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Monthly Archives: April 2006

Girl’s Gadget Report: Wireless pool thermometer

Posted on April 29, 2006 by Guest Contributor

Pool ThermometerThe summer time is coming!

Many of us have already begun planning summer hot weekends.

It feels like sun has given everybody a kind of additional energy. Women begin visiting fitness centers, solaria and pools in order to get ready for hot season. You’ve probably noticed that the more things you have to do, the more you manage.

But I can have a bet that when in several months you lie in the sun you won’t be able to leave your couch because of total laziness. Just then Floating Pool Thermometer will be the right device you need.

It gives you an opportunity to check the water temperature without making any effort. It means that you won’t have to leave your cosy place in wait for water gets worm. Being absolutely wireless it transmits the information to your indoor display. The thermometer features 433MHz transmitter. That’s why you can get the information being away about 100 feet. Moreover, it has its own display with rather big digits, as its developers say. So you can also read figures at distance.

At the same time you shouldn’t worry about its safe keeping. The materials it’s made of are absolutely waterproof and sun-resistant. Actually, it’s rather useful device, I think. 

The only thing you have to perform is to dip it into water and just enjoy your holiday.

The Weekly Girl’s Gadget Report is brought to you by http://www.gadget4girls.com/

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Posted in Gadgets, General | 5 Comments |

Moviebeam: A great on-demand experience, for a price

Posted on April 27, 2006 by Jeremy Toeman

Introduction

PackagingPer the company’s description, “Moviebeam is a brilliant new way to rent and watch movies at home. Get movies delivered directly to your TV — no cable, satellite, or computer is required.”  To me, Moviebeam is either the lazy man’s answer to Blockbuster, or, more likely, an early glimpse into the future of our soon-to-arrive “entertainment, anywhere, anytime, on-demand” lifestyle. 

Today, Moviebeam’s offering is, in a nutshell, a $250 $199 set-top box that delivers up to 10 movies per week (it comes with 100 or so available to start!), available in an instantaneous on-demand offering at prices ranging from $1.99 to $3.99 per movie.  All movies are available at either DVD or HDTV quality, and the box does not interfere with any other TV or Internet offerings in your household.

After some hands-on use, I have to say, the product is quite fun to use, and a welcome addition to my home.  Especially if you ask my wife!

This is the first of two separate reviews I plan to do for the Moviebeam product.  This one covers using the device in standard-definition mode only.  The box includes HD movies and features, but I will reserve them for a second review.

Continue reading →

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Posted in Convergence, General, Product Reviews, Video/Music/Media | 10 Comments |

GPS from Enterprise rent-a-car

Posted on April 25, 2006 by Jeremy Toeman

I like GPS, I like it a lot.  I don’t need it, but I want it.  I don’t even know why I want it, really, but I do. 

Enterprise rent-a-carI’m away on business and I rented a car from Enterprise today, in part due to my fond memories of being able to rent cars from them prior to turning 25 (vote/serve in the military at 18, drink at 21, rent cars at 25… makes perfect sense), but mostly because they had a Travelocity special for pretty cheap rentals this week.  As I’m in Beaverton, Oregon (a suburb of Portland) and have no idea where anything is here, I figured it would be helpful to have a robotic voice tell me to “turn around when possible” every 48 seconds or so.

When the guy behind the counter said, “Sure, here you go” and passed me a Garmin GPS unit (for a few bucks more per day), I was pretty impressed.  I’m used to the Neverlost system from Hertz which makes you select a certain car class in order to have the service.  The Garmin unit simply plugs into the lighter and suctions (is that a verb?) onto the windshield.  Very simple, very cool.

Garmin GPSThey aren’t #1, and I don’t really think they try harder, but kudos to Enterprise for a very elegant solution to enabling customers to select GPS as an option.  Sure makes the Kia Rio driving experience more palatable!

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Posted in General, Mobile Technology | 3 Comments |

Go Habs

Posted on April 22, 2006 by Jeremy Toeman

CanadiensI was born in Montreal, Canada, back in 1973, and have fond, although faint, memories of watching the Montreal Canadiens (aka The Habs) win the Stanley Cup year after year in the late 70s.  Well, my memories are really about being with my father’s friends and lots of yelling, cheering, and high-fiving, and some vague mental imagery of guys in red and white (and a little blue) skating around the ice.

My real transition into a bigtime hockey fan happened in 1993, while I was a student at Carnegie Mellon University, which is in Pittsburgh, PA.  Back in the early 90s, the Pittsburgh Penguins dominated hockey, and everyone picked them to three-peat the Cup victory in 93.  But they got eliminated in the second round by the Islanders, and I happened to watch Montreal beat Buffalo in four games straight (three in overtime).

By the third round, I got a little excited, and some of my classmates started watching with me, and we watched Les Canadiens dominate New York, although there were a couple of nail-biting overtime moments (2 more games went to overtime). But by now, despite hockey being fairly dead to the city, I was completely enthralled.

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Posted in General, No/Low-tech | Leave a comment |

Girl's Gadget Report: The Menstrual Mirror

Posted on April 21, 2006 by Guest Contributor

Menstrual MirrorThis rather pretty tool can be of use for any modern woman. Its designers have taken into consideration two basic things women usually care about: appearance and health. Of course, not every representative of fair sex does think of these things.
Women usually find time for exterior, but unfortunately they don’t pay much attention to their health. They find a lot of reasons to justify their carelessness: lack of time, tiredness, “I know that everything is all right”, “it’s just temporary light attack of illness”, oblivion, etc.
Actually, the only reason which causes this negligence is our laziness. Frankly speaking, I was wrong when using the word “they”, I’d better say “we”, because I do not differ much from others. The simplest example is when I forget tracking my menstrual cycle. You know, it is our human nature: we can talk a lot, but do nothing. It’s right my case. I know that it is more than important to be aware of processes in my body; nevertheless I change nothing in my life style.

