..and the crumbs are evrywhere, aren’t they? Hmmm – that’s kinda gross, isn’t it?

Well, if you own a Mac Book, Mac Book Pro, or Apple Keyboard then you are in luck – iSkin has created the ProTouch, a protective cover that will perfectly protect your keyboard and keep all of the crumbs, spills, key wear, and “other particles” from getting under your keys.

We don’t want to even thnk about what those “other particles” might be, do we?

I’m a little disappointed that they aren’t making these for my Toshy, but then…with a name like iSkin, we know where their loyalties lie. Lucky Mac users!

  

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[Ed. note: Larry originally wrote this article for the Palm Is Life forum, but he has also translated it for posting here. To see this article in the original Chinese, click here. Happy Hacking!]

When the Palm Treo 650 launched, it came with an earpiece issue; its speaker sound was too low for regular people to hear. How bad is it? Well, you could clearly hear the caller’s voice in a quiet room, but you probably couldn’t hear a honeybee flying around your ear while outdoors – even if you have turned your Treo 650 to the loudest level.

Later Palm Inc. released newer firmware to make the sound level of the earpiece receiver louder. However, unlike geeks, regular people may not know how to update their Treo 650 to fix bugs. Further, upgrading the firmware can be risky since doing so may result in repair charges not covered under warranty if the ROM flashing process fails. I guess a lot of users will leave the volume problem either because they don’t know how to fix it, or they are afraid of the update firmware process.

GoTreo Software Inc. must have heard the outcry from Treo 650 users, so they released the software called (Now the latest version is called “VolumeCare Pro”

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It didn’t hit home that the last Palm OS device I had owned was the Tapwave Zodiac, until Alison from Astraware asked if I would like to take a look at their new Palm OS game Cake Mania. But I couldn’t, because I had sold the Zod in 2005 and had never replaced it. D’oh!

Seeing that I enjoy using a Windows Mobile 5 device as my main brain, I thought it would be a good idea to swap my Samsung A900 (a decidedly non-smart phone) with a Palm OS smart phone – specifically Sprint’s Treo 700p. This device has been out for about four months, and I kept seeing it around…and it was growing on me.

To backtrack for just a moment: I had reviewed the Treo 600 Palm OS Powered Phone in October 2003, and though I liked it well enough, I had never joined the nation’s Treo craze. Since the 600’s introduction the Treo line has improved quite a bit – anyone that doesn’t think so should take a look at the 600’s specifications when compared to the 700’s – it’s like night and day. The hardware has basically stayed true to the original rock-solid design, although there have been some subtle tweaks along the way; I guess that when something is working there is no reason to really fool with the formula.

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G-A just sent a link to his latest Nihon Car test drive, featuring the drool-worthy Honda NSX. He has been teasing me for over a month about how he was going to get to drive this car on an airstrip. Not fair!

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Then you should check this out, from the Gear Diary Free Trade Publications section…

Request Your Free Webcast: BlackBerry Tips and Tricks for QWERTY Devices!

Attend this Webcast to learn tips & tricks from the most avid BlackBerry users.In this webcast, learn how to get the most use out of BlackBerry short-cut keys, notification profiles and saved messages, as well as how to educate your end users to become more savvy BlackBerry users.

Geographic Eligibility: USA, Canada

Publisher: Research In Motion

If you have a friend or family member that loves to play games on their PDA or Smartphone, but you don’t know what titles they already own, it might seem easier just to get them something to wear than to try to pry their device from their hands. Never fear…

Astraware Gift Certificates  are here and they make the perfect holiday gift. Available in denominations of $15, $20, $30, $50, $75 and $100, the gift certificate can be immediately emailed to the recipient with the giver’s message.

Did you hear that? Immediately emailed…that means easy last minute shopping.

You’ll also get the option to print the gift certificate, which is perfect if you need something “in hand” to give as a gift. These certificates are good for a year, so the recipient won’t feel any pressure to get them spent in 60 days.

With titles such as Bejeweled, Shape Shifter, Sudoku, Text Twist, and don’t forget – Broken Sword: Shadow of the Templars! Yah, okay – I was slipping some of my favorite titles in with the most popular games, but you get my point! There are all sorts of games, so there will be something for everyone.

Happy Gifting!

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I recently got a “Thanks for all your good work!” bonus from one of my contracts as I was eased out the door, and couldn’t wait to spend it on something. So, being a gadget fiend, I had to spend some of it on a gadget, of course.

As folks who read here regularly may know, I’m a totally obsessed fanatic about viewing movies on portable devices–Windows Mobile devices, Palm devices, what have you. Recently, there has been a lot of development in the portable media player (PMP) area, where the devices are getting more and more sophisticated, and there’s a lot of movement towards PDA functionality. For example, the Creative Zen Vision W is supposedly just a PMP, but it also has personal information management (PIM) capability. The Archos 604 WiFi is a PMP, but it has wifi built-in, and comes with the Opera browser pre-installed, so you can web surf and–if you’ve converted them to HTML or text–read your eBooks on it. (I am on “the list” for an evaluation unit of the Archos, but I probably won’t see it very soon.)

I may be alone in the world on this, but I’m getting a little excited by these devices. All of them–and I’m looking at about four or five right now–retail for between $250 and $500, provide 20-60GB of hard disk space, some kind of basic (hacked, usually) operating system such as Linux or Windows XP, and some expansion slots. It doesn’t take a lot of imagination to look at the Archos 604 wifi and think of it with PIM added, giving you a very nice convergent device with a lot of memory for a lot less money than the UMPC currently being marketed under the Origami umbrella.

Anyway, in the meantime, I decided to pick up the Cowon. Here are the basic specs:

• Cowon A2, retailing for about $325 on Amazon.com
• 10.5 oz (298 g)
• 4.3″, 480×272 pixel TFT screen (portrait mode, ‘natch)
• built-in FM radio

I will get into all the other spec details in my full review in a couple of weeks.

(Note: I find it very interesting that for PDAs and phones, manufacturers totally brag on CPU speed, onboard RAM, and the like, but getting information like that on these PMPs is like trying to pull energy committee meeting minutes out of the Bush Administration. But I digress.)

So here’s the original package.

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I get emails throughout the day from various PR agents. Many of them would like me to post a blurb about a product that they are hyping, or they would like to send a review unit so that I can experience what all the hype is about. Most of the time I am happy to oblige one way or the other, but sometimes I’ll just “file” the mail away.

This particular email however, was a bit out of the ordinary…

Hi Judie,

Move over MySpace Social networking has taken a risque turn: Redlightcenter.com is a virtual world where users can create their own avatar (a cartoon-like character) and fulfill fantasies they may not experience in real life. Through their alter-egos, people can experience dating, dancing, and other intimate activities as found in the Red Light District.

Would you be interested in an interview with the founder of the site, Ray Schwartz?

Thanks,
Name removed to protect the messenger

Okay…I can only imagine how that interview would go. And…how did I get on this PR list?!

Have you seen this yet? Chris at SlashGear put together a fun review which includes HotTech TV’s video of a crazy flying green-eyed bug that you’ve got to see.

Yeah, I know it’s been out since September, but no one was looking for holiday gifts back then. Pffffffft!

Anyway…press the picture to watch sheer brilliance in action.

That my friends, is the Interactive Toy Concepts Micro Mosquito…and it’s quite all right that you salivated just a little bit while you were watching; I won’t think any less of you.

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Shortly after buying a Treo 700wx I decided to ditch the bulky power and USB cable set that came with the device. I wanted to trade them for something much more compact, and the obvious choice – since I already had a collection of Gomadic tips – was to try the Gomadic Sync and Charge Retractable Cable system. Knowing that this same gadget would work with any of the other tips I already owned was a major selling point.

Measuring approximately 5″ when retracted, the body of the charger is made of glossy black plastic. The center compartment which houses the wound cable measures about 1.75″ long x 1.25″ wide x 0.5″ thick.

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For the last few years Clinton has made a list and checked it more than twice…and now he has just released his third annual top ten list of the year’s best Windows Mobile 5 software applications.

I wouldn’t be revealing too much if I went ahead and gave you his list – but you will have to go to his site to read the reviews and all of the reasons behind his choices…

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One of the downsides of trying almost every type gadget known to man is that they all seem to take different memory cards. Why is that? (A rhetorical question if there ever was one, I don’t really expect an answer. )

As each new memory card format comes out, all I can do anymore is�be grateful that they come with SD adapters so that I can at least access the card’s contents from my laptop’s built-in reader. However there are plenty of cards that won’t play nicely with SD, either because they are too big or because they are too proprietary, and that is when an external card reader becomes necessary.

Today I am going to take a look at one of the largest card readers I have ever reviewed. Largest as in its physical size – not so much number of cards it will read, although the list is impressive. I’m talking about the Atech Flash PROGear-G5, a 28 in 1 card reader that boasts the ability to read MS Duo, miniSD and RS-MMC cards without an adapter, as well as many of the other common and not-so-common memory card formats.

Let’s get the unboxing out of the way first…

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Here’s some information on ifbyphone, a service that brings email to people that either can’t use or don’t have access to a computer.

According to an email that I received: Using ifbyphone, one can retrieve and send Email, access websites, and perform Internet searches – all by voice from any phone. Additional features include wake-up, reminder, and Email alert calls,
chat rooms and games – including Texas Hold-em poker. No computer is needed – ifbyphone can supply Email accounts as well.   

 

One feature that I thought was particularly interesting was ifbyphone’s capability to “scan deep”. You can set the ifbyphone personalization feature to “set up our system to scan deep into your unread email messages every 15 minutes to check for a specific email address, word or phrase. When that email arrives, ifbyphone will call you wherever you are and read it to you.”

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