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:

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: