[MobileRatty] tag: personal

Sprint Customers Can Now Access Work Calendar on Samsung Instinct

Thu, 04 Dec 2008 13:57:16 +0000

Customers of Sprint now can get mobile access to their corporate calendar on the popular Samsung Instinct.

Today's launch of corporate calendar access on Instinct provides easy synchronization with Microsoft Exchange Server and IBM Lotus Notes account calendars. As part of Sprint Mobile Email Work, which already provides access to corporate email and contacts, the new calendar feature allows Instinct users to view and update their work calendar, create and delete appointments and more, right on their phone.

The calendar feature is an extension of Mobile Email Work's existing access to business email accounts. Sprint worked with SEVEN(R), one of the leading providers of mobile messaging solutions, to create Mobile Email Work, which now allows Instinct users to access work calendars from Microsoft Exchange Server 2000, 2003 or 2007 accounts, or IBM Lotus Domino accounts.

Mobile Email Work with corporate calendar synch includes monthly, weekly and daily views of the user's calendar, along with an appointment view that displays the details about each appointment or meeting. Reminders bring upcoming appointments or meetings to the user's attention. Users can edit existing appointments, accept or decline meeting requests, or create new single-date, multi-date or all-day appointments. Users also can delete appointments and meetings. All changes made on the Sprint phone are automatically synchronized with the user's desktop calendar.

For Instinct users, the corporate calendar feature will be provided as a software update to customers with Mobile Email Work. Customers who are new to Sprint Mobile Email and want to activate the service can do so directly through the email menu - no software download is required. Once email is activated, customers will be prompted to accept the upgrade to enable corporate calendar access.

In addition to the Samsung Instinct, Sprint plans to extend corporate calendar synch to additional non-PDA phones in the future.

Mobile Email Work with the new corporate calendar feature is included at no additional charge for Instinct customers, including those on Everything Data plans starting at $69.99, Sprint's worry-free $99.99 Simply EverythingSM plan and Everything Data Family plans starting at $129.99 for two lines (taxes and surcharges excluded).

Customers interested in using Mobile Email Work and the new calendar feature can take advantage of Sprint's Ready Now program, which helps customers fully realize the benefits of everything the Now Network can do for them. With Ready Now, Sprint retail associates work with new or existing customers to explain, set up and demonstrate the features and applications of their phones. Sprint customers can choose how much or how little they want to learn about any phone features and applications. For additional customer convenience, customers have the flexibility to schedule appointments either in the store or online via Sprint's store locator tool. Customers can visit www.sprint.com/readynow to schedule an appointment and find the closest participating store.

About Sprint Mobile Email

Mobile Email provides easy access to personal and corporate email accounts, including Microsoft Exchange Server and IBM Lotus Domino accounts, along with accounts from AOL, Windows Live Hotmail, Gmail, Yahoo! Mail and more. Mobile Email is available on 56 Sprint phones at no additional cost to Sprint data subscribers. With Mobile Email, customers can:

Compose, read and manage email on their phone from anywhere, with the ability to work in off-network situations - even on airplanes.
Get alerts when new emails arrive.
Automatically synchronize email on their mobile phone with online mail accounts.
Look up online contacts and address books.

For more information on Mobile Email, please visit www.sprint.com/mobileemail.

Gifts for the cool Book Worms

Thu, 04 Dec 2008 10:21:42 +0000

Have a geeky book worm in the family? Check out our geeky and tech book gift recommendations.

Are You a Geek?: 1,000 Ways to Find Out - $8

Let’s face it–we all do geeky things, from checking e-mail obsessively to playing video games to tripping over our own feet. But here’s your chance to find out just how much of a geek you really are. With 1,000 questions for every area of your life–from childhood to lifestyle to entertainment to sex (you met your wife in a Web chat room–3 points), Are You a Geek? helps measure your precise geek quotient. From challenging intelligence quizzes to testing your dating compatibility with “Geekline,” Are You a Geek? lets you in on the secrets that separate the geeks from the grown-ups. Or the nerdmeisters from everyone else…

The Are You a Geek?: 1,000 Ways to Find Out is available from Amazon for $8.

