Yet o'nother Smartphone announced:
Pantech's First Smartphone



Pantech showed offits first Windows 2003 Mobile OS Smartphone today and gave it a great name, the PH-S8000T. Very punchy, short and easy to say and recommend to friends. Yawm.... Even worse is that for a first try smartphone Pantech is not really doing well when compared with products from some other manufacturers. Its coming out Q1 in Korea, but I do not think we are going to be seeing this in the wilds of the good 'ole USA anytime soon.

Here are the specs anyway:

PH-S8000T Features and specifications:

- CDMA 1X EV-DO 800Mhz
- Windows Mobile OS 2003 Second Edition
- PC Sync with MS Outlook (Mail, Schedule, Contact)
- Internet Explorer, MSN Messenger
- Swivel Clamshell for Multimedia
- 1.3 Mega pixel Camera
- Photo Caller ID
- 64 Polyphonic Ring-tone
- Standby Time : 200 Hours, Talk Time : 4 Hours

Main LCD : 2.2” 260K Color QVGA (240x320)(mm)
Sub LCD : 1.06” 260K Color (128x96)(mm)
Size : 91.7 x 49.2 x 25.9 (mm
Weight : 137g

[Phonemag]

Nerdy looks, good features, but is it really a smarter phone?
Chi Mei shows off their the new UCP-100 at 3GSM



Looks kind of similar to the Motorola MPx200 Windows SmartPhone. Or even a bit like the Motorola - Verizon 710 (just a tiny bit). A copycat perhaps? Nope, those of you who dig a little deeper or just read this posting will find out that Chi Mei is actually the company contracted by Motorola to produce the MPx200. This information would lead one to logically conclude that this new UCP-100 could very well be the successor to the not-so-hot selling Motorola MPx200. Why would anyone bother lusting after this update? Well it looks pretty stogy (Hello Moto???), but inside it includes goodies such as EDGE capatiability, and Wi-Fi! Wi-Fi with Windows Moblie? Now that news could make one get all giddy. Add in VOIP over WiFi using UMA software is even better news. Almost pushed aside is the fact that it includes Bluetooth, yawn ...

The features are mostly the same as the MPx220, including quad-band GSM, an internal antenna, dual color displays, a 1.3 megapixel camera, Bluetooth, and a miniSD card slot. All the rage features for these high end productivity tools... ahem ahem.

[See PhoneScoop for more information and Pictures]

Mobile Phone Companies Try To Cut "Mobile Porn"

Caption:

A cell phone featuring an image of porn star Jenna Jameson is displayed in New York on January 27, 2005. Jameson is now hawking 'moan tones' which allows fans of the ubiquitous porn star to choose a variety of moans and grunts recorded by the blond bombshell. Jameson will also talk dirty to you in English or Spanish when your phone rings. Color pictures of Jameson can also be displayed on phones for $2.99.

As if controlling exposure to porn was not hard enough in our modern world, data services on cellphones have become a new (and somewhat slow) way to get porn-to-go. But now the cellphone companies are trying to crack down. Maybe it was their social conscious or maybe it was just that they figure they could later release it as their own services and make a few bucks while looking good to the public.

[Yahoo! News]

Frequent Fliers take note ...
Airbus Makes Pitch for Possible U.S. Plant



Now I know this is not really related to any gadgets or technology, but it is major news. Airbus is the major European aircraft manufacturer and the fact that they are entertaining the idea of opening up a U.S. plant might be a sign of things to come. Boeing is the major U.S. aircraft maker, but in light of recents sales of planes (and lackluster interest in its new Dreamliner model) this could be a major shakeout. While airlines continue to lose money hand over foot, the airplane manufacturers are doing a little bit better. Airbus' much hyped and absolutely huge A380 (slated to hold 500 passengers) is in direct contrast to Boeing's plan to make smaller, more technology laden planes.

A U.S. plant could add much needed jobs to areas hard hit by outsourcing and movement of manufacturing jobs overseas, but also leads to issues of compeition by foreign firms with a major U.S. employer and interests of many politicans. Who knows how this is going to play out...but the backlash is starting already from interests concerned with this move. I personally think its going to be like the 1980's all over again, when the U.S. car industry was forced to compete with Japanese imports that eventuall led to the Japanese companies building the majority of their cars in the U.S. Not a bad deal.

[Yahoo! News] Has more information for those interested in such facts.

Casio's New Spring Line-Up 2005



CASIO expands the EXILIM ZOOM digital camera range with two new models. I am super excited by this announcement. Since I got my Casio EX-Z3 almost 1.5 years ago it has been my super-duty digital camera: producing great quality photos without much hassle because of its presets. Very easy to use, great battery life and can take a licking and keep on ticking. It has gone to Vietname, China, Hongkong, Taiwan, Vermont, Canadad and even deep powder skiing in Lake Tahoe without fail. Looks like it will have a big brother joining it in my home soon.

