Nearly lost amidst the breathless anticipation of all things wireless–whether it’s the latest smart phone, free Internet hot spot or GPS navigation system–is the potential impact these gadgets may have on scientific instruments that likewise need access to the electromagnetic spectrum.
by William M. Bulkeley, Reporter, The Wall Street Journal
Is a computer with no disk drive and no applications software still a computer?
Litl LLC, a small Boston company, says its eponymous Litl device is the future of personal computing. Litl is a Web computer with a full keyboard and an operating system designed for people who use online software like Google Docs and store their photos on Flickr or Shutterfly.
by Jeffrey Zaslow, Reporter, The Wall Street Journal
A 17-year-old boy, caught sending text messages in class, was recently sent to the vice principal’s office at Millwood High School in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
The vice principal, Steve Gallagher, told the boy he needed to focus on the teacher, not his cellphone.
by Eric Savitz, Blogger and Columnist, Barron's, Tech Trader Daily
Garmin this morning reported much better-than-expected Q3 results, giving an early lift to shares of the GPS device maker.
For the quarter, Garmin posted revenue of $781 million and non-GAAP EPS of $1.02 a share; the Street had expected $704 million and 69 cents. Revenue was down 10 percent year over year, but up 17 percent sequentially.
by Andrew LaVallee, Reporter, The Wall Street Journal
Peek, a New York mobile start-up, has begun selling TwitterPeek, a new device for posting and reading Twitter updates.
TwitterPeek became available on Amazon and Peek’s Web site Tuesday. Its $100 price includes a full keyboard, always-on tweet delivery and nationwide Internet coverage, plus six months of service.
For those who thought its email-only device targeted too broad a market, Peek Inc. has gone even more niche–and more absurd–with the first mobile device dedicated entirely to Twitter.
Here is the latest comic from our Joy of Tech friends at Geek Culture, Nitrozac and Snaggy. Joy of Tech appears three times a week in the Voices section of this site. (Click on the image to see a bigger version.)
by Vanessa O'Connell and Elva Ramirez, Reporters, The Wall Street Journal
A self-described iPhone freak, designer Norma Kamali spends each morning reading the day’s headlines on her gadget’s current-events application. To unwind, she plays Scrabble on a game app. When her miniature dachshund Zeke acts up, Ms. Kamali looks up her iPhone’s encyclopedia on canine ailments.
For students of the Chinese language, there is one electronic dictionary application that seems to stand in a class of its own, made by a small New York-based software company called Pleco.
Certain language learners (myself included) have been known to carry otherwise useless (and outdated) Palm Pilots for the sole purpose of using the Pleco dictionary.
by Andrew LaVallee, Reporter, The Wall Street Journal
One of the frequently heard complaints about iPhone applications is that with more than 85,000 options, finding good ones can be tricky and time-consuming. Could the answer be yet another app?
Envio Networks on Tuesday is launching Chorus, a free app that shows users the ones their friends are trying out and suggests ones that might interest them. The Andover, Mass.-based company, which has received funding from Matrix Partners and North Bridge Venture Partners, specializes in social-networking technology and saw the Apple device as a good showcase for what it can do.
by Yukari Iwatani Kane, Reporter, The Wall Street Journal
At its media event in early September, Apple threw down the gauntlet to Nintendo Co. and Sony Corp. Dedicated gaming gadgets like the Nintendo DS and PlayStation Portable “seemed so cool,” said Phil Schiller, Apple’s head of marketing, but “they don’t stack up against the iPod touch.”
The easy single-handed operation of the iPhone1 is not one of its obvious selling points but is one of those little features that grows on you and becomes nearly indispensable.
by Loretta Chao, Reporter, The Wall Street Journal
China Unicom may have gotten a bad rap for its lackluster iPhone announcement this week, but its launch upstaged the event at the Apple store.
The iPhone did, in fact, draw a crowd today, despite a rare rainstorm that had streets jammed in Beijing. At China Unicom’s outdoor event, several hundred people lined up to be first to buy the phone.
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