Skooba Design Soon To Release Travel-Friendly “Checkthrough” Bags

Posted by: danc on Jul 08 2008 - 25 views

Let’s face it, travelling by air has become a painful process. I mean, it was never a lot of fun to begin with but in recent years increased security measures (and ummm- "pseudo security measures") have made it even more painful.

I’ve been lucky. I’ve travelled with my MacBook Air a few times and never had an issue. Sure I had to take it out of my bag for inspection, but at least the TSA personnel recognized it as a notebook. But while I didn’t have to endure a pat-down, let alone a cavity-search, it was still a pain.

Fortunately, Skooba Design  will soon have us covered with their upcoming Checkthrough bags. Coming by summer’s end, Skooba’s President Michael Hess has told us that interest is already high. And no wonder- back in March the TSA put out a call for "check-point friendly" bags. Skooba, a leader in the design and manufacturing of highly protective notebooks cases will be among the first to rise to the call.

As Skooba’s site explains-

There are NO "TSA-approved" laptop bags on the market , from any company, as of now. However, Skooba Design will be introducing security-friendly bags, we anticipate by summer’s end. We are in the final stages of testing and pre-production, already have multiple patents and trademarks pending, and are moving full speed ahead, while continuing to work and coordinate with the TSA on final details. On a technical level, these bags will indeed be 100% x-ray scannable, and will include a variety of other unique features designed to improve the travel/security situation. These bags are intended to be "ready for action" if/when the TSA and/or individual airport screening locations in the US or abroad determine that security-friendly bags will be accepted for scanning with laptops inside.

Tags: Skooba, Checkthrough, notebook cases

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Vito Technologies Announces Winterface

Posted by: dgoldring on Jul 07 2008 - 148 views

No, Vito has not figured out a way to control the weather and freeze the world in an eternal winter snowstorm.  Winterface is actually their latest Windows Mobile offering, and it looks fantastic.  Winterface, as our astute colleague, Ragart, noted, actually stands for Windows Interface…Winterface.  But that still does not answer my question, which was what the heck is this thing.  I mean, is my device going to start hurling snowballs if I load it?  The answer…probably not.

Winterface is actually a “highly customizable” shell, interface, launcher, and task manager, which is designed to improve your Windows Mobile interface.  According to the press release:

As a shell Winterface removes the necessity to turn to default Windows Mobile interface: Today screen and Start menu. Winterface opens instantly whenever users draw a simple gesture on the screen.  It allows users to have as many screens as they need and put on them icons for applications, settings and contacts. The screens are flipped through with sliding finger gestures. The icons for such applications as phone, sms, email, battery, clock, calendar, memory, etc. - all show relevant information and thus replace a number of Today plug-ins.

As a launcher Winterface features one tap launch of any installed applications and settings. A tap on a contact icon opens a menu with contact details from where you can call, send text message, email, browse URL, etc.

As a task manager Winterface lets you easily switch between running applications. A fixed icon on the first screen lets users see running programs, switch between them or close them.

It is very convenient to organize icons on screens by a certain topic. Users can set up a screen with favorite contacts, a screen with most used applications, a screen with icons-indicators (battery, memory, calendar, clock, etc.), and so on, as far as their fantasy goes! Icons are easily moved on the screen and between screens by drag’n'drop gestures.

Check out the latest Windows Mobile Interface at the Winterface website.  Or purchase it for just $19.95.  Watch for my review coming soon.

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"You have been poked by…" now on Windows Mobile

Posted by: Ragart on Jul 06 2008 - 93 views

Yeah, you thought you could escape Facebook by running to Windows Mobile. There’s no native Facebook client for Windows Mobile, you said. Maybe I can get some real work done on my productivity device, you said. Well, think again!

FriendMobilizer (not super fond of the name) is bringing Facebook to the WM platform so that you can be alerted of every wall post, every poke, and every new secret message in your inbox (I don’t get any of those!). Apparently it even ties into the alerts system, so you’ll get updates even on your today screen. So it’s either time to download the app, or jump to a more basic OS if you’re already facebooking too much. When did Facebooking become a verb?!

FriendMobilizer is available here.

News thanks to Gizmodo.

 

 

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Rogers makes Bold claims

Posted by: Ragart on Jul 06 2008 - 81 views

So it looks like Rogers is going to hit customers with RIM’s new kid on the block, the Blackberry Bold, on July 25th. We can also probably expect the Kickstart (flip phone model) sometime in September, with the Javelin closing up the year in November/December. Busy year for RIM (shuns Rogers)!

 

I have to say I’m really curious about the Kickstart and what a crackberry flip phone will be like, I’ve never seen a flip model with a decent QWERTY, and the Kickstart seems to be packing it all (albeit in a rather large package). Actually, all the new Blackberry models are really kicking it up a notch in the looks category. Which Blackberry are you folks waiting for?

 

News and pic from Crackberry.

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Do You Lie, WinMo can tell…

Posted by: Peter on Jul 05 2008 - 154 views

The windows mobile platform is really advanced and will support many applications, and the limits are, well are there limits. It seems though that some apps may delve into your indiscretions. What if there were an app for WinMo that turned your device into a polygraph, now you’re listening.

This article over at MSNBC, highlights a new application that runs on windows mobile, that uses voice recognition tech to tell if you are lying.

This is designed for military use, not really mainstream software, to help GI’s assess people they come in contact with.

The new device, known by the acronym PCASS, for Preliminary Credibility Assessment Screening System, uses a commercial TDS Ranger hand-held personal digital assistant with three wires connected to sensors attached to the hand. An interpreter will ask a series of 20 or so questions in Persian, Arabic or Pashto: “Do you intend to answer my questions truthfully?” “Are the lights on in this room” “Are you a member of the Taliban?” The operator will punch in each answer and, after a delay of a minute or so for processing, the screen will display the results: “Green,” if it thinks the person has told the truth, “Red” for deception, and “Yellow” if it can’t decide.

If you think about it though, an application like this may circumvent those “Darling, I have to stay late at the  office” phone calls, that let you stay at the sports bar to watch the game on a big screen TV.

This application ported to general windows mobile devices, and able to be utilised with real time conversations, actually becomes an issue of privacy. At what point do we accept that we may be monitored in ways that we don’t accept, with out notification, whilst using our windows mobile phone?

 

via WMexperts

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More reason to celebrate with PPCTechs

Posted by: Ragart on Jul 05 2008 - 121 views

If you’ve been holding off on that upgrade or repair on your PDA, now’s the best time to go to PPCTechs.com to get the job done. From now until July 31st you’ll get 15% off all repairs, as well as a “buy two, get a third free” sale on accessories available on the site. I don’t remember there being this many discounts on Canada Day. My lunch was still just as expensive as before.

Just enter the code PPCTRC0708 at PPCTechs.com. I’m seriously, seriously tempted to buy myself some WriteShield screen protectors for my iPhone, but I’m not going to buy two packs

 

 

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