June 2004
Wednesday 30 June
Sharp has announced that the 45" version of its widescreen LCD TV will be available from August 1st for around $9000.
I'm going to write a very polite letter to Santa this year!
Onecall will be one of the first site to have these in stock at $8,999: click here to see if they have it yet
More from Reuters
(thanks engadget)
Update 7/26: The iPAQ 6315 has been released and T-Mobile will start selling it in August at $499 (presumably with a new 1 year contract/service agreement).
Update 8/15: More info available here.
ipaqabilities.com has found a photo of the upcoming ipaq h6315 on the T-Mobile web site.
Description is "HP iPAQ h6315 Pocket PC is a Microsoft® Windows® powered Pocket PC that integrates GSM / GPRS, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth wireless technology to give you high-speed wireless voice and data connectivity at home, at work, and on the go."
Release date is rumored to be July 27th.
If I hadn't just bought a new Dell Pocket PC and a Sprint PCS phone I would be very interested in this.
A goal of this site is not just to tell you about the latest gadgets and where to get the best price on them, but to review them for you and tell you where to buy them.
For sites like Cnet, Wired and New York Times that is easy, they get sent the gadget for free and they write a review, but we have to actually buy the gadgets we want to review.
The plan therefore is to do longer term reviews of products, most sites use a product once or twice then move onto the next one, we however are going to use each gadget for at least a couple of months before telling you all about it.
Yes, it wont be a review the day the product comes out but it will potentially show up more negatives and flaw than the typical cursory inspection by a major site.
Here's some of what we have bought with our hard earned pennies and will be reviewing once we have used them enough to develop strong opinions:
- Norelco 9984XL (James Bond Shaver)
- Firefly PC Remote Control
- iPod Mini
- Dell X30 624mhz Pocket PC
- Audible.com Subscription
- Plantronics DSP-500 USB Stereo Headset (and Skype voice over IP)
Tuesday 29 June
Tomorrow (6/30) is the last day to get a 1 gigabyte viking compactflash card for $106 as that is when the $45 rebate expires.
If you want one pick it up now by following this Amazon link.
Discountmags.com is offering a free one year subscription to Wired magazine (while supplies last, apparently no strings attached, just ask for name and address, no email or phone).
Click here for the subscription form
(thanks Gary Leff)
What would you like to dream about?
According to CNN a Japanese company has a new gadget that will let you dream about anything you want: program in a picture, music, and keywords, and go to sleep.......
Hmm, sounds a bit suspect to me.... it will be interesting to hear if it actually works: according to the article it had a 22% success rate.
Monday 28 June
.... or are you just pleased to see me?
Netgear has announced a cool new gadget... a wireless (802.11g) router small enough to fit in your pocket (0.7"x2.3"x3.4"), perfect for road warriors who need to setup a wireless network at their hotel, airport or client's office.
It's not available at Amazon yet but other online stores are starting to stock it in the $75-$85 price range.
More info from Netgear
(thanks dailywireless and designtechnica)
Friday 25 June
Dell's latest deal looks like a good one: A Free 17" Flat Panel Monitor Upgrade with most new Dell Home Dimension desktops. Offer expires 6/30.
Monday 21 June
If you enjoy listening to spoken word books there is a great way to get the hot new iPod mini MP3/music player:
Subscribe for a year to Audible.com at $14.95 a month and get a $100 off coupon for the iPod mini (or another from a large selection of MP3 players and Pocket PCs).
What does this really mean?... the $14.95 subscription gets you one full audio book and one newspaper/periodical per month (for $19.95/month you get 2 full books), and you get a coupon code for $100 off anything at crutchfield.com. Like all stores they are sold out of the iPod mini at the moment but expect to get it in stock on 6/30.
I was tempted to do this last time they offered it but waited too long, this time I have signed up and ordered an iPod mini, and will post a review once it gets here (assuming I can get it away from my wife for long enough).
Continue reading "$100 off iPod Mini"
Wednesday 16 June
Searching for a last minute father's day gift idea?, Brookstone has loads of great gifts for dads such as a grill fork with built-in thermometer for $30, an LED multi-tool for $20, talking remote thermometer for $75, or a golf scope (rangefinder/club selector) for $75.
Big spenders can use coupon code AF061804 for $15 off an $150 order (exp 6/18).
Order by 1pm today for 2nd day shipping or 1pm EST on Friday for next day shipping.
Tuesday 15 June
Last month Dell launched their new Pocket PC and its the fastest Pocket PC ever, not only that it has a 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. For the price they are by far the best pocket PCs around.
Sounds good, well it just got better... currently they are 10% off, and if you go for the high-end 624mhz option and add a little something to the order (such as an extra battery, a case, a spare stylus etc) you can use coupon code K30CXZKNF?27FQ for $25 off $350 order, giving a final price of $289.
It is currently out of stock and saying 6 weeks for delivery, but I ordered one today and got an email an hour later with an estimated ship date of 6/25.
For more info and to order click here
Need a wireless network, or want to speed up your 802.11b network?, amazon has the D-Link DI-624 2.4 GHz AirPlus Xtreme G 108 Mbps Wireless Router for $39.84 after $30 mail-in rebate.
I use the D-Link 802.11b router at home and it has always worked without problems for me, this 802.11g router can go up to 108mbps (double normal speed, faster than most wired ethernet connections) when used with a compatible D-Link wireless card in your pc/laptop.
Continue reading "802.11g Router for $40"
Monday 14 June
New rebates at Amazon.com for Compactflash (rebates expire 6/30):
Viking 1GB: $106 (after $45 rebate)
Viking 512mb: $55 (after $25 rebate)
Viking 256mb: $21 (after $15 rebate)
All come with free shipping.
Tuesday 8 June
Creative, the company best known for the high quality Sound Blaster sound cards, is coming out with an interesting sounding upgrade to their Nomad range of Portable MP3 players, and it looks like it will give the iPod a run for it's money.
It's main innovation is using a touchpad as a scroll wheel for moving through the menu options.
It has a 20gb hard drive, supports MP3 and WMA, and creative claims it has 3 times the battery life of the iPod.
It is currently available for preorder at Amazon.com for $269.99
