Today marks the release of Spb Software House’s latest program, Phone Suite. It’s been pointed out that since I don’t really need to juggle profiles, this program might offer more features than I really need. But there is much more to this program than just a few easily managed profiles (reminiscent of�one of MS Smartphone’s handy features). Spb Phone Suite also gives you�notifications for missed calls, allows you to reject calls and send an SMS message with just two taps; assign a photo or one of 50 included avatars for photo speed dial; filter calls based on�your own�”white” or “black” list; and others!�

You can download a trial version and see if it will do what you need. The full press release is after the jump…

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Some of you may recall the Purse Hook review,�and how�Chris Magnusson had�left a comment mentioning�that Mother’s Day was only a few months away. Well,�May 13th�is looming ever larger,�so if you are having trouble deciding on something for mom, then this may help…

I am still enjoying my Purse Hook�-�it has a permanent spot on the corner of my desk.

This just came in from Kat with Proporta: evidently she has arranged a special give-away so that anyone�who buys a Proporta PSP product will get a free UMD case for their games…

I like the looks of their aluminum PSP case, but there is also a leather case for those that would rather. Full details follow after the jump.

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If you secretly pine for starry nights, and “looking out” is a favorite past time, then you may want to take a look at the new title from VITO Technology, AstroNavigator II.

According to the product page, “VITO AstroNavigator II is the GPS application that displays sky map above you according to your current location, time and direction of movement. VITO AstroNavigator II supports the latest GPS receivers with the digital compass and rotates the screen according to your heading to display the right picture of the sky above you.”

This program looks pretty robust,�according to the VITO site�its sky map contains over 9000 stars which are visible to the naked eye; planets of the solar system including the Sun, Moon, and constellations. AstroNavigator II allows you to do an easy search of sky objects, and you can pick the desired planet, constellation or star by sliding your finger down the list.

To make it work properly, you’ll need a GPS receiver and a Pocket PC running 2003 or above. The full press release follows after the break…

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I just watched this enlightening video that proves once and for all that Windows Vista isn’t a rip off of Mac OS X. David Pogue from the NY Times looks at several features that people are saying Vista copied from OS X, and shows how the similarities are completely coincidental, and were not copied at all. Decide for yourself

The videos been out for a few months, but still good none the less. For the record I think Vista is pretty good but some features make confusion with OS X quite understandable.

When Judie reviewed the Kohjinsha SA1-1 a few weeks ago her primary complaint was that it didn’t have a touchscreen to fully utilize that swivel-screen design. Well Kohjinsha have listened to all who said it and upgraded the screen to a touchscreen (same size and resolution) that can be used with either a stylus or your finger. A slight price bump is included, but it still retails for under US$1000 which is amazing! There also appears to be a white version if that suits your fancy.

[via Engadget]

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This should be very welcome news for anyone that has been using Spb Insight, the Spb Software House RSS reader: they have finally added a Today Screen notifying plug-in! Yay!

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Well, my Birthday Week is officially over, and now it is time to get serious and get back to work. “Birthday Week?” you say…”what happened to celebrating for a single day?”

The deal is that once you turn 40, you get to celebrate your birthday for an entire week – not just a day. Seriously! I think that it must be a law somewhere, and if it isn’t, then I am declaring it one. I also think that for your 60th birthday…well, you should get to celebrate with a Birthday Month – but I’ve got 20 more years before I get to test that theory!

Birthday Weeks generally involve much slacking, reviews not being finished on time (thus being back-logged by at least a week), light news postings, receiving interesting gifts, and enjoying visits from out of town friends. My birthday week met all of those requirements and then some. I can’t thank the Gear Diary Team enough for allowing me to be a total and complete bum while I celebrated.

One of the more interesting birthday gifts I received was an eggling, purchased for me from ThinkGeek by Allen. I thought it would be fun to show it to you all.

Inside this cardboard crate is an egg…

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First of all, I’m not normally a procrastinator. I am a chronic snooze alarm abuser though. The snooze function on Microsoft Outlook has proven to be one of the most damaging features for my career. My current record for putting off the completion of a project is an appointment that keeps popping up on my calendar marked “56 weeks overdue.” Hey, I’m not proud, but at least I’m honest.

I preface this to explain why I’ve been sitting on my review of the new pzizz sleep enhancement and relaxation software. The reason I haven’t been able to get the darn thing done is that I keep falling asleep every time I use the software. And that’s a good thing. I felt a responsibility to you all to listen to the whole sleep program all the way through while I stayed awake to make sure that they weren’t slipping in any subliminal suggestions that would cause me to act like Reggie Jackson in “The Naked Gun.”