The Sneaky Book for Girls - $9.99

Let’s face it: girls are sneaky. And they have one advantage to being sneaky over boys - they are girls. Girls out there, you know what we mean: your brains are just smarter or something. We want to help ramp up your sneakiness quotient even more, and this book is it. The Sneaky Book for Girls provides complete how-to instructions and diagrams for sneaky gadgets, survival skills, communication codes, science projects, as well as having profiles of more than a dozen famous women. It also explores recycling and conservation techniques.

The The Sneaky Book for Girls is available from Think Geek for $9.99.

The Sneaky Book for Boys - $9.99

A bit like the sneaky book for girls but err for boys .

The The Sneaky Book for Boys is available from Think Geek for $9.99.

It’s a Guy Thing: Awesome Innovations from the Underdeveloped Male Mind - $11.16

Man may have invented the wheel, but it was a Guy who first looked at an ordinary pogo stick and realized it would be greatly improved by the addition of a combustible-gas-powered engine; a Guy who invented a high-five simulator so he’d never be left hanging again; a Guy who dared to dream of airbag boxer shorts to protect that which he holds most dear.

It’s not difficult to imagine these bold inventors reclining in front of their TVs (or Victrolas), one hand resting halfway down their boxers, the other holding a beer, when inspiration struck! Unfortunately, what they envisioned as the next lightbulb was, in actuality, the first toilet lounger.

The It’s a Guy Thing: Awesome Innovations from the Underdeveloped Male Mind is available from Amazon for $11.16.

The Google Story - $11.20

The strength of the book comes from its command of many small details, and its focus on the human side of the Google story, as opposed to the merely academic one. Some may prefer a dryer, more analytic approach to Google’s impact on the Internet, like The Search or books that tilt more heavily towards bits and bytes on the spectrum between technology and business, like The Singularity is Near. Those wanting to understand the motivations and personal growth of founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin and CEO Eric Schmidt, however, will enjoy this book. Vise and Malseed interviewed over 150 people, including numerous Google employees, Wall Street analysts, Stanford professors, venture capitalists, even Larry Page’s Cub Scout leader, and their comprehensiveness shows.

The The Google Story is available from Amazon for $11.20.

Gadget Nation: A Journey Through the Eccentric World of Invention - $13.57

Greenberg, a writer and “innovation insider” who works the quirky device beat, looks into a number of those “why didn’t I think of that” (and “why did anyone think of that”) products in this colorful, fully illustrated guide. From the incredible (bird diapers) to the practical (mom’s third arm, a flexible bottle-holding device that attaches to car seats) to the ingenious (the slanket, a blanket with sleeves) to the goofy (a kitchen utensil for turning a hot dog into an octopus), Greenberg profiles odd products and the oddballs behind them, dutifully chronicling the ups and downs of inventor-dom. Though the products are interesting, the real story is in the arduous trip from garage to store shelf, a long, expensive and risky enterprise. Greenberg finds inventors in all stages of the process, many of whom face the chilling prospect of losing hundreds of thousands of dollars.

The Gadget Nation: A Journey Through the Eccentric World of Invention is available from Amazon for $13.57.

Backyard Ballistics - $14.99

Ordinary folks can construct 13 awesome ballistic devices in their garage or basement workshops using inexpensive household or hardware store materials and this step-by-step guide. Clear instructions, diagrams, and photographs show how to build projects ranging from the simple, to the more complex, to the offbeat. Learn how to annoy your neighbors and amaze your friends by building such things as: a match-powered rocket, a tennis ball mortar, and a pneumatic missile.

The Backyard Ballistics is available from Think Geek for $14.99.

Inside Steve’s Brain - $16.29

“Throughout his storied Silicon Valley career, Apple CEO and Pixar Studios founder Steve Jobs has been labeled, among other things, an egomaniac, a Zen Buddhist, a business mastermind, a sociopath and a music mogul. Blogger, author and Wired News editor Kahney, who has chronicled Apple in previous books (The Cult of Mac), attempts to plumb the depths of Jobs’s prodigious mind in this engrossing biography. The author devotes much time to the sensational aspects of Jobs’ life, including his demeaning and ferocious interactions with employees, his relentless high-mindedness and fanatical attention to detail, clearly demonstrating how his tyrannical and perfectionist impulses have have shaped the award-winning designs and consumer-friendly products that have made Apple a juggernaut. Though it doesn’t penetrate the Mac man’s psyche too deeply, and sections on tangential figures like Apple design guru Jonathan Ive and Apple Store visionary Ron Johnson can meander, those searching for a telling portrait of Jobs’s management style and its impact on Apple will not be left wanting.”

