chromewalker

Twitter Weekly Updates for 2010-09-05

2010-09-05T06:00:00Z

Deep beats – http://open.spotify.com/track/5kCLh2oHV0ZZmBe0Kv0brW: the track K Otone on Minimal Tech House 2010 by Marta Kokon on Spotify #
Been in this stalemate for like 10min. Argh. http://yfrog.com/6rpd4jj #
Now we're talking! An MMO that lets you be a Tank instead of a Druid: http://bit.ly/dqXqn0 #
Probably the best summary of what's rumored to happen during today's Apple Event: http://bit.ly/c0MVVU #
I'm going to start a Kindle Book club for sci fi books. Anyone interested? @sitar? #
The 1st book for the Kindle SciFi book club (#KSFBC) is 'The Traveler' by John Twelve Hawks (also in audiobook) : http://amzn.to/aUaZNl #

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Thoughts on the new Amazon Kindle 3 & eReaders

2010-09-02T11:04:23Z

Courtesy of my friend @sitar, I was able to play around with the new Amazon Kindle 3 + 3G yesterday. I quite like it. It is really small, thin, and feels much better than the previous generation, which I reviewed here.

However, some of the things that bothered me about the previous generation are still there… namely that I’m used to ‘i-touching’ things and having to resort to the Kindle’s button-driven menus feels quirky and slow now. The menu system on the Kindle isn’t great and probably the least user-friendly part of the whole device. Whilst reading is straight forward, I couldn’t find some things I wanted to do, until I realized that I need to see the settings in the home screen rather than just anywhere within a publication. As with anything, I imagine you’ll get used to it.

The screen itself is very nice. Continues to impress me at how much it can resemble a piece of paper when on standby. The battery life I haven’t tried yet, but I’ll give Amazon the benefit of the doubt on that one.

I was able to try the PDF import option (I dragged a PDF into the drive when the Kindle was mounted on my Mac as an external drive), but I must say that PDFs rich in graphics are still a bit slow to deal with considering that you will need to zoom in quite a bit sometimes and pan around.

Which bring about the whole ‘panning around’ experience. In general I have found that the Kindle is excellent with any kind of text that is (un)formatted. Text that is meant to be read without any serious ‘richness’ embedded. Be it graphics, or weird fonts, or colored backgrounds, the Kindle doesn’t handle them well. This means that books, regular old books from their Kindle store are great, but PDFs and browsing the web where you may have a mishmash of font sizes and images within, is just too annoying and slow to deal with. Don’t expect to be using the Kindle with the 3G as a cheap black and white iPad.. it’ll just annoy the hell out of you.

So should you get the 3G option then? Well, having been using the Kindle app on my iPhone when I have a spare moment and then using it on my iPad to read at home.. being able to synchronize the devices to be at the same page is great. The 3G kindle is great in that sense that you’ll never have to worry about waiting to synchronize with a wifi network so that all your other readers are up to date. Also, I found that typing in the wireless password in the Kindle was quite a pain in the WiFi settings due to the lack of number keys and thus requiring the use of the symbol key.

So back to the usual dilemma of iPad vs Kindle. One thing that I noticed across the different stores available on the iPad is that the pricing can be quite different. I bought a development book (O’Reilly type book) for about $5 on the App Store and on the Kindle store the same book was about $27. That’s a huge price difference and the iPad gives you the ability to sort through different stores since you can have the Kindle App and the Nook app, for example. However, as a standalone reader tied to just one store (the biggest) and with a great price to boot, the Kindle is a great little device which I’ll be buying to give my parents for Christmas (dad, if you’re reading this, pretend you didn’t).

In general, the whole e-reader market has seen quite the explosion lately from what was almost sleepy growth only a year ago. Over Christmas 2009-2010, the Amazon Kindle was one of the most gifted items revolutionizing for many the process of buying books, and now, within the last month, e-reader darlings of last year like Plastic Logic have had to bow to the success of the Kindle and the iPad as the two dominant ebook/ereader platforms. I look forward to seeing this sector stabilize around a few formats that are priced reasonably for both books (getting there) and periodicals (totally not there right now). If you want to read more about eBook readers, GP Bullhound has a great report on the market and players here.

Amazon Kindle 3 (2010) unboxing gallery (unboxing.gearlive.com)
Amazon Kindle 3 Video Unboxing (geardiary.com)
Borders Drops Prices While Amazon Expands Their Retail Reach (geardiary.com)
An Open Letter to Amazon Regarding the Kindle 3 (geardiary.com)
Hands-On First Impressions: Amazon Kindle 3 (crunchgear.com)
Quick review: Amazon Kindle 3 e-reader (last100.com)
Sony’s new e-readers: who needs wireless? (arstechnica.com)
Amazon: New Kindle 3 Is Fastest-Selling Ever (huffingtonpost.com)
WANTED: Amazon Kindle, 3rd Generation (fastcompany.com)
Video: The Amazon Kindle 3 In Direct Sunlight (crunchgear.com)

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Twitter Weekly Updates for 2010-08-29

2010-08-29T06:00:00Z

What in the world is anti climb paint? http://yfrog.com/ndbnpj #
OFCOM’s annual Communications Market Review is out, some great stats: http://bit.ly/bpqHOc #mobile #
Nice iPhone wallpapers: http://j.mp/bB44Ru #photography #retina #display #
If you're a guy and haven't checked out my friend's @iwantbox new site http://www.iwantbox.com yet, then you should. #

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Star Wars Friday – “I am your Father” but in Lego

2010-08-29T12:19:02Z

No matter how serious something is, make it in Lego and all of a sudden it’s cute.

The final scene of Empire Strikes Back where Luke goes away empty handed… so to speak.

