I hit the Australian International Motor Show (AIMS) over the weekend. While it wasn’t as spectacular as previous years, I still enjoyed it. You can see photos I took either in the gallery on this site, or over on Flickr.

[Update: Thanks Kent and Richard. Keep it coming!]

[Update 2: Jenith (a former MobileBurn employee and fellow Australian) weighs in, as does James Kendrick.]

Today is a travel day, as Ze Frank would say, and while packing up for the impending journey I am faced with the decision of what gadgets to take with me. It’s only the essentials that are coming this time, so the list includes:

1. HP dv2040XT notebook computer
2. Nokia N73 smartphone
3. Motorola MOTOKRZR K1
4. Sandisk Cruzer Titanium thumb drive
5. HP iPAQ h1940 PDA in a GPS car holder for directions
6. Sony CyberShot DSC-W7 digital camera
7. mVox MV900 Bluetooth speakerphone for in the car
8. Assorted memory cards, cables, and chargers for the above

Sitting the trip out that would otherwise be coming is the iMate JAQ I will be reviewing, for the simple reason that it hasn’t arrived yet.

So, if you’re reading this, I would be very interested to hear what gadgets you take with you on a trip. Let’s try and start a meme: post your travel gadgets list to your blog, and be sure to ping me so I can find you. Kent Newsome, Robert Scoble, Richard Querin – I’m looking at you!

While I had the equipment out, I decided to film a quick video of the MOTOKRZR to give people an idea of the size of the device and speed of the user interface. Click below to watch the video.

Continue Reading »

Following the break-in of my house on Saturday night, I went out yesterday and purchased a new notebook computer. I am now the proud owner of an HP dv2040XT – Intel Core Duo 1.6GHz, 1GB RAM, 14.1″ widescreen display, nVidia GeForce Go 7700, and an 80GB SATA hard drive. The hard drive is a little on the small side, but everything else is top notch – I think it is actually as fast as my old Pentium D 3.0GHz desktop that was stolen, plus it is small and has pretty good battery life.

Also, another new addition that I forgot to mention is the Motorola MOTOKRZR K1 that arrived for review the other day. I have mixed emotions about the device, as the build and feel is excellent, but it still runs only a slightly updated version of Motorola’s classic UI, rather than the funky new Java Linux UI that is on the ROKR E2. I will try to do a short video overview of the device today and post it up here.

Well, it finally happened. The chances of being burgled are fairly high these days, and let’s face it, I’ve had a pretty good run to not have been broken in to before. But last night it happened…

Gone is, well, pretty much everything electronic in my apartment. Not only have I lost home entertainment items like the Xbox 360, as well as my desktop computer (including two LCD monitors and scanner) and notebook computer, but also my external backup hard drives – meaning years and years of data is now gone. While this is a painful experience for anyone, it is even more so for someone like me who works from home. This has absolutely disabled me until I can get a new computer, and even then, the damage done from lost data cannot have a price put on it.

Gloves were used, so there are no fingerprints, and the chances of me getting anything back is slim to nothing. While I will not go into a deep, philosophical discussion about what it is that makes people behave in this manner, I will say that it is quite upsetting seeing how immoral humanity has become.

While I can spend time obsessing over the loss, the fact of the matter is that I am not hurt, and life will continue. The experience has shown me the good side of humanity as well, though, and I would like to extend the most heartfelt thank you to my friends, family, and girlfriend who have been incredibly supportive, and offered more help than I could ever hope for.

And on life goes…