The Inside Steve’s Brain is available from Amazon for $16.29.

The Darwin Awards - $25

The Darwin Award Box Set is a collection of people who did sometimes stupid, yet funny things to die. There are the classic Darwin Awards such as the person who decided to make a neckless out of live amunition and others who did not die, but were injured doing stupid stuff, such as the guy that tied 45 Navy ballons to a lawn chair and sailed up to about 20,000 feet.

All in all a funny look at some stupid people.

The The Darwin Awards is available from Amazon for $25.

Kindle: Amazon’s Wireless Reading Device - $359

Thanks to electronic paper, a revolutionary new display technology, reading Kindle’s screen is as sharp and natural as reading ink on paper—and nothing like the strain and glare of a computer screen. Kindle is also easy on the fingertips. It never becomes hot and is designed for ambidextrous use so both “lefties” and “righties” can read comfortably at any angle for long periods of time.

The Kindle: Amazon’s Wireless Reading Device is available from Amazon for $359.

Cool Gift Idea: Digital Picture Frames, check out our reviews.
[ Gifts for the cool Book Worms copyright by Coolest Gadgets ]

Logitech ships billionth mouse!

Thu, 04 Dec 2008 08:45:45 +0000

Whenever we say input device the first company that comes to our mind is Logitech. Generally, if its input device then it gotta be Logitech. My association with the firm dates back to years. My first personal computer had...

Pinnacle 880e PCTV HD Ultimate USB Stick Tuner

Thu, 04 Dec 2008 05:08:13 +0000

Watching as well as recording SD and free HD on your computer certainly sounds very nice indeed, but it is possible with the Pinnacle 880e PCTV HD Ultimate Stick. The USB tuner gives you this with no service fees.

The Pinnacle 880e uses a unique flash PVR technology, allowing you to record up to 2 hours of SD TV direct on to your USB key, then you can play it back on your PC. The personal video recorder and the digital TV tuner will run directly from the memory sticks on-board flash memory.

The recording formats that the Pinnacle 880e PCTV HD Ultimate Stick supports a number of recording formats, these include, MPEG-1/2, DivX and MPEG-4: compatible with PSP or iPod (Trial Version). Woot have the device as their one day one sale item for just $59.99.

The President Elect is a Zune User

Wed, 03 Dec 2008 21:31:53 +0000

I must say that it comes as something of a surprise that the president elect of the United States, who is reportedly a Mac user, plays his MP3s on a Zune. Sure, I don’t care what music gadgets people use, but the Zune has been languishing and has not seen too many personal endorsements from high-profile users, and Barack Obama is about as high-profile as you can get.

The report as made to Philadelphia’s City Paper:

He walked majestically across the gym floor in his track pants and sweat shirt. I did a double take, and soon after that, looked around the gym to see if anyone else knew he was here. Nobody seemed to notice. But he hopped on the machine next to me and broke a mean sweat while reading a copy of USA Today and listening to his Zune.

So there you have it folks, Barack Obama uses a Zune and Steve Jobs possibly wants his vote back (depending on which way he voted). [City Paper via Gear Log

Rogers Wireless Launches the HTC Touch Diamond Smartphone

Wed, 03 Dec 2008 21:03:39 +0000

Rogers Wireless, Canada's largest wireless provider, and HTC today announce the availability of the HTC Touch Diamond, an elegant smartphone that is as powerful as it is beautiful. Engineered to deliver outstanding performance on Rogers Wireless' 3G high-speed network, the HTC Touch Diamond features a one-hand touch-sensitive control experience and a stunning gloss black finish and faceted back for maximum style.

