http://www.ecoustics.com/latest/articles Latest articles, updated every five minutes http://www.ecoustics.com/pcw/howto/147466 It's all out there: free cell-phone headsets, help getting refunds from big-name retailers, and, of course, cell phones making popcorn. Tue, 24 Jun 2008 04:00:00 -0400 http://www.ecoustics.com/pcw/howto/145314 Phones are off the radar for most hackers today. But Google's Android OS and the iPhone could make them more of a target. Mon, 05 May 2008 01:00:00 -0400 http://www.ecoustics.com/tl/20396/ All or most service providers are offering the Motorola V3 for practically free nowadays. What really gets people though is the colors offered. Some offer black, others offer blue, but it seems none offer them "all". This tutorial explains the process to take apart your current V3 and customize it to your liking. For many reasons, the image quality has been reduced. For a PDF version, shoot me an email! All materials can be found at a cell phone parts store - try CNN.CN WARNING! Before reading any of this tutorial, please make sure to review your phone warranty. Opening up and/or tampering with stock phones may result in a void of warranty. Use this tutorial at your own discretion, and if for any reason you aren't comfortable with opening up your phone, bring it to the attention of a professional. Now to begin, we must start off with the proper tools. Here is a complete list of what I used: 1. Motorola RAZR 2. New OEM Gold Battery Cover 3. Rubber Stopper 4. Keypad 5. New OEM Gold Faceplate 6. Black Mouthpiece 7. New OEM Gold Mouthpiece Bezel 8. Soft Card (Cut Up Gift Card) 9. Two Hinge Nuts... Fri, 18 Apr 2008 13:45:08 -0400 http://www.ecoustics.com/pcw/howto/144320 Free voice-to-text service is an excellent productivity tool for busy mobile professionals. Wed, 16 Apr 2008 04:00:00 -0400 http://www.ecoustics.com/pcw/howto/144319 An Internet tablet saves the day in Italy, a tourist avoids looking touristy, and a traveler instantly shares pictures with folks back home--all thanks to their portable gear. Wed, 09 Apr 2008 14:45:00 -0400 http://www.ecoustics.com/dt/talk/241 I’m at Intel’s Developer Forum (IDF) in Shanghai China this week and I’m getting a lot of Tech envy. To give you an idea how bad this is, on the drive in from the airport we were passed by a Maglev train traveling at around 300 miles per hour and as I’m writing this piece there is a boat going by my window with a flat panel display that is about 20 feet high and 40 feet wide - darned thing is bigger than the whole front of my house.What makes this IDF special though is that this is the official launch of MIDs (Mobile Internet Devices) and Netbooks as full on product categories. These two new classes of products should transform, over time, the notebook market, the cell phone market, and the portable media... Thu, 03 Apr 2008 03:00:00 -0400 http://www.ecoustics.com/pcw/howto/143937 A guide to Web sites offering deep discounts on laptops, smart phones, and other gear. Wed, 02 Apr 2008 04:00:00 -0400 http://www.ecoustics.com/dt/guide/122 If we had a nickel for every time we've gotten lost on the back roads of some semi-rural state, we'd have enough money for a few beers. But if we had a good GPS with us every time, we'd never have gotten lost in the first place, saving hours of aggravation, not to mention gas money.Portable GPS devices offer an excellent and easily self-installed solution, ranging in price from about $150 to $1200. Models specific to activities like hiking, geocaching, biking, boating, and running are also available, and a handful of smartphones have built-in GPS hardware, with service for around $10 a month on top of voice and data plans.Garmin and Magellan currently dominate the GPS market; behind them are TomTom and a... Tue, 01 Apr 2008 03:00:00 -0400 http://www.ecoustics.com/pcw/howto/143217 Leave the laptop at home, copy and paste blog posts, don't rely on your cell phone, and more tips. Wed, 12 Mar 2008 04:00:00 -0400 http://www.ecoustics.com/tl/20615/ The tech community has gone crazy over Apple's announcements at Macworld 2008 - the quintessential Mac conference of the year. The highlight is Steve Jobs' keynote address , which is always highly anticipated by tech aficionados. In the address, Mr. Jobs discusses the newest products and upgrades by Apple. This year, of course, was no exception. However, the announcements are branching out to a larger and larger audience - they're not just for Apple geeks anymore. We'd like to give a highlight of the most significant announcements made at Macworld 2008. MacBook Air - The World's Thinnest Notebook To much fervor, the MacBook Air was announced - and it is the thinnest notebook computer in the world, according to Apple. It's so thin, Jobs removed the device from a standard office envelope - impressive. At its thickest point, it measures only .76 inches, and at its thinnest, only .16 inches. This delicate