MobileTechRoundup 155: Storms, Legends and Teleportation

CLICK HERE to download the file and listen directly.
MoTR 155 is 40 minutes long and is a 37 MB file in MP3 format.

INTRO: Based on “Time v2.1″ by Meta Sektion, additional mixing by James Kendrick.
HOSTS: James Kendrick (Houston), Matthew Miller (Seattle) and Kevin C. Tofel (Philadelphia)

TOPICS:
Early forecasts for the BlackBerry Storm.
Kevin is testing out the Sonos audio-streaming solution and the iPhone remote application for it highlights why smartphones without WiFi bring obstacles.
Matt interviews Ross Lamont about the Nokia Legends program.
Nokia now supports Lotus Notes on the Symbian S60, 3rd edition platform.
Freeware of the show: Teleport shares your keyboard and mouse across multiple Macs on the same network.

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New South Wales to provide 197,000 students with netbooks

Small notebook computers are no question perfect for students to use at school.  The small and light form makes it easy to backpack around the school and as long as the notebook has fairly standard components it is more than sufficient to meet the needs of those students.  The officials in the Australian state New South Wales agrees with that assessment and have announced that 197,000 public school students will get what sounds like netbooks this year.

"These custom-made laptops are about three-quarters the size of a regular laptop - compact enough to fit into a schoolbag or a locker but powerful enough to support all the IT needs of our high school students.

"We can deliver the digital revolution by putting wireless networks in every public secondary school and buying a laptop for all the 197,000 students in years 9 to 12."

They go on to indicate that students will get to keep the "small notebooks" when they leave school.  This is a very ambitious program and the largest of this type we've heard of so far.  Kudos to the Aussies for putting their money where their students are.  There was no word given which company is supplying the laptops.

(Sydney Morning Herald via Gordon Cahill)

Recently on jkOnTheRun

This was a short holiday week in the US but there was no shortage of tech coverage.  Here are the top stories on jkOnTheRun in case you missed them.

• Windows Mobile and AOL- AOL Sync
• Faster iPod Touch pointing to faster iPhone?
• Best Buy offering big Mac discounts already
• Do you believe in magic?  HP Magic Giveaway is giving it away!
• Text a lockdown message to your stolen ThinkPad
• Schedule TiVo recordings from any iPhone: TiVo Mobile
• Hanging out with the T-Mobile G1, iPhone 3G and the Blackberry Storm
• Freeware of the Moment- MultiClutch, add multi-touch to any Mac app
• New MacBook is worth consideration based on performance alone
• Fearing the cloud- services that go away
• NYT's Pogue disses, really, really disses the Blackberry Storm
• This week at Mobile Tech Manor #18- an imperfect Storm

Don't forget the HP Magic Giveaway is live

It's a holiday weekend here in the US but don't forget to be checking and entering all of the active HP Magic Giveaway contests!  Here's the schedule in case you forgot because you can enter the contest of every single site participating (5 so far):

URL	Contest Launch	Award Announcement
Bleeping Computer	28-Nov	04-Dec
Gear Live
Windows Connected
Morningside Mom	29-Nov	05-Dec
Thoughts on poetics & tech
MediaBlab	30-Nov	06-Dec
Neowin
BostonPocketPC
HackCollege	01-Dec	07-Dec
The Gadgeteer	02-Dec	08-Dec
Gotta Be Mobile
I Started Something
Down-to-Earth Mama	03-Dec	09-Dec
moosh in indy.
La Bitácora de Erwin Ried
Carlos Alberto
Geeks To Go!	04-Dec	10-Dec
GearDiary
Geeks!
One Day, One Job	05-Dec	11-Dec
Techie Diva	06-Dec	12-Dec
Notebooks.com
Geek.com
Techmamas	07-Dec	13-Dec
merlot mom
Noticias Tech
InfoWester
Planet x64	08-Dec	14-Dec
AbsoluteVista
Barb’s Connected World
Student Bloggers	09-Dec	15-Dec
Slashdot Review	10-Dec	16-Dec
Gadgetell
Liliputing
Stop, Drop & Blog	11-Dec	17-Dec
Living - In Theory
GeeksRoom
Eliax
OSNN	12-Dec	18-Dec
SlashGear
Digital Home Thoughts
Study Hacks - Demystifying College Success	13-Dec	19-Dec
Digital Inspiration	14-Dec	20-Dec
Geekzone
The Digital Lifestyle
CíberPrensa	15-Dec	21-Dec
Unión de Bloggers Hispanos
Last 100	16-Dec	22-Dec
JK On the Run
Geek News Central

Foxit adds more reasons to dump Adobe Reader on PCs

Those wily cats at Foxit Software are at it again according to Business Hacks: the free Foxit Reader for Windows hit version 3 and it offers more compelling reasons to dump Adobe Reader. Foxit is far lighter in terms of its footprint and required resources than Adobe's ubiquitous Reader application. For starters, Foxit Reader 3.0 is a 3.68MB installation package, while Adobe's latest Reader package is north of 20MB. If you're not careful, Adobe will default to an installation that includes Adobe AIR and that brings your install download up to 33.5MB. Of course, both product installs will expand since they're compressed, but having used each product on notebooks and netbooks with minimal memory, I can vouch for Foxit's "less is more" approach.

