PC Magazine - your contacts and calendar with your PC, and some PDAs make dandy phones when paired up with a wireless headset. Especially if you need to be hooked up to office e-mail on the road, a combo device like the PalmOne Treo, Blackberry 7100t or HP iPaq
Source: http://www.pcmag.com/

Palm m505 Handheld Review

Ars Technica - Gonzo s old review of the Palm V and Caesar s iPaq review are great places to start. I will also assume a certain level of familiarity with Palm OS devices. Particularly, I will spend considerable time describing this device in relation to
Source: arstechnica.com

Compaq iPaq 3650/30 PocketPC

Ars Technica - Branding can often be confusing, and in the case of Compaq’s latest attempt to capitalize on the popularity of the letter � i “, confusion has reigned supreme. Compaq’s iPaq moniker evokes different images for different people: for some, it’s an iMac
Source: arstechnica.com 

The Digital Family’s Home Theater Makeover

Popular Mechanics - Fortunately, our final Digital Family segment will tackle home automation, security and just such control issues. We’ve left Jami with a Palm Zire 72 PDA, an HP iPAQ pocket PC and a Philips Pronto universal remote in the hopes he can streamline his
Source: http://www.popularmechanics.com/

Mio DigiWalker A701

PC Authority - They cost the same when you add the excellent TomTom Navigator to the iPaq which also supports quad-band, EDGE and Wi-Fi. However, the Mio is easier to use as a general PDA. Ultimately it will come down to personal choice, but the Mio still deserves
Source: http://www.pcauthority.com.au/

All your passwords a click away

San Francisco Gate - Well-regarded Wi-Fi-equipped models priced in that neighborhood include the HP iPAQ rx1955 and the Palm TX. Pocket PCs use the Microsoft Windows Mobile operating system, while Palms use the Palm system — so if you’re a longtime Windows user

Sometimes it feels good to get down and dirty. But gutters? Sometimes that’s just pushing it. Now homeowners can squeak off the rubber gloves and rejoice: iRobot, the innovative company that brought the Jetsons’s Rosie to real life with the Roomba, unveiled a reach-around, remote-controlled ’bot today at DigitalLife.

Unlike the circular Roomba, the $100 iRobot Looj is long and short, perfect for navigating through those copper or aluminum pathways. Once inside a gutter, the Looj’s handle detaches and becomes a wireless remote, allowing a would-be house cleaner to control its movement and speed without the need to reposition a ladder every three feet. An auger, meanwhile, spins to dislodge dirt and leaves, while rubber tracks propel the Looj forward and backward. The crane of robo-maids is waterproof in up to 1 ft. of water—nice backup while its racing through a 60-foot section of gutter in 10 minutes. —Wayne Ma

PLUS: Roomba 560 Sets Up Virtual Walls for Cleaning

VIDEO: iRobot’s Open-Source, Hacker-Friendly Roomba

Are you one of those who assumed that Mac OS X Dashboard widgets will be on your iPhone since it is running on Mac OS X too only to be shocked that the only widgets available were three basic widgets.

No problem, Erica Sudan over at Tuaw seems to have (almost) figured out how to get the Mac OS X Dashboard widgets on the iPhone

Clean Cities coalitions around the nation displaced the equivalent of 375 million gallons of gasoline in 2006, according to a recent report from the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). The amount of gasoline displaced in 2006 was 50 percent more than the 250 million gallons in 2005.

Clean Cities coalitions are on track to reach 3.2 billion gallons of gasoline displaced in 2020, exceeding their established goal by 700 million gallons.

Through its almost 90 coalitions, Clean Cities works with government and industry partners (local, state and federal agencies; public health and transportation departments; transit agencies and other government offices; as well as auto manufacturers, car dealers, fuel suppliers, public utilities, public and private fleets, community business groups and professional associations) to increase the nation’s economic, environmental and energy security by reducing petroleum consumption in the transportation sector

According to the report:

- Seventy-one percent of the 2006 gasoline displacement came from the use of alternative fuels. Thirty percent of that was from the use of compressed natural gas, mostly in heavy-duty vehicles.

- The use of E85, a blend of 85 percent ethanol and 15 percent gasoline, grew substantially in 2006, largely because the number of E85 stations doubled – from 436 to 995 – in the year. E85 accounted for 24 percent of gasoline displacement from alternate fuels in 2006.

- Coalitions reported acquiring almost 44,000 hybrid electric vehicles in 2006, a 61 percent increase over the 17,100 HEVs purchased in 2005. HEV use accounted for the displacement of approximately 9 million gallons of gasoline.

- Idle reduction efforts displaced 8.4 million gallons in 2006, including 1.2 million gallons from truck stop electrification.

