side, and a built-in speaker (similar to what’s on the iPhone 3G) for casual listening. Jobs said the volume controls were the number one requested feature for the iPod Touch. Also now integrated: Nike + iPod software and receiver; now, you only need to buy the Nike+iPod transmitter for your shoe, and don’t need the extra receiver dongle, as before.
In spite of its thinner profile, the Touch’s battery life is rated for an impressive 36 hours for music, and six hours for video.
The compelling new feature for me is an easy way to leave myself voice notes (when I get the odd flash of brilliance).
The iPhone is OUT for me now.
Not much worries the gang at Microsoft. Their Windows Operating System monopoly seemed unassailable.
Until now.
The cartoon is a joke. … But, not really.
Chrome, the Webkit-based Google browser that launches tomorrow at Google.com/chrome, will give them a real foothold on the desktop and way more control over how web applications perform. While it seems that Chrome is aimed at IE and Firefox, the target is really Windows.
… Chrome is nothing less than a full on desktop operating system that will compete head on with Windows.
Expect to see millions of web devices, even desktop web devices, in the coming years that completely strip out the Windows layer and use the browser as the only operating system the user needs. That was going to happen anyway, but Chrome + Gears just made the decision a whole lot easier for hardware manufacturers to make.
Microsoft, meanwhile, is stuck with a bloated closed source browser that they don’t even tether to their search engine for fear of more antitrust woes. Google can push their search engine and other web services all day long on Chrome, with no government interference. So not only will Chrome drive lots of incremental revenue to Google, it also paves the way for a Microsoft-free computing experience.
I love Chrome already and I haven’t even tried it yet (nor will I be using it much soon, since it will only work on Windows for now). …
Michael Arrington – Tech Crunch
Dave recommended this book as a classic.
Luckily for me it was released in audio format for the 20th Anniversary edition.
Ender Wiggin is a very bright young boy with a powerful skill. One of a group of children bred to be military geniuses and save Earth from an inevitable attack by aliens, known here as “buggers,” Ender becomes unbeatable in war games and seems poised to lead Earth to triumph over the buggers. Meanwhile, his brother and sister plot to wrest power from Ender. Twists, surprises and interesting characters elevate this novel into status as a bona fide page turner. It captured the Nebula and Hugo Awards.
It is superb. Very original. Something like Lord of the Flies meets Starship Troopers.
The ending of Ender’s Game came as a complete shock.
Highly recommended.
Rick McCharles 