marvel weighs in at only 3 pounds. It is truly built to appeal to the mobile user who demands ease of use and flexibility - the full-size keyboard is backlit, and the trackpad utilizes the Multi-Touch feature that is also used in the iPhone. It comes in a... Wed, 16 Jan 2008 11:54:13 -0500 http://www.ecoustics.com/tl/20398/ The iPhone, up until now, hasn’t met a lot of customer expectations. Want to send a “Happy New Year!” message to all your friends? You can… one at a time. Want to have live Google maps as you drive without having to look at street signs every second? You can’t. But this, my friends, may be about to change - according to various sources on the Internet, including GearLive . The last firmware update to grace the iPhone included very minute additions (iTunes WiFi), and was mostly put in place to resolve some of the bugs. However, with the release of iPhone firmware 1.1.3, the iPhone could be that much closer to being real competition. The new update may include the things that Apple truly forgot on release. A list, perhaps, will explain it better: Google Maps Hybrid Mode Drag and Drop Applications on Home Screen Bookmark Shortcuts on Home Screen Home Screen Support of Pagination Multiple Receivers via SMS Messages Google Maps Pin-Point Application Using Cell Tower Triangulation Sure, Apple is still missing things: for example, a louder ring/vibration, flash-supported Safari, and 3 rd party apps - but it's certainly getting there. This update will hopefully bring us that... Sat, 12 Jan 2008 00:48:12 -0500 http://www.ecoustics.com/tl/20324/ I just read about a new feature being introduced in some 2008 cars where the parent can hit one button ("time out" button?) and instantly mute all the A/V going on in the car and... get this... project their voice throughout the cabin! As a parent, I have to tell you that this is an awesome feature. Its one of those that seems so obvious that you wonder what took them so long to come up with it, especially as it doesn't require any unique technology, just some innovative thought. So on that note, I thought I'd throw two other, seemingly obvious and much needed inventions for anyone listening. Optimized Voicemail - right now, we only have two choices when our phones ring: answer it or let it go to voicemail. Actually, I have used a voicemail preview function on some phones that let you listen in on the recording voicemail and interrupt the caller mid-stream by accepting the call. But I'm talking about a different but much more common scenario here. I find that there are many times where I *really* want to answer the incoming call but I need a bit more time. Not hours, but minutes. What... Fri, 28 Dec 2007 12:04:13 -0500 http://www.ecoustics.com/pcw/howto/140742 If it's Presidents Day, it must be time to get serious about buying a new digital camera. For this and other advice about buying mobile electronic devices, read on. Mon, 24 Dec 2007 01:00:00 -0500 http://www.ecoustics.com/pcw/howto/140028 With the right cell phone and online data service, the Internet is just a call away. Fri, 30 Nov 2007 01:00:00 -0500 http://www.ecoustics.com/tl/19529/ Wireless technology is fast becoming a necessity rather than a desired application on some of today’s hottest gadgets. We are developing into a society that expects to receive information or become connected wherever we happen to be at the time. With this desire is an influx of wireless gadgets to keep us in-touch, entertained and connected whenever we desire to do so. The following list represents the top ten most popular wireless gadgets for today’s techno savvy consumer. 1. The Apple iPhone - The Apple iPhone was the must have gadget of the summer of 2007 and still holds the allure of today’s gadget crazy consumer. The iPhone can be best categorized as a cell phone on steroids. The unit provides multimedia capabilities, including the functions of Apple’s iPod, a PDA and web browser. The iPhone also offers a camera function, email interface and instant messaging. The iPhone originally retailed for a whopping $600, however it can be purchased now for around $400 (for the 8GGB model). 2. Apple iPod Nano - The Apple iPod Nano (third generation - 4 GB), continues to refine the ever-popular iPod technology. Retailing for under $200, the Nano not only allows the user to ... Wed, 14 Nov 2007 01:15:06 -0500 http://www.ecoustics.com/tl/19536/ No doubt you've seen those big, sophisticated-looking cameras that professional photographers and hard-core enthusiasts use. Perhaps you've heard the term "SLR" and know that it refers to those big cameras. But what exactly is an SLR camera, and how is it any different (besides being so bulky) from the little digital cameras many people carry around in their pockets? This article will introduce you to SLR cameras, specifically digital SLRs. We'll help you understand what these technical marvels can do and why you may—or