Last night I decided to take another look in the box that the U1010 came in, just to see if there were any goodies I was missing out on. Unlike the Shift the U1010 came with reinstall DVDs, as opposed to having a backup partition. I like the way the Shift can completely reload itself without any outside help, but having DVDs is a good idea too.

Anyway, in the box I found install DVDs for both Vista Business (which came preloaded) and Windows XP Tablet Edition. Now the performance on the U1010 has been fine on Vista, but I was curious to see just how much slower Vista was than XP on the relatively slow processor.

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The Macrumors web site is reporting that some users of the iPhone have suddenly discovered that AT&T WIFI access via the iPhone is free in hotspots such as Barnes & Noble and Starbucks. When attempting to access WIFI, the iPhone users are presented with a special login screen to which they enter their phone number and upon validation receive free WIFI access. This access only applies to iPhone users with an AT&T account (jailbroken phones on other carriers are not able to access free WIFI without an AT&T phone number).

Link: Macrumors: AT&T Providing Free WIFI Access to iPhone Users

Can you believe that it has been ten years since HanDBase came out? This was one of the first business tools I bought to run on my Palm, and it was also an application that I eagerly added to my Pocket PC once they crossed platforms. Modern versions of HanDBase will seamlessly sync between Palm OS, Windows Mobile (for Pocket PC and Smartphone), Symbian Series 60 and UIQ, and BlackBerry smartphones, and can be run from either a Windows or Mac computer. Pretty slick, right?

So what is HanDBase and why should you care?

HanDBase is a light and fast relational database manager for desktops, PDAs, and smartphones which offers data entry, searching, sorting, filtering, printing and synchronization across a wide variety of desktop computers, handheld computing devices and smartphones.

With HanDBase, you can create database forms to keep track of everything and anything. If you aren’t up to creating your own personalized forms, you can also download ones that others have created from DDH Software’s extensive database repository - which currently has over 2,000 titles!

That’s where the competition comes into play:

To mark their 10th Anniversary, DDH is “reviving its “HanDBase Applet of the Year” contest, seeking the most innovative uses for its popular HanDBase mobile database program for PDAs and smartphones. The goal for this year’s contest is to demonstrate how easy it is for anyone to develop a mobile solution for either work or personal use. The company will reward the Best Commercial Applet and Best Personal Applet with “HanDBase Runtime” licenses (a US $1,000.00 value) which will enable the winners to turn their entries into commercially-available standalone mobile applications.”

Are you up to the challenge? Read on…

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Holy smokes - can this be right? A color refurbished laser printer (Amazon sells the first quality version for $289.98) that includes a full set of color toner (Amazon sells the toner for $267.98) for only $149.98? PS - Sign up for the HP newsletter and they’ll instantly email you a one-time use $20 Staple’s coupon, bringing this deal down to $129.98. Shipping is free and the toner included with this is worth more than what you’ll pay for the whole machine.

Link: Staples - Color HP2600N Laser - Refurb - $149.98
Link: Sign up for Newsletter - Get Instant $20 off Coupon
Via: Mark Chinsky via Fatwallet.com

Here’s a heads up that the Apple Store has refurbished 4GB ($99) and 8GB ($149) iPod Nanos in stock. These are reconditioned models, thus the $50 discount from retail prices. In the past the Apple store has sold out of these quickly - so if you’ve been contemplating an iPod Nano (Mother’s Day gift anyone?) - head on over to Apple before they sell out once again.

Link: Apple Store: 4GB and 8GB iPod Nano Refurbs
Via: Fatwallet.com

Don’t you hate that new customers get the best discounts on new phones? Here’s a way to get some money for your old phone when you trade it in for a Blackberry. Blackberry Smartphones eligible for purchase in the United States include the Curve as well as 88xx series. You can trade in a wide variety of phones and PDAS. For example the Palm 755P in excellent condition fetches a trade-in value of $125 when purchasing the new Blackberry 8330. If you’ve been thinking of buying a Blackberry, and would like to trade in your old phone/PDA - check out the Blackberry Tradeup site. Interesting that since these rebates are for the purchase of your old phone, the trade-up can be combined with any carrier incentive.

