2006 went by all too quickly. It was a year full of making new friends, renewing past relationships, unbelievable offers, epiphanies, exciting transitions, new partnerships, and with the exception of one major let-down – it was a supremely wonderful year.

There’s no telling what will happen in 2007, but here are a few things you can look forward to…

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The Planetary Society, once again is having names put onto a special silica glass DVD to send to Mars with the next Mars probe named Phoenix. They say that the glass DVD will last thousands of years and it carries a message to future visitors of the red planet.

Until January 5th, you can get a special holiday version of the participation certificate. The certificate is printed in color on nice paper and would make a cool gift for scifi and space exploration fans.

The deadline for getting your name or names of loved ones on the DVD is February 1, 2007, so hurry if you want to be part of space history.

Click here to participate.

The Sony PlayStation Portable, or PSP, is one of the most popular handheld gaming devices available – and with good reason. The PSP features a gorgeous 4.3″, 480 x 272 pixel, TFT, LCD, 16:9 wide screen which provides an amazing gaming experience. This WiFi enabled device is also perfect for use as a portable media player; it can be used to listen to music or to watch full-length movies. To the best of my knowledge, it is also the only device which has its own dedicated movie format available next to the DVD section in almost any electronics’ store. Yet until now, there have been no high-end stereo speaker dock systems which allowed the user to take advantage of the PSP’s superior multimedia experience. Today we’ll take a look at the first, the Psyclone Gamer PSC99 Nodus PSP Sound System.

The Nodus PSP Sound System is an officially licensed product of Sony PlayStation, and it recently became available online and in stores nationwide. According to the information I was sent, “Nodus speakers are driven by Sonic Impact’s award winning Class T- Amp Technology. The speakers use both digital and analog signal processing to maximize all frequencies and to rock the house. This premier audio accessory comes conveniently packaged to hold the PSP device in a single, sleek cabinet design that allows the PSP battery to recharge while docked in the Nodus.”

According to the Psyclone Gamer site, the Nodus allows you to “Get unbelievable sound from your PlayStation Portable  System.” They say the system is “Completely better than the rest, there is no competition when it comes to filling a room with crisp clear audio.” Truth or hyperbole…let’s find out.

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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!]

Around two weeks ago at “http://www.palmislife.com/“, we had a group purchase activity for buying complete set of Treo 650 Housing as replacement parts for those with “poor looking” Treos.

These are “Genuine Replacement Housing For Treo 650″ with a “Verizon” logo printed. They are not brand new housings, they are all used but in good condition.

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No, I am not full of myself – I just got tagged twice in one day! First Chris, and then Alison…so a double tag means I get to cheat and do them together. Ha!

The rules are that I have to post five things that you may not already know about me, which is going to be hard, but here we go…

1. I don’t know how to type. I have a bizarre hunt and peck system that uses mainly my pointer fingers, second fingers, and thumbs with occasional appearances by the other two fingers on each hand. I’ve never actually timed myself, but I think that I am pretty speedy most of the time – I can even get away with doing some typing without looking. But it is definitely not what anyone would consider the proper way to type; as anyone that has ever IM’d me knows, I can think faster than I can type – sometimes my fingers get very tangled trying to accurately keep up.

2. Spiders terrify me. While I have never been a fan of arachnids, the almost irrational fear I now have stems from when I was bit by a brown recluse while sleeping in 1992. The entire experience was completely traumatic and painful; ever since, I’ll squeal like a little girl if I see one that I think can “get me“. I have a similar reaction to large flying cockroaches, because I can remember watching them fly around in my bedroom (invariably dropping on me) when I was a little girl. This was when we lived in Taiwan and Okinawa, and it scarred me for life. So yeah, I’ll play with snakes and pick up the odd millipede or scorpion – but I will not fool with spiders or cockroaches.

pictures don’t bug me, though

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This just in from Alison with Astraware…

THE MIDLANDS, UK – December 29th, 2006 – Astraware is celebrating the New Year with its Annual Hogmanay Party and you’re all invited!

The Hogmanay Party runs from December 30th 2006 to January 11th 2007 and offers a range of fun games from as little as $2.95. Substantial discounts on different games will be offered each day, so remember to check the Party page often.

As a very special offer, Club Astraware will be offering one top title exclusively to its members from December 30th to January 11th only. So if you’re not already a member, join up now. You will not want to miss this offer! And finally, if you’re still wondering what Hogmanay is all about, check out the Astraware company blog, where Astraware’s resident Scottish expert, Iain Moore, gives a little insight. Have a Happy Hogmanay!

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It would appear that the HTC Athena we have been talking about for the past couple of weeks is actually going to happen. The bad news is it may have a price tag of $1700.

Yeah.

I sure hope that is a typo, or just a bad guess.

