Samsung Packaging and Instructions Done Right
It always amazed me that tech companies can put so much into making their gadgets, but then they hand you the dumbest packaging and the worst instructions that they can make. Not every gadget can be done this easily, but Samsung certainly has tried their best. It’s downright genius if you ask me. Here’s a video showing their cell phone packaging.
Out of the box from Vitamins on Vimeo.
Is the Google Chromebook Right for You
New Chrome Operating System AvailableImage by toprankonlinemarketing via Flickr
I recently read up on the Google Chromebook. That’s all I did and I did that long after it’s release. I’m not remotely interested in it, but I thought I’d give my 2 cents anyhow. I’m surprised I haven’t got questions about what I think. Folks must realize that I don’t give a shit about much of this grand new technology that’s coming out. It’s designed to get you excited about nothing and drain the money out of your pockets. Chromebook fits right in there for all but a few customers.
In short, this is a Netbook that only runs using Google’s Chrome Operating System.
First, I’ll tell you the good about it. It’s probably never going to get a serious virus, it has an 8.5 hour battery life, and if something should happen to it, all of your stuff is on “the cloud” so you can get another and never miss a beat or lose anything. That’s all good and fine. If this is a dream come true for you and it overrides all of the bad I’m about to tell you, by all means buy one.
So what is bad about it?
- It’s all Google all the time. Everything about it relies on Google Apps. If that’s all you ever use, you’ll like it.
- It has to be online for many functions. No Internet, no workie.
- It relies on slow 3G for it’s operation. That’s not very good for most people. Think just a little faster than dial-up. (Wifi should be fast when you’re at home with it though).
- It’s way to expensive. Cheapest one is $350 and the good ones are about $500. That would buy a nice laptop or Netbook that has processing power. Google is going to be feeding you ads on top of ads in all of these apps. An ad machine should be very cheap. It’s not.
- There are still many websites that only work with Internet Explorer. They are sites that rely on a Microsoft setup and the companies using this are not going to change anytime soon. I’ve seen government, education, and banking sites that are on this type of platform. For example, The Ohio Bureau of Workers Compensation is Microsoft only. If you don’t have access to Internet Explorer on another computer, this could be a real annoyance.
Make sure you get a warranty. If these break, not many folks are going to touch them. The only fix will be to send it in for factory repairs or hope that they swap out for a new one. On the plus side, there are fewer things to go wrong as there are no moving parts in a Chromebook. Many of us that need the power are not going to invest time into figuring out the Google Chrome Operating System at this point, so don’t count on having a bunch of friends that can figure it out for you and dont’ try to talk us into one just so that you do.
XWave Mind Reader – Scary Stuff.
For about $100, you can have a mind reader added to your Ipad. It reads your mind to tell you if you’re relaxed or not and matches songs that you like with others in your area. Great. Just what we were all looking for.
This type of gadget is a little depressing to me. Here we have all of this technology, but look what their using it for! Brain w
Get the tin foil hats, their trying to read our mind.Image via Wikipedia
ave reading? You don’t have to head to far down the conspiracy trail to realize that they want your thoughts. They don’t want your thoughts to improve products. They want them to appeal to your desires with things you probably don’t really need. Not only do they want to collect your thoughts, they want to combine them with everyone else’s to create products that make huge groups happy.
I thought it was a joke when people referred to the cult of Apple. Now it appears they’re trying to really produce a cult! If you can tap into the collective thoughts of a group of followers, you can do some pretty harmful things. Many times, what makes us happy for the short term, isn’t what we really need. The short term is about all that this gadget can collect, so we know what they’re after. They’re looking for ways to give the masses short term gratification.
Think of lack of utility that they have already produced. They’re going to help you focus? We can’t do that on our own anymore? They’re going to help you find people that like the same music in a geographical area? Was there a need or even a want for that?
