This is a pretty short press release, but starting today, you can use SMS on your Verizon phone to track Santa’s progress and do other holiday oriented things, like vote for your favorite reindeer and download holiday content.
It’s cute, it’s for the kids, it’ll be a decent time waster on Christmas Eve if you’re wandering out and about. As for me, NORAD is the only way to go: they use fighter jets and Joey Lawrence (I kid you not).
Good news for helicopter parents and people who always lose their shirt: Covert Asset Tracking Systems, Ltd. (C.A.T.S.) has developed clothing that has GPS tracking capabilities and runs off of perpetually renewable solar powered materials embedded in the clothing itself, along with motion detectors. And for the laundry-inept: it’s also machine washable.
While this is certainly intriguing, it also scares the hell out of me. Imagine, dear sweet Mom, giving her favorite daughter a new sweater– and then tracking her when she ignores her phone calls. Okay, so I’m overstating that, especially since I’m a fully functional adult, but that’s pretty off-putting. Being allowed to disappear is one of the benefits of adulthood, and truly, one of the very few ways to destress (for me). Turning off the phone and other media outlets is a little bit of massive relief. Being able to be tracked via the internet, not so much.
The clothing will be on display at CES in Las Vegas, but there is nothing on their website to confirm this report.
According to the Energy Saving Trust, a UK research agency, consumers across the pond are planning on adding 30 million new electronic items to their households in the next six months, and in classic symptoms of denial, declare most of them essential to their daily living.
It ain’t easy being green, especially when you love all the new and cool and electronic gadgets coming out. And that brings up another question: what are you doing with your old stuff? Certainly, you could recycle it, but the weekly pick up doesn’t include electronics (at least not in my neighborhood). Or you could resell it, but there’s always the risk of losing personal data to someone else because you forgot to hard reset last year’s Blackberry.
So here’s what I think is the best idea: recycle it yourself and proclaim yourself a green(er) geek, as seen here – in the image of a Christmas tree made from recycled computer parts.
So let me be honest. I’m not that into arcade games. It was probably a combination of being a girl growing up in a pro-Barbie household and my mother’s decision that video games were a waste of time.
However, the Quasicade HD is a pretty neat toy. According to the Quasimoto site, you can play just about any game from previous-gen consoles. That works for me– until another Katamari comes out on the PS3, I’m not interested in obtaining one. I want a Wii, but I want it for the Wiimote controls, not to play with a joystick and buttons.
Of course, that’s also the downside– it doesn’t say whether or not it will work with the next-gen systems, although I can’t really imagine Gears of War or Halo being that fantastic at a stand-up arcade machine. And it doesn’t come with any games, which is okay, but it would be cool if it came with some retro ones that haven’t been pushed to mass market on every new(er) console around.
Back to the pluses: custom graphics. So that it can “mesh with any design scheme.” Yeah. I can so see a wood-grained exterior looking just fabulous in some McMansion. Even so, it’s pretty nifty to be able to change the exterior at will, at least if you’re like me and get bored of looking at the same thing over and over again.
Bottomline: I’m lazy, and I like my couch, so I’m happy playing games from there. But if you love the arcade action, and don’t mind the lack of next-gen support initially, go for it.
Mmm… Prada. Just the name brings to mind gorgeous designs, and despite the fact that my entire wardrobe is in black or denim, I love all things haute couture. The new Prada phone is definitely that. The sleekness of a classically innovative fashion line is present, and I for one love the simple B/W interface.
I know that for awhile know everyone has been so interested in cluttering up their phones with junk– I’m completely guilty of that. I have pictures of my dog, ringtones, and more than a few games. But there is something so Zen about having a device that doesn’t show you that right away. It’s akin to stress relief in the digital world– there’s nothing immediately calling your attention except a breath of simplicity.
So far, the release will be in Europe only but with any luck it will make its way to the US so that we can all take a deep breath before making that frantic phone call.
Check out one more picture after the break.
And it’s not from Apple. Actually, it’s from Cisco Systems and they’ve held the trademark for awhile. Since, like 2000. Before then, it was held by Infogear, one of the companies they acquired.
Bottomline– non-cellular, sleek modern design, has no functionality that I currently use. Good thing I didn’t throw out my RAZR or anything.
Maybe at Macworld?
According to UBS analyst John Hodulik, Apple will introduce MVNO (mobile virtual network operator) wireless service via the iPhone in ’07. This is one of the rumors that I’m half-hearted on. Although I think that Apple is certainly capable, seeing as how iTunes revolutionized (legally) downloadable music, I also see the utter failure of ESPN Mobile as a warning sign for when content gets tangled up within the realm of carriers.
Here’s the bigger problem: MVNOs seem to cater to niche markets. Amp’d Mobile has the 18-34 year old male segment. Disney has helicopter parents of kids. Helio is working on the trendy, young and MySpace obsessed. Now granted, some niche markets are bigger than others– GreatCall’s Jitterbug MVNO is counting on the greying of America with big cell phones and operators that do everything for you.
But I digress. Lots of people have iPods already. Also, and more importantly, lots of people have cell phones– with a whole range of carriers, and a whole range of contracts because so much of our device hardware is subsidized. So here’s what I want to see from Apple– forget the MVNO and just sell me a $249 iPhone that is is 3G GSM capable and includes at least the option to put Opera Mini on it so that I can replace my iPod and phone (see complaint here) and not get stuck with contract woes.
Intel stated last week that they are going to start developing chips for “Ultra Mobile PCs” that use less power than currently available– apparently they’ve learned a lesson since the Samsung Q1 UMPC came out with a whopping 3.5 hours of battery life. I can’t say that I’m excited about this dual device concept they’re espousing– convergence is one of the new trends that I am hoping really takes off. In addition to the standard set of items, on any given day my purse holds my phone, iPod and Nintendo DS (I lack a Palm-esque device, but I’d love to acquire one). Taking out two of those devices would not just lighten my load in a literal sense, but also for the fact that I could grab my life and go in one fell swoop– no purse or laptop bag required.
Sure, I could get a smart phone sort of device, but right now they lack the storage capacity and processor power to multi-task in a functional way for me. Plus there isn’t enough battery life to make it my sole communicating device and most importantly, they lack the ability to play fun games that go beyond the pick ‘em up and put ‘em down variety that I have on my cell phone.
I will admit– convergence hasn’t been a good thing in a lot of cases– I have love/hate ideas about music-focused devices. The ROKR? Not so good. Sprint/Verizon OTA music stores? Rather expensive, if you ask me. Cingular? Side load functionality on the new Samsung SYNCH is cool, but what about OTA downloads? Wasn’t that supposed to be the new and cool thing about all the 3G network upgrades?
I’m not even willing to bet that everyone needs a fully functional converged device. My mother doesn’t know how to download anything from her phone and really doesn’t care. Text messages are enough of a challenge for her. And I really don’t need to check my email 24/7. Or have a ready supply of decent games to play, or even have all my music near me. But I want to. And for the fact that there are plenty of people in my age demographic and younger who want to do the same (see p. 25), Intel should listen.
The one factor that could prove this as a tipping point would be wide-ranging and reasonably priced WiFi access and Skype or similar service availability. At that point my phone would prove arbitrary, except for the ventures away from the city, and with a decent enough processor, I could certainly make do on the games front.
Conclusion: wait and see. Intel’s right on the money about accessing the internet by phone (not fun), but this battle has barely begun.
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