Kraftwerk.

a few weeks (months?) ago i was lucky enough to see Kraftwerk perform live in DC while i was there on business. definately one of those concerts you (by 'you' i mean 'me') would be stupid to miss. not just because i am a huge fan of theirs... or because of their influence on music as a whole... but becuase it is so incredibly unlikely i will ever get the chance to see them ever again. i mean... they are all like 90 years old now. and don't tour that often.

excellent show. i really enjoyed it... and will always remember it for sure. it made the Autechre show the night before look like a total complete rancid pile. showmanship = 0. *golf claps ... "you are so Xtreme™ Autechre! you're the best!!!" ... it's more likely that Kraftwerk will still tour in 20 years and sell out shows than Autechre.

oh yes. anyway... so i was totally sad that i would never be able to hear the live versions of all those Kraftwerk songs ever again. they were really quite good. and excellent updates to already good songs.

but then i get back from DC ... and see that they released a double disc live album called "Minimum Maximum" (link is to the Pitchfork review of the album) from their earlier European tour! and conveniently enough ... it was basically a song for song recreation of the show i saw! same songs... same order... everything. excellent.

upon listening to it though... it's just not quite the same. good. but not as good as the show itself.

probably due to the lack of 1) visuals 2) ridonkulous bass 3) robots.





z.

Mini LED Projector... Update.

so that little LED video projector i posted about like infinitor ago. they have finally updated some info on it.



first... they completely redesigned it. personally i think the new one looks massively better than the original one.

second... they updated the release date again... now it's september 2005. it was supposed to be 2nd quarter 2005. or "Summer 2005".

third... it's still supposedly going to sell cheap as before.

fourth... it is also still only 800x600. so i'll be waiting for a 1024x768 one before i buy.

z.

HP hw6XXX Series Review.

finally! a review of the HP hw6XXX series phone/pda convergence devices. i've been waiting for these devices for a long time... and very very very patiently waiting as the release date ever so slowly approaches (and it gets moved farther and farther into the future...)



so anyway... after the review... i'm kinda disappointed. so close. so close.

in general :

What's positive:
Small size; integrated thumbboard; EDGE; seamlessly integrated GPS

What's negative:
Poor thumbboard responsiveness; limited battery life; mediocre camera

and a score of "76%". man... i was hoping for a knock out on this device.

granted this review specifically referred to the hw6515... the one without WiFi... and the one shipping with Windows Mobile 2003 vs. 5.0/Magneto. and technically it was the hw6715 (which includes both those items) that i truly would want and would wait for. which is still rumored to be released around January 2006. yikes. the hw6515 is rumored to be rereleased around the same time with Windows Mobile 5.0 as well.

z.

Sony K750i Review.

this is an insanely in-depth review (and unlike some of the ones on Mobile Review... it is in Earth language). this almost looks like a good temporary replacement for 2 devices... my T637 and my Kyocera camera.





the K750 is basically the replacement for the T-series. as far as i can tell. about the same size. same basic specs... just better. the major upgrade being a Memory Stick slot... and a 2.1MP camera. like that can take actual real life decent photos (seriously... scroll to the very bottom of the review and take a look at the billions of example shots.)

like not *as* good as my Kyocera... but the Kyocera i only have for taking snapshots. i have absolutely no expectations from it when taking pictures. i just got it cause it was small and took a decent picture. i'd much rather have a 'real' camera... then a snapshot camera.

problem is... when i actually want a snapshot... i don't have my camera. and the camera on my T637... chyeah... rrrrright. i could draw a better picture than it takes. or just describe it.

so short of my ultimate phone/camera/pda convergence device comes out... i might consider something like this and a separate better-featured PDA.

[UPDATE] - i forgot... i had a link to yet another also quite large review from Mobile Burn. it's good also. especially since it acts as a comparo between the K750i and a few other camera phones. after reading i pretty much decided it was the best.

z.

