by Darren Murph, posted Aug 4th 2008 at 12:54PM All but the most affluent among us have likely purged the pricey Meridiist from our memories, but if you’ve ever wondered what exactly a £2,650 ($5,162) cellphone looks like (and really, who hasn’t?), you’ll definitely want to check this out. The fine folks over at Stuff were able to point their camera at TAG Heuer’s exquisite handset ever-so-briefly, and while the images tell half the story, the folks handling it told the other. The chunky phone reportedly reeked of unnecessary luxury and was built solidly, but we didn’t get the impression that they were champing at the bit to call this a bargain. (Read the full post about ‘TAG Heuer’s ritzy Meridiist handset gets unboxed’…)
If you are attending the Olympics in China starting the end of this week, then Phil Dunkelberger, chief executive of PGP Corp. has some advice for you. If you are taking any kind of hardware with you, be it a laptop or smart phone, he is urging you to encrypt the data on your devices, or just take clean hardware with you.
His warnings come in light of China’s security policies, which involve bypassing security and monitoring activities and data on machines and over the Internet. Dunkelberger said, “People who are going to China should take a clean computer, one with no data at all.”
Monitoring occurs on a number of levels, with the clearest example being the telecommunications in the country, which are State owned and run. China regularly block access to websites and have even clashed with the Olympic officials over the fact media representatives will not be given total freedom when using the Internet there.
Senator Sam Brownback was also sent documents earlier this week detailing how all hotels being used for the Olympics have had systems installed to monitor Internet access. He said:
The Chinese government has put in place a system to spy on and gather information about every guest at hotels where Olympic visitors are staying … A lot of places in the world, including China, don’t have the same view of personal space and privacy that we do in the United States … You’ve got to suspect that every place you’re doing work is being monitored and being watched.
Read more at Reuters.com
Matthew’s Opinion
China is not new to the practice of monitoring and blocking content they don’t feel is acceptable. They blocked access to Flickr last year believed to be because Tiananmen massacre images appeared on there. The government there also monitor online gaming content to make sure nothing controversial appears.
So, it doesn’t come as a big surprise that China is implementing monitoring for all attendees of the games. The Olympics running smoothly is very important for the perception of the country to its government and that’s why they want to ensure nothing goes wrong. A bigger problem though, is how bad it could go wrong if it does, and I’m sure that is why monitoring is being implemented everywhere.
The potential for protests is huge and we only have to look at the problems seen on the journey of the Olympic torch to realize how many people are upset by some of China’s actions.
I hope the games run smoothly for the sake of the athletes and that any protests that do occur remain free of violence.
Tags: gprs, video games, equipment, buyers guides
Females in the German police force are grateful for the supply of bullet proof vests that have helped prevent deaths and serious injuries during the line of duty, but such vests don’t do favors for the female body as side-effects include pushing underwires and fixings of standard lingerie into the skin, resulting in pain and injury. Hence, all 3,000 female cops have recently been issued with three bullet-resistant bras to help them function more efficiently while on duty, kissing goodbye to flesh-puncturing fastenings. Tags: DVD, buyers guides, design, CD (Read the full post about ‘Bullet-resistant Bra for German Police’…)
iPhone clones are as common as the iPhone itself, but to clone one of the better selling Palm devices? That’s the case with the OQO G900 that is heavily inspired by the Palm Centro, although it takes a different route from iphone clones that fail in the hardware department, falling far short of the actual iPhone specifications. With the OQO G900, this clone actually boasts better hardware specifications such as a 624MHz processor, 128MB memory, a 2 megapixel camera, Wi-Fi connectivity and quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE. Pretty neat, eh? (Read the full post about ‘OQO G900 Centro Clone’…)
If you are headed to the beach, pick up Microsoft’s 10-K filing with the SEC for some light reading. It’s filled with characters you know and love and their almost comic book struggle to restore peace in the galaxy bring profitability to Microsoft. If you follow the report carefully, you’ll learn Microsoft is, in fact, a software company. And what software company doesn’t want to get their applications on the hottest mobile computing device going? (Read the full post about ‘Coming to App Store: Microsoft Office?’…)
Lenovo has officially unveiled the IdeaPad S10, which is going to be available beginning in September. The IdeaPad S10 will be available in two options, one with an 80GB hard drive and 512MB of RAM for $399 and the second with a 160GB hard drive and 1GB of RAM for $449. Other features of the IdeaPad S10 include are a 10.2-inch widescreen LED backlit display with a 1024 x 600 resolution, 1.6 GHz Intel Atom N270 processor, 4-in-1 multi card reader, express card slot, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g, Ethernet, Bluetooth, stereo speakers, built-in 1.3-megapixel webcam, a multi-touch trackpad and a near full-size (85%) keyboard. (Read the full post about ‘Lenovo makes the IdeaPad S10 official, will ship in September’…)
Some time in the future, we will discover an ancient yet technological race of druids who will have their own version of Stonehenge. Instead of a series of stones gathered in a circle as a calendar, this strange futuristic race of druids will have a robotic arm that will rearrange a set of numbered cards to indicate the current time. The future is now. A clever designer who my source does not name has built the robot arm and the numbered cards for it. It appears that the cards are made of some simple foam with some neodymium magnets to make certain they are put back in the same place every time. If you want to see this Stonehenge in action for yourself, feel free to watch the attached YouTube video after the jump. (Read the full post about ‘Stonehenge Rocks Around the Clock’…)
youngplatinummusic recorded a video with a trick that will help you get the OTA if you’re patient and willing to try something over and over. We recommend doing this late at night when the network isn’t being used as much. You’ll have a better chance of getting your OTA quick and easy if it works.
(Read the full post about ‘Get Your Sidekick LX Video OTA NOW!’…)
If you’re stuck attempting to lose a bit of weight and have a serious addiction for all that is Hello Kitty, then you might pick up one of these. Although I doubt there is a single person on this earth who actually loves scales, this one does have a few extras to keep you motivated. It might actually help you to not loathe that point that you have to step onto the scale. This Hello Kitty scale actually hooks up to your computer and basically saves your weight. Then charts it and keeps track of it from day to day. That way weight loss is a little less of a guessing game and you know exactly where you were at last month. To plug it into your computer, it has a handheld panel that connects via USB. It is being sold for 12,000 Yen or about $112. Which is a bit much for just a silly little scale, but slap Hello Kitty on it and it’s guaranteed that someone will buy it, especially in Japan. (Read the full post about ‘Hello Kitty scale keeps track of your weight’…)
Popcorn Hour has rolled out its new A-110 network media hub that features the following :- Supports HDMI 1.3a output Support for both 2.5″ and 3.5″ hard drives Optical SPDIF for audio output USB port connectivity BitTorrent client-capable Supports live photo feeds from multiple sources The Popcorn Hour A-110 can be pre-ordered for $215, although you will need to get your own hard drive. No shipping date has been confirmed as at press time. Tags: CD, Ogg, games, cameras (Read the full post about ‘Popcorn Hour A-110 Released’…)
