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Review of the Cybiko Xtreme
Levendis23 writes: "We've just posted our latest review: the Cybiko Xtreme. Pretty slick little gadget, with RF networking and ability to set up bluetooth-like clouds so that other units can talk to each other, play games, or swap files. You can can even use another unit at as a repeater to bounce your message to another unit out of your range."
The article is one big freakin' advertisment for this stuff. Is slashdot gearing up for Christmas, or what?
The Gardener
--
Just a couple days ago my father related to me how he was telling his students about Fidonet - sending a message across country by having it hop modem'd servers in the good ol' days - and the kids saying "Why not just use the internet?"
So having these little babies spread across a country could easily lead to a "Cybiko across America", eh? An alternative to the U.S. gov't filtering all our packets? Hmmm...
Since the article is long on hype and thin on substance, here are some details:
2 NiMH Rechargeable Batteries - Not Removable
Power Adapter
USB
Installation CD
I don't have the hardware specs on the new "Xtreme", but here is the previous model:
CYBIKO COMPUTER MODEL CY6411.
Hardware specifications
Main Processor: 32 bit, 11 MHz Hitachi H8S/2246
Coprocessor: Atmel AT90S2313, 4 MHz
RAM: 512 KB
Flash disk: 512 KB, extendible up to 1 MB
LCD display: 160x100 dots, 59x40 mm, 4 level grayscale
RF transceiver: RF2915
Expansion cartridge slot: 68-pin
PC connection socket: RS232 serial port
Size: 5.7" x 2.8" x 0.86"
Weight: 4.3 oz
Software specifications
Operating System: CyOS v.1.2
Software: CyOS v.1.2 compatible apps
Communication Protocol: CyDP x.30 (Cybiko RF Digital Protocol)
Dynamic Wireless Local Network: automatically provided by CyOS v.1.2 and CyDP x.30
RF communication features
Frequency: 902-928 MHz
Number of channels: 30 digital channels
Communication Rate: 19200 bps each channel
Transmission and Receiving Range: 150 ft. indoors, 300 ft. outdoors (environment dependent)
Max. online Cybiko units: 3000 (100 units on each of 30 channels)
The Gardener
--
I had one of the original "classic" cybiko's. Why did I have it? Because they gave them away by the boatload in a contest on their website where everyone who signed up won one pretty much. A lot of people who got them took them right back to Best Buy/CompUSA/Staples/Toys R US etc. and got themself a $100 return credit. I wonder how many of these give-aways they're including in the "half a million" they claim they sold.
.com/tech company down the tubes. Their new one seems pretty nice though, the size was one of the kickers with the original, maybe they'll make it this time.
That aside, it was really a pretty neat toy for any one in school still. It was no PDA, but it wasn't meant to be one either. They eliminated features that you can live without in a device targeted towards school kids (touch screen, high res screen, size, etc.) and they added some really nice features (wireless networking which could chat, play games, check email, etc). It would supposedly automatically network with nearby Cybiko's so you could chat, and play games with them, and if one of them was plugged into a computer, you could use that one to access the internet to check email and stuff, though I dunno how well these things actually worked as I never met anyone with one besides me.
I was a little surprised these things didn't catch on more. I'm guessing that's why they gave so many away, because this seems like the sorta thing with a critical mass. On its own, it sucks (not much fun to chat with yourself), but the more people who have it, the better it becomes. Add in the school mentality of the more people who have it, the cooler it becomes as well, and I thought this thing had a lot of potential if they could have gotten the spark started.
But in their giveaway they screwed up big time by not including an age limit at that time, so the wrong people ended up with these things, and those people took them back to the stores, thus taking away even more sales for them! I'm surprised to see that these guys are still around, I was sure at the time after that mistake, and giving away 1000's of these things that surely they would be just another
Though this also seems like exactly the sort of thing where just as it starts to get popular, school administrators will start banning it, so I don't think they're out of the woods yet......
I can't wait for the day when this sort of technology (the ability to communicate with/through other units) comes to the PDA. Palm Pilots and Visors are on just about every desk here at the office and the ability to schedule meetings, send messages and (play games) over wireless would be very useful and widely used.
Wooden armaments to battle your imaginary foes!
Specs are on the web site...
http://www.cybikoxtreme.com/support/specs.asp
http://windows.scares.us
Don't forget, AOL is directing the development of the Cybiko. The Cybiko will be AOL's Palm Pilot.
Look away from the light.
Software Wars
imagine a beowulf cluster of these!....for..uh, cheating on tests?
moox. for a new generation.
Said you can now get a MP3 player with purchase of a cybiko extreme. It plugs into the expansion slot. It also adds the SD/MMC slot and can take cards of any size. Not a bad idea to get sales going! The more Cybiko's the better.
Gorkman
With these PDA-alikes becoming more and more powerful, I wonder if these couldn't be used as a weapon for cyberterrorism/espionage.
Let's see you have a small, decent computer. Networking capabilities. Easily hidden and, hey, would anyone expect an assault from these things ?
The keyboard comes in handy for mission critical scripting etc.
Just go into desired building, h4x0r their nets (or aquire confidential data - when you are working for govermental bodies) and leave.
And you'll get away because noone will notice that YOU did anything. Might work with laptops, too, but laptops are more difficult to hide and may raise suspicion.
Owner of a Mensa membership card.
A quick perusal of their website doesn't reveal any thing that would allow someone do their own coding. Toys like this are only worth having if they are hackable :). Anyone know of any projects to hack them or provide dev. tools. Heck does any SELL dev tools for the sucker?
Anybody else thinking...graphing calulcator?
Look at the shape of it. And where the buttons are placed, and the screen itself.
Now where did I put my radio scanner...?
Proteus' Child
Doko ni datte; hito wa, tsunagette iru.
Imagine a beowulf cluster of those!!!
I used to be active in the cybiko community. Here are some links:
www.cybla.com
www.cybimunk.com
www.devcybiko.com
Hope you find these useful
The Cybiko lets you specify your sexual preferences and the unit will emit a low frequency tremor (like a page) when others with the same sexual preferences come near you. IT'S GAYDAR! No this is not a joke!
I'm a bit skeptical about this. I had the VTech "phones" expecting to talk with all sorts of people and exchanging voice mail with other people, but upon buying 2 of them, I quickly realized they had almost NO range whatsoever. Boy did I feel ripped off.
And the best thing about the new cybiko is that the market for the old ones have dropped like a rock. I've had one of the old ones for awhile now, and they are fairly nifty(you can get a C devkit and write you own tools). You can only get the MP3 player for the old one second hand but it is pretty good.($20 cybiko, $40 mp3, $40 memory upgrade=$100 mp3player+wireless). Now that they are going for so cheap, I think I'll finally buy a few extras so I can set up a WAP gateway for mine.
Although, the new one's look like they are barely worth it, if the keypad is truly better... The #1 crappy thing about the old cybiko was the POS 1 piece rubber keypad.
Oh, and if anyone actually paid the quoted price of $150, they were suckers. They had a 2 for $100 deal for quite awhile, when you could sell the second on ebay for $60-80
These things work right smack in the middle of the 902-928 MHz Ham radio band (it's a shared allocation). There are a number of ham radio folks looking at boosting the power and modifying the antenna system (legal to do only if you have a Tech or higher ham license). It shouldn't be too difficult to pump the power up to the point where the usable range is something on the order of a mile or so. Then, things ought to start getting interesting.
...phil
"For a list of the ways which technology has failed to improve our quality of life, press 3."
to say this, nothing compares to a pocket PC... sad but true, as far as capabilities and bang for the buck go.. they blow everything away, an $150 Ipq from amazon will blow anything else in its range from anyoneelse away as far as the processor and memory is concerned..
..
rather than this, you should get an ipaq
The war with islam is a war on the beast
The war on terror is a war for peace
Are these "compatable" with the older cybiko?
Specifically in wireless connectivity and data sharing.
That is a very important issue.
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
Imagine a Beowolf Cluster of THESE!!!
My daughter wants only this for Christmas this year. While her school has BANNED the Cybiko, her CLASS is allowed to bring them in and use them.
WHY?Because her teacher has one!!
Seriously, she is in the "techie" class--they have one Dell OptiPlex per 4 kids. They are learning basic html and the Microsoft office suite along with the regular 5th grade curriculum.
She will be the first one with the Xtreme--most of the kids have the regular Cybiko. They have been on sale locally for around $40, so a bunch of parents picked them up.
I bought a couple of Cybikos a year ago. I felt that they were actually pretty good value for the money but I could see where there were some shortfalls and I predicted that it wouldn't be long before they released a new version with some of the better features. Cybiko denied they had anything planned and a lot of people said it wouldn't happen but *smug*.