Nucular Batteries.

yeah. thats right. nucular. i went there.

anyway. i doubt it'll happen anytime soon. i'm still waiting for my nucular car Popular Science promised me in 1958. and my moon vacations.

i see neither.

(a teeny tiny gas turbine hybrid cell might be cool though for portable devices.)

z.

Connaught Hybrid Sports Car.

a hybrid sports car. was going to happen eventually (though the Lexus GS hybrid already has decent specs). and this one in addition to being a hybrid... has some weird yet seriously oddly attractive styling to it. i like it.



though i'm generally not a fan of hybrids ... preferring diesels... this one has some very strange engine specs even if it wasn't a hybrid.

first its petrol parts are in the V10 form factor... okay. no biggie... but the V10 has a F1-esque displacement of a mere 2.1L ... those are some rinky dink cylinders. probably revs like no ones business though. in addition to that... the angle of the V is only 22 degrees... making it darn close to an inline engine. (for reference... most are 60 or 90... with the also-close-to-inline VW VR6 being lower at 15 degrees) an inline 10 cylinder engine. nutso.

all this from a niche low-market manufacturer. lots of work to design your own engine. impressive.

z.

HTC Universal / MDA IV.

yeah. like i was thinking. the MDA IV does indeed have a HTC named version. the HTC Universal. this is the one i totally dig currently. but i have yet to see any GSM references. which is no good. that and i imagine it will end up costing approximately $867. which is redunkulous pricing for a phone in my opinion.

looks real pretty in a girl next door sort of way. lot of pictures with ninja captions here.




z.

HTC Wizard.

i was sort of waiting for the MDA IV which i believe also has a HTC version. (stupid phones with 900 different aliases and brands.) but this one looks pretty decent too if the proposed specs are for real.

specs (in moon talk) :

- QuadBand GSM/E-GPRS (EDGE) 850/900/1800/1900 MHz
- Processore Texas Instruments OMAP 850
- 128 MB di ROM e 64 MB di RAM
- Display TFT LCD da 2,8" QVGA
- Bluetooth
- Wi-Fi 802.11b
- IrDA
- Fotocamera integrata da 2.1 MP con Flash LED
- Doppio speaker (conversazione e di sistema)
- Tastiera QWERTY scorrevole
- Mini USB slave per la sincronizzazione (al pari del Qtek S100)
- Slot di espansione mini SD

good design too. nothing too fancy. but not that bad. looks convenient. between this and the Samsung i'm starting to think a landscape plus slider form factor isn't that bad.



z.

Thin Speakers.

this is pretty amazing sounding. a speaker that is thing enough to lay over a laptop screen. (transparent too conveniently enough.) and it supposedly has pretty decent sound if their claims are to be believed.

Apart from traditional speakers, which generally have a woofer, a tweeter and sometimes a mid-range mounted in some kind of cabinet, the plastic film speaker appears like a translucent or transparent microfiche film.

``There’s virtually no difference between our plastic film speaker and conventional speakers in both performance and durability,’’ Koh Seok-keun, president and CEO of P&I Corp., said.

``Even though the plastic film speaker cannot reproduce the lowest notes such as throbs of a big drum, there is no reason for us delay commercialization of the product because the speaker can be used in combination with existing woofers,’’ he added.

Koh, 47, said his speakers still have difficulty reproducing sound frequencies lower than 50 hertz, sounds such as that of a huge drum, but its sounds are virtually the same as those produced by conventional speakers for frequencies above 300 hertz.

50Hz is lower than i would ever expect. nothing an external subwoofer couldn't fix. or a conventional subwoofer in general. it owuld be amazing to use on home windows / car windows / etc. no need to think of laptops only with the technology.

z.