Livin’ La Vida LEGO (chris.pirillo.com)
Legos: It’s not just about plastic bricks anymore (seattlepi.com)
LEGO Star Wars III: The Clone Wars Features Massive Ships, Minor Upgrades [Lucasarts] (kotaku.com)
Tesla’s Pidgeon: A Lego ray gun (makezine.com)
Adult Fans of LEGO: The Bricks Aren’t Just for Kids (chris.pirillo.com)

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Twitter Weekly Updates for 2010-08-22

2010-08-22T06:00:00Z

At #GDC some great talks. One on Intuition vs Metrics. Gaming best practices applicable to many web projects, particularly on cust retention #
Bigpoint's Battlestar Gallactica game (Unity-based) looks amazing. #GDC #
SC's hiring! RT @SoundCloud: Eyes up and happy Monday! New job opening for our HQs: Marketing Internship in Berlin http://bit.ly/RKTMl #
Bigpoint's Battlestar Galactica game (Unity-based) looks amazing. #GDC #
Bigpoint is betting on Unity as the transition tech for download clients. I wonder when client-based games will disappear.. #GDC #
My personal experience with FPS games on Unity was similar to pre-360 Xbox… #
Apparenty one game had a $50,000 kevlar armor virtual good. Although game wasn't specified, apparently they sold at least two a month. #GDC #
“@inma_martinez: Thanks to the lovely developers at GitHub.com, TEST IF YOUR BROWSER SUPPORTS HTML5 http://bit.ly/bzdw6M” ooh, cool. #
Only 5% or so of user suggestions are typically good for implementation. Heard as a stat regarding role of player councils in MMO's. #GDC #
Voting turn out for EVE is 13%. Wow. #GDC #
"Games are not about the cinematic moments but about the repeated actions. It's about the context of the repeated action." -W. Spector #GDC #
"~Social games under threat as people moving to richer experiences. Social games were intro for many people that hadn't gamed before." #GDC #
I've noticed an annoying bug on the iPhone's 4.0.2 software: You can have data turned off when roaming, but it will still use data. #
Specifically, if you use the Kindle app, it seems to 'force' the data connection on, and then all other apps start checking. #
Only solution I've found is to turn off both data roaming AND cellular data. #
The HyperMac Micro battery pack looks pretty good as a booster when travelling, any owners? Thoughts? http://j.mp/brplq3 #
Great write up- Introduction to Online Payments: http://bit.ly/cdHXP6 via @sitar #
Looking to get into game design? Website on Game Careers (and other resources for gaming industry): http://bit.ly/9l2PUF #

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Star Wars Friday Bonus – Singing in the Rain Stormtrooper

2010-08-21T14:01:19Z

I’m convinced that I’m going to have to get a Stormtrooper costume for Halloween this year. Then I can pull all sorts of wicked dance moooves…

These Beats Are Fresh!: Brush Off Your Body Armor, It’s Time For A Stormtrooper Danceoff! (geekologie.com)
Stormtroopers Singin’ in the Rain? (geeksaresexy.net)
Stormtrooper-ing in the Rain? (radioexile.com)
Stormtroopers Singin’ in the Rain (laughingsquid.com)
Living Stormtrooper Prank Video (geektyrant.com)
How to make Clone Trooper (and Stormtrooper) Candy Pops (neatorama.com)
It’s Jon Stewart… and He’s a Stormtrooper? (wired.com)
John Stewart Stormtrooper Action Figure Will Be The Greatest Star Wars Collectible Ever! (geekpinoy.com)
LOL: Living Stormtrooper Prank (slashfilm.com)
Other Celebrity Stormtrooper Action Figures (humor.gunaxin.com)

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Star Wars Friday Bonanza! The Inbred Jedi + B&W Silent Star Wars

2010-08-21T13:41:56Z

What if Luke and Leia actually got it on?

Now… if Star Wars were a Silent Film!!!!

Gree-Morr: The Inbred Jedi (75.101.183.223)
Star Wars Friday – Jedi A-Holes (chromewalker.com)
Return of the Jedi Deleted Scene (VIDEO) (blippitt.com)
Deleted “Star Wars: Return of the Jedi” scene (cmock127.blogspot.com)
LOL: Gree-Morr: The Inbred Jedi (slashfilm.com)
Star Wars: Return of the Jedi Deleted Scene (techeblog.com)
“‘Star Wars’ fans thrilled after seeing lost Return of the Jedi clip” and related posts (taragana.com)
Star Wars Blu-Ray Announced for Fall 2011, Deleted Scene Revealed (slashfilm.com)

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O2 Contract Cancellation Gymnastics

2010-08-21T13:35:17Z

: Image via Wikipedia

I am unfortunately moving to a new flat where I don’t have O2 coverage in spite of the fact that I still have a contract with 5 months outstanding and that I’m generally happy with O2.

When I signed up for my iPhone contract, I chose the 45 pound a month plan so that if I ever had to cancel, I would (I assumed), only have to pay 45 x months left. This is the way that I’ve had countless other carriers explain their cancellation contract to me. For this ‘luxury’, I was willing to pay a price for the iPhone up front, vs getting the most expensive plan and getting the iPhone for free.

Let me rephrase that.. because I was trying to reduce, what I assumed, the contract-cancellation-hit should I need to cancel in the future, I did not choose the plan that would give me the phone for free.

Now.. there is another reason too.. you can’t sign a contract for say 65 pounds, get the phone for free and then the next month drop down to 30 pounds… it doesn’t work like that.

With O2, you need to be on a contract for at least 9 months, and then you can drop your contract by 5 pounds every month. This means that if you were to go for the free iPhone option at 65 pounds a month, at month 9 you could drop down by 5 pounds (however, only in the case of the 65 pound plan, they drop you down to 50 pounds a month). This means that your payments, at best, would be like this (18 months):

65-65-65-65-65-65-65-65-65-50-45-40-35-30-30-30-30-30 = 960

Now, here is the tricky thing that I learned today about how O2 calculates you termination fee:

Your cancellation charge is your current monthly charge * the number of months you have left.

My assumption all this time was that it was your contract charge (45 pounds a month in my case) * the months I had left. I assumed this, because other carriers did it this way, and because their cancellation language online is ambiguous, but also because it makes sense. If they subsidized my phone with the assumption that they’d get at least 45/month out of me, then why should they settle for any less?

Well, let’s see the math behind this vs the way they actually do it:

65-65-65-65-65-65-65-65-65-50-45-45-45-45-45-45-45-45 = 1020 -> How other carriers do it

65-65-65-65-65-65-65-65-65-50-45-40-35-30-30-30-30-30 = 960 -> How O2 does it

This makes no sense… I’m really surprised at this considering they’re losing out on money… (about 60 pounds)

However, not everything is rosy.