Seriously though, these are cool devices. The SDK is open and free although documentation was a little lacking last time I checked. There is a whole host of games and apps for them (as with the palm) and a thriving developer community. Also, one of the coolest things is that if you have two of these things, you can use one as a tunnel, connect to your PC and have wireless internet on the other one.
I was planning on writing some apps for mine but unfortunately, events overtook me this year. Now they have this new one out, I shall have to have another look (I hope the Xtreme has a serial port like the classic)
Rich
Before you jump to any conclusions as to who "controls" Cybiko, find out all the investors, who owns what percent, and what shares have voting rights.
The article repeatedly states that the cybiko came out a year ago. I remember two years ago when I saw someone playing on one though.
One, what's inside it? I dind't see processor or memeory specs on that site..
Two, I tried to look for that info on
cybico's us website
and guess what? It gave me this error.
Sorry, to access to the page you need to enable "cookies" in your browser settings.
A "cookies" is a small amount of information that a web site copies to your computer.
If you use Internet Explorer 5.0, you have to do the following to enable "cookies":
Press 'Tools' on the top bar of Internet Explorer. Then press 'Internet Options' -> 'Security' and set medium or lower level of security. You can also press 'Custom' button in 'Security' options and set 'Allow per session cookies (not stored)' in 'Enable'.
If you use Internet Explorer 6.0, you have to do the following to enable "cookies":
Press 'Tools' on the top bar of Internet Explorer. Then press 'Internet Options' -> 'Security' and set medium or lower level of security. You can also press 'Advanced' button in 'Privacy' options and uncheck 'Override automatic cookie handling' box.
If you want to be notified when Internet Explorer accepts a cookie, check 'Override automatic cookie handling' and set 'First-party Cookies' & 'Third-party Cookies' in 'Prompt'.
If you use AOL 5.0:
On the 'My AOL' menu, click 'Preferences'. On the 'Preferences' window, click 'WWW', then press 'Security' tab. Set medium (or lower) level of security (or press 'Custom' button and set 'Allow per session cookies (not stored)' in 'Enable'). Click 'Ok'. If that does not work, please update to AOL 6.0.
If you use Netscape Navigator 4.7 or higher:
From the Edit menu, choose Preferences. Click the Advanced category. Click one of the radio buttons. If you want to be notified when Communicator accepts a cookie, check "Warn me before accepting a cookie."
Home © 1999-2001. Cybiko, Inc. All rights reserved.
can you belive the nerve of them? Not to mention their incredibly bad coding standards to make a site that can't handle these things graciously!
Bastards.
You are only young once, but you can stay immature indefinitely.
Has Quake been ported to this? I wonder if you could use the wireless networking for a Beowulf cluster?
Please Include this comment with your Taco-Snotting FAQ guide. Thanks.
Important Information For Slashdot Users
It has come to my attention that the entire Slashdot editor crew engage in homosexual activities. CmdrTaco is one such person who shares in this, and is often referred to as the leader of this purely gay movement. This cult has been created for the worship and the spreading of Taco-Snotting beliefs and values. For further information on Taco-Snotting please refer to George WIPO Bush's Taco-Snotting FAQ which can be easily found by searching for the Slashdot journal of George WIPO Bush or by looking in the comments of Slashdot articles (Usually modded -1).
It has also come to my attention that CmdrTaco has other interests besides homosexuality (Believe it or not). One such interest includes a budding music career with a song titled "Gaping Anus". The details are very sketchy on this topic but all I know are that besides the vocals of CmdrTaco, it also includes Slashdot editors Timothy and CowboyNeal with various references to others involved in this homosexual cult. One puzzling oddity is the inclusion of Pamela Lee Anderson in the song. She is a female who is worshipped by many men and women far and wide for her large sizes of certain bodily parts. If anyone has any information on this specific topic, please post it in under this message in the Slashdot comments. There has been no release date set for this album or which record label it will be produced under. I believe CmdrTaco is planning to set up his own label, Taco-Snotting Records, with the intention of releasing the song on a cd-single with various remixes as soon as possible to catch the current popularity of the Taco-Snotting fad (Don't belive this fad will wear out like a Snotted-out-geek. I am sorry to say Taco-Snotting is here to stay
Through a good, non-homosexual friend of mine, I have recieved a copy of the lyrics to the "Gaping Anus" musical composition. Included at the end of this post is a very speical tribute ending written by yours truely. Perhaps CmdrTaco will ask of me to provide the vocals for this ending. Please feel free to read the lyrics (In true type font) and share your comments and disgust.
