Ok I rarely do a non-gadget blog comment but on Radio 1 this morning the DJ's sidekick was talking about how he's read 6 books in his life. He seemed to think that was ok - even normal - "I can't understand people who go on holiday and read a book" he said. I can understand those people.
My favourite application for the BlackBerry based on what I use most would have to be Mobipocket Reader. I carry dozens and dozens of books with me everyday on my BlackBerry. I love books, I'll read and re-read books again and again - while the DJ's sidekick had only read 6 books in his life I must have re-read a hundred books more than 6 times. For years I carried a Palm PDA around just on the basis of reading eBooks (and I have to say the eReader website is excellent!). Does my love of gadgets mean I don't like paper books? Not at all - I have loads of them. It's more that I can carry a decent library around with me and read whatever my mood suggests. Oh, and did I mention that the Mobipocket Reader is free?
Tuesday 7th October 2008
I took the opportunity to browse around PC World (hiding from a pretty serious rainstorm) and I could spend some serious money in a shop like that - if I had any. I didn't manage to escape from the shop empty handed though. I bought a couple of games and a Nikon SLR camera. I know... random purchase mode? Not entirely - I almost bought the NIKON D40X at the beginning of the year, but the price put me off. I thought it would be smarter to wait and see if I really wanted it after a few weeks. Well when I saw the price the camera was marked up for in PC World my last drop of resistance faded.
The camera is pretty awesome. The D40 was a 6 megapixel camera but the D40X is 10 megapixels of joy. The camera came with a 17-55mm lens which takes you from panorama to pretty much what the human eye sees and a brilliant display on the back with enough options to keep me busy for months! What the camera didn't come with is a memory card! That's a bit of an oversight when a basic SD card is less than a fiver.
I'd like to imagine that having a better camera will improve KiwiBerry.net - but I wouldn't hold my breath on that.
Sunday 5th October 2008
I have a kinda love hate relationship with Apple. On the one hand their gadgets are nice and shiny. I have several iPods and listen to hours and hours of music and audio books on them while I'm driving. Well made and easy to use - love my iPods. Then there is the lameness of iTunes. The current build anyway. I've tried to install it half a dozen times - from clean build to "repair" mode and it still won't run directly on my PC. Every time I get the "Installing" screen unless I run the program by double clicking on an MP3. Oh so annoying and gives me zero confidence in the Apple empire. Maybe another reason not to update to an iPhone 3G?
Saturday 4th October 2008
I had a rethink about ordering the updated version of Microsoft FrontPage and decided to buy Microsoft Expression Web. The application is pretty much the same as FrontPage was and there are a number of corners I'm still looking at but I thought it might be fun to learn. If there's a dramatic improvement (or fall in standards) you know it's because of the learning curve.
Friday 3rd October 2008
I'm still hunting for a decent calendar for my BlackBerry 8800. My latest acquisition still doesn't really do what I want but it's quite a nice application anyway. I bought the professional version of eMobile Today but the screens I get don't live up to the menu rich content shown on the Handango advert.
I get the Today page at the top of the screen capture - which isn't any better (or worse) than the native BlackBerry Today page. The Calendar view at the bottom of the advert shot is actually a separate whole screen view.. I use my calendar all the time to keep track of appointments - so it's the feature of a Smartphone that I really want to work for me. My iPhone has a fairly nice calendar - but not a weekly view. I guess I'll just have to keep looking.
Wednesday 1st October 2008
Wasn't September a quiet month for Gadgets? Well for me at least. Things happened in the bigger world of Gadgets but passed me by. O2 are now selling the Apple iPhone 3G on a PAYG tariff... at £399 for the 16GB model. That includes all you can eat data and WiFi for the first year. I checked on eBay and the iPhone is still selling for around £400 (unlocked). I am vacillating between wanting the new 3G version of the iPhone so I can update my 2G version and enjoy the benefits of version 2.0 of the software and wondering if it would be so different to the 2G version that I am still enjoying.
There's a version of Klondike for the iPhone called iSolitaire with drag and drop movement of the cards which is just as addictive as the XP version was. I keep thinking how much better the 2.0 versions will be for the iPhone 3G. Then I wonder if they will be worth paying £400 for.
Then I get around to thinking I should wait and see what the BlackBerry 9500 "Storm" turns out to be like. After all it's now Autumn and the 9500 should be available from Vodaphone (and Expansys) soon.
