By Robert Kaneko
It’s spring! At least, it’s spring in the northern hemisphere. If, like me, you live in the Pacific Northwest, you may have despaired of spring ever arriving. However, as I type this, it’s sunny and 65°, so there is hope. With spring in mind, it’s time to start thinking about outdoor activities. However, many of our beloved gadgets don’t really like our outdoor activities. Sand, dirt and water seem to be particular problems. That’s where the Beach Buoy comes in.
The Beach Buoy is a product available from Proporta. It is essentially a very rugged, very nice looking ziplock bag with a cord so you can wear it around your neck. It is rated to keep your iPhone, iPod Touch, or other expensive electronic gadget safe from water at depths of up to 5 meters/16 feet. The top of the Beach Buoy contains two double ziplocks.
The idea is, you place your device inside the Beach Buoy, seal both ziplocks, and then fold the ziplocks over, securing the folds with a Velcro flap.
The result is a very watertight (and sand-proof) container.
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Tag: N95
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Review: Beach Buoy
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Review: Ted Baker Six Pack
By Robert Kaneko
Today’s mobile community is in desperate need of portable power. As our iPods and iPhones gain functionality, they also eat through their built-in batteries. My 8GB first-generation iPod touch will last for a full day if I’m just using it to listen to music. However, if I start playing games, surfing the Internet, checking email, watching video and doing all the other things I bought the Touch for, my battery life plummets. It’s not a big stretch for me to use up the internal battery within two or three hours. Enter the Ted Baker Six Pack.
Contrary to what the name might imply, the Ted Baker Six Pack is not a strange new beverage. It is a portable external battery that will power and charge just about any small mobile device you can think of. In fact, if you are familiar with the Proporta Mobile Device Charger, the Ted Baker Six Pack is the same product in prettier packaging.
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Nokia N95 – A Mac User’s Perspective
iPhone SchmiPhone
Having recently sold my iMac G5 I can now say my MacBook Pro has truly become my desktop replacement. That said, I often don’t want to lug the silver slap around town but would still like to surf, email and keep in touch with all my elife. As a Euro user iPhone is an option quite yet but I wanted to try out the mobile platform after many years of owning a simple mobile phone.
Enter the Nokia N95. This unit has been reviewed and out since March 2007 so I thought by now with firmware and software updates I would give it a go. I also need a phone that would work between two European networks from one provider so Vodafone was the carrier of choice in this case.
The N95 was released on 26 September 2006 and features a unique two-way slider. Slide it down to reveal a standard keypad, slide it up to reveal multimedia controls (play, pause, etc.)
The N95 is a Symbian-based smartphone that features integrated GPS, HSDPA, 802.11g WiFi, Bluetooth, 160GB HDD, microSD slot and a 5MP still/video camera with flash, digital zoom and a lens cover. The 2.6-inch QVGA screen and standard 3.5mm audio jack round out this mobile powerhouse. The N95 costs US$750 (€550) and is available unlocked directly from Nokia.
The phone wasn’t originally destined for the US but there was such a demand for its full-featured package Nokia sold it unlocked in the U.S. This review is based on the original international version.
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