Amazon has their wildly popular Kindle finally back in stock after its initial sell-out. Kindle is a revolutionary new electronic book reader that uses EVDO to wirelessly access more than 110,000 books (free from any Internet or phone network charges). New releases and best sellers are priced at $9.99, and you can subscribe to newspapers and even put your own documents on the device. It features a special electronic paper display, long battery life and a built-in keyboard. The Kindle is $399 with free two day shipping.

Amazon is currently selling the Garmin’s Nuvi 660 GPS Navigator at $316.49 with FREE with Super Saver Shipping. That is over 60% off.

Sharper Image files Chapter 11 bankruptcy citing slow sales and litigation over its Ionic Breeze air purifiers. The company tried to sue Consumer Reports for libel in 2003 over a story that claimed its purifiers did not, in fact, purify air and released unhealthy levels of ozone. The suit failed, leaving the company almost penniless.

Tomorrow many carriers are shutting off analog cell phone service forever. This does not only effect cell phone customers however. Some people may be utilizing this service and may not realize it as it is used by home alarm systems and GM’s OnStar service. Although nearly one million phones may lose service, it’s the people with other wireless gadgets who may be having trouble making the transition or maybe unaware that this is going away.

GM OnStar’s say that they started modifications on their systems as soon as the FCC decision was announced back in 2002. It took a few years for the changes to take place but vehicles made after 2005 are all digital. GM says that they provide an inexpensive digital upgrade to customers and that they’ve been warning them through a website announcement about the problem.

If you are addicted to your Blackberry device and can not get your mail to work today, it is not your fault. RIM is experiencing a major outage. If you did not know it is because they emailed you to inform you!

Continue reading “Crackberry” Users Get Chance to Rest Thumbs…

I am a big fan of my Garmin Nuvi (see my review) and next to my iPod is my favorite device. This a company that I wished Apple either bought or partnered with. There is no word when an actual Nuviphone will be available or at what price, but Garmin has released some videos (see the other video after the jump).

Continue reading Garmin Releases Nuviphone videos…

Garmin has expanded its suite of Mac compatible applications to include waypoint, track, and route management they call Bobcat. Mac users will now be able to transfer waypoints, tracks, and routes between their Mac and USB Garmin devices and manage their data using Garmin’s rich catalog of map products. Users can search for points of interest from the convenience of their Macs and then send the locations to their Garmin GPS via a USB cable. These favorite points of interest will then be available for quick and easy reference on their Garmin GPS. In addition, customers who want to save and view all of their favorite waypoints or tracks on their computer, rather than their GPS, can send these with a few simple keystrokes.

Continue reading Garmin Previews New Mac Trip Planning Application…

These products are made by CTA Digital, a company based in New York and sold on Overstock.com. Pretty inexpensive.

This comes from Chet over at the Garmin blog. Garmin will be making an announcement at the Macworld Expo San Francisco next week. Apparently a new Mac-compatible software and hardware product or products from Garmin will be showing at the Garmin booth in the Moscone Center.

According to blogger Chet “…we have a new software product codenamed ‘Bobcat’ that we will be showing and I think you’re going to like it.” If I were a betting man I bet it will be a Mac version of their Garmin Mobile™ 10 for laptops. But I many are probably hoping for a GPS for the iPhone, I would bet against this.

Palm users will soon not have the ability to run thousands of free and commercial Java applications including Opera Mini. For some reason, Palm will stop offering a download link to the required IBM’s WebSphere EveryPlace Micro Environment JVM after Jan 12, 2008 that allows for running these Java apps.

Without native apps that can run on the PalmOS many applications will no longer be available for Palm phones and PDA that have been purchased in the last few years. Maybe another nail in the Palm coffin. I truly doubt all that many software developers will move these apps native.

See some of the gadgets and vaporware from CES with Veronica Belmont from Mahalo Daily.

When Amazon launched the Kindle yesterday I pondered the future of this device and the future of reading and have come to the conclusion that the Amazon’s model for the Kindle is flawed for several reasons. It is not at all the “iPod of Reading” as many websites are calling it. Sure Amazon is hopeful that many will think that is true, deriving the same success that Apple has had with the iPod when comes to selling the Kindle.

It is not however a fair comparison. The iPod had from day one the ability to play the music you already owned. In fact, when the iPod launched that is all there was as the iTunes Store did not yet exist. The iPod has always had the ability to play DRM-free MP3s and and AAC tracks ripped from your own CDs or purchased from some other online stores.

Apple offers many DRM-free songs at the iTunes Store these days. But, even after you buy tracks from iTunes that have DRM you are able to easily burn them to CD. You also have the ability to play these tracks on up to five computers and as many iPods or Apple TVs as you like. Of course for videos this is a different story.

Continue reading Why Amazon’s Kindle is NOT the iPod of Reading…

Amazon introduces Kindle which it hopes is what the iPod was to music will be the definitive device to read books, newspapers, magazines and selected blogs.

Amazon’s Kindle, $399 looks pretty cool and uses Sprint’s EVDO (free to Kindle owners) to download books and newspapers. I would not mind having this under the tree this year. See demo videos and details here.

Stop getting lost! Throw away those dirty maps. If you are a man and read this, you STILL will not have to ask directions! My favorite “gadget” next to my iPod is definitely my Garmin nuvi 360 Portable GPS unit. This is one of the handiest devices I ever bought. I paid about $650 from Amazon.

Continue reading Garmin nuvi 360 Portable GPS Receiver…