Category Archives: Gadgets

Reviews of gadgets and cool things

Z4 coupe at last

Finally got myself a different car, a Z4 Coupe. It’s so much fun!

Z4 (from the right)

Z4 (from the right)


Z4 - from the left

Z4 (from the left)


Z4 Coupe

Z4 Coupe

Finally found a car

Today I sold my Scion and provisionally signed for Z4. It will be certified pre-owned but isn’t quite ready so I could not drive it. Wednesday/Thursday should be collection and final delivery day.

oooh, a Z4 Coupe

oooh, a Z4 Coupe

Installed Leopard

I’ve spent a lot of today installing Leopard on my home laptop. Before doing anything like this you should backup.
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For a change I followed my own advise, using a firewire drive created a complete image of the drive. The installation was really simple and without trouble. I have to admit the DVD checking takes FOREVER! but it’s worth it given the result of any errors that could occur during the install.

An Invention

I’ve come up with a new invention. They make those devices that you have to blow into to before the car will start after you get a DUI. Well, here in California most people don’t know how to drive. So my invention, is a similar device that won’t allow the car to drive for certain people if it’s raining. There, simple and effective!

Ordered some new speakers

Finally ordered some new speakers for my home computer.
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The Harman Kardon’s SoundSticks II speakers are just amazing. Even though they’ve been around for nearly 5 years their design is still unique and the sound second to none. Can’t wait for them to arrive!

AppleTV

My AppleTV finally arrived yesterday. Wow! It’s so simple to use and setup. I sync’d over all my music, and videos from the MacBook Pro. This uses about half of it’s capacity. However, I also have an old ‘lampy’ iMac. Given that it has a basic Airport card I was worried it wouldn’t be able to stream video. But sure enough it does, obviously it’s a little slow to start but it works really well!

TomTom adds Buddies

TomTom has announced Buddy support for their GPS navigation devices. This appears to be a IM and location system.
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Seems that stalkers and suspicious wives now have all the tools they need. While driving to that secret rendezvous remember, someone could be watching you. 😉

Free calls

Having raved on this blog about Skype, that’s now old news. There’s a new kid on the block with the full weight of “Web 2.0” behind them. Jajah is the latest phone company but with a twist.
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All calls are initiated from the internet. When you call someone from your address book your home phone rings and then their phone rings. Now that’s cool in itself. However, if you have your phones registered the call is completely free (between certain countries). Very cool!

Apple brand growing

We all know that the Apple brand has been growing, mainly with the iPod, but recently more with it’s Mac computer products. While driving back from London this weekend I noticed it had gone to a different level. The Oxford Express coach had chosen to use a MacBook Pro to illustrate the onboard power in the coach.
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They could have used any laptop, but this one is distinctive and elegant.

MP3,USB,Radio,Voice Recorder – In a Pen!

This is quite possibly the best Pen in the world. Well I hope it writes well. It’s an MP3 player, USB flash drive, FM Radio and Voice Recorder…oh and you can write with it.
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With a capacity of 512MB it’s the same size as my iPod shuffle which I use at the gym. But there’s never any pens there to log my training session. This would be the ideal gadget. Wouldn’t it? After all it has a clip. Well I’ve thought about it and it would be good toy, but silly for the gym. So what about the office? Perhaps, there’s some uses, however I loose pens so easily. If i lost my MP3 player as well?.. I think for the moment I’ll stick to a simple pen, iPod Shuffle, iPod Video and streaming radio over the internet.

New Phone – Samsung D600E

I’ve just got myself a new phone. After a long time of switching between my Sony Ericsson T610i and P910i it has come time to get something better. My phone of choice, Samsung’s D600E. This phone includes everything you could want, including an amazing 2MP camera (with flash).
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Since I didn’t want to get a new contract (lets face it I’ve only for 3 months left in the UK) the only reasonable way to get a phone was to win one off eBay. After 2 days of being out voted at the last minute my trigger finger was ready. This time I was the winner, only 12 GBP over the budget I’d set myself for the final frenzy of bidding.
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