Tag: Bluetooth

oqo

Have you heard of the OQO computer?

There’s already been several years of buzz about OQO, but I somehow missed it until yesterday, when our systems administrator told me about it and directed me to the website. For those like me who have been out of the loop, this is a full-fledged PC that can fit in your pocket. It’s more than the Pocket PCs currently on the market (full Windows XP and Office programs), and it comes with a built-in keyboard. It has WiFi and Bluetooth built in, 1GHz processor, 20GB hard drive, and 256MB DDR RAM. You can easily hook it up to a full-size keyboard and monitor to simulate a desktop experience. I’m impressed! For those who just can’t wait to get their hands on one of these, they’ll be available in the web store this fall. No price is given at this point, but I’m guessing they’ll be several thousand dollars. Considering that it would replace your desktop, laptop, and PDA, the price might actually be reasonable.

TechTV’s Best of CES 2004: Mobile Computing
CNET | Transmeta: Time for PCs to get personal

using my PDA

I have found a use for my Toshiba e355 beyond games of Solitare and a portable digital calendar.

Despite having my Toshiba e355 for over five months, I haven’t found many uses for it beyond the portable digital calendar that syncs with my desktop calendar. I have occasionally used AvantGo to download driving directions, and I’ve played many rounds of Solitaire, but neither of these things was enhanced by the electronic experience.

Recently, I began playing with my new Magellan SporTrack GPSr (thanks Anna!). It didn’t take long for me to become a geocaching addict. Now I’m spending the precious minutes after work on sunny days hunting around the area for hidden treasures. When I first started geocaching, I printed out the cache information on the backs of scrap paper. Then I read about different ways to go paperless. I was excited! Finally, I had found a use for my Toshiba that actually enhanced my experience. I downloaded GPXSonar to my Toshiba, grabbed some gpx files of local geocaches, and off I went.

Last Saturday, I started my day of cache hunting by picking one from the list I had downloaded and going from there. Everything I needed to find the cache was right there in my Toshiba — no wasting paper printing out a stack of cache details. I found three out of the four I went looking for and returned home satisfied with my hunt. I was able to use the program to make field notes right when I found the cache, which came in handy later when I went online to log my finds.

I still haven’t found many library-related uses for my PDA, but I suspect that they will emerge with time. Probably, I will get more use out of my Toshiba when I get a Bluetooth card and/or additional memory storage.

css.php