Section: Communications, Computers, Gadgets / Other, Features, Originals, Columns, Who's On Crack
What's the most common phrase heard around the Gadgetell newsroom? Is it "I love Apple?", "that's cool!" or "sweet!"? Answer: none of them, it's "they are on crack." This week we take a look back at the things that made us chuckle in the tech world. This week, it seems there were more folks on dope than not. Lets get to this week's accused:
Best Buy wants a PlayBook
OMG they are selling flying cars
No iPhone Outlet store?
Palm growing a pair?
BlackBerry PlayBook coming to Best Buy?
There are two motives behind saying stuff that makes no sense: one is to look good to your investors and the other is a cry for help to cover up your addiction to crack. You decide for yourself which applies here.
Earlier this week at it’s developer conference, RIM introduced the world to the BlackBerry PlayBook. The UI was demo’d on stage and the CEO of the company held one (but didn’t use it, gasp!) on stage. The press were only allowed to look at a non-running model behind glass. This guy, doesn’t even believe it’s real.
Our Robert Nelson found this gem, "When it comes to market, we're going to be very happy to offer it to our customers," CEO Brian Dunn said at an event to discuss Best Buy's holiday plans.
Really? Does it not matter if the tablet is any good? Do you have no standards for carrying a product? Telling us you can’t wait to get something fictional is, well, rather silly, don’t you think? He might as well have said, “I hope to meet the Easter Bunny.” For the kids out there, the Easter Bunny really is too fast for anyone to catch…
Posturing or just plain old crack?
Flying cars are here!
Our Shawn Ingram brings us this story, “...the future is now and a company by the name of Terrafugia has officially created a multi-dimensional vehicle that can both fly and drive you around town.” That’s right, the dream of leaving the constricting roadway behind without looking like Marty McFly or Doc is here. Like the above, there are two ways to look at this: flying cars are either what we saw in the future and movies or the real world approximation.
Let’s start with the real world. The Transition is pretty cool. The wings fold up so after you land at an airport, you can drive it off and park it at the mall. You’d be more than a little conspicuous but if you are buying one of these babies, that’s probably why you are buying it. You’ll need a pilots license and a pretty good understanding of controlled airspace. Air traffic controllers don’t like when you text and fly.
Now we come to what we all think of when we think of flying cars. Forget landing at your house (unless you are the caretaker of a runway). Forget saving time (probably) on your commute. Forget getting stuck in a traffic jam, hitting the “fly” button and zooming on while you moon all the folks still stuck.
This isn’t the flying car we’re looking for. This isn’t from the future, it’s just a mashup of existing technologies (concept-wise anyway). Don’t get me wrong, I am sure it took massive brainpower to build the Transition, but it isn’t what most of us had in mind for the flying car. Thinking this is the awesome flying car you’ve dreamed of is the on crack answer. Sorry.
In China, there must a factory outlet store for iPhones, right?
Here in the US, we’ve got outlet stores about every 20 miles or so. As a nation, we seem to love factory seconds where something is just not quite right and is sold at a discount. You would think we’d export this idea to China.
It seems the iPhone 4 is super hot in China. The country bought all 100,000 alloted to them via pre-sale and opening day. Since then, Apple Stores in China are shutting down in a mess of mayhem as they try to weed out the phone scalpers. They can’t get enough FaceTime perhaps?
Odd, in a country known for it’s knock offs and the grey market trading that seems to happen regularly, why so much drama over the real thing? Can’t they just drive over to the factory outlet store and pick one up where the stocks app doesn’t work quite right?
Palm growing a pair?
Now here’s a fresh rumor as reported by our Robert Nelson, it looks like we may be (finally) seeing a pair of new phones coming by way of Palm. The latest bit comes by way of TUV Rheinland, (who have been reliable in the past) and have uncovered the details including two model numbers—P102UNA and the P102EWW.”
I am having a harder time getting excited about this news. It’s because I was fooled before (many times actually) by Palm and the hopes of a decent hardware spec for the sexy webOS. I’ve got five bucks riding that these “two new phones” will the Palm Pre Plus Plus and the Pixi Plus Plus. The exact same hardware with 2x more emoticons or something useless like that.
We’re coming up on two years of the same design (the plus versions don’t count, sorry) and it’s feeling like we’ve been Windows Mobilized. You know, the scenario where there is a lot of talk but no updates for years on end.
Will it be two dramatically different handsets? Will we lose the improbably small Pixi (the small phone with the big data charge)? Will my hopes (I can’t stop it, I am excited again just talking about it) get dashed yet again? I call it Disappointment Plus now.
Full Story » | Written by JG Mason for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »
Section: Communications, Cellphones, Cellular Providers, Smartphones, Mobile, Computers, Mobile Computers
It looks like Verizon still has quite a bit in store for us this year in terms of new releases. The goodies include everything from the Android-running LG enV Pro to the FiveSpot modem, several BlackBerry models and even the Motorola Stingray tablet. Of course, that last one is technically listed for Q1 2011. Nonetheless, it sounds like something worth looking forward to. The details are coming by way of Engadget and include;
- Motorola Venus - October
- Samsung SCH-i400 Continuum - late October
- Motorola Droid Pro - late October or early November
- HTC Merge - late October or early November
- LG enV Pro - November
- FiveSpot hotspot modem - late November
- Motorola Stingray tablet - Q1 2011
In addition, the BlackBerry Tour, Bold 9650, Curve 3G are expected to get updates in October. And for anyone waiting for the BlackBerry 9570 Storm3, bad news, that one is said to have been cancelled on Verizon.
Read [Engadget]
Full Story » | Written by Robert Nelson for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »
Section: Computers, Hardware
To think that the price of ink is nearly double that of human blood is a mind blowing statistic. What does that really say about our culture? Maybe consumerism has such as stronghold on our society that we habitually refuse to consider prices and accept whatever it is that we’re paying for. Feast your eyes on the following graphic:
Look at me, now look at your printer, now back at me. Now, look back again at your printer and let it know how frustrated you are with its ridiculous upkeep costs. Now look back at me and hear me as I’ve got just one more thing to say. It gets worse…
I don’t know if this is some sort of widespread issue that most printers are purposefully ridden with, but this seriously looks like something out of the big book of Enron. What kind of printers are you rolling with? Have you ever had any issues with your current or past printers? Ever had an issue where you’re simply trying to scan a document and your printer refuses to succumb to any of your seven USB ports? Let us know how you feel.
Full Story » | Written by Tarun Kunwar for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »
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