Hardware Geeks

Being in the software / web development industry requires me to do a lot of application and website prototyping for the projects that I work on.  Until recently I was using a combination of a whiteboard/markers and grid paper/pencil to draw up some mockups.  For those who do rapid application prototyping like I do, Balsamiq Mockups is the app for you!

I had the opportunity to give the Supertooth 3 by BlueAnt® a whirl over the past few weeks, and as an added bonus, I also gave it to my mother to try out. I’ll let you know what she reported on the device later.  First, let’s start with the basics.

If you’re a resident of California, I’m sure by now you’ve heard the news reports, radio commercials, etc.. about the handset law that is being put into affect July 1st.  On that day, if a police officer sees you driving with a mobile phone stuck to your ear, you will be pulled over and ticketed.

I’m lucky enough to have a built-in solution in my vehicle, however, for those trips where I’m not in my car, I’m still searching for the best bluetooth headset to use with my current phone.  I’ve reviewed the nxZEN Plus in the past, and I wonder if Gennum has anything new to offer (if you’re a Gennum employee, send me your latest goodies for review, please )

I received Maximo Products’ iMetal iP-HS1 and iP-HS2 headsets designed specifically for the iPhone early last week. The iP-HS1 and iP-HS2 feature a lightweight alloy metal body and a “high definition” microphone sensor. Both feature neodymium drivers and similar Sensitivity and Frequency Response numbers.  I decided to try each of the products out for a few days each.  In this review I’ll break down a few pros and cons I observed over the course of the past week for both items.

Have a Gmail account? Forgot to send grandma a birthday email? Gmail has your solution.  You can now set a custom timestamp for the email and it will appear in the recipients inbox based on that time.  Kinda shady eh? The help page about it has hilarious beta user testimonials:

“I used to be an honest person; but now I don’t have to be. It’s just so much easier this way. I’ve gained a lot of productivity by not having to think about doing the ‘right’ thing.”

Google has implemented an offline mode for Docs which utilizes SQL and browser plugins and some other nifty techniques. Awesome!

I have been using Yahoo!’s IM service for many years now and it seems over the last three years that their service has gone downhill.  The application always does something unexpected.  When I started to use a MAC, the one thing I noticed was that in a chat conversation, when a new message came in from the people I was speaking with, the chat log window would scroll to the BEGINNING of the conversation instead of at the end.  This makes me have to scroll down to the bottom every time a message comes in and that’s just ANNOYING!

This isn’t a rant about Air India’s service, because that’s already a given that they suck; but I’m trying to track a flight right now which took off one hour late because 15 people apparently didn’t show up on time, and it’s been 2 hours and their site still shows the OLD flight data (i.e. flight supposedly left on time).  India is supposed to be really tech savvy—get your airlines up to speed will ya!

I’m sure you’ve read by now that Google complied with the Pentagon’s request to remove several street-view imagery from it’s database.

People are arguing a breech of freedom whilst others are arguing that this is a matter of national security.  Google states that the street-view images are taken from public areas, meaning anyone can go to the same spot and take the same picture(s).  Do you think Google should have fought back or did they make the right decision?