The interface is split up into two columns: inbound and unbound. The inbound column displays a syndicated feed of all email accounts, Facebook messages, wall posts, Twitter direct messages, and @mentions. You can also single out an email account and filter it by unread or starred messages. Emails can be deleted, starred, or even archived (for Gmail). Any changes made through Threadsy is reflected on the respective email service. For composing mail, Threadsy offers a rich text editor, the ability to send mail from any email account, and include attachments. When choosing a recipient, Threadsy auto-fills contacts from email accounts and even cross checks Facebook for profile pictures. Unfortunately Threadsy is unable to send Facebook messages from within the user interface at the moment, but will still redirect you to Facebook to compose the message. Overall, I was quite impressed by the organization and functionality of the email aggregation.

The second column, unbound, manages social networks. Threadsy only supports the two popular social networks at the moment: Facebook and Twitter. There is one feed that combines both Facebook status updates and tweets, but also has the option of filtering down to only one service. There’s support for multiple Twitter accounts as well. Threadsy allows updating both Facebook and Twitter statuses at once. From within the Threadsy interface you can view/leave comments and ‘like’ Facebook statuses. For Twitter you can retweet, reply, and favorite tweets. Clicking on a contact will display a combined profile page that displays a feed of both Facebook and Twitter updates.

In addition to the in and out bound columns, there is a chat bar at the bottom which uses Meebo. The bar stays out of the way of all other communication, but is convenient enough to access chat accounts at any time. It also supports using a universal status and customizing online/offline per account.

Keeping in mind that this service is still in beta, it still has some bugs. The team at Threadsy has done an incredible job of putting so many services into one functional page. It’s rare to see something useful fall into our radar with so many pointless start ups in the making. In the move towards cloud computing, Threadsy could very well be the future desktop email client. While I was skeptical to try this service at first, I have now begun to use Threadsy to manage all my online communication. While I do still experience occasional hiccups, those will hopefully be resolved with further development. This service has real potential and I look forward to see where the company will take it.

Threadsy is still in private beta, but I’ve got some invites to give away. (You’re welcome!) The first 10 people to click through this link will be able to sign up right away! Enjoy: http://bit.ly/4S4Etx

Links: Threadsy.com

The Body: 4.5/5 stars
The unit stands about 4 inches tall, 2.5 inches wide, and is under a half inch thick. This places it at about the size of most handheld devices, phones, and media players. With an initial glance, most people will notice the 2.5 inch display and the backlit QWERTY keyboard on the front of the device. Further examining the device, there’s a jog dial on the right side, a flush power button on top, and the charging port on the left. Other than that, the only other thing left to mention would be the 700mAh battery found under the metal lid on the back.

The device reminded me of the early BlackBerry 5790 from 2004 which not only looked similar due to a QWERTY keyboard, display, and jog dial control; however also due to the fact that it was also a data-only device which only supported email and SMS. BlackBerry left this sub-market niche a long time ago, but Peek has picked up where they left off with current technology and the modern day consumer kept in mind. As for the body of the device, the unit looks fairly attractive. The keyboard is easy to use, feels great to type on, and has a click to each key stroke. The one main quirk I ran into was the fact that the jog dial and back button are on the right hand side of the device. Meaning if you happen to be a left handed person, there’s no question it’s going to be awkward or even difficult to use. This was also one of the reasons RIM moved their jog dial on their BlackBerry devices into a wheel on the center of the phone. Other than that quirk, the unit has an excellent build and due to its unique look when pulled from its included Peek-branded sleeve in public, people will often ask you about your hand held.

Email: 4.5/5 stars
The most important aspect of this device, email, actually functioned as advertised and even surprised me with some features I hadn’t seen before. As a computer geek, it’s usually a breeze setting up email on just about any device. However I was truly impressed how simple Peek made it. The average consumer will know little or nothing about incoming POP/IMAP servers or outgoing SMTP servers. They have no reason to be afraid when it comes to the Peek since the only thing the Peek prompts a new user for is their email address and password. Behind the scenes, Peeks engineers have done their magic to setup servers to figure out all the settings for just about every major email provider. (Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo, etc.) What impressed me the most was the fact that the device was instantly able to even figure out the settings needed for a corporate email address and for Skatter Tech email accounts. I actually had to look up information for some special settings when I attempted to setup the same email accounts on an Apple iPhone. Once configured, old emails aren’t imported, but every new message that reaches your inbox will be delivered to the Peek. Although Peek advertises a Push system for immediate notification of new messages, I had varied results. At certain times the Peek would light up its Mail indicator within seconds of shooting out a test email from my computer, but at other times it took as long as 5 to 10 minutes before a message reached my device. Although email isn’t fast paced enough that a few minutes would matter in most real world situations, don’t always expect emails that would be viewable on your computer immediately to arrive on your Peek at the same pace. The only major issue I had with email was the fact that content is almost entirely text based. Sure, the Peek Pronto does support viewing certain attached files such as PDF, DOC, and images; however this still won’t make up for HTML rich emails.

Texting: 4/5 stars
Today, most cell phone carriers today offer “nearly” unlimited texting plans which cost around $15-20 per month. The Peek Pronto offers unlimited text messaging to any mobile phone in the United States at no additional charge. If you value text messaging, this in essence gives the device a lot of value. Since the Peek is an email device, I assumed that texting would require me having to figure out each contact’s special email address associated with their carrier. For example you can send a text message to a phone by composing a message to a ten digit phone number at @vtext.com address on Verizon Wireless or a @txt.att.net for AT&T. I was quite wrong; the engineers over at Peek do the work for you once again. All you’ll have to do is enter in the phone number and that’s it. Peek’s servers will figure out where it needs to go. Although texting is unlimited for Peek users, it isn’t for others. Since there isn’t a 160 character countdown when composing text messages, lengthy messages may end up costing the recipient more than one text. The only other quirk was the fact that all text messages are all thrown into your global inbox, meaning it’s mixed with all the emails the device receives. Although it may not be a big issue for some and in fact some may prefer it, as someone who receives a few too many emails it was a bit hectic to find text messages amongst them. Despite that, if you are or think you’ll be a heavy “texter,” this is a pretty good deal.

Built-in Services: 4/5 stars
Since the Peek doesn’t have a built-in web browser, there are some special services offered by Peek. There are special entries for Local Search, Maps, News Headlines, Traffic, and Weather added into the device’s Contact List by default. Composing an email to any of those contacts with a search term will result in an email being delivered to your inbox with the query results. I found to be an excellent way to get updated data while on the go. The only issue with this feature is time. Since the search results are delivered by email, it faces the same issue as anything being delivered to your inbox. Setting that aside, the services did actually work as intended. Results for weather, news, and maps all worked quite well.

