* Latest Cool Tools video: Palm Treo 700p * Latest Cool Tools Column: New laptops from Dell, Lenovo * The past 7 days on the Cool Tools Blog * Featured reader resource
Keith Shaw’s Cool Tools Alert
* LATEST COOL TOOLS VIDEO:
The Palm Treo 700p
Keith demos what he calls the ultimate converged device: The Palm Treo 700p with dial-up networking support.
* LATEST COOL TOOLS COLUMN:
New laptops from Dell, Lenovo
We’ve got notebook fever. Get the scoop on the new Dell Precision M90 and Lenovo’s N100.
* PAST 7 DAYS ON THE COOL TOOLS BLOG:
Cingular offers “consumer” BlackBerry pricing
One of the complaints about the BlackBerry wireless e-mail device and service has been “corporate” pricing that drives away individuals from the benefits of being able to e-mail everyone while at a nice restaurant. Cingular hopes to change that with a new service offering “that brings the power of BlackBerry to on-the-go individuals at consumer friendly prices.”
Robots will rule the world someday
Start your Christmas lists, because WowWee Robotics has launched the Robosapien V2, which the company says is its most human-like robot to date.
Seagate goes 8GB with pocket hard drive
Among a bunch of storage-related announcements today, Seagate said it will ship an 8GB version of its Pocket Hard Drive in July. The $149 drive will be able to hold so much stuff your head will explode (Ed. Note: well, not literally).
Skype adds new avatars
Skype and Comverse today announced Skype Klonies, an avatar service that lets users personalize their Skype client with different personality traits, moods and interest. After designing a “Klonie” in the Klonies Studio on the Skype Web site, users can pay for and then download their image into the Skype client.
Look, up in the sky! It’s my PC!
The latest painted customized computer system built around an upcoming movie comes from Alienware, which today launched a desktop and a notebook with graphics from Superman Returns, which arrives in theaters on June 28.
Belkin add-on enables iPod podcast recording
While I’m not sure whether this will get you into the ranks of professional podcasters (Ed. note: Now there’s a phrase you don’t see everyday), the new Belkin TuneTalk Stereo will let you record events (lectures, interviews, conversations, etc.) just by attaching it to an iPod. The $69.99 device will ship in North America later this month, with Asia, Europe and Australian shipments shortly thereafter, Belkin says.
Language lessons via your cell phone
It’s obvious that people who design things for cell phones are huge science-fiction nerds fans. How else to explain new foreign language applications from the Verizon Wireless Get It Now service, which gets us closer to the Babel fish or the Star Trek Universal Translator. The downloadable applications offer translations for Spanish, French, Japanese or German (just in time for all you World Cup fans heading to the games!).
Free conference calls via Skype
In case you needed yet another reason to try out Skype, the company announced this week a deal to provide unlimited, free conference calling for up to 500 participants. The deal between Vapps and Skype through the Vapps’ Highspeedconferencing.com service is the latest offering to get people to try the Internet phone calling service. Last month the company announced free calls to any U.S. or Canadian mobile phone or landline phone line until the end of 2006.
Toshiba launches Tecra M6 notebookThe latest Toshiba notebook, the Tecra M6, adds the lastest performance features and is aimed at “on-the-go” mobile workers and students, the company says.