This thing is straight out of a horror movie when you think about how they can manipulate the masses. The price for this is only $100. It won’t be long until they get one that doesn’t even need to be attached to your head. The tin foil hat people are starting to look like the smart ones now.
Related articles
- New Device Controls iPhone, iPad with Brainwaves (cbsnews.com)
- PLX Devices XWave brain interface for Apple devices ships (slashgear.com)
- iPhone Accessory From XWave Channels Your Brain Waves to the iPhone (singularityhub.com)
- “XWave iPhone Headset Promises to Read Your Mind” and related posts (techland.com)
- XWave Lets You Control iPhone Graphics with Your Brain (buzzfeed.com)
- iPhone app lets you read your own mind (textually.org)
- New iPhone Application has Ability to Read Minds (musicians4freedom.com)
- The app that can read your mind: iPhone brainwave detector was only a matter of time (dailymail.co.uk)
Garmin Nuvi 1690 With NuLink Connects to Wireless Internet
My old friend Ken Thomas recently did an article that sung the praises of the Google Android as a GPS device. The Android is a very impressive phone, but in my view it’s still a phone, not a GPS. I don’t like cell phones and I really like a GPS, so naturally, I was skeptical at Ken’s claim that you may want to sell your Garmin stock.
Ken brings up some good points, the most important being that Google constantly upgrades and that means a constant update for traffic and maps, an important part of traveling with GPS. In my area though, a Google Android also constantly loses connection! This usually happens when you need the connection the most.
Ken based his article on a Garmin Nuvi 1370. It’s a fine GPS, but it’s no comparison the Garmin Nuvi 1690 with NuLink. NuLink may have changed Ken’s mind had he compared this to the Google Android. NuLink is a new feature that uses AT&T’s network to gain access to Google. This allows the GPS to draw information from Google. When you’re in coverage, you get many features from Google that work with your phone. For example, if you’re looking for an auto parts store, you just type in “auto parts” and it will give you that search from Google and a choice can be made from the returned search. Fuel prices, traffic information, and more are all pulled in from Google.
The Garmin 1690 GPS navigator–with Bluetooth and included Traffic Receiver–features an enhanced user interface, ecoRoute, public transit mode, and text-to-speech. Plus, pedestrian navigation capability is enabled through optional CityXplorer maps, which are available for select tourist destinations in North America and Europe and can be downloaded easily directly to the nüvi. more…
The result is that you get Google data for free for 2 years with the purchase of a Garmin Nuvi 1690, then $60/year after that. Compared to the high cost of data plans, this is a tremendous savings. Sure, the data plan does more, but for those of us who just want to get to where we’re going, NuLink provides just the data you need without the distractions that you don’t need.
There’s even more that maybe the Android can do, but I don’t know about. For example, a monitor can connect to your vehicle’s engine computer and feed engine performance data to your GPS. Error codes and information to improve your MPG are sent to the device. Even without the engine data, the Garmin 1690 will give detailed information to help improve your driving habits and warn you if you’re speeding.
The main reason that I purchased the Garmin Nuvi 1690 GPS is something that many people may not need. It sounds simple, but few GPS systems can do it well, and unless I’m wrong, Google cannot perform at all. This the multi-destination routing capability that allows you to input many destinations and sort them into a route that is optimized for the shortest distance and time. This is a simple but time consuming task for humans, but a very intense process for a computer. A GPS that does this well, which Garmin’s advanced models do, takes a high power processor to complete. I was very impressed with this capability.
An added bonus with the Nuvi 1690 is the bluetooth capabilities that allow for hands free cell phone use. The unit is an adequate tool for this. The driver has to speak up just a little, but the caller can be heard very clearly.
I read many reviews that stated that the Garmin Nuvi 1690 was not worth the money and that the NuLink service was poor. I’ve found these reviews to be completely inaccurate and I would recommend the GPS to anyone. If deciding if a GPS will take care of your travel needs or if you need the data plan to support an Android, I would seriously consider a Nuvi 1690.
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