And that’s not it when it comes to those built-in services. According to contact at Peek, there are some new goodies coming in the coming weeks: Facebook and Twitter. We can’t say much, however we do know that it will work in a similar fashion as the other tools work. When the feature rolls out, Peek users will be able to update their Facebook status or Twitter status by simply composing an email. In addition we have word that you can set up “summary emails” to be delivered to your Peek at a desired interval of everything that happens on your Facebook News Feed or Twitter Stream.

Interface: 5/5 stars
One of the things that make a device great is a simple and functional user interface. The Peek provides us with both. Just about all the things you’ll need to do are contained in menus that appear when the jog dial is clicked in. It brings up a simple menu that has a list of commands such as new message, delete message, reply to message, save message, or mark read/unread. The interface allows switching over from the inbox view to the sent, drafts, saved, and trash folder. A search function is built right in as well. Other than that you can browse your Contacts or access the Settings Manager to configure accounts, sounds, themes, and a few more things. Just as the hardware reminded me of the BlackBerry, the interface is also quite similar to slightly older versions of the BlackBerry OS. Borrowing the ideology of how an interface should feel, look, and function, which made the BlackBerry an icon, is also making the Peek a better device. The bottom line would be that it’s easy for just about anyone to use and doesn’t lack necessary features.

The Cost: 4/5 stars
The Peek Pronto now costs just $59 and Peek Classic is only $19. The Peek Classic has most of the features of the Pronto, however has been cut down with no Push support, no unlimited texting, search, and a maximum of two email accounts (Pronto supports 5). The monthly service will run you $15/month for either device. A smart phone plan from Verizon, AT&T, or Sprint will start at about $40/month for just the calling portion. Adding the required data services for email is usually an additional $30/month. Further adding texting will rack on more charges. Most smart phone bills will be quite expensive. The Peek obviously can’t do much of what a smart phone can do, however it will keep you covered when it comes to emails and texting. At $15/month, the service is actually a fairly good deal for those who need access to email while away from their computer. Plus you can even pay your bills right from your device!

Overall the Peek Pronto is an excellent device. Everything from the hardware to the software just works. The device runs of the T-Mobile network, so you may want to check if you have coverage in the areas you’ll be using this device before purchasing it. The device was able to run for a couple days without needing to recharge it with casual use. If you are a computer geek, this probably isn’t the device for you, however if you happen to be in the need of an email-only device, this is definitely the way to go.

Links: GetPeek.com
Buy Now: Peek Pronto | Peek Classic

Ever since Apple released the “revolutionary” iPhone, competitors have been trying to imitate and create a better phone. LG has been fairly successful so far. They released the LG Voyager through Verizon Wireless last year, which we reviewed but weren’t too happy with. Fortunately their latest phone, the LG Dare, has surpassed our expectations and can truly be considered an iPhone competitor especially at its price point. It also has plenty of unique features that impressed us.

LG VX9700 Specifications:

• Provider: Verizon Wireless (CDMA 850MHz / 1.9 GHz)
• Form Factor: Full Touch Screen Candy-Bar
• Display: 3 inch, 240×400 pixels, & 262k colors
• Media: MP3, WMA, & AAC(+)
• Imaging: 3.2 mega pixel camera with flash & auto focus
• Connectivity: Bluetooth, GPS, & microUSB
• Others: microSD, ambient light, & accelerometer
• Size / Weight: 4.1″ H x 2.2″ W x 0.5″ D (inches) / 3.8 oz
• Battery Life: 4.7 hours talk time & 360 hours standby
• Price: $200 with a new 2 year agreement

The Body – 5/5 stars
The LG Dare is quite compact and can fit into even a tight pocket. It is actually about 16% smaller in volume than the iPhone 3G. The phone looks quite sleek with a silver trim on the front and a black colored back. Unfortunately since it is a touch screen, it is also prone to attracting finger prints. The front of the phone contains the send, clear, and end buttons in addition to the display. Although not too visible, when looking carefully at certain angles the ambient light sensor can be seen at the top blank portion above the screen. The left side of the phone contains the screen lock button, the microSD card slot, speaker phone key, and the microUSB charger/data port. The volume increase and decrease toggle and the camera/camcorder capture button can be found on the right side. The backside of the phone merely contains the digital camera with flash, the speaker, and a battery cover lid. Finally the 3.5mm standard headphone jack can be found at the top of the phone. Overall the entire design is a success.

Display – 5/5 Stars
In reference to the brightness, contrast, and color representation, the display was top notch. Probably one of the better displays I’ve seen in a while. The Dare’s three inch screen can display images at a max of 240×400 resolution which seemed to fit the needs of the phone just fine. The ambient light sensor is a great addition as it automatically dims the screen when in darker situations and brightens it up in broad daylight. The phone also has a neat sensor which automatically turns of the display during a call when the phone is held up to your face. It immediately turns back on when it gets further away. These two features assist heavily in conserving more battery life whenever possible.

http://skattertech.com/media/2008/07/lg-dare-interface.mp4

User Interface – 5/5 Stars
The LG Dare’s user interface is quite intuitive. The interface seems to have LG Voyager ancestry, however much has improved since then. The sensitivity is just right, however it can be adjusted. The phone’s screen is quite responsive without delay and all transitions are smooth and everything flows smoothly. The home screen features a clock, the date, and two notifications bar. Five items will always available on the bottom of the home screen: messaging, dial pad, menu, address book, and favorites. Although, this quick access bar cannot be modified, shortcuts can be added to the home screen from the shortcut menu. This shortcut menu can be accessed by clicking on the arrow on the main screen. The eleven default items can be customized to show any of the over fifty items in the phone including downloaded applications. The Main Menu displays the standard nine items found on any Verizon Wireless phone: Contacts, Messaging, Recent Calls, My Music, Media Center, Browser, VZ Navigator, V Cast Video, and Settings & Tools. Navigating through just about any part of the phone was simple and self-explanatory. The LG Dare also addresses the issue plaguing many touch screen devices which is the lack of tactile feedback. This phone solves that issue by releasing small vibrations below the screen each time something is clicked. Sound effects can also be enabled to indicate that a command has been accepted. The Dare also automatically locks itself after a certain period of inactivity. The screen can be activated by pressing the unlock key on the side or pressing the unlock button on the screen.