What was my situation? Well, I found that I went over my 45 pound a month plan that I had signed up with, quite a bit. So I switched to a 65 plan.. as in.. I was paying 45-45-45-45- and went to 65……

Now, that I have to move to my new flat with no O2 coverage (and need to cancel), I receive the nasty surprise that I have to pay 65 * my remaining months in spite of the fact that I paid for half my iphone up front with the 45 plan so that I wouldn’t have this very issue and that I would only have to pay the contract amount 45* months remaining (or so I thought)…

This is what I thought would happen now that I needed to cancel with 5 months remaining in my contract:

45-45-45-45-45-45-45-45-45-50-65-65-65-45-45-45-45-45 = 875

However, this is the way O2 just informed me it actually happens when my current plan is 65 and I have 5 months remaining (even if I signed a contract for 45 / month):

45-45-45-45-45-45-45-45-45-50-65-65-65-65-65-65-65-65 = 975

So, as you can see, I’m worse off with O2′s method of calculation…. however, I was further informed that I was only allowed now to drop by 5 / month! Ok.. so they happily moved me up, but I had to negotiate hard to get it dropped down to where I started from! Argh!

So, in conclusion, I think that O2′s contract termination format is actually MORE customer friendly, but ONLY if you understand the way they calculate things:

1) Your cancellation is your current monthly charge * months remaining so start planning early your cancellation by at least two months so you can drop at least 10 pounds * months remaining off your cancellation fee.

2) You can only go down by 5 a month, regardless of where you started from.. so don’t necessary go to the highest plan option if you expect to have a busy month.

You live and you learn.

AS ALWAYS, PLEASE CONFIRM THESE CONCLUSIONS WITH CUSTOMER SERVICE BEFORE MAKING ANY CHOICES FOR YOURSELF AS POLICIES CAN CHANGE FROM TIME TO TIME AND ALSO BECAUSE SOMETIMES I FIND CUSTOMER SERVICE AGENTS DON’T KNOW ALL THE DETAILS.

How to Drop Your Cell Phone Contract and Avoid Hefty Fees (mint.com)
Vodafone’s iPhone 4 on Pay As You Go sells out within 24 hours! (intomobile.com)
Orange slashes iPhone 4 handset price (v3.co.uk)
O2 offers similar early iPhone upgrade plan as AT&T (edibleapple.com)
O2 offers contract upgrade to iPhone 4 (v3.co.uk)
O2 offers iPhone 4 on pay-as-you-go (v3.co.uk)
‘Death-grip’ contracts mean Canadians pay double for cellphones, study says (thestar.com)
Why Can’t US Dell Streak Buyers Pay Like UK Dell Streak Buyers? (technologizer.com)
O2 offers early iPhone 4 upgrade amnesty in bid to retain customers (engadget.com)

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Potentially Expensive Bug on iPhone’s 4.0.2 firmware

2010-08-17T06:06:35Z

I’ve noticed a bug on my iPhone running 4.0.2 that could potentially end up being expensive…

I have data roaming turned off and for the most part it works. However, when I fired up the Amazon Kindle app, it seemed to synchronize no problem (not sure if the Kindle app is at fault or if a subset of data-requesting apps). Then, all the other apps that were open or had access to data (Mail.app in particular), fired up and accessed the data network as well. In total I have about 1MB of data usage racked up that I did not expect to have. Thankfully, I noticed this quickly, so regardless of who is at fault, the damage is only 3 English bucks or so as O2 charges 3 Pounds per MB in the EU (and 6 outside the EU).

When I go to the usage page of the iPhone’s settings, it actually shows an increase in data consumed, so I know this isn’t just a perception. I have checked to see that data roaming is still off and it is… and there is no EDGE or GPRS or 3G icon on the display. It is the weirdest thing ever.

The only workaround is to turn off cellular data AND roaming data.

Do this for now or run the risk of having a nasty surprise.

Apparently, some at Trusted Review have also noticed this.. see article below.

How to downgrade iOS 4.0.2 to iOS 3.1.1 on your iPhone 3G (geniusgeeks.com)
Jailbreak community patch bugs that Apple won’t (zdnet.com)
O2 blamed for iPhone’s data sucking (go.theregister.com)
iPhone Users Hit with Mysterious Roaming Charges (trustedreviews.com)

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Twitter Weekly Updates for 2010-08-15

2010-08-15T05:41:00Z

“@chromewalker: Finally, the Chromewalker Star Wars Friday category… http://j.mp/cGaiW6” #
If The Net Had Been Made in 2010 Instead of 1995 http://t.co/wPpnkgP via @gawkertv #

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Star Wars Friday – Jedi A-Holes

2010-08-13T10:31:46Z

What would you do if you had Jedi powers.. really? What would you do?

Some Jedi’s Are Real Jerks (laughingsquid.com)
Are Jedi Knights Libertarian or Socialist? (Please help us figure it out) (wilderside.wordpress.com)
“Family Guy takes on Return of the Jedi” and related posts (newlaunches.com)
May 25th: It’s Universal Day of The Jedi and My Grandchild’s Birthday! (loupdargent.com)
WorldofHiglet: StarWars.com | First Look: The Jedi Path (starwars.com)
Stolen Pixels #216: Pull It Down! (escapistmagazine.com)
Dailymotion to Host Exclusive “Jedi Junkies” Star Wars Documentary Film Premiere (eon.businesswire.com)
LOL: Gree-Morr: The Inbred Jedi (slashfilm.com)
Yoda appears in Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II (gonintendo.com)

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Twitter Weekly Updates for 2010-08-08

2010-08-08T05:41:00Z

Want to see how your social app is doing? http://www.appdata.com #
“@nicholaslovell: My first column on Develop Online: Why did Zynga kill off Street Racing? http://tinyurl.com/2fkgqo3” excellent analysis. #
“@feebeyer: Mobile Data Usage grows exponentially. Minutes of voice usage are on the decline in developed markets http://is.gd/dZVXd” #

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Apple’s Magic Trackpad Review

2010-08-06T19:42:48Z

Apple has a knack for making things look nice. So it goes without saying that the new magic trackpad looks awesome. I have the wireless keyboard and next to each other, they look like one continuous flow of aluminum and curves. However.. how good is the trackpad in replacing the traditional mouse?

Well.. first let’s look at the install process.

After unboxing the trackpad, I noticed that the batteries were included and were already installed (way to go Apple!), so I went ahead and paired the trackpad to my Mac Mini. For the most part, it seemed to work until I tried to do the gestures.. whoops. They didn’t work. After closer inspection of the packaging materials, it seems you need to download a driver set for the trackpad.

So I went to Apple’s site and downloaded it, installed it, and configured it. Once done, the trackpad was fully operational. However, I noticed another thing..

I bought my mac mini so that I could use it as a media center. To that end, a mouse was impractical as I used my sofa as a ‘mouse pad’ but the movements weren’t that easy to do. The trackpad seemed like a great idea, for there is no movement required. What I quickly noticed, though was that you can’t click on the track pad unless you have something solid underneath it. The two little feet that the trackpad has are actually the button actuators so if they are not lying flat against something hard, they wont push in.. and you wont have a ‘click’. This has led to me now having to have a book or magazine underneath the trackpad for me to actually be able to push it in.

From a usability perspective, the device works as advertised, but because of its size, sometimes wrong actions occur. For example, I have sometimes accidentally zoomed into a website when I was merely trying to double click… oh well. You get used to it.

The device itself is as responsive as the magic mouse.. but not as responsive as their plugged in variety.. All in all, however, I can recommend the trackpad as a viable alternative to the mouse, but don’t expect to be able to use it lying down on the sofa unless you put a book underneath it.

For now.. no comments on the battery life since it is too new.

Review: Apple’s Magic TrackPad (blogs.chron.com)
Apple Magic Trackpad unboxing (unboxing.gearlive.com)
6 Takes On Apple’s Magic Trackpad [Magictrackpad] (gizmodo.com)
Bo Stern: Apple Magic Trackpad Input Device Review (macworld.com)
Apple Magic Trackpad first impressions (boygeniusreport.com)
Slideshow: Hands on with Apple’s Magic Trackpad (macworld.com)
Apple’s Magic Trackpad Is Here [Magicpad] (gizmodo.com)

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Star Wars Friday – The New Guy at the Death Star

2010-08-13T10:37:13Z

Even Stormtroopers have a first day in the office!

Geeky Car Logos – The Stormtrooper Hood Ornament Lets You Ride With Retro Style (trendhunter.com)
Fans Look to Change Orlando, Florida to “Lando” for ‘Star Wars’ Convention (cinematical.com)
Life Insurance in the Star Wars Universe (termlifeinsurance.org)
Here Lies Obi Wan, He Died of Dysentery (escapistmagazine.com)
Dramatic ‘Star Wars’ Bookends – Geekify Your Bookshelf With These Iconic ‘Star Wars’ Scenes (GALLERY) (trendhunter.com)

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Twitter Weekly Updates for 2010-08-01

2010-08-01T05:41:00Z

Well done Contador and wow… Cavendish made everyone look like they were standing still. #
47% said they used their phone to buy a product online using the phone’s internet connection: http://bit.ly/bXlPzp #
Dude walks across America, shoots stop motion movie with Canon 5D Mark II: http://bit.ly/buhtof #
BlackBerry 9780 Packs OS 6 in Bold Form Factor: http://bit.ly/9J0rMt #
http://j.mp/9RtlaO Should you take VC money? #
Inception: Great movie. Reminded me of the feeling I had when I walked out of the Matrix the first time: http://bit.ly/a9LlB8 #
The new kindle is hot! #
My 1st ride on Barclays cyclehire was great. 5 women stopped me to ask me about it. The bike is lethargic, but stops well and rides ok. #
“@cmclemor: Commuted in on a #Borisbike A bit like being in a parade with so many people pointing and waving as I rode by." yup same here. #
The full account/review of my first ride using London’s new Barclay’s Cyclehire scheme http://bit.ly/clRXe9 #
The full account/review of my first ride using London’s new Barclay’s Cyclehire scheme http://bit.ly/clRXe9 #borisbike #barclayscycle #

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Star Wars Friday – Darth Vader calls customer service about iPhone 4

2010-08-13T10:37:13Z

Darth Vader calls Apple’s customer service about his iPhone 4. Hilarity follows.

Darth Vader calls AppleCare about the iPhone 4 (cultofmac.com)
Even Darth Vader Has iPhone 4 Issues [video] (lolzombie.com)
“Funny Darth Vader iPhone 4 Video | Star Wars Villain Calls Apple Tech Support” and related posts (webtvhub.com)
Found Footage: Darth Vader calls Apple Support (tuaw.com)
Darth Vader Calls Apple About His iPhone 4 Antenna [Video] (techcrunch.com)
How to Order Free iPhone 4 Bumper Case (or Get Refund) (mydigitallife.info)
How Steve Jobs Became Darth Vader In Taiwan (AAPL) (businessinsider.com)
Darth Vader Calls Apple [Video] (macstories.net)
iPhone 4 as iCrap and Steve Jobs as Darth Vader Animation Video (mydigitallife.info)
Darth Vader Robbed a Bank! (chris.pirillo.com)

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Amazon’s New Kindle (3)

2010-07-29T10:22:53Z

The new Kindle is out and it is hot!!!

It has two variants:

One with 3G + Wifi for 149 UK Pounds – http://amzn.to/bHvm92
One with only Wifi for 109 UK Pounds – http://amzn.to/aKvUmJ

What’s interesting about these new models is that they are very aggresively priced, steering quite clear of the iPad’s price range, and that all the pictures on the website are of women using the device. To some extent, this implies who and how Amazon sees this device being used by and for.

I have an iPad, but actually, I don’t like it too much for reading as I find it quite distracting. Too many apps, games, and email to check. The simplicity of the Kindle still appeals to me and the lower cost makes it more attractive due to not having to worry about taking it to the beach or anywhere typical of where I’d take a book. It is perhaps a less ‘advanced’ book reader as the iPad is on the one hand, but a more realistic ‘book replacement’ on the other.

