Michael Arrington over at Tech Crunch wrote an interesting article stating that he thinks netbooks aren’t good enough.  Needless to say, there’s a lot of criticism of Arrington’s article.  I am, of course, am one of those critics.

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I just took a quick look at some of the goodies offered on Geek Stuff 4 U, and they have definitely got something for those looking for unique and geeky gadget gifts.

Let’s take a look at some of the items that caught my eye…

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This contest is now closed, and kenneth2009 is the winner. Thank you all for entering, and be sure to enter our HP Magic giveaway!

Still having trouble deciding what to get the budding techie on your list? You know the one…the youngster who is fascinated by your fancy feature phones, the teenager who has discovered text messaging and Facebook, the young entrepreneur who wants a way to keep in touch with the office when she isn’t able to be there; these are just some of the people who might like to receive a Palm Centro.

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Ever since 9/11, air travelers have been forced to take their shoes off, take their laptops out of bags, and…well you know the drill.  Now the TSA has worked on developing a standard for letting us keep our laptop in its bag as we go through through the checkpoint.  I got to take a look at Skooba Design’s version, called the Skooba Checkthrough.

The bag is actually a lot smaller than it looks and a lot larger than it looks.  I know; how can it be both?  Well when all zipped up, it’s a little thinner than the backpack I used to use; however I have everything I normally carry in it.  The only thing missing is my digital camera, but when I get another case for it, it should fit too. The Skooba Checkthough is relatively slim, but can hold a lot of gear. Continue Reading

If you’re using a BlackBerry Curve (83xx) or Pearl (81xx) – here’s a cute Charlie Brown Christmas theme created by Dan Black of Blacksberry theme site. It’s completely free and based on that lovable Peanuts cartoon. Use the link below to download it over the air (OTA) to your phone.

Peanuts Christmas Theme (OTA) – BlackBerry 83xx
Peanuts Christmas Theme (OTA) – BlackBerry 81xx
via: BlackBerry Forums

Today’s HP Magic Giveaway sites are MediaBlab, Neowin, and BostonPocketPC. Bear in mind that each site will have their own requirements for the giveaway, and they may also have their own rules that will not apply on other sites.

Here’s a quick synopsis of today’s giveaway sites’ details…

MediaBlab:

One common thread among the HP Magic Giveaway contests is the idea that this huge prize deserves to be shared. Most of us don’t really need 4 computers at home, but we all know a person or an organization who could really use some help. For my giveaway, I’m asking you to tell me about who you would share some of this great hardware and software with and why. The winner will be selected randomly because it’s too difficult to judge the merit of one person’s reasons for sharing against another. As long as it’s feasible, I’ll be delivering the hardware to the selected winner in person. As a bonus, I’m donating an hour of my time to either help you set up this new gear or solving some existing computer frustration.

Contest rules:

1) You must be subscribed to Jake Ludington’s Digital Lifestyle newsletter on 6 December 2008 when the winner is announced. If you’re not already subscribed, you can subscribe here.

2) You must post a comment to the official contest announcement (this page) about who (person or organization) you would share the prize with and why. Include city, state, and country in the body of your comment. Your real name and the same email address you subscribe to the newsletter with must be used in the comment entry form so that you can be contacted if you are selected.

Read the rest of the rules at Jake Ludington’sDigital Lifestyle.

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Amazon has quite a few Motorola RAZR V3 phones (blue, pink, black, silver) up for sale for $95 each with free Super Saving Shipping. These unlocked phones are quad band GSM (850/900/1800/1900 ) and do NOT carry any warranty beyond Amazon’s 30 day return policy. Unfortunately they’ll only support poky GPRS data connections. However if you’re looking to replace an older RAZR and you’re on a GSM carrier, these could be a better choice than signing another lengthy contract with your cell phone carrier. Remember, all these RAZR V3 phones are GSM models – in the USA you need to be using AT&T or T-Mobile to take advantage of this deal.

Amazon RAZR V3 Unlocked

What can I say; I have enjoyed my first generation MacBook Air more than any laptop I have ever owned. It fits in my purse and has basically become my main brain, going with me everywhere and shoving my MacBook Pro into seldom-used obscurity…with the exception of those times when I need to access the XP partition (via VMWare) to get into Microsoft Money (a day job requirement).

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Today’s HP Magic Giveaway sites are Morningside Mom and Thoughts on Poetics & Tech. Bear in mind that each site will have their own requirements for the giveaway, and they may also have their own rules which will not necessarily apply on other sites.

Here’s a quick synopsis of today’s giveaway sites’ details…

Morningside Mom:

Hp and Microsoft has delivered the prize package to me – and as of today, Saturday November 29th – the contest has begun. Now it is my turn to explain the rules to you. Here they are:

1) This entire prize package will be awarded to one person.

2) However, this winner will be chosen based on how they plan to use this prize. To be more specific, I will be awarding this prize to a winner who will put the package to positive change or towards a charitable cause. For example, this person might work at an underprivileged school, the winner might know someone working at an underfunded health clinic, or maybe they’ve heard about a Boys and Girls club that might need a donation. Regardless, this person should plan to have these computers affect lives positively.