Earlier today, Chris at Mobility Site posted about the 2007 HTC roadmap with device codenames to include “Love, Vox, Kaiser, Wings, Cavalier, Elf, and something else they couldn’t identify, but looks like a redone HTC Star Trek. (or maybe its called unknown…hehe)”

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I had great intentions of finishing and posting the Psyclone Gaming Accessories Nodus PSP Sound System this afternoon, but Sarah kidnapped me this morning and we went to see Eragon. For once I hadn’t read the story already, so I didn’t sit there the whole time thinking “this isn’t what happened in the book, hey!”

photo courtesy of IMDB

Instead, I enjoyed a really watchable fantasy movie with a surprisingly good cast. Rachel Weitz as Saphira the dragon, Jeremy Irons as Brom, John Malkovich as King Galbatorix, Dijimon Hounsou as Ajihad, and even Joss Stone as Angela the fortune teller. The special effects were great, and anytime something too far from the book happened (like Saphira growing up while on a single flight), I got the running commentary from Sarah.

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My Treo started playing up recently, with random software crashes and some sort of battery drain. It got to the point where my Treo would only last 6hrs without any use before it would be dead. I had also just received my MacBook Pro, but I couldn’t get it to sync with it, so I decided it was time for a hard reset. Since I hadn’t been able to sync all my contacts/calendar to my MacBook yet, I needed to get that data off before I did the hard reset. Before I did I loaded up SPB Backup to see how it would work for me.

Installation was easy. I simply downloaded the CAB file, dragged it onto my miniSD card (in a USB reader) and ran the CAB on my Treo. After installation I opened it up. The first screen displayed gives you various options for your backups.

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Bjorn from Ultra Mobile Life unboxes the Uren V1, a 30GB Korean UMPC that may or may not ever make it to the US. It reminds me in many ways of the HP iPAQ 5915, because right out of the box it includes all sorts of nifty accessories which will allow the V1 to work as an in-car navigation system.

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When I bought my latest laptop I envisioned spending more time sitting on the office couch, versus time spent sitting at my desk. In this lovely fantasy, I would no longer sit with my back half-turned to the room; instead I would have my feet propped on an ottoman, with WiFi streaming to the laptop on my lap, and Gizmo (my Yorkie) curled at my side. CNN would be on the television, and I would would have my ever-present cup of Diet Coke and small bowl of chocolate covered espresso beans somewhere accessible – but not so near that I would knock either over as I surfed and worked on daily posts and reviews. Of course that’s not how things happened…

Instead, the first time I sat on the couch with my laptop I immediately recalled that there was a good reason why I never put the bowl of chocolate covered espresso beans on the left side of my laptop…it get’s hot! Pfffft!

That’s why my interest was piqued when Belkin offered to send their CushTop for review. Unlike other laptop desks I have reviewed, this one is not for use at the desktop, nor is it designed to travel. It is designed to be used at home, and it is perfect for those that like to surf from their couch, recliner, or while propped up in bed.

smaller surface facing up

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It’s hard to believe that this will be my fourth Lumaray LED flashlight review, but it’s true. Every time Lumaray releases a new light, I have to wonder what they could possibly do to improve upon their past version, but each time they manage to surprise and impress me.

Let’s take a trip down memory lane, shall we?

First there was the FL6, an intensely bright six LED flashlight that borrowed its good looks from a science fiction movie’s prop department. Next came the FL12, which I described as an “FL6 on steroids” due to the addition of a cluster of six additional LEDs bringing its total LEDs to 12, and its total brightness from ~320,000 mcd to 720,000mcd. A new and improved six LED design was introduced as the FL6 2006, which delivered much longer battery life, improved brightness (from ~320,000 mcd to ~700,000 mcd), deeper waterproof ratings (from 15′ to 50′), and an improved warranty (from one year to two). Now it’s the FL12’s turn to get a makeover, which brings us to the FL12-RX. Immediately evident are the differences between the waterproof ratings – 15′ to 50′, a difference in max brightness (~720,000 mcd to ~820,000 mcd), and the upped warranty. But there is also a new feature that caught me by surprise…modes; we’ll cover them further in this review.

Before I get ahead of myself, let’s take a look at the FL12-RX…

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[Ed. note: I received this email today, perhaps the mentioned fix will be helpful to Gear Diary readers.]

Hi Judie,

I just submitted this article to PocketPC Thoughts, but so what if you post it first? 

I’m one frustrated PPC user with the continued inability of WM5 to reliably sound reminder alarms.

I’ve created a unique, foolproof OS fix and the attachment says it all. It is thus far, the only way to have reliable reminder alarms from a WM device.

L e x

-=-=-=-=-

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If you haven’t yet succumbed to the Apple iPod shuffle, then you might be interested in taking a look at another flash-based MP3 player that not only costs less, it can be configured to carry significantly more music for the same amount of money. I’m talking about the Brando USB MP3 Player + SD/MMC Card Reader, a device which shares one major trait with the shuffle – no LCD screen.

No, the Brando version doesn’t have a stylish aluminum skin, and it doesn’t come with a cute Lilliputian dock, but the it does have a slot which can accept SD or MMC cards, and it can plug directly into a USB port to serve as a portable hard drive.�

Considering that a 2GB SD card can be purchased for under $25, and 4GB SD cards are available for a little more than $50, adding the $15 this device costs to the total means that you could easily tote around 4 times the amount of tunes the shuffle can carry without spending a penny more. Interested? Well let’s take a look and see if the Brando truly is an attractive alternative…

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I hope that your holiday season has been a happy one, and that your new year will be the best so far!

And just in case you didn’t get enough dessert, here is my recipe for Baklava. Make it soon – you’ll be glad you did.

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