Book options is one thing I wish I didn’t have to worry about.. the iPad, having an app ecosystem, will always have a store from different book aggregators, whereas the Kindle will be limited to just Amazon.

I’m off to pre-order one of the 3G ones. FYI, both the new Kindle’s have the benefit of the various improvements over the previous generation as listed below (from Amazon’s website):

Lighter & Thinner – Only 247 Grams
When reading for long periods of time, we know that weight matters. That’s why we worked hard to make our newest Kindle lighter than ever – only 247 grams – so you can read comfortably for hours with just one hand. Kindle is lighter than a typical paperback, and thinner than a magazine. Just 8.5mm in profile, Kindle fits perfectly in your hands.

Ergonomic Design
Kindle is easy to hold and read. We designed it with long-form reading in mind. When reading for long periods of time, people naturally shift positions and often like to read with one hand. Kindle’s page-turning buttons are located on both sides, allowing you to read and turn pages from any position. The new soft-touch, textured back is comfortable to hold and never gets hot in your hands.

Never Gets Hot
Unlike a laptop or tablet, Kindle never gets hot so you can read comfortably as long as you like.

Simple to Use, No Computer Required
Unlike most electronic devices, we wanted to keep Kindle simple. Kindle is wireless and ready to use right out of the box – no setup, no software to install, no computer required.

Battery Life of Up to One Month
A single charge lasts up to one month with wireless off. Keep wireless always on and it lasts for up to ten days. Battery life will vary based on wireless usage, such as shopping the Kindle Store and downloading content. In low-coverage areas or in EDGE/GPRS-only coverage, wireless usage will consume battery power more quickly.

Charge Via USB
Kindle is delivered with a UK power adapter and a micro-USB cable for charging your Kindle from a computer USB port. The UK power adapter supports voltages 100V-240V.

Get Books in as Little as 60 Seconds
Whispernet utilises Amazon’s optimised technology plus a high-speed data network to enable you to wirelessly search, discover, and download content on the go. Your books and periodicals are delivered via Whispernet in less than 60 seconds. Wireless download times can vary based on 3G or EDGE/GPRS coverage, signal strength, and file size. See wireless coverage map for availability.

No Monthly Wireless Bills
No monthly wireless bills or commitments. Amazon pays for Kindle’s wireless connectivity so you won’t see a monthly wireless bill. There is no wireless setup – you are ready to shop, purchase, and read straight out of the box. See Wireless Terms and Conditions. Your Kindle may use wireless connectivity to make other services available, such as wireless delivery of personal documents, which may require an additional charge. For more information, see Wireless Terms and Conditions.

Global 3G Coverage
Travel the globe and still get books in under 60 seconds. Kindle uses GSM technology — the most popular mobile wireless standard — with wireless coverage in over 100 countries and territories, such as Australia, Hong Kong, Germany, Japan, Norway, Spain, South Africa, the United States and many others. Stay in touch with news from home by having your newspaper and magazine subscriptions delivered wirelessly while you travel. See wireless coverage map for availability.

New, Built-In Wi-Fi
Kindle automatically detects nearby Wi-Fi networks at school, home, or your favourite café. At a hotel or café that requires a password? Simply enter the password and connect to the network. Once you have added a Wi-Fi network, Kindle will automatically connect to that network the next time you’re near the hotspot. Kindle does not currently connect to enterprise or peer-to-peer networks.

Holds up to 3,500 Books
The ultimate travel companion, Kindle weighs 247 grams and holds up to 3,500 books. No longer pick and choose which books to fit in your luggage. You can always have your entire Kindle library with you.

Worry-Free Archive
Delete with abandon. We automatically keep an archival copy of your Kindle books—re-download for free, anytime. We even back up your last page read and annotations, so when you re-download to the device you can pick up where you left off with all of your notes still in place. Please see more information about your library content.

Collections
Organise your Kindle library into collections, or categories, to easily access any book you are looking for. You can add an item to multiple collections to make organising and finding titles even easier. For example, you can add the same book to your “History” and “My Favourite Authors” collections.

Lose Yourself in Your Reading
The most elegant feature of a physical book is that it disappears while you’re reading. Immersed in the author’s world and ideas, you don’t notice a book’s glue, the stitching, or ink. Our top design objective is to make Kindle disappear — just like a physical book — so you can get lost in your reading, not the technology.

Paper-Like Screen with 50% Improved Contrast
Our latest Kindle uses Amazon’s all new, high-contrast E-Ink screen with 50% better contrast than previous generation Kindles and any other e-reader on the market, for the clearest text and sharpest images. With our new display, text “pops” from the page, creating a reading experience most similar to reading on printed paper. Sharp and natural with no glare or backlight, reading on Kindle is nothing like reading from a computer screen. Those who see it for the first time always do a double-take.

New Proprietary Screen Technology – Faster Page Turns, New and Improved Fonts
Kindle’s new, high-contrast display is further optimized with Amazon’s proprietary waveform and font technology to make pages turn faster and fonts sharper. Waveform is a series of electronic pulses that move black and white electronic ink particles to achieve a final grey level for an image or text. We have tuned Kindle’s waveform and controller mechanism to make page turning 20% faster. This waveform tuning, combined with new hand-built, custom fonts and font-hinting, make words and letters more crisp, clear, and natural-looking. Font hints are instructions, written as code, that control points on a font character’s line and improve legibility at small font sizes where few pixels are available. Hinting is a mix of aesthetic judgments and complicated technical strategies. We’ve designed our proprietary font-hinting to optimise specifically for the special characteristics of electronic ink.

Read in Sunlight with No Glare
Kindle’s screen reflects light like ordinary paper and uses no backlighting, eliminating the glare associated with other electronic displays. As a result, Kindle can be read as easily in bright sunlight as in your living room.

Adjustable Text Size
Kindle has eight adjustable font sizes to suit your reading preference. You can increase the text size of your favourite book or periodical with the push of a button. If your eyes tire, simply increase the font size and continue reading comfortably. Now every book in your library can be large print.

New Font Choices
Kindle now has three font styles to choose from – our standard Caecilia font, a condensed version of Caecilia, and a sans serif option – so you can change your font style along with the font size.