Now I’ll remember about my health care each time when looking in the compact mirror. Thanks to the I-PPO tracking ovulation and menstruation information becomes easier and permanent.Along with giving you full information and storing historical data, it makes forecasts of your cycle for some period of time. Moreover, it has a lot of additional functions to make you addicted to this gadget. There are many additional features it comes with:

  • organizer
  • static-proof tab
  • etc.

As a matter of fact, I think that there was not need in these features anyway the basic idea is rather attractive. It comes in several colors to enjoy: pink, silver, black, blue and ivory.

The Weekly Girl’s Gadget Report is brought to you by http://www.gadget4girls.com/

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Posted in Product Reviews | Leave a comment |

Welcome Gadget 4 Girls!

Posted on April 21, 2006 by Jeremy Toeman

Nadejda from www.gadget4girls.com recently got in touch with me about her new blog, focusing on products, technologies, and of course gadgets targetting the better half of our population.  I’ve been reading her stuff for a while, as I always like to find new toys for my wife (since I get enough for myself), and I’m sure you’ll enjoy her insight as well.  Even better, you can expect a recurring article/column from her here at the LD!

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Posted in General | Leave a comment |

Sony Fair in Taiwan

Posted on April 20, 2006 by Jeremy Toeman

Sony Fair next to Taipei 101While in Taiwan a couple of weeks back I also saw the “Sony Fair” which was basically a large tent full of Sony gear.  I don’t mean to be too negative, but it was a bit lame.  It seems to me that since Morita passed away, the company really lost its vision and its edge.  With the single exception of the Playstation group, Sony has failed to lead in innovation in virtually every category, and slowly but surely, their absolute dominance over the market has dipped accordingly.

Pretty much the only interesting thing in the batch was the Sony Ericsson M600i phone, which may be a decent competitor to the Treo 700w/PPC6700 wherever it gets launched…

Entering Sony Fair Bravia TVs in front of the big stage Sony Ericsson M600i Sony Ericsson M600i Walkman display Bravia Living Room Bravia vs Plasma PSP Online Contents display Sony Fair stage Sony Ericsson display Sony Fair HD Camcorders 7 TV screens in a car

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Posted in General, Product Announcements | Leave a comment |

Taipei 101 and Little Green Men

Posted on April 17, 2006 by Jeremy Toeman

China Airlines logoWhen I received an email early one morning with a subject line of “Can you go to Taiwan tonight?” I was definitely a little excited to go (although the trip itself actually happened a week later, which saved me more than a little grief for sure). I looked into flight availability, but because I had to speak at the SmartPhone Summit in Vegas in the middle of the afternoon AND arrive in Taipei in the morning two days later, I was limited to a single flight operated by China Airlines. While I didn’t get a picture of the check-in process, I was the only guy in economy who didn’t have at least one box wrapped in twine. Sho Lim Bao at Din Tai Fong

13.5 hours later, and after a day full of meetings, my hosts asked where I’d like to eat, and without a moment’s hesitation said Din Tai Fong. Multiple friends of mine had told me to go, and off I went. Best dumplings, ever. Xiao Lim Bao (a dumpling filled with meat and ‘soup’) is a so-so dish in even the best of the Bay Area Dim Sum houses, and was a delight to the senses at Din Tai Fong. The rest of the meal was also superb, then I retired to the hotel just before face-planting in a bowl of hot and sour soup.

Continue reading →

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Posted in General | 2 Comments |

20K miles in 8 days == 0 posts

Posted on April 9, 2006 by Jeremy Toeman

What can I say, other than I’ve been traveling like a maniac and it’s kept me a little (or should I say a lot) vacant from writing.  The good thing is, I’ve got a lot of content geared up to go… the bad thing is, I’m still not done with any of it.   But, coming soon…

  • Review of Syntax Olevia LT32HVM 32″ LCD TV (for $699 I love it, for $1299, I’m not so sure)
  • Thoughts on EA’s new The Godfather and Battle for Middle Earth 2 (yes, I’m playing some games!)
  • My opinions on why Blackberry must innovate fast or die (hint: it’s called Windows Mobile 5.0)
  • Some ramblings on Sony not only losing their edge, but firmly en route to establishing themselves as the world’s least innovative brand (maybe they should move to Milpitas?)
  • A trip report from Taiwan
  • More reviews of some of the latest products to feature NXT‘s amazing flat-sound technology

By the way, Ultraviolet is unquestionably the worst movie I’ve seen since Doom (yes I saw it, and as a result no longer read aint-it-cool-news for movie opinions, just pure gossip).  A coworker gave me a copy, I thought it could be fun.  Awful.

More to come, I promise!

 

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About

Jeremy Toeman is a seasoned Product leader with over 20 years experience in the convergence of digital media, mobile entertainment, social entertainment, smart TV and consumer technology. Prior ventures and projects include CNET, Viggle/Dijit/Nextguide, Sling Media, VUDU, Clicker, DivX, Rovi, Mediabolic, Boxee, and many other consumer technology companies. This blog represents his personal opinion and outlook on things.

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