[It seems like ages ago that the internet was first abuzz with news of the upcoming i-mate Ultimates, and one of the high points of CES 2008 was getting to take a first look at the line. This week I finally received two of four that I'll be reviewing.]

Meet the Ultimate 6150. As you may recall, this was the device that I felt was the most “old-school PDA-like” back in January when I first saw it, because it didn’t have a built-in keyboard or an extended numeric pad. Instead, the 6150 has a relatively clean front panel. But as usual, I am getting ahead of myself; let’s start with the unboxing…

All pictures are thumbnails, you can click on them to enlarge; a gallery with even more photos is at the end.

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Looks like Sprint intends to keep the lid on pricing for their upcoming iPhone wannabe - aka the Sprint Instinct - until some time after the 3G iPhone launches. An article Thursday in Computerworld quotes Sprint director of product commercialization David Owens as denying that the Sprint Instinct is an iPhone copycat because…

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I finally received an XO! The laptop designed to be a medium for education in developing countries. I will take some time with the little guy before offering my impressions or even a review. I’m late to the party and great reviews are already out there. The XO took five months to find me but I’m happy to finally be able to have a look at it. When the Fedex guy arrived at my house with that small box, I thought OLPC had shipped me a battery pack. The laptop is much smaller than I expected but heavier than I thought it would be.

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For some reason I was oddly fascinated by reports that someone had captured footage of an alien peering in a window. At a news conference on Friday in Denver Jeff Peckman unveiled a videotape taken on July 17, 2003 in Nebraska by Stan Romanek which claims to show an alien looking into a windows. I’m not sure about you but for a little while this looks a lot like a cat walking backwards toward a window. Then I see a guy in an alien mask. Check it out for yourself. Note: This video just came up on YouTube. Though several other sites posted it as authentic, I am not so sure. There are other still shots circulating which I’ve posted on the next page. Truth be told — I just wanted to be the first to post an alien video to Geardiary. UPDATE: I posted another picture that looks different but is reportedly from the video - check it on the next page.

Link: Denver Post: Purported alien video confab concludes

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It’s been about six months since I purchased my T-Mobile Blackberry Curve 8320. As anyone who reads Geardiary knows, I recently abandoned it for my iPhone. I was browsing Howardforums and found an interesting forum post that anyone considering purchasing a Blackberry Curve should read. It concerns a problem that has existed on every new model of Blackberry that I’ve used.

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The Musicovery streaming radio service is not new. They’ve been around a couple years, however I just received an email to check them out and for someone like me whose musical catalog revolves around basic musical tastes like U2, Hall & Oates and Lynyrd Skynyrd - it seems like a cool way to expand my horizons and discover new musical artists and songs. Let’s take a look.

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I still remember when I started seriously playing the guitar.  I was in seventh grade.  At that time, we were given a choice of band, chorus, or guitar.  But you had to pick one.  Well, by then I had already determined that I was done with the clarinet, so I would not be joining the band.  And I had no illusions about my ability to sing  (I was always the kid in my fourth grade concert who stood in the back lip syncing).  So, it was off to guitar for me, and I was pretty excited about it.  I mean, what seventh grader didn’t have visions of Eddie Van Halen dancing in front of his fingers…The second fortuitous event that happened was Dr. Jones, who taught guitar to my seventh (and eighth) grade class.  I only had him for two years, but he really instilled a lasting love of the instrument in me.  I have played the guitar off and on ever since (sometimes much more off than on).  But every time I pick it up again, I wonder why I ever stopped.  It is a great way to relax, and impress your friends.   The problem is that every time I pick it up, I also realize how much I have forgotten.  I have to relearn chords, remember how to tune it, and even think about which string is which.  I can’t afford the time or money involved with private lessons, which means teaching myself from books and sheet music, which can be difficult.  Learning guitar is much easier when you can mimic a more experienced player, and see how their fingers move across the strings.  That is pretty tough to do with a book.  Well, now there is another way…and potentially a better way, ivideosongs.com.  This new website offers your own private lessons of your favorite songs, right there on your computer screen.  Let’s take a closer look.

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As you may recall, last October Chris Leckness was one of the attendees as the LA press event for Sandisk’s launch of the 8GB MicroSD card. One of the fab bits of SWAG attendees received was the Nokia N95, which he used for a bit and then basically relegated to the used gadget pile all of us reviewers have. He even tried getting his wife to use it, but no dice - she likes her CrackBerry better. It’s okay, though, because this story has a happy ending…

Last night, I was cleaning up around my office and I came across the box for the N95 and thought that it was a shame that such an expensive, powerful phone was just sitting in the graveyard waiting for a photo op. So, I decided to give it to one of you!

There are three things you have to do to qualify to win, and none of them are overly complicated. Get over to Chris’ site, give it your best shot, and tell him we sent you. If you win, come back and let us know. Because as you know, I love happy endings…

Link: Win a Nokia N95 from Mobility Site

If you’re thinking of getting a cell phone for your kids, but they’re not quite trustworthy enough for a regular cell plan, here’s a great idea. Buy them a prepaid phone. These are also great plans for your elderly parents who may not use the phone often but still want the protection of having one at the ready. You can purchase the phones dirt cheap. Best of all there’s no early termination or lengthy contract or bloated carrier fees. You pay only for the minutes you use! These plans have gotten a LOT better with most carriers giving you a full year to use the minutes provided you buy at least $100 in advance. I have my step-father on T-Mobile To Go and the total cost per year for his sparse usage is $100 - about $8 per month. Those with teens take special note of the Sidekick plan that gives unlimited text messaging, instant messaging, web browsing, email and picture mail for $1 per day.

Link: T-Mobile To Go Prepaid Cellular Plans
Link: AT&T GoPhone (Similar deals without the nights/weekends)

This came in today from Robert Oschler, our very own robotic mad scientist…

Hey Judie,

Here’s brand new detailed coverage on WowWee’s upcoming Tri-Bot robot, which we created after playing with him solid for several days:

We just released an In-depth video review that covers the important features and capabilities of the latest successor in WowWee’s Robosapien line of robots, the Tri-Bot. When you combine Tri-Bot’s ability to be driven merely by tilting his remote control along with his unique three wheel base, the net result is a simple to own and easy to love robot with amazing mobility not seen before in consumer robots. This YouTube video will show you these cool features, several of his fun and useful behavior modes, and tell you about the games Tri-Bot can play with you:

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