CASIO ELECTROINCS CO., LTD. has announced an exciting addition to its popular EXILIM ZOOM series. The new CASIO EXILIM ZOOM EX-Z750 is equipped with an astonishing 7.2 megapixels and an array of manual features. It offers extended battery life, making it ideal for use during long vacations, business travel, and other occasions requiring the amazing stamina that these cameras offer. Click link for more information.

[From Livingroom]

Think the world is getting too crazy? Move to "The World" Dubai Style...

The same company that brought us The Palm Islands, Al Nakheel Properties (Nakheel Corp), have done it again expanding their portfolio of man-made islands with this latest Dubai island project shaped like the continents of the world. The World will consist of between 250 to 300 smaller private artifical islands divided into four categories - private homes, estate homes, dream resorts, and community islands. Each island will range from 250,000 to 900,000 square feet in size, with 50 to 100 metres of water between each island. The development is to cover an area of 9 kilometers in length and 6 kilometers in width, surrounded by an oval shaped breakwater. The only means of transportation between the islands will be by marine transport.

Construction has begun on the $US 1.8 billion project which is set to be completed by the end of 2005. It will be located 4 kilometers off the shore of Jumeirah, close to the The Palm Jumeirah, between Burj Al Arab and Port Rashid of Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE). Each island will be sold to selected private developers and are expected to have pricing beginning at Dhs. 25 million (US$ 6.85 million).

Learn more about The World Dubai by watching the video.

Quicktime [5Mb]

Windows Media [6Mb]

The World is sometimes mistakenly refered to as The Palm World.

Think you pay too much for technology?

You are not alone. Man y people are getting increasingly concerned about the price of goods and services that are becoming ever-more popular by the day. Engadget has a great post and comments about this [I got the idea from them] and it really hits home after I did the math for my own services: some that I use on a daily basis and some almost never.

Here is my monthly cost breakdown [this does not even include other services such as TIVO, XM radio, AOL, and a few others that I am in the process of cancelling]

Cellphone - T-mobile: 600 mins/$39.99 + Data/$20 + Wap/$4.99 + Insurance/$3.85 = $68.83
Local phone - SBC: basic/$20 + long distance/??? = ~$20.00
Cable: basic/$29.99 + digital/$20 + HBO/$29.99 + HDTV/$5 + Receivers/$12.99 = $97.97
Cable Internet - Comast: Hi-Speed/$54.99 = $54.99
Monthly Total: $241.79 + tax (8.25%) = $261.74
Yearly Total: $3140.88 --> YIKES!!! Time to cut down.

Link to Original Engadget Post

Motorola Announces SLVR V8

Sounds like some crazy car companies naming of a new car. After all V8 usually indicated a nice, big engine lurking under the hood. Maybe that is what Motorola is going for? Hello Moto ...




This is a candy bar style phohe, kind of like the RAZR with the flip removed. Its thin, light and cool, but it had to give up some features to shed the weight or fat (depending on how much you care about those features). At 49mm x 113.5mm x 11.5mm and 85g (3.4oz) its super thin and light compared to other products in this range while maintaining the large TFT display of the RAZR.

Tri-band 3GSM: 900/1800/1900Mhz for most of the world and 850/1800/1900Mhz for the US, both will get EDGE capacity (no T-mobile again). 820mAh battery gives uses a claimed 250 to 380 minutes of talk time and from 310 to 420 hours of standby time. Usually these numbers are highly inflated, but we shall see when units begin to ship.

Gadget specs look pretty much standard for new MOTO prodcuts, 4x MPEG4 VGA camera and Bluetooth, MP3 playback, speakerphone, color displays etc. Nothing revolutionary, but still some good updates. Also slated to incuded Motorola's PTT (push-to-talk), which is getting lots of attentiona at 3GSM right now. Only Nextel has been really successful in getting people to use this feature and IMHO its pretty annoying to hear beep, beep in malls, resturatns and everywhere else. We can only hope the new phones will make it easy to disable this "feature."

Estimated to be on sale in the 3rd quarter of 2005, not too long of a wait. No pricing announced yet.

Get more information - [ Mobileburn ]

Hello, hello everyone. I spent the weekend trying to push out my site served based blog on www.collegeartist.org, but alas the advertising was not working. So limited updates for now until everything is working correctly.

But here is a quick update.

Motorola PEBL V6 News / Preview



This GSM tri-band phone (either 850/1800/1900 or 900/1800/1900) GSM/GPRS/EDGE included, which usually means that T-Mobile customers will not get the phone. Specifications include a 262k color 176x220 display, Bluetooth, MPEG4 video, camera, email, MP3 ringtones, 5MB internal memory and a 96x32 vertical external display. 1.93 x 3.41 x 0.79-inch size. And most unique feature "the PEBL, which has an oval shape not unlike a pebble you might find in a stream, has an innovative dual-hinge opening system that lets you open the device in one smooth motion."

-From MobileBurn