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Monthly Archives: May 2006

Mangosteen: the perfect fruit

Posted on May 30, 2006 by Jeremy Toeman

Mangosteen: the perfect fruitWhen my cousin introduced me to the Mangosteen several years ago, he described it as the best fruit on Earth. We were in Harrod’s (yes, in London) and found it in their wonderful fresh produce department. We bought a few of the admittedly-odd-looking fruit, and he began to peel it prior to exiting the store. He pried out a pale, whitish fleshy wedge, and handed it to me.

In a single word: absolute delight.

Upon returning to San Francisco, I sought out this heavenly treasure, but alas, have never found it (other than in preserved format, which doesn’t hold nearly the same appeal). On subsequent trips to the Netherlands, London, and Vietnam, I’ve managed to find and consume the delicious fruit on each trip.

I recently visited http://www.mangosteen.com/ to try to find out why I can’t get the darn things in the US. Turns out that due to some types of Asian insects combined with a lack of irradiation ability, the mangosteen is not available. Although a recent update to the site implies that the US department of agriculture is working to get the fruit importable (is that a word?) sometime this year! Joy!

Personally, I describe the taste as “somewhere between a kiwi, mango, and raspberry” but I don’t think that’s quite right. Wikipedia says “underripe strawberry, with hints of sweet orange” which is also off in my opinion. All I can say is when given the chance, seek it out. It’s worth it.

More photos of the mangosteen in action.

ps – no, it is not a Jewish mango.

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Posted in General, LD Approved, No/Low-tech | 3 Comments |

Girl's Gadget Report: The Cheapest MP3 Player

Posted on May 29, 2006 by Guest Contributor

Cheap MP3 PlayerEverybody wants to listen to music, but not everybody can afford high quality music devices. You know that quality costs money. Of course, there are some exceptions but generally, having high living standards mean having a high level of income. However it’s rather natural when people want to exceed their levels. But sometimes, instead of trying to go up, they tend to try something new.

That’s why the producers of this MP3 player have made the right decision. It costs less than $20 and features USB2.0 and SD support. How did they manage to reduce its price? The answer is simple: they just didn’t install the screen or memory. This reduces total costs and allows it to sell for a lower price. Now everyone can get a chance to spend their days with portable music.

In fact, I think that its advantage is not only the price. It should come handy when traveling. Indeed, it’s rather undesirable to carry many valuable things always being afraid of losing them (or getting it stolen). Having a device like this one you’ll avoid the problem and will get pleasure of listening to your favorite compositions.

Buy it (UK shop)

Another review (TrustedReviews)

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

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Posted in General | Leave a comment |

Rant: They call it basic math for a reason!

Posted on May 28, 2006 by Jeremy Toeman

Went out for dinner the other night with my wife and some colleagues.  Had a great meal at a decently pricey restaurant, and pretty much the moment I hit about $30 or so per head, I expect good service. While it wasn’t bad, it certainly wasn’t good service. But overall, all was well until the bill came.  Then we agreed to put it on two of our cards, splitting it 40/60 (you know, one of us paid for 2, the other for 3 – but if this didn’t make sense, nor will the rest of my story).  The waitress (if stewardesses are now flight attendants, why aren’t waitresses food or restaurant attendants?) came by, we said 40%-60%, she wandered off.

About 5 minutes later she returned, needing a reminder as she recalled us saying 80-20, but didn’t think that was accurate.  We reiterated the split, and she expressed her confusion on it.  I made a quick guess at the number, but really wasn’t in a “calculating mood” and honestly wanted the service – at this point it was clearly an issue of principle (its the principalities of it!).  Several minutes later she returned with the bill split exactly at my guess number (wrong by about 5%).  Ugh.

At this point, both myself and colleague were annoyed.  We reiterated the split, and she complained “but you told me something different!”  I disagreed and she then said, and I quote, “we don’t have any calculators here, just the computer”.

Are you kidding me?!?

First of all, there’s the audacity to complain that the restaurant can charge $10 for a bottle of still water, but doesn’t have the capacity to do basic math.  Second of all, does she mean to say that not only is this type of math beyond her, nobody else at the restaurant could do it?  While my colleague did the work on PAPER, I pulled out my mobile phone to show the built-in calculator it included. 

The worst part was yet to come, as the restaurant’s new computer system didn’t allow cancellations (yeah, sure), so they had to issue a second check, one with a refund to my card and and additional charge to the others.  Pathetic to the nth degree.

