Men Free Blog

For a phone that came out in 2006, it’s kinda surprising how much interest (both from carriers and end users) that the Nokia N95 series continues to enjoy. With any luck, we’ll be seeing it launch on AT&T later this year — but Rogers is apparently poised to beat ‘em to the punch. Mobile In Canada reports that Canada’s 800-pound GSM behemoth intends to launch the N95 (the North American, non-8GB model, as far as we can tell) as early as May 2nd — which, alongside the already-launched Sony Ericsson K850i, makes for a powerful one-two combo of 5 megapixel 3G Europhones. Only time will tell, but we’re feeling good about this one, folks; only question is, N95 8GB next?

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Interesting developments in the .be zone these days. After a relatively quiet period following price promotions of the Belgium registry in 2006, the registrations of three letter .be domains are in a steep rising again. In fact, as we speak only 313 names seem to be left once you excluded the lower quality letters Q,X,Z,Y,V & W.

According to the Belgium registry DNS.be, they experienced the first 3 months of this year a net. growth of about 1500 three letter registrations. Would that have anything to do with the recent price decreases of the registry? (5 to 3 euro per Jan 1st, 08) or would recent sales of lll.be’s at Sedo have inspired domainers?

mlm.be $1,224
imh.be $490
pkr.be $1,330
neo.be $293

What actually triggered me to dive into the subject was a separate section at the website of BlueBecker for 3 letter .be domains. BlueBecker is known for the famous countdowns of lll.com’s and, more recently l-l-l.com’s. Apparently the lll.be’s have caught their attention next ;). You can find a weekly updated overview of the names that are still available at:  http://bluebecker.com/lll_be.html.
As an introduction to the Belgium TLD EuroDNS offers you all .be registrations during the month of April for only 5,30 euro (activate voucher code BE4U in your free account).

12418 lll.be’s have been registered at this moment so there is still an opportunity left. Don’t miss it!
Sources:
DNS.be
BlueBecker.com
Sedo.com
 
 

We’ve seen a number of iPod speakers with pass-through dock connectors, but we’ve never really understood the point — why would we listen to music on our iPod when we’re already sitting at the computer, which has better speakers? iHome’s latest rig, the iH69, tries to bring it all together, though, with an iPod dock integrated directly into a set of upright computer speakers. We’re not sold on the idea until we actually hear ‘em — or we get a sub in the deal — but those of you looking to save on some cable clutter should look for these bad boys to drop sometime in June.
source:engadget

When did the practice of lawmaking require an accompanying press release issued by a professional PR firm? An embedded photo of the sponsoring state official, too? Shameless. Nevertheless, it did bring our attention to a new law in the state of Washington which prohibits “malicious” RFID spying. When the new law (said to be a first of its kind in the US) goes into effect in July, anyone caught scanning a person remotely “without his or her knowledge and consent, for the purpose of fraud, identity theft, or some other illegal purpose” will be charged with a