Messaging (Email, IM, & Text) – 5/5 Stars
Text messaging addicts will not be disappointed by this phone as it supports text, picture, and video messaging. Since the phone has tactile feedback it is much easier to type on this phone than I had expected. The keyboard also turns into a QWERTY layout when the phone is turned sideways thanks to the accelerometer. The keyboard was also quite accurate and the predictive text also helps speed things up. Although nothing beats a real keyboard, this wasn’t as bad as other phones I’ve used. The LG Dare also features Verizon’s Mobile Email client which has built in support for Yahoo! Mail, Windows Live Hotmail, AOL/AIM Mail, and Verizon.net. If you use other services the phone also allows configuring your own POP3/IMAP servers for incoming mail and SMTP for outgoing. (SSL Security Supported!) The phone can automatically check and notify you when immediately when a message reaches your inbox. The client isn’t too great for reading messages with graphics; however is plenty for reading text in emails. Finally the LG Dare also has a built-in instant messaging client that supports the AIM, Windows Live Messenger, and Yahoo! Messenger clients. You can log into all three at once and view your full contact lists. Overall the phone has not forgotten about the messaging side of things even while the emphasis of the phone might be the touch screen.

Web Browser – 5/5 stars
The built in HTML web browser excels just as most other components of this phone has. It begins on the Verizon Wireless Portal offering quick links to news, weather, movies, and more. The homepage can be customized to a site of your choosing. To visit a webpage, just press the WWW button and enter a URL to navigate to any webpage. Just as the keyboard did previously, the entire browser switches over into landscape mode when the phone is rotated. The volume toggle can then be used to zoom into or out of a page. A Full Screen option is available in the menu to allow the webpage to take up the entirety of the screen leaving no wasted space. The back/forward, refresh, home, and other keys will only appear as overlay when in the full screen mode. The major drawback would be the lack of flash, however most simple JavaScript works. And since most people will probably have this question, YouTube does work perfectly. The bookmarks are also a thankful to have feature saving having to retype URL. The only other issue I faced was that links were sometimes hard to click and I would have to zoom in to get to them. Large web pages sometimes are slow to move around, however I would still have to say this is the best browser found on a Verizon Wireless phone.

MicroSD + Syncing – 4/5 stars
The LG Dare supports up to 8GB microSD cards, which is great for those planning to use it as their music playback device. 8GB cards have also come down in price and can be purchased for as low as $30 through some major online retailers. When you connect your phone to your machine using the included microUSB to USB cable, you can enter the data or sync music mode. The data mode will turn the microSD card into a mass storage device so you can add or remove content directly onto it. The sync music mode will allow syncing media with Windows Media Player 11. Unfortunately Vista users will have no choice but to install the horrid VCast Music Manager to get the phone working with WMP11. If files are placed directly into the music folder, the phone will manually re-index them the next time the music player is started. So to put all of that together, the phone can be synced as a media player device, a mass storage device, or by using a microSD card reader.

Speakers + Headphones – 4/5 stars
The LG Dare’s speaker is fairly decent. It isn’t as loud as I hoped when being used as a speakerphone. It does sound decent for music, but I wouldn’t recommend it. It might have been better if they had been able to stuff a set of stereo speakers into the phone. Fortunately one of the big pros of this phone is the fact that it has a standard 3.5mm headphone jack. Those who plan to use this as their music device will have the opportunity to use their standard headphones without having to deal with using messy adapters. The headphones quality is plentiful for most consumers, audiophiles not so much.

Media Playback – 4.5/5 Stars
The LG Dare supports playback of MP3, WMA, AAC, and AAC+. Verizon recently made a deal with Rhapsody, so music purchased there is completely compatible as well. Controls are fairly intuitive to use. The touch screen makes navigating through songs quite simple. The library can be browsed by a full song list, custom playlists, artists, genres, or albums. The phone also contains preset equalizers. Album art is displayed while playing back music. LG has hilariously included a cover flow type of view when the phone is turned sideways. It doesn’t look too good or function too well, so I would just stick with the standard view. The best part of the Music Playback component is probably the fact that player can be turned into a background process. This way you can begin to browse the web, email, chat, or even send messages while listening to music. Overall this is probably the best music player I have seen on a Verizon Wireless phone to date. As for video playback, although I didn’t have a chance to test it, according to the specifications it supports playback of WMV, MP4, 3GP, and 3G2.

Digital Camera & Camcorder – 4/5 stars
The LG Dare has a Kreuznach 3.2 mega pixel camera which also doubles as a camcorder. Photos can be captured at a maximum resolution of 2048×1536 pixels, while videos can be recorded at a maximum resolution of 640×480. The camera allows for many different options such as a self timer, white balance, face detection, multi-shot, panorama, slit, and frame shot types, and a variety of scene modes. LG has also implemented face detection to focus on people in a shot. The camera allows manually setting the ISO, for those who are interested. The camera also launches within a second unlike most other phones that take a while to startup the application. The Dare’s camera is quite a strong point of the phone as it even includes built-in flash and auto focus. The camcorder offers plenty of neat features including a high frame rate option which will record video in slow motion.

Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR – 5/5 stars
Bluetooth pairing is unbelievably easy; the phone gives instructions as to how you need to go about pairing the phone. The instructions are simple and easy enough for any person to understand how to do it. It automatically pairs itself with the Bluetooth headset once you have completed the steps, no need to enter a password or anything, very convenient. The Dare fully supports use of stereo Bluetooth headsets, which is welcome addition that the iPhone lacks. The phone also supports sharing calendar events, contacts, or printing photos to a printer, although most probably won’t ever use them.

GPS VZ Navigator – 5/5 Stars
The VZ Navigator has become the strongest point of Verizon Wireless phones in recent times and is also a strong point of this phone. The software allows getting voice turn-by-turn directions and even is aware of traffic congestion. It now also has an improved local search that can find movie timings, gas stations, local events and much more. Just like the browser, the app runs in landscape mode when the phone is turned sideways. The GPS was accurately able to find my location just about anytime I tested it.

Extras – 5/5 stars
One small feature which I loved was the power supply that was included with the phone. Instead of providing an addition data cable, the power supply is actually a USB cable in disguise. The cable can be unplugged from the head and can be plugged into a USB port to charge or sync data. No other hardware is included with the phone. As for the software the Dare has voice commands, a basic calculator, tip calculator, a powerful calendar, alarm clock, stopwatch, world clock, notepad, voice recorder, and a drawing pad. I also wanted to mention that the Notifications bar is an actual menu on this phone instead of just being meaningless indicators. When clicked on, information about missed calls, messages, and events will be displayed. The extra components were also though through carefully.

Conclusions
The LG Dare is the best Verizon Wireless phone I have yet to review. I would have to highly recommend this phone for those interested in a new device. It has been well throughout and is a very worthy competitor to the iPhone. Although it may lack the huge application store that Apple offers, there’s still plenty to keep you busy. Everything from the large touch screen display, the camera, the browser, and music player are all solid. The reception was one of the better ones I have seen as well. The phone is available for purchase already through Verizon Wireless stores and online. The LG Dare will cost $200 with a new two year contract. Those of you who are eligible for upgrade should be able to get an addition $50-100 knocked off the price based off your current calling plan.

