Cable companies and telcos hate the idea of cheap and efficient competition from VoIP outfits like Skype. Looks like there’s some technology out there that will help them detect and break Skype calls from their systems. Verso’s Skype-Blocking Campaign
Dell calls it the DJ Ditty and it sells for $99 like the Shuffle but boasts more song storage, a one-inch LCD screen and a built-in FM radio receiver. Dell Launches Flash-Memory Music Player - Yahoo! News
I’ve stayed with this accessorize your iPod nano trend for a bit, publishing a column in the Freep today on what I found. MIKE WENDLAND: iPod nano is a must-have; accessories add coolness
Know those so-called convenience checks that you keep getting, totally unsolicited, from credit card companies each month as an inducement to get you to go deeper into debt? They even print those checks up with your name and address to make it so easy.
Thieves used those checks to bilk my neighbor and myself out of more than $10,000.
I wrote last month about the theft of my mail from the box out in front of my Oakland County house. The same thief apparently stole my next-door neighbor’s mail, too. I noted in that column how I had an ominous feeling about it. I was right. MIKE WENDLAND: My identity was stolen; yours could be next
Accessories for the nano are building in the pipeline. What’s the best? The worst? What incompatabilities with pre-nano iPod accessories? Weigh in folks. Nano-Nano, new iPod accessories
I’m just back from working some Hurricane Katrina relief on the Gulf Coast and found the nano my favorite travel aid. As the others jabbered during our all night rides to and fro, I tuned it all out with my nano and drifted into sleep several times. It’s tiny size made it easy to carry when you scrunch up and try to find a comfortable sleeping position in the back seat.
There are lots more nano extras from iPodStreet.
I’ve been down on the Gulf Coast all week helping with Hurricane Katrina relief efforts. But I can’t believve how technology helped me stay in touch with other team mebers, folks back home and my work.
I blogged the whole trip, sometimes literally from the back of a pickup truck.
I used a Blackberry on the Verizon Wireless Network and a Tre0 650 smartphone on the Sprint/Nextel Network. Both systmes were rock solid. The cell sites along the Mississippi coast region of Biloxi and Gulfport were restored last week to almost 90 percent of what they had been before.
Then, coming back, I used a Verizon Broadband Anywhere EVDO card in my laptop. I’m filing this post from just near of Dayton as we drive north on I-75.
As I get ready to head down to the Gulf Coast as part of a church relief project to help survivors of Hurricane Katrina (see my blog on this), I went to a local Radio Shack store today to buy a couple CB Radios and Magnetic antennas that our convoy of vehicles could use to stay in touch as we drive. But Radio Shack doesn’t sell them anymore. In fact, the young woman behind the counter told me she thought “they are illegal.” Good grief, how Radio Shack has changed. Guess I have to find a truck stop.
Here’s my take on my iPod nano, as published in the Free Press this year. As I say in the column, the pictures don’t do it justice. Just hold it and you’ll want one. MIKE WENDLAND: So long, iPod mini; nano’s sleek and lighter, with more features
I’m off to the Gulf Coast in a couple days as part of a volunteer team to help with Katrina relief. Look for my posts at: Detroit Free Press: Helping Katrina’s survivors
After surviving a hurricane, flood and personal loss, Katrina victims must face another daunting task — navigating cumbersome bureaucratic procedures online to obtain federal assistance. For Katrina survivors, a visit to FEMA Web site can be daunting - Computerworld
Hurricane Katrina wiped out communications systems throughout the Gulf states, and much of the impacted region remains cut off from voice and data service. But some connectivity is coming back from unexpected sources, thanks in part to tech industry volunteers. Wired News: Getting the Gulf Back on the Grid