Review: Sony Reader PRS-505. Why I May Never Buy Another Book Again

There.  I said it.  after using this ebook reader for only a few days, I have already decided to phase out paper and ink books.  This is no rash decision, mind you.  I am an avid book lover. I have shelves in every room in the house, boxes of books in the basement.  Add to that the fact I have spent the last few years decrying ebooks: there is no unified format, the screens are not good for reading, the screens are too small, the list goes on.  So, I admit to being a bit apprehensive about trying this one.  My apprehension, however, quickly turned to delight as I found that every concern I had previously raised was addressed in here.  It is light, easy to read, and the library is enormous.  But I am getting ahead of myself. 

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Listen To This! The Great JAMM Portable Media Player Showdown. Part 1: Introduction

I have spent a considerable amount of time here at JAMM, and also at Gear Diary, reviewing portable media players.  One thing I have noticed is that a stand-alone review is really not the best format to help users answer the real question on everyone’s mind: which one should I buy?  While a review is nice, it looks at a particular media player in a vacuum.  The missing piece in the review is how this one compares to the others.  And that is what I want to try to accomplish through this series. 

So, in addition to the Sandisk Sansa View, which I already own, I went on eBay and gobbled up a  Microsoft Zune, Samsung YP-P2, and Creative Zen X-Fi.  Heck, I even got the Sony Walkman A828 back on an extended loan.  After considerable thought, I also replaced my iPod Touch with the new fourth generation iPod Nano for this series. 

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Station Break: Love and Rockets “So Alive”

I suspect if I took a poll of our readers, most of you would have what I call, “a bad mood song.”  This is a song you listen to when everything has you down.  It just takes you away from your problems.  For me, that song is “So Alive” by Love and Rockets.

This is something of a bizarre pick me up song.  Love and Rockets are mostly a punk-style alternative rock band, and their stuff is not usually particularly uplifting.  But there it is.  When I really listen to the words, they just take me out of my head.   It has such an effect on me that I try to avoid it on my iPod unless I really need a release.  Then, I dial it in, close my eyes and listen:

Don’t know what color your eyes are, baby
But your hair is long and brown
Your legs are strong, and you’re so, so long
And you don’t come from this town
My head is full of magic, baby
And I can share this with you
I feel I’m on top again, baby
That’s got everything to do with you

Just reading those lyrics makes me smile and instantly puts me in a much better frame of mind.  Check it out at Amazon.com or on itunes.

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HTC Touch HD: Not In My House!

I know you all have heard all about the HTC Touch HD, with its massive screen and iphone-like form factor.  The images I have seen point to the nicest and most promising new phone to come out of HTC labs.  I just hope you were not planning to get one.  at least not if you live in the United States.  Earlier today, HTC made this announcement via their Twitter feed:

Well, that is not good news at all.  Still, it does pique some interest as to what that , “other cool stuff might be.”  With the popularity of the iPhone, coupled with the Samsung Omnia and Sony Xperia X1 coming soon, though, one wonders if that might just be too little too late.  No matter how you cut it, this is not good news for our US-based readers.

HTC Touch Diamond, iPhone 3G, and HTC Touch HD via areamobile.

Still want to see what you are missing (or for those of you in Europe, what you might still have coming?)  Check out this full review over at areamobile.  It is in German, but I think most of you non-German speakers will get the point from all of the drool-inducing pictures.  I don’t know much about German, but I do know what 6 thumbs up and only 2 thumbs down means.

[via WMExperts and My Today Screen]

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Review: Texas Hold’em for iPhone

I have always loved playing poker.  I still remember when I was young, and my friend’s Dad taught me how to play seven card draw.  I won’t say I was hooked (because that might imply something far more sinister) but I had a blast playing.  Since then, I have been a member of both regular and (more often) semi-regular poker tables.  And I am always hunting for the latest and greatest electronic poker games on whatever device I am currently using.

I love playing these games electronically for two reasons.  First, have you ever tried to explain to your wife that you just lost $10,000 playing poker?  Yeah, much easier when it is imaginary money.  And second, it is much easier to win every once in a while.

So, with that in mind I decided to try out Texas Hold’em for the iPhone, one of the few games which was actually developed by Apple itself.

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Push Gmail – Now On Windows Mobile

One of the biggest gripes I hear from Windows Mobile users is that there is no true way to get your Gmail pushed to your device.  Sure, you can simulate something like this by setting Pocket Outlook to check your mail every 15 minutes.  But really, this is not the same as push which alerts you as soon as a message hits your inbox.

Well, gripe no more (or for those of you who always have to have something to gripe about, find something else).  A free Windows Mobile add-on from developer gmurray will now allow you to push your email from any IMAP service, directly to your device.  And as everyone here knows, last year, Gmail started offering IMAP service, in addition to POP3.

You can download the program for free, here.  But before you do, I will just warn you that it is still a Beta, so it may have some imperfections.  For more information, you can also check out the developer’s blog and the program documentation.  Enjoy!!!

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