Gadget Guy Blog

MacBook Air vs. MacBook Air - Fight!

2010-11-29T09:41:00.000-08:00

Quick, quick recap of my MacBook Air experience:

A long, long time ago, I fell in love with a Mac Book Air...but I couldn't pull the trigger. $1800 was just too much for a laptop. So, I waited, and waited, and waited. And just before the second version of the MacBook Air came out, I bought a refurb Rev A MacBook Air. It was my primary computer for a LONG time.

It wasn't fast. Flash slowed my CPU to a crawl. The hard drive was little (80GB) and slow (4200 RPM), but I loved that computer anyway. It was a trusty computer, even for a refurb. It went with me wherever I went.

But times changed, and I started using a 27" iMac as my daily computer and my little MacBook Air only came out when I was on a train or a plane. But the MBA started to creak and moan a little too much, so I bought a new computer for traveling...11.6-Inch MacBook Air. And it was love at first boot. The computer is fast and graceful, and so tiny that it truly can go anywhere that you do. You never have to think about bringing your computer with you or not...it is so small that it isn't a consideration to NOT bring it.

Old MacBook Air:
Pros:

Thin, light and easy to take with you.
A "real" computer...not a netbook. No compromises with displays or functionality.
Good battery life.

Cons:

Battery life was just "good". I still need to take a charger with me.
13.3" is too big for most airline seats.
Slow to start (waited a long time to wake up from sleep, slow connecting to WiFi).
Long boot times.
Long time to load apps.
Creaked under 2GB RAM (or so I thought).
Video playback is sketchy.

So, now I've got me a new MBA...and while it still has that new computer smell, let me tell you about it.

New MacBook Air

Pros:

Speed - fast to boot, fast to wake up, fast to launch apps. (I thought the speed issues in my Rev A were RAM related? Now I am sure it is the poky hard drive).
Size - this is so small that I never think "Should I take it with me?" Fits comfortably in any airline tray.
Screen - Higher resolution, I think, than original MBA. Rented a movie (Scott Pilgrim...very good...fun flick) and and watched it with no fatigue...beautiful display.
Great video playback.
Great battery life (a real 5 hours...I still need to take a charger, but now it is for emergencies...)
Great sound for such a small laptop.

The difference in price? I paid $999 for my refurb Rev A. I paid about $1149 for my brand new MBA. The difference between these two is far more than $150. The real difference is 2 years. Time has solved so many of the issues that plagued my original MBA. The new MBA is just a delicious machine. I can't tell you how much more I use it that I used my Rev A. My iMac is feeling neglected....

The Apple Magic Track Pad Review

2010-11-16T11:54:00.000-08:00

OK...so maybe I am a sucker. Maybe I am an elitist, maybe I am stupid. Who knows, but I like Apple stuff. So, of course, when I had the opportunity to, I added the Apple Magic Trackpad to my iMac setup. (Yeah, I am old, I need new glasses and the 27" iMac screen is just the ticket for these tired eyes...).

I really like the Apple Magic Mouse that comes with the iMac, but the Magic Trackpad is new and silver...so I wanted it. And, in short, it is really pretty great:

It Is Like a Touchpad - But Bigger: The "working space" on the trackpad is terrific. It is ample to navigate large expanses of screen real estate. This makes it significantly easier than a mouse.
Finger Gestures are Excellent: The trackpad is just like using my iPhone. Pinch, stretch...they all work the same. Not that it is hard to be contextually aware of interface interactions, but it is nice to have consistency. My laptop, desktop, and phone all work the same way.

The Magic Trackpad does have some significant shortcomings:

It Is Not Magic: As much as I wanted the Magic Trackpad to transform my computing experience, the essential mouse navigation paradigm is in full effect. Navigation on my screen is the same...this was a little disappointing from a product that has magic in the name.
It Gets in the Way: My little wireless keyboard seems to bump into the trackpad often, sometimes causing unwanted clicks.
It Grabs Unintended Touches: I am not a touch typist. I am looking at the keyboard the entire time. That said, sometimes my little pinky hits the trackpad and changes the cursor position. This gets me towards typing somewhere else on the page. Drives me crazy. Makes me mad. Grrrr. I know this is more of an ergonomic issue than anything else, but I need to have the trackpad near the keyboard for efficiency reasons....haven't solved that issue yet.

