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December 3, 2011
 

i'm watch - the first real smartwatch in the world? Well, Fossil was the first.

When I was a Palm OS user, I was never convinced by the "Fossil Abacus" watch. It was cool, but why would anyone buy it?

A new Italian company is trying again. And they did it in a very nice way. I doubt anyone can say the "I'm" Android watch is not cool. However, I'm not convinced it will take off. 

First, the name is ... well, I hope Apple lawyers are not reading. Besides, do users really need another mobile device with such small screen? It took us a while to convince ourselves that tablets were needed (in addition to our phones), and they can be way more usefull. I honestly don't see myself reading, editing a doc or playing Angry Birds on my watch. Am I missing some use case? They are teasing a proprietary music market... but hold on: can't I just buy an iPod nano with a wrist strap for less than half the price and use all the music I already have on iTunes?

Well, I really wish these folks the best, but in my opinion this will be a niche product. And I'm likely one of the geeks who will end up buying one.

Prices start at EUR 249,00 and they start shipping January 30.

Check it out here.

Filed under  //   devices  

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October 5, 2011
 

Apple's stock price could be up today if they launched new products as the car industry does

Apple_car
Apple launched the iPhone 4S yesterday. The new phone is a very significant upgrade from the previous version, and almost everything was improved: camera, battery life, reception, operating system, processor, price, you name it. Sounds like a lot to keep consumers and investors happy, right? Unfortunately not. Simply because the new phone is not called iPhone 5.

You might ask: why didn't Apple name it iPhone 5 then? Because the exterior is exaclty the same. And it should be! It is a gorgeous design that needs no update. For now. But Apple was the one that created this trap, by releasing a different version each year and naming the phones with sequential numbers.

That's not the case with new cars. Every year there is a new model for every car, but they sell it as the year model, not a sequencial number. And that's enough to keep people happy. The Audi A3 is an example of a beautifuly designed car that needed no change on the outside for many years. And the feature changes introduced every year were certainly not as significant as the ones Apple announced yesterday. But customers would be happy, just because they had the 20XX version of the car.

Is an iPhone 5 still to come this year? I doubt. Apple would not waste all the media attention yesteday if they had something significant to launch before Christmas. But who am I to say? I have no inside information and use a Nexus S. What I know is that the new 4S looks very impressive, and will likely continue to push the competition further so we can have better and cheaper devices every year.

Filed under  //   devices  

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June 23, 2011
 

Evernote Peek: The First iPad Smart Cover App

Media_httpblogevernot_gxsgc
via blog.evernote.com

Filed under  //   web apps  

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May 29, 2011
 

To-do list and Calendar for Kindle

Interesting additional use for the experimental web browser on Amazon's e-reader device.

It would be amazing if it also had a simple note taking web app. If not currently under development, here goes the idea.

http://kindletodo.com/

Filed under  //   Web apps  

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May 26, 2011
 

Ecopad Concept Tablet Powered By Touch [via SlashGear]

Media_httpcdnslashgea_aierm
via slashgear.com

Filed under  //   devices  

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May 20, 2011
 

‪semYOU: yet another web Operating System?‏

Semyou
semYOU is supposed to be your semantic web-OS. What this means, I couldn't figure out. From what I could learn, this is very similar to eyeOS, but not as intuitive. It runs on MS Silverlight and has a bunch of web apps available.

Although the concept is good, the experience has been frustrating. On the demo page there is a very cool web desktop, but I wasn't able to find where to start it. Also, it says that the OS can be installed on netbooks, but if you want to know how, there is no link or easy way to find out.

The one nice feature is the capability to "install" the links on your desktop, similar to what you can do with any page in Chrome.

Folks at semYOU, I recommend you pay some more attention to the user experience. I consider myself an early adopter and was not able to use it properly. Long way to go to be ready for the masses...

Check it out on semyou.com.

Filed under  //   OS  

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May 11, 2011
 

Introducing the Chromebook

via youtube.com

Not convinced? Did you know you can now play Angry Birds on one of those?

Filed under  //   OS   devices  

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May 10, 2011
 

Decico: web app to help you make decisions

Decico is an easy to use online decision making tool. It uses a decision matrix technique to capture the individual decision context and calculates a list of favorable decision alternatives. Decision results can be downloaded as Excel file and further be modified offline. The Decico decision helper is completely free of charge.
via decico.com

Filed under  //   web apps  

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May 9, 2011
 

OnSwipe - Insanely Easy Tablet Publishing

Media_httpwwwonswipec_etupb
via onswipe.com

Filed under  //   web apps  

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May 7, 2011
 

PocketBook 360°: smallest e-ink book reader, cheaper than Kindle and Nook

Media_httpwwwpocketbo_pbjfh
via pocketbook-usa.com

I was always a fan of the Cybook Opus e-book reader. Its small form-factor and high quality build brought a good alternative to the Kindle. The price, though, was never competitive.

For $129, the PocketBook 360 offers extreme portability with an on-screen keyboard to be used in the rare occasions you might need it. It comes in black or white (my preference) and has a sleek cover included.

Filed under  //   devices  

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