Screen Rotation
Manually rotate the display from portrait to landscape to view maps, graphs, tables and Web pages.

Newspaper Reading
Using Kindle’s 5-way controller, you can quickly flip between articles, making it faster and easier to browse and read the morning paper. Want to remember the newspaper or magazine article you just read? Clip and save entire articles for later reading with a single click. Newspapers are auto-delivered wirelessly to Kindle before they hit the news agent.

Sharp Display of Images and Photos
Kindle’s high-resolution screen boasts 16 shades of gray and 50% improved contrast, for the sharpest text and images.

Support for New Characters
Kindle can now display Cyrillic (such as Russian), Japanese, Chinese (Traditional and Simplified), and Korean characters in addition to Latin and Greek scripts.

Full Image Zoom
Images and photos display crisply on Kindle and can be zoomed to the full size of the screen.

Precise 5-Way Controller
Kindle has an easy-to-use 5-way controller, enabling precise on-screen navigation for selecting text to highlight or looking up words. No on-screen fingerprints.

Search
Kindle’s keyboard makes it easy to search within a book, across your library, in the Kindle Store, or even the Web. To use the Search feature, simply type in a word or phrase you’re looking for, and Kindle finds every instance in your book or across your Kindle library. Looking for the first reference of a character in your book? Simply type in the name and search. You can extend your search to the Kindle Store to find related titles you may be interested in. Explore even further by searching Wikipedia and the Web.

Bookmarks and Annotations
By using the QWERTY keyboard, you can add annotations to text, just like you might write in the margins of a book. And because it is digital, you can edit, delete, and export your notes. You can highlight and clip key passages and bookmark pages for future use. You’ll never need to bookmark your last place in the book, because Kindle remembers for you and always opens to the last page you read.

Share Meaningful Passages
Share your passion for books and reading with friends, family, and other readers around the world by posting meaningful passages to social networks like Facebook and Twitter directly from Kindle, without leaving the page. Want to post or tweet about a great new book or newspaper article? When you highlight or create a note in your book or periodical, you can easily share it with your social network. Help your network of family and friends discover new authors and books.

Popular Highlights
See what our community of millions of Kindle readers think are the most interesting passages in your books. If several other readers have highlighted a particular passage, then that passage will be highlighted in your book along with the total number of people who have highlighted it. Now it’s easier to review, remember, and learn more from the books you read. Learn More

Built-In Dictionary with Instant Lookup
Never get caught without a dictionary. Kindle includes The Oxford Dictionary of English with over 250,000 entries and definitions, so you can seamlessly look up the definitions of English words without interrupting your reading. Come across a word you don’t know? Simply move the cursor to it and the definition will automatically display at the bottom of the screen. Never fear a sesquipedalian word again – simply look it up and keep reading.

Wireless Access to Wikipedia
Kindle also includes free built-in access to the world’s most exhaustive and up-to-date encyclopaedia, Wikipedia.org. With Kindle in hand, looking up people, places, events, and more has never been easier. It gives whole new meaning to the phrase walking encyclopaedia.

Improved, Built-In PDF Reader
Native PDF support allows you to carry and read all of your personal and professional documents on the go. With Amazon’s Whispernet service, you can send your documents directly to your Kindle and read them anytime, anywhere. Now you can add notes and highlights, use the dictionary look-up, and read password-protected PDFs. You can also magnify PDFs by viewing them in landscape mode, and zoom into any area of a PDF up to 300% and pan around to more easily view small print and detailed tables and graphics. You also have the option to have your PDF document converted to the Kindle format so that it reflows. Learn More

Personal Document Service Via Whispernet
Kindle makes it easy to take your personal documents with you, eliminating the need to print. Each Kindle has a unique and customisable e-mail address. This allows you and your approved contacts to send Word, PDF documents, and pictures to your Kindle via Whispernet for a small fee—see details. Kindle supports wireless delivery of unprotected Microsoft Word (DOC, DOCX), PDF, HTML, TXT, RTF, JPEG, GIF, PNG, BMP, PRC and MOBI files. Some complex PDF and DOCX files might not format correctly on your Kindle.

Password Protection
With new password protection functionality, you can choose to lock your Kindle automatically when you’re not using it.

Amazon Kindle Unveils New Models: $189 3G Model, $139 WiFi-Only (slashgear.com)
Kindle WiFi Review (ireaderreview.com)
Kindle vs Kindle WiFi (ireaderreview.com)
Amazon unveils new generation of Kindle e-readers (news.cnet.com)
Amazon unveils 3rd-generation Kindle e-book reader (usatoday.com)
Amazon unveils new generation of Kindle e-readers (news.cnet.com)
Kindle 3 Review (ireaderreview.com)
Amazon announces new Kindle models for August (marketwatch.com)
Amazon’s Anti-iPad: A Sub-$150 Kindle (forbes.com)
Amazon Announces Two New Kindles! (geardiary.com)

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Twitter Weekly Updates for 2010-07-25

2010-07-25T05:41:00Z

“@feebeyer: Google to Discontinue Nexus One (135,000 were sold) http://bit.ly/cBUrrT (via @rww)” well, that's a bummer. #
“@wilw: Trying to read a book about Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle, but whenever I look for it, it moves.” classic. #
“@vincent_maher: Amazon now does over $1Bn in mobile sales per year http://bit.ly/baYpHj” much more than I thought. #

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Star Wars Friday – Battle For Hoth iPhone Game

2010-08-13T10:37:13Z

Image by Andres Rueda via Flickr

The Battle for Hoth Star Wars iPhone game has to be one of the best games I’ve played in a while. Granted, one of the reasons why it is so awesome is because of it’s licensed Star Wars content ,but it is a cool game nevertheless.

In format, it is in the tower defense format, but feels more like a limited scope RTS game.. where you’re not worried about harvesting resources, and can’t really move troops, but can upgrade troops and have the feeling of a good RTS battle.

There is enough variety in the difficulty and troop placement and trenching that the game is always challenging… however, at times I have been annoyed at the controls that are sometimes a bit easy to fat finger (drop the wrong type of unit because you were trying to select the one next to it). Because you don’t have a way of harvesting resources, sometimes you also feel constrained by the resources you have.

