November 16th, 2007

WorldMate Live

By Daved | Add a Comment »

WorldMate Live – Put your smart phone to work.

WorldMate Live is a portable app that works on your Blackberry and other smart phones. The portable app is much like portable travel assistant. The WorldMate Live application will help keep your holiday and business travel stress free by alerting you of flight delays, keeping travle of reservations, important phone numbers and more.

Unlike other such services, WorldMate Live is updated in real time. Find out exactly when you flight gets delayed so that you can make arrangements fast. No more waiting till your at the ticket counter to find out about your delayed flight.

WorldMate Live also keeps a schedule of your trip including meets, hotels check in and out times, flights and more. The schedule will change with the time zone so that you don’t miss a meeting or flight do to time changes.

There is also a WorldMate Live online application so that you can access your travel information from anywhere in the world. If you use Outlook, you may want to try their Outlook plugin that automatically captures your Itinerary.

Check outthe world mate live website here.

November 14th, 2007

Incase iPod Nano Protective Cover

By chris | 1 Comment »

The Incase iPod nano protective cover has been in my hands for a week or so to test out. Normally we’re pretty hard on our test gear, but since I’m the one contributing the iPod we’re using, I’ve been taking it a lot easier. Sorry folks - this means no 12-foot drops on this test.

The quick & dirty:

Where you can get one:
incase $24.95

Why it rocks:

Nice rubbery material could offer some shock protection

Feels like decent quality

Why it bites:

No cover for the face of the iPod

Can’t connect to accessories without removing from the case

Seat-of-the-pants rating:5 out of 10

Long-winded version:
There really isn’t a whole lot one can do to a rubber gadget case to test it out other than try to tear it in half or feed it to your dog. Sure, you could try to see how much protection it offers by throwing around your electronics but that’s out of the question for me.

In the real-life test I’ve put the Incase iPod Nano Protective Cover through in the last week, I’ve found that it could suit most people’s needs but also has room for improvement. For instance, there is no protection for the face of the iPod, which is very easy to scratch if it’s in your pocket with say, a set of keys. For a rubber cover costing 25 bones, I think this is a fairly large missing piece.

Another annoyance, although accepted more by me, is the fact that I can’t plug my iPod into any accessories that use a base instead of a cable to connect. For me, this is both my car and my speakers at home. While I understand that the case will add to the bulk of the iPod doing it on the bottom and making me remove the case every time I get in the car or back home is a significant frustration. I’ve either chosen to not use the case, or to not use the iPod because of this.

Having used the Incase protective cover for a week, I would not buy one for myself. But then again I’m usually just happy with a protective film on the front anyway as I’m not too harsh on my electronics in general.

Up next for testing is the Incase Sports Armband, which first impressions indicate will be better in my book.

October 5th, 2007

Obopay Money Transfer

By Aleksi | Add a Comment »

If you want a way to transfer money over the internet on your cell phone then thanks to Obopay you can! Think of it like a money transfer at your bank, mixed with Paypal, mixed with your mobile phone. Need to send money to your friend right now? You can. What about fees? Nothing more than a $.10 fee for sending money, there is no charge for recieving or withdrawing.

What you do:
1. Add money to Obopay via your bank account, credit, or debit card.

2. You can send money to any US mobile phone number, even if they don’t have an account. You can also request money, and it stores the amount so that the other person can open an Obopay account and collect their money.

3. If you need money that is in your Obopay, then you can withdraw it directly into your bank account.

4. Obopay also offers a debit card that you can use to pay for things directly out of your obopay account.

5. Purchase movie tickets and other things via your phone and Obopay account.

The best thing is that since it’s not a bank account, you aren’t charged for overdraft fees or have a minimum balance requirement. Convinced yet? Yeah, I thought so! Open an Obopay account here

October 4th, 2007

Verizon Voyager, the iPhone killer?

By Aleksi | Add a Comment »

Verizon has admitted they want a part of the iPhone action with their new Voyager. On October 3rd they went public with a new model of phone that is directly targetted at competeting with the Apple iPhone.

Most users of the iPhone complain because of the limited use of it. Thanks to Steve Jobs, the iPhone doesn’t allow 3rd party applications to be installed unless it is “hacked” by installing and modifying the software or hardware of the phone. This causes the casual user to fear breaking the device, meaning that they simply deal with the limitations instead of risking breaking it.

The Voyager lacks the same screen size as the iPhone, and the internal memory is not even close to what the iPhone is capable of, however it does allow for expansion via a memory slot.

