Campaigns Use TV Preferences to Find Voters By JIM RUTENBERG
Published: July 18, 2004
PPLETON, Wis., July 17 — When deciding where to run his television advertisements, President Bush is much more partial than Senator John Kerry to crime shows like "Cops," "Law & Order" and "JAG." Mr. Kerry leans more to lighter fare, like "Judge Judy," "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" and "Late Show with David Letterman."
Those choices do not reflect either man's tastes in television, but critical differences in the advertising strategies of their campaigns, which are spending more money for commercials than any other campaigns in presidential history.
Saturday, July 17, 2004
Geekzone Reports - Company claims to have found the first virus for Pocket PC
Geekzone Reports - Company claims to have found the first virus for Pocket PCNews : Windows Mobile Pocket PC : Software, posted 17/07/2004 16:54:49 NZ
BitDefender now lists on its database of active malware what could possibly be the first of its type for Windows Mobile Pocket PC devices. The WinCE.Dust.A is executable program with a very low propagation rate, discovered on 16 July. It's reported to be a proof of concept for Pocket PC devices. The file size is 1530 bytes only.
Like the CABIR virus for Symbian smart phones, the WinCE.Dust.A requires user intervention for the install to occur. The BitDefender website does not list a current removal tool, or any more detailed information.
More information: http://www.bitdefender.com/bd/site/virusinfo....
BitDefender now lists on its database of active malware what could possibly be the first of its type for Windows Mobile Pocket PC devices. The WinCE.Dust.A is executable program with a very low propagation rate, discovered on 16 July. It's reported to be a proof of concept for Pocket PC devices. The file size is 1530 bytes only.
Like the CABIR virus for Symbian smart phones, the WinCE.Dust.A requires user intervention for the install to occur. The BitDefender website does not list a current removal tool, or any more detailed information.
More information: http://www.bitdefender.com/bd/site/virusinfo....
Friday, July 16, 2004
Best Tool for the Job
Best Tool for the Job: "The Best Pocket PC Freeware
The best Pocket PC Freeware (and non-free software where there's no good free alternative) available. I've sorted through dozens of programs, weeded out the buggy, useless software and this is what remains. If you've just purchased a Pocket PC, this list could save you hours. "
The best Pocket PC Freeware (and non-free software where there's no good free alternative) available. I've sorted through dozens of programs, weeded out the buggy, useless software and this is what remains. If you've just purchased a Pocket PC, this list could save you hours. "
Apple iPod 40GB review by PC Magazine
Apple iPod 40GB review by PC Magazine: "Apple iPod 40GB
Apple iPod 40GB
The Apple iPod is the player against which all other players are compared�and rightly so. The design was startlingly original when it was introduced, and it still feels fresh. The touch-sensitive scroll wheel surface is a brilliant application of laptop technology, and it vaulted the iPod to the forefront of consumer electronics user interfaces. The 40GB version we tested is slightly larger (6.1 ounces, 4.1 by 2.4 by 0.8 inches, HWD) than the 15GB and 20GB versions, but it's still among the smallest players in the high-end category. But be warned: You do pay a premium for the iPod's reputation, style, and interface, compared with other players."
Apple iPod 40GB
The Apple iPod is the player against which all other players are compared�and rightly so. The design was startlingly original when it was introduced, and it still feels fresh. The touch-sensitive scroll wheel surface is a brilliant application of laptop technology, and it vaulted the iPod to the forefront of consumer electronics user interfaces. The 40GB version we tested is slightly larger (6.1 ounces, 4.1 by 2.4 by 0.8 inches, HWD) than the 15GB and 20GB versions, but it's still among the smallest players in the high-end category. But be warned: You do pay a premium for the iPod's reputation, style, and interface, compared with other players."
Creative Nomad Zen Xtra 60GB review by PC Magazine
Creative Nomad Zen Xtra 60GB review by PC Magazine: "Creative Nomad Zen Xtra 60GB
Creative Nomad Zen Xtra 60GB
With an expanse of sheet metal below the screen, the Creative Nomad Zen Xtra looks like it might be missing something when compared with other players, but it's not. An easily replaceable battery (that lasted a laudable 10 hours on our tests) lurks within, and all the controls are along the sides of the player. These include dedicated volume buttons, forward/back, menu, play/pause, power, and a jog/selector switch. The jog/selector requires some care in use, or you may inadvertently move your selection up or down when choosing a song. We tested the 60GB player, and try as we might, we simply didn't have enough music to fill it up."
Creative Nomad Zen Xtra 60GB
With an expanse of sheet metal below the screen, the Creative Nomad Zen Xtra looks like it might be missing something when compared with other players, but it's not. An easily replaceable battery (that lasted a laudable 10 hours on our tests) lurks within, and all the controls are along the sides of the player. These include dedicated volume buttons, forward/back, menu, play/pause, power, and a jog/selector switch. The jog/selector requires some care in use, or you may inadvertently move your selection up or down when choosing a song. We tested the 60GB player, and try as we might, we simply didn't have enough music to fill it up."