“Must…kill…the…Queen!” (Howdy, deranged Google searchers.)
In a nutshell, pzizz is a napping program. There is a lot of scientific data that proves the effectiveness of power napping to improve health, productivity and well-being. I’ve never been much of a napper myself. I tend to sleep the sleep of the dead when I do nod off, so I never found mid-day slumber to be very restful.

Plus, the uncertainty of the duration of a nap meant I never wanted to take twenty minutes of sleep at the end of a lunch hour for for fear of waking up an hour later. The good folks at pzizz have solved all of these problems.

It’s not just your typical sleep music or subliminal suggestion New Age pan flute jazzy noodling. As a matter of fact, you can listen to it for yourself. Free downloads of both the energizer nap program and their sleep module are available at the pzizz web site. Go ahead and download the sample mp3’s. It’s ok. Go on…I’ll wait.

The samples are a good representation of the pzizz experience. The software combines what the developers call Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) techniques along with soft music, subsonic sound effects and a droning beat to induce a relaxed state, similar to that of the Rapid Eye Movement (REM) stage of sleep. The combined effect leads to a peaceful short break in the day that convinced this previously skeptical reviewer.

But the software offers a lot more than what can be demonstrated by the sample mp3’s. The point of pzizz is that every nap is unique. The interface allows you to set the type and duration duration of your break

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First of all, I’m not normally a procrastinator. I am a chronic snooze alarm abuser though. The snooze function on Microsoft Outlook has proven to be one of the most damaging features for my career. My current record for putting off the completion of a project is an appointment that keeps popping up on my calendar marked “56 weeks overdue.” Hey, I’m not proud, but at least I’m honest.

I preface this to explain why I’ve been sitting on my review of the new pzizz sleep enhancement and relaxation software. The reason I haven’t been able to get the darn thing done is that I keep falling asleep every time I use the software. And that’s a good thing. I felt a responsibility to you all to listen to the whole sleep program all the way through while I stayed awake to make sure that they weren’t slipping in any subliminal suggestions that would cause me to act like Reggie Jackson in “The Naked Gun.”

“Must…kill…the…Queen!” (Howdy, deranged Google searchers.)
In a nutshell, pzizz is a napping program. There is a lot of scientific data that proves the effectiveness of power napping to improve health, productivity and well-being. I’ve never been much of a napper myself. I tend to sleep the sleep of the dead when I do nod off, so I never found mid-day slumber to be very restful.

Plus, the uncertainty of the duration of a nap meant I never wanted to take twenty minutes of sleep at the end of a lunch hour for for fear of waking up an hour later. The good folks at pzizz have solved all of these problems.

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The built-in File Explorer in Windows Mobile is to put it simply, lame. It only has a very basic feature set, and add to that there is no registry editor included at all. Resco has come up with a replacement application that should fulfill the needs of even power users, and throws in some features outside the realm of a file manager for that extra value.

I installed the application using the CAB files downloaded off the website, but there is an installer for Windows users that makes setup a cinch. The registry editor, FTP client and today screen plug-in are all optional installs which is a great idea.

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Laura Jordan, President of SCOTTEVEST and Scott Jordan’s better half, wrote yesterday to let Gear Diary readers know about some new SeV products and a great sale price which will be available until April 29.

Read on to learn�the scoop!

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He rocks in the tree top all a day long
Hoppin’ and a-boppin’ and a-singin’ the song
All the little birds on J-Bird Street
Love to hear the robin goin’ tweet tweet tweet

- Rockin’ Robin (Bobby Day)

Here is a fun device that will open up a whole new world of nature�s best � the symphony of birds singing in the morning. Vavolo sent along a Nature Observing Recording & Playback Device

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Alison just sent word that Astraware�is currently holding their “Sensational Spring Sale“, through which mere mortals can save up to 60% off of more than 30 games’ regular prices. Want to join in the fun? Click the picture below.

Want to learn more? Read the following press release…

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Part of the X-Series offer on Three is Orb, the video streaming application that lets you access your media files from practically anywhere that you have a decent internet connection. I’ve never really tried it before, but this seemed the perfect opportunity. With my daily train commute, what could be better than catching up on my recorded TV or watching some of my stored videos without having to encode or sync anything. While I have my new Zune for watching videos, the Media Centre recorded TV converted ZuneTVWatcher is not working for PAL properly yet, so I don’t yet have TV on my Zune.

Setting up Orb is incredibly easy. Download the desktop program, install it, and login with your Orb username and password (or signup for one and then login).

You can configure Orb to access your media files wherever they are stored. I couldn’t add network drives, so I simply mapped the ones I wanted and added the mapped drives to Orb. Worked great

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