theVooner's weblog

A weblog for theVooner.com where the best cool gear and gadgets get reviewed.

last modified Jul 15, 2003 at 1:45

Wednesday, October 23, 2002

Sony Cocoon

What is a cocoon? To be released on Nov. 1, Sony will unveil its next generation PVR with a 160GB hard drive and broadbant Internet connection. I have always liked the idea of hard disk recorders but I haven't had much reason to buy one. Truthfully, I don't watch that much TV here but a lot of DVDs instead. Still, this is cool.

theVooner@yahoo.com

posted at 18:04 | 0 comments

Monday, October 21, 2002

Trial blog - Putters

Hey everyone. I know this is not my normal gadget, but I'm really into golf these days and I really love Scotty Cameron putters. This one here, is the one I'm contemplating.

Anyway, it also gives me the opportunity to try and put up a picture for the first time with my rantings. I'll try to put up pictures when I can from now on assuming I can find them. I don't like borrowing from other sites so I'll use my own pictures as much as I can.

theVooner@yahoo.com

posted at 16:27 | 0 comments

Sunday, October 20, 2002

NEC new mobile - N8

I forgot to mention that NEC has come up with a pretty snazzy looking phone that is designed for the GSM market (only 900/1800 though, so not for the US). The N8 was released to the world when China Mobile put in a big order to buy these phones for the China market. Although clearly not as nice as the Japanese models, the N8 though does incorporate a camera and has a very large color screen. We'll wait to see what it looks like, but a non-tri band phone these days is simply not cool even if the phone looks pretty good.

theVooner@yahoo.com

posted at 17:31 | 0 comments

Thursday, October 17, 2002

Back on the Web!!

Sorry everyone, Dan told me about switching servers so this took a little time. Anyway, I'm back on the web.

theVooner@yahoo.com

posted at 23:25 | 1 comments

Tuesday, October 15, 2002

New PDA - WiFi a must

My friend brought over his Toshiba e740, and I have to admit, I am in love with WLAN. To be able to browse the web on a PDA is awesome. It is kind of a pain to see some of the images/text on something so small, but it's an awesome function to have. As I said before, Hong Kong is quite wired up and I definitely want to have this function when I'm out and about. What to do?

I really prefer the screen on the iPaq 3970 and the Fujitsu Loox (transreflective) versus the Toshiba which I did not think was as good. But WLAN is the real winner. WLAN must be built in. Why can't I have the best of all worlds?? When are the new models coming? iPaq 5000 series is still a myth right now. I'm also getting really tired of being stuck at 128MB for my Memory Stick. Absolutely crazy why Sony can't quite figure that out.

theVooner@yahoo.com

posted at 7:40 | 0 comments

Monday, October 14, 2002

Nokia 7210 review

Thanks Dan for putting it up! My Nokia 7210 review is finally up. Conclusion: it's not all that it's hyped up to be. Enjoy.

theVooner@yahoo.com

posted at 20:55 | 0 comments

Thursday, October 10, 2002

PDA - Toshiba e740

In my never ending quest to upgrade gadgets, I have been actively searching for a new PDA. It's not that I don't like the Sony, I just don't like the Palm OS. A friend of mine just got the Toshiba e740. It looks like a standard PDA, except this one has built-in WLAN capabilities. That's what I want. With WLAN wired up in many places now, I'm tempted to try something like this. With the Internet Explorer function on Pocket PC, I should be able to browse the web as well. I'll have to try it.

theVooner@yahoo.com

posted at 18:22 | 2 comments

Wednesday, October 9, 2002

Creative Nomad Zen -- iPod Knock-off?

Pretty cool MP3 player from Nomad, the Zen looks like an exact copy of the iPod. Pretty cool. It might be a cheaper alternative. 10GB only, but it synchs through USB as well as firewire.

It's kind of different than the iPod and certainly not as cool, but finally, an alternative. Probably why Apple decided to do their iPod for Windows.

theVooner@yahoo.com

posted at 3:06 | 1 comments

Tuesday, October 8, 2002

NEW Sony Clie NX70V/NX60

Sony will launch on Oct. 19 a new Sony CLIE PDA. It looks almost exactly like my NR70V except this has two important distinctions I can see:

1) Very unlike Sony, but in a sign that the Memory Stick is very limiting, the new CLIE includes a Compact Flash slot. That means WLan and other cards. Very good for Sony!

2) This new PDA incorporates the new Palm OS 5 which seems to have eliminated the graffiti area for all the programs! Yeah, I have a much larger screen. I wonder if I can install a OS upgrade on my PDA?

Everything else is very similar including camera/non-camera versions. The new CLIE also comes in a very dark grey colour. I almost switched back to the Pocket PC PDAs, but now I'm going to hold off. Oh what to do?

theVooner@yahoo.com

posted at 3:44 | 0 comments

Monday, October 7, 2002

New Reviews

I've got danchan here in Hong Kong so he won't be able to post my reviews till he gets back next weekend. Nevertheless, he'll have two up and running this weekend. I'll try to do a few more.

I've gotten a few questions from many of you about the Nokia 7210. My conclusion is that it's ok, but not all I had hoped for. If it were me, I'd wait for other models if don't need a tri-band right now.

theVooner@yahoo.com

posted at 18:23 | 0 comments

Thursday, October 3, 2002

Samsonite Xylem

Sometimes you just need good luggage to carry all your gadgets. I have always been a fan of the Zero Halliburton and Rowena steel-looking cases. Now Samsonite has finally gotten in on the game with their Xylem line. As featured in the upcoming James Bond film (or so the website says), the suitcases, duffles, and other bags look pretty cool. Given that it's a Samsonite, I imagine it will be reasonably affordable. Might be time for new luggage.

theVooner@yahoo.com

posted at 23:32 | 0 comments

Wednesday, October 2, 2002

5.0 Megapixel cameras

Just my luck that after I get a new 4.0 Megapixel cameras, that some new 5.0 megapixels start coming to the market. Kyocera's Finecam S5 and its sister model, the Contax TVS look pretty impressive. Oh well. Hopefully they'll have a 6.0 and 7.0 megapixel soon before I trade mine in for a new model.

theVooner@yahoo.com

posted at 21:08 | 0 comments

Tuesday, October 1, 2002

New Mobile Phone -- Nokia 7210

Got it. Just got the new Nokia 7210. Haven't even cracked open the box yet but when I get done playing with it, I'll make sure that I put up a review ASAP.

theVooner@yahoo.com

posted at 19:39 | 0 comments