May 2004 Archives

tanita body fat monitor

Amazon.com has the Tanita TBF-621 body fat monitor and scale as part of their Friday Sale, prices at $59.99 with Free Shipping.


These monitors are fun to use but the body fat shown may not be always accurate as it is affected by hydration. Its is best with these to always weigh yourself at the same time of day (for me its when I get up in the morning before starting my too-high consumption of Diet Coke).


Product Purchase Link at Amazon.com

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sandisk 512mb sd secure digital card

If you are looking for a secure digital card for your new Dell Axim X30i (or any other pocket pc, MP3 player, laptop or pc that supports SD cards) here is a great deal for you:


Newegg.com has a 512mb Sandisk secure digital card for $70 with free shipping after $30 mail-in rebate (expires 6/4).


Product Link
Rebate Link

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thinkoutside bluetooth keyboard for phones and pocket PC

Available now for pre-order and shipping in July, Think Outside has started selling a full-size wireless bluetooth keyboard, that folds up into a 5.5" x 3.9" x 0.5" box.


I had one of their keyboards for my old iPaq and it was great, actually made it worthwhile to try to write an email or a document on my pocket pc.


Unlike many bluetooth devices, the compatibility list is extensive: pcs and laptops with XP SP1 or OS X, most bluetooth enabled phones, pocket pcs, also works with bluetooth SD and CF cards for pocket pcs without bluetooth built-in.


The price is $149 with free shipping until July 4th.


Product Link

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tivo series 2 bargains deals rebates

The LA Times is reporting that wider use of Tivo and other PVRs along with competition from cable is resulting in the Networks scheduling less reruns in primetime.

Hooray!

LA Times Story

(thanks PVRblog)

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CEBIT America

CEBIT America is this coming week in NY, last year wasn't very good so heres hoping my Camera and I see some interesting things to post here.

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andy kaufman back from the dead

The Award for biggest online buzz of the day has to be the alleged return from the dead of comedian Andy Kaufman, announced in his new blog, and coming soon to a Starbucks near you!

Conspiracy theorists have long thought that Andy faked his own death in 1984 and would reappear on the 20th anniversary of his "death".... Im sceptical that this really is Andy but it doesn't matter if it is Andy or a hoxer as it's a great joke either way.

The spirit of Andy Kaufman lives on in this surreal use of a blog.

http://andykaufmanreturns.blogspot.com/

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Samsung 46 inch LCD TV

Samgung has announced a 46" widescreen LCD TV, 1920x1080 resolution, 800:1 contrast and 12 millisecond response time.


Should be available in August for $10,000. Guess I should start saving (or hoping for a lottery win).

(thanks Gizmodo and Engadget)

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gadget reviews

Sixapart, the creators of the software I use to create this blog recently changed their licensing requirements, before the change it was free software and if you liked it you could donate through PayPal (I donated $50 after creating this site and liking the software).

Now they have introduced a number of different licensing options and are asking the community how they use the movable type software.

The kind of license that I would pay for would allow me to operate 3-5 blogs with a single author, each blog would be made up of a number of sub-blogs, i.e. the main page, a sidebar with coupons, a sidebar with links.

That license would be non-commercial but would allow me to upgrade to a reasonably priced commercial version if my site becomes a profitable business.

For such a license I would be willing to pay $50-$100 (assuming it gave access to most software updates, and there is no repeating annual fee).

I wouldn't object to a $20-$30 upgrade fee every couple of years to upgrade to a new version with substantial new functionality.

Update: 6/17: Sixapart have tweaked their licensing model and it is now perfect for me. Thanks Sixapart!

(edit 7/2: forgot to trackback to the original sixapart post, linking now)

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compactflash deals

New rebates at Amazon.com for Compactflash (rebates expire 5/31):


Viking 256mb: $25.84 (after $15 rebate)
Viking 1GB: $132.54 (after $45 rebate)
Viking 512mb: $78.94 (after $25 rebate)


All come with free shipping.

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2 news items on OLEDs (LCD screens that dont need a backlight so are thinner, brighter, and use less power than regular LCDs):


Samsung announced a 17" OLED LCD screen with 1200x1600 pixel resolution, a brightness of 400 lumens, and only 1/3 hte thickness of a regular LCD. It is due for release next year.


Seiko Epson showed off a 40" OLED display, but this wont be in commercial production until 2007.