Wi-Fi Banned From Political Conventions | Not a Candidate for Either Party | July 22, 2004 | Network Computing
Wi-Fi Banned From Political Conventions | Not a Candidate for Either Party | July 22, 2004 | Network Computing: "Wi-Fi Banned From Political Conventions
Not a Candidate for Either Party
Anyone looking for Internet access at the upcoming political conventions better be prepared to pay big.
Jul 22, 2004 | By Dave Molta
Wi-Fi has been banned from the floor of the upcoming Democratic and Republican national conventions this summer because it interferes with wireless broadcast TV systems. Those who need Internet access at the conventions--and in this day of electronic politics, that's a lot of people--will have to call on Verizon, the official telecommunications provider for both events, for an Ethernet drop at about $1,000 a pop
Not a Candidate for Either Party
Anyone looking for Internet access at the upcoming political conventions better be prepared to pay big.
Jul 22, 2004 | By Dave Molta
Wi-Fi has been banned from the floor of the upcoming Democratic and Republican national conventions this summer because it interferes with wireless broadcast TV systems. Those who need Internet access at the conventions--and in this day of electronic politics, that's a lot of people--will have to call on Verizon, the official telecommunications provider for both events, for an Ethernet drop at about $1,000 a pop
Pocket PC Magazibe Editorial by Bill Howard Time for the Internet Boom Box
Time for the Internet Boom Box: "When you're listening to music at the beach with friends, odds are you're using the same device your parents and their friends did when they were young: a battery-powered radio. Maybe it's time for something new: the Internet boom box."
PDAgold.com :: Article :: First 60 minutes with HP iPAQ hx4700
PDAgold.com :: Article :: First 60 minutes with HP iPAQ hx4700:
"When I recently posted an article called First 60 minutes with HP iPAQ h6300, I had no idea that another would follow in just a few weeks. Back then, I had a great opportunity to play shortly with a device that was soon to become the absolute top performer of the iPAQ family, or possibly of all Pocket PCs. You may already have some idea thanks to leaked information, so let's get to the business. Ladies and gentlemen, HP iPAQ hx4700!"
"When I recently posted an article called First 60 minutes with HP iPAQ h6300, I had no idea that another would follow in just a few weeks. Back then, I had a great opportunity to play shortly with a device that was soon to become the absolute top performer of the iPAQ family, or possibly of all Pocket PCs. You may already have some idea thanks to leaked information, so let's get to the business. Ladies and gentlemen, HP iPAQ hx4700!"
First look at the Sony Ericsson P910 - Engadget - www.engadget.com
First look at the Sony Ericsson P910 - Engadget - www.engadget.com: "First look at the Sony Ericsson P910
Posted Jul 16, 2004, 1:12 AM ET by Peter Rojas
Related entries: Cellphones, Handhelds, Misc. Gadgets
Not only does Mobile Review have a hands-in, um, review of Sony Ericsson"s new P910 smartphone, but you MUST check out their video clip of someone trying to speed-type on it. Sorta looks like a pain, but maybe you"d get used to it, and they go out on a limb and declare the P910 to be "the most impressive smartphone out of all existing ones." Wow"
Posted Jul 16, 2004, 1:12 AM ET by Peter Rojas
Related entries: Cellphones, Handhelds, Misc. Gadgets
Not only does Mobile Review have a hands-in, um, review of Sony Ericsson"s new P910 smartphone, but you MUST check out their video clip of someone trying to speed-type on it. Sorta looks like a pain, but maybe you"d get used to it, and they go out on a limb and declare the P910 to be "the most impressive smartphone out of all existing ones." Wow"
Wednesday, July 14, 2004
Geekzone Reports on WebIS Money for Pocket PC
Geekzone, mobile forums: "WebIS Money for Pocket PC"
WebIS Money is an innovative entry-level finance application for the Pocket PC. Its purpose is to be simple, easy to use, and accurate for basic checkbook activities. Version 1.0 provides all of that and more. It does all the basics including multiple accounts, categorized transactions and transaction reconciliation as well as more advanced functions like Pie charts and Bar charts of your expenses.
Furthermore, you can import and export your Quicken data via QIF files to keep your information up to date with a desktop finance app. For example, you can enter transactions during the day and then import them into your finance application at the end of day.
WebIS Money 1.0 will be given away as a free bonus to all current owners of other WebIS software.
WebIS Money is an innovative entry-level finance application for the Pocket PC. Its purpose is to be simple, easy to use, and accurate for basic checkbook activities. Version 1.0 provides all of that and more. It does all the basics including multiple accounts, categorized transactions and transaction reconciliation as well as more advanced functions like Pie charts and Bar charts of your expenses.
Furthermore, you can import and export your Quicken data via QIF files to keep your information up to date with a desktop finance app. For example, you can enter transactions during the day and then import them into your finance application at the end of day.
WebIS Money 1.0 will be given away as a free bonus to all current owners of other WebIS software.
CREATIVE.COM : New: Zen Touch
CREATIVE.COM : Products : Zen Touch: "INTRODUCTION
CREATIVE ZEN TOUCH PORTABLE AUDIO PLAYER FEATURES ULTRA-COOL TOUCH PAD SCROLLING AND PATENTED TECHNOLOGY ACHIEVING 24-HOUR BATTERY LIFE
Longest Battery Life Ever for a Digital Audio Jukebox - Three Times Greater than iPod Specification
MILPITAS, Calif. - June 7, 2004 - Creative (NASDAQ: CREAF), a worldwide leader in digital entertainment products for PC users, today introduced the Zen Touch, a 1.8-inch hard drive-based portable audio player that holds twice the music and provides up to three times the battery life as a 20GB Apple® iPod™*. The Zen Touch 20GB is available for preorder today exclusively at Amazon.com and www.creative.com for only $US269.99.
Introducing the innovative patent pending "Touch Pad" control, the Creative Zen Touch enables a user to simply move a thumb up and down in a natural motion on the Touch Pad to navigate quickly and easily to specific albums, artists, genres, tracks, or playlists. With a very light touch of the thumb on the Touch Pad or by pressing the "OK" button on the face of the player, users can easily access musical selections. The face of the player also features a dedicated "Random" button for spontaneous music playback of any combination of songs.
"The Zen Touch is so simple and fun to use because the Touch Pad makes it easy to find your favorite songs, or you can just hit the random button for a mix of music to match any mood," said Lisa O'Malley, senior brand manager for portable audio at Creative. "Plus you can take the Zen Touch on long trips and leave the power cable at home without worrying about the rechargeable battery running out."
Equally as cool-looking as it is feature-rich, the metallic graphite and white gloss-colored Zen Touch displays track and menu information on its large, brilliant blue backlit LCD screen. In addition to its groundbreaking battery life and super-intuitive user interface, the Zen Touch provides industry-leading audio quality and broad compatibility with download services supporting WMA and MP3 music for enjoyment of up to 10,000 songs. Crystal-clear high fidelity playback at 98dB SNR can be customized with a four-band graphic equalizer with eight equalization presets. USB 2.0 connectivity enables super-fast music transfer from a PC as quickly as a song per second.
Exclusively previewed by Microsoft at the 2004 WinHEC event, the Zen Touch was showcased as the first player to support upgrade to the next generation of Windows Media Digital Rights Management (DRM) technology, a platform for providing exciting new subscription models for content download.
"With its exciting new device, the Zen Touch, Creative sets a new bar for battery life and provides music fans a broad choice of music services accessed within Windows Media Player," said Jonathan Usher, director of the Windows Digital Media Division at Microsoft Corp. "The Zen Touch is the first in a new line of products from Creative that will support our next generation Windows Media DRM, enabling new playback scenarios for subscription-based or on-demand digital music."
The new Creative Zen Touch 20GB, available today for preorder online at Amazon.com and www.creative.com for $US269.99, is slated for shipment this month. The ultra-portable audio player comes with a black protective case, neodymium headphones, a USB 2.0 cable, and a universal power adapter. The player also includes Creative MediaSource™, an easy-to-use application for ripping CDs, organizing entire digital music collections, and easily transferring MP3 and WMA files.
For more information about Creative portable audio players, please visit www.creative.com
CREATIVE ZEN TOUCH PORTABLE AUDIO PLAYER FEATURES ULTRA-COOL TOUCH PAD SCROLLING AND PATENTED TECHNOLOGY ACHIEVING 24-HOUR BATTERY LIFE
Longest Battery Life Ever for a Digital Audio Jukebox - Three Times Greater than iPod Specification
MILPITAS, Calif. - June 7, 2004 - Creative (NASDAQ: CREAF), a worldwide leader in digital entertainment products for PC users, today introduced the Zen Touch, a 1.8-inch hard drive-based portable audio player that holds twice the music and provides up to three times the battery life as a 20GB Apple® iPod™*. The Zen Touch 20GB is available for preorder today exclusively at Amazon.com and www.creative.com for only $US269.99.
Introducing the innovative patent pending "Touch Pad" control, the Creative Zen Touch enables a user to simply move a thumb up and down in a natural motion on the Touch Pad to navigate quickly and easily to specific albums, artists, genres, tracks, or playlists. With a very light touch of the thumb on the Touch Pad or by pressing the "OK" button on the face of the player, users can easily access musical selections. The face of the player also features a dedicated "Random" button for spontaneous music playback of any combination of songs.
"The Zen Touch is so simple and fun to use because the Touch Pad makes it easy to find your favorite songs, or you can just hit the random button for a mix of music to match any mood," said Lisa O'Malley, senior brand manager for portable audio at Creative. "Plus you can take the Zen Touch on long trips and leave the power cable at home without worrying about the rechargeable battery running out."
Equally as cool-looking as it is feature-rich, the metallic graphite and white gloss-colored Zen Touch displays track and menu information on its large, brilliant blue backlit LCD screen. In addition to its groundbreaking battery life and super-intuitive user interface, the Zen Touch provides industry-leading audio quality and broad compatibility with download services supporting WMA and MP3 music for enjoyment of up to 10,000 songs. Crystal-clear high fidelity playback at 98dB SNR can be customized with a four-band graphic equalizer with eight equalization presets. USB 2.0 connectivity enables super-fast music transfer from a PC as quickly as a song per second.
Exclusively previewed by Microsoft at the 2004 WinHEC event, the Zen Touch was showcased as the first player to support upgrade to the next generation of Windows Media Digital Rights Management (DRM) technology, a platform for providing exciting new subscription models for content download.
"With its exciting new device, the Zen Touch, Creative sets a new bar for battery life and provides music fans a broad choice of music services accessed within Windows Media Player," said Jonathan Usher, director of the Windows Digital Media Division at Microsoft Corp. "The Zen Touch is the first in a new line of products from Creative that will support our next generation Windows Media DRM, enabling new playback scenarios for subscription-based or on-demand digital music."
The new Creative Zen Touch 20GB, available today for preorder online at Amazon.com and www.creative.com for $US269.99, is slated for shipment this month. The ultra-portable audio player comes with a black protective case, neodymium headphones, a USB 2.0 cable, and a universal power adapter. The player also includes Creative MediaSource™, an easy-to-use application for ripping CDs, organizing entire digital music collections, and easily transferring MP3 and WMA files.
For more information about Creative portable audio players, please visit www.creative.com
Creative Nomad Jukebox Zen Xtra (60GB) review - Intro - MP3 players - CNET Reviews
Creative Nomad Jukebox Zen Xtra (60GB) review - Intro - MP3 players - CNET Reviews
The Nomad Jukebox Zen Xtra is Creative's latest iteration of its high-capacity hard disk digital music player. The new version is identical to the recently released Zen NX, except it has a larger screen with green (rather than blue) backlighting. It's still not as slick as Apple's market-leading iPod, but the Zen Xtra's lower price tag could attract those who yearn to take their multigigabyte music collections on the road.
________________________________________________________________
I have used the 60 gig Zen Xtra for eight months. The left earphone channel died after one and one half month. After a warranty replacement and a firmware upgrade the device has operated flawlessly. The sound quality is the best I have heard from a mp3 player. It sounds noticeably better than the iPod line of players. It also gets around eleven hours of battery life. The iPod only gets about eight hours from its battery. The largest iPod is only forty gigs. I highly recommend this player.
The Nomad Jukebox Zen Xtra is Creative's latest iteration of its high-capacity hard disk digital music player. The new version is identical to the recently released Zen NX, except it has a larger screen with green (rather than blue) backlighting. It's still not as slick as Apple's market-leading iPod, but the Zen Xtra's lower price tag could attract those who yearn to take their multigigabyte music collections on the road.
________________________________________________________________
I have used the 60 gig Zen Xtra for eight months. The left earphone channel died after one and one half month. After a warranty replacement and a firmware upgrade the device has operated flawlessly. The sound quality is the best I have heard from a mp3 player. It sounds noticeably better than the iPod line of players. It also gets around eleven hours of battery life. The iPod only gets about eight hours from its battery. The largest iPod is only forty gigs. I highly recommend this player.
Engadget Reports on new iPaqs
They’re not expected to ship for another couple of weeks, but HP’s new iPAQ Pocket PCs (pictured from left to right, the hx4705, the h6315, the rx3415 and the rz1715) have started showing up on a few retail sites. The hx4705 is HP’s new flagship: high-res VGA screen, 624MHz processor, 64MB of RAM, WiFi, Bluetooth, CompactFlash and SD expansion card slots, and even a built-in touchpad (which seems somewhat redundant given that the entire freaking screen is a touchpad when you think about it). Next up is the h6315, their new Pocket PC Phone which we’ve already spilled too much virtual ink on, but we’ll go through the motions and list the specs again: built-in digital camera, WiFi, Bluetooth, quad-band GSM/GPRS, 64MB of RAM, and comes with an attachable mini-keyboard. The rx3415 is supposed to be their “multimedia” model, and has a built-in digital camera, WiFi, Bluetooth, 64MB of RAM, and comes pre-loaded with photo editing, media player, and remote control software. Their new lower-end model is rx3415, which hardly has any noteworthy features at all
Tuesday, July 13, 2004
Brighthand Reports HP Readies new iPaqs
Although they have not yet been officially unveiled, evidence continues to mount that HP plans to release a number of new Pocket PCs later this month.
Brighthand Reports HP Readies new iPaqs
Although they have not yet been officially unveiled, evidence continues to mount that HP plans to release a number of new Pocket PCs later this month.
The iPaq 6300 Pocket P.C. Phone is near release according to Pocket P.C. Thoughts
The first H.P. iPaq Pocket P.C. GSM telephone is near release. H.P. iPaq's are the state of the art in Pocket P.C. devices. All indications indicate that this Pocket phone will set the standard for this category of device.
Suunto N3 Review, Further Thoughts
Suunto N3 Review, Further Thoughts
I have now been wearing the Suunto N3 Spot watch for the past two weeks. The impressions that I had after one week, in my earlier review, have only solidified during this my second week of wearing the watch. I have however discovered unfortunately that the copper ring around the watch will scratch if you hit it against something which is hard. Yesterday morning I bumped the watch on a doorway, which caused a hairline scratch on the copper ring, which serves as the watches’ antenna. The scratch thankfully is small and is only visible upon a close up inspection of the copper ring. It seems to me however that a sports type watch should be more scratch resistant. I did not hit the doorway very hard.
