The 3rd generation iPod touch is something special. With plentiful storage, awesome speed, a speaker and hardware volume control it is hard to remember how limited original version of the touch that was released just two short years ago was. While this new version of the touch LOOKS the same as the model it replaces, just a few short minutes with it immediately tells you that this is an entirely different animal. The original touch was an iPod with a touch screen. The 2nd generation touch was, on many levels, “an iPhone lite”. This new touch is being billed as a gaming pocket computer… and that is just what it is.

Larry, Mitchell and I all have one, and each of us is pretty impressed. Lets take a look.

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If you are one of the many millions of Star Trek fans around the world, and aren’t afraid to publicise the fact, then this may be just up your alley. Cufflinks.com have expanded their lineup to include several new Star Trek designs, including emblems from Starfleet Command and the Klingon Empire.

From the Press Release:

Due to the overwhelming popularity of the officially licensed CBS Star Trek Cufflinks, Cufflinks, Inc. has expanded the Star Trek line of products to include 7 additional designs for Trekkies everywhere.  Attached are jpegs of the new designs.  If you should need high res images or more information, please do not hesitate to let me know.  Star Trek Cufflinks are available to be viewed at www.cufflinks.com.

While some of them stand out more than others, the Officially Licenced Star Trek Cufflinks would be my choice, they look quite classy and only Trekkies, Trekkers and Niners are likely to spot them. If you understand the Niners reference, you need at least one set of these.

Check them out on the Cufflinks website.

As I’m sure many of you know Apple have announced their latest refresh of the iPod Touch and iPod nano lines, and while neither were really overhauled the nano picked up a few more features than its big brother.

It’s been widely speculated that the iPod line-up would gain cameras, but the rumours were only half right, with the Nano squeezing in a VGA 30fps camera, whilst the Touch had to make do with a performance boost and higher capacities.

The look hasn’t really changed much, with the same basic design of the 4th generation Nano. It is still super slim and super light, but fits a slightly larger 2.2″ display, which is wider and has a higher resolution than before. Now at 376×240 instead of 320×240, widescreen videos are bigger and result in less black bars than before, however it is still a very tiny screen, and if you are looking to watch anything longer than short TV episodes or podcasts I’d recommend picking up a Touch.

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My dad made the rather exciting purchase of a jet ski some months ago, and during the summer it was an absolute hoot to go out on the water and race around doing over 100kph (62mph) under the warm sun.

I wanted to get some video to show just how quick the jet ski was, but mounting a camera in such a way that it wouldn’t fall off proved difficult. Then it occured to me: the Gorillapod. With its flexible legs I could surely work out some way of mounting it on the front of the jet ski. Dan reviewed the Gorillapod a few days ago, and after showing him my little test of it he insisted I put my thoughts up too.

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Anyone who read my review of the original Touch Diamond will know I wasn’t all that big a fan.

In my experience it was slow, cheaply made and its battery life was appalling. The great thing about HTC is they keep trying and seem to learn from past mistakes, which made me all the more interested in testing the Diamond2.

Off the bat I’d like to talk about looks, since that was one of the big selling points of the original. Whilst the Diamond was wrapped in a consumer-style glossy plastic shell, that upon closer inspection felt cheap, the Diamond2 has grown up. Gone is the massive  plasticy buttons below the display, instead replaced with four slim brushed  aluminium ones that just exude quality. The brushed aluminium also borders the whole front of the device, and looks much classier than the usual chrome bling a lot of phones are going for these days (including the Touch Pro2).

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One of the things that I found odd on the iPhone was the inability to use Google Maps to plot a route to a locations directly from the calendar. Consider how easy Apple have made almost everything else on the iPhone, it seemed to be a rather odd omission. You can easily navigate to an address or dial a number out of an email, but why not the calendar?

This evening however I found a rather neat trick that manages to get around this problem with almost no fuss whatsoever. Take this calendar item I have for tomorrow (well, today really). I’m getting my car serviced, and put the address of the place I’m taking the car into the “Location” field in the calendar item as you’d expect.

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It’s been  a month now since I posted my first impressions, and it’s time to fess up my thoughts on the HTC Magic. Truth be told, it has truly surprised me!

