Slashdot Mirror

...on why, perhaps, folks get slashdotted:

-rw-rw-r-- 1 jdf jdf 57197 Dec 17 10:12 original.html
-rw-rw-r-- 1 jdf jdf 10425 Dec 17 10:28 text.html

Yes, that's 47 kilobytes of javacript, headers, footers, CSS, and associated crap for about 10K of real info. Sure, there's also pictures and such, but this is basically 4x the original in overhead alone. Anyhow, here's the text from the site:

Pick a toy--any toy--for holiday gift-giving.

By Joan Lynch, Maura Butler, and Matt Miller -- EDN, 12/12/2002

Holy spokes, Bikeman!
Attach Hokey Spokes to your bike, and you'll have not only the coolest ride in the hood, but also the safest. Inventor and MIT graduate Dave Hoch wanted to take the terror out of night bike riding and designed the transparent "blades" to wirelessly communicate patterns or words with each other. You can put up to six blades on each wheel; a computer on each strip controls 16 LEDs in a variety of colors. Each blade costs $29.95 at www.hokeyspokes.com. Illumination Design Works, 1-617-924-4014.

Keyboard portability on a roll
Road warriors who prefer a full-sized keyboard with their laptops or PDAs will appreciate the Manhattan True-Touch Keyboard. When you're on the move, you can roll up the flexible, plastic unit and tuck it away. The keyboard features a QWERTY design and 104 raised keys that provide goodand quiettactile feedback, but using them will take some practice. Choose from PS/2 or USB connectivity. Units are dustproof and moistureproof and offer a lifetime of 15,000,000 keystrokes. Keyboards are available for around $27 from ThinkGeek, www.thinkgeek.com.

The "PC" PC
In an environmentally friendly move, NEC designed its PowerMate eco PC with 100% recyclable plastic and a 15-in. LCD flat-panel screen that contains no boron. The motherboard is made with lead-free solder, and the computer has no fan, which reduces the amount of dust dispersion for users with respiratory problems. The eco contains a 900-MHz Crusoe processor and a 20-Gbyte hard drive. And of course, it's Energy Star-compliant. The eco starts at $1599. NEC Corp, 1-800-338-9549, www.nec.com.

Free space
Combining a DVD player with a hard-disk-based PVR (personal video recorder), the Scenium Digital Media Recorder (DRS7000N) could be just the thing for overcrowded home-entertainment centers. The $599 unit features progressive-scan output for the clearest pictures and plays a variety of discs, including MP3 CDs and DVD+Rs/RWs. The PVR section handles the usual trick features, such as pausing live shows, and offers more than 30 hours of recording on its 40-Gbyte disk. Best of all, unlike PVRs such as TiVo, there's no fee for the EPG (electronic-program-guide) service. RCA/Thomson, 1-317-587-3000, www.rca.com.

The power of pictures
CyberLink's PowerProducer lets you produce your home movies and photos on DVD or CD for sharing with friends and family. If you're completely inexperienced, a step-by-step wizard-style program eases the way. It takes just three steps to import photo or video files from video-capture devices; you can then add special effects; adjust color; and trim, merge, and split video. The "QuickBurn" feature captures video from DV camcorders directly into DVDs in one click. Prices begin at $49.95. CyberLink USA, www.gocyberlink.com.

Mouse exterminator
Rid your desktop of mice with the iGesture Pad. The touchpad, which is just a bit smaller than a mouse pad, lets you use finger gestures to complete the same operations you would with a mouse. The $179 pad recognizes hundreds of hand gestures, including those that let you point, click, drag, and scroll. Twist your hand to open a file; spread your fingers to zoom. The USB-connected device is thin and small enough to travel and accepts commands from the right or left hand. Hmmm, wonder how it handles gestures you might make when your computer isn't behaving the way you'd like it to? FingerWorks, www.fingerworks.com.

Carry all
The multifunction Duex is an MP3/WMA player, voice recorder, and data-storage device in one portable package. Take off the bottom of the device to find a USB plug for attaching to the appropriate port on a computer. You can drag and drop music, image, video, and data files from the PC to the Duex and vice versa. The device features 128 Mbytes of memory for two hours of MP3 playback, four hours of WMA playback, and eight hours of voice playback; a backlit LCD shows song information in numerous languages. One AAA battery gives you more than 12 hours of music play. With a headphone/neckstrap, USB cable, software CD, manual, and one battery, the Duex mp302 costs $179. Innogear,
www.innogear.com.

Click it, stow it
The ultrasleek Pocket Digital is a handy, stylish way to capture favorite moments. The credit-card-sized digital camera captures and stores 52 high-resolution images at 1.3 megapixels. The lithium-polymer battery endures for hundreds of pictures and recharges through the USB connection. Image downloading is a snap. $129.95. Logitech, www.logitech.com.

The end of e-mail angst?
Neo (Nelson Email Organizer) might be just the ticket for reducing the stress associated with your daily barrage of e-mail. This add-on for Microsoft Outlook lets you work alongside or outside Outlook. Neo automatically sorts and prioritizes messages into intuitive folders. Searches are quick, and complicated filters are not necessary. The program deals with spam and bulk mailings and manages groups of messages by the type of attachments they contain (for example, all Excel files or Word documents together). Neo costs $39.95 for one copy; site licenses are also available. Caelo Software Inc, 1-250-354-5580, www.caelo.com.

Power protection
As more and more electronic equipment finds its way into more and more households, UPS devices could become commodity items for the average home owner. Six UPS models from Energizer will help protect home offices, home theaters, and PCs from power surges, spikes, brownouts, and outages. They automatically save open files, safely power down systems, and protect hardware when threatening power irregularities arise. Features include visual and audio warning indicators and USB connectivity. Prices range from $59.99 to $279.99. Eveready Battery Co, www.energizerups.com.

Surreptitious snapper
Fitting into the palm of your hand, the Mini Pen Cam 1.3 offers a still-image resolution of 1248960 pixels. Using its 16 Mbytes of flash memory, the device can store as many as 50 full-resolution pictures or 160 snapshots snapped at VGA resolution (640480). The $79.99 gadget also gives you the ability to shoot AVI-format movies, although their quality tops out at 624480 pixels and a choppy 10 frames/sec. In addition, the device, which runs on two AAA batteries, connects to a PC via USB to function as a Webcam. Aiptek, 1-949-585-9600, www.aiptek.com.

In touch, on the go
BlackBerry now lets you make and receive phone calls. The palm-sized BlackBerry 5810 wireless handheld device operates on GSM/GPRS networks to allow communication via wireless e-mail, SMS (short messaging service), or integrated GSM phone services, including call waiting, call answering, conference calling, and call forwarding. It comes with an earpiece and microphone for hands-free operation. You can even click on a telephone number inside an email message to place a call. The $499 device incorporates Java 2 Micro Edition. Research in Motion, www.blackberry.net.

Dude, you're gettin' a PDA
Like the PC before it, the PocketPC platform continues to attract more and more manufacturers. PC powerhouse Dell recently joined the fray with an aggressively priced model called the Axim X5. The device features a 3.5-in. transflective TFT with 240320-pixel resolution, as well as both CompactFlash and Secure Digital expansion slots. Two variants are available. The $299 model has a 400-MHz XScale processor, 64 Mbytes of SDRAM, and 48 Mbytes of flash ROM. A $199 configuration steps down to a 300-MHz processor and 32 Mbytes of each type of memory. Dell Computer, 1-800-999-3355, www.dell.com.

Risk averse
If you carry your office in a pocket-sized device, you're asking for trouble. What if you leave it on a plane or in a cab? The iPAQ h5450 tries to reduce the danger with integrated biometric security. A thermal fingerprint reader means only you can access your priceless data, and you can even add a layer of safety by combining the fingerprint sensor with a password. The $699 pocket-sized PC also includes a 400-MHz XScale processor, built-in IEEE 802.11b and Bluetooth capabilities, and an SDIO (Secure Digital Input Output) expansion slot. Hewlett-Packard, 1-650-857-1501, www.hp.com.

Bragging rights
The Zaurus SL-5600 gives the gadget geek ample reason to crow. It not only features a cool physical design with a hideaway keyboard, but also runs a version of Linux. The PDA boasts a 400-MHz Intel XScale processor, CompactFlash and Secure Digital expansion slots, 64 Mbytes of flash, 32 Mbytes of SDRAM, and a juicy 1700-mAhr battery. The device is slated to appear early next year, and pricing hasn't been announced yet, but its predecessor, the SL-5500, currently goes for $375. Sharp Electronics, 1-201-529-8200, www.sharpelectronics.com.

Stop graffiti
Thumb-pecked keyboards have become so popular on handheld devices that even Palm, the originator of the Graffiti handwriting-input system, now offers them. The $549 Tungsten W, slated for the first quarter of next year, features a tri-band GSM/GPRS radio and supports phone calls (via a headset), Web browsing, e-mail, and messaging. Powered by a 33-MHz Motorola Dragon-ball VZ processor, the PDA includes a Secure Digital expansion slot, Bluetooth, and a 320320-pixel color display. Palm, 1-408-503-7000, www.palm.com.

If this picture is accurate, I'm not sure it competes with the muvo. Look at the size of it!

See the "Flipster"...

Now you too can watch 11 minutes of highly compressed video on a tiny 160x234 screen....starting at $399.

See for example this car adapter: "Did you know you can use your MP3 Player in your car to enjoy through your car speakers? Play your portable CD players, Mini Disc and MP3 players through any audio cassette player! It is fully compatible with ALL our MP3 Players. This device is fully compatible with all our MP3 CD Players!" - has anyone actually used this or similar product? Does the thing have a dramatic effect on sound quality?

It's available for sale at the following sites:
Innogear.com
MP3 Factory Direct
DGN Depot

Althought the price has fortunately come down on the Minijam, support is less than stellar for new operating systems. In fact, Innogear originally said they had no plans to support WinXP or Mac OS X. Looking at their FAQ I see they now say they're "exploring" XP and OS X support for "early 2002".

Given that Innogear still hasn't implemented the originally promised functionality to read e-books and other files directly from the Minijam's memory, I'm skeptical that they'll get around to it that soon.

Plus, the Minijam uses MMC cards with a proprietary format, so you wouldn't be able to pop your MMC card into any old desktop adapter and pull your MP3's off that way (or put new ones on).

Early Visor adopters may remember Innogear as the company that boldly announced the SixPack module early on, which was supposedly going to provide six features like a 56kmodem, 8 megs of flash memory, vibrating alarm, voice recorder, etc. They claimed it would cost $199 and that it would be available Q1 2000.

After pushing that release date back for the better part of a year, they announced the cancellation of the project. I've never bought any Innogear products, as much as I'd like an MP3 player for my Visor, because I don't trust the company to provide me with adequate support for the damn thing.

The SoundsGood MP3 player springboard seemed to be well received, but it has been discontued and didn't use external memory.

You'll find all kinds of consumer opinion about the Minijam at this site.

-Andy

P.S. You might want to check out the Sony Clie PEG-N760c for PDA/MP3 Capability. Sony seems poised to kick Handspring's ass.

With the addition of the CompactFlash adapter from people like MatchBook Drive and Innogear along with the software from Kopsis Handspring devices now have compact flash storage with VFS support (Currently in beta) so they can run all the fancy apps made for PalmOS 4's VFS support (Storing data and programs on the CF cards and launching from them).

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Assuming that I'm thinking as your typical consumer, I can't imagine why I would be paying more money for a mp3 player that requires me to already own a visor(which I do). It can't sync by itself, it has no LCD and yet I pay more(despite my $180-$260 inital visor purchase). Oh and it I want to run it without my visor it costs my an extra $40!!? It doesn't any sense? Anyway, there is another mp3 player for the visor coming out but it looks like it's going to cost roughly the same amount.

Looking at the two MP3 units that are for Handspring, here's my thinking:

The price of the abovementioned Good.com SoundsGood module is too high for what it is. I just walked through Best Buy, and there's a lot of 32Mb and 64Mb standalone MP3 players that are competitive on price.

You're paying for the features that may be presented through the Visor's screen interface. There's just not that much indexing you can do with an hour or two's worth of music.

The formfactor of the delayed competitor, InnoGear MiniJam module is way too blobby. It won't let you keep your Visor in a standard case, because it extends behind and above the basic Visor case.

