The crazy retail deals are still going strong today here in the U.S. During my daily check of Amazon for the MP3 special of the day, I noticed the e-tailer is offering any AT&T phone for a penny today. There’s also no activation fee, which saves $36 — personally, I think the fee should go away from the entire industry, but that’s another matter. As expected, you’ll need a new two-year service account for the deal, which expires at the end of the day. That means existing AT&T customers have to pass, because upgrades aren’t eligible.

A quick scan shows 61 eligible handsets and while some are basic phones, there’s a few relatively recent mobiles in the list, like the BlackBerry Bold 9700, Garmin’s nüvifone G60, the HTC Tilt 2 and HTC PURE. To sweeten the deal, Amazon is also including free two-day shipping. And before you ask: nope, no iPhones for a penny.

I have long been an advocate of using the right tool for the job, and the premise that often the right tool is not always the one you think it is. The right tool can often be the lowly netbook, if the particular needs can be met with the right one. Novelist David Hewson, someone I started following years ago as he is one who embraces technology for his writing, (rather than one who runs screaming from it) is one who isn’t afraid to change his work methods when appropriate.

David is the author of the great Nic Costa series of novels, and he does a great job chronicling his work experience on his blog. He recently shared a new tool that he has incorporated in his mobile work style, and it is no surprise to me it is a netbook.

David explains how he has been using the Mac for his writing work for a long time, but that he has no allegiance to Apple even so. He needed a mobile computer that met a few simple needs, and he found those met with the ASUS 1005HA. Why the ASUS? The 8-hour battery life was a good start, and it runs the software tools he needs: web browser and Evernote.

Have a look at David’s post as he gives a good view of the thought process behind his choice. He is technically savvy, even though he claims he is not a geek; he even installed Jollicloud on the ASUS. He also explains why it didn’t meet his needs, so he’s sticking with Windows 7.

You Dell Mini 10v netbook owners who can’t wait to try the early builds of Google Chrome OS on your system don’t have to wait any longer. You don’t even have to run it in a virtual machine like Kevin did, because Dell has you covered. Some folks at Dell spent some time with Chrome and got it running on a Mini 10v. They got the drivers working properly, although Wi-Fi is a bit flaky, and put it all together in a neat package for owners to download. Note that the download is a whopping 8 GB, and you should follow the instructions to get it working properly.

It’s nice to see Dell jump on Chrome OS so quickly. It bodes well that Dell might be officially supporting Chrome in the future.

I just received this email from the Wall Street Journal. I include it here in its entirety as it is self-explanatory:

Dear WSJ Mobile Reader user:

URGENT: UPGRADE REQUIRED FOR CONTINUED USE OF WSJ MOBILE READER

Our records indicate that you have not yet upgraded to the latest version of the WSJ Mobile Reader application for your Blackberry®.

As of Tuesday, December 1, the older version of the application that you currently have downloaded will no longer be supported. You must upgrade to the most recent version of the WSJ Mobile Reader before December 1 in order to continue using the application, as well as have access to new features and functions.

Updating to the latest version of the app is quick, easy and FREE. To upgrade today:

• Open WSJ Mobile Reader on your Blackberry®
• Navigate to the New Versions tab at the top
• Click the “Download Now” button

If you have any questions regarding the upgrade or other features of the WSJ Mobile Reader, please contact Customer Service at 1-800-756-7395, or e-mail at mobilereader@wsj.com.

Thank you,
The Wall Street Journal

I have yet to lose a gadget, but that’s not surprising since my key tools are never out of my sight or more than an arm’s reach away. I’m sure it will happen someday and that’s when I’ll wish I had a solution like the nio. Using Bluetooth, nio monitors your equipment through the use of hardware tags — you put a small tag in a gear bag, for example and if the bag walks away or is left behind, your Bluetooth-enabled phone sounds an alarm, as does the tag. You control the range of your nio security zone through the software, but of course, the zone can only be as big as supported by the range of Bluetooth. Depending on various factors, that’s up to around 80 feet or so. Also nice is a method to set times not to monitor devices — all I need is for one of the kids to borrow my phone for a web search only to have a blaring alarm.

nio will run $69.95 in the U.S. through Amazon, which isn’t too expensive as compared to lost devices or — more importantly — lost data from a missing device. Batteries in the tags last around 28 hours when active and recharge in around 40 minutes with a mini-USB charger. Since the software runs on a mobile phone, compatibility is important. For now, nio software runs on various Nokia, Windows Mobile and BlackBerry devices, but not the iPhone nor Android handsets. I’m not a fan of leaving my Bluetooth radio on and using juice, but I’d consider making an exception in a case like the nio.

MoTR 191 is 34:55 minutes long and is a 32.1 MB file in MP3 format.

CLICK HERE to download the file and listen directly.

HOSTS: James Kendrick (Houston), Matthew Miller (Seattle) and Kevin C. Tofel (Philadelphia)

TOPICS:

Who said “smartbook?”
Lenovo buys back the Lenovo Mobile group they sold in 2003.
Amazon upgrades Kindles, some get better battery life but all get PDF support.
Black Friday deals — good enough to get us out the door?
Kevin explains why his Palm Pre is put on notice.

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This week was short due to the Thanksgiving holiday here in the States, and as today is Black Friday this week’s column will be shorter than usual. No doubt some readers will be standing in some line trying to get a great deal on a gadget or two as I write this. The week past was a bit rocky for me as I battled the flu, not the porcine variety. I did breeze through the single player side of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 and found it sadly lacking compared to the last version of the game. Come on in and I’ll share the week with you.

Continue reading »

A few years ago, I swore not to go shopping on Black Friday ever again. So tomorrow, I’ll be relaxing from home while hordes of early-bird shoppers wake early and battle the riff-raff for special, one-day deals. This year, I grabbed a special deal in advance of Black Friday and it arrived yesterday. I snagged Panasonic’s HDC-SD10 camcorder from Amazon for $299.99, including shipping. When this high-definition camcorder hit the market about six months ago, it was priced at $549.99. Amazon dropped the price to $399 and also offered a $100 discount code, which is how I got my price. I tweeted it when I pulled the trigger and a few folks on Twitter took advantage of the same deal.

So is this the best handheld camcorder out there? Of course not, but at this price, I simply couldn’t pass it up. As you can see by the photo gallery, the HDC-SD10 has roughly the same footprint as my iPhone 3GS, so it’s pretty small. And it doesn’t weigh all that much either — the body only weighs 85 grams more than my iPhone and the battery doesn’t add much more heft. I can easily see myself throwing this in a gear bag — OK, maybe not throwing — for use at CES and on the run.

The HDC-SD10 supports recording in full 1920 x 1080 at up to 60 interlaced frames per second or 24 fps progressive and sports a 16x optical zoom. The device records to an SD card in AVCHD format and can also take 2.1 megapixel stills. Other features include:

• Optical image stabilization
• 2.7″ LCD with touchscreen for camera controls and settings
• 1 x USB 2.0, 1 x mini HDMI, 1 x component out
• iAuto function for auto-focus, auto-exposure subject tracking
• Integrated microphone for Dolby Digital stereo recording
• 725 mAh battery

Again, there are plenty of better high-definition cameras on the market today — just not at $299.99!