So, there are two positives and three negatives. You'd think that this was a bad review. Well, guess what, the Apple Magic Trackpad isn't perfect, but I haven't touched my mouse in months. I tried using the mouse just yesterday and I felt as if I was writing with the wrong hand. It was unintuitive, noisy and required too much space. The Magic Trackpad ain't magic, but I won't take it off my desk.

ASUS Eee PC 901 8.9-Inch Netbook (1.6 GHz Intel Atom N270 Processor, 1 GB RAM, 20 GB Solid State Drive, 20 GB E-Storage, Linux, 6 Cell Battery) Only $267.99 after Rebate

2009-02-26T08:26:00.000-08:00

So, I have been reluctant to jump into the netbook world because of price. Did I really want to pay $400 for a disposable computer? I discovered at Amazon today that I don't have to. This is a great Eee PC with all the trimmings, including the bigger 6 cell battery, all for $267.99 after a $100 rebate from Asus. I am stoked, and I will let you know how this great deal works!

ASUS Eee PC 901 8.9-Inch Netbook (1.6 GHz Intel Atom N270 Processor, 1 GB RAM, 20 GB Solid State Drive, 20 GB E-Storage, Linux, 6 Cell Battery) Pearl White (this is an affiliate link)

CES Extravaganza

2009-01-09T07:54:00.000-08:00

So, the CES (Consumer Electronics Show) is a gadget bonanza. There are a billion new products coming out. There are a billion new announcements. Here are a select few that I think are exciting:

Netbooks: OK, OK OK, so they are all pretty much the same, sporting an Intel Atom, etc, etc, etc. Yeah, yeah, yeah. They all run XP or some Linux distro that would make the average computer user cry. But have you actually used on of these things? One word: AWESOME. They are small, quick to start, and have good battery life. Yeah, the keyboards are bad, and the trackpad, mouse replacement thingies aren't great, but they are very useful. I haven't made the plunge yet, but I may for this: Sony Viao P . It has a Webcam, runs Vista (yeah? boo?), and is outrageously small. But get this, it weighs just 1.4 pounds. That is incredible. It has a good sized keyboard and has the usual Sony quality. Very intriguing. (Truth be told, I prefer the Mac OS, so I may opt for this as my "netbook" . Yeah, both the Viao P and refurb MacBook Air are spendy ($900 for the Viao and $999 for the refurb Air) but it feels like you get a laptop replacement with both rather than a laptop accessory. But the word at CES is netbooks everywhere. And, regardless of which you choose, or how much you pay, you are on the new edge of mobility.
Palm Pre : Hot new mobile phone with new OS from...Palm? Who woulda thunk it? This is hot. Touch, gesture and physical keyboard, always connected (?) OS with deep integration points like Facebook, etc. Great screen, great styling, and a unique inductive charger. Look, ma, no cables! Hot, hot, hot. Coming out by the end of Q2. Big drawback...only on Sprint. Hmmmm.
Windows 7 Beta : OK, so I am a Mac guy (but I am writing this on a Vista machine) but MS announced a Windows 7 beta. Early reports say that is is better, snappier and more reliable than Vista. I read one review that said it was more satisfying at a low level and doesn't offer any whiz-bang features, but just works. Good approach. I hope that it is successful.

That seems like it. There is a watchphone , which looks interesting, and TVs that are .33 inches thick (hooray(?))

What would rock your gadget world?

Love or Hate it, This is What The MacBook Air Should Have Cost When It Came Out

2009-01-06T17:04:00.000-08:00

OK, so I am a big Apple fan, and I have been REALLY intrigued by the MacBook Air. It suits me really well. I travel, I write, I need light and portable...so, I have always wanted to get a MacBook Air. And it was always too expensive.

It may have just dropped enough to make it buyable: Refurb Rev A MacBook Air from Apple $999

My credit card is tingling....

Netbooks: Friend or Foe?

2008-12-10T12:20:00.000-08:00

So, I almost bought a Asus Eee PC today. I travel a lot, and I am intrigued by a teeny tiny laptop that costs less than my iPhone did when I bought it. I guess, here is the rub: my iPhone does most of what I want the netbook to do. So, why do I want one?

