Okay! Here is the official winners list for the Giant Gear Diary Give-Away. I am actually still waiting on addresses from FallN, richtech, scoutflyer, and ctmagnus…but otherwise all prizes have been sent out. Some went to Australia, Germany, the UK, and even Finland! Whew! :smoke_tb:

If you are one of those listed and you haven’t sent in your address info, then get busy! Because otherwise those items will just go back into the gear closet for the next big give-away.

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We run into a lot of scenarios in our lives that stir up our emotions – good, bad or indifferent that demand a response. Sometimes an apology needs to be issued, or clarification is needed. As hard as some of us try to manage our time to multitask and accomplish the daily chores that must get done without some schmuck cutting off in traffic, or having a worthless coworker failing to pass along some vital information, words fail us. Hey, we”ve all been there as either a giver or receiver. Communication can be tough at times! For those times when I wish I had signed up for the professional mind reading seminar to understand the opposite sex or when a Curly moment (from the Three Stooges) kicks in:

“I’m trying to think but nothing happens!”… I just need a little help.

Fortunately an innovative set of tools is available to help express our emotions and relieve that inner turmoil !
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Here’s a chance for you to answer a few questions and perhaps win a Proporta case…

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G-A of Nihon Car recently put the Nismo 380RS Fairlady Z through her paces, and it looks like he has a new crush. In his review he raves, “Different time, different technology, like good wine the 350Z is getting better year after year both inside and outside.”

G-A’s got a great HDTV video of he and professional driver Masaki Nishihara, Japan’s multiple�Gymkhana champion, pushing the RS.

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If you haven’t yet sated your i-mate Ultimate jones, then you may want to take a look at the monsterously huge images Gear Diary Team member Clinton Fitch has posted at Clinton Fitch (Dot) Com!.

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Recently my MacBook Pro has started to loose the paint just below the keyboard. As you can see in the photos it is not pretty.

I don’t know what has caused it, but I only noticed it a few days ago and the “scratched” area (although it doesn’t look like your typical scratch) is growing. If they whole area would scratch off it would be ok, but instead I am left with this ugly mess. I am debating going to Apple with this to get it repaired, but I have it running so beautifully I would rather not have it messed with.

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If you carry anything more than a pocket camera, PDA and mobile phone, then you might have decided that adding one more thing to your bat-belt will be all it takes to drag your pants down to your ankles. Well, there’s no need to scare little children while toting your gear, Proporta has come to the rescue with their new Gadget Bag. Smaller than a laptop bag, but larger than an accessory pouch, the Gadget Bag offers options for days when your gear load is heavier than usual, but you don’t want to be weighed down by a full size bag.

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This morning I almost missed my train because my alarm didn’t wake me up. But why? I had the alarm set, and I didn’t have my Treo on silent, so why did I wake up just in time to throw on clothes and run out the door? For some reason Windows Mobile relates the alarm volume to the overall system volume.

Honestly, I think it is absurd!! Surely it can be assumed that if the person doesn’t have their phone on silent they want to HEAR their alarms. If they must have a volume control on it, PLEASE make it separate. I normally check to make sure the volume is at max, will have to watch that in future…

I saw this on MSN and had to post on this.� I know without even asking her, this is something that Judie wants. Period. Buy 5…she’ll take 4.

“Jewel of a phone
…there�s one phone…at the show that is absolutely drop-dead gorgeous � Sony Ericsson�s Z750.

The new Mirror Clamshell design hides a GSM/GPRS/EDGE and HSDPA/UMTS cell phone, a 2 MP camera, Bluetooth 2.0 stereo technology, a media player that handles MP3, AAC, and WMA files, plus a 2.2-inch interior screen and a 1.1-inch external display which hides behind the mirror finish when not in use.�

But the most compelling part of this handset is how it looks and feels. It�s available in Luster Black and an amazingly attractive Rose Pink. The Z750 also weighs less than you’d think by looking at it � a hair under 4 ounces. “

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A few years ago, I reviewed a neat little Today Plug-in I found after I started using a Samsung i700 on the VzW network. The original review, seen here, is about 3 years old; but its still pertinant, as most of the functionality you see there is still there. The application is simply awesome.� I won’t use a PPC Phone (soon to be WM6 Professional) Device without Phone Dashboard on it.

But wait..! There’s more!

I recently got a note from Noah over at Hudson Mobile that he is releasing version 2.0 of Phone Dashboard:

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We all love our gear – MP3 players, cell phones, portable gaming consoles, PDA’s, cameras, laptops, which all demand the use of electricity accompanied by the associated wires, cords and chargers that supply the lifeline needed to power our gear.

