So is it truly about the EULA, Apple wanting control, or is it something else entirely?

Over the last couple of weeks, there’s been a lot of press about Psystar, the web-based organization who has defied all speculation that it was a fly-by-night scam artist. The company emphatically insists that it’s a legitimate business who simply had payment processing issues to overcome regarding its highly publicized Mac clone/compatible PC’s. According to a post on its home page, http://www.psystar.com/, their online store is back up, in business; and orders placed during the week of 07-Apr-08 are currently shipping.

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**Update: The contest is now closed, and the winner is dckiwi!!

The list of correct devices is as follows:
1. Dolce & Gabbana Motorola RAZR V3i
2. Sidekick 3
3. Blackberry 7700 series
4. LG K800 “Chocolate”
5. Sony Ericsson p910
6. Pink RAZR
7. iPod 5G Video
8. BB 8700r
9. Sidekick 3
10. Treo 650

Thank you for participating! We’ll do it again soon…

I had a lot of fun with the last celebrity’s & their devices guessing game (I learned a lot about BlackBerrys, too), so I have decided to do it again! This time, the winner will be chosen from the entries that have at least seven of the correct celebrity’s devices named, and the winner will pick up a set of Ultimate Ears super.fi 5 Pro earphones (worth $250!!). Jenneth from Girls Gone Mobile, Matt from The Mobile Gadgeteer, and Mike from Smartphone Thoughts will help me judge the results, and as always - the list we have agreed upon is the final list from which we will judge.

Where possible I have included links that will show larger or additional pictures.

This time, I think things should be a little bit easier - I purposely tried to not pick so many BBs! I’ll leave this contest open until 3:30 US Central Standard Time on Saturday, November 25th; at that time the winner will be selected from the entries with seven or more correct guesses.

Update 11/21:Mike Dietz from Ultimate Ears has made the very generous offer to “drop ship the prize to the winner along with some UE swag.” So…to be clear - this is a brand new set of UE super.fi 5 Pro earphones, not the set I reviewed, which had been my original plan. Thanks Mike!

Ready? Here we go…

1. Hilary Duff gets money from an ATM while talking on her _______edition _______.

(source I Don’t Like You in That Way)

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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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Joel sent me this clever gift idea for those that have been stumped over what to buy the “girly-girl” on their shopping list…

Riptopia, the service that converts CD collections to digital media for people who either don’t have the patience or don’t have the hardware, has also been selling pre-loaded iPods for some time.

From November 1st through January 15th, they will be offering a special package which consists of a 4GB iPod Nano in blue, pink or green that comes pre-loaded with the gift recipient’s 50 favorite CDs and a free pair of matching Swarovski crystal encrusted headphones. 

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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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The HTC Universal is the device-of-a-thousand-names: i-mate JasJar, O2 XDA Exec, QTek 9000, SPV M5000, and HAL 9000 for all I know. It’s a hefty (10.2 oz/290 g), big (5.2″ x 3.1″ x 0.93″), hi-res (640×480 VGA), versatile (3G/GRPS, wifi, bluetooth, 1.3 Mp camera, Window Mobile 5), expensive ($1000 retail–go to eBay!) SmartPhone/PDA/convergent device with a clamshell design that hides a decent-sized keyboard and an interesting open, spin, and fold screen that converts it from a sort of micro-laptop form factor to that of a regular PDA.

Judie has already reviewed the Universal at The Gadgeteer, but poor Judie got the i-Mate version, which apparently has one of the world’s most boring unboxing experiences.  

I scored an O2 Exec on eBay, and whatever else these O2 folks do–and I’ve heard some bad stories from folks in the UK, alas–they sure made one cool package for this device.

First, understand that I’ve had the device for a couple of months now, so this is not a “fresh” unboxing, but rather a “recreated” unboxing. But that caveat aside, I think you will enjoy it.

Here’s the box as it comes shipped–a blue rectangular solid:

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The Motorola Q is a very thin, yet wider than usual Windows Mobile 5 Smartphone which was designed to be held to the user’s face when making calls. It also sports a full QWERTY keyboard for thumb-typing and a bright 2″ wide x 1.5″ tall screen. Making a case that would keep the screen from being unnecessarily scratched, protect the majority of the device’s plastic body, and yet allow unfettered access to the keyboard and other ports was the challenge. If anyone could rise to the occasion it would be Vaja; read on to see how they did…

There are four new Motorola Q cases offered by Vaja. Of them the most device-accessible version is the Motorola Q Classic MO111, an open-faced custom handcrafted case which is available in plain vitelino or plain aniline leather. The difference between the two leathers is that aniline is a soft leather with a smooth finish. According to the Vaja site, ” no pigmented finish or topcoats are applied to correct or mask the natural beauty of the hide. This means that you will be able to see the actual surface grain and markings.” Vitelino leather, on the other hand, has a “beautiful, cracked-look surface” which is “achieved by polishing with extreme pressure by rollers made of agate, steel or glass.” Vaja uses the glass rollers, “because it allows for the best possible results.” There are fourteen different vitelino color choices, and there are eighteen different aniline color choices.