(via engadget)

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ipod mini discount bargains

Amazon has a great price at the moment on the Ipod mini 4gb in all 5 colors (silver, blue, pink, green, gold). The price is $236.54 (I love round numbers!) with FREE shipping.


Click here for more info and to buy the ipod mini

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Dell Axim X30 Pocket PC

Dell have just launched their new Pocket PC and its the fastest Pocket PC ever, not only that it hasa great price and great features: Windows Mobile 2003 Pocket PC Software, 802.11b Wireless and Bluetooth. A model without wireless is just $199, with wireless is $249, and with wireless and the fastest processor is $349.

Update: I have posted a review of the X30

For more info and to order click here

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Sprint PCS Sanyo PM-8200 Cell Phone


After using the same crappy old Sprint PCS phone for almost 3 years I finally caved in and got a new one. Of course Sprint didn't make it easy for me:


New customers can get a $150 instant rebate, existing customers who have owned their phone for 18 months (even if they are still under a 2 year subscription agreement) can get a $150 instant rebate, should have been easy for me, right?


Wrong!. Because I had cancelled my account 18 months ago (because work provided me with a free phone) and then got a new account 12 months ago (when I left that job) Sprint counted my phone as being only 12 months old (even though the phone was physically 3 years old and was a model they hadn't sold in 2 years).... so I was refused the rebate.


Let me say that again: A new customer could get a rebate, a customer still under a subscription agreement could get a rebate, but a customer (me) with a 3 year old phone and no subscription agreement couldn't get a rebate.


Even crazier: I could get a rebate by going to one of their competitors as a new customer, but I couldn't cancel my current Sprint account and get a new Sprint account. I wanted to sign a 2 year agreement, I wanted to buy a $280 (before rebate) phone, but they wouldn't let me!


In the end the phone agent suggested I go to a Sprint PCS store, and after arguing my case with the store manager he relented and gave me a $75 instant rebate and a $75 mail-in rebate.


So, after much wailing and gnashing of teeth I am the proud owner of a cute little Sanyo PM-8200, it takes photos, I have put peoples pictures on there and created unique ring tones, I have downloaded games, created my own screensaver, I can even remember my new phone number!


More on the Sanyo PM-8200

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site problems

Lots of site problems the past two weeks... working to restore as many of the old posts as possible.

My apologies to the site visitors who were unable to see the recent updates.

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compactflash deals

Here are the latest low prices at Amazon.com for Compactflash, the Sandisk 512mb and Viking 256mb are particularly good prices:

Sandisk 512mb: $63.99 (after $20 rebate)
Sandisk 256mb: $41.99
Sandisk 1GB: $166.99
Viking 512mb: $85.99 (after $25 rebate)
Viking 256mb: $35.99 (after $15 rebate)
Viking 1GB: $165.99 (after $45 rebate)
All come with free shipping.

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snapstream firefly pc remote control

Snapstream are giving away 50 of their new Firefly PC remote controls:

The Firefly PC Remote bridges the gap between the study and the living room. Play movies, TV shows, MP3s, photos and other media stored on your computer from the comfort of your couch. Skip tracks, change the volume, fast-forward, rewind and pause like you do with your current home theater. And Firefly works through walls, so you won't have to move the PC or yourself.

Firefly comes with Beyond Media Basic, a full-screen interface, so you can navigate your PC from across the room. Firefly is compatible with over 80 media applications, including Microsoft® XP Media Center edition.

Click Here to enter (requires email address only, ends 5/16)

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canon S500 digital elph

PC Mag has a good review of the new-ish Canon S500 Digital Elph 5 megapixel compact digital camera.

Bottom line:
The Canon PowerShot S500 Digital Elph is easy to slip in a pocket, like an ultracompact, but this 5-megapixel 3X optical zoom camera brings a lot more shooting power with it. Sharp pictures and excellent battery life make this camera a solid choice.


Review Link

$454.94 at Amazon.com

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NASA using HP Hewlett-Packard iPAQ 5550 in space

Ok, who else shows their age by reading the title and thinking of the Muppet Show and "Pigs in Space"?

Hewlett-Packard has put out a press release detailing how their h5550 Packet PCs are being used aboard the International Space Station.

Read the Press Release

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microsoft longhorn speculation

Cnet has an article about enhancements being made in the next major version of Windows to improve laptop performance/productivity.

This new version of Windows, codenamed Longhorn, wont be released until at least 2006 so dont take anything as gospel.

Article Link

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    This page is an archive of entries from May 2004 listed from newest to oldest.

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