Reviews

My Newton story

Today the iPhone is the alpha gizmo, the one item of consumer electronics that dominates all the others.

But in 1993, the hot new gizmo was Apple's Newton, and it was a whole different thing.

Not very many people had Newtons. Apple sold fewer Newtons over the whole life of the product than it sold iPhones the evening of June 29.

Also unlike the iPhone, the first Newtons weren't even very useful. Although called "personal digital assistants" (PDAs), using a Newton was significantly more difficult than using a Day-Timer. The original MessagePad had very poor handwriting … Read more

My inspirations from science fiction

I really enjoyed going through this image collection over on CNET's News.com. It lists ten influences from the world of science fiction on today's high-tech industries:

Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash Philip K. Dick's Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep and Minority Report William Gibson's Neuromancer Bruce Sterling's Distraction Robert A. Heinlein's The Moon is a Harsh Mistress Arthur C. Clarke's 1945 invention of the geosynchronous communication satellite Isaac Asimov's I, Robot Star Trek Karel Capek's R.U.R.

I'll go along with the Heinlein and Star Trek references, … Read more

These are a few of my favorite sites

From time to time I'll highlight interesting or useful websites.

I'll start off with three sites that appeal to my interest in product design. And no, none of them are this one.

Kevin Kelly's Cool Tools blog isn't just about cool tools, although there are lots of those. It's also about books, videos, and websites that tell you how to do things. Anyone may contribute a recommendation; other contributors include Paul Saffo and Stewart Brand.

Dennis Palatov's dpcars.net is the most technically interesting automobile-related site I know of (although Autoblog is the most … Read more

The Gizmo Report: Sennheiser's HD-280 headphones

I like to listen to music. I fell out of the habit for a while, but then I got an iPod, which got me interested again. Now I probably buy more CDs every three months than I did throughout the 1990s.

I'm addicted to New Music Tuesdays on the iTunes Music Store, mostly because of the "Free on iTunes" section. There's a lot of good music out there! And a lot of bad stuff, too, but when it's free, that's not so much of a problem.

Oddly, I can't seem to get interested … Read more

The Gizmo History Report: The TRS-80 Model 100

I was in the Air Force in 1983, serving at Hahn AB in Germany (now a civilian facility somewhat misleadingly renamed Frankfurt Hahn Airport, although it's 110 km-- 68 miles-- away from Frankfurt).

In March, I was given a temporary duty assignment back to the US, and I was able to take some leave to go back home to Miami.

I dropped in at the old Radio Shack Computer Center, where I used to hang around-- yeah, I was the kind of kid who would hang around at a Radio Shack Computer Center-- and they had this new gizmo for sale.… Read more

20 hours with the iPhone: A full, hands-on evaluation...so far

As I mentioned in my previous iPhone post, I took the plunge Friday night and drove down to my local AT&T store for a nice new iPhone. So, with some time on my hands as my girlfriend watches more YouTube videos than anyone else who has ever seen the site, I thought I would give you some insight into my experience with the iPhone and my impressions at this point.

When I got to the AT&T store, I was asked to stand outside the door until one of the seven sales kiosks became available. Within five … Read more

Hands-on: The Sonos Bundle 130

For the past month, I have been playing with (and enjoying) the Sonos Digital Music System (Bundle 130). Offering a sleek design and a surprisingly useful remote, the Bundle U130 raises the bar for other systems that take your music and transmit tunes throughout your home.

What's in the box

When you first open the bundle, you are immediately presented with a host of cords and the same products that you would find in the Sonos Bundle 100 or the Bundle 80 - the ZonePlayer 100 (ZP100), the ZonePlayer 80 (ZP80) and the CR100 controller. And while the same … Read more

Well I took the plunge: I am currently playing with the iPhone

After very little deliberation and a desire for just about anything that involves electronics, I drove down to my local AT&T store and bought myself the iPhone. After about an hour with the phone, I can say it works almost as well as advertised and activation couldn't have been easier. Look for more in-depth stories over the course of this weekend, but I tell you my preliminary thoughts right now:

It's a bit smaller than I though it would be and the screen is just as nice as it looks in the photos. Simply put, it … Read more

The Gizmo Report: Monster Power's Outlets To Go

I usually carry a cheap extension cord when I travel-- the kind you'd get at a hardware store, with a three-wire plug and three outlets molded in plastic at the other end. Hotel rooms often hide outlets behind the bed, and sometimes all of the outlets are in use; even a very short extension cord can solve these problems.

But on my last few trips, I've been dissatisfied with the cord I've been carrying around, and I've had my eye open for a better one. I just got one, and it looks pretty good. It's the Outlets To Go OTG400 from Monster Power, one of the many brands of Monster Cable.

I'm not entirely happy with Monster. I think the company sometimes… Read more