It all comes down to typing. I want a small package with a usable keyboard. The iPhone is a terrific device, but I haven't mastered typing a long paragraph on it (I am a terrible typist, and it may not be the iPhone's fault). So, the keyboard is really enticing. That makes it my friend.

I have a USB Cellular Modem. That gives me anywhere access via 3G, plus WiFi through AT&T and Boingo. That gives me anywhere access to data. (Although I have that with my iPhone, it is Edge only and that can be very painful. And the iPhone doesn't support Flash...which makes me unable to keep up my affair with old episodes of The Pink Panther on Hulu.) So the netbook, with its gaudy anywhere data and Flash support, again, is my friend.

But here is where things start to fall apart. I am a business user. Powerpoint and Excel and Word run my life. Most of these devices support MS Works, or some kind of OpenOffice.org software. And while I can tolerate and use these kinds of Office alternatives, they aren't the real deal, and I continually run into other people having problem with the documents created via these applications. (This most often happens with PowerPoint clones). If the netbook can't run Office, it is my foe.

There are other issues, mainly with limited storage. I want my music, my video and my files with me. Who knows what you will need when you are on the road. I could take along a USB external drive, but doesn't that defeat the purpose of small and light? If it doesn't fit what I need it to fit, then it is my foe.

So, we are tied, 2 friendly characteristics and 2 foe-ish characteristics. Help me Gadget Guy Readers. While a modest purchase at just over $300, is a netbook a good purchase, or do I need to buy a MacBookAir to satisfy my light and lean desires?

Most Ridiculous Gadget That I have Ever Seen (ps: I want one)

2008-12-08T11:53:00.000-08:00

Thanks to our friends over at Engadget.com :

Electric Paper Airplane Launcher :
It launches your paper airplane for you. No more elbow tendinitis for you! Overpower your office enemies with superior airpower! From UrbanOutfitters .

Nokia N97: Blurring the line between Smartphone, Netbook and PC?

2008-12-04T11:27:00.000-08:00

There is something interesting happening these days. Lines are being blurred all over the place. Democratic president-elects are appointing Republicans to the cabinet, broadcast TV and streaming media are mushing together, and in the world of smartphones, laptops, and netbooks, it is nearly impossible to tell which one your device is. Nokia has just made the waters even muddier with the Nokia N97 .

Nokia bills this as a dawn of a new era of personal internet access. New era, I am not so sure about, but it looks like my old Psion MX5 collided with my iPhone . This device offers 3G, WiFi, Voice and almost any other method of wireless communication imaginable. As a hunk of hardware, the spec list is enviable, and touchscreen entry, as well as a full QWERTY keyboard is really great. The screensize is generous, and I am sure, like all Nokias, it has been incredibly well made.

But what is it? Interestingly enough, Nokia's press release doesn't mention anything about it being a phone . So, clearly, Nokia doesn't consider it a phone, but rather a mobile computer. They have upgraded a bunch of their Ovi services to add cloud services to the device. I haven't played with the device, but, I suspect, that like most Nokia products, the implementation is thoughtful.

So, what is this device? Is it a phone (maybe so, but merely incidentally according to the attention that Nokia gives its voice cred). It is a netbook? No, I don't think so... too small. Is it a micro-laptop? No, not enough horsepower. So what is this new breed of device?

It is sort of the ultimate gadget. It is multipurpose, and has amorphous talents so that you, the gadget lover, can make it into what you need. My iPhone is close to this idea, but I think the N97 with its emphasis on data and the availability of touchscreen and real keyboard make this a little closer to the only device I would need on a business trip. And that, my friends, is this gadget lover's dream.

Looking forward to this...

iPhone Batteries

2008-12-03T12:49:00.000-08:00

I love my iPhone. It simply makes my life better. I love it. Enough said.

What I don't like is the battery life. By the end of the day, I am on fumes. And when I travel, I often don't make it through the day without a charge. So, I am in the market for a battery extender, charger, whatever for my iPhone. There are two terrific options for the iPhone.

Mophie Juice Pack: This nifty sleeve slides right over your iPhone. It adds a little heft and thickness. But in terms of elegance and "always have it with you"ness, I think that the Mophie is spot on. Works with 1st Gen and 3G iPhones. $99.95 from www.mophie.com

RichardSolo 1800 for iPhone: The RichardSolo iPhone battery takes a different approach. Rather than being integrated on the device, the RichardSolo Battery is a nearly iPhone sized device that you use to charge your iPhone. If you carry a bag a lot, it could be the perfect thing to throw in your bag and keep there. The RichardSolo 1800 can also charge any iPod (except for the Shuffle). It also comes with a light and laser pointer on it...why? Mostly because he's Richard Thalheimer, the guy who founded the Sharper Image. It is available for $69.95 at www.richardsolo.com.