I have read every review that I could find online for the Suunto and the Fossil Spot watches. I have been frustrated by some of the critical reviews that I have read. I have read two reviews by writers who do not regularly wear watches. Of what value is the opinion of someone reviewing a device from a category of devices they do not regularly use? Every reviewer must have a point of reference by which they compare and judge a device. A reviewer, who does not where a watch regularly, has for some reason failed to find such a device useful. Is this the person whom I want to write a review of a watch I might buy? I think not. Such a reviewer is in the minority among most of the world’s white collar workers who are the market for this product. You really have to wear watches regularly to review a unique new category of watches. We must demand higher standards from publications which can have a large impact on a company’s bottom line.
The criticisms, I have read of the chronograph feature in this forum; however are a totally different matter. Though I have had chronographs on a number of watches I have owned in the past I have never used this feature. I am therefore not qualified to comment on the quality of the Suunto N3’s chronograph. I tried to uses this feature just because it was there, and because I was reviewing this watch. I however could not make heads or tails of much of its operation. I could not follow the instructions in the manual. I read the very useful comments, regarding this feature, on the Spot Stop forum from Inspector Gadget. They helped some but I still had difficulty with this feature. Eventually I simply gave up.
I have read complaints that this watch interferes with the wearing of a dress shirt. I have personally had no such problems wearing dress shirts with this device. My shirt cuffs easily clear the face of this watch. There have been other criticisms of the news tidbits the watch delivers. I have no problem with the short news stories that MSN Direct sends to my watch. I keep up with news from around the world through various RSS news feeds which I monitor daily. The news feature on the watch keeps me up to date with new news stories and updates some continuing stories. Occasionally the short tidbits do not make much sense but if you push in the center right button you usually can get the gist of what the story is about. You cannot expect a watch to give you much more news than this. You have to spend the time to read the news online, listen to a radio source like National Public Radio or god forbid read a newspaper to get your news information. I get full stories either through RSS feeds on my Newsgator Web page on my computer or through National Public Radio (N.P.R.).
I believe that it is important to understand the limits of spot technology. One must put this technology into perspective. It is, in many ways, a descendent of the push technology of the middle and late nineties when desktop programs like Point Cast News and more recently the USA News, Yahoo and the BBC News ticker brought headline news to your desk top and/or screen saver. These programs simply provided headlines which if you clicked on them brought you to a web page where you could read the whole story. I have been using the BBC News ticker since the demise of the USA Today News Ticker last year. MSN Direct offers the whole Story, in the same way, on its website. All you have to do is go to your News Channel and click on “View Latest News” link. If you are not interested in news and current events this type of technology simply is not for you. This brings me to my biggest beef with some of the reviews I have read. I strongly believe that reviewers should only review product categories that they have an interest and in their reviews they should disclose their interests, prejudices and natural predispositions. I would hate to see this technology fail to reach a large market due to so many negative reviews by people who do not have an interest in or see the benefit of a technology centered on the one way receipt of news and information via a watch. In closing this technology is not for politically apathetic generation “x” technology geeks who enjoy spending most of their leisure their time playing computer games. This technology is for the person who is engaged in current events, politics, technology and other information being disseminated in the current information age. This is a first generation product. It can only get better. It may not get a chance with so many negative reviews. I simply hope the word gets out to people who can appreciate this technology. Please provide me with your comments on the views expressed herein.
I have now been wearing the Suunto N3 Spot watch for the past two weeks. The impressions that I had after one week, in my earlier review, have only solidified during this my second week of wearing the watch. I have however discovered unfortunately that the copper ring around the watch will scratch if you hit it against something which is hard. Yesterday morning I bumped the watch on a doorway, which caused a hairline scratch on the copper ring, which serves as the watches’ antenna. The scratch thankfully is small and is only visible upon a close up inspection of the copper ring. It seems to me however that a sports type watch should be more scratch resistant. I did not hit the doorway very hard.
I have read every review that I could find online for the Suunto and the Fossil Spot watches. I have been frustrated by some of the critical reviews that I have read. I have read two reviews by writers who do not regularly wear watches. Of what value is the opinion of someone reviewing a device from a category of devices they do not regularly use? Every reviewer must have a point of reference by which they compare and judge a device. A reviewer, who does not where a watch regularly, has for some reason failed to find such a device useful. Is this the person whom I want to write a review of a watch I might buy? I think not. Such a reviewer is in the minority among most of the world’s white collar workers who are the market for this product. You really have to wear watches regularly to review a unique new category of watches. We must demand higher standards from publications which can have a large impact on a company’s bottom line.
The criticisms, I have read of the chronograph feature in this forum; however are a totally different matter. Though I have had chronographs on a number of watches I have owned in the past I have never used this feature. I am therefore not qualified to comment on the quality of the Suunto N3’s chronograph. I tried to uses this feature just because it was there, and because I was reviewing this watch. I however could not make heads or tails of much of its operation. I could not follow the instructions in the manual. I read the very useful comments, regarding this feature, on the Spot Stop forum from Inspector Gadget. They helped some but I still had difficulty with this feature. Eventually I simply gave up.
