coffee.geek.nz

I've been through a lot of bluetooth headsets in the last decade. The scifi/spy/actionWoman notion of talking with your handsfree, using a protocol with such a cool name "bluetooth" caught my imagination early

I'll skip most of the decade of headsets, cos that's just boring, but i will describe my first: Sony Ericsson HBH-65. It was small, light - and didn't have that long microphone all the way to your mouth. It also fit well and had a nice holster. When i upgraded to my phone to one with an MP3 player, i could hear podcasts in one ear while walking down the street looking like an idiot.

There was also a reasonably good jabra along the way:

several shoddy quality headsets later, (they started coming free with bluetooth phones) - i got a stero headset. Actually i got several stereo headsets, but only one is worth recommending: the Plantronics 590c. In fact i liked them so much, and took it so many places that when i broke one i got the same one again.. but that also broke. So very comfy, pretty good audio for a bluetooth link, good mic.. but FLIMSY!

On sale at http://wellington.girlgeekdinners.co.nz/events/

The event is on the 8th of July.. it's a full 3 course meals, an evening tech, games, gadgets, and geeky company.

These always sell out all tickets in approx 24 hours - so be quick.

Guys can attend too, but only as an invited guest of a woman.

Over in Australia, that giant group of "movie industry" companies failed to convince the judge of the merit in their case against an ISP for "allowing copyright infringement".    

The Sydney Morning Herald Blogs: Gadgets on the Go

Movie studios suing Australian internet provider iiNet have dropped some charges, no longer claiming the ISP directly infringed copyright laws by refusing to disconnect customers downloading pirate movies.

The Australian Federation Against Copyright Theft, representing various copyright holders, had accused iiNet of committing "conversion" - directly infringing copyright by interfering with the copyright holders' "rights of possession". The charge was dropped after AFACT lawyers failed to convince Federal Court judge, Justice Dennis Cowdroy, of its merit. The judge has ordered the studios pay iiNet's court costs relating to that claim. 

Whenever this ISP recieved an accusation of copyright infringment, they would pass the matter onwards to the Australian police. The ISP did not wish to become the unpaid copyright police for large movie studios, nor were they qualified for such a job.

The remaining charges revolve around whether iiNet is liable for the actions of its users and their alleged copyright infringement.

Last night i dreamed i did some public speaking, and then i won a sparkly pink tiara with pink fur trim.

Turns out it was true!
http://up.org.nz/predictions-2009/

i think this means i'm now supreme blogger in wellington!! (there can be only one, etc. etc.)

I was part of a panel of bloggers who were asked to make predictions for the coming year. The other bloggers where Miraz Jordon, Philip Fierlinger and Mauricio Freitas

Miraz predicted apple taking over the laptop market (75%!) and we'll need a licence to use the internet read more - Philip is actually a salesman for apple iphones - and Mauricio agreed opensource is going to take over the world but his kitchen might not get finished in time.

Here are the predicions i made:

Gadgets

Opensource will take over the gadget world (finally!)

webkit will be on more and more gadgets, but so will opera (closed source) and mozilla will make some inroads into mobile (and about time too for mozilla). This was confirmed today by the announcement that Mozilla have employed a programmer from palm

The mighty bloggers of the Wellingtonista have put together a beginner's guide to world's most awesome city : Wellington.

http://www.webstock.org.nz/09/venue/wellington.php

Tailored for webstock attendees, the advice holds true no matter your reason for visiting.

It includes where to eat, drink, be merry, and find wifi in wellington
(short version, wifi is almost *everywhere*)

There's also public transport, taxis, and some worthy places for shopping, including where to find shiny gadgets.

i'm on the panel for this year's Bloggers Predict.

http://up.org.nz/predictions-2009/

The rules:
Each blogger will make 3 to 5 predictions in the following categories:
Gadgets & Games
The Internet, Web 3.0...
Business & Technology
Wellington/NZ/the Universe (open slather)

Predictions made by blog readers in comments are allowed, but must be credited.

Cheating -- by using insider knowldge, in-depth simulations, latent psychic powers, reasoned analysis, alcohol, ouija boards, etc -- is strictly encouraged.
The Event:

When: Tuesday 27 January, 2009, 5:30 for a 6:00 start
Where: Wellington Regional Chamber of Commerce, level 28, The Majestic Centre, 100 Willis Street

We predict that this will be an UP event like no other. Come to drink, meet and mingle, and at 6pm we will assemble to hear the bloggers reveal all--their own forecasts, and those made by their readers.

Then you will vote for the blogger who has made the most plausible yet unexpected claims about the year ahead. The blogger with the most votes will take the prize...

The evening will conclude with a traditional Unlimited Potential feast: free pizza and beer! RSVP now to reserve your spot!

I'm up north in Warkworth this weekend, for a foocamp style gathering called TelecomOne. There's lotsa telecom people, telecom contractors, and a few interesting people invited to get together for this unconference.
Most of what is discussed is under NDA, so you won't see tweets or blog covereage of the talks...

hacking gadgets at town hall, originally uploaded by this is emily

oooo .. i'm inimitable :-)

hacking gadgets at town hall, originally uploaded by this is emily

oooo .. i'm inimitable :-)

i'm curious who is reading my blog.

How did you find me? What are you looking for? How many gadgets do you have on your person?

I still use my 1st gen ipod nano. The reason: it runs Rockbox.

Rockbox is alternate firmware for a whole lotta players, like the apple ipods. There were many players for a while that had the same architecture, so a group of opensource hackers wrote rockbox to run on the lot. iRivers, Apple, Sandisk, Samsung..

Doom on my ipod nano:

continue reading "Audio gadgets - so many features apple never got on Gaming Generation.

From Mike, who's did a heap of great work for barcamps of wellington:

The fine folk organising the Internet Identity barcamp and the Mobile
barcamp have taken myMikeR's suggestion on-board of combining them into one
and now we have a cracking potential for cross pollination of ideas.

But don't think that because you're into shiny hand-held gadgets you
can't go because you'll have to listen to boring ID stuff - OR -
because you want to understand more about Identity but don't think
whizzo tools for mobile phones is your thing you shouldn't go.

oh beautiful season of pockets, jeans (with pockets), big bulky jackets (with pockets) and all the gadgets in can put in those pockets.

interesting that the worlds two most popular blogs are Gizmodo and Engadget...They're blogging same topic!could it be that gadgets overs are doing all the blog reading? Mobile has taken over the world? and macromedia adobe flash can go #@^ itself?yeah - i'm sick with something horrible today - been home trying to finish tidying up something to finally GPL it - but i keep falling asleep.Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

i blame Penny - - so here i go answering some questins

1. What did you do in 2006 that you'd never done before?
Went to a job interview as the interviewer.

2. Did you keep your New Year's Resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
Go running every day - - HA! i can't remember that last time i did.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
No.

4. Did anyone close to you die?
No.

5. What countries did you visit?
None.

6. What would you like to have in 2007 that you lacked in 2006?