The SoundsGood appears to have the formfactor right. It stays flush within the space allotted in the main case. Even the headphone jack doesn't appear to interfere with the Visor's clip-lid (either open or closed), it is a bit to the left side. My standard case actually uses one of the clip lids to grasp the Visor, so this is good news for the SoundsGood. I could leave my zippered case open a little on the top edge, and jam.

I'm interested to know whether either of these units will draw many CPU cycles, or block the use of the Visor for its main task, which is to keep me organized.

Both the deluxe and cheap versions of the Handspring Visor come with a microphone built into the case. I still have yet to see ONE application that can use it, whether through software or Springboard hardware. Not even a bundled app makes trivial use of it.

If you already have MMC cards, it will cost around $100
(Looks like it's $200 with one 32 meg card)

plays MP3s at any bit rate from 32K to 320K

should be software upgradable to support additional codecs in the future

lets you store programs/data on the MMC cards

it has a LED alarm

Looks like a much better deal to me - I'll probably get one.
--

If you already have MMC cards, it will cost around $100
(Looks like it's $200 with one 32 meg card)

plays MP3s at any bit rate from 32K to 320K

should be software upgradable to support additional codecs in the future

lets you store programs/data on the MMC cards

it has a LED alarm

Looks like a much better deal to me - I'll probably get one.
--

If you already have MMC cards, it will cost around $100
(Looks like it's $200 with one 32 meg card)

plays MP3s at any bit rate from 32K to 320K

should be software upgradable to support additional codecs in the future

lets you store programs/data on the MMC cards

it has a LED alarm

Looks like a much better deal to me - I'll probably get one.
--

there is another, perhaps better known (at least in the Visor community) Springboard MP3 player. The MiniJam from InnoGear uses removable MMC cards for storage. There is a user's review of it (with plenty of pix) here. That same site, VisorCentral also lists an announced-but-not-shipping Rio Springboard module from Diamond.

There is also the Mini -jam from Innogear

There is also the Mini -jam from Innogear

You can play MP3s on a Visor, at least. Check out the Handspring home page. Or maybe you'd be more interested in the SpringBoard addon that actually does the MP3 playing.

You'd be surprised what that little PalmOS is still capable of. Especially in capable hands.

The convergence in the handheld market is really fun to watch. This is the first mobile phone + MP3 combination I've seen. Elsewhere, we've seen the mobile phone + Palm OS from Qualcomm. And we've seen the Palm OS + MP3 combination from Handspring and Innogear Now each combination of two of the three technologies has been comercialized.

The next step is clear: we'll see a mobile phone + mp3 player + handheld OS combination unit. I hesitate to say Palm OS (though I have some personal preferences there) because Microsoft seem interested in a CE system along these lines. A Linux based system seems an unlikely dark horse. At the rate this market has been developing, we could see this mobile + mp3 + Palm OS combo by Christmas - but I suspect 2001 is more likely.

What about a Handspring Visor? I have one and love it, it's cheap (relitively speaking) and it has the Springboard port. Right now there are a number of companies working on wireless Springboard modules. For instance there is Xircom, who is in the process of building a wireless modem, bluetooth modem and an ethernet module. According to their site, they should be released later this summer. Innogear also has some cool products for the Springboard available and under development.

In the meantime if you want movie times and maps there are some apps for Palm OS that you can install. For movie times there is a little program called Showtimes that allows you to download movie times for you favorite theaters from Yahoo! and stores them in a database, on your Visor or Palm, that you can access very easily. It's an awesome program and it is free!! As far as maps go, there is software available from Mapblast.com, called PocketBlast, that allows you to import maps to your handheld device of choice.

My aforementioned solution to the whole MP3 issue: the upcoming Visor Springboard module MP3 player. I just got a Visor Pro (the blue one, if you care) and i'm loving it already. There is an MP3 player being released for it this summer, i have my name on the mailinglist already for more info... What's so special about it? Two things.

1.) It uses "MMC" memory cards, not the crappy "smartmedia" that all of the Rios and their breathren use.
2.) it has NO builtin memory, but has TWO card slots.

What's good about these things? The BIGGEST good point - MMC cards come in 64 MB size. Now onto point number two. Think. 64+64 == 128 Mbytes of MP3 storage. THE LARGEST SOLID STATE SIZE ON THE MARKET, at this moment. Plus, because BOTH cards are removable, if/when a 128mb module comes out, you can stick in two of those, instead of being stuck with a base 64mb and only having the versatility of ONE addon.

