Are you being polite while using your mobile phone? Whether you think you are or not, you may want to give a look at a new guide offered by SpinVox, which offers a service that allows spoken messages to be converted to text. Of course, the company also wants to make sure that when you are speaking on your mobile phone you are also doing so in a polite way.

SpinVox has offered a 10-point guide to polite mobile phone practices. The guide also introduces some interesting lingo to represent some of the most common offenses by mobile phone users.

(Read the full post about ‘Phone etiquette need brushing up? SpinVox could help’…)

Posted Mar 5th 2008 6:57AM by Thomas RickerFiled under: Digital Cameras, Features There it is, the world’s smallest DSLR — the Olympus E-420 (left) — snuggled up next to its slightly bigger E-410 bro. Note that the E-420 on display at CeBIT is a near-final, fully-functional engineering prototype. What more can we say, it feels great in hand and the space and weight savings are certainly welcome. (Read the full post about ‘Hands on with Olympus E-420 — the world’s smallest DSLR’…)

Posted Mar 5th 2008 2:28AM by Ryan BlockFiled under: Desktops, LaptopsIt’s been in development for nearly half a decade, but this year at Microsoft’s R&D extravaganza TechFest, the company finally lifted the curtain on its research-oriented Singularity OS. Let’s just be clear from the get-go, though: while it’s is available for immediate use, Singularity is nowhere near anything you’d replace your desktop OS with. The sole intention here is to test out futuristic new concepts in application interaction, microkernel architecture, and so on, so don’t expect to hear that Microsoft is hanging up the Vista apron or anything. (Read the full post about ‘Microsoft (finally) releases Singularity, the research oriented operating system’…)

Posted Mar 5th 2008 3:48AM by Darren MurphFiled under: Laptops While not radically different than the Satellite A300 and P300 we peeked late last month, Toshiba is rolling out yet another pair in the L300 (pictured) and U400. As for the former, you can expect a 15.4-inch 1,280 x 800 resolution panel, a 1.3-megapixel camera, integrated WiFi and the usual complement of ports. Moving onto the U400, you’ll find a smaller 13.3-inch display, ATI Mobility Radeon graphics, built-in Harman Kardon speakers, integrated webcam / microphone, Bluetooth and WiFi to boot. (Read the full post about ‘Toshiba keeps ‘em coming with the Satellite L300 / U400′…)

Posted Mar 5th 2008 1:26AM by Ryan BlockFiled under: Misc. gadgetsCNN has a pretty extensive profile on El Jobso — the likes of which seem to appear almost monthly these days in the mainstream media publication of your choosing — but one of the more interesting tidbits is that apparently he sat on his pancreatic cancer for nine friggin’ months before seeking treatment back in 2004. To put that in perspective, although his diagnosis was curable at the time, pancreatic cancer is considered to be among the most deadly forms and despite the urgings of the very few friends, family, and associates in the know, Steve apparently sought to cure himself holistically for three quarters — while everyone else (including Pixar, where he was also CEO) was in the dark. (Read the full post about ‘Jobs hid cancer for nine months before seeking treatment, damn’…)

Here’s a tough nut of a tablet pc from MobileDemand, known as the xTablet T8700. You get the following features that will be able to last up to seven hours before the battery requires a trip to the nearest power outlet. Intel Core Duo ULV U2500 1.2Hz processor 2GB of DDR2 RAM 8.4″ daylight-readable touch screen display (800 x 600 resolution) 80GB 2.5″ hard drive/Solid-state disks in 8GB/16GB/64GB capacities Networking: LAN — Gigabit Ethernet WLAN — 802.11a/b/g PAN — Bluetooth 2.0 (optional) Integrated fax/modem with RJ11 connector 2 x USB 2.0 host 1 x serial port Docking connector Microphone in and speaker out CompactFlash Type II slot PC Card slot, CardBus 2.1 compatibleThe xTablet T8700 retails for $3,800 and ships with an operating system of your choice - Windows XP Tablet PC Edition or Windows Vista Business Edition. (Read the full post about ‘MobileDemand xTablet T8700′…)

There is a new Japanese remote control that allows users to bat an eyelid in order to control the iPod, thanks to sensors connected to glasses/headphones known as the KomeKami Switch, or Temple Switch in English. These infrared sensors will generate an electric signal which will then talk to the iPod. If you wink strongly for one second with one eye, the iPod will go back one track, while doing the same with the other eye will skip the current track to the next. Closing both eyes will pause/play the iPod. According to the research team who developed this, the system works perfectly fine even if the user eats, talks, walks and runs as it is smart enough to discard accidental blinks. (Read the full post about ‘Blinking Controls iPod’…)

Grand Theft Auto, the game that got Sony fanboys all up in arms due to the fact that it is no longer an exclusive title for the PS3, will not only come in a vanilla version but with a special edition to boot. The Special Edition features an art book, the essential soundtrack, a Rockstar keychain with a safety deposit box and a Rockstar duffel bag. Amazon has also decided to throw in an exclusive license plate for you when you place your pre-order. If you’re a Sony fanboy, the PS3 pre-order can be made here while Xbox 360 owners can always place their money here. How much are you willing to fork out, max, for a Special Edition of a game? (Read the full post about ‘Grand Theft Auto Special Edition’…)

Posted Mar 5th 2008 12:14AM by Joshua TopolskyFiled under: Desktops, Laptops They’ve finally, really done it. Your good friends in the hacking community have apparently come up with a solution to get you Vista — should you want it — activation free. According to a report, there’s now a cracked, full version of Vista floating around that totally circumvents that cumbersome and costly activation process. The crack supposedly stems from OEMs (and end users) that were fed up with that process, and somehow persuaded Microsoft to pull an up-up-down-down maneuver and make the OS work, sans activation. The software utilizes System-Locked Pre-Installation 2.0, embeds OEMs BIOS files (signed by Microsoft), and passes all of the company’s Windows Genuine Advantage checks. (Read the full post about ‘Vista copy protection cracked, totally, for real’…)

MediaInVision Creative Group has just announced that they are now offering professional audio encoding and mastering for Blu-ray music production to independent recording artists as part of their services. Since the Blu-ray disc specifications make an allowance to store high resolution audio storage at 96kHz/24-bit for eight channels of audio, you supposedly get an ultra-realistic sound reproduction experience. I just hope that your home audio system is good enough, not to mention those eardrums of yours being sensitive enough to tell the difference in sound between a regular CD and a Blu-ray disc. With music on physical media experiencing a slowdown in sales like never before, I seriously doubt Blu-ray music will. (Read the full post about ‘Are You Ready For Blu-ray Music?’…)