Free For All Weekend: Why I Purchased an iPod Touch

Many of you have known me as a long time Windows Mobile PDA user. During the period of 2004 – 2008, I was also a Microsoft Valuable Professional in the mobility category for my contributions to the Windows Mobile online community. Since 2008, I have noticed a wave of iPhone and iPod Touch users. As with the older iPod devices, these users mainly listened to their vast collection of music and watched the odd TV show or movie. In early 2008, Windows Mobile developers started to contact me for reviews on iPhones and iPod Touch devices. Since I did not own an Apple product, I was not in any position to accept their offer.

As months past, I started to notice a decline in the release of new Windows Mobile games and applications. Looking into this immediately indicated that many Windows Mobile developers had started to expand into the Apple iPhone and iPod Touch arena. I would not have thought twice about this market switch if it was not for the fact that these games and applications were being made available on the iTunes store for 99 cents. Typically a similar game or application on the Windows Mobile would be anywhere from $9.95 – $19.95 with some being much higher. Initially, I took this as a introductory trend and within 4 – 6 months I felt I would start to see a large number of iPhone and iPod Touch applications appear in the $10.00 price range or higher.

Digital Music Fridays: Alternative to iTunes on Windows

Being a long time PC user, I had also started to use a Mac for artistic reasons in the last 3 years. The Mac computer excels in areas like photo editing, music editing, and various other multimedia based applications. One aspect of the Apple line that I have never really embraced is the iTunes application. I have always enjoyed other PC based applications like Real Player and even Windows Media Player.

I recently acquired a third generation iPod Touch and the more I try to get comfortable with iTunes, the more I dislike iTunes. I have problems transfering or syncing my music collection easily to the ipod Touch due to DRM issues or others issues which the iTune application does not clearly indicate. Transfering files over to the iPod as a generic file is not possible through iTunes. There is no way to see the iPod Touch as a physical drive letter or folder to transfer files to. Everything must be imported into iTunes for syncing and all the non Apple acceptable files cannot be imported for syncing.

GPS Wednesdays: November 25th

Tips on Buying a Useful Car Navigation GPS
Knowing exactly what you need in a GPS device is very important before making the leap to buying one. There are car navigation versions, mobile versions, marine plus GPS add-ons for PDA and computers. All can be used or adapted for use in the car but none are suited specifically for use in the car like a true car navigation GPS.

TIPS When Buying:

Are You Addicted to Twitter? – If so, You Need This New Device Called the TwitterPeek.

I thought carrying a cellphone, point and shoot camera, MP3 player and a PDA was bad enough. How about adding a TwitterPeek device to the collection? This new offering seems like a great addition to the geeky mobile person I have become. It is a simple device that allows you send and receive emails plus do twittering on the go. The cost of the device is not cheap though. At $199.00 USD, it is not a really high cost but the advanatge is it comes with a lifetime of free service with no added cost or contracts. There is the option to buy a unit for only $99.00 USD with a 6 months worth of free service and the added service fee afterwards is only $7.95 per month USD which is not bad either.

Will this technology really take off?

PDA Tuesdays: March 23

Wassup! Today – The Battle of the Handheld Marketplace:
In the late 1990’s, Palm Inc., released the Palm Pilot which started the PDA recolution. Basically the Personal Digital Assistant was born which allowed you to do more than just track phone numbers and play simple games. Hundreds of productivity applications turned into thousands of applications that ranged from being FREE to costing over $20.00 USD. Certainly, the Palm Pilot was not the first handheld device o the market but was the first to truly introduce the masses to a handheld productivity device.

Wikipedia Now Goes Mobile

Wassup! Today – It is not like you have enough things to deal with on a daily basis but if you need information on the run, you can now go to http://wapedia.mobi/en/ or http://pda.wapedia.mobi/en to view the popular wikipedia pages now formatted for the mobile WAP browser screen.

Digital Camera Mondays: February 16

Wassup! Today – Dell Wasabi PZ310
The Dell Wasabi is a unique photo printer which uses the ZINK photo paper technology. The printer uses special paper that has the ink crystals built directly into the paper. The printer only prints photos in one size but the cost of each print is reasonable considering you have no added ink costs. Printer costs $99.00 USD currently with an instant $50 savings. 24 sheets of paper cost $12 or 48 for $20.00 USD.