BTW, please do not reply with the intention of flaming me because the lyrics are a rip-off of ICP's "Slim Anus". CmdrTaco is the author of this fine musical work and not me. So, in conclusion it is obviously he who has ripped off ICP and not me. I am truely serious. Thank you.
Hi, my name is what?
My name is who?
My name is Gaping Anus
Hi, my name is huh?
My name is what?
My name is the fudgepacker
Hi, my name is what?
My name is who? (Excuse me)
My name is the nutlicker
Hi, my name is what? (Can I have the attention of your ass?)
My name is who?
My name is the buttsniffer
Hi, kids do you like Anus?
I let Linus Torvalds fill up my butt for a chance to be famous (Uh huh)
Wanna copy me and do exactly like I did? (Yeah)
Try Taco-Snotting and get your butt pumped out like I did?
My brains dead weight
I'm tryin to get my head straight
But I can't figure out
Which Slashdot editor I wanna impregnate
Timothy said, "CmdrTaco you a cutie" (Uh huh)
"I'll give you a deal, let me up in that booty" (OK!)
Well since age 12 I felt like I'm someone else
Cause I choked my original self Taco-Snotting him (Yup)
Got pissed off and ripped Pamela Lee's tits off
She don't know how to do Chris D
I'd suck his dick off
Hi, my anus who?
My anus what?
My anus it gets tapped dawg
Hi, my anus (Excuse me)
My anus
My anus every now and then gets plugged up
Hi, my anus (Can I have the attention of your ass?)
My anus
My anus is occasionally reamed out
Hi, my anus who?
My anus what?
My anus really needs to be filled up
My boss wanted to fire me yesterday
I told him to take his pants off, hooked him up, he let me slide
I pinched his ass
He winked at me
He chased me around the desk
I told him "Come and get me!"
Walked in the strip club
Had my jacket zipped up
Flashed the bartender
And I tried to feel his dick up
Extra-terestrial runnin over pedestrians
In a space ship while they screamin at me
Let's just be friends!
99% of my life I was lied to
I just found out my Mom screws more guys than I do (Damn)
I told her I'd grow up to be a famous Taco-Snotter
She met CowboyNeal I couldn't believe it when he slapped her
You know you blew up when the women rush the stands
And try to touch your hands
But I need me a man
This guy at Gay Al's strip club asked for my autograph (Dude can I get your
autograph?)
So I signed it Dear Alan Cox, thanks for the support
Nice ass!
Hi, my name is huh?
My name is who? (Excuse me)
My name is (They call me the pore plugger)
Hi, my name is what?
My name is who?
My name is the inch itcher (Excuse me)
One of Slashdot's gay boys
They call me the butt itcher
Hi, my name is what?
My name is who?
My name is (I've been called Hemos' butt boy)
Stop the tape this gaylord needs to be locked away (Get him)
Cliff, don't just stand there operate
Or feel up my balls and buttcheeks
Anal lube got my ass greasy for weeks
Stick your manhood between my cheeks (Yup)
Am I coming or going
I can barely decide
I just drank a pint of semen
Dare me to drive? (Go ahead)
All my life I was very deprived
CowboyNeal's butt is too sexy to hide
Take your pants off Neal I don't mind
Clothes rip like the incredible Hulk
I Taco-Snot when I talk
I do any guy that walks
When I was little I used to get so hungry I would throw fits
Sometimes I sit and wish Hemos had a set of tits
CowboyNeal: "Get behind me CmdrTaco and grab me by my hips"
If I do that then I can't kiss you on your lips
By the way if you see my Dad
Ask him if he seen my spread in Gay House Porno Mag
Hi, my anus who?
My anus what?
My anus gets tapped up
Hi, my anus who?
My anus what?
My anus it's always getting plugged up
Hi, my anus who?
My anus what?
My anus occasionally reamed out
My anus it needs to be filled up
Your anus
Your anus
Your anus is always getting plugged
Your anus
Your anus
Your anus is always getting stuffed
You wanna diss us?
We don't even know you you little bitch
You wanna sit there and diss us?
You little bitch I'll slap your face off
That's what happens when you go up against the Slashdot Trolls trick
You little bitch (Laughs)
Gaping Anus!
Get a life you loser! Don't you have anything better to do than insult CmdrTaco and the gay community? We are not perverts, we are human beings just like you. So give it a rest!