Do you hate cellphones? Sure you don’t, and there is no reason why you should. Cellphones are nifty gadgets that have become so integrated in our lives, so much that most of us cannot live without cellphones anymore. If there is anything or anyone you should hate, it is not the cellphone but rather the cellphone carriers. And if you are one of those people who do hate these bigwig carrier companies, you certainly are not alone.

Rob Beschizza of Wired.com very, very recently came up with ten good reasons why cellphone carriers should be hated. Below is a brief rundown; do take them with a grain of salt, of course (although I think we are bound to agree with some of these points, if not all).

1. Cellphone carriers stifle progress. They’ve got a good thing going, and they wouldn’t want to change status quo.
2. Cellphone carriers are a cartel. They may be competitors, but in terms of protecting their own interest, they are collaborators.
3. Cellphone carriers are going to make you pay for Tetris. Yeah, why get it for free when they can sell them to you?
4. Cellphone carriers just can’t behave themselves. Fraud, corruption, greed, censorship, poor customer service. What else?
5. Cellphone carriers illegally spy on you. If you think that whatever you said on a conversation via cellphone is safe, think again.
6. Cellphone carriers have annoying commercials. Smug, cheesy, silly, disgusting, what-have-you. But then again, who doesn’t?
7. Cellphone carriers hate their own customers. It is their privilege to make money from you.
8. Cellphone carriers’ contracts are nonsense. The jargon-y legalese in their thick user contracts serves to protect the carriers, not the consumers.
9. Cellphone carriers charge crazy fees for services you didn’t ask for. Or services you simply don’t know about. Really. Go check your phone bill.
10. Cellphone carriers lock handsets. You cannot just use a single phone for every SIM card that you own. Enough said.

There are actually five other reasons more. Go read them here.

Image: FreeDigitalPhotos.net

It is not exactly rumor, but neither is it official just yet: Skype, that EBay Company that allows us to call anyone’s phone through the Internet, has a sweet deal in the works with 3, one of the United Kingdom’s leading mobile phone service. Later this year, with a source saying as early as next week, Skype and 3 will be launching a new cellphone that will allow its users to call up people using the Skype service, very much like how they use Skype on their computer. So, all they have to do is to log into their Skype account using their phone, and they can gab away until the cellphone’s batteries need recharging.

Neat, isn’t it? Having a mobile phone where you could use the Skype calling service promises to be one of the most awesome developments ever to sprout up in the tech world. If you have this new 3Skype phone thing and you have a Skype account and the person you are calling also has a Skype account, it would mean that you can talk with each other for as long as you like for free.

But what about the phone’s features? According to this report, the features of the upcoming 3Skype phone are not so bad. It would have a 2-megapixel camera with photo editing and video capture, an MP3 player with a built-in equalizer, and simplified navigation. These are not bad at all. Also, for mobile phone users who love a bit of style and customization on their phones, the reports also say that the 3Skype phone will be available in three colors, though what would these colors be are not yet announced.

If all this hype about the 3Skype phone is true and if it does come out next week, I might just get myself one for Christmas.

No offense meant, but it seems to me like the industry of producing LCD TVs is in a way similar to the fashion industry. In both, the thinner the models are, the better it is for all concerned.

Why is it desirable for LCD TV sets to be as thin as sheets? I do not know, really. Perhaps it is because of the sleek look that very thin LCD TV sets have, or probably because of the additional household space saved by such a thin TV set.

Anyhow, Hitachi just very recently announced that they now producing what are currently the thinnest LCD television sets in the world. These sets are none other than Hitachi’s Wooo UT series.

Just how thin are these LCD TV sets in the Wooo UT series? A very slim 35 mm (1.37 inches). When these babies are released in the market next year starting February, they will come in three sizes: 42 inches, 37 inches and 32 inches. The V42 and the V37 will both have a natural resolution of 1080p while the resolution of V32 will be at 1366 x 768 pixels.

How did Hitachi manage to shave the fat out of their latest like of LCD TVs? Each TV set in the Wooo UT series only sports one HDMI input, 1 D-sub input and a couple of 6W speakers. The rest of the goodies can be found in an accompanying external digital tuner, dubbed the Wooo Station Box. The Wooo Station Box will have three HDMI inputs, an Ethernet port, an SD/MMC slot and an iVDR recorder. To make it even prettier, consumers have the option to buy a UWB hub as an add-on gear. This UWB hub will let wireless streaming with the Wooo UT LCD TV set within a 9-meter range.

And how much will these babies cost? The V42 will slash $3,760 from your bank account; the V37, $2,886; and the V32, $2,011. The UWB hub will cost an additional $786.

While surfing the Web at lunch time, I found myself looking at two distinct types of new keyboards that will be available in the market soon. Both types hail from Japan, so do not even pretend to be surprised at the newness of the concept.

The first keyboard is the hands-free type. Made by the Japanese company Actbrite, this keyboard is actually designed for use by the physically disabled. What you do with this keyboard is to plug it to your PC and place it where you can see it. And then strap on the sensor to your head.

How does this hands-free keyboard with the strap-on sensor work? Just nod your head to get the sensor to activate the keys that you want to put in. The same goes for moving your mouse around – it only takes a few small movements of your head.

It is completely effortless to use this Actbrite keyboard, so much that even those who are not disabled and are just plain lazy may just be tempted to make a grab for it. This nifty gadget, however, runs for €1,800, so do the math and be prepared to cough up the cash if you want it.

As for the do-it-yourself keyboard, Marubeni has just released a keyboard set that you will have to assemble for yourself. They dubbed this DIY keyboard the Hacoa Keyboard. It is made mostly of wood – walnut, to be exact – and it comes with its own saw, too. So if you are feeling compulsive enough to want to build your own keyboard (hey, putting a saw to your keyboard does promise some stress relief and a few psychological benefits), you can pre-order your own set for a cool $300. Do not worry about compatibility; the keyboard is said to work fine with Mac OS X 10.4 and later, as well as with Windows ME/2000/XP/Vista.

These past few days have certainly seen me ranting about the various flaws of the imperfect and overhyped Windows Vista. Let us face it with honesty: Microsoft was rushed in releasing their beefed-up new OS, in so much as the kinks were not totally ironed out. Be that as it may, the first service pack for Vista is due next year, and we can only hope that with this service pack, all the things that need to be smoothened out are definitely smoothened out.

Windows Vista, overhyped as it is, is not a basket case, after all. It still has its good points.

I do like the fact that Windows Vista has the User Account Controls thing. It can be a little annoying that Vista asks for permission whenever there are major changes to be done to the system, such as installing games or downloading stuff or even opening some files even if you have an administrator account. When the UAC is turned on, it monitors the computer usage of the other people using the computer, and you get to restrict the way they use the computer in a more effective manner. That is a huge plus.

Internet Explorer 7 is also a lot easier to use now and has tabs. Of course it still is not at par with Firefox and it can be confusing when you use it the first time. (It took me a while to find the refresh button and had to content myself with just pressing F5.) But at least it now has tabs.

Lastly, Windows Vista does look pretty. Vista Aero may be a huge glutton when it comes to the computer’s resources, but it does turn out very clear and very pretty pictures and colors. It is nice eye candy.

So, all is not yet lost and here is to hoping that Vista SP1 will really make things better.

As I said in my previous post, Microsoft has come to recognize that Windows Vista as it is has some serious issues, so much that it is now allowing users of the Ultimate and Business versions of the overhyped OS to downgrade to Windows XP. More than that, Microsoft also extended the availability of XP in the market until June 2008 and the tenacious users of Windows XP can expect a new service pack by next year.

But this does not mean that Vista is being declared as a basket case. Actually, a service pack for Vista is now available for beta testing and should be released by June next year.

According to this review in PC Magazine written by Neil Randall, there are two major areas in terms of improvements that disgruntled Vista users can look forward to with the upcoming SP1 for Vista. These areas that Microsoft focused on are speed and security.

Yes, Vista is going to move faster when your machine gets fed with the SP1. The SP1 promises to make Vista more responsive to inputs, which means dialog boxes will pop up faster and switching between windows will not take as much time. The same will go for browsing through Windows Explorer and surfing using IE7. Mr. Randall assumes that the newfound speed of the service pack is due to the optimization of code and improvements in software compatibility.

As for security, the SP1 is going to get rid of the Group Management Policy Console and transfer group policy decisions to the sole discretion of system administrators rather than individual users. Computers with SP1 will be better protected because third-party antivirus and anti-malware software will be able to access Vista’s application-programs interface. Also, the BitLocker feature can now encrypt all the computer’s drives, not just the drive from which Vista boots.

If you are a Vista user and you are not happy with it and downgrading to XP is not exactly an option for you, wait up till June next year.

So, are you having problems with the overhyped Windows Vista? Worry not, for you are not alone.

If you have been using Windows Vista or at least have taken the time to have a look at it, you would know that it has its own problems. The basics of the technology, in my personal opinion, is certainly good, but what Microsoft presented us when it released Windows Vista to mega-hype last January is something that feels to me unpolished and unfinished.

One glaring problem when it comes to Windows Vista is its gross incompatibility with computers two years old and older. That is certainly not fair for people who want to upgrade their software but not their hardware. Another thing is that Windows Vista is too greedy with the computer’s resources. It takes up too much memory, and if your computer is slow, it is certainly going to get bogged down. And then, lastly, Windows Vista is just too darn buggy. There are too many bugs that needed too many fixes and updates; and then, there are bugs that cannot be fixed at all.

Now, I read that the negative opinion with Windows Vista has gotten to a level where Microsoft simply allowed users of the Business and Ultimate versions to downgrade quietly to Windows XP. Also, the sale of the Windows XP package is extended by Microsoft to June 2008 instead of being phased out this coming January 30. But that is not all. Microsoft will soon be releasing an update, Windows XP SP3 Build 3205, the first update the software had in three years.

And what about Windows Vista? Oh, Vista is getting an update too. In fact, the Vista SP1 beta version was released to choice beta testers a short time ago. Hopefully, we would be seeing a truly better Vista than this overhyped but crappy release when Vista SP1 is made available to the general public.

One site that I have been paying special attention to has launched an updated version of their site. I guess it’s still an early version and they are preparing for a beta launch but it’s still a BIG step forward from what I have seen before. They offer price comparison, product reviews and information from forum and blog posts. At the moment they are only running five categories; digital cameras, mp3 players, mobile phones, LCD and Plasma TVs and camcorders. Not much but it’s a start and they are some of my favourite categories but I would love to see projectors and more home cinema stuff on their site. Oh well, you always want more than what you can get J 

Speaking of that I made a quick list of what I want, NOW. 

A new Plasma Screen would be nice and nothing beats a Plasma from Pioneer. The new PDP-428XD seems to be an amazing screen, even though a bit on the expensive side. 

Otherwise I could always good for the slightly cheaper, but larger, Panasonic TH-50PX70.  

Or a nice camcorder so that I would have something to show on my shiny new Plasma display. 

The Nokia N95 has fascinated me since it’s first appeared in the news well over a year ago. It’s still an amazing device and I still want one.