AT&T scores another mobile device

The dual-mode BlackBerry 8820 was announced Tuesday by Research In Motion Ltd. Named "dual-mode" because it works with both the EDGE/GPRS/GSM cellular and Wi-Fi connectivity for data access and voice support. The Wi-Fi connectivity will allow users to connect off of the cellular network, at home through 802.11 a/b/g wireless networks, and through Wi-Fi hotspots. The 8820 is RIM's first dual-mode BlackBerry, and it's said to be the slimmest Blackberry to date. "The BlackBerry 8820 is an extraordinary business phone for people who really care about mobile communications and productivity. It features all the renowned power and usability of the BlackBerry platform with executive class styling and unprecedented connectivity features, including cellular, Wi-Fi and built-in GPS," said Mike Lazaridis, President and Co-CEO at RIM.The phone will be available in the US through AT&T, a Canadian carry is yet to be announced. As the news broke RIM shares climbed $4.19 to $240.29 on the TSX.

Not everyone happy about community Wi-Fi

In this post I discussed the opening of city Wi-Fi networks sponsored by the Government of Saskatchewan, and at the time I thought that the residents must be thrilled. It never dawned on me that those who already have their own wireless networks might suffer from the data crowding that would ensue. I know that it is increasingly becoming a problem in my neighborhood as my own incidents of dropped connections is becoming more and more prevalent. There are usually a couple of 'default' SSIDs, a 'linksys' or two and a few other networks that actually show up as secured, or at least the owner has taken the time to change the out of the box setting. This Wired article discusses the onslaught that open community Wi-Fi's bring to the residents and also provides a couple of useful tips that may help alleviate the issue.

What's in a name... $100 million apparently

Answers Corporation, the company that owns answers.com has just announced the purchase of Lexico Publishing Group, the owners of dictionary.com, thesaurus.com, and reference.com for $100 million. The deal is said to be contingent on the raising of funds and since Answers is said to have had $4.2 million in cash as of March 31, it may take a while. Still the sum is reminiscent of the bubble days of the late 90's. What does that kind of money buy you? About 11 million users a month.

Drobo is on my wish list

I've been contemplating buying some extra drive space and have been weighing internal versus external drives for a little while now. Cost, speed, capacity, and dependability are all considerations. I've not taken a good inventory, but I know that we are guilty of having many copies of files over our small home network. I'd like to say that this was planned for redundancy, but I'd be lying. Part of the reason I've been thinking about hard disk space is that some of our older machines are starting to cough a bit, and I thought it would be a good time to create a file share, move some files off of the older / smaller primary drives, and consolidate our media collection. RAID (Redundant Array of Independent Drives) is a great option but it can be costly. Drobo however is a new product by Data Robotics Inc. that offers small business and home users the same type of redundancy in a USB device. Drives continue to get larger but space is not the only consideration, a single large drive puts you in a potentially vulnerable situation should that drive fail. Data Robotics calls Drobo "the first fully-automated storage robot" and "Fully automated storage you don't have to manage". You have to watch this demo video to truly appreciate the value of Drobo! I'm a little bummed that it's not available in Canada yet, but I think I'll be stocking up on 3.5" SATA drives for now, in anticipation. If this little guy performs as well as it does in the video, it is (in my humble opinion) the ideal way to manage your precious data at home or in a small office setting. Drobo doesn't care that drives aren't the same size, it gladly accepts new ones and manges data on the fly. This allows you to buy drives over time, as requirements grow or money is available. It's still a little expensive, $499 US before drives are added, but that's a steal compared to RAID arrays. If Jim Shaw is reading, I'd love to get my hands on one for a proper review ;-)

Breaking up is hard to do

"... in theory it's better than XP." and "frustrating...", these are the words of long time tech personality Chris Pirillo describing his 6 month Windows Vista experience on a 51 minute YouTube video. Pirillo goes on to say that there are a lot of things that he likes about Vista but that the lack of driver support, among other things, is causing him productivity issues and forcing him to "upgrade to XP". If you've been a fan of TechTV's Call for Help or you've had occasion to visit Gnomedex, his personal blog, or Lockergnome, you'll recognize the admitted shameless self promoter. It's worth watching if you are still on the fence about Vista.

Veronica Belmont leaving CNet's Buzz Out Loud

One of the podcasts that I try to listen to on a regular basis is CNet's Buzz Out Loud. I've been tuning in to BOL for more than a year and one of the reasons I continue to listen is the on air personalities. In episode 514 the BOL crew announced that rumors of Veronica Belmont's departure were true. I am not however saddened by the departure, not that I don't enjoy Veronica's commentary! On the contrary, I was actually pleased to hear Veronica say she is starting a new video podcast for Mahalo.com, Jason Calacanis' human-powered search engine that I discussed in a previous post. The only difficulty will be in finding the time to catch all of the shows. Good luck Veronica, we'll miss you on BOL but look forward to the new show!

Google's "Guge" too close for comfort for Chinese company

Google is being sued by a Chinese company over the name it is operating under in China. Beijing Guge Science and Technology Ltd is claiming that Google's Chinese operation known as Guge is causing confusion and costing it money. Apparently the company is receiving many inquires about the search engine giant because Google is not listed in the telephone directory and calls are being routed them by operators. Google opened Guge in 2005. BBC Story Here.

There's nothing like a good marathon game of risk

While I do enjoy video games of all genres I also love to play board games, though I don't play nearly as often as I would like. Here is a site that I heard of while listening to commandN and I thought it was worth visiting, and now sharing. BoardGameGeek is an online community for those who love board games. There are reviews, articles, discussions and a marketplace for buying, selling and trading those hard to find or out of print games. Games are sorted by type and if you are looking for something other than monopoly you've come to the right place, not that there is anything wrong with monopoly! You won't find Doom or Gears of War but with the massive growing database of games and recommendations you are bound to find something to suit your gaming taste.

Another How-To Site

The How-To Geek is a site full of geeky how-to tips. It's goal is "To be the best source of How-To articles anywhere, with content easy enough for beginners but useful enough for geeks as well." You won't find any street fighting lessons here but if your interest is in computers, programming, or the Internet, you are likely to find something that interests you at The How-To Geek. The sites navigation makes it fairly easy to go to your area of interest and there is a search to make finding the appropriate How-To a little easier. From one geek to another, well done How-To!

In 5 minutes the answer to your most pressing questions

5min is a site that I became aware of through a TechCrunch post, and I find it interesting for a number of reasons. Calling itself the first communal Life Videopedia, 5min is user generated instructional video content. The site developers believe "any solution can be visually explained in no more than 5 minutes" and members are encouraged to upload their videos on any number of topics from tech to food, how to score a free beer to belly dancing, it's all covered. What sets this site apart from other user generated video sites, like YouTube, is that it is purely instructional... no skateboarding dogs here unless it's a how to teach your dog to skateboard, but I didn't find that one. The embedded player is also very unique, it has a lot of really useful functionality. The smart player allows you to play the video in slow motion, advance frame by frame, zoom in on content, display subtitles in a variety of languages, and view the content in storyboard format.

Here is a how to install PC memory clip. As always with user generated content you have to be careful who's advise you choose to listen to.