Scrolling around isn’t bad, but this game begs to be on the iPad so that you can see the entire warscape. Again, the controls and moving around the screen can be challenging, so sometimes you miss your killed and collected ‘cash’ drops. Frustrating when you’re losing troops in the middle of a battle.

Towards the end of a level, there is always a weird set of troops that seem to get through no matter what as well.. quite weird.

All in all, this game is VERY much worth the price and I highly recommend it.

A good resources to check out on how to best use your troops is here:

http://www.starwars.com/games/videogames/battle_for_hoth_guide/index.html

Below is the trailer for the game.

The Battle For Hoth Comes To The iPhone [IPhone] (kotaku.com)
Star Wars: Battle for Hoth invades iPhones (thaibrother.com)
Star Wars: Battle for Hoth invades iPhones (reviews.cnet.com)
Fight the Battle for Hoth In New Star Wars iPhone Game (cultofmac.com)
THQ takes Star Wars’ Battle for Hoth to the iPhone (joystiq.com)
THQ releases Star Wars: Battle for Hoth for iPhone (loopinsight.com)
Celebrating 30 Years with Star Wars: Battle for Hoth on iPhone (insidesocialgames.com)
Celebrate the 30th Anniversary of The Empire Strikes Back with Star Wars: Battle for Hoth for iPhone (intomobile.com)
‘Star Wars: The Battle For Hoth’ Celebrating ‘The Empire Strikes Back’ On iPhone (multiplayerblog.mtv.com)
Upcoming Tower Defense ‘Star Wars: The Battle of Hoth’ Gameplay Video Revealed (toucharcade.com)
Prepare The Ion Cannon, Star Wars: The Battle For Hoth Has Arrived (148apps.com)
Star Wars: Battle for Hoth calls for attack pattern delta (macworld.com)
Star Wars: Battle for Hoth Calls for Attack Pattern Delta (pcworld.com)
Star Wars: Battle for Hoth Review (148apps.com)
Battle of Hoth defense game ” Specs, Reviews, News and Price Info … (mobilewhack.com)
‘Star Wars: Battle of Hoth’ Tower Defense Due July 15th (toucharcade.com)
Upcoming ‘Star Wars: The Battle for Hoth’ Tower Defense Game Sounds Great (toucharcade.com)

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Star Wars Friday – Kesha’s Tik Tok Starwarsified

2010-08-13T10:37:14Z

Kesha‘s Tik Tok video has been spoofed quite a bit of times now.. it was only a matter of time before it got the Star Wars treatment!

Geeky Mashups – ‘Star Trek Tik Tok’ Combines Classic Nerd Television Moments with the Pop Hit (VIDEO) (trendhunter.com)
Israeli Soldiers Dance To Ke$ha’s “Tik Tok” (punditkitchen.com)
Pop Princess Mockeries – Collgehumor Comically Transforms the Kesha Song ‘Tik-Tok’ (VIDEO) (trendhunter.com)
This Week In Viral Videos – May 7, 2010 (socialtimes.com)
Nude Photos Of Kesha Leak (manolith.com)

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Nixon ‘The Wire’ 8mm headphones review

2010-07-22T21:32:07Z

The Nixon ‘The Wire’ 8mm headphones are not great. They’re not horrible, but they’re not great. I went to the Apple store the other day to see if I could replace my aging Altec Lansing Backbeats and found the Nixons were the cheapest alternative that I hadn’t already tried.

They looked nice enough and had a microphone for the iPhone with a controller for changing tracks and ending a call. So I took a punt on them.

As soon as I opened the box they came in, I knew I was in for ‘average city’. First of all, the cables were sticker than the Sennheiser cables which are notorious for being like fly paper. This stickiness creates all sorts of issues because the cables will rip out of your ear at any slight rub with anything… they also transmit more sound on each rub against clothing or otherwise.

On the plus side, they don’t have that weird asymmetrical cable thing that I don’t like.

From a sound perspective, these are average. No rich bass, but not so flat that they’re boring. They’re actually quite ‘average’. Not bad, not great. Blah.. or as the cool kids say.. Meh.

From a microphone perspective, it was also quite disappointing, not only was the microphone situated just at the right height to constantly get caught on my shirt collar, it was also rather low-def with people asking me to repeat myself more than I’d like to.

So.. there you have it.. other than the price and their ‘averageness’ I can’t say these headphones were all that remarkable or worth remembering.

Altec Lansing Backbeat Plus Review (chromewalker.com)
Daily gear deals – $20 headphones, $80 HD camcorder and more (gadling.com)
Daily gear deals – $8 netbook sleeve, $35 iPad stand and more (gadling.com)
Sennheiser MM 450 Travel review (telegraph.co.uk)
Giveaway!!! Urbanears: Plattan Headphones (geardiary.com)
Daily gear deals – $50 HD camera, $12 headphones and more (gadling.com)
NOX Audio Specialist Headphones Works For Gamers and Office Workers (geardiary.com)
Beats by Dr. Dre Solo HD Edition Review (lockergnome.com)
Recommendations for headphones and alarm clocks (ask.metafilter.com)
Review: Sennheiser MM 100 stereo Bluetooth headset (macworld.com)

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Twitter Weekly Updates for 2010-07-18

2010-07-18T05:41:00Z

Did the British 10K with @sitar and @ivanfarneti the roads were packed! It was hard to run without smacking someone http://yfrog.com/862qfj #
I've been researching 3D TVs and content.. Good article on state of games and #3D http://j.mp/bj53Wn #
Found on the web: The only real way to hold the iPhone 4 http://twitpic.com/255oob #
I've experienced this as well and have now shut off auto correct.
“@bookmeister Has anyone else found iPhone typing gone to pot recently?" #
This is just too awesome! “@GuyKawasaki: Star Wars on the NYC subway [video] http://idek.net/2pP8” #
I'm betting on free bumper cases to relieve issue vs a recall.
“@Muttiishere: Bookmaker says iPhone 4 recall is odds on http://j.mp/bHVJIn” #
If you are a gamer, check out gaming.stackexchange.com #
If you are a gamer, check out http://gaming.stackexchange.com #
To watch the Tour while on the go, I use the Eurosport iPhone app (works fine over 3G). Highly recommended. #

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Altec Lansing Backbeat Plus Review

2010-07-15T13:01:31Z

The Altec Lansing Backbeat Plus headphones win Chromewalker’s ‘bang for buck’ and ‘longevity’ awards.