Featuring HTC's hallmark TouchFLO 3D interface, the HTC Touch Diamond allows Rogers customers to easily personalize and arrange their favorite contacts, photos, weather, and music in a graphical, intuitive way.

The device features include support for personal and work e-mail, an advanced Opera Internet browser for a desktop-like browsing experience and innovative multimedia features such as Mobile TV, wireless video calling for connecting face-to-face with friends and family, access to Rogers MusicStore, and more.

Created to allow people to take advantage of the latest mobile services to stay in touch with the people and information that are most important to them, the HTC Touch Diamond boasts an extensive slate of features including:

Wi-Fi (802.11 b/g) enabled
2.8 inch VGA touch screen
3.2 megapixel camera with auto-focus
Integrated YouTube application
Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional operating system

GPS enabled The HTC Touch Diamond combines sleek, cutting-edge design and broadband performance with a simple, yet powerful user experience, resulting in a sophisticated handset that is as capable as it is beautiful," said Francois Gravel, managing director of HTC Canada. "We are pleased to be working with Rogers Wireless to deliver the HTC Touch Diamond to customers in Canada."

In addition to game-changing Web browsing, the HTC Touch Diamond includes a customized YouTube application for easy access to user-generated video content and automatic screen orientation that changes the display from portrait to landscape view just by turning the HTC Touch Diamond sideways. For easily accessing a variety of digital content, the TouchFLO 3D interface offers graphical, animated interaction with up to 4GB worth of images, videos and music.

The HTC Touch Diamond is now available from $199.99 with activation on any combination of three-year voice and data plan with minimum combined monthly service fee of $45 per month from Rogers. Some conditions apply.

The HTC Touch Diamond joins the HTC Touch, HTC TyTN and HTC S621 smartphones in the Rogers Wireless lineup.

Visit http://www.htc.com/TouchDiamond to find out more.

HTC Touch Diamond

Cox bumps up Internet speed for premier users in O.C.

Wed, 03 Dec 2008 20:55:31 +0000

It may not be FiOS fast, but O.C. customers of Cox Communications’ fastest Internet service got a huge speed boost overnight to 20 Mbps, up from 15 Mbps.

It’s a free upgrade for “Premier” customers who are already paying $59.99 per month for Internet service. And it should happen automatically - no phone call or technician required. Cox Business Home Office Premier customers are also getting the upgrade.

In addition, Cox’s “PowerBoost,” which uses underutilized Internet to offer a temporary speed burst when you need it (to download movies, for example), jumps to 25 Mbps.

This makes Cox the second fastest Internet provider in Orange County. Warner Cable’s speeds top out at 10 Mbps. AT&T U-Verse offers up to 18 Mbps. Verizon’s FiOS, which is not available to most of Cox’s users, is still O.C.’s leader at 50 Mbps.

For all other Cox Internet users, the second fastest package is still pretty good and costs $15 less. (Although, Cox tells me that with qualifying bundled service, the top speed can be had for up to $25 less). Cox’s “Preferred” plan is $44.99 per month with speeds up to 9 Mbps, with bursts up to 12 Mbps.

Related TV news:

Post from: Alt+Save with the Gadgetress

Cox bumps up Internet speed for ‘premier’ users in O.C.

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Cisco will build a WiMAX network in Malaysia

Wed, 03 Dec 2008 20:36:36 +0000

YTL e-Solutions Berhad (YTLE), an affiliate of the corporation YTL Berhad, has signed a strategic agreement with Cisco to deploy a WiMAX network in the base part of peninsular Malaysia. Under the agreement, Cisco will build a core network and integration of WiMAX for YTLE (will include IP CORE, operations support systems, billing systems, active network control center - Proactive Network Operating Center, PNOC and the laboratory to check compatibility), to help the company quickly YTL put into operation new services.

The project is implemented in accordance with the plans YTLE to organize mobile Internet access throughout Malaysia. After running the commercial use of the company's WiMAX YTLE (scheduled for 2009), urban residents and rural areas have access to a range of 4G mobile services for voice, data and video through personal mobile WiMAX.

