Was someone at Peek, er, peeking?

December 3rd, 2008

After two (the first & the second) posts about the Peek, here’s what’s changed:

A software update has been pushed, and Peek devices can now view JPEG attachments. Still no word about it being a quasi-pocket-photo-frame like I had mentioned, though.

They cut the price in half. “For today only”, the Peek is available for $50. The supporting plan is still a hefty $20/month, though.

Well, for what it’s worth - they’re listening. Here’s hoping that the data plan gets cut in half or more as well. If it were a $50 device with a $7/month data plan, I’d consider it.

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Sometimes, they’re spot on.

November 27th, 2008

Call it lame to even check, but here’s what my horoscope says for today:

Transcribed:

“Your heart could feel a little heavy just now, Sujeet. Sometimes you take the weight of the world on your shoulders. You could feel disturbed by a recent news event. Your might be moved by an account of someone who is suffering, whether it be an individual who has experienced a tragedy, or a country at war. Try to find a way to make a difference in the world. You’ll soon feel better by making this contribution.”

I lost count of the amount of words and phrases I could underline / bold typeface in that, as relevant.

Back to the Twitter scroll. Keep your chin up, Mumbai. This too, shall pass.

Posted in In the paper today | No Comments »

What would I change about the TwitterBerry?

November 18th, 2008

It’s true what they say about timing. It is truly, as the saying goes, everything. Had I posted this article when the thought popped into my head, I’d have sat back and tried to take credit for all the changes that the fine folks at Orangatame Software released to their free TwitterBerry mobile app.

Instead, I didn’t, and now I can’t. And here’s how the TwitterBerry looks now…

Anyway, TwitterBerry, as it’s intuitive name suggests; is an application designed to run on the BlackBerry OS, and intended to work with that little-known service called Twitter.

Most of my gripes with the version I was using have been resolved with their latest release, as usual downloadable for free from their website. Yes, the link’s at the bottom of this post..
So, to answer the rhetoric in the title of this post: Nothing.

But if you twisted my arm, here’s what I’d cough out:

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Fire meets ice. Ice wins.

November 13th, 2008

Spent last weekend in the mountains, and woke up to an interesting visual…

It got a tad more interesting when I saw the convertible’s plate.

It was: “SPYTFYR”!

I don’t know about the car spitting fire, but the owner’s definitely going to be spitting snow while trying to clean it out!

Posted in Shutterbug, Seriously?!, Travel, Humor | No Comments »

What would I change about the Peek? Lots..

November 10th, 2008

Glad you asked. Here’s the summary:

The price point

Let’s recap:

The Peek costs anywhere between $100 to $70 for the device, plus tax; at local stores

The Peek costs $20/month for service

What one gets in return is:

A slim, open-faced device with a side-mounted trackwheel, an LCD screen and a full QWERTY keypad under the screen

The ability to do email (read, compose, send), using one or more of many freely-available Internet-based email providers like GMail, etc.

I wish there was more, but there isn’t. So, here’s what I would suggest:

Have the Peek do more than just email

Have the Peek take notes

Yes, this is a market traditionally occuppied by the likes of Palm, BlackBerry and the hordes of WinMo-powered mobile devices that are in a gazillion pockets around us. While I’m no expert in the domain, I’d imagine that having the ability to use an existing QWERTY keypad to tap a note and store it isn’t exactly rocket science.

Furthermore, since the Peek does use sources like GMail, I’d like for such a note to be stored in the “Notes” section of my Gmail / Yahoo account.

If all else fails, then I’d just like for that note to be an email I sent myself via a “Notes” shortcut on the Peek. That shouldn’t be too difficult, should it?

Have the Peek do schedules

Again, the scheduling and calendar-ing “markets” on a personal mobile device has traditionally been cornered by the likes of Palm and BlackBerry; but there’s really no reason why something like a Peek couldn’t integrate an alarm-clock function with email.

The alarm clock function, if you will, could very well exist outside the jurisdiction of the email account being used. For example: I could title a new message with “4 PM, 11/15/08, Send holiday cards” and send it to myself via the aforementioned “Note” function.The Peek’s onboard alarm clock would use this syntax to trigger an alarm at 4 PM on 11/15/2008.

Just doing that much would mean that I would have a note in my mailbox that told me about sending holiday cards, and that the Peek would remind me as well. Just that much of calendar-ing abilities would probably be enough for a lot of users, I’d imagine.

Have the Peek do images

Alright, so I haven’t checked if the Peek already does this or not, but given by the scarcity of any reviews that clearly state this; I’m going to go out on a limb and hazard a guess to the effect that that Peek does, in fact, not do images and slideshows.

Here’s a solution to consider: Let the Peek have it’s own mailbox off the Peek server.