These bad boys got me through 7 months of wear and tear in my pockets.. this is a record. They’re not even dead, what happened is that I lost one of the ear buds and now I’ve had to use some that don’t fit quite right. So, durable.. they are..

From a sound quality perspective, they’re not neutral. However, I don’t like neutral (think high end Shures). I like headphones that accentuate bass notes so that beats and bass lines sound nice and rich. This may not be your taste, but hey… you’re probably buying headphones that are over 100 bucks anyway. These headphones are ‘rich’. They make bass notes sound nice and deep. They are great if you listen to House, Drum & Bass, Acoustic rock, etc..

From a construction perspective, they’re rugged. The 7 months of life so far has barely scratched them (other than the loss of the bud). The cables are not rubbery and sticky as they are lined with a sort of textile, the joints are all pretty sturdy, and they don’t tangle. Excellent.

The microphone is good enough and the control button is separated out and a bit lower so you don’t have to reach up as high to change tracks or take/end calls. Nice touch.. although sometimes I trigger it by accident.

They’re also not expensive.. I think I paid $60 for them at an airport store.. so good value for money.

I highly recommend these. Get them while you can since I think they may be discontinuing them.

Daily gear deals – $20 headphones, $80 HD camcorder and more (gadling.com)
Daily gear deals – $8 netbook sleeve, $35 iPad stand and more (gadling.com)
Daily gear deals – $50 HD camera, $12 headphones and more (gadling.com)
Deal of the Day: 63% Off JBuds J3 Micro Atomic In-Ear Earphones – $29.95, Shipped (geeksaresexy.net)
Daily gear deals – $25 Backbeat Pro headphones, $8 iPod charger and more (gadling.com)
How Altec Lansing’s inMotion Compact Became My Playful Little Dock Buddy [Review] (cultofmac.com)
Altec Lansing AHS602i Gaming Headset (woot.com)
Altec Lansing Expressionist Ultra MX6021 Review (thaibrother.com)

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Apple Press Conference on iPhone 4

2010-07-22T21:38:54Z

: Image via CrunchBase

Update

So his Steveness said everyone else’s iPhone has issues and therefore we shouldn’t be too harsh on the iPhone 4. WickedEast below was dead on in the, now standardized, presentation format. I’m impressed at how much vision went behind creating a product like the iPhone 4, but quite disappointed that Apple wasn’t more upfront about this whole issue instead of trying to pass the issue off as a ‘signal strength indicator’ flaw. I lost a bit of trust in Apple because of that.

/Update

So apparently there will be a press conference this Friday to potentially discuss something related to the new iPhone 4′s antenna issues.. however, no one knows for sure, it could be the launch of a new Apple TV for all we know…

Anyway, reading the comments in Engadget, I found probably what seems to me anyway, the most likely outcome of the conference:

WickedEast Posted Jul 14th 2010 10:22PM

Highest Ranked

@HotDog

Here’s what I predict they’ll do:

Steve Jobs will throw at us a bunch of numbers such as: “X million of iPhone 4 sold in Y weeks”; “Of those Z million, 0.AB% were returned, compared to C% industry average.”; “And of that 0.AB%, only D% were because of non-satisfaction with reception.”; and more numbers…

Then, Jobs will puke a bunch of scientific “facts” (and more numbers) demonstrating why the iPhone 4 has the best antenna yet.

Finally, Jobs will conclude by saying that to demonstrate how Apple care about its customers, Apple will offer a free hardware fix for the minuscule number of people who have problems with the reception. The fix is a transparent elastic band.

via Engadget

iPhone 4 Bumper Refunds Begin (informationweek.com)
O2 dithers over Apple iPhone 4 refund pledge (go.theregister.com)
Is this what Steve Jobs really wanted to say about iPhone 4 complaints? (geek.com)
Jeff P. Henderson: iPhone 4 Coming to T-Mobile? (iphonelife.com)
Steve Jobs’s REAL Solution For The iPhone 4 Antenna Problem (businessinsider.com)
Has Apple answered antenna complaints? CollegeHumor says no (video) (mobile.venturebeat.com)
iPhone 4 Antenna Press Conference: Apple Plays The “iPhone Antenna” Song (cultofmac.com)
Apple Shipping iPhone 4 Bumpers To Entire Planet (iphonesavior.com)
Apple Starts Refunding iPhone 4 Bumpers to Customers (macstories.net)
Apple Holding iPhone 4 Press Conference on Friday [Apple] (gizmodo.com)

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Twitter Weekly Updates for 2010-07-11

2010-07-11T05:41:00Z

T-Mobile + Orange = Everything Everywhere… Best title in the planet? Director of Everything Everywhere. Sounds good. #
Great discussion today at TEN about perceived intuitive UI design, when in fact, it could just be convention, streamlined convention. #
http://j.mp/9614mD Common Fund-Raising mistakes. #

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Awesome Action Scene in Legos!

2010-07-09T18:25:42Z

Whoever came up with this is insane and awesome!

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Master Yoda.. how do I go home?

2010-08-13T10:37:14Z

It’s Star Wars Friday! Nothing better than Yoda to guide you in your quest…

Via Geekologie

Yoda’s celebrity voice, TomTom announces, hmm (reviews.cnet.com)
Yoda’s GPS Recording Session [Video] (geeksaresexy.net)
Yoda voice for TomTom GPS launched (cbc.ca)
Save your computer, Yoda Desktop Protector will (dvice.com)
5 most memorable movie creatures‎ (ctv.ca)
Yoda TomTom GPS voice commercial, great it is (slashgear.com)

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chromewalker

Twitter Weekly Updates for 2010-09-05

Thoughts on the new Amazon Kindle 3 & eReaders

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Star Wars Friday – “I am your Father” but in Lego

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O2 Contract Cancellation Gymnastics

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Star Wars Friday – Jedi A-Holes

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