Prices of the Verizon Voyager, as well as the other models that are planned for release near the end of the year (Just in time for Christmas and the holidays, no doubt) have not been set yet, but expect them to be in the $300 and above price range.

October 3rd, 2007

Mobile Calorie Counter

By Aleksi | Add a Comment »

The CalorieKing Mobile Calorie Counter is a great idea for those of us who travel and don’t always have the time to check up on our diets. Even if you’re not into losing weight, or eating more protein, having a general idea of the amount of calories and carbs you intake is a good idea to keep yourself out of the doctor’s office.

CalorieKing allows you to look up calories and information on over 50,000 foods, helps you find healthy recipes and alternatives for some of the more unhealthy foods we tend to fall into the habit of eating, especially while traveling (think, quick). What makes it even better is that they are also optimized for your mobile browser, giving you no excuse to stay in good health while on the road.

Check it out here: http://www.calorieking.com/mobile/

September 30th, 2007

Sprint Centro

By Aleksi | Add a Comment »

It’s possible to buy a smartphone for $100. Yeah, you may laugh now, but in a few weeks the release of the Sprint Centro, a smartphone made by Palm will make it possible. It functions just as well as a Blackberry, or any other smartphone, but with smaller internal memory, and a generally smaller overall size. (Personally, it reminds me of a T-Mobile Dash).

The nice part is that this phone allows for external memory cards, so you can have just as much, if not more storage than most higher-end and expensive phones. Great idea for someone who would like the organization, layout and feel of having a PDA/Phone but doesn’t want to pay the $400+ pricetag in most instances.

For some specs and more info, visit the Palm website, www.palm.com

September 30th, 2007

Downgrade your iPhone

By Aleksi | Add a Comment »

If you updated your iPhone’s software to the newest version and for some reason would like to downgrade it to the previous version, you should check out iPhone Hacks. Obviously, use these tips and tricks at your own risk, as there is a chance that you could damage the memory and data already on your phone.

Users who would like to be able to install custom ringtones and other features that were able to be done on the previous software version due to the numerous other hacks that were available from 3rd parties will find this downgrade extremely valuable, as the newest version of the software released by Apple does not allow for these tweaks.

September 29th, 2007

Cubic Telecom

By Aleksi | Add a Comment »

With the cost of phones, plans, and accessories skyrocketing with more and more choices on the market, it can be hard to find good deals. We’ve covered a few ideas such as the Skype Phone, international calling cards and numbers, and things of that nature, but our timing seemed to be just a few weeks too soon.

Cubic Telecom is a small company that is planning to make BIG waves. BIG. They are releasing what is called, accurately, the world’s first global cellular phone. Sure, your AT&T or T-Mobile phones may work on GSM, which allow them to function on networks overseas, but your bank account won’t function after you need to use your phone a few times. With most rates overseas being in excess of $1/minute with outrageous roaming charges as well, it’s not uncommon to make a call worth over $50 in normal circumstances.

Cubic’s phone is different however. It works like a prepaid phone, allowing you to add minutes to it as you want, and use those minutes as you want also. There are no monthly or annual contracts either, so you aren’t locked down. What is probably the coolest feature is that you can set up your phone to ring to any of the available phone numbers, from about 50 cities around the world, allowing you to make locally billed calls to friends or family in other timezones. Basically, you could get a Paris phone number and have your French friends call you from home while you are in the United States, for example, for the same rate that it would cost them to call anyone else who lived in France.

The phone should be released early next month, so expect more updates and things draw closer.

September 28th, 2007

Apple puts an end to hacked iPhones

By Aleksi | Add a Comment »

It was only a matter of time after the iPhone’s launch and exclusive rights to AT&T before jealous users who didn’t want to open a new plan with a different carrier than the one they already had hacked the phone. That’s just what happened, before too long, you could see users making calls, sending text messages, and using the iPhone for it’s various other abilities, BUT not on AT&T’s network. In fact, you could use it on practically any network, as long as you had an interchangeable SIM card.

Apple, learning of this has incorporated into their new update, some sort of script that will lock out users from being able to hack the phone any longer, further locking it down to only AT&T’s network. The update includes a new software update, as well as adds the ability to download songs via the Apple iTunes store via Wi-Fi, something which a lot of users will want, hopefully enticing them to update and open an account with AT&T.

To read more about this news from Apple, click here.

September 28th, 2007

Europe Quiz

By Aleksi | Add a Comment »

If you’re ever extremely bored and would like to learn the locations of European countries, check out the euroGame. This little game asks you to drag and drop the countries given to you to their locations around Europe. I won’t tell you how well I did, which is rather embarrassing because I have traveled across the water many times, and still don’t know where “.al” is.