may not—want to invest in one. What is an SLR Camera? SLR stands for "Single Lens Reflex," and it refers to a class of cameras. Other examples of camera classes would be "Point and Shoot" (P/S) cameras, "Prosumer" cameras, integrated cameras (like in cell phones), pinhole cameras, etc. While there are many variations among SLR cameras, they all have a couple of important things that make them part of the SLR class. First, unlike P/S cameras, SLR cameras have two distinct, detachable parts: a body, and a lens. The body, also called a "back" by photographers, contains the brains and the controls of the camera. If it’s a traditional SLR camera, film’s contained in the body ... Wed, 24 Oct 2007 12:26:14 -0400 http://www.ecoustics.com/tl/19410/ Someday, I hope portable music lovers figure it out... you don't have to settle for the crappy headphones that came with your player! In the world of headphones, you can do much, much better. At the very least, a ten to twenty dollar pair of headphones is a cheap way to get a heck of a lot more enjoyment out of your music. The problem: take those regular ol' headphones anywhere else but your quiet living room or the public library, and you'll realize your true enemy... the world. Before you go running around on a Hulk-like destructive rampage against all things not you, let me clarify. The real enemy to on-the-go enjoyment of music is all the background noise created by "the world." Since you can't go around telling people to shut up, put out roadblocks to stop cars from passing by, or tell the flight attendant to make the plane quieter without severe repercussions, we'll have to find another way to muzzle the outside environment. And as luck would have it... noise cancelling headphones do just that. What are Noise Cancelling Headphones? Noise cancelling headphones do exactly what the name implies... cancel noise through a process called " ... Thu, 04 Oct 2007 20:30:19 -0400 http://www.ecoustics.com/tl/18973/ Are you getting the most out of your gadgets? With so many products and information out there, it's hard to keep up with the useful items that any average person would buy. Sure, there are plenty of products for owners of specific devices (i.e., seemingly millions of iPod accessories), but what about those that are applicable to most any device that you happen to own? That's the criteria for this list: it has to be something that's not only useful to most people, but is also relevant regardless of the brand name or type of gadget. It was a hard list to come up with, but here are my top 5 picks: 1. Hold on to your Gadgets. I used to constantly drop my cell phone, iPod, and other gadgetry. As a result, they're badly scratched up and difficult to use. Then, I discovered eGrips . Attaching eGrips to your devices is a great way to keep your gadget from escaping your slippery hand while holding it, and keeps your device in its place when you set it down. I've used eGrips since they were first introduced a couple of years ago. They're inexpensive (~$10) and they have generic ones ... Tue, 11 Sep 2007 16:21:00 -0400 http://www.ecoustics.com/pcw/howto/135914 Here's an overview of the technology now available, the product options, and how well and far the devices can travel. Fri, 24 Aug 2007 04:00:00 -0400 http://www.ecoustics.com/pcw/howto/136170 Rebate Ruckus; AOL Handle Hassle Thu, 23 Aug 2007 04:00:00 -0400 http://www.ecoustics.com/pcw/howto/135999 Plus: iPhone's Safari problem, and a slew of critical Microsoft patches. Mon, 20 Aug 2007 21:00:00 -0400 http://www.ecoustics.com/tl/18866/ The revenue generated from voice is clearly diminishing with every passing day, forcing the operators to explore new areas of growth through continuous innovation in technologies and services. Recently I had an opportunity to attend a Vodafone D2C strategy briefing which brought out Vodafone initiative for the next three years. During this briefing Vodafone significantly highlighted the fact that despite the anticipated consolidation by European operators, the operators should... Mon, 30 Jul 2007 11:09:49 -0400 http://www.ecoustics.com/pcw/howto/134851 Today's wireless phones? Cool. Shopping for them? Complicated. Here's what you need to know about carriers, plans, data networks, contracts, and more. Thu, 26 Jul 2007 01:00:00 -0400 http://www.ecoustics.com/tl/18701/ ...I haven't touched the iPhone yet. I haven't sniffed it, stroked it, slipped it in my pocket, or tried to download anything over its very slow Internet connection. I also haven't tried to thumb-type yet on its slippery little glass face." Why? Because, unlike all the iPhone faddists, I haven't plunked down hundreds of dollars for an untested unproven iDevice... Mon, 09 Jul 2007 15:13:41 -0400 http://www.ecoustics.com/pcw/howto/133579 Should airlines stop passengers from viewing offensive material on their laptops--or look the other way? Thu, 05 Jul 2007 04:00:00 -0400