Samsung Slider.

this is pretty sweet. the exact form factor i want in a PDA... not so much the slider part... but the landscape orientation part.



according to the (nearly ancient now) Engadget article... (since the original link they linked to is well... in Russian. and i may look Russian but i surely can't read or speak it) this phone will have "520MHz processor, WiFi, a 320 x 240 pixel, 262,000 color LCD touch screen, and an SD memory card slot." ... thats all nice and good. no Bluetooth mentioned. but it does mention EV-DO... making me think a GSM phone it is not. darn.

z.

Completely Original Design.

this computer is amazing. it is the most original computing structure i have ever seen. it is 100% purely unprecedented design innovation. its imaginative fresh-take on what forms define the personal computer is truly inventive.

not only that it has a low low price point of around $1000 (supposedly).

(yeah yeah yeah. i know. i know!)

z.

Teeny Tiny BT Ear Thing.

mostly i think Bluetooth headsets make you look like a paranoid schizophrenic when used in public. most people i see using them look completely 100% shitnuts until i see the nub poking out one ear. and i am generally a pretty observant person.

the other thing... is that on a scale of Implied Self-Importance Generation ... where a 1 is like talking loudly in a restaurant to your friends about the 'big deal you have going' or how you're 'trading in your Porsche for something a little faster because you are the most extreme driver in the world' ... and 10 is like inventing the Earth and writing a book and going on talk shows about it. then using a Bluetooth headset to call and ask about which type of toilet paper to buy... that's like a 9. not impressive. and you look nuts.

but anyhow. if someone forced me at gunpoint to use one. and like everyone else in the entire world was using one and those who were not using them were being herded up and shipped off to forced labor camps then i would probably buy this one.



it's super tiny. and looks decently cool. though i can't imagine having to charge this thing up every day in addition to my phone. and it would probably fall out of my ear and i'd loose it. or my non-headset having ear would start over-compensating for the lower ambient sound levels on the headset ear. and eventually i'd have like dog hearing in my right ear and be deaf in my left. unless you are supposed to like not leave it in all the time. in which case... what is the point again?

a kinetically charged and surgically implanted device jacked into my eardrum i would be fine with though. maybe a digital optical connector behind my ear too. that i am down with.

z.

Palm LifeDrive.

when i first heard the rumors of the Palm LifeDrive it sounded pretty cool. like something i might even want. seeing as i do indeed want a PDA-esque device.



but the more i got to thinking about it... the more i realized that as cool as the LifeDrive was... it still didn't have the functionality to replace anything. it would just be another gadget to carry around. it can't replace my phone... cause it can't make calls. it can't replace my camera... because it doesn't have even a shitty snap-shot quality camera built-in. it could replace my iPod i suppose. but i don't honestly carry it around that much anyway... it's mostly a car and office use iPod.

it could at most replace needing my laptop with me some times.

so that combined with reading the excellent Brighthand review... i think i finally decided against it for good. i think.

i swear... someone needs to put me in charge of inventing a convergence PDA/Phone/Camera thingio. i mean seriously. (and if not me ... then any of the gajillions of people who probably agree with me.)

z.

Yamaha Electric Scooter.

i keep thinking of scootering it up (namely a Honda Ruckus.) but there is that whole thing about living less than half a mile from my office. so basically pointless. i mean... it's not like i can take a scooter camping or on a road trip to Canada or anything.

but if i was going to get a scooter thing. and didn't want to be seen at a gas station filling it up. (leaving myself open for snide scooter-bashing jeers and the like from truck-jockeys.) ... i'd probably consider this little Yamaha deal. it's electric and presumably silent (good for stalking late at night being sneaky) and folds up to fit in your friends trunk to get a ride home after getting sauced at some party in the woods.



the FC-06 shown in the link... uh... yeah. no thanks.

z.

Recycled Banner Bags.

cool idea. though doubtfully 100% original as i have seen people do this themselves before. a friend even made a cool skirt from an old banner before.



but cool that you can buy them online and save yourself the work of stealing finding a suitable banner in order to bagify it.

it'll look nice with my california condor skin jacket and baby seal moccasins.

z.