by Techno Witch on January 31, 2009
Since times are getting harder and people look for various ways to tighten their belts without affecting one’s lifestyle by too much, how about taking a look at how many phone calls you make from home each month? Instead of relying on calling cards, how about making use of your existing broadband connection and utilize VoIP technology instead? Verizon has a new Hub to cater to such a crowd, being an intuitive device that puts a communications command center in the home while merging both wireline and wireless connectivity. It doesn’t matter whether you’re running on a broadband connection supplied by Verizon FiOS Internet, DSL or any other high-speed service provider, the Verizon Hub works with them all.
The touch screen display that you see in the image on the right is the main gateway to access the Verizon Hub’s functionality that includes the following :-
- Calendar (with Text Message Reminders) - View a monthly calendar, navigate forward and backward from the current month, set Calendar Alerts with a subject field for a specific time and date and reminder notification to appear on the Verizon Hub. Calendar Alerts can also be sent as a text message to any Verizon Wireless mobile phone
- Contact List - Create a personalized address book by storing contact information for friends, family and businesses. Contact list entries are synchronized between the Verizon Hub, Verizon Hub handsets and the Verizon Hub Web management site for quick and easy access
- Movie Listings, Show Times and Ticketing - Find out what’s playing at local theaters, view show times, play trailers and purchase movie tickets directly from the Verizon Hub’s touch screen
- Ringtones - Customize the Verizon Hub with a selection of free embedded ringtones
- Traffic - Get current video reports of slowdowns and accidents in top metropolitan areas
- V CAST News and Sports - Watch video of headline, financial and sports news, check sports scores and schedules
- V CAST Entertainment - View entertainment and celebrity news, kids’ entertainment and horoscopes
- V CAST Food & Dining - Access and view recipes (some with video demonstrations), tips and techniques, and healthy eating information
- V CAST Lifestyle - View tips and information on parenting and family, home and garden, going green, beauty and fashion, health and wellness, and travel.
- Verizon Relay - View photos received via picture messaging from family and others, all in one place
- Visual Voice Mail - Browse voicemails in the voicemail box through a graphical interface, view message information before choosing which message to play, prioritize message playback order
- White Pages and Yellow Pages - Perform name-based searches of white page directory listings by city and state and search the entire Yellow Pages by keyword or business name, along with the option to browse by category
- Weather - View five-day forecasts for a location right from the home screen (multiple city views available)
In order to get started with the Verizon Hub, you will need a 911 service, a home broadband connection, a wireless router and Verizon Wireless’ service. The Verizon Hub will retail for $199.99 after a $50 mail-in rebate with a two-year agreement, while additional cordless handsets will retail for $79.99 a pop.
Press Release
by Techno Witch on January 31, 2009
Apple is one company that is never far away from rumors, in fact, it would be quite unusual for Cupertino to be rumor-free for a few months. After all, this is the company that has brought about plenty of innovation in the world of personal computers, and majority of their new releases in recent years have been preceded by rumors. This time round, the latest word depends on how someone interprets generic comments from an AT&T department president - could AT&T and Apple actually forge a partnership to release a 3G-enabled MacBook? For greater context, check out part of their conversation right after the jump.
Fortune had some words with Glenn Lurie, AT&T’s President of Emerging Devices Division, talking about netbooks as well as the emerging business model of subsidizing devices in exchange for one of the more popular two-year data subscription contracts. According to Lurie, AT&T’s holiday experiment with a $99 Acer Aspire One netbook that comes bundled with a contract for data service went “extremely well,” and this has prodded AT&T to look into other areas where they can expand their role in supplying data services to other devices. It sounds like a natural partnership where a 3G-enabled MacBook is concerned, especially when both parties are pretty happy with the iPhone arrangement to date.
Putting two and two together isn’t too difficult especially when you consider what was said alongside Apple’s statement from its Q1 2009 earnings call that claims the company is currently keeping a keen eye on the netbook space. It would be interesting to see where Apple prices a 3G-enabled MacBook if this rumor is true, but then again I’m prety sure people won’t really mind a $1,299 MacBook with always-on Internet connection, seeing how some were more than willing to fork out nearly half that price for a first generation iPhone when it was first released. How will iPhone owners feel with such a data plan tethered to a MacBook?
Source: Ars Technica
by Techno Witch on January 31, 2009
Take a look around you and let us know that the world is slowly but surely taking the wireless route. See how hands-free kits are getting more popular these days (although Bluetooth headsets haven’t really taken off by saturating the entire market), alongside Wi-Fi hotspots for convenience and even the emergence of wireless USB. Samsung has stepped up to the task of providing the world with three more wireless printers that aim to help save valuable time and space for both the home and the office. The new wireless printers are the CLX-3175FW, ML-1630W and SCX-4500W. All of them will come equipped with integrated 802.11b/g wireless connectivity, and they’ll also feature smart design that won’t take up much space wherever it is placed.
The Samsung CLX-3175FW is a wireless color laser 4-in-1 printer that crams in the following functions - printing, copying, scanning and faxing. This elegantly-designed, matte-black cabinet is perfect for just about any office setting, featuring high-speed USB 2.0 and Ethernet for instant plug-and-play capability. As for the ML-1630W, this model is touted to be one of the smallest, network-ready laser printers in the world, boasting a high-style glossy piano black finish, buttonless soft-touch sensor panels with blue LED indicators. It is also whisper quiet, working at 45 dBA when churning out pages for you. Last but not least is the ultra-compact SCX-4500W wireless laser multi-function printer - widely known as one of the smallest network-ready laser printer/copier/color scanners in the world.
The Samsung CLX-3175FW, ML-1630W and SCX-4500W will retail for $642.99, $285.99 and $428.99, respectively, and are readily available for purchase if you’re thinking of upgrading that printer of yours. For those who work from home, it is a rather brilliant idea since you won’t run the risk of having your kid(s) trip over an fall down while they’re fooling around. It also makes sense for those who carry plenty of documents on their handheld device including smartphones, printing an email attachment remotely without having to download it to a computer first.
Press Release
by Techno Witch on January 31, 2009
You know women and their quest to remain young, doing all in their power (and with their hard earned money, of course) to reverse the aging process. Of course, everyone grows old eventually, but that doesn’t mean you don’t have to do it in an ungraceful manner. One of the main causes of rapid skin aging is exposure to the sun, and wearing a hat is always a good idea if you spend plenty of time outside (especially if you’re in Australia at this point in time). Vizini, creatos of sun visors for women, have come up with their latest invention - a strapless visor which not only offers you protection from the sun’s harsh rays, it also renders obsolete “hat hair,” headaches, sweating and forehead lines that result from headband and clamp-style sun visors.
Wait, that’s not all the good news we have in store for you with the Vizini. Not only does it boast the plus points as mentioned in the previous paragraph, it also allows the muscles around your eyes to become accustomed to being relaxed whenever you are in the sun, and even better is the fact that you can wear this all year round regardless of the weather. According to owner and creator, Rita Hockenbury, “If you aren’t willing to sacrifice your hair-do or risk sun visor headache, that is where the Vizini strapless sun visor comes in. You can still keep from squinting and furrowing your eyebrows, protect your eyes and the critical eye area from harmful UV rays, without the hat-hair or headaches.”
Vizini works as a clip on sun visor which does not take the route of conventional visors that clamp onto or encircle the head, instead, it features a couple of elastic bands sewn in both ends of the underside that will slip onto glasses’ arms. All you need to do is adjust it over the frames and you’re good to go, with the sun visor barely touching the forehead. Does it work for men with long locks as well?
Press Release
by Techno Witch on January 31, 2009
The Nokia N97 smartphone according to designer Alex Meyer is the beginning of a new era in smartphones and the idea of the Nokia N97 was to create a handset that transforms a monoblock smartphone into the most personal computer so the quality is the best in class.
He says the Nokia N97 is the user who make the unique design of the Nokia N97 by shuffling things around, it’s the user’s web, the user’s internet and that’s what makes the Nokia N97 so powerful.
by Techno Witch on January 31, 2009
According to market research company comScore, the Apple iPhone is the number one mobile phone in the United States for mobile phone gaming.
The Apple iPhone apparently hold the three top slots out of the top ten models of phones used for downloading mobile games.
The number one slot goes to the Apple iPhone 3G 8GB version, 2nd is the original iPhone 8GB version, 3rd is the Apple iPhone 3G 16GB version, and the original iPhone 16GB version comes in a little lower down the list at 7th. According to comScore, 1.1 million iPhone owners in the US have downloaded mobile games.
by Techno Witch on January 31, 2009
So who has the best Cyber-shot camera phone? Well apparently Japan as KDDI has signed an exclusive deal with Sony Ericsson for the Sony Ericsson S001 Cyber-shot handset which will only be available in Japan.
The Sony Ericsson S001 Cyber-shot is a slider that packs a 3.3 inch WVGA OLED display along with a whopping 8.1 megapixel camera with auto-focus, protective lens cover, flash and smile shutter.
Other features with the Sony Ericsson S001 Cyber-shot handset include 3G, GPS, Bluetooth, but no WiFi, but is available in pink, green or black, just a shame it’s not coming westward.
by Techno Witch on January 31, 2009
By now most will have worked out that the Nokia N79 Active has been designed with those who follow an active life in mind, and now Nokia has produced a cool commercial to promote the Nokia N79 Active and we have the video below.
The Nokia N79 Active is especially for those health conscious people out there who want to record their activities and thus Nokia partnered with Polar to bundle a heart monitor within the package.
The video below isn’t too long and well if you are one who breaks out in a sweat on those runs its always good to know just how you’re doing, so check out the commercial below.
by Techno Witch on January 31, 2009
Motorola has launched the Motorola Prizm, the Korean version of their Krave ZN4 in a new orange colour, and the Motorola Prizm is actually more powerful than the Motorola Krave ZN4.
The Motorola Prizm packs a WVGA 480 x 800 pixels touchscreen along with a 3 megapixel camera while the American version, the Motorola Krave ZN4 has a 240 x 400 pixel touchscreen and a 2 megapixel camera.
The orange version of the Motorola Prizm has similar specs as the earlier dark grey version so this is probably just a quick colour makeover to offer a bit of a choice as the Motorola Prizm seems to be becoming quite popular in Korea.
by Techno Witch on January 31, 2009
He’s the President of the United States right? And as such Barack Obama is in charge and so when it comes right down to the bottom line, if Obama wants to keep his BlackBerry smartphone, Obama keeps his BlackBerry smartphone.
In the ongoing drama of the Obama BlackBerry opera, it now appears that Obama has won the fight to keep his precious mobile device as official’s state Obama’s BlackBerry now has enhanced security and so will be conducting both pleasure and business from the handset.
Still not too sure if this is the end of this little drama, and the Sectera Edge handset is still in there somewhere, but apparently a compromise was struck so Obama could keep the BlackBerry.