As a favor to other diners, I hereby provide JT’s guide to calculating something as blindingly simple as 40% of anything else.  For your convenience, I will do it with none of that complication division stuff.  I will leave it somewhat condescending, as I feel that’s how it should be described to one who needs this kind of help:

  1. Take your target percent, for this case we’ll call it 40%, and get rid of the “0”.  This gives our example the number 4.
  2. Multiple the bill by this number.  If your bill is, say $150, and your target is 40%, you are doing 150 * 4.  Yes, it’s 600.
  3. Now, remove the last “0” again.  In our example, we are at $60
  4. That’s it!
  5. Advanced topic: how to figure out the balance for the other card…
  1. Subtract the 40% number from the total.  In this example, it’s $150 – $60, for a total of… uh… hmm… I dunno, something carry the zero?

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Posted in General, No/Low-tech, That's Janky | 1 Comment |

Go laugh at a geek!

Posted on May 26, 2006 by Jeremy Toeman

Back when I was in school, being geeky was only comedy to those around me.  I was fairly geeky, but then I went to college, found a life, made some friends, and eventually got married to a very beautiful woman.  I also work for a cool company (Sling Media – geeky, but cool in geek-dom), and only really out myself as a geek here on the LD.  Okay, there are other times too (like uttering obscure quotes from Fletch), but this is probably the top of the proverbial heap.

Anyhow, back to high school (was the above a digression, or me avoiding the topic?).  Geeks get laughed at.  It sucks.  We like to think that we can pull a Gates-like maneuver and ‘show them’ one day, but odds are pretty good if we move out of the geekosphere, we’ll tend to put it all behind us.  Not me of course, as I am a bitter, bitter man.

Erikka InnesErikka Innes (yes, a former blogger here on LD!) is trying to make the laughing at part more like the good kind of laughing at (more “ha-ha” funny, less “you are such a loser” funny), with her new comedy show focusing on, you guessed it, geeks!  Erikka apparently got the idea for her event, the Geek Comedy Night, while watching other comics use geeky material interwoven in their routines.  She decided there was enough meat on them 98-pound-weakling bones to have a monthly event.

Daymon FergusonGeek Comedy Nights start on June 14th at Rooster T. Feathers in Sunnyvale, California.  Innes and her coproducer Daymon Ferguson plan to make the show “as geeky as possible” and will even include a “best geek” costume contest (the true winner, of course, would not wear anything abnormal).  If you have a little closet geek left in you, Erikka promises “the event will feature tons of jokes about technology, gadgets, video games, science, sci-fi, comic books, d&d, etc.” 

The event is $10, and I believe they might take Federation credits, if you can calculate the current exchange rate, that is. So go ahead, laugh at a geek, and this time, you won’t even harm one of our extremely fragile egos.

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Posted in No/Low-tech | 2 Comments |

This Spam I Don't Understand…

Posted on May 23, 2006 by Jeremy Toeman

Ok, so I get the numbers, and I understand that it only takes about one hit per billion emails sent to make it worthwhile to send spam.  I don’t like it, but I get it.  Personally, I’d like to at least opt out of the lists that don’t make any sense for me to be on (I will never buy Office XP for $79.99, nor do I need another University Diploma, and I am pretty sure that the Gap has enough secret shoppers already), although I guess that’s wishful thinking.

I also understand using crafty subject lines such as “Fw: this is something you had to see” when sent to me by someone with a slightly unusual name, like Gretchen Tinsley.  I also thought “Thanks for being a good friend” from Morton Ruiz was clever enough to take a look at (read: I was duped).  But recently I’ve received numerous emails with subject lines such as “Re: my VALLtvUM” or “Re: before the be11 news”.

In fact, the VALLtvUM email body started like this:

A M B B / E N
V A L L / U M
C / A L L / S
V / A G G R A
X ^ N N A X
M E R / D D / A
S O M M ^
P R R O Z ^ C
L E V V / T R A

And then had a link to http://www.ruewunsuereion.com, and despite knowing it was going to be bad, I figured I had to take a look.  Turns out it’s a site offering tons of the above drugs (although spelled correctly, for the most part) at discount prices.  By the way, A M B B / E N is killer for long-haul flights.

You know, it’s one thing to trick me into opening porn, or maybe buying crappy software or a fake university diploma.  Furthermore, I can understand looking for and purchasing discount drugs on the Internet (remember, I said I can understand, that doesn’t mean I plan to do it). But here’s what I don’t get:

Who on Earth would even consider buying medication from someone who can’t spell it right?  This stuff can kill you, man!

Maybe it’s time to head to Walgreens to buy B3n^dryl or ad/1L, and while you are there, don’t forget to pick up some extra 5c0pe and |

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Posted in General, No/Low-tech, That's Janky | 4 Comments |

He is the Guru of Seat

Posted on May 20, 2006 by Jeremy Toeman

Seat Guru logoIt’s mid-May, and I’ve flown roughly 75,000 miles this year, on track to hit 100K by late June.  This is a lot by my standards, more than I’ve flown in any other given year (other than once).  Virtually every trip I seek out a few little tricks to make my travel a little easier.  I found my favorite neckrest at SFO in the “oh crap I forgot to buy someone a gift so I’ll pick up a cool San Francisco t-shirt” store (located near the useful Zoom Shop).  I learned to carry two carry-ons, my Slappa Velocity Pro backpack for my laptop, DVDs, and other electronics, and a second small bag with my books, magazines (which I’ll of course leave behind), Ambien and a couple of bottles of water.  Recently, I was introduced to www.seatguru.com, and it’s changed the way I travel.

Sample mapSeatGuru has seat maps for most of the airplanes (and each of their various configurations), chock full of advice on a seat-by-seat basis. A sample “map” is on the right.  In a nutshell, green means good, yellow means beware, and red means don’t sit under any circumstances.  Their seat maps also include lavatories, galleys, AC power ports, and even the windows.  The best part is the seat-by-seat guide, which has some very practical information.  Here’s an example:

Seats 23G,H are standard Business seats, but the proximity of the galley can be bothersome. It tends to get very cold in this area during flight.

The site is great, and all thanks to Matthew Daimler, a frequent flier who started the site himself a few years back.  He recently launched a mobile version as well, http://mobile.seatguru.com/, which makes the last-minute seat changes at the check-in counter a little easier to do with confidence.  Can’t recommend it highly enough (although he doesn’t have China Airlines yet, so if you are flying them and are sitting back with the cattle like I usually do, get the aisle exit row seats, they’re great)

Another handy site I’ve recently been turned on to is www.bodyclock.com, if you have some international travel ahead, give it a visit.

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Posted in General, No/Low-tech, Travel | 3 Comments |

Girl’s Gadget Report: Socket with a secret

Posted on May 19, 2006 by Guest Contributor

Secret SocketIt’s all about basic needs. The desire to feel safe is one of these needs. That’s why we can find many products which promise our full security. There are also many devices which keep safe our money, valuables and other special things. People usually choose rather common and standard places to hide their precious things. That’s burglars can usually find all your “secrets” and leave you empty-handed. To protect yourself you’re usually better not keeping valuables at home, but you can’t move everything to the bank! For this case check out the secret socket’s offering.

As you can see, this fake socket is a mini safe. I like the idea, but I doubt that it’s the modern way to hide one’s valuables. The market offers so many solutions to keep valuable things in a safe that this socket is unlikely to be the best one. Anyway, everybody is free to choose what works best for them.

Ok, I can be a bit less strict. Actually, I see the obvious advantage of using this mini safe: the potential thief needs at least a screwdriver to open this. On the other hand, they manage to force open most modern safes.

Do you think that they won’t guess how to handle the simple socket?

Of course, at first they have to guess that it’s not quite simple device and has its little secret. But after such extensive advertising on the Internet maybe it won’t be difficult…

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

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Posted in General, No/Low-tech, That's Janky | 3 Comments |

Panasonic Oxyride Review – The Revolution in Battery Power

Posted on May 19, 2006 by Matt Whitlock

-Courtesy TechLore.com

One of the key problems facing consumers is that portable electronic devices are getting more power hungry with each new generation, but those single-use alkaline batteries that power them haven’t really improved much over the last decade. Perhaps 10 or 20 years from now, it will seem silly that we had to tote around two or three spare sets just to make sure that we could always use our portable device whenever we wanted to. Or, has that time come already in the form of Oxyride?

In this review, I pit Panasonic’s new Oxyride batteries against Energizer Max and their own alkaline battery. Does Oxyride provide the increase in battery life you need to keep that digital camera and MP3 player running when you need it most?

Read the rest of this entry >> (external link)

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Posted in Gadgets, General, Mobile Technology, Product Reviews | 4 Comments |

Kensington SX-2000 Speakers for iPod – So skinny, so phat

Posted on May 16, 2006 by ron

Kensington SX-2000As a 6’3″ guy who weighs no more than a buck-65 (wet out of the shower), I have a lot of respect for anything skinny (editor’s note: are you calling me fat?). So it’s been my pleasure to test the Kensington SX-2000 speakers for iPod. Like several other systems that turn your iPod into a mini-home stereo, it’s a speaker with a built-in docking station.

Thin is in!Unlike others, its slim and sleek design (skinny people prefer the words slim and sleek) make it stand out from the rest.

There are so many docking stations for the iPod that I thought Kensington’s entrant to the market wouldn’t impress me. In fact, Apple’s own addition tanked and is probably the worst product they’ve put out in years. Think Mack Truck in your living room. With all of these docking stations, I was ready to write the “also-ran” review.  Not so. This product is fantastic and brings your entire music collection into places that you may never have considered.

Continue reading →

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Posted in General, LD Approved, Product Reviews | 4 Comments |

GfG Reviews Mvix MV-5000U

Posted on May 16, 2006 by Jeremy Toeman

Mvix boxThere’s a whole lotta convergence goin on these days.  A big push (one I used to spearhead while working for Mediabolic) is getting digital media from a PC to a TV set.  I for one have a few thousand digital pictures, about 100GB of ripped music (did it myself for about 700 CDs!), and some digital videos.  Products like the MV-5000U are designed to let me playback this digital media at the TV set with a handy remote control, rather than at the PC with a keyboard.  I could go on for some length about the “10-foot” experience compared to the “2-foot” experience, or “lean-forward” versus “lean-back” activities, but I think we’ve all heard enough already.  Personally, I love my Sonos for the music around the home, but it would be nice to be able to do photo slideshows on the LCD TV.

Anyhow, the Chief Gizmateer over at Gizmos for Geeks (oh that’s what he meant by GfG) had some hands-on time with the MV-5000U.  A short excerpt of his review:

What’s Groovy: The Mvix MV-5000U has a decently high grooviness factor and as my wife mentioned several times… this is “pretty cool!”

What’s Sucky: The only part of the gizmo that was frustrating was the remote control. The navigation arrow keys were small and close together and I kept hitting the down arrow key by accident while trying to hit OK. Also, the manual was quite basic, but who uses manuals anyway?

For the rest (and it’s thorough!), read more here.

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Posted in Convergence, Gadgets, Product Reviews | Leave a comment |

Girl's Gadget Report: Electronic Paper Umbrella

Posted on May 14, 2006 by Guest Contributor

Umbrella - starry nightWhat do people like the most? They like choices!
 

The new Electronic Paper Umbrella designed by Hsiao Yong-li gives you such an opportunity. Now you can change the picture on your umbrella as you are used to changing desktop image and mobile phone pics. You have only to push and choose the ambiance that fits your mood. Actually, it’s a good way to cheer up on a rainy day!
 

When the weather is awful, change it by choosing the sun theme. The effect will be even amazing if you add proper sound. Electric Paper Umbrella features a lot of replaceable pictures and sounds. You can choose forest, birds singing, water noises, or pleasant romantic melodies. Moreover, in the future you’ll be able to create your own pictures. Purchasing an item like this one you will always be in high spirits and stylish.
 

Umbrella controlsTo fulfill his idea the designer used electronic paper. He also installed a computer chip into the umbrella stem. In fact, we are not much interested into its detailed working mechanism. The thing we understood is that it’s connected with electricity and often gets wet. We hope that it’s absolutely safe and nobody will be harmed when using it in rainy day.  Walking with this item you’ll for sure attract everybody’s attention.
 

It should be especially romantic to use this together with your girl or boyfriend. At the same time the umbrella is a good and creative present for any person. As for me, I’d willingly experience this. Living in a big town I lack the nature. In fact, I’m always stressed.  Maybe this device will spare me low spirits!

Umbrella - sunny

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

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Posted in Convergence, General | Leave a comment |

Why HDMI is the Clear Choice for HDTV Connectivity

Posted on May 10, 2006 by Matt Whitlock

Let’s face it. The transition to HDTV has been a painful and confusing one. It’s bad enough that there are now 10 different types of TV technologies available in the market, but what’s worse is that display makers, content providers, set-top box manufacturers, and the entire PC industry has been pushing several completely different ways of connecting high definition components since the launch of the first HDTV products in 1998. What’s the end result? There are now millions of high definition products in the market, and they all have different plugs on the back. Component video, FireWire, DVI, and HDMI have all graced the back of a TV set at some point over the last eight years, and now consumers are thoroughly confused.

Fortunately, understanding the differences among these types of connections doesn’t mean you need a degree in rocket science. With a little bit of knowledge you can get a grasp of the current state of video connections, and learn which digital connection is the one you want to look for when shopping for a new HDTV.

Read the rest of this entry >> (external link)

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Posted in General, Guides, Video/Music/Media | Leave a comment |
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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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