Link: Blackberry Trade Up Program
Link: Frequently Asked Questions about the Trade Up Program

I first saw a post regarding a concept shoe with convertible heels on Book of Joe back in 2005, and now it looks like an easier to operate variation of the same idea has actually come to pass. Say hello to CAMiLEON, a company which produces women’s shoes with heels that can adjust from a pratical walking height of 1½” to a sassy 3¼”.

CAMiLEON’s heels contain “mechanisms that hold it into place for both the high heel and low heel positions and a stainless steel rod, which runs through the entire length of the heel. The portion of our heel that is stowed underneath the arch region of the shoe, when in the low heel position, is actually made out of aluminum. Additionally, every heel is coated with 6 coats of paint, resulting in a beautiful high-gloss finish. While essentially every other brand of high heel shoe attaches its heel to the shoe with nails, or nails and glue, we attach every heel with four screws.”

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CIO Magazine has a great article that provides links to six free programs for the Blackberry. Included among the freebies are: Yahoo! One Search, Tellme 2.0 with Voice, Opera Mini Web Browser, Google Mobile Updater, Tiny Twitter and Blackberry Weather Push. This is a followup article to one they did in February which spotlighted an additional 6 free Blackberry programs.

Link: 6 free Blackberry Downloads You Don’t Want to Miss
Link: Six (More) Free Blackberry Apps You Don’t Want to Miss
Via: Howardforums

Last week I bought into the $64.95 MacUpdate promo that was offered until April 29. If you missed the deal and wanted a cheap copy of Parallels Desktop, don’t despair. I have a copy from my purchased bundle which I don’t need. If you’d like it - leave a message in the comments. I’ll give it away to one random commenter chosen on May 1 at 8pm EST. This includes the unused license key which I will email to you for your exclusive use. The software itself can be downloaded from the Parallels site.

Run Windows, Linux, and more side-by-side with Mac OS X on any Intel-powered Mac, without rebooting. With Parallels’ award-winning virtualization technology, you can run Mac OS X and Windows at the same time. You can even drag-and-drop files between desktops!

Leading the way with our trademark innovation, Parallels Desktop 3.0 comes packed with 50+ new features and enhancements, including Snapshots, 3D graphics, and the new Parallels-only SmartSelect.

Link: Parallels Desktop 3.0 for Mac

Judie: Here’s how it all started. I got a press release from Kevin Doel regarding FlipSide, a new Windows Mobile MP3 Player which features “”Swooshing” Album Art as Part of Acclaimed Visual Interface.”

FlipSide, the MP3 player from Electric Pocket that has had BlackBerry users buzzing, is now available to users of Windows Mobile devices such as the Treo 700xw, Mogul, Ace, and Blackjack. The feature that has made FlipSide such an instant hit among BlackBerry users is its iPhone-like interface that allows users to visually “swoosh” through their music quickly and easily.

Navigating through music and selecting tunes is a simple process with FlipSide: scroll through the Album Covers, or flick through them using your finger on the screen, then click on the navigation button to open up a vertical list of the tracks. The spacebar is used to start, pause and skip songs, while the navigation button is used to scroll either left or right to either fast forward or rewind within a song.

While FlipSide comes with the features expected of any MP3 player, the feature that gets the most buzz is the attractive user interface that makes FlipSide both visually enjoyable and very easy to use. Its ability to “swoosh” through the full-color cover art of an entire music collection within seconds using the navigation control button makes FlipSide stand-out as both a simple and fun MP3 player. FlipSide downloads and displays the cover art of each album and even links to FlipSide Extras to provide biographies of the artists, recommendations for similar artists and more.

FlipSide for Windows Mobile plays music stored on memory cards in MP3 & WMA formats. FlipSide retails for $19.95 and a free trial download is available now from the FlipSide website at http://flipside.fm.

As I’ll usually do when I get a product announcement, I forwarded this release to the team to see if anyone might be interested in covering the item or reviewing the product…and then their emails started rolling in. It wasn’t long before we had another full blown GearChat Roundtable on our hands.

Sit tight; this one was a doozy…

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