When I go to a concert and see miles of cable strung across the stage, it’s a wonder musicians don’t trip over them. Unfortunately, seeing a miniature version of cluttered wires strung out across my work surfaces and hanging over the backside of my desk like some ugly artsy waterfall of wires mentally trips me out.

Digital Innovations has come to the rescue with a Power Docking Station consolidating all of the wired clutter into an organized mess. It’s pretty straightforward – a rectangular box houses up to four chargers hidden out of sight connected a single 54” two prong plug.

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Q. Hi Judie,

Fantastic review of the Dopod 838 Pro. I’m quite thrilled with mine, since acquiring it in October 2006. I have one big challenge – and a couple smaller ones as well…

When composing text messages, the system dutifully / pedantically stores all word entries that you make (intentionally or otherwise) i.e. , if you type ‘Mary had a little lambbbb’ , and inadvertently hit the space bar as you’re blazing along on the keyboard before correcting the spelling of lamb, the system assumes that you intended to write ‘lambbbb’, and stores that “new” word, seemingly forever.

I have not been able to find out If the internal ‘dictionary” / word suggestion list can be edited by the user. I’d love to be able to refine the list with my own lexicon.

Is there software available that allows this?

Thanks for your time.

Konrad

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Recently my dad�s company bought several of their employees Dopod 838 Pro mobile phones (based on Judie�s review actually ). His device arrived at the office a few days ago, but he is in Vietnam for work, so one of his colleagues dropped it off. For the last 3 days I have been using it instead of my Treo, to see if I made the right choice months ago. I have come to a somewhat mixed decision based on several things that I�d like to describe below. My basis for these �ratings� is that I like a device that functions well as both a phone and PDA.

First up is the design. The Treo simply is amazing in this department. Starting with the Treo 600, Palm had a winner. For years I had considered getting a Treo, but going back to Palm OS after using Windows Mobile for so long turned me off. When I think of the Palm OS, I think of simplicity. When I think of Windows Mobile I think of expandability. If I were to give a PDA phone to my mum I would seriously consider the Treo 680, but for me (and recently my dad) I think Windows Mobile is the way to go.

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While it has been available in the UK and a few other places for a short while now, X-Series has just been released here in Australia. For those of you who don’t know, X-Series is an add-on to a standard phone plan that adds a bundle of services. These are the plans available.

How awesome is that!! The going rate for Mobile Broadband here is more than 3 times those prices! Add to that the Skype minutes, unlimited email/eBay/IM and the ability to access Orb (although Orb does eat into your data). I have signed up for the Gold plan and will see how I go. While I haven’t even gotten close to using my 200MB data which until now I have been paying $29/mth for, I think I will step it up a notch and start using my Treo as a modem for my MacBook Pro

Anyone else here in Australia or anywhere else that offers X-Series signed up for it?

Back in 1991, when the HP 95LX was my daily driver, I used to anticipate the day when handhelds would have color displays and be even closer to the laptop computers which they seemed to emulate. When color displays became available, I looked forward to the time when these handhelds would have more memory, better battery life, better connectivity, and a faster processor. As each item on my wish list was ticked off, I finally decided that what I might have wanted all along was a more robust operating system; a true mini PC. Now it’s 2007, and UMPCs are becoming more common. The majority of them are mini touch-screen tablets, which have been appearing from various manufacturers. While the tablet properties that most of these devices display are lovely, the problem with many of these portable PCs is that they don’t include what I would consider to be a practical keyboard.

There always seems to be a trade-off involved in order to get what you really want, and the device I will show you today is no different. The trade-off here is that in order to get a useable keyboard and a laptop form-factor, reminiscent of those HPCs which came before, the touch-screen has been deleted.

Say hello to the Kohjinsha SA1-A, which was graciously loaned to me by G-A of GeekStuff4U for this review. The Kohjinsha is a laptop, but it is one of the smallest and lightest I’ve ever seen. It measures just 8.6″ wide x 6.5″ deep x 1.2″ thick (at its widest point), and it weighs 2 pounds 2.5 ounces. For comparison’s sake, the Michael Crichton hardback Next measures 9.2″ wide x 6.5″ wide x 1.5″ thick, and it weighs 1 pound 8.4 ounces. If you stop and think about it for just a moment, it is amazing that you can read the novel from either source, but with the Kohjinsha you can also surf the web, write a novel, or do almost any other thing that can be accomplished on a full size computer.

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