Selasa, 25 Januari 2011

So How Was Everyone's Christmas?

So How Was Everyone's Christmas?: "

...and we're back! It's a tradition here at Thoughts Media that we kick off the post-Christmas break by asking our community what they got for Christmas - specifically, any gizmos or gadgets. Or did you gift a loved one with some new piece of technology? Got any great tech support stories to share? I don't know about you, but whenever I'm over at a family member's house for Christmas, I inevitably end up sitting in front of their computer fixing/tweaking something. I don't mind though - I find it fun, and I like to help.

Speaking for myself, my tech stuff was pretty light this holiday - as it is every year - because if there's something tech that I need, I tend to buy it for myself when I need it, not when a holiday/birthday rolls around. I got a Kindle this Christmas from my wife, but, you guessed it, I bought it (with the help of a friend in the US) and gave it to her to give to me. Such is the life of a professional geek! ;-)

What about you? What did you do over Christmas, and did it involve technology in some way?


Smartphone Coasters: Stainless Steel Phone Stand

'Ask any Evo 4G user what they love about their phone, and eventually the word kickstand will come up. Having an easy way to hold the phone so it can be viewed is simply great, and is one of those things you wonder how you ever got along without. Fear not, non-kickstand enabled smartphones, the latest product from newPCgadgets.com called 'Smartphone Coasters' has you covered. These sleek and attractive stainless steel stands compliments any setting to provide an easily accessible base for your phone. The Smartphone Coaster holds all Smartphone's; including the popular iPhone, Droid, Windows 7, BlackBerry and dozens more.'

That old adage about the simplest things being the best ideas? I think that applies here. There's really not much to the product - it's a simple stainless steel stand, but if you're the kind of person that likes to have their phone/PDA/PMP/small tablet standing up at attention, this might be exactly what you're looking for. At only $3.99 per stand, and you can buy 'em in a six pack, they're affordable, functional, and a nice use of the 'KISS' principle. The company also has some other clever products that you might be interested in.



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What The Geeky Got for Gifts

'If you got an iPad as a gift during the holidays, you certainly weren't alone. In a recent poll of holiday gift recipients, iPads accounted for a full 22.7% of all gadget or hardware gifts, making iPads the single largest category in our gift poll, outstripping the nearest runner-up by nearly 14% of votes. That runner-up was Amazon's Kindle - not surprising considering that the Kindle is the best-selling product in Amazon's history.'

It's a relatively small sampling size - less than 2400 votes, and only from people who read Mashable - but among the geek-set, there are a couple of stand-out points: the iPad was the #1 gift, more people got Macs (60%) than Windows machines (40%), Android phones let the way in the smartphone category with a hefty 50.3% figure (iPhones were 30%), but Windows Phone 7 devices at 10.3% just eeked out Blackberry devices (9.4%). Not bad for a brand new platform that most people still haven't heard about! Lastly, the Xbox/Kinect one-two punch clobbered the PS3 with a 54.3% figure versus only 11.9% for the PS3. The Kinect really is driving the Xbox 360 to new heights of popularity!


HAPPY NEW YEAR!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!: "

I wanted to wish everyone across the Thoughts Media Network a happy new year - may 2011 be filled with prosperity, love, joy, and happiness for you and your loved ones. Be safe tonight!


We Want You: Zune Thoughts Seeking Contributing Editors

I'm looking for one or two new Zune HD-owning, Zune-loving Contributing Editor to join the team at Zune Thoughts. Interested? Keep reading.

First, a little background. Over the years at Thoughts Media, I've usually recruited Contributing Editors using the same method: I look for people who are actively contributing in our forums, helping others and who generally have a good attitude and knowledge about technology. Activity level was measured by post count.

Since we merged all our forums together, it's become difficult to figure out who's posting where, and I also know there's a certain segment of people who are avid readers but don't post that often - but when they do, it's great stuff. So, in light of these changes, I'm altering my method of recruiting Contributing Editors: I'm calling for volunteers.

So here's the pitch: I'm looking for one or two people to join the team here at Zune Thoughts as Contributing Editors. All sorts of people are Thoughts Media Contributing Editors: accountants, software engineers, consultants, students - the point being, there isn't a professional writer among us (other than myself). I'm looking for passion and interest first and foremost. It's a voluntary position with perks: you'll get the opportunity to test, write about, and sometimes keep consumer electronics hardware and software. You'll get the opportunity to represent Zune Thoughts at trade shows in your area (if applicable), special events around the world, and the biggest perk of all is to have a platform from which to share your opinions and thoughts with the world.

Requirements for the position? You'll need to own a Zune HD - and having a Zune Pass would be a plus, though it's not mandatory. You should also enjoy writing about technology and enjoy sharing your opinions with others. Also, that you have a few minutes most week days/evenings to write up posts. News will be assigned to you, but you're also encouraged to post on whatever you want: interesting things you've discovered, things that you have opinions on, and the usual rants and raves. It's a volunteer position, so real life comes first, but there's a minimum level of commitment that I'm looking for.

If this sounds like something you're interested in, please use the contact form to get in touch with me. Make sure you provide me with your forum user name so I can check out your posting history (hopefully you've posted at least a couple of times, though that's not mandatory), and I'd also like a brief summary of who you are and what you do. If you have any questions, please post them in the discussion thread and I'll answer them. I look forward to hearing from you!


WP7 Connector Hack Opens Up Mac Syncing To Zune HD

Zune HD finally comes to the Mac! Well, sort of...

ZuneBoards' nate8nate sniffed out a hidden setting in the Mac version of Windows Phone Connector that allows the ZuneHD to sync just like a Windows Phone device. Surprisingly, the hack is pretty simple (setting the boolean value ZuneEnabled to true), which also likely means there's a reason this was turned off. At the moment it's ZuneHD-only and wireless syncing isn't quite there, but very cool nonetheless. nate8nate says that the latest version has much more Zune-related stuff than the first release, suggesting that Microsoft is inching towards full Zune/Mac compatibility. The real question is whether this changes the game or is just a nice-to-have in the larger Zune strategy.


FastMac U-Socket: Simple Yet Brilliant

The above picture pretty much says it all, doesn't it? It's so simple, so obvious, yet so brilliant. $19.95 per plate is a bit expensive if you deploy them all over your house, but I bet the average home could make make great use of a handful of these placed in smart areas for charging smartphones, tablets, MP3 players, etc. Each USB port kicks out a potent 2100 mAH, which should be plenty to charge any device that can accept USB power. I think I might order a couple - I'm not much of an electrician, but I suspect they'd be pretty easy to install. Just make sure you turn off the breaker for that zone of your house first!