Links: Verizon Wireless – LG Dare
Buy Now: LG Dare for $137 with New 2-YR Contract (via Amazon)

Nokia N95 8GB Specifications:

• Type: WCDMA 850/1900 + WiFi
• Display: 2.8-inch with 320×240 resolution
• Form Factor: Two-Way Slider
• Battery Life: 5 hours talk & 12 days standby
• Main Camera: 5 megapixel w/ flash & auto-focus
• Storage: Built-in 8GB Flash Memory
• Special: WiFi, GPS, 2nd Camera, Home Network
• Other: Bluetooth and Standard Headphone Jack
• Dimensions: 3.9″H x 2.09″W x 0.83″D
• Price: $550 – $650 for an Unlocked Version

The Body – 4/5 stars
From looking at the images, you’ve probably realized that this isn’t exactly the best looking phone. It’s a bit bulky and definitely doesn’t look attractive. Keep in mind the reason you are probably purchasing this phone is for it’s features. On the front of the phone you’ll find the large 2.8-inch display with four-way controls, send/end buttons, the left/right soft keys, and a couple other short cuts. Above the screen is the secondary camera with its flash for video conferencing and self-portraits. Sliding the screen up will reveal a numeric keypad while sliding it in the opposite direction will reveal multimedia controls. The power button can be found on the top of the phone while the mini-USB and charging connections are on the bottom. A standard 3.5mm headphone jack can be found on the left side of the phone besides an infrared transmitter. A volume toggle, media button, and camera key are all on the right side. The 5 mega pixel camera is on the back above the battery compartment which also holds the SIM card.

The Screen – 5/5 stars
The N95’s 2.8-inch screen can only display at a maximum of 320×240 pixels, but is extremely bright and sharp. Just about anything displayed on the screen such as the menus, photos, or videos all look wonderful. The screen also looks great out doors and glare isn’t as bad as it is on other phones. And for those of you wondering if the screen is touch capable, it isn’t. Although I felt it would have been neat for such a large, the control system is fairly easy to use once you get a hang of them.

User Interface – 5/5 stars
For a first-time user of the Symbian OS it took a little bit of time figuring out how everything in the phone work. But once you learn the general stuff, everything becomes quite easy. Just about every place you want to go in the phone such as the phone book, email, or browser are all individual applications. You can open them up and close them when you are done. Running too many at once can slow down or possibly crash the phone. Most of the apps have a similar layout. The left soft key just about always brings up a context menu of options to perform including quitting. The four-way pad is to browse through the menus and the center button is usually the ‘Enter’ key. The home screen is also quite informative as it displays shortcuts to the phone book, email, web browser, clocks, and camera. It also will show alerts, upcoming calendar events, connected access points, the time, signal strength, and battery life. Overall I loved it a whole lot more than the Windows Mobile OS which I dreaded to use on the HTC XV6800.

Office Suite – 5/5 stars
I also discovered that the Nokia N95 had a built in Office Suite with support for Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and PDFs. I was able to quickly transfer a couple of documents onto the internal storage device with a USB cable then view them on the phone. Although the formatting on some them got distorted and others were slow to load, it would indeed be quite need to have these document views on a phone. To create new documents or modify current ones, you’ll have to buy the full $70 QuickOffice Suite. As for email, the phone supports the IMAP, POP3, and SMTP protocols. The interface is neat and easy to use. Push email is also supported by using the widely popular corporate Microsoft Exchange Server.

Digital Cameras – 5/5 stars
The Nokia N95 8GB has a 5 megapixel camera, which is the most powerful camera I have used on a phone. I only wish it had some optical zoom, which it didn’t. It does have a digital zoom, however this means quality is lost the further you zoom in. The phone takes photos quite instantly, however I noticed some lag when it tries to auto-focus and when saving the photos to the memory. The built-in LED flash is also quite bright and can easily make photos taken in under lit places a whole lot better. The quality of the photos themselves were pretty darn good. The colors looked natural in outdoor situations while the images were well focused and sharp. I was shocked to see how many options the camera settings offered. There were 6 scene modes including an Auto and a Custom option. The Flash can be turned off, always on, or set to reduce red-eye. There’s a self timer to take group photos. A burst mode to continuously take photos is available in addition to an option to take photos at a set time interval until the space runs out. The color tone, white balance, sharpness, contrast, and ISO can all be customized as well. Moving on to the .3 mega pixel camera on the front, it is plentiful for video conferencing since too much bandwidth can’t be transfered anyways. The quality is incomparable to the camera on the back and barley any customization settings are offered for the secondary camera.

Multimedia Playback – 5/5 stars
Once again, the N95 beat my expectations regarding music, video, and photo management. Starting with music, I was able to immediately start syncing my DRM-Free Mp3s in Windows Media Player 11 with the Nokia N95 without any additional software. I was also able to manually drop music onto the phone’s mass storage device and the files were also automatically recognized if placed in the right folders. The phone supports playback of AAC, MP3, and WMA files. I loved the music player interface as it was quite powerful and allowed me to browse by Songs, Artists, Albums, Genres, and Composers. Browsing through was quick and smooth without any hiccups. And with a 3.5mm headphone jack I was able to use my own Shure SE210 earphones. The built in FM radio was also a neat addition in case you get bored listening to your 8GB of music! To make things even better the phone also has a built in podcasting client. I was quickly able to download and start listening to the latest episode of TWiT through my WiFi network. (Can also use 3G data network!) Moving onto Video, the phone runs Real Player which has an excellent 3GP and MP4 decoder turn it into a great portable media player. I was also able to playback iPod Formated movie trailers and even DiggNation episodes without needing to re-encode the content into a special format. Everything worked as it things should without any horrible twists.

Speakers & Headphones – 5/5 stars
The Nokia N95 has a set of stereo speakers which was the best that I had seen on a mobile phone. The quality was clear and crisp. Even with the volume turned up to the max, it remained clear without beginning to crack like most phones do. The audio playback quality through the headphones was excellent. I wasn’t able to tell apart it apart from when playing the same song on my iPod Nano.

N-Gage Games – 4/5 stars
I had a chance to play some demo games available on the phone and the quality was quite impressive. The graphics was much better than I had expected a mobile phone to have the power to handle. The games are by no means as good as those on the Sony PlayStation Portable, but are much better than games available for most mobile phones. The games seemed a bit pricey, but it’s still a plus that they are available for purchase and that the phone can handle and support playing them.

