Our friend Uli Suratos is back with more information about using the Samsung Q1 and this time he’s using GPS with Microsoft Streets and Trips 2006. The GPS receiver is a CF receiver from Haicom, finally showing Kevin what you can do with the CF slot. Uli, why don’t you use a Bluetooth receiver for wireless navigation?
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Angela has a new (OK, used) Motion LE1600 and she is loving it and writing all about it on her blog. It’s always fun to see a new Tablet owner writing about the discoveries that are made about the inking, Tablet-specific software, and especially how great a Tablet is to use while mobile. Her enthusiasm is clearly apparent from her writing about the Motion and is a fun read. I am going to keep my eyes on her blog for future installments.
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The Gnomedex conference, started by head Gnomie Chris Pirillo, kicks off tonight with a reception, followed by several days of roundtables by top bloggers. I don’t see any info on a live feed or .mp3’s for later listening, but we’ll keep an eye open. You might think "Why would I care, since I’m not a blogger?", but there are plenty of tech bloggers and podcasters that I’m sure you follow. Folks like Josh Bancroft, Todd Cochrane, Niall Kennedy, and even Chris himself.
Hey, if you’re interested in the full list, you can add ‘em all to your Outlook contacts, courtesy of a little OPML and scripting!
-kct
Earthcomber’s Releases “Movies on the Move” – First GPS-enabled Movie Guide in the U.S. – as Free Download
CHICAGO (June 29, 2006) – Mobile phones and PDAs can now spot theaters and showtimes by how close they are to the person scouting for a movie, thanks to the first GPS-enabled movie guide offered in the US.
“Movies on the Move™,” a free download for Palm OS and Windows Mobile-powered handheld devices, is available on Earthcomber, a website that provides mapping and local data as well as personal navigation software.
The detailed listings of movies, showtimes and theaters are now part of the local information that comes with maps for every region in the United States. The guide itself, which carries reviews, descriptions and images of the movies playing, is an additional download for high-capacity devices. It is also free.
Earthcomber’s show listings cover nearly 5,400 theaters and 30,000 screens.
“Real, up-to-date movie listings are one of the handiest things you can put on a PDA or your smart phone,” said Jim Brady, Earthcomber’s founder and president. “What makes Movies on the Move different is they all show up in order of how close to where you’re standing.”
“Putting movie listings out for free is also a huge departure from the ‘try-then-subscribe’ services,” Brady said.
Earthcomber’s patented software uses GPS (Global Positioning Service) if available on the phone or other device. If the phone or PDA doesn’t have a real GPS signal, Earthcomber still provides GPS-simulation by allowing a user to tap the screen to mark their current location. Then all of each user’s personal interests appear by proximity.
“That really beats figuring out what zip code you’re in and doing repetitious searches on a mobile web site,” Brady said. “Plus, you can look for movies at the same time you’re looking for all the rest of the things you’re interested in – coffee shops, Wi-Fi hot spots, stores, ATMs, bars, whatever.”
The “Movies on the Move™” service is updated nightly and typically provides detailed information on approximately 400 movies per day, ranging from current box office hits to single screens showing obscure titles. The guide itself requires 1.5 to 3 megabites of storage space, and inludes movie synopses, actor and director credits and full reviews of popular titles, along with many photos.
The guide may be stored on a memory card for older devices, though it is not required – show times and theater listings are independently loaded into downloadable map and data sets from www.earthcomber.com.
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Yesterday’s post about another happy Q1 owner unintentionally solicited comments from many other happy Q1 owners, which I love to see. Now that I’ve had the device for five weeks and have relatively sung the praises, I have to do the fair thing and list the few things I don’t like. All in all, I’m thrilled with the purchase or I wouldn’t have switched away from my Toshiba M205 Tablet PC. Like everything, however, there’s two sides to every story so here’s my list for your prospective Q1 buyers. Hopefully, Samsung will take note of this feedback, as well as feedback from others, and make the next gen Q1 (the Q2?) even better! Eat your heart out David Letterman…here’s my "Top 10 List".
This is perfect timing as James is considering a new slate Tablet PC and the Electrovaya Scribbler is on his list. At the C3 Expo in New York City, Electrovaya mentioned three new accessories that could move the Scribbler up the list for James.
First up: a new multi-use power pack, likely an external standalone, that charges the Scribbler, a phone, an iPod and more; USB ports are built in. Next there’s a new keyboard that includes an integrated optical drive. Finally, as if 9-hours of battery life wasn’t enough with the Super Polymer LiON battery: an extended battery for an extra hour of juice; the new batt is the same physical size as the standard batt so it must have a "Super Duper" Polymer design!
-kct
I’ve been so busy with the Q1, that I haven’t looked at Vista lately; in fact, I’m pulling down the latest build right now. We previously heard that ActiveSync becomes Windows Mobile Device Center and is included natively with Vista, and now Smartphone Thoughts has a nice in-depth look at the new component. For folks running the Vista beta, you can get the new application by running Windows Update in Vista. If you don’t have Vista, check out the first looks because it’s clear that Microsoft is better integrating mobile device usage with not-as-mobile devices in Vista.
(via Pocket PC Thoughts)
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Ray Kurzweil is a modern day genius when it comes to the study of artificial intelligence and the development of innovative uses for technology. He partnered with the National Federation of the Blind to develop the Kurzweil- National Federation of the Blind Reader, a PDA coupled with a camera that can read text on any object just by holding the Reader over the item. The Reader is expected to open a whole new world for the blind by speaking the observed text using clear synthesized speech.
The Reader will go on sale July 1 and sounds like a wonderful tool for those who need it most. The only bad thing about the Reader is the price which seems very high to me. I’m sure there is very good technology involved on the software side but the hardware is not that sophisticated, at least not $3500 worth. I suspect the price is so high because health insurance will likely be paying for most of the devices sold.
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I am a mobile type of guy and when I use an ultra-portable device I really use it, often for hours at a time. I may use it held in my hands or I might use it with an external keyboard and mouse, whatever fits what I am trying to do at the time. I have been giving screen resolution on handhelds a lot of thought recently since I had the awesome opportunity to use a TabletKiosk eo UMPC, Sony U71P, and a Sony UX50 Micro PC. All three devices have totally different screen sizes and resolutions and observing the differences among them has been eye-opening (pun intended). After you work with all three devices for a while you realize the screen resolutions are backwards. The largest screen has the lowest resolution and the smallest screen the highest. Using the devices for any length of time drives this point home. Read on to see my impressions of working with each screen.
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Typically equated with industry high fees and rigid contracts, Verizon Wireless might finally be listening to all the mobile masses who glibly chant "Can you hear me now?" The wireless voice and data company is making changes that break from the traditional company approaches that appear to bully customers around. Instead of the standard and time-honored full cancellation fee for customers that terminate the contract early, Verizon Wireless will prorate that fee to adjust for what I like to call "time served."
Instead of treating new and potential customers better than existing customers, Verizon Wireless will also look to allow handset upgrades at new-subscriber prices. To qualify under the new handset upgrade rules, you’ll need to have a calling plan at $50 a month for 12 months, which appears to replace the "new every two" plan currently in place. OK, now who’s scopin’ out a new Smartphone as a result?
(via Phone Scoop)
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