If you would like a belt-clip, there is an option of adding a plastic Ultra-Clip for $6, or the sleek rivet clip system for $20. Personalization may also be added, with embossed text costing $10 and an embossed graphic costing $30.

I was sent two Q Classic cases - an Olive Vitelino for the Q with regular battery and an Azzuro Vitelino for the Q with extended battery; let’s look at the Olive case first. The sewn-in plastic screen guard has a piece of blue protective plastic on it, and there is no device inside to push out the custom sculpted leather sides. Worth noting are that the only branding evident on the device are the two subtle pewter colored teardrops which make up the Vaja logo, and there is a repetitive embossed Vaja logo making up the interior’s back wall.

The case�almost looks like a slipper here, doesn’t it?

This is more like it…once the Q has been inserted in the tightly fitted case, the leather sides are filled and the case hugs the device’s body to perfection. Without a case, the Q measures exactly 4.6″ tall x 2.6″ wide x 0.46″ thick and weighs 4.2 ounces. Inside the Classic case, the Q now measures 4.6″ tall x 2.7″ wide x 0.62″ and weighs 4.8 ounces. The difference in size is negligible, but the difference in the feel of the device is immediately evident. Where the Q’s exterior was a slightly cheap looking prone-to-scratches silver plastic before, the Q is now transformed into a sumptuous leather-wrapped device with silver trim.

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One of the treats we received at Mobius Thailand this year was a Vaja case for the HTC Hermes / Dopod 838Pro.

You would have thought it was Christmas!

John Starkweather had no sooner announced that Vaja had made custom cases for our new Windows Mobile 5 Phones, when the room erupted with “oooooooohs” and our eyes grew wide; there was a good reason for this.

Vaja has been around since 2000, and in that time they have managed to revolutionize the case making industry. No longer the new guys on the block, they are now the leather craft company that every other case-maker aspires to be. From the beginning they have created form-fitting, well made cases constructed of aromatic Argentinean leather which complemented the PDAs carried inside. But before long their innovative designers chose to not only create the highest quality cases, they also began to offer custom designs that allowed their patrons to personalize the case-making process in a way never done before. Whether the case is from their Classic line or the slightly edgier iVolution line, Vaja items all have a few thing in common - they are impeccably made, they look beautiful, and they all smell yummy!

So today we’ll take a look at the HTC Horizonal Pouch, which is made to fit Pocket PC Phones - with or without a sliding keyboard - that measure no larger than 4.45″ tall x 2.3″ wide x 0.5″ thick. This pouch is very similar to the Vaja HT41 Pouch which I previously reviewed.

The case itself measures 4.53″ long x 2.6″ wide x 1.35″ thick. It is composed of black aniline leather with a deep red aniline accent stripe. The subtle Vaja logo is the only branding evident anywhere on the pouch.

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As parents we like to think that we know our kids, that we know they would never do or say certain things. But the fact is that we can never be too sure; all we can do is educate them, hope that they are being careful, and trust that they are being smart.

If I were to be completely honest with myself, I’d recall doing and saying plenty of things when I was Sarah’s age that might have seemed harmless at the time, but would either be considered risky or embarrassing today. Thankfully we didn’t have digital cameras, chat rooms, blogs, or for that matter - the internet when I was 16.

Think about it, a teen in 1983 that had a frustrating day might call a best friend to let off steam, but a teen today can just as easily go into an online chat room or their MySpace account and vent to the first available friend that will listen. Sometimes these “friends” are not what they seem.

Sarah has grown up hearing how the 14 year old girl she thinks she is chatting with might really be a 41 year old man, and I would like to think that without sounding like a broken record, my message has sunk in. Sarah is past the age where I feel compelled to limit her time on the internet, and for the most part I completely trust that she is careful when she is online - and yet I still felt a touch of apprehension when I was approached about trying a new internet service called BeNetSafe. My inner nagging mom was nervous that I might find out something I didn’t want to know…

Maybe it’s because I can remember what a rotten kid I was.

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The HTC Excalibur, AKA T-Mobile Dash has been announced today; Engadget already has a review. 

Photo from Engadget

Pricing will be set at $199.99 with a two-year contract, $249.99 with a one year contract, and $349 with no contract - quite reasonable!

If any of you pick one up - be sure to post your impressions.

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