Phone Functions – 5/5 stars
The phone comes with all the standard functions of most phones on the market. These features include an excellent phone book with pretty much no capacity limit, speaker phone, conference calling, bluetooth headset with stereo support, speed dial, voice commands, text messaging, email, calendar, calculator, notepad, voice recorder, and more! With a 3G Network, Bluetooth 2.0, GPS, and WiFi (b/g) the phone is almost always connected to something. Despite this it has a impressively powerful battery and manages it’s power saving quite well with the ambient light sensor. The phone had better signal in most locations versus the phone I usually carry. Call quality was pretty clear and crisp. WiFi signal strength was quite strong as well. The Bluetooth in the phone supports more profiles than any phone I have ever used meaning that it should connect to just about any device you can think of. The phone also supports the new DLNA media sharing protocol so once I connected my phone to my home network, I was able to access music, photos, and videos on the phone from my laptop and even my Sony PlayStation 3.

Web Browser – 5/5 stars
The N95 features an impressively powerful web browser. Sometimes web pages took a bit long to render, but in general they rendered a whole lot better than on most phones I have seen. I still feel the iPhone’s Safari browser is superior to this one in most aspects. However the N95 topples the iPhone’s browser in some aspects such as supports for the Flash player. This means YouTube and a whole slew of other streaming videos can be viewed from within the browser. The browser works by accessing either a WiFi access point or using the Cell Phone network, both of which functioned well.

GPS and Maps – 5/5 stars
The phone has a built in GPS which can be utilized for many different purposes. The N95 allows locating yourself on a map, getting directions, looking for points of interest near by, and much more. I didn’t have a chance to test the turn-by-turn directions, but I would expect it to work as advertised. The phone also has a cool feature to tracking your jogging and it takes it to a whole new level by recording pace, distance, time, altitude, speed, and steps taken. (Displays pretty-looking data graphs too!)

Included Items – 5/5 stars
The Nokia N95 comes with a couple accessories in addition to the power supply. Nokia includes a USB cable for data transfer and syncing media. A pair of headphones and a small wired controller to control music playback. The phone is also capable of video output using the included composite cables. Other than that Nokia provides a CD with some software, a couple of manuals, and a quick start guide. For the price that this phone goes for, I wish they would have also thrown in a case.

Conclusion
Overall the Nokia N95 is now one of my personal favorite phones. It is definitely not for everyone and most people will probably never get to using even half the features it offers. But for those who are looking for a high end smart phone, the N95 8GB will not be a disappointment. The only thing I felt that this phone lacked and that I should mention is the fact that it lacks a microSD expansion. Although it has 8GB of on board flash storage, it would have still been a nice addition. The phone offers more battery life talk time than most phones. With a powerful office tools and media playback tools the phone covers just about all grounds. The only downside might just be the high price of $600. The phone is currently not available through any service providers in the United States. However that doesn’t mean it won’t work here. You can just go ahead and purchase the North American version from a site such as Amazon. And for service, you can sign up to a calling and data plan from AT&T and insert the SIM card you receive.

Links: Nokia N95 8GB (nokia.com)
Purchase: Unlocked Nokia N95 8GB (US) – $580

To setup your own Gravatar, visit Gravatar.com/signup. The registration process is as simple as entering your email address. Then just login and upload an image to become your Gravatar. Now the next time you leave a comment on Skatter Tech or any other blog using the Gravatar service, you should see your icon appear! And in case you are wondering about privacy, your email address is kept private by both Gravatar and Skatter Tech so you’ll have nothing to worry about.

Links: Gravatar.com SignUp

Earlier today Apple announced the iPhone 2.0 software and the iPhone Software Development Kit (SDK). A beta version of the iPhone 2.0 software will be available today, however the finalized version won’t be available to consumers until June. The phone will also be getting much demanded business features such as the compatibility to function with the widely used Microsoft Exchange Servers, which will bring wireless push email, contacts, calendars, and access to encrypted private networks.

“We’re excited about creating a vibrant third party developer community with potentially thousands of native applications for iPhone and iPod touch,” said Steve Jobs – Apple’s CEO.
“iPhone’s enterprise features combined with its revolutionary Multi-Touch user interface and advanced software architecture provide the best user experience and the most advanced software platform ever for a mobile device.”

The iPhone SDK is available for download for free. With the SDK they’ll have access to the iPhone Simulator and all the information they’ll need to create native applications and distribute it through the Application Store for iPhone and iPod Touch owners. Apple boasts that their Multi-Touch interface, Core Animation, storage space, 3-axis accelerometer, and triangular cellular tower locater will allow creation of even more unique and powerful iPhone Apps.

Developers who create iPhone Applications will be able to retain 70% of the sales revenue of the amount sold through the new Apps Store. Developers will also have to purchase either a $99 standard license or a $299 enterprise license. In addition to the SDK-related content, the iPhone will also be getting other heavily demanded features such as the ability to view PowerPoint, Word, and Excel Documents and to mass delete messages. Anyways for the rest of you folks that aren’t interested in make applications but instead using them you’ll have to wait another three months for the final upgrade.

Video: March 6th Event with Steve Jobs
Links: iPhone Dev Program | iPhone Enterprise | Apple iPhone

The phone everyone’s been waiting for is finally here. The LG Voyager, which is also known as the LG VX10000, is an upgrade to the popular LG enV (VX9900), which we reviewed around this time last year. Skatter Tech was lucky enough to get a hold of this unit, courtesy of Verizon Wireless, and I’ve been putting it to the test since I got it last week. Just for a quick overview, the Voyager features a touch-screen display plus an internal wide-screen, a full HTML browser, a QWERTY keyboard, Mobile TV, and a ton of other new features. Although LG seems to be taking their communicator series in a whole new direction, I would still say that Voyager is definitely a worthy upgrade to the enV.

LG VX10000 Specifications:

• Provider: Verizon Wireless (1.9GHz / 800MHz CMDA)
• Form Factor: Laptop-like w/ QWERTY keyboard
• Dimensions: 4.64H x 2.12W x 0.71D (inches)
• Battery Life: 240 mins talk time & 480 hours standby
• Screens: 480 x 240 pixel TFT external & internal
• Digital Camera: 2 megapixel camera and camcorder
• Storage: ~185MB internal + microSD (8GB max)
• Special: external touch screen and mobile tv
• Others: Bluetooth 1.2 + Stereo Speakerphone
• Price: $299 with a new 2-year contract

LG Voyager Body: – 5/5 stars
The VX10000 is a bit larger than your average phone, but no one should be complaining once they see what it has to offer. The phone stands 4.64-inches tall, is .71-inches thick, and 2.12-inches wide. The Voyager retains the same height as it’s processor, the enV, but is slightly wider and thinner as well. The phone should fit into most pockets, but might be a bit of a stretch for tight jeans. On the front of the phone, you’ll find the large touch screen display followed by the SEND, CLR, and END hard-keys lined up at the bottom. On the left of the phone, there’s a camera button, a spring-loaded hold key, and a toggle volume control. The microSD card expansion and the 2.5mm headset jack are the left side, while the charging port, which doubles as the USB connector, is on the bottom. You can charge your phone via USB as well! Other than that, there’s a two mega pixel Camera centered at the top on the back and a battery pack right below it. One the inside of the phone, there’s another display located between two speakers on the top portion and the illuminated QWERTY keyboard on the bottom. The keys are well spaced out are are large enough to type quickly, making it possibly the best keyboard I have seen on a phone to date. Also, unlike the enV, the Voyager actually sits flat on a surface, so no wobbling!

