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Here’s the deal. i don’t have OS X 10.2. I don’t have a Sony Ericsson T68 mobile phone. I don’t have a powerbook with BlueTooth (or even a card). But, the Knowledge Base article, Bluetooth: How to Use a Sony Ericsson T68 Phone as a Bluetooth Modem86151, has me thinking that maybe I should change all that. Anybody know what the cost/throughput would be on something like that? Clearly more research is needed.

I am SO tempted to get This:

1. Database for Tracking Books, CDs and DVD’s
2. Automatically Assembles Cover Art and Information from Internet DataSources
3. Works with Mac (and windows, linux, palm)
4. Free CueCat Barcode Scanner (I knew I shouldn’t have thrown those out…)

$85 though - that’s about 2 times what I’d like it to be. I’m tempted though. I have shelves and shelves of books, and like any good geek, I’d love to get all that data into nice searchable, manipulatable little boxes.

Anybody know if there’s a way to hack a Tivo box (in particular a DirectTV Tivo box) so that it can serve as an MP3 jukebox? It seems like this is one of the first hacks that people would have put in place, but whenever I go searching for a way to do it, I can’t ever seem to find it. Who’s going to do Caller ID before they do MP3 Jukeboxes — seriously, who?

I was reminded of my desire for this again because I came across Yahaha’s CDR-HD1300, a stereo component with 80GB hard drive built in. I was interested until I realized it costs $800 which is a good $300 too much in my book. Also, it doesn’t seem to support MP3s. I mean please, do they really think I’m going to re-rip all of my CDs at this point? Why in this day and age do you build something like this and not support MP3s? Idiotic, anti-consumer copyright zealots. I also don’t think it can connect to the CDDB, so you get to type out all of the album and track info yourself. Really, really just ridiculously dumb.

I ordered a set of Altec Lansing ATP3 flat-panel 3-piece speakers for my computer at work. I listen to MP3s at work a lot, and the positioning of my computer tends to place the sound more outside of my office than in making it louder for others as opposed to me. Plus, the speakers that come stock in the Macs are adequate, but a little cheezy sounding. more…
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A while ago, I came within inches of giving in to all the street hype. I was seriously looking forward to getting one of the Danger, Hiptop devices.

The Side Kick, the first danger device to be made available, came out last week. I went to my local CompUSA, the only retail distributer so that I could try it out and make sure it was as wonderful as I’d been hearing it would be. But, my local CompUSA didn’t have them and don’t expect to have them for at least a week or two.

On top of that, MSNBC says that T-Mobile, the service provider for the device completely sucks. Anil says that the integrated browser, the thing I’d mostly want the device for, completely sucks. I was looking forward to this in a major way, but from all I’m hearing, unless you want to spend all day on AIM, this thing just completely sucks.

I think all of the buzz about the Danger Hiptop finally got me. I’ve been thinking about getting a James Bond type phone/PDA/toy for a while now. When I first saw all the tech pundits drooling over the Hiptop I didn’t get what the big deal was.

Now, I think I see and I think I want one. Looks like Oct. 1 is the big release date. I need to see what surfing the web on one is really like to be sure though. I hope CompUSA has one set up for demo purposes - it seems like all of their PDA/Phone display models aren’t functional which makes buying sorta tough.

OK, OK … Forget the flying cars. Just get me one of these!! (15 MB Quicktime file - Knowledge Navigator from 87 - forerunner to the Newton)

I have always wanted a Star Wars Land Speeder. I didn’t want a speeder as desparately as I wanted a light saber or the ability to float a spaceship with the power of my mind, but this is still pretty freaking cool if you ask me.

In the past 6 weeks there have been at least two occasions where life would have been better if I had a cellular phone. I’ve resisted jumping on the mobile bandwagon for a while now (see post below this one #), but I’m thinking it may be time to embrace the future, or the past, or something.

I have questions though. Many, many Questions.

If I get a cell phone, is there any reason to keep a landline for my home? (Update: of course I still need a landline. The Sat/Tivo box needs to call out, and if the cable modem ever goes out, I’ll need to dial and ISP, damn - that makes getting a cell phone/calling plan a lot less attractive to me) I make and receive as few calls as possible, so… What is the best service to go with. I’m in the Los Angeles area. As I said, call volume will be very low. Data volume may be higher. I’m not sure what’s available. Is it just SMS, or can you really get a phone that lets you hit web content in a reasonable, cost-effective way? What about one that easily interfaces with my PowerBook G4? Are you still looking at 9.6 k speeds, or can you get something closer to 56k, or even 128k? And what should I expect to pay for that convenience? What is the best phone to get? I’m thinking James Bond cool here. Small, maybe with PDA features built in. From what I’ve seen, those two things Small and PDA seem to be mutually exclusive. Has anybody done a good job of giving you the best of all worlds? What about sound quality and comfort when using the phone. I’ve had to borrow a few phones from time to time, and they feel and sound awkward to me. Do you just get used to that or…?

So, I’ve been thinking about getting a digital camera. Tonight I finally decided on The Nikon Coolpix 995. Now whether I will be able to motivate myself to figure out how to take decent pictures is still up in the air, but at least now I have the cool toy. It’s really about the toys more than the art.