More Radio Wishes

• Better Navigation for the Desktop Website: This relates to my wish for permalinks on the desktop. Radio's sole navigation method for the desktop website is by date. There is no way to view entries by category. See also my next wish:
• Integrated Searching for the Desktop Website: Userland needs to be smacked with the Cluestick for not including this feature with Radio. A third-party offers a tool for searching Radio, amongst other features.
• Basic Searching on radio.weblogs.com: I love Google, but they don't update frequently enough. And there's no way to limit a search to a directory, so you cannot search within a specific person's weblog.
• Feature Parity for the Stories Editor: The editor for Weblog Entries has a nice toolbar for certain formatting options, the Stories editor does not.

11:11:06 PM | Comments:

GM to study safety of dashboard gadgets

The big automaker teams with the University of Illinois to see how well humans can interact with in-vehicle toys like navigation systems and laptop computers. [via News.com]

Emphasis mine. Forget cell phones, we need legislation to prevent morons from using their laptops while driving. Now!

3:14:26 PM | Comments:

Slashdot has picked up the the Toshiba Bluetooth Portable Storage Device. "Imagine a cluster of guys all named Beowolf walking around with these... "

Update: More on Toshiba's Bluetooth-based 'pocket server' from MacCentral via The Bluetooth Weblog. Pricing is expected to be YEN 50,000, or US $385 at current exchange rates.

1:05:10 PM | Comments:

via The Shifted Librarian:

Musician to Napster Judge: Let My Music Go: "Joseph Byrd recorded a pair of experimental psychedelic albums for Columbia Records in the late 1960s. Since then, he says he's earned a few thousand dollars in composer's fees but hasn't received a single penny in artist's royalties."

What disgusts me is that "Music Sharing" advocates use stories like this to justify the theft of music.

2:36:30 AM | Comments:

Scoble: I want to get a GPS for my PocketPC devices (I own both the HP Journada and the NEC MobilePro P300). Anyone have any good suggestions? I already have read this article on GPS's, but am looking for more data.

I got my Dad a Garmin eMap a couple of birthdays ago, and he has been happy with it. I've got an old Rand McNally version of the Magellan GPS Companion for Palm V. The form-factor was ideal, but I was living in Germany when I purchased it and my experience was ruined by the lack of European maps with sufficient street-level detail to replace my paper maps. And many of the mapping programs that I tried were wildly inaccurate, even after Clinton killed Selective Availability.

So my advice is: carefully examine the available software and maps, and be sure that they will meet your needs.

Don't ignore stand-alone units either. They have great UIs, long battery life, and LCDs that work better in bright sunlight than most PDAs. Plus you can always buy a data cable for use with a PDA or laptop.

2:17:17 AM | Comments:

Uber-cool gadget seeks profitable niche

John Robb: Wired News poo poos the OQO.  I still think the OQO is a kick ass product.

The questions is: Why will someone buy one of these? Ultra-portable desktop replacement doesn't really cut it, devices of that size will never measure up to mid-range desktop or laptop specs. The 640x480 LCD makes the device virtually useless for running desktop-class applications while mobile.

Military applications could be interesting, but software has to catch up to the hardware first.

12:55:41 AM | Comments:

Hacking a Zaurus Case

I subscribe to the practice of eating your own dogfood. I'm writing about PDAs, developing software for PDAs, so I need to start carrying my PDAs more often. Hence the search for a belt case that can accommodate a Zaurus SL-5000D, the largest of my PDAs.

After much searching, I settled on a "Targus Universal PDA Case with Belt Clip" from Best Buy for $10. It's a simple pocket-style case with a covering flap and belt loop that are both secured with velcro. It has a cheap look and feel to it, and I would have preferred a real belt clip, but for the price it is acceptable.

The Zaurus just barely fits, with the wireless card removed. Now that simply would not do. A few minutes with a pair of scissors and now my Zaurus can sniff WLANs from my belt. Nice

12:00:31 AM | Comments: