Tag Archives: Hardware

TomTom GO 300

Earlier this year Santa paid me an early visit and gifted me the wonderful TomTom GO 300 – a device that completely solved all those future instances of ‘getting lost’, of ‘not wanting to explore a city’ and of so many other embarrassing ‘arriving late situations’.

The TomTom device is an advanced global positioning system that is packaged into a well designed casing and bundled with a feature set that really make this my favorite owned electronice device for 2005. (The Xbox topped the list in 2004). Some of these compelling features include:

- Plug and go ease of use. I turned the device on and was ready to go in less than a minute.

- Updating maps is a piece of cake because of the SD Card. However, the first problem I noticed with this approach was during my road-trip to Canada and having to switch SD cards while crossing the border. The included 1GB card only contains maps for the United States. Maps for Canada and Puerto Rico are included on the CD. All other maps need to be purchased before use.

- Simple interface, simple settings, simple navigation, simple mounts, simple cable additions

Overall, I’m definitely pleased with the device and couldn’t be happier on not having to use Hertz rentals when in a new city.

The iPod nano

Just when you thought that the iPod mini was the smallest fully functional iPod device you could purchase along comes the iPod nano. In typical, Apple marketing style:

Boasting an impressive feature list, the real sell is the amazing 3.5 x 1.6 x 0.27 size. Now that’s small. In other Apple press news, the iTunes enabled Rokr cell phone made by Motorola is now available exclusively through Cingular. Madonna also announced that her entire music library is now available through the iTunes music store and so is author J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter books. The effect that Apple’s iPod and iTunes Music Store has had on the market environment is quite scary. Recently, D&M Holdings, owners of the Rio brand, announced that they would exit the portable digital audio business. Furthermore, according to the Mercury News, the iTunes Music Store has a whooping 82 percent share of the U.S. digital music market and 80 percent of the U.K. market.

I’m quite sure that both MSN Music and Yahoo! Launch need something more than the plethora of devices that support Windows Media file formats if they’re hoping to make any kind of dent on Apple’s continuous market domination. Where’s the catalyst product when you need one?

Mouse double-clicks when you try to single-click

I use a Microsoft Intellimouse Explorer Optical Mouse, whose single-click is seen by Windows as a double-click. After trying out various recommendations in the knowledge base article, Microsoft Knowledge Base Article 266738 � IntelliMouse: Mouse Double-Clicks When You Try to Single-Click, I finally resorted to Daniel Jackson’s MouseFix utility. So far the fix has worked well, but maybe it’s time to upgrade my mouse. Unfortunately Microsoft’s free hardware product replacement support doesn’t cover mice that are three years old.

The Mighty Mouse

Apple continues to churn out products that complement and increase the over all value of investing in the Apple platform. Today they’ve announced the launch of The Mighty Mouse that offers a new interface to the otherwise standard 2 button, 1 scroll wheel design. For a number of years Microsoft’s Hardware division has definitely provided some competition in the the mouse/ keyboard industry with it’s product set of Intellimouse Explorers and keyboards such as the Optical Desktop with Fingerprint Reader. In my opinion Apple was never regarded as a competitor because it continued to invest in the one button mouse design. However, The Mighty Mouse may prove to be the answer to the much needed Apple designed 2 button mouse that PC users frequently ask for when moving to the Macintosh bandwagon.

Source: The Apple Mighty Mouse

Phone vs. Car vs. Shelter

After my recent car break in episode I’ve been going back and forth between deciding to invest in a car or look into the real estate market. However, Motorola just made this decision a bit harder with the introduction of the MotoQ. Time to scrap out the previous shopping list and rearrange the needs and wants.