If you want to have your Peek do a little slideshow on-demand or as a screensaver, email pictures to your Peek mailbox and let it do so.You could even share your Peek mailbox address with friends and family so that they could send you pictures without filling up the likes of your GMail / Yahoo mailboxes. With a strict spam-blocking feature enabled at the Peek server, I’d think that doing so would closely approximate the picture-sharing feature offered by many cellphones today.

I’d really like the ability to pull up images at will, using the Peek. The JiveSlide application lets the same be done on the BlackBerry, and it does so using Flickr. If the Peek was able to be my little personal, mobile digital picture carrier that my friends and family could send me pictures at, then I might just my mind about paying $20/ month for it.

All in all, if the Peek does just email for $20/month - then I’d want the Peek to do just that, but really well. At that price point, I’d want it to do email like nobody else did email. I’ve known of utilities that mounted Gmail mailbox space as additional drives on computers and the sort. Thus, I do know that it “can be done”. Ergo, I’d like the Peek to do it.

Going back to what I’d change…

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Posted in Sujeetism, Sujeetech | No Comments »

The Peek debuts in Target…on clearance?

November 4th, 2008

Fact, as they say, is often stranger than fiction. Strolling around the aisles in the electronics’ section at Target this weekend had me looking at one of the back aisle displays - the one that faces the flat-screen TVs, in the back. Here’s what was at the top of the display:

I got to looking at the device closer. The use of the trackwheel on the side is very “circa BlackBerry 2005″, but it was good for the BlackBerry then; and I don’t see why it won’t be the same on the Peek.

‘Course, paying $100 for an email-only device that does not do phone calls; means that you would much rather pay $20 per month just for your email, rather than pay an additional $15 for a data plan on your existing phone / PDA. Stretch that a tad more, and you’ve got the questions:

If you have a cellphone already, why would you pay an additional $100 for a device that does email alone; and pay $20 more per month to power it?

If you had to spend an additional $100 for a device and an additional $20 per month to access your email, why wouldn’t you get a BlackBerry / Treo / HTC Touch, etc.?

Would you carry two devices around with you? One that did just email, and another that did just phone calls; when almost the same amount of money would get (and sustain) a device that did both?

If you were a parent, would you rather your child(ren) had a Peek, or a cellphone with a text-messaging / data plan?

If you were a (small) business owner, would you pay $100 / device and $20 / month / device; per employee; or just let them expense a data plan on their own existing devices?

If you were a (small) business owner, would you prefer your employees to have a cellphone, or a Peek?

In this day and age, if a mobile (smart) device doesn’t let you access the Internet, would you get it at all?

That’s just the start. I’d be happy to do a thorough review of the Peek if the folks at Peek sent me a device. Or perhaps an interview wherein they answered the questions above (and more - I’ve got several!).

And then, the punchline. Two rows below on the same display, on the same day that it debut-ed at Target, here’s what I see:

Want a closer look? Here ya go…

So, let’s get this straight. The Peek is on clearance in the first week of release; at a price that’s a 30% reduction off it’s regular retail price. As far as I know, Target prices things competitively, but this kinda says a lot more than just “competitive pricing in a bad economy”, doesn’t it?

And just so you know - there’s “sale” and there’s “clearance”. And between those two, there’s a huge difference.

Yeah, yeah - I know. The Peek made the “Gadget of the Year” on the TIME Magazine charts. But, even on the page that heralds it as such, they say - “Peek doesn’t work with corporate e-mail yet, so for now, it’s primarily for Web-based mail.”

Translated, it’ll work only with free services like GMail, Yahoo, etc.

So, once again - is your free email worth $100 + $20/month? And would you carry a separate device just for it?

If you’re Jason Bourne, Bruce Wayne or one of the IMF gang that hangs with Ethan Hunt, your responses don’t count.

Posted in Seriously?!, Sujeetech, Reviews | 1 Comment »

The Lyra X-2400 is still the best TV recorder out there

November 3rd, 2008

Let’s try this with pictures, shall we?

As do most things in life, it all started with an ad from Fry’s over the weekend.

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Posted in Sujeetism | No Comments »

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On my mind..

Memories...on memory

Second Yelpings

Links

Right here, right now..
- Live traffic A live feed from the San Francisco traffic system. Needs Java.
- San José weather The national weather forecast for San José, California. As good as it gets.
- Downtown San Jose, live A live webcam atop the Meteorology department building at San José State University
- From up above.. A weather satellite's view of the west coast, showing the cloud cover.
- San José traffic A live snapshot of San José trafic.
- Did you feel that? A live report of seismic tremors in the San Francisco Bay Area
- Live, from the Lawrence Hall of Science A live webcam on the Peninsula with a detailed data overlay
Things that make me go 'Hmmm..'
- Free stock charts on your Windows desktop Thanks to Google and Windows, you can embed live stock charts on your desktop!
- Searching smart with a Windows XP PowerToy Quick and smart searching using a forgotten and free Windows tool
- Cube coolth Thought "MagLev" was just for trains?
Tech-splanations
- RSS and Atom explained Everything you always wanted to know about RSS and Atom