Sorry for posting so much on the Meet-up but we’re trying to figure out the best way to gather invites and let our venue know how many are coming. If you’re in New York on October 13 and want to get free stuff and free booze—and don’t want to dig around the Grand Central Station trash cans to get it—head over to our Mollyguard site which lets you buy “tickets.” The tickets will be used during our lottery, which will include an iPod spa package (I know!), something that will help you sleep better at night, and maybe a laptop or three. How does that sound?
Here’s more info and as we get closer I’ll only be posting reminders. Thanks for being so nice and patient.
Here’s an idea that I would probably use a lot. A group of German students have developed a new Java program that will automatically update to your cell phone every time you enter a particular Bluetooth hotspot. What does it update, you ask? Right now, it’s the menu in the cafeterias at Dresden Technical University. When you walk through the Central Mess Hall, all 15 menus (or just the ones of your choosing) will be updated up to two weeks in advance. They’re calling the hardware Bluebot, and I can imagine this really taking off for advertisers. Think walking down 5th Avenue in New York while advertisements just start popping up on your phone.
Edit: When Bluetooth was originally explained to me years ago, this was how it was presented. Being able to go to an airport and having all your flight times automatically coordinated to you. I’d like to see stuff like this realized soon. – Blake
If you’re too cheap to buy a Sony eReader and too lazy to flip a real book by yourself, there’s the Japanese automatic book reader. All you have to do is plop down your book, set the page turning interval (automatic, or timed at X minutes), and voila, a machine turns the pages so you don’t have to.
Of course, your eventual blindness from lack of exercise and diabetes will prevent you from enjoying books of any kind, be it “e” or otherwise, so you may want to move around a little bit instead of being a lazy sack. Three thousand dollars gets you one of these. So we suppose and eReader may be the better solution after all.
I don’t consider myself a GPS expert, but this seems like a pretty bad thing. According to Cornell researchers, all GPS units will be serverely affected in the year 2011 by a dramatic increase in solar flares. Apparently, they have always been extremely succeptable to solar activity, but it hasn’t been a big deal because the sun has been relatively calm since the rise of GPS recievers. In 2011, however, solar activity will rise “due to cyclic changes to the Sun’s magnetic field – a peak period known as the solar maximum.” The researchers are saying that throughout the year, GPS units will simply fail for hours at a time. This could be a serious problem for airplane pilots, Search & Rescue teams, and my dad when he’s trying to find his way to the new Home Depot.
Looks like BenQ’s attempt at hitting the Euro-America cellphone market is a dud. BenQ Mobile is closing its doors and laying off 3,000 employees. Apparently the company made no money, burned through initial investments like a cokehead with a year-end bonus, and is now dead.
But the problems started almost immediately. BenQ invested €840 million in the mobile phone project only to generate huge losses. In the first quarter of 2006, the company was in the red to the tune of €155 million. And that following a disappointing Christmas season last year.
I never had an issue with BenQ phones – most of them were fairly cool – but they never really made it over here and when we asked BenQ reps over and over last year when they’d start selling in the U.S., they just kind of said “Meh?” and went and got another beer.
Dell announced this morning that it would recall an additional 100,000 faulty laptop batteries. This latest announcement will move the total number of recalled batteries to 4.2 million.
Toshiba also announced a recall of 830,000 batteries, made at the request of Sony. The Sony batteries explode due to shards of metal left within the cells. To date, nearly 7 million Sony batteries have been recalled due to the problem.
We’ll be closing the voting at 3pm EST today, so vote early and often. Read more about the contest here, but the submitter of the best name will win a T-Mobile Trace. Roar!
Japanese scientists have developed a new “wearable power suit” that makes you look a lot like a Terminator. The suit is built for nursing homes, where employees would wear them in order to carry patients around. I always thought beds rolled for that purpose, but I guess that’s just not good enough anymore. A combination of portable batteries, micro air pumps and small body sensors help you lift 180 pounds with half the effort it took you, pre-power suit. The only drawback to the current model is the 30-minute battery life, but the engineers behind the suit say that future versions could help the elderly or disabled to walk, rather than simply being carried around by others wearing the suit.
So far UMPCs have been fairly silly — they’re small, cute, and useless — but the next generation should be much better. They promise.
Intel, for example, is showing off a Yahoo-branded UMPC that includes a Core Solo processor for increased battery life. They’re also expecting embedded GPS and wireless as well as cellular networking through Sierra Wireless and Nokia.
I’ve seen a few UMPCs in my day and haven’t been very impressed. Again, I prefer the basic Internet tablet over a fully powered mili PC, but there are some folks out there who need a tiny XP machine in the palm of your hand. I just don’t think the current crop – or this pseudocrop described by Intel – is quite what they’re looking for.
I’ve been wanting to see the Xbox 360 Live Vision out in the open, but until now I haven’t gotten a chance to check it out. From all the product pages the Live Vision looks a lot bigger than in the pictures above. If you don’t see it, it’s sitting on top of the LCD (which is a 36-inch). The resolution isn’t too bad either. You aren’t going to be blowing up the pictures too big anyway. It kind of reminds of the little spaceship in “Batteries Not Included”. One immediate change I think Microsoft should consider is the color of the Live Vision. It matches the Xbox 360, but not many people sit facing their consoles. Not too big of a deal, but it doesn’t match TVs well either.
If you want a Zune bad, and don’t want the pressure of walking over to Best Buy in November, Wal-Mart has got the answer. As of today, you can pre-order a Zune for $249.94 on the Wal-Mart website. If you read the tiny little letters you will see “Should ship on 11/14/06.” If you really want a Zune on the 14th, it might be better to just sit tight so you don’t have to wait for shipping or pay shipping charges. The good news is: Zune is coming.
Press Release [HP via 
Sony announces global battery replacement program [Japan Today]
A new MP3 and radio watch [Akihabara News via 
Looks like BenQ’s attempt at hitting the Euro-America cellphone market is a dud. BenQ Mobile is closing its doors and laying off 3,000 employees. Apparently the company made no money, burned through initial investments like a cokehead with a year-end bonus, and is now dead.
Why the New .Mac Webmail is Important [TechCrunch]
 then you can basically find the cheapest compatible plan and chat your life away.</p>
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Accessories in the box [Zune Insider]
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