And finally, there is a really simple, really inexpensive backup charger available www.thepocketslution.com. You stick some AA batteries into a plastic doohickey, plug the doohickey into your iPhone. It says that 4 AA batteries will charge a dead iPhone 2.5 times. Well, I don't know if that is true, but at $7.99 it is worth a flyer!

Let me know what you think!

OK...so I am a HUGE slouch...

2008-12-03T12:33:00.000-08:00

I haven't posted since March...that is just plain ugly. Pure and simple. Look for more everyday between now and the end of the year.

Great Deal on GPS

2008-03-07T07:50:00.000-08:00

Great Deal on GPS from our friends at BlabThis.com

Do you remember the old Chicago song "25 or 6 to 4" when they sang, "Does anybody really know what time it is?"

Well, now you will not only know what time it is, but where you are, where you are going, how long it will take to get there and all of the cool stuff you can do along the way!!!!

This amazing and really inexpensive GPS Unit features:

3.5" Touchscreen
Built In GPS Antenna
Complete U.S And Canada Maps
MP3 Playback Via SD/MMC Card Reader
Trilingual On Screen Display: English/Spanish/French
Text-to-speech With Voice Guidance
2 Million Points Of Interest
3d/2d Viewing Mode And Day/Night Mode
Includes Suction Cup Windshield Mount
Mounting Bracket
Car Power Adapter And AC Adapter
Headphone Jack
Built-in Lithium-Ion Battery
USB In For Updates

This baby is hot. It gets you where you need to go for under $140. That rocks. Get yours now. We have VERY few of these in stock. Buy one right now.

iPod Touch, The Next Generation

2008-02-20T08:12:00.000-08:00

This is a post that I did on my other blog, Mobile Ambition the day after Apple released the software updates for the iPod Touch:

So, Apple unleashed a slew of hardware yesterday. The Macbook Air looks very interesting, and with its emphasis on wireless communications, it really has piqued my interest. (I hate wires of all sorts. Despise them actually...wish every cord and wire and cable would evaporate instantly.) The Air doesn't sport cables other than a power cord. Bravo! It sports Bluetooth, 802.11n, and some nifty software. What it doesn't support is true mobile connectivity...so, it is truly a portable, not a mobile computing device. A bit of a letdown. Integrated mobile access through ATT would have been a great addition. Perhaps the next rev.
However, I think that the most overlooked event of this edition of the Macworld Expo was the upgrade to the iPod Touch. With the advent of location awareness through Skyhook Wireless and their excellent wiFi Access Point location database, and the inclusion of a mail client on the device, the Touch just changed who and what it is.
Previously, sporting WiFi and the excellent mobile Safari browser, the Touch was a great info-tainment device. But with location awareness and the new mail client, the Touch has jumped the chasm into a mobile computing device. For all of the Apple fans and folks who post to sites like MacNN who were clamoring for a tablet computer, Apple just surpassed your expectations by delivering a micro-tablet. It sports a touch screen interface, internet access, media players, e-mail, and location-sensitive mapping. That is HUGE. It allows access to Word, Excel and PDFs, and carries calendar and addressbook info.

It doesn't come with an integrated phone. So it doesn't come with a carrier contract. What a relief.

So, here you go...everything that the iPhone has with none of the drawbacks (and twice the storage). The Touch is now hot. The iPhone is still cool, but the Touch is hot.

The Macbook Air vs the Macbook: Sizzle or Steak?

2008-02-18T08:22:00.000-08:00

The Macbook Air is a great looking machine. I have been looking to replace my own laptop for a few months now. We got my wife an entry-level Macbook at Christmas time, and I think that is a totally terrific machine.

We've largely opted out of Windows machines, not because I have anything against Windows machines, as I think that they can provide an unsurpassed value, but just personally, I have used Macs since the mid-1980's, and I like them. (I am writing this on a Lenovo T61p laptop, and it is a fine piece of gear, and I also have a Sony Viao laptop which is pretty good). Macs just seem happier to me. Granted, I have had to put up with a lot issues to continue using Macs (which is why I have my two windows boxes), but generally speaking, I am not a big company guy, and I have mostly worked in marketing and sales. Those are places where Macs are generally OK.

So, I have been looking at PowerBooks. My last favorite computer was a 12" G4 Powerbook that was a GREAT, GREAT machine. I sold it on eBay last year, and I have regretted it ever since. So, I have finally decided to get a new Mac and get my computing life a little more together. (Instead of having a Windows machine, I will just run Windows on my Mac...I am very excited about this!) So, as I said, I have been looking at Powerbooks, but frankly a 15" machine (the base Powerbook) is more than I want to lug around everyday. So, I decided to look at the Macbook. The 13.3" screen is great for the way that I work, and the size of the machine is pretty good. So, yesterday, I decided that I would just take a peek at the Macbook and the Macbook Air together to which one fit my needs the best.

Well, the Macbook is a great machine. Solid feel, good size, good speed (I am not a power user, I surf the web, do some spreadsheets and do a lot of writing) make it a very compelling value. I was looking at a 2.2Ghz, 160 GB, 2 G RAM Powerbook that I thought was going to be nifty. Then I picked up the Air. Frankly, I lost my mind. I was amazed at how this and light it is. Now, if you were to ask me rationally which dimension would be best to shrink for a laptop, thickness would have been last on the list. I was wrong.

The Macbook Air almost disappears when it is closed. It is unbelievably thin and so light as to be nearly unimaginable. The external package is to die for. I have never been so entranced by a closed computer before. Now, as luck would have it, you use a computer when it is open, and when you open the Macbook Air, you get a full-sized computer. There are no keyboard or screen compromises. This is just astounding.

As far as performance goes, the Macbook Air seems a little underspec'ed. But in completely informal testing, I found the Macbook Air to be very comparable to a Macbook. Granted the Macbook has more horsepower, but I am not sure that I noticed any performance difference. As I am relatively immune to the major complaints against the Macbook Air, it has suddenly burst on the scene as a real possibility. I have used FireWire twice, so the lack a a FW port does not matter to me. To my knowledge, I have never filled up more than 1 USB port at a time, so, 1 USB port seems like the right number to me. Lack of ethernet is made up for by a $29 dongle. I only have two hesitations:

Lack of optical drive: The only reason I care about this is ripping my CD collection into iTunes and installing Windows onto the Macbook Air. The optical drive issue can be solved by buying the $99 external drive, and I have no issue with that really other than I am going to buy it, use it for 3 days and never touch it again. It seems like a waste of money. But I am happy to not have an optical drive built in as I rarely use it.
Hard Drive Space: I keep my e-mail and many documents in the Google cloud, so I don't care too much about that kind of storage, but I am concerned about iPhoto and iTunes storage. I think I will investigate how well the upcoming Time Capsule wifi/Backup drives work as remote libraries for iTunes and iPhoto. The other issue that I have is that I want to install Office 2008, Photoshop, Windows and Quickbooks for Windows (the Mac version of QBB just doesn't cut it) I suspect that I will have enough room on the 80g internal HDD, I just hope that I don't leave myself with too little storage. I am hoping that Time Capsule works as a backup and a networked drive all at once.

I wasn't really thinking about the Macbook Air as a possibility. It seemed too expensive and too underpowered. But I am pretty sure, now that it is my choice. The Macbook Air will make my computing even more pervasive because I will never think about not bringing my computer with me ever again. This is one hot piece of gadetry, and I think it will look great on me ;-)

BlackBerry 8830 Review: 6 Months Later, Would I Buy It Again?

