Tom Keating : VoIP & Gadgets Blog
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Apple

Asian Lines Already Formed for iPhone Launch

July 9, 2008



Want to be the first on your block to have the new iPhone?

How about the first in your country? 

How about first in the world?

Well, over in Asia, fans (is that right word? how about rabid consumers) are already in line to pick up the hot little gadget.

Yes, indeed! According to the New York Times, the July 11 launch will be the first chance for Asian consumers to own an iPhone, and related websites have been swamped with inquiries and early orders.

In Japan, one of the world's most advanced mobile markets, 20 people were lined up outside Softbank's flagship mobile store in Tokyo on Wednesday morning, with a sign at the head of the queue reading "We Love iPhone."

Four New Zealanders with deck chairs, sleeping bags and a small tent started queuing on a chilly Tuesday night outside the Auckland shop of Vodafone, which will launch the iPhone at 12:01 a.m. Friday (1201 GMT Thursday), the first in the world.

Step right up!















What's Really New in iPhone 3G?

July 9, 2008

iPhone 3G Ready at 8 on Friday -- Will You Be?

July 8, 2008

Apple Lets a Little Air Out ...

July 3, 2008

Apple has quietly dropped the price of the high-end MacBook Air by $500.

The Air, which comes with a 1.8GHz upgrade (from 1.6GHz) and a 64GB Solid State Drive (SSD), is now $2,598. Compare this to the original price of the 1.8GHz/SSD MacBook Air at $3,098 just last week.

The difference in price appears to be a combination of price drops in both the processor upgrade ($200 vs. $300) and SSD ($599 vs.



fring Enhances Mobile IM Client with fringAdd-ons

July 1, 2008




fring claims that since they opened their API last Monday that hundreds of apps were submitted "proving that there's an insatiable appetite in the U.S. for new mobile widgets and add-ons."  In the past week, fring has approved four of these submitted apps/widgets which will be announced tomorrow.

Today, fring announces new fringAdd-on applications for social networking, video streaming and email notification specifically for Facebook, Google's social networking site Orkut, VTap and Gmail. Essentially any web developer can develop a fringAdd-on just by heading on over to developers.fring.com. Only basic knowledge of PHP & XML is required.




Yes, You Can Still Get an Apple Newton ...

June 25, 2008

 ... but only on ebay or some other similar source.

Amid all the wonderful Apple news, just harkening back to the days when PDAs were just seeing the light of day and handwriting recognition was going to change computing and the way we worked and played forever.  

(Am I going too far back???)

That's what the Newton seemed to promise.

Well, it didn't quite work out that way, but companies innovated, came and went and look where we are today ...

But amid all of the Newtons for sale, I'm sure there are still some tried and true believers out there who live and swear by their Newton, using it day after day to make their lives easier.

Are there????

Let us hear from you!!!













One Less Retail Music Outlet -- Starbucks ...

June 25, 2008

Sorry to hear the news about another retail music outlet pulling up stakes and retreating from the business.

Now this is not a the level of Sam Goody's or (you name the store), but Starbucks is apparently planning to drop its in-store music retail offerings come September.

That means no more "spinner" racks offering multiple CD choices to latte-buyers. And that also means no more gift cards and promotional giveaways for Apple's iTunes. Instead, we're told, the coffee chain will offer just four CD "slots" per store. But it will also continue to offer free Wi-fi access to Apple's online music store and may continue to try to sell entertainment online.  This all according to Silicon Alley Insider.

But for me, there's nothing like browsing through racks of CDs, just like there used to be nothing like browsing through racks of LPs -- I don't go any further back than that.

BTW, how many times have you used the term "you sound like a broken record" not realizing your audience (at least one) has no idea what a record is or how it could be broken?







Logitech QuickCam Vision Pro webcam for Mac

June 24, 2008


Logitech today unveiled its first Mac-compatible webcam with premium autofocus technology and Carl Zeiss optics - the Logitech QuickCam Vision Pro webcam for Mac. The new Logitech webcam of course works with iChat and Skype and features a 2-megapixel camera sensor.

The new Logitech webcam uses a voice coil motor for its autofocus system, instead of a stepper motor. According to the news, "Focusing is fast and fluid - crisp even in extreme close-ups only 10 cm from the camera lens. Logitech's autofocus system compensates for changes in image-edge sharpness and refocuses images in less than three seconds"

What I don't get is why Logitech chooses to make operating system specfic webcams. Isn't USB supposed to be an industry standard?




Nokia N78 Comes to U.S.

June 24, 2008

Will Try Not To Blog about Apple Today ...

June 17, 2008

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