Intel: netbooks are OK for an hour or so, that's all

Netbooks have caught the computing industry with their pants down.  What was originally envisioned as a cheap laptop for kids and those not wanting to do very much has in fact evolved into companion notebooks that owners are using for all sorts of computing tasks.  This has the companies behind the technology worried no doubt as they see the sub-$400 notebooks beginning to eat directly into their bottom lines.

One company who has embraced the netbook is Intel, no doubt because their Atom processor has become the de facto standard engine powering virtually all netbooks.  Intel even jumped onto the netbook bandwagon by buying the netbook.com domain and launching a web site devoted to the littlest notebooks.

That makes a statement made by Stu Pann, Intel's VP of sales and marketing, all the more puzzling as it indicates that the chip maker is taking a step back from the whole netbook thing:

"We originally thought Netbooks would be for emerging markets and younger kids, and there is some of that. It turns out the bulk of the Netbooks sold today are Western Europe, North America, and for people who just want to grab and go with a notebook," Pann said. "We view the Netbook as mostly incremental to our total available market," he added.

"If you've ever used a Netbook and used a 10-inch screen size--it's fine for an hour. It's not something you're going to use day in and day out."

Yes, Intel is stepping back publicly from the whole netbook as capable computer meme.  Intel is stating that these netbook things are not good for extended usage.  There are millions of folks who I'll bet will argue with that viewpoint based on sales numbers.  Perhaps Intel is beginning to feel a lot of pressure from laptop makers who are feeling the netbook eat into traditional notebook sales?

(via CNET)

Mophie Juice Pack 3G Black Friday deal

We told you what we thought about the Mophie Juice Pack 3G, the extended battery solution for the iPhone 3G.  Reader Jeff just let us know that the Mophie folks have a today-only Black Friday deal for the Juice Pack that will get you a full 25% off.  That's a savings of $25 so it's a big deal.  Just use coupon code gobblegobble3G when you check out and get the big discount.

HP Magic Giveaway is live- better go enter

That awesome HP Magic Giveaway contest we told you about is getting underway today at some of the 50 sites participating.  The way it works is every day 1 - 3 of the blogs will be kicking off their own contest and starting December 4 sites will be announcing their winners.  Fifty prize packages each worth $6,000 will be given away, one on each blog.  Our contest will kick off on December 16th but since you can enter on all fifty blogs you'd better get busy.  Here's the official contest schedule to help you on your way:

URL	Contest Launch	Award Announcement
Bleeping Computer	28-Nov	04-Dec
Gear Live
Windows Connected
Morningside Mom	29-Nov	05-Dec
Thoughts on poetics & tech
MediaBlab	30-Nov	06-Dec
Neowin
BostonPocketPC
HackCollege	01-Dec	07-Dec
The Gadgeteer	02-Dec	08-Dec
Gotta Be Mobile
I Started Something
Down-to-Earth Mama	03-Dec	09-Dec
moosh in indy.
La Bitácora de Erwin Ried
Carlos Alberto
Geeks To Go!	04-Dec	10-Dec
GearDiary
Geeks!
One Day, One Job	05-Dec	11-Dec
Techie Diva	06-Dec	12-Dec
Notebooks.com
Geek.com
Techmamas	07-Dec	13-Dec
merlot mom
Noticias Tech
InfoWester
Planet x64	08-Dec	14-Dec
AbsoluteVista
Barb’s Connected World
Student Bloggers	09-Dec	15-Dec
Slashdot Review	10-Dec	16-Dec
Gadgetell
Liliputing
Stop, Drop & Blog	11-Dec	17-Dec
Living - In Theory
GeeksRoom
Eliax
OSNN	12-Dec	18-Dec
SlashGear
Digital Home Thoughts
Study Hacks - Demystifying College Success	13-Dec	19-Dec
Digital Inspiration	14-Dec	20-Dec
Geekzone
The Digital Lifestyle
CíberPrensa	15-Dec	21-Dec
Unión de Bloggers Hispanos
Last 100	16-Dec	22-Dec
JK On the Run
Geek News Central

This week at Mobile Tech Manor #18- an imperfect Storm

This week has been a short one due to the holiday but it's been packed with activity.  This column is my look back at the past week at my home office, Mobile Tech Manor, and if you've read it before you know there's no telling what I'll share with you.  There's usually gadget news and my impressions of using them and I also share my experiences with new software I use to keep my office running.

This week has covered a lot of varied ground.   I'll recount my installation and usage of the new Parallels Desktop 4.0 on the MacBook and we'll look at how well Windows Vista Ultimate runs in a virtual machine.  The Verizon Blackberry Storm has been all over the news this week and gotten some pretty poor reviews.  I'll tell you why I think that is and why my own impressions are different from a lot of reviewers.

Happy Thanksgiving from us to you

Today is the day in the US that we set aside to give some thought to and thanks for the things that mean a lot to us and we are taking the day off to do just that.  Kevin and I want to wish all of you a Happy Thanksgiving.  It is a day to spend time with family and friends and we are doing just that and encourage you to do the same.  Reflect on the things for which you are thankful and relish them for a while. 

Kevin and I are both very thankful for the community we have here, and community is what this is.  The support you give us doing what we love to do is heartfelt and we appreciate it more than you can know.  When we share important events in our lives with you we are always amazed at the outpouring of support and well-wishes you give us and for that we are truly thankful.  Thank you for letting us be a part in your lives and we thank you for being a large part in ours.  Have a safe and happy day each and every one of you.