2008-02-11T07:04:00.000-08:00

While this won't be an exhaustive review, you either love or hate Blackberries. This 8830 was an upgrade to my 7200 series. The 7200 had a GREAT keyboard, the thumb friendly scroll wheel, and INCREDIBLE battery life and all sorts of other fancy, schmancy stuff. It did, however, have a very poor screen that has hard to see. So, I upgraded to the 8830. Here is what I was attracted to:

Great looking screen

Narrower Form

Trackball

6 months into owning the 8830, I have more complaints than I thought I would have. Here goes a section by section look at the device:

Phone: As a phone, the 8830 is good. The integration with the addressbook is very good. I like having all of my phone numbers in one place. Is it better than my old Treo? I am not sure. It is certainly a big step up, as a phone, from the 7200 series. The inclusion of a speakerphone is good (although the volume could be a little louder), and the connectivity options (bluetooth) are better than in the 7200 series, but the phone call quality seems improved (and this is surprising since my old BB was on Verizon, and my new one one Sprint and I think Verizon's voice network is significantly better). So I attribute the better defintion and ability to talk longer without significant ear fatigue to be a product of the phone. I think that the BB 8830 gets a B+ on phone call quality, and an A on addressbook integrations. It gets a C on playing well with Bluetooth headsets, however. I have a Moto H700 and a Jawbone, and neither has reliable connections with my BB. The handset form-factor is much improved over the 7200 series. Overall Phone Grade: B+

E-Mail: E-Mail on the Blackberry is fine...mostly. For various and sundry reasons that have more to do with Sprint and with my company's exchange server, I can't connect directly to my corporate e-mail account, so I have messages sent to my Blackberry e-mail address as well as my corporate address, so I don't have comfortable synching. So that is a problem, but I don't attribute it to the BB. My other issue is that I have about 5 or 6 active e-mail addresses, and although the BB handles up to 10, the setting up of all these accounts is very slow and painful, and forget working out signatures for each. It is hard. To complicate matters, I manage all of these e-mail addresses through GMail. GMail and BB have a complicated relationship, mostly because both want to leverage their strengths. BB wants to leverage its real-time, proprietary messaging infrastructure, and GMail wants to provide a similar mobile and web management experience. They aren't terrific together, and if I were to start this again, I would stake advantage of the BB device strengths and not have all my e-mail coming through GMail, or I would pick a different device. I need to do a little more exploration on making these things work together. But here is my major complaint with the BB: it doesn't handle HTML e-mail. I would say that 40-50% of e-mail that I get that I want to read is in the form of newletters, or web-group e-mails, or what have you, and these are almost unreadable on the BB. I hate this. I have a very powerful handheld device that can render complex images, handle web pages, and can't do an HTML e-mail? Ridiculous. Really, really, really ridiculous. I know that there is a BB software update in the works but this is an afterthought, and I am really disappointed in the existing experience. On the flip side, I have been using the GMail app on the BB and find that it is very good. It doesn't render HTML e-mails faithfully either, but it strips out the text and presents it in a readable fashion. I find myself using the GMail App more and more and wish that I could just replace the BB e-mail with GMail completely. So, kudos to BB for having great real time e-mail deliver. Boo for your handling of HTML. I may be being a little harsh here, but I feel like the e-mail could use a fair bit of improvement. I use my BB for 40% of my e-mail, so it needs to be ROCK SOLID, and I don't get the feeling that it is. Overall E-Mail Grade: B-

Web Browsing: The browser that ships with the BB8830 is garbage. It is REALLY rotten. It isn't really any better than a WAP browser. Boo! Hiss! Get the torches! Really, I am very disapponted with the long term performance of this piece of software. It is slow, it renders pages very awkwardly. For example, many pages that are tabbed result in a long list of non-clickable images of the tabs. Very frustrating. Also, the speed is very slow. I know that it trying hard to make things work, but the speed, even on Sprint's EV-DO network (which provides reasonable speeds) is so slow as to be useless. Long story made short, I have switched exclusively to Opera Mini (see my post on Opera Mini on my other blog, Mobile Ambition). The downside to that is there is no way t configure Opera Mini as your default browser, so if I click on an e-mail link, I end up in the disappointing BB standard browser. Uggh. Using the trackball with browsing is pretty good, especially on Opera Mini. Overall Browser Grade: D

Keyboard: The keyboard on the 8830 is pretty good. The keys are easy to get to by feel and have a satifying "click" response when you touch them. I consistently get confused/fat-fingered by the SHIFT and ALT keys. That is a little frustrating and I feel like it is an ergonomic/layout problem, but it could be that I am just not able to map my brain to this keyborad. Your mileage may vary. Strangely, I feel like this keyboard is more likely to be inadvertantly dialed by keys in your pocket, or by a curious toddler (I have a 3 kids, 5, 4, and 2 and Daddy's phone is a desired object). I know that I can lock the keyboard, but I never had to do that on my last BB, so it is a little frustrating that this keyboard like to dial when I am not watching, but other than that it is very good. This would have gotten an A if it weren't for the SHIFT/ALT thing. Overall Keyboard Grade: A-

Apps, Etc: There are a ton of apps for the BB. A lot of them are terrible, but, conversely, a lot of them are wonderful. I really like Sprint Navigator, Yahoo Go! 3.0, Opera Mini and the Google Apps. I don't use many others, so my experience is a little limited. Overall Apps Grade: A

PC Synching: When I was using Outlook, the synching features are stellar. I never had a problem. That gets an A. But, when I switched to using GMail, Google Calendar, and managing my contacts through Plaxo and Google, I haven't synched with my PC...which is fine. The only drawback is phone numbers. As I add new contacts into Google, they don't get into my Blackberry address book...which is just a killer. So my BB address book is 5 months out of date. Can anybody help? Overall PC Synching Grade: Depending on your circumstances it is either an A+ or an F

Media Support: One of the big advances of the 8000 series of BB was supposed to be media support, and I have listened to a little music on my BB, and watched the video that came with the phone. So, when push comes to shove, since there is no iTunes, Pandora, Rhapsody client, and there is no support for streaming audio or video (as I understand it, the BB can only play media that is resident on the device, so there is no streaming available (which is the way that most mobile media is delivered) so most regular mobile media services don't work. And, the closed nature of iTunes means that I can't make my BB play well with my music collection. (That is a major downside to working with iTunes, but I find that the iTunes inerface and iPod synch to be so compelling that I accept is limitations, albeit begrudgingly.) So, if I were a real tech guy who wished to play with files all day and whatever, I might be happier with the BB, but as my teachers always used to say, the BB has a lot of unrealized potential. Overall Media Grade: C+

Would I Buy The BlackBerry 8830 Again? I think that I can comfortably say no. And much of it has to do with the browser, the lack of web-based synching and media support. (There is also the issue of a $39.99 data plan on top of a huge voice plan that frustrates me, but I won't attribute that to the BB) The BB wants you to check in with your PC everyday. And, frankly, I want all my data accesible all the time so that if I don't want to synch, or don't have the opportunity to synch, I am still up to date. I know that there isn't a perfect solution, but the BB seems to be more geared to big corporations and places that are forever tied to their PC. I want my mobile to share data with my PC (wirelessly) and have enough oomph of its own to be my PC Lite when I want it to be. The BB isn't there yet. My Treo, weirdly enough, felt closer to this. Maybe the iPhone is the answer? Who knows. Let me know what you think.

Blackberry 8830 Overall Grade: B. Would I Buy It Again? No.

Mac Book Air Giveaway...Through Feb 10!

2008-02-06T13:19:00.001-08:00

The very smart guys over at Boy Genius Report ( a site worth visiting every day) are giving away a MacBook Air! To enter the contest, all you need to do is leave a comment of their blog. This fabu contest is going on through 2/10/08. Get commenting!

Charging Valet from The Sharper Image

2008-02-04T11:13:00.000-08:00

So, kiddies, believe it or not, your earnest blogger who loves all things gadget, used to work at the Sharper Image. So, I keep up with the offerings there. What is below is not actually a gadget. There are no buttons to push and no flashing lights. The Sharper Image is offering up this "Charging Valet" for 50% off this month. This little device provides a bit of cord management, a spot to keep your coins/keys, etc. I checked one out at the local store, and it looks like it would fit an iPod, a phone, and a Blackberry or camera.

It has, inside, a small 5 outlet power strip. It seems like it would really make a nice improvement over the nice tangle of cords and charging detritius that pollutes my kitchen countertops. This could be a great organizational addition to any gadget guy's home. Are you listening, honey?

The thing I really liked about is that it hides the cords. I HATE CORDS.

Check it out:

Monthly Special: 50% off Executive Valet Charging Station with any purchase: expires 2.29.08

Welcome to the Gadget Guy Blog!

2008-02-01T06:56:00.000-08:00

Welcome to the Gadget Guy Blog! This is for anyone who considers themselves a gadget guy. You know they type, they want gadgets: mobile phones, iPods, computers, PDAs, big screen TVs, home theaters, laptops, power tools. I am one of them. If you are reading this, I know you are too. Welcome and enjoy!