The Two Screens: – 5/5 stars
The biggest disappointment in the LG enV was the extremely small external display. All that has now changed since the LG Voyager’s 2.81-inch touch screen display takes over the entirety of the front and even replaces the numeric keypad. The phone’s internal display is also 2.81-inches diagonal, but isn’t a touch screen. Both the screens have a resolution of 400 by 240 pixels and a color depth of 262K. The quality of both displays were excellent. They were bright and clear enough to view in direct sunlight. The accuracy and responsiveness of the touch screen display was great, but some buttons and items were too small and hard to reach, so interface could use a bit of work.

Music Player: – 4/5 stars
I had a great experience with the Music Player on the enV and was hoping for a big upgrade, but it seems as though there hasn’t been any chances. The main complain would be that the interface for the player is completely different on the external and internal displays. The interface for the outside portion has been designed for use with the touch screen and works fairly well. It actually looks quite neat and allows browsing by Songs, Albums, Artists, or Genres. You’ll have the ability to purchase music from the mobile store, shuffle your music, and search your library. Unfortunately the same can’t be said for the internal interface. The music player on the internal display is still using the standard theme found on the enV and a plenty of other Verizon Wireless phones. In addition the developers have managed to make such as simple program actually look worse and just for starters it doesn’t even utilize the full display. Instead the program has been cropped to a 320 by 240 pixel frame with black borders. Despite this, the playback functions work quite smoothly and the player didn’t have any other major flaws. For supported formats, the Voyager can playback unprotected MP3, WMA, and AAC files in addition to songs purchased through the phone. (Will work with Amazon MP3 & iTunes Plus!) Overall the player is functional and even displays Album Artwork for a nice touch, but it could have been better.

Speakers & Headphones: – 3.5/5 stars
One reason I liked the enV and its predecessor the LG VX9800 (aka “The V”) was the fact that they all had built-in stereo speakers. The LG Voyager carries on that tradition, but there’s a problem. The speakers in the LG Voyager sounded quite horrible and began to crack terribly even before we got close to reaching full volume. (No bass as well.) I would have expected for an even better experience, but these speakers prove otherwise. Since the LG Voyager is also a music phone, I would have also expected them to implement a standard 3.5mm headset connector. Instead, the Voyager maintains a 2.5mm headset jack meaning that you’ll need to purchase an adapter for use with your regular headphones. As Bluetooth headsets are becoming so cheap and barely anyone uses wired headsets anymore, I wonder how long it will take for manufacturers to phase out 2.5mm jacks and replace them with 3.5mm ones. Fortunately, listening to music with headphones on the VX10000 was a much better experience than with the speakers, but quality was still no where as good as on the VX9900.

Digital Camera & Camcorder: – 3.5/5 stars
The LG Voyager features a 2.0 megapixel camera, which also functions as a camcorder. Photos can be taken at a maximum resolution of 1600 by 1200 pixels, while videos can be recorded at a max of 320 by 240 pixels. No improvement for either of those functions have been made since, as those were also the maximums on the enV. The camera and camcorder allow setting the white balance and choosing color effects for captured content. The external display can be used to take self portraits when the phone is flipped open. The camcorder can record up to 1-hour videos, however only clips under 30-seconds can be emailed. On the other hand, images of any size can be emailed. The camera also has an auto focus function, which drastically improves the quality of your photos. The part that was quite disappointing was the fact that LG has removed the retractable cover, which protected the lens, and the built in flash, which was quite handy in low-lighted situations. Overall, the image quality seems to have actually degraded.

microSD + Syncing: – 4.5/5 stars
LG has taken a big jump with microSD technology, now supporting 8GB cards. That’s a fairly good increase considering that the enV was limited to 2GB microSD cards. Although 8GB cards might be a bit pricey at this point, you should be able to purchase a 4GB microSD card online for under $40. As for syncing music, it was as simple as it could get. Your computer will recognize the Voyager as portable media player (mass storage device), so no additional drivers were required. You will, however, need to pop in the CD and install the drivers if you do wish to use your phone as a data modem. Once the device was recognized I was able to use Windows Media Player to transfer the music onto the Voyager. If you prefer to directly copy files onto the phone using the file explorer, that works smoothly as well. Mac OS X users, unfortunately, will have to use an SD card adapter to copy their music onto the microSD card since USB drivers are not yet available. Even Windows users will also end up having use a SD card reader/write occasionally, since it isn’t possible to access your photos and videos when using USB.

Bluetooth: – 4/5 stars
There hasn’t been exactly too much improvement with Bluetooth technology either. The LG Voyager continues to use Bluetooth v1.2, which the enV already had. Most new phones including the LG Muziq, which we reviewed a few months ago, and the Apple iPhone now boast a Bluetooth v2.0 platform with Enhanced Data Rate. Despite this, the LG Voyager was still able to work perfectly with my Samsung WEP200 headset, which uses Bluetooth v2.0. The VX10000 also supports using Bluetooth for use as a dial-up modem, with wireless stereo headsets, for transfering phonebook/calendar entries, and sending images to your computer. So it should still be able to do just about everything important.

HTML Browser: – 5/5 stars
First off, let me say that this is in no way comparable to the Safari browser on the iPhone and iPod Touch, which is amazing. This is, however, a HUGE improvement over the standard BREW browser found on most Verizon Wireless phones, which could only handle WAP pages. The browser is simple, easy-to-use, and works with both the external touch screen and the internal display. Even large web pages (ex. digg.com) loaded eventually, but using it was not practical since it took too long to load or navigate. The browser doesn’t support flash or ajax, but was sufficient enough for viewing text, images, and links. Most of the websites we tested it with worked surprisingly well. When using the external display you’ll be able to drag the page around with a finger, otherwise you’ll have to use the four-way navigation pad. Additional “screen optimized” and “text only” views are available along with the zoom function. The Voyager also delivers the web content over a 3G network which is faster than the iPhone’s 2G.