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Here’s a quick tip for you BlackBerry Storm users. If you’re experiencing screen lag or the selection on the main menu doesn’t follow your finger when you attempt to touch/select an icon – try reducing the number of icons on the screen to one (or less) full screen. In the illustration above, Howardforum user CanAm created a folder called “seldom used” to hold the icons that could be removed from the home screen. Judging from the happy replies of other forum users, this is one cool speed tip you should try on your Storm.

HOFO message

Nice! Those of you who have managed to hold out may have just lucked into a few holiday gift items that were worth the wait; these are the Cyber Monday deals from Sandisk…

Sansa MP3 Players

* 35% off Sansa Clip MP3 Player (4GB) / New price: $51.99 (from $79.99)
* 23% off Sansa Fuze MP3 Player (8GB) / New price: $91.99 (from $119.99
* 20% off SanDisk Sansa View Video MP3 Player (32GB) / New price: $199.99 (from $249.99)

USB Flash Drives

* 45% off SanDisk Cruzer Micro® (16GB) / New price: $43.99 (from $79.99)

Flash Memory Cards

Cameras

* 48.9% off SanDisk Standard SDHC™ Card (8GB) / New price: $22.99 (from $44.99)
* 58% off SanDisk Ultra II SDHC (8GB) / New price: $20.99 from $49.99
* 50% off SanDisk Memory Stick PRO Duo™ (4GB) / New price: $19.99 (from $39.99)

Mobile

* 34% off Mobile Micro SD (8GB) / New price: $32.99 from $49.99
* 57% off SanDisk microSDHC (8GB) with SD Adapter / New price: $29.99 from $69.99

Link: SanDisk’s Cyber Monday Sale

While I was waiting in line at Target on Black Friday, one of the groups handing our free coffee and hot chocolate was the folks from MerryMob.com.

Merry Mob is a local group of flash mobbers made up of members of the Columbus community.  How it works is they get a text message or e-mail that tells them what, when and where about the next merry event.  It also tells them what they should bring.  Like for example, they need to bring paper cups or something to that effect.  Then on the day of the event, they gather and then they do their nice thing and then leave.  Just like a flash mob, but with a purpose.

The best thing is, sometime this season, they will do something truly wonderful for a local family and change their life!  Maybe it’s fixing their house up or making sure a family has a Merry Christmas.  It’s a wonderful idea and something I really could get behind.

While I started the morning at the closest Walmart, I ended up visiting three different Walmarts thanks to my wife dragging me with her when she went to work today to drop work off.

After I went to my Walmart and got the coat and a gift for my son, I journeyed over to Grove City which is a exit or two away.  There’s a large retail complex there with Target, Best Buy, Walmart, Circuit City (this store closing) and other stores.  The first store I went to was Target and I snapped up a 750 GB External USB drive from Western Digital for $88.88.  What impressed me at Target was it’s line to go in at 6 am.  I can easily see why someone was killed today.  Well, the line at Target was orderly, if long.  MerryMob.com was passing out free cocoa and coffee to those of us waiting in the cold.  After the doors opened, it didn’t take long to get things done.

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SlashGear have just posted their review of the latest MacBook Air model. They’ve tested (and recommend) the 128 GB SSD version noting that startup time with the SSD version is more than halved from the original MacBook Air. No more burnt lap (heat was a big complaint on the first generation MacBook Air) or annoyingly loud fan. Best of all there was an absence of lockups while processing video (another first generation handicap that many Air users complained about). If you’ve got $2.499 burning a hole in your pocked, check out their review.

However, what you do get – with the SSD version of the Air, anyway – is a nice chunk of real-world usability. Start-up time is more than halved compared to the first-gen Air, regularly coming in at under thirty seconds, and apps load quickly. You don’t get a burnt lap, nor go deaf from fan noise, either. Where the first Air had a habit of whipping itself into a broiling frenzy during thorough use, we found the new model comfortably sat at between 120 and 135 degrees. Processing video saw that jump to between 175 and 185, with the aforementioned crank up in fan speed, but it quickly returned to the normal operating range once the video was done. Happily we saw none of the freezing or lock-ups that the Air used to suffer from.

SlashGear – MacBook Air Review: it’s a different beast inside out

This Universal AC Adapter features 8 separate power cords designed to fit almost any cell phone (Nokia, Sony Ericsson, Samsung, Apple, Motorola, LG, etc). And if your don’t see the adapter that you need, there’s a USB port for you to plug your own charging cable. According to the product specifications, you could use up to three of these adapters at a time. For best performance they recommend only using one charger at a time. The current setting for Sony Ericsson, Nokia Connectors are 5.8V; Micro USB, USB A Female socket & iPod / iPhone is 5.0V; Samsung, LG & Mini USB 5 pin is 5.3V. The entire adapter is portable too and can be powered by either a wall outlet (included) or a rechargeable internal Lithium Ion 1300 mAH battery. Cost is $49.99 and pre-orders are being accepted for shipments starting 12/31/08.

USBFever – Universal Travel Chargers for iPhone / iPod / HTC / G1