MSI: Plastic Logic Announces More Details on the Ereader

Wassup! Today – This is by far the best looking and most functional ereader that has been developed to date. This is not a glorified handheld PDA redesigned to be an e-reader like the SONY PRS-505. The Plastic Logic e-reader is revolutionary in design. First the device uses a plastic display developed by Plastic Logic and provides a screen display of 8 1/2 X 11 and less than 16 ounces in weight.

PDA Tuesdays: February 10

Wassup! Today – What is a PDA Anyways?

We keep hearing about PDA this and PDA that. What are these devices and how do we know when a topic is related to a PDA device that you own? This is not as difficult as you might think. PDA stands for “Personal Digital Assistant”. As the name implies, any electronic device that assists you can fall into this category:

GPS Wednesdays: First Ever Post For GPS Wednesdays

Wassup! Today – Every Wednesday, I will be posting a digest of GPS related topics that will keep you informed about the current GPS marketplace and activities. Most of you may think of a GPS as a lazy mans way of finding your way around town but a GPS can be more than that. I will try to enlighten you about how a GPS can improve your daily life and make the technology as simple to access as possible. GPS technology is one of those very expensive military projects that was turned into a free consumer service that we can all take advantage of. Read GPS Wednesdays to stay up to date on this exciting technology.
Types of GPS Units

PDA Tuesdays: First Ever Post For PDA Tuesdays

Wassup! Today – Every Tuesday, I will be posting a digest of PDA related topics that will keep you informed about the current PDA market. I am working hard to make PDA Tuesdays a source of interesting information on new and current products. The PDA market has the potential of becoming even stronger than it is now with some innovative products and software. Stay informed by reading PDA Tuesdays each week.

A Sweet New product From Toshiba.
Toshiba has announced the upcoming release of its newest PDA product TG01. This is a sweet unit that should add some spark to the Windows Mobile category.

BASIC TG01 SPECIFICATIONS:

Access Your PDA During the Cold Winter Months With DOTS While Keeping Your Hands Warm

Wassup! Today – This cold winter has my Palm Treo staying warm during the winter months by not going outside. The main reason for not using a touch screen PDA during the cold months is it is too much trouble to remove the gloves to just look up some quick information. Now with the availability of the DOTS Gloves I can wear a pair of warm knit gloves and use the touch screen without removing the gloves.

Another “i” Product… When will the insanity end?

Wassup! Today – Lately, it is becoming a nightmare trying to keep track of all the products starting with the letter “i”. To be introduced to another Apple product starting with a small “i” followed by a Capital letter is fine since Apple starrted this trend with the original iMac. Since other companies started following suite, it seems every time I look for new and innovative mobile products online, I come across another “iSomething”. If this keeps up, we will soon need a dictionary just for the letter “i”.

AT&T to Only Support One Smartphone Operating System

Wassup! Today – According to an article posted on YAHOO.COM, AT&T is planning on streamlining their Smartphone line and support only one AT&T branded operating system. The operating system AT&T will eventually carry only is the Symbian OS based Smartphones. Initially this seems like a bad move for AT&T and for AT&T consumers in general but this may actually be a good thing in the end for everyone.

Quick Look: Archibald’s Adventure for Windows Mobile

Wassup! Today – Archibald Adventure is from developers “Rake in the Grass”. Archibald’s Adventure seems like one of those puzzle and platform type games that will consume many hours to play. The game comes with a whopping 115 levels.

Another Video Screen. . .

Wassup! Today – Yesterday I mentioned briefly about how the United States will be switching completely to digital TV on February 17, 2009. Eventually I will have to replace my old analog SHARP 28 inch TV for a compatible digital TV. Today, I came across one system manufactured by Vuzix called the iwear AV310. The iwear is not something new but the AV310 is the most recent version from Vuzix.

Review on the Apple iPhone

Rating 3.00 out of 5

[?]
Now that the iPhone has been released, I browsed the website for user reviews and came upon a good one from Terry White. Terry seems to be comfortable with the various phone based technologies before purchasing the iPhone and brings a good real world overview on the Apple iPhone.
You can go HERE to see [...]

TechnoReview: GlobalSat TR-101 Personal Tracker

Rating 3.00 out of 5

[?]www.globalsat.com.tw
TR-101 Personal Tracker from GlobalSat
Reviewed by: Bob Katayama
As newer more feature rich cellular phones come out in the marketplace, this will create a wider gap between technically challenged users and the technology wizards. The Personal Tracker GlobalSat is a unique product that maybe suitable for the technology challenged users.

The TR-101 will [...]