User Interface

The Android user interface is simple yet elegant, and was definitely designed with finger actions in mind. Unlike Windows Mobile, Android never makes you wish for a stylus. Icons are nicely sized, menus are large and the flicking motions to advance lists, web pages and menus become second nature as soon as you start using the phone.

For some reason Android feels a lot nicer on the Magic that it did on the Dream, perhaps due to the way the Magic fits perfectly in hand and can be used (for the most part) with either one or two hands.

The one thing that could do with a bit of work out of the box is the icon set, some of them feel a bit childish. The preinstalled theme is up to the carrier though, and replacement themes can be installed easily through the Market to address this.

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I received my brand new 13” MacBook Pro about a week ago and for the most part (a few software issues at the moment), I am loving it. One thing I have noticed is that the battery life I’ve been getting hasn’t really been all that close to what others have been reporting online. Anandtech tested the 15” model they have and were able to quite happily achieve close to what Apple said you should be, so why is it I’ve been getting quite a fair bit under 4hrs out of my machine?

Initially I thought it might be because my battery was so new and hadn’t been “broken in” yet. It is now nearing on 10 cycles and life hasn’t really changed.

That was until last night, when I was using it for the first time on battery at home. I had an indicated 6hrs of battery life remaining, something I had yet to see on this machine. This intrigued me, but initially I couldn’t figure out what it was.

Then it came to me: 3G. Whenever I take my laptop out of the house, it is faithfully accompanied by a USB 3G modem. And almost every time I use my laptop out of the house, it is connected up to provide sweet internets. Unfortunately the coffee shops I visit at the moment do not have free WiFi, so I have to the use the 3G modem if I want to get online.

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Since Dan posted his thoughts on the new 13” Pro compared to the previous 13” non-Pro, I thought I’d throw together the thoughts I’ve had in my first day of ownership as well.

I bought my very first Mac back in 2006 and I have never looked back. It was a second generation 15” MacBook Pro, the first of the Core 2 Duo models, and it was fantastic. Beautiful screen, super fast, looked great and ran an OS that I would become very happy with.

Today that laptop headed off to its new owner as yesterday I took delivery of Apple’s latest revision of the MacBook Pro. After 24hrs with it I’ve found a lot I like, and a few little niggles to keep my upgrading bug happy.

The model I ordered is actually the base model 13” MacBook Pro, which came in at a grand total of AU$1749 including a $150 discount for being a student. At this price I really feel it is a bargain, since I can’t think of any other machine at this price range that looks as good, feels as solid and is as compact considering the hardware it contains.

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A few months ago I had the opportunity to test out a HTC Dream (unlocked version of the T-Mobile G1), and to be perfectly honest, I didn’t like it at all. The software wasn’t that great, the battery life was poor and whoever thought of that design should be locked away forever. When I was offered an HTC Magic for a few weeks, I was eager to see if HTC’s latest Android attempt had address many of the issues I had with the original.

Straight out of the box the Magic makes a much better impression than the Dream. With its super glossy casing, slender profile and diminutive dimensions, the Magic is a great looking device. Everyone I have shown it to likes the look of it (and a few have suggested it looks like a rather popular device that was recently refreshed…), though many would prefer it in black. While I think it looks good in white, if I was purchasing one I would go for a black model.

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When Sony told me they had a Vaio P ready to send out to me, I was more excited about it than any other device I’ve tested in a while. Having converted to the netbook faithful with an HP Mini 1000 a few months ago, I was looking forward to trying out Sony’s attempt.

The design really does trump every other netbook on the market, and is extremely reminiscent of their PictureBook series of ultraultraportables from a few years ago. It is thinner than my Mini 1000, not to mention less wide and deep. It doesn’t even make it to 700g! This thing is seriously light, and seriously portable. Have you seen the ads of the girl with the P in her back pocket? It really is that slim. I tried it, and it works (though admittedly, looks better on the girl in the ad )

Open up the display and you’re greeted by a very-widescreen and a keyboard that isn’t as small as you were expecting.

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This week I started back at uni, and I was instantly feeling the two problems I have with my MacBook Pro: it’s not overly light for lugging around, and the battery is gooooone. Basically this left me with a choice of either buying a replacement battery or finally getting myself a decent “netbook”. Carrying around the Shift showed me how nice it is to carry around a small and light notebook, so I decided on the latter, and today picked up an HP Mini 1001TU. This model has the 1.6Ghz Atom CPU, 60GB HDD, 1GB RAM and Bluetooth. I paid AU$740, which becomes AU$640 after cashback. The store threw in a free neoprene case which makes for a nice package.