I have read complaints that this watch interferes with the wearing of a dress shirt. I have personally had no such problems wearing dress shirts with this device. My shirt cuffs easily clear the face of this watch. There have been other criticisms of the news tidbits the watch delivers. I have no problem with the short news stories that MSN Direct sends to my watch. I keep up with news from around the world through various RSS news feeds which I monitor daily. The news feature on the watch keeps me up to date with new news stories and updates some continuing stories. Occasionally the short tidbits do not make much sense but if you push in the center right button you usually can get the gist of what the story is about. You cannot expect a watch to give you much more news than this. You have to spend the time to read the news online, listen to a radio source like National Public Radio or god forbid read a newspaper to get your news information. I get full stories either through RSS feeds on my Newsgator Web page on my computer or through National Public Radio (N.P.R.).
I believe that it is important to understand the limits of spot technology. One must put this technology into perspective. It is, in many ways, a descendent of the push technology of the middle and late nineties when desktop programs like Point Cast News and more recently the USA News, Yahoo and the BBC News ticker brought headline news to your desk top and/or screen saver. These programs simply provided headlines which if you clicked on them brought you to a web page where you could read the whole story. I have been using the BBC News ticker since the demise of the USA Today News Ticker last year. MSN Direct offers the whole Story, in the same way, on its website. All you have to do is go to your News Channel and click on “View Latest News” link. If you are not interested in news and current events this type of technology simply is not for you. This brings me to my biggest beef with some of the reviews I have read. I strongly believe that reviewers should only review product categories that they have an interest and in their reviews they should disclose their interests, prejudices and natural predispositions. I would hate to see this technology fail to reach a large market due to so many negative reviews by people who do not have an interest in or see the benefit of a technology centered on the one way receipt of news and information via a watch. In closing this technology is not for politically apathetic generation “x” technology geeks who enjoy spending most of their leisure their time playing computer games. This technology is for the person who is engaged in current events, politics, technology and other information being disseminated in the current information age. This is a first generation product. It can only get better. It may not get a chance with so many negative reviews. I simply hope the word gets out to people who can appreciate this technology. Please provide me with your comments on the views expressed herein.
Suunto N3 Watch Review After One Weeks Use
Suunto N3 Watch Review After One Weeks Use
I received my Suunto N3 watch on Monday March 15th 2004 during my lunch hour from Comp USA. The serial number on the watch is 40390095. I immediately clipped on the clothes pin styled charger. Nothing happened. There was no indication on the watch to let me know that the watch was charging. My job beckoned however so I let my watch charge for the remainder of the work day I glanced at it a couple of times during the afternoon but I observed no sign of life . Prior to leaving the office, shortly after 5pm, I disconnected the watch from the charger. I decided to call Suunto technical support. I was afraid that I had received a defective watch. I immediately reached a support representative who told me that all I needed to do was turn on the watch. He directed me to simultaneously push in the two left hand buttons and while holding them press in and hold the top right hand button. The watch immediately came to life. It was easy at that point to navigate to the registration screen and obtain the MSN Direct registration number. I then accessed the MSN Direct website; input my registration number, credit card information for the $59.00 yearly subscription and selected my channel content. This whole on line process took less than five minutes. I left the office and within ten minutes my watch was displaying the correct time and I was receiving my channel information.
The watch is large but light in weight. The black watch with a copper band around the face, which serves as fm antenna, gives the watch a high tech look though my wife’s initial impression was that its large size made it look like a child’s watch. She works with children so this may have colored her initial impression. The fit and finish of the watch is superb, befitting the watches $299.00 price. The black watch band is very comfortable. I have been wearing the watch around the clock since it was activated save for one three hour period in which it was connected to the charger.
The watch is easy to read. There are five digital clock faces which come with the watch, one of which allows for dual time zone viewing though the second time zone font is so small that it is really useless. On the Monday evening after obtaining the watch I received a watch face from Microsoft which I discarded. On Wednesday March 17th 2004 I received a new watch face, named Quarter, which I really like so I kept it. This face has become my default watch face when my watch is not in its glance mode. On the 17th of March MSN Direct added their much anticipated Sports Channel featuring at its inception sports scores for the NCAA, NBA and WNBA. These scores allow you to follow the progress of games, a few minutes behind real time, as the watch automatically updates the score. Yesterday afternoon I followed the NCAA Duke game and yesterday evening I followed the score of the Atlanta Hawk NBA game. I initially had a problem with this channel. I added this channel last Wednesday I had not received any information as of Saturday morning. I new that some of the teams I had added had played so I contact MSN Direct technical support. The overseas based technical support person directed me to reset my watch in the same way as I was directed by the Suunto tech to turn it on. The representative told me that she was resetting the data stream on my watch. Within an hour I was receiving sports score data.
