Every now and again, the GearDiary team gets a press release that leads to a round of “No way that’ll ever work!” emails being tossed around our “reply all” circle. Then invariably, I’ll be the one to volunteer to try it. Maybe it’s just the dreamer in me. My little world is full of butterflies and unicorns, too.

And it takes a dreamer to believe in a product like a telescope adapter for an iPhone. Especially when you read the claims on the website of its features:

- makes the super wide angel
- the larger luminous flux
- the higher visual acuteness
- good for color reduction
- detachable from the crystal case
- 6X optical Zooming

Now I don’t know if it makes angels wider or reduces color, and I’m pretty sure I don’t know what luminous flux is, but I’ll be a monkey’s uncle if the darned thing doesn’t work!

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I went to the Australian Nokia Music Store launch last night at the Oxford Art Factory. Great venue, made more appealing by the fact that it’s walking distance from my place and there was free booze and nibblies.

Oddly, there were hardly any other tech journos there. I spotted two that I didn’t know well enough to attempt small talk with, so I secreted myself into one of the stairwells and played with my non-Nokia iPhone. My state of friendlessness would’ve had me leaving immediately after the presentation and a couple of beers if not for the promise of The Presets performing, one of my favourite electro brands.

I left the event with a nice little goody bag from Nokia containing a set of portable mobile phone speakers and a $10 voucher for the Music Store. As a bit of background, the Australian Nokia Music Store launched yesterday with 2.5 million tracks in its catalogue. Individual tracks are $1.70 each, albums start at $17, and you can stream unlimited tracks from your PC for $10 a month.

I decided to give the unlimited streaming thing a go on my Asus Eee PC (which is still running the default Xandros Linux OS), and was greeted by this window.

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I’m always looking for alternative sources of power for my electronic devices, which is why the Datexx Sentina Outback Rechargeable PowerBank caught my eye. Billed as a super bright LED flashlight, a motion detector / emergency light, a USB charger for electronic gadgets, a power generator, and an SOS siren, the Outback almost sounds like it tries to take on too many properties, a “jack of all trades” if you will.

Let’s take a look and see if this device lives up to its billing, or if as the famous other half of the “jack of all trades” saying goes, it is a “master of none.”

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Over the last year I have grown incredibly spoiled when I travel because I no longer need to pack a tangle of “spaghetti”; instead, I bring along a set of Gomadic Charging Cables. The same single cable charges my PDA, mobile phone and digital music player. It can charge Sarah’s phone and Sarah’s digital music player, too; all it takes is the proper tip for each particular device.

For those unfamiliar with Gomadic, I’ll state the premise in a nutshell: They sell cables with plugs on their ends which will accept their specially made tips; these tips fit many of today’s popular consumer mobile devices. Gomadic’s “Tip Exchange Technology” means that the same cable can be used for years - and as devices are added to the user’s collection, new tips can be purchased to swap out with the old.

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As the owner of a Tapwave Zodiac, I’m pretty far behind the curve (or way ahead, depending on how you look at it) with regard to PDA/handheld/UMPC/convergent device development. I love these gadgets, mind you, but the last time I went to buy one I found such a dearth of Palm OS devices (you can have a LifeDrive, or a Treo, or, um, a different Treo, or, um . . .) that I got depressed and kind of gave up.

So anyway, I didn’t hear about the whole Origami thing until someone on Tapland mentioned it in passing, as it were. (Us Zodiac folks are always on the lookout for handheld devices with decent graphics, you see.) That, combined with a need to get my wife a new cell phone, sent me out looking at the market for convergent devices, SmartPhones, UMPCs, and the like.

As everyone reading this blog probably knows–hey, I said I was behind the curve–there’s an awful lot of overlap in these devices. There are smartphones with 4″, full VGA screens that run Windows Mobile 5; there are PDAs that have Bluetooth and WiFi built-in, but don’t have cell phone capability; there are UMPCs that (it seems to me) might as well be really expensive PDAs with slide-out keyboards. Or even without slide-out keyboards. And on and on.

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I like the idea of RFID technology - being able to quickly pass an embedded item near a reader for immediate access or payment, but there are certain uses that make me nervous - like having an RFID embedded in my passport or other ID that contains most if not all of my personal documentation. These documents can then be easily read by anyone with the proper equipment.

I recently received information about a new product that will block RFID readers from being able to scan the new embedded passports and other documents.

Okay, so this picture doesn’t make the product look fashionable at all, but the function is truly what matters here.

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Many of you by now will recognize the name HTC as the abbreviation for the Taiwanese based company High Tech Computer. They are the world’s largest manufacturer of Pocket PC and Smartphone OS based PDAs, and as such they are responsible for many of the more recognizable devices which are rebranded by companies including Hewlett Packard, i-mate, Audiovox, and Dopod - to name a few.

The device we’ll be looking at today is known by several names including the O2 XDA Trion, the MDA Vario II, Orange SPV M3100, and the Dopod 838Pro. This review will specifically cover the HTC Hermes branded as the Dopod 838Pro; while some of its included software may differ from other branded versions, the general hardware specifications should be about the same.

Similar to the HTC Apache / Sprint PPC-6700 which I reviewed last year, the Hermes features a compact touch-screen PDA form factor with a left-sliding keyboard which only appears when needed. The Hermes is intended to function not only as the user’s mobile phone, but also as a fully functional PDA, an email and text messaging center, and a compact means to wirelessly surf the internet.

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It wasn’t�so long ago that I reviewed the SCOTTeVEST SeV Performance T-Shirt. Since then Scott, never one to rest upon his laurels, has already come out with an updated version. Now before any of you start to wonder why I am reviewing “work-out” clothes, let me assure you that there is more to this shirt than meets the eye. The Performance T-Shirt is not just a piece of athletic clothing, it is also a Personal Area Network enabled gear holder perfect for a hands-free workout session or a day outdoors.

Those that loved the original sport shirt’s design and material - but needed more than its single pocket for their gear - will be happy to hear that they now have another option. The original black one-pocket short or long sleeve style is still available, but a three-pocket version was recently added, and this one comes in multiple colors as well as a choice of sleeve lengths. The three-pocket version is available in black, white, red and blue.

I was sent the blue long sleeve and a short sleeve in white. Because it photographed better, I’ll be showing pictures of the blue version.

(photo courtesy of the SeV site)

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