Something Shiny

I’m not sure why I feel like a cat being petted backwards in a room full of rocking chairs every time this commercial comes on the television, but thank goodness someone fixed it.

First, let me say that the Photoshop work here is pretty much right at my level so I’m not ripping on it per se. Second, I love Meritline and this does not affect my plans to purchase from them in the future. Those disclaimers out of the way, wow, look at the inset pictures on the lower left. They’re small enough that if the scale were right, you probably wouldn’t have noticed they might as well have taped a picture of their product on top of a picture of a car, but the scale is SO not right.

Click the pic to go on through to the Mertiline product page to get a better look at the picture and/or to buy your very own “Car Holder For iPhone iPod Cell Phone GPS MP4, Adjustable” for $3.99 (free standard shipping!!!).

What’s this a picture of? WRONG!!! Well, unless you said a “New Vibetech 8GB Scroll Touch Nano 4th Gen MP3-4 Player With Music, Video, FM Radio, Photo, Voice Recording, E-Book & More.” That’s right, not an Apple iPod, a “New Vibetech 8GB Scroll Touch Nano 4th Gen MP3-4 Player With Music, Video, FM Radio, Photo, Voice Recording, E-Book & More”.

Now, I have no doubt that an authentic iPod Nano is a better product than the “New Vibetech 8GB Scroll Touch Nano 4th Gen MP3-4 Player With Music, Video, FM Radio, Photo, Voice Recording, E-Book & More;” however, I do not believe the Apple version is as much better as it is more expensive.

So, if you want something that really really REALLY looks like an iPod, but you don’t want to pay the Apple tax, head over to Daily Steals and pick one up for $22 ($27 including shipping). But hurry, it’s today only, which is probably about as long as Vibratech will be in business once Apple notices.

For those unfamiliar with Slacker Radio, it’s similar to Pandora but with a larger library including some comedy stations, oh yeah, and it has stations (pre-configured genre-based streams that are still configurable via your likes/dislikes).

If you’re a Slacker Radio fan with a WebOS device, check it out. Both of you.

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Ah, Verizon makes a funny. I’m on Sprint myself but enjoy the substantial coverage CDMA (the network technology Verizon and Sprint primarily use at the moment) has here in the US. If you want cool, it’s still tough to beat the iPhone. If you want a phone, well, Verizon is a pretty good choice.

via Gizmodo

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I’ve caught a bit or two on Slacker Radio‘s comedy channel and have been pretty amused. I’m not sure yet whether I’m $50-60 amused (the range of prices for the tickets to the show), but I’m definitely thinking about it. Hit the link below for the full details from Metromix

Jim Gaffigan – Treasure Island Resort and Casino – Welch, MN Events | Metromix Twin Cities.

I was just having a conversation the other night about reaching my maximum capacity for Apple related enthusiasm. Yeah, ok, their stuff is fine, but it’s really much more evolutionary than revolutionary.

In an attempt to balance the scales a bit, I offer this counterpoint that popped up on CrackBerry.com yesterday. Beware, there’s some language you probably don’t want pumped outside of your cube for all the world to hear.

The iPhone Ad You’ll Never See | CrackBerry.com.

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Alright, had it for less than a day, and already I’m hooked on my new (to me) Blackberry Curve. They really ought to market themselves better to the non-business crowd.

So far my favorite thing about it (other than it does everything it’s supposed to really well as opposed to pretty poorly, that’s right, I’m talking about you WinMo), is the Slacker app. It lets you cache stations on your memory card so in areas of poor service (like my house) you can still listen. And even if you are in an area of decent service, listening to cached stations requires less juice than listening over the air (listening to over the air streaming is fully supported too though so you don’t have to cache anything).

Eventually my love will undoubtedly turn into bitter hatred, but we’ll get to that later.

In the search for the perfect phone, I decided to dip my toe into the Blackberry pool. I’m now not so patiently waiting for my new toy to arrive and reading up on all things Blackberry.

I’m pleasantly surprised to see a huge number of enthusiast resources. I’ll admit I was anticipating less of the fanboyism that surrounds the hot gadgets, but Blackberry seems to have it’s fair share of zealots. Is Blackberry the one for me or will the lack of a touchscreen* drive me mad? We shall see.

*Part of the appeal of the Blackberry for me is the physical keyboard, so the Storm isn’t an option for me at the moment, plus I’d like to stick with Sprint for the time being.

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Anyone in the Twin Cities area need a Sprint phone? I’ve got a couple for sale:

Sanyo M1 ($50)
Katana DLX ($30)
Treo 755p ($75)

Pictures available on request, drop me a note in the comments if you’re interested.

Wow, this is kinda evil… a USB device that randomly messes with the user input. Thinkgeek.com is steppin’ it up a notch from their annoy-a-tron.

From ThinkGeek.com:

The Keystroker emulates a keyboard and mouse and periodically makes random mouse movements, toggles caps-lock and types out odd garbage text and phrases. Switches on the side allow you to choose between keyboard garbage typing, caps lock-toggle, annoying mouse movements or all three. An adjustment dial sets the duration between “events”. We recommend you don’t set it too frequently so as to extend the agony. Your hapless co-worker pal will think his computer has been possessed or infected by a destructive virus. As he writhes in anger and furiously dials tech support you can rest easy with a job well done.

If you love a good prank, click the pic for the product page, but be sure to read the legalese:

WARNING
The Phantom Keystroker never hits the return key and it never clicks the mouse button. However you should not use it on anyone’s system who is doing critical work where disruption could cause serious consequences. The Phantom Keystroker is a joke, like any joke you need to use prudence and judgement when executing it. You have been warned!

ThinkGeek :: Phantom Keystroker V2.

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In a testament to ever improving/shrinking/cheapening of technology, you can now cram a classic Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) cartridge into a handheld system that plays the games in all their original glory (albeit with a teeny-tiny screen, although it also has a/v out jacks).

Kinda cool, and at $50, a much better deal than the Jakk’s handheld games if you’ve got some old NES cartridges around.

ThinkGeek :: Retro Mini Handheld NES System.

Getting closer every day…

**UPDATE** I guess this is old, from CES.

Via Gizmodo