The back light of the watch is accessed by pushing in the top left hand button on the watch. This causes the watch to glow with an incandescent dark green background with the information displayed in a light, yellowish green font. I have had no problem reading the information displayed on the watch using this feature. I was however worried that I would not like the watches monochrome display. My first pda, a Sharp Wizard had a monochrome display which I never liked. My first Palm also had a monochrome display. l returned the handheld two hours after its purchase for a color Palm IVA. This color device was much easier to read. I subsequently owned a color Handspring Visor Prism and three iPaq pocket PC devices.
The real issue for me with the Suunto N3 was whether this watch would fit into my large arsenal of gadget gear that I carry around with me in my Road Wired Podzilla gadget bag. Would the inevitable duplication of features keep this watch from being useful tool? In order that you might both understand my perspective on this watch and assess my gadget geek credentials I will tell you what I tote around in my bag. I carry an iPaq 5555 Pocket PC with a 512 meg sd card, a pc card expansion pack with both a 1 gig IBM Microdrive and a Kingston 5 gig pc card. I connect this device, when I am away from home, via Bluetooth to a Sony Ericsson T610 gsm cell phone for internet access and at home I connect it to the internet through my Netgear WGR 614 802.11g wireless wifi router. I carry a Creative Labs 60 gig Zen Xtra mp3 player, a Creative Lab 512 meg Rhomba mp3 player which I use for voice message recording and fm radio. I carry a Jabra Bluetooth headset a Canon SD10 digital camera equipped with a 256 meg sd card. As you can see duplication of information is a real issue for me.
My iPaq already provides me with news and weather through Pocket PC 2003 Today screen programs Stocks and Weather Today, Journal Bar, Pocket RSS and the Pocket Informant Today screen plug-in. My Sony Ericsson T610 also provides news weather and information through T-Mobile’s T-Zone service.
I’ll tell you this. The Suunto watch held its own. What sets this watch apart is its glance function. The glance function scrolls through the channels you choose. I have selected news, weather and calendar. The watch allows for transfer of your calendar information to your watch from an internet connected PC after the installation of a small Outlook plug-in found on the calendar section of the MSN Direct website. You receive the information you want as casually as glancing at your watch. I have stopped glancing at my ipaq for news headlines. I use it at lunch for browsing my Newsgator mobile RSS page on the web but the watch has taken over as my number one source for receiving quick news tidbits. The service is not perfect. Some of the news information is so truncated that it is impossible to glean from the headline what the story is about. MSN Direct should address this issue with its new partners. In any event you can always go to the MSN Direct website and view the whole news story. For some reason MSN Direct does not presently allow you to add sports scores to the glance function. This is a silly oversight on their part.
I discovered the real value of this watch about 5:30am on Friday March 19th 2003. I awoke with my watch on my wrist to answer natures call. I happened to glance at my watch. A news alert was displayed showing that the president of Taiwan had been shot. This was an important story for me. My daughter in law is from Taiwan. I have visited the island twice in the past fifteen months; in December of both 2002 and 2003. Upon viewing the alert I immediately turned to CNN on my television as well as on my computer to find out as much as I could about the story before calling my daughter in law. I understood then better than ever the utility of this watch. The information is right there in front you in an unobtrusive manner. You do not have to do anything new to receive all of this information. I have read some reviews where the reviewers do not wear watches. On what planet do they live? How can you function in the business world without a watch?
While at work the Outlook calendar function will alert you to upcoming meetings. The hour before the calendared event the watch will count periodically show you the time left before a meeting. With this watch there is no reason to overlook an upcoming meeting and keep your boss waiting.
Is this watch worth $299.00? Does it fit in with my assortment of digital gear? The answer to the first question depends on your disposable income, desire for information on the fly and your comfort level wearing a larger than normal sports style watch. If you are a news and information junkie like I am I think that you will be pleased with this new watch. It gives you news, weather stock, and weather at a glance. I have glad I have it. This watch is the beginning of many devices using this sort of technology. Welcome to a brave new world.
I received my Suunto N3 watch on Monday March 15th 2004 during my lunch hour from Comp USA. The serial number on the watch is 40390095. I immediately clipped on the clothes pin styled charger. Nothing happened. There was no indication on the watch to let me know that the watch was charging. My job beckoned however so I let my watch charge for the remainder of the work day I glanced at it a couple of times during the afternoon but I observed no sign of life . Prior to leaving the office, shortly after 5pm, I disconnected the watch from the charger. I decided to call Suunto technical support. I was afraid that I had received a defective watch. I immediately reached a support representative who told me that all I needed to do was turn on the watch. He directed me to simultaneously push in the two left hand buttons and while holding them press in and hold the top right hand button. The watch immediately came to life. It was easy at that point to navigate to the registration screen and obtain the MSN Direct registration number. I then accessed the MSN Direct website; input my registration number, credit card information for the $59.00 yearly subscription and selected my channel content. This whole on line process took less than five minutes. I left the office and within ten minutes my watch was displaying the correct time and I was receiving my channel information.
The watch is large but light in weight. The black watch with a copper band around the face, which serves as fm antenna, gives the watch a high tech look though my wife’s initial impression was that its large size made it look like a child’s watch. She works with children so this may have colored her initial impression. The fit and finish of the watch is superb, befitting the watches $299.00 price. The black watch band is very comfortable. I have been wearing the watch around the clock since it was activated save for one three hour period in which it was connected to the charger.