According to executive vice president, chief director for services and the globalization of Cisco Wim Elfrinka (Wim Elfrink), «such a model of cooperation - the first experience for Cisco, demonstrates how government organizations and leaders in the field of modern technology can together build a network to provide services That increase business productivity and quality of life in general. Implementing the mobile Internet, YTLE and Cisco are helping to improve the global ranking of Malaysia and its people ». Elfrink added that this new type of partnership demonstrates the flexibility Cisco to introduce new business models designed to meet the diverse needs of users worldwide.

YTLE plans to sell low-cost packages WiMAX, combining high-speed, wide coverage and access to mobile Internet services that will meet the needs of telecommunications as a corporate or private users.

An official announcement Fly E120

Wed, 03 Dec 2008 20:36:26 +0000

Brand Fly formally presented his new phone Fly E120, executed in classic form-factor "monoblock" and having words with the manufacturer - sophisticated design and exclusive multimedia features.

It declares the company, connoisseurs fine arts at once, please note that the uniqueness of the new model Fly E120 in contrasts: between the big screen smooth black and red / silver front panel with relief figures. Simultaneous visual and tactile contrast provided by the owner of feeling incredibly stylish accessory. In addition, the smooth surface of Fly E120, combined with clear, «severe» faces corps stress noble origin multimedia phone. Metal components in the design, the unusual, increased circuit cameras effectively emphasize high-end quality of the unit.

2.2-inch screen resolution 240h320 pixels, and displaying more than 262 thousand colors occupies half shell Fly E120. Vision, the keyboard seems drawn to block the front of the phone. Meanwhile, performed without a single projection keyboard perfectly respond to touch.

Fly E120 weighs 85 grams (dimensions 106,9 x44, 9x10, 5 mm) is equipped with 3.2 MP camera with autofocus and serial shooting mode, MP3 and video player railing, FM-radio and other miltimediynymi functions.

Fly E120 Camera makes photo-resolution images of 2048 pixels by 1536, including using the digital zoom, flash, self, and removes the video formats MPEG4 and 3GP (H.263). Using Photo can be directly on the phone to handle photos and create original collages.

Embedded memory Fly E120 (22Mb) expanded up to 8 GB using microSD memory cards, which you can record your favorite music and listen to her on the phone, even on wireless headphones, thanks to the support of technology Bluetooth 2.0. Among the entertainment functions Fly E120 is just to provide support for Java applications MIDP2.0 / CLDC1.1) and the ability to use your phone line webcams.

Polyphonic call in the formats MP3, WAV, MIDI, AMR, AAC, AAC + can download from the Internet or from a PC through the USB-connection.

Besides the traditional functions of the organizer of the Fly E120 has a stopwatch, a dictaphone, with the possibility of connection and recording during a telephone conversation.

The phone can store up to 1000 personal contacts. Length, and - the number of Fields of each contact, contact is not limited. Traditionally, subscribers can assign a ringing tone, photo and video.

Fly E120 will be available in two colors: black with red and silver metallic with black.

Recommended retail price Fly E120 - 6 890 rubles. And you see for sale in Russian salons regard is expected in December 2008.

Sound Wave Harvesting Justifies Your Annoyingly Loud Phone Voice [Nanotechnology]

Wed, 03 Dec 2008 19:30:00 +0000

The surge of systems devised to re-capture bodily output continues, this time with a nano-piezo technology that could use sound waves to charge cellphones. But how long must you talk before you can... talk? Science Daily reports that Tahir Cagin, a professor in the chemical engineering department at Texas A&M, has merged the really old science of piezoelectrics with the very new science of nanotechnology to discover that a technique for harvesting energy actually gets way more efficient at the nano level. Specifically, when a piezoelectric film used to convert vibrations into energy is reduced to around 21 nanometers in thickness, it's suddenly twice as good at converting the energy. There's not a lot of detail on the uses for this technology just yet, and—like other vibration-power systems—the earliest uses would probably be in very low energy applications such as sensors. But the article does suggest this could have "potentially profound effects for low-powered electronic devices such as cell phones, laptops, personal communicators and a host of other computer-related devices," though I wonder if that wasn't just thrown in to make people like me excited about it. It worked. I am. [Science Daily via TreeHugger]