Finally a Speakerphone That Works - Motorokr T505

I vote Bluetooth as one of the most bothersome consumer wireless protocols to date. Yes, some may argue there may have been others, but none have really caused as much frustration for me as the damn Bluetooth headset for my cellphone.

I used one for almost a year with all the irritations that came with it - Needed to charge it using a tiny charger tip that was unique to the device, people on the other end could not hear me when the battery was low, the thing would not fit in my ear properly, and always had the nagging feeling a device transmitting at 2.4GHz almost half inserted into my brain was doing a better job at cooking my brain!

Recently, with some of my team members at work situated in Ireland, morning conference calls have been plenty. And of course, they have to coincide with my commute to work (yes, I know, those who know me point out its not really a "morning" commute!). Having given up on BT headsets, I reverted back to the old faithful, yet unfitting-in-my-tiny-ears wired headset that came with my Blackberry. But the wire dropping down the side of my face, and getting entangled with the rest of the wires in my car was still irritating. Ok, enough background. I have now found, bought, used, and tested the perfect device for my car. The Motorokr T505 Bluetooth Speakerphone. I vote this to be one of the must-haves for gadget fiends out there. This thing looks like a space-age garage door opener, clips on to the visor, and pairs with your Bluetooth enabled cellphone in a jiffy. The device has a built-in speaker that is amply loud and clear (mind you, louder than the speaker on the Blackberry 8800 which many believe to have one of the best spearkerphone capabilities). The microphone is sensitive, and in a few conversations, the person on the other end could not tell I was on a speakerphone. The T505 packs in impressive echo and noise cancellation that helps you be heard clearly on the other end without any annoying feedback. Now, here is the kicker -- you can press a button on the device, a sexy British woman's voice announces an unused FM radio station that the device dynamically finds and starts transmitting at, for your car's radio. This allows the speakers of your car to take over -- the person you are talking to can be heard over the car's audio system, while the microphone on the device continues functioning. Voila! There you go -- fancy car bluetooth system that you can use even in your Ford Pinto! Trust me the device works well.

A few things I wish it had -- should have given you the choice of your own FM station, a little LCD screen to show the frequency, the power ON and the FM station buttons on the front of the unit.
Sidenote: It will also transmit over the air any music from your phone to the FM station; that is if your phone has audio over Bluetooth.
Check out other specs here and buy from Amazon (thats where I found it to be the cheapest).

PS: I don't work for Motorola although this blog post makes it look like they paid me fifty bucks to write this post.

R2 D2 will wake you up: Clocky

Toin and I have been waking up using the alarm on my BlackBerry. While it does the job, you cannot imagine how painful it gets to maneuver the trackball to hit snooze. But can't try the snooze stunt with this little monster: Clocky. Clocky is kinda cute and freaky at the same time. The alarm clock will wake you up with a beeping alarm, and then after some time to keep you from snoozing, it will jump off the table...no seriously, I am not making this up...it really will jump up, and scurry away into a hiding place. Yes, you guessed it...it will beep and tweet like mad from its hiding place. But I can't buy it, Toin will kill the damn thing once she finds it the first morning. Not sure? Why not check out this pesky gremlin in action at YouTube.

Keep them questions coming - Prashnottarang

This is the kind of stuff that makes me feel guilty...guilty of spending countless hours on the internet and not coming up such ingenious ideas for bridging the gap between the illiterate and the Internet. Prashnottarang or the Question Box is a very simple telephone intercom which requires no computer literacy (in fact, not even literacy). A user simply presses the green button, talks or asks a question, an Internet user (a volunteer) on the other end browses the web for an answer, and responds to the user of the box. This has started as a non-profit project in India (in two villages). These boxes are placed near a shop where people have easy access to it. Well, wont spoil the fun...read all about it here, Question Box. While you are at it, check out their Flickr page too.
Some ways I imagine the villagers would use it would be: to find out weather forecasts for the region, cricket scores, which politician has what agenda, and most of all, symptoms of diseases and other healthcare related information, etc etc. I am sure the list is infinite.
Mobile?: On the for-profit side, I thought I had heard of services where you can just call a service and get someone to find something out from the web. I have called my friends or my brother on numerous occasions to find out about an address on the web, or listings of movies in the area....i sure could have used a Question Box. Could there be a potential for a company like ChaCha (the search engine where a live quide chats with you) to have a version of their service accessible via a regular phone call. Those damn tiny qwerty buttons on my Blackberry don't make it fun to browse the web on the mini screen!

Listen to your iTunes Library on your Blackberry

The title of this post is what it is since I think this seems to be awesome for us Blackberry users on unlimited data plans. I still need to try it, but this service can stream your iTunes library to your phone. Will need a download. The only thing my Blackberry cannot do now is cut through a shoe like a Ginsu but pretty much everything else.
nuTsie.com! Listen and Share your iTunes Music, Playlists, Songs, MP3s and CDs - nuTsie

No Search for Me

Apple has screwed it's users again. I saw the search feature in Bhai's new iPod Nano, and for whatever reason I was sure Apple released a new firmware update to add the much-needed search feature in all iPods. But, no! I connected my iPod to the computer hoping to get a new software, only to find my iPod was already updated, and didn't have a search feature. First I thought I was doing something wrong....but seriously, where would I go wrong doing something as simple as this. But a little searching on the web revealed that Apple has in fact left this feature out for old iPod users. No seriously, why would I want to buy a new iPod just to get a search feature. Do they really think this feature will be enough for people to upgrade their hardware. I think not! I know a few iPhone users who are pissed off they paid more than folks buying it now. Now, with this, I am pissed too!

Humping pooch at it, at your USB port!

Of all the various devices that connect to your USB port, I guarantee it, you don't have this device - the USB humping dog. Yes, it humps your USB port as soon as you connect. Like this blog post says it, it robs us all of precious dignity. I never thought a little motor could be put to such creative use. So, if you don't quite understand what I am talking about, see for yourself in this video.