Straight up, HP have to be given kudos for a nice unboxing experience. The slick black box is very reminiscent of the MacBook Pro box, which isn’t a bad thing, and gives the Mini an air of quality before you even open it up. Inside the box is quite spartan, including only the essentials: an AC adapter, a few documents directing you to soft-copy manuals, an XP SP3 reinstallation CD and a glasses cloth for cleaning the screen. A soft case would have been a nice inclusion (you get one with the ASUS netbooks), but the store I bought mine from rectified that for me

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About six months ago I bought the best phone that I have ever owned: a Nokia E71. Obviously this is a personal thing, since the E71 wouldn’t suit everyone’s needs or tastes, but for me it just fitted into every situation I put my phone in. It is the perfect messaging device, with it’s QWERTY thumboard that has excellent feel and feedback, it has outstanding battery life thanks to it’s enormous 1500mAh battery, it is as thin as possible without being uncomfortable to use, it has an bright, rich display, that while low on dimensions and resolution, looks absolutely great and manages to comfortably display web pages without issue. Then of course the fact that it looks so good in it’s stainless steel and chrome suit.

I wouldn’t call it outrageously priced either, since you’d be hard pressed to find something as compact, full featured and with such a quality feel in the same price range. While it may be good value (in my mind anyway), it is still out of reach of many who would like the functionality on offer, but aren’t able or willing to fork out the dollars that the E71 demands. Realising this, Nokia have produced a cut-priced version of the E71 called the E63, which manages to hold onto the majority of the E71’s feature set, whilst being priced considerably cheaper.

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[Ed. note - This is a joint review between Mitchell Oke and myself. My comments will be in black, and Mitchell's will be in blue italics. Before reading this, you might want to first read Mitchell's article "HTC Touch HD = Stands for Hot Damn!!" and my "HTC Touch HD Walk-Around and First Impressions" and "A Quick Tease: the HTC Touch HD and Nokia N85"]

It seems like it’s been ages since there was a Windows Mobile phone with a nearly 4″ screen. The last one I can remember was my much loved HTC Universal, and that was back in…early 2006, which seems like forever ago. Since then, the trend has been that mobile phones have smaller and smaller screens, even when those screens came with VGA or better resolutions. While this has been great for portability, it has not been good for people like me who wanted a larger screen for reading, looking at spreadsheets, or dealing with other on-screen negotiations.

With the introduction of touch interfaces on so many Windows Mobile phones over the last two years, I have felt that the one thing missing was a return of a 4″ VGA or better screen. When I heard about the HTC Touch HD, a device technically only intended for the Asian and European markets, I decided it was probably the closest thing I was going to get.

I’ve been looking forward to the Touch HD since I first read about it last year. With its massive WVGA, 800×480 display, sleek profile, minimalist yet stylish design and big battery, there definitely was a lot to get excited about. I have to admit I was also excited to see the HD picked up a conventional 3.5mm headphone jack, since if I was to buy one of these things, it would need to replace my beloved iPod Touch.

And I don’t know about your unit, but mine supported both UMTS 2100 and the American UMTS 850

I believe that I probably got the same device you did. Since technically there no US version, HTC sent me the European / Asian version, which basically lacks US 3G. Since I don’t have 3G where I live and was well aware that the HD would not have it before I was sent the device, this was not a con for me.

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There have been two activities that have become the norm across the world of technology blogging in the last couple of years: unboxing, and loading Mac OS X onto netbooks. As a person who is lucky enough to have the opportunity to play with lots of phones, notebooks and other “unboxable” items, I’ve done the former a fair bit, and as an owner of a MacBook Pro for the past few years, I can understand peoples need to load OS X onto any device with an x86 processor.

Another trend that’s come up in the last month or so is loading up Windows 7 onto netbooks, since it is aiming to be a leaner, meaner version of Windows that Vista should have been. After dabbling with XP and absolutely loving the speed boost it offered over Vista on the Shift’s frankly pathetic 800Mhz processor and 1GB RAM, I decided to give Windows 7 a chance. After imaging my XP install (since it was working perfectly, I didn’t want to have to set it up all over again if I wanted to return), I connected up my USB DVD drive and began the install.

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