The watch is easy to read. There are five digital clock faces which come with the watch, one of which allows for dual time zone viewing though the second time zone font is so small that it is really useless. On the Monday evening after obtaining the watch I received a watch face from Microsoft which I discarded. On Wednesday March 17th 2004 I received a new watch face, named Quarter, which I really like so I kept it. This face has become my default watch face when my watch is not in its glance mode. On the 17th of March MSN Direct added their much anticipated Sports Channel featuring at its inception sports scores for the NCAA, NBA and WNBA. These scores allow you to follow the progress of games, a few minutes behind real time, as the watch automatically updates the score. Yesterday afternoon I followed the NCAA Duke game and yesterday evening I followed the score of the Atlanta Hawk NBA game. I initially had a problem with this channel. I added this channel last Wednesday I had not received any information as of Saturday morning. I new that some of the teams I had added had played so I contact MSN Direct technical support. The overseas based technical support person directed me to reset my watch in the same way as I was directed by the Suunto tech to turn it on. The representative told me that she was resetting the data stream on my watch. Within an hour I was receiving sports score data.
The back light of the watch is accessed by pushing in the top left hand button on the watch. This causes the watch to glow with an incandescent dark green background with the information displayed in a light, yellowish green font. I have had no problem reading the information displayed on the watch using this feature. I was however worried that I would not like the watches monochrome display. My first pda, a Sharp Wizard had a monochrome display which I never liked. My first Palm also had a monochrome display. l returned the handheld two hours after its purchase for a color Palm IVA. This color device was much easier to read. I subsequently owned a color Handspring Visor Prism and three iPaq pocket PC devices.
The real issue for me with the Suunto N3 was whether this watch would fit into my large arsenal of gadget gear that I carry around with me in my Road Wired Podzilla gadget bag. Would the inevitable duplication of features keep this watch from being useful tool? In order that you might both understand my perspective on this watch and assess my gadget geek credentials I will tell you what I tote around in my bag. I carry an iPaq 5555 Pocket PC with a 512 meg sd card, a pc card expansion pack with both a 1 gig IBM Microdrive and a Kingston 5 gig pc card. I connect this device, when I am away from home, via Bluetooth to a Sony Ericsson T610 gsm cell phone for internet access and at home I connect it to the internet through my Netgear WGR 614 802.11g wireless wifi router. I carry a Creative Labs 60 gig Zen Xtra mp3 player, a Creative Lab 512 meg Rhomba mp3 player which I use for voice message recording and fm radio. I carry a Jabra Bluetooth headset a Canon SD10 digital camera equipped with a 256 meg sd card. As you can see duplication of information is a real issue for me.
My iPaq already provides me with news and weather through Pocket PC 2003 Today screen programs Stocks and Weather Today, Journal Bar, Pocket RSS and the Pocket Informant Today screen plug-in. My Sony Ericsson T610 also provides news weather and information through T-Mobile’s T-Zone service.
I’ll tell you this. The Suunto watch held its own. What sets this watch apart is its glance function. The glance function scrolls through the channels you choose. I have selected news, weather and calendar. The watch allows for transfer of your calendar information to your watch from an internet connected PC after the installation of a small Outlook plug-in found on the calendar section of the MSN Direct website. You receive the information you want as casually as glancing at your watch. I have stopped glancing at my ipaq for news headlines. I use it at lunch for browsing my Newsgator mobile RSS page on the web but the watch has taken over as my number one source for receiving quick news tidbits. The service is not perfect. Some of the news information is so truncated that it is impossible to glean from the headline what the story is about. MSN Direct should address this issue with its new partners. In any event you can always go to the MSN Direct website and view the whole news story. For some reason MSN Direct does not presently allow you to add sports scores to the glance function. This is a silly oversight on their part.
I discovered the real value of this watch about 5:30am on Friday March 19th 2003. I awoke with my watch on my wrist to answer natures call. I happened to glance at my watch. A news alert was displayed showing that the president of Taiwan had been shot. This was an important story for me. My daughter in law is from Taiwan. I have visited the island twice in the past fifteen months; in December of both 2002 and 2003. Upon viewing the alert I immediately turned to CNN on my television as well as on my computer to find out as much as I could about the story before calling my daughter in law. I understood then better than ever the utility of this watch. The information is right there in front you in an unobtrusive manner. You do not have to do anything new to receive all of this information. I have read some reviews where the reviewers do not wear watches. On what planet do they live? How can you function in the business world without a watch?
While at work the Outlook calendar function will alert you to upcoming meetings. The hour before the calendared event the watch will count periodically show you the time left before a meeting. With this watch there is no reason to overlook an upcoming meeting and keep your boss waiting.
Is this watch worth $299.00? Does it fit in with my assortment of digital gear? The answer to the first question depends on your disposable income, desire for information on the fly and your comfort level wearing a larger than normal sports style watch. If you are a news and information junkie like I am I think that you will be pleased with this new watch. It gives you news, weather stock, and weather at a glance. I have glad I have it. This watch is the beginning of many devices using this sort of technology. Welcome to a brave new world.
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