The Interface: 4.5/5 stars
The LG Voyager external interface is probably the most attractive interface I’ve seen on a phone from Verizon. To use the screen, you’ll have unlock it first by either clicking on the un-lock key on the screen or by pressing the hold key on the left spine. At the bottom there are four quick access buttons: Messages, Dial Pad, Menu, and Phone book. Clicking anywhere else on the screen will bring up a shortcut menu with even more icons to different apps. Just about all the phone’s features including the music player, navigator, web browser, V Cast Videos, camera, and text messaging is use able through the external screen. There are some applications including Mobile Email and Get It Now programs that can’t be used through the external display, so you’ll have flip open the phone. Another neat hardware feature implemented into the Voyager is tactile feedback. When something on the touch screen is clicked, the phone emits a vibrating impulse indicating that an action has been detected. The internal interface has received a clean makeover, but will remain very familiar to enV owners. The enV’s “Email Key” has now been replaced another shortcut menu, offering easy access to plenty of functions. Although the interface wasn’t perfect, it looks good, was usable, and was quite impressive.

GPS Navigator: – 5/5 stars
One feature I did truly did enjoy was the built-in GPS Navigator. The program, which costs $9.99 per month, gives subscribers access to maps, turn-by-turn directions, and local searches. The part that I like the most was that the voice narration actually read out street and highway names instead of simply stating “Turn left ahead” or “Make a right turn”. For example, actually reads out “Turn left onto Saratoga-Sunnyvale Road,” “Exit freeway on the right for San Francisco,” and “Keep right on Mission Blvd.” Most navigators I’ve used including those built into Lexus/BMW cars and portable Garmin/Magellan, couldn’t do this. The one’s I’m talking about were over an year old, so I’m sure new ones can read out names and do much more. Purchasing a decent navigator can cost a few hundred dollars, so spending $120 for a year of subscription isn’t too bad. In addition, if you don’t want subscribe and don’t use your navigator that often, you can pay a one-time fee of $2.99 for 24-hour access. Overall navigation tool was well polished, worked on both screens, and will come in handy if you’re ever lost.

Messaging: – 5/5 stars
In addition to text, picture, and video messaging, the VX10000 also has an easy-to-use email client which will work instantly with your Yahoo! Mail, Live Mail, AOL/AIM, or Verizon accounts. If you do happen to have your own server or use another mail service such as Gmail, you can even enter in your own POP3/IMAP and SMTP servers. The only downside was that the functionality was quite basic and didn’t even allow opening links in messages. Despite this, it remains a good way of getting a sneak peak of your inbox, replying to messages, and composing new ones when you’re away from your computer. The phone also has a built in Instant Messaging client which will work with AOL, Windows Live, and Yahoo! protocols. The program runs smoothly on both screens, allows viewing your buddy lists, and participating in multiple conversations at once. Both the Mobile Email and Mobile IM clients have the ability to run in the background and display notifications when new content reaches your phone.

Other Goodies: – 5/5 stars
The LG VX1000 comes with a bunch of extra tools including a calculator, calendar/date-book, alarm clocks (3), stopwatch, world clock, notepad, tip calculator, and a voice recorder (1 hour max). The address book can hold one thousand entries with five numbers and two emails per contact. Unique ringtones and photos can be set for each contact as well. The voice dialing feature allows making calls by reading out names in your address book or dictating numbers to dial. The final extra feature we’d like to touch on is Mobile TV. We would have reviewed this feature, but there was one problem. What’s the problem? There was no coverage in our area. The service only works in three cities in California and a total of 25 cities through the entire United States.

Despite my minute complains over speaker/headphones quality, the music player, and camera, the LG VX10000 is still probably the best phone offered by Verizon Wireless. In my opinion this will be a big seller for the holiday season and will probably be difficult to get a hold of. I strongly recommend this phone if you plan to actually use the features it offers, otherwise going with a more compact phone will suffice. Verizon Wireless has even been kind enough to throw in a USB cable so you don’t have to purchase a Music Essentials Kit to sync your music. If you plan to purchase this phone it will be available online and in stores on November 21st, 2007. You should also be able to pre-order the phone by calling Verizon Wireless or visiting their website. The LG Voyager will run you nearly $299 after signing a new 2-year contract and submitting a $50 mail-in-rebate. If you are eligible for upgrade, you should be able to get another $50 or $100 kicked off price based on your current calling plan. Overall the phone will take a bit getting used and even though it’s a bit on the pricey end, you are bound to enjoy what it has to offer.

Deal Alert: LG Voyager for $199! (with new 2-year contract)
Links: Verizon Wireless | Voyager Data Sheet (.pdf)
Related: LG enV VX9900 Review | Voyager Video Walkthrough

Open Source applications are a great cost-free alternative to commercial applications. In many instances they are even better than paid versions of the same application. Today we bring you a list of a great applications from browsers to video players for both Windows XP/Vista and Macintosh OS X. All items on the list of course are completely FREE and have NO adware or spyware.

Web Browsing:

• Mozilla Firefox – tabbed browsing, customizable, and large plugin library – (Win+Mac)
• Camino – mozilla-like mac-styled browser with rss, spell check, tabs & more – (Mac)

Email:

• Mozilla Thunderbird – secure emails, fight spam, tags, rss, and more – (Win+Mac)

RSS Reader:

• FeedReader – handle large amount of feeds, simple, auto updates, and fast – (Win)
• Vienna – rss + atom, tabbed viewer, customize layouts, and global search – (Mac)
• RSSOwl – opml, bookmarks, export function, search, and alerts – (Win+Mac)

Instant Messaging:

• Pidgin – all in one chat client supporting over 15 major chatting services – (Win)
• Adium – also an all in one client, which supports 13 chatting protocols – (Mac)

BitTorrent:

• Azureus – very powerful, customizable, plugins, and tracker support – (Win+Mac)

Media Player:

• Miro – plays any video file, hd content, free tv, youtube downloads, and torrents – (Win+Mac)
• VLC – plays tons of media formats, powerful converter, and streams anything – (Win+Mac)

Office Suites:

• OpenOffice – word processor, spreadsheets, presentations, and illustrator – (Win+Mac)
• AbiWord – a powerful word processor which supports many formats – (Win+Mac)
• Bean – a simple and free word processor more feature packed than text edit – (Mac)

Virus Scan:

• ClamWin – great virus protection tool for windows based machiens – (Win)
• ClamAV – anti-virus scanning tool for Unix-based machines – (Mac)

DVD Rippers / Encode:

• Handbrake – rips and converts to any format. supports psp, ipod, and iphone – (Win+Mac)
• Media Coder – rip, encode anything to anything, simple encoding for portable devices – (Win)

CD / DVD Burners:

• Burn – burn data, video, audio, and images. also can copy discs – (Mac)
• InfraRecorder – burn any type of data or media, dual layer support, and create ISOs – (Win)

Sound Editor + Recorder:

• Audacity – a powerful sound recorder and editing tool – (Win+Mac)

FTP Client:

• Filzezilla – supports ftp, ftps, sftp, and supports large file transfers. can resume files – (Win+Mac)
• Cyberduck – supports standard ftp protocols and integrated with OS X features – (Mac)

Photo Editors:

• Gimp – great for creating and editing images. good photoshop alternative – (Win+Mac)
• Paint.net – a powerful windows photo editing / manipulation tool – (Win)
• Seashore – a mac os x photo editor with tons of features – (Mac)

Publishing Tools:

• Scribus - neat professional publishing and page layout tool – (Win+Mac)

File Tools:

• 7-zip – unzip or zip up just about any type of package you can imagine – (Win)
• Unarchiver – can unzip anything and works better than OS X’s default tool – (Mac)
• Eraser – securely delete any file from your HDD beyond point of recovery – (Win)
• Permanent Eraser – completely wipe any data using DoD specifications – (Mac)

PDF Tools:

• PDFCreator – create pdf files from any just about program that can print – (Win)

These are just a few of the tons of programs out there. We specifically choose these since we felt that these will be useful for most people. If you know of any neat open source applications or ones better than the ones mentioned in our article, please feel free to let us know by replying in the comments!

Media Temple (mt) customers are in for a treat. The recently launched GRID server is getting a second major upgrade, v1.2. All customers using the new Grid-Server (gs) will soon receive an update which will consist of many stability enhancements, “micro-updates”, user request implementations, bug fixes, and plenty of new features.

GMR v1.2 System Upgrade:

• Over 800+ Core count cluster – faster than ever
• MySQL GridContainers – currently private beta only
• Email Upgrades – performance, spam, virus scan, & security
• FTP Update – faster connection and transfer rates
• Storage Performance – around 400% faster data access
• Network Speed Increase, DNS cluster, and much more!

We left our previous host, 1and1, we joined Media Temple in September 2006. Since then we have been quite satisfied with their service and the peformance of their servers. (great customer service too!) Anyways, Media Temple will be rolling out the new GMR v1.2 update on 03/02/07 (friday), a week from today, and no action is required on your end.

Links: Media Temple | GMR v1.2 Info

Google has constantly been adding new features to Gmail since it originally launched in 2004. Over the last two years they have added over 2GB of storage space, RSS feed reader, virus scanning, chat, and many more features. Their latest add-on allows Gmail users to associate images with each contact (email address), therefore making it easier than ever to identify contacts. Although this may be a “new feature” for Gmail, other email services such as Yahoo! Mail have already been working on implementing custom “avatars,” which are used in Yahoo! Messenger, into their mail services for a long time.

This feature, as usual, is currently only available to a few users; however Google will eventually enable this feature for every account. Once this feature is enabled, the next time you get an email from your friend you may see an image your friend has selected or one that you may have set for him. Check back here for more information, but in the meantime login to your Gmail account and check if you already have this feature.

Links: Gmail | Gmail “Whats New!”
Related: Google Integration | Gmail Anti-Virus

On Wednesday (04/13/06) Google unveiled their latest product, Google Calendar. The new web-based application is open to the public, but is expected to remain in beta temporarily. Google Calendar, code-name CL2, helps track events, schedule appointments, and share them with others. This new service is completely intergraded with Gmail, allowing users to add events mentioned in messages to their calendar or emailing scheduled events to contacts. Google Calendar will also notify the user by email and/or SMS notifications if requested. Since Google Calendar supports iCal standards, it can import content from applications such as MS Outlook.

Main Features:

• Gmail Intergration – send events to contacts or save mentioned events
• Calendar Sharing – create public calendars or grant users permission
• Data Importing – import data from other applications (Outlook, etc.)
• Multi-Calendars – manage seperate calendars for work, home, etc.

Any calendar can be easily shared among others by either giving specific users access or by making it open to the public. The application will even schedule appointments with others not using Google Calendar through email. This new service is amazingly better and faster than both MSN’s and Yahoo’s services, which have existed for many years. Google Calendar will work in both Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox, but not in Safari. I suggest trying or at least testing this new service, as it is completely free.

Links: Google Calendar | Press Release
Related: MSN Calendar | Yahoo Calendar
Coverage: BetaNews | Weblogs Inc | TechCrunch

1) Google Calendar screenshots have been revealed by TechCrunch, a popular Web 2.0 blog. (Yahoo! apparently fed them the info) Anyways “to be launched” service is an online AJAX based calendar service, which is suppose to be called CL2. The service has a gmail-like user interface and will have plenty of colaboration features, including RSS. It should also become intergrated with many of Google’s other services.
Links: Tech Crunch | CL2 Login Screen

2) Comedy Central’s The Daily Show and The Colbert Report have been added to the iTunes Store. The “season pass” will cost only $9.99 and will download the current episode plus the next 16 shows when they become available. Epsiodes can still be purchased individually for $1.99.
Links: Daily Show | Colbert Report
iTunes Links: Daily Show | Colbert Report

3) Microsoft has announced that their code name “Origami” Tablet PC should be available by the end of April. This is a new line of products, influenced by Microsoft, which are ultra-portable machines that are powered by Windows XP. Samsung’s version has a 7″ touch screen display, an extendable keyboard, Bluetooth, and WiFi. They can also run standard apps such as MS Office as wells as support playing videos, listening to music, and viewing photos. (Pricing will be around $600-1000)
Links: Origami Project | Microsoft’s Preview

4) MSN Live (aka. Windows Live) has just gotten a full AJAX makeover. Although still in beta, the service looks simple and clean. It has support for custom RSS feeds, as well as a selection to choose from. (weather, horoscope, email, news, etc.) The interface looks much better than Google IG. One neat feature that other services don’t offer that MSN Live does is Feed Search. For example search for “CNN” and when the results appear, if a feed is available a “add feed” button will be displayed.
Links: Windows Live | LiveCom Offical Blog

1. Because of the popularity, too many users started to slow down their servers. And it would take forever to for a message to appear in your inbox, or just to get there. And last loading even plain text messages take a long time.
2. Then also once you get there most messages would be distorted. Images and links do not appear and the messages appears in plain text, so no links work. It also leaves the message in an unformated view, which is very hard to read.

Now a new very similar service is available called Mailinator. This site is fast, looks good, and gets you to your messages right away! They also have a feature which generates random email address for you if you can’t think of what to choose. The only single disadvantage I found with this service was the lack of RSS feeds, which Dodgeit provides. This site works pretty much the same way just choose an address @mailinator.com and go to their website and enter the name you choose and view your messages.

Note: Make sure you do not use this for any personal sites. This is because these inboxes are 100% open to the public and anyone can see what you can see. If you’d like to be more careful just create an extra Yahoo or Hotmail inbox and use that to send your spam to!

Link: Mailinator | DodgeIt
Previous Posts: DodgeIt (11/27/04)
Related: Hotmail | Yahoo