- Almost 2 million gallons were saved by reducing the number of miles traveled.

The study was compiled from voluntary reports that represent a subset of the activities going on throughout the nation and indicates the impact of the coalitions and their priorities.

The full NREL study is available online at http://www.nrel.gov/docs/fy07osti/41753.pdf.

http://www.eere.energy.gov/cleancities.

In a world of competing high-definition formats, it looks like corporations are finally beginning to see the light. At CES this year, consumer electronics giant LG announced the first commercially available dual-format player, capable of playing both HD-DVD and Blu-ray discs. Of course, the product has been public for close to two weeks now, but American electronics store Best Buy are now showing that the player is in stock despite a scheduled release date of February 4th. Nevertheless, the store apparently has the items already, with an attached price tag of US$1200.

In the interview, Tretton denied any possibility of cost reduction for 2007, attributing it to enormous R& costs during development. Tretton also said that the components in each PS3 cost alot to manufacture and, as such, the console’s price is extremely difficult to manage. Of course, it is also a well-known fact that Sony is taking huge hits for each PS3, losing US$241 on 60GB versions of the console, and US$307 on the 20GB variety.

Nevertheless, it appears that markets apart from America will get some respite. The Japanese market received a price reduction of around US$70 prior to the console launch in the face of public outcry. There is also the possibility that the European market, where the console is yet to launch, may see a price reduction or at least a more reasonable bundle. No news yet as to whether this translates to the Australian market, but considering the huge prices that Australians are expected to pay for the PS3 when it is released in March, many are already opting for importing theirs from Japan and Hong Kong.

Unfortunately, The LG BH100 has its problems. First up, it only provides HDMI 1.2 output, rather than the market standard HDMI 1.3. That means both inferior video and audio, despite the fact that 1080p remains a capability. That, in the minds of the more technologically inclined, is a major downturn and there’s a reason for that - who wants to play high-definition video at anything but the highest definition? Nevertheless, that problem isn’t likely to turn off the majority early adopters.

However, the other, and possibly more grating problem, is the fact that, in its current state, the LG BH100 does not provide interactive menu capability for HD-DVDs. While BD-J, Blu-ray’s interactive layer, can be played on the LG player, HDi is not a functionality on this particular product. As such, many are beginning to doubt whether or not the player can actually be called dual-format, considering the great bias it places on Blu-ray. Some are even suggesting that the product can’t be sold until it gains full HD-DVD compliance, which in turn can’t be accomplished until HDi is added.

The failure to incorporate these basic functionalities in the BH100 is definitely questionable. However, the fact that LG has been brave enough to be the first to come out with this product is definitely worthy of appreciation. A first-generation player is inevitably succeeded by a second, more capable, generation. Now that LG has got the ball rolling, it is only a matter of time before its main competitor, Samsung, unveils its equivalent.

I know that some people are extremely excited about the imminent release of Windows Vista, Microsoft’s latest OS offering. But does Microsoft really need to spurn that excitement? Despite the fact that Vista is hardly more than an XP facelift, it hasn’t stopped the mega-corp from unveiling the “Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate Limited Numbered Signature Edition.” Yes, you too could own the tongue-twising piece of disastrous history by purchasing one of 20, 000 copies of Vista Ultimate, complete with a unique serial number, and an embossed signature from none other than Bill Gates.

You can purchase the upgrade edition here. Pricewise, its actually not too far off normal copies, which is a little relief. But it begs the question - why?

The Dell XCS Concept - The future?

This week ASUS announced the first dedicated external graphics card, designed to be used with laptops. Interestingly enough the product - dubbed the XG Station - is not likely to cause much excitement in the mobile computer community, as much as it will for desktop fans. Why? The answer is simple enough.

While it may not look like it on the surface, the XG Station seems to be a step towards modular computing, a concept that has been contemplated over the years, but never seen fruition. Modular computing is essentially the idea that the desktop PC as we know it will eventually disappear, to be replaced by something which is not confined to the dimensions of a conventional PC case, but rather something which is designed around the idea that the computer’s separate parts can easily be replaced by other components over a standardised communications system. Of course the modern PC is easily upgradable, but it is still based on dozens of different input systems, from PCIe to 5.5″ ATA to CPU sockets. Rather, modular computing would see a more streamlined way for the different computer parts to communicate with each other, allowing for a better PC.

The XG Station is one step toward this ultimate goal, along with the external power supply, something which is gaining speed in a world where internal video cards are demanding more and more power. The arrival of the external graphics card could also make the external power supply rather redundant, should the XG Station see a desktop counterpart, however the concept of modular computing continues to lie underneath it all. Unfortunately, the idea is decades off at the best, so until then it seems like external graphics cards are the new market to watch out for.