The thing runs off of the batteries on the Visor, but also has a plug for an external adaptor. Est. retail price for a memory-less model: $100.

They say a 64 meg version should go for $225.

STILL cheaper than a 64 meg Rio500, and WOW, it uses USB to load (right through your handspring)... you can play the audio while using the visor too, the player has all its own DSPs and stuff, just uses the visor for batteries and (if you want) display of ID3 tags.

Yes, i have linkage. Right here. Check Innogear's "MiniJam" out.
If you found this informative, well, MODERATE it!

My aforementioned solution to the whole MP3 issue: the upcoming Visor Springboard module MP3 player. I just got a Visor Pro (the blue one, if you care) and i'm loving it already. There is an MP3 player being released for it this summer, i have my name on the mailinglist already for more info... What's so special about it? Two things.

1.) It uses "MMC" memory cards, not the crappy "smartmedia" that all of the Rios and their breathren use.
2.) it has NO builtin memory, but has TWO card slots.

What's good about these things? The BIGGEST good point - MMC cards come in 64 MB size. Now onto point number two. Think. 64+64 == 128 Mbytes of MP3 storage. THE LARGEST SOLID STATE SIZE ON THE MARKET, at this moment. Plus, because BOTH cards are removable, if/when a 128mb module comes out, you can stick in two of those, instead of being stuck with a base 64mb and only having the versatility of ONE addon.

The thing runs off of the batteries on the Visor, but also has a plug for an external adaptor. Est. retail price for a memory-less model: $100.

They say a 64 meg version should go for $225.

STILL cheaper than a 64 meg Rio500, and WOW, it uses USB to load (right through your handspring)... you can play the audio while using the visor too, the player has all its own DSPs and stuff, just uses the visor for batteries and (if you want) display of ID3 tags.

Yes, i have linkage. Right here. Check Innogear's "MiniJam" out.
If you found this informative, well, MODERATE it!

Checkout MiniJam. A Handspring add-on module.

I have a Handspring Visor that I use on a daily basis and bought specifically because of the expansion module (and lower price). I'm hoping that someone will come out with a springboard module that doesn't extend beyond the edge of the Visor's case. The MiniJam from Innogear just seems to bulky and the small size of the Music Clip from Sony proves it. Remove the screen and usb connector (I'm guessing you can load songs into the modules via the springboard connector through the Visor at a decent rate) from the Music Clip and the circuitry must be quite small. The only issues would then be the buttons, headphone jack (put them on the top edge of the springboard) and battery life (use a rechargable battery pack in the module and dc power connector on the top or just use the visor batteries). One of the reasons PDA's are cool is because they're small and I'd like to keep mine that way.

This "pluggable" MP3 player for the Gameboy reminds me a whole lot of the Handspring "Springboard" MP3 player from Innogear. The MiniJam Player uses the same approach as this Gameboy product uses of inserting a module with a DSP, stero-out, and memory; and leaving the "host" hardware to do management functions.

I might actually buy the player from Innogear: I just love those buttons on the top (ala MiniDisc)! It is just too bad they had to go with a proprietary flash memory spec. Bummer.

For the MiniJam spec in PDF, click here.

-AP

This "pluggable" MP3 player for the Gameboy reminds me a whole lot of the Handspring "Springboard" MP3 player from Innogear. The MiniJam Player uses the same approach as this Gameboy product uses of inserting a module with a DSP, stero-out, and memory; and leaving the "host" hardware to do management functions.

I might actually buy the player from Innogear: I just love those buttons on the top (ala MiniDisc)! It is just too bad they had to go with a proprietary flash memory spec. Bummer.

For the MiniJam spec in PDF, click here.

-AP

This "pluggable" MP3 player for the Gameboy reminds me a whole lot of the Handspring "Springboard" MP3 player from Innogear. The MiniJam Player uses the same approach as this Gameboy product uses of inserting a module with a DSP, stero-out, and memory; and leaving the "host" hardware to do management functions.

I might actually buy the player from Innogear: I just love those buttons on the top (ala MiniDisc)! It is just too bad they had to go with a proprietary flash memory spec. Bummer.

For the MiniJam spec in PDF, click here.

-AP