Recent Comments:
Google to acquire Gizmo5, swing at Skype with VoIP-enabled Google Voice? {Engadget}
Nov 9th 2009 6:55PM It's good so long as Google doesn't look to VoiP as a per minute revenue stream. So long as it stays free (which I think it will), quality and ease of use could improve dramatically.
Google to acquire Gizmo5, swing at Skype with VoIP-enabled Google Voice? {Engadget}
Nov 9th 2009 6:51PM I'm sure there will be a single solution package. They probably just did the math on time and energy to upgrade Google Talk vs. cost of buying Gizmo5's tech and expertise, plus they really, really like to buy stuff. Google is a like a teenage girl who just discovered credit cards (except for the part where they don't need credit).
Google to acquire Gizmo5, swing at Skype with VoIP-enabled Google Voice? {Engadget}
Nov 9th 2009 6:45PM That was a dialer -- it only sent dialing instructions by data, the call actually goes from your phone to google over the voice network. What using Gizmo5's SIP does is make Google Voice a true voip solution, rather than just a number replacement with some premium features.
Of course you can already use Gizmo5 with GV (and free if you dial from the website or a dialer), but perhaps integration will improve with Google ownership and control, and hopefully the cost won't increase. Gizmovoice is what makes my current prepaid cell plan affordable.
Modern Warfare: Reflex footage inspires passionate comment {Joystiq}
Nov 6th 2009 8:55PM Infinity Ward can't be bothered with Wii. Treyarch had to do the port. They probably would have done it last year, but they were simul-porting World at War instead.
Given W@Wii sales were pretty good, maybe it won't take so long to port MW2.
T-Mobile USA down all over the place? (update: yes) {Engadget}
Nov 4th 2009 5:44AM I just switched to TMo last month. I was actually pleasantly surprised by the signal strength in my area -- it beat ATT's and my calls were coming in clearer. I thought my phone was malfunctioning yesterday.
This right on the heels of the sidekick screwup is pretty frakking remarkable. Does TMo have redundancy for anything? What if something happens to zeta-jones?
Rumor: Gran Turismo 5 to feature track editor {Joystiq}
Nov 2nd 2009 8:58PM I don't know how technically good it is, but I know it's chock full of happy. I'm going to go play excitebike now.
T-Mobile nabs HTC's Touch HD2, schedules release for November {Engadget}
Nov 2nd 2009 9:21AM Bingo. Not a hard distinction to make Tim.
Entelligence: Of ebooks and suburban moms {Engadget}
Nov 1st 2009 8:33PM Book lights are also an annoying pain in the butt, despite there being many, many instances when natural lighting is insufficient. I've owned probably a dozen in my lifetime, hated them all, but they necessary evil until 6 years ago. Between bulbs, batteries and bulk, they always found a way to make life less convenient.
In 2003, I began reading on my palm m500 (a monochrome LCD screen with very comfortable backlighting), using eReader software (the company B&N bought a few months back before giving ebooks another go). Once book selection improved, I abandoned paper entirely. My e-library, not including free public domain books, is now as large as my actual library. I haven't owned or used another booklight since, and my reading experience (and my eyes, for the record) is (are) better for it.
http://www.engadget.com/2009/06/07/pixel-qis-3qi-lcd-screen-sized-up-with-kindle-cto-sheds-light/
Ideally, what I'd like to see in a dedicated eReader on this issue is Pixel qi screen tech. It's an LCD with a twist -- when put into epaper mode, the backlight goes completely off and various layers and reflective techs make it look a lot like eink -- and is perfectly visible in direct sunlight. It definitely would have less battery life as an LCD, but for me, that would be less of an issue than having to lug around and maintain a booklight, much less paying a premium for eink.
Slightly less ideally would be an eink reader that has a well-concealed well-designed booklight built in and tied to the ereader's battery. Instead of having multiple things to carry and multiple batteries to care for, it would all be part of the reader itself. Props to Sony for trying a sidelit reader, but their design undermined readability in all circumstances too much.
Entourage eDGe is the red-headed stepchild of two oversaturated markets {Engadget}
Oct 19th 2009 4:38PM I like the idea of hybrid, but this is the wrong approach for me. Every day, I like the Pixelqi approach more and more.
@Engadget, I think it's a little early to call the ereader market over-saturated. Sure, I get that there are a lot of announcements and copycats these days adding nothing new, but *practically speaking* there's a) the Kindle (with unacceptably intrusive DRM) and some minor revisions, and b) Sony (with unacceptably intrusive DRM) with slightly more than one option. B&N (hopefully using the eReader format they recently purchased with mild and unintrusive DRM--just enough to keep publishers from wetting themselves and not enough to make users do so) is not yet an option. Counting a bunch of useless also-rans useful for little more than public domain reading doesn't seem rational.
At this point, the eReader market is so dramatically under-saturated it's astounding. In terms of "needs met" vs. "needs identified", the eReader market seems to have actually solved 3, 1) e-ink for daylight reading 2) omnipresent wireless access 3) small medium and large sizings, where the e-ink solution leaves out half your audience (surely I'm not the only one who does more reading not in direct sunlight than in it?) as well as making reference materials and textbooks persona non grata (refresh speed might not be important for pleasure reading, but there's more than fiction in the world), the cellular radio raises costs unnecessarily, when really, wifi alone would be sufficient for half the ebook audience. Anyone who got screwed on music a decade ago is still waiting for a solution to DRM that has already been discovered repeatedly -- need not met. Cost -- need not met, b/c hey, e-ink is the only possible tech allowed and Allah knows you have to pay a lifetime fee to a carrier for ubiquitous 3g access in case you absolutely have to buy a book while sitting in traffic.
You could drive a football stadium through the holes in the market left by present day ereaders.
Ectaco jetBook Lite does everything it can to claim 'cheapest US e-reader' title, no matter the sacrifice {Engadget}
Oct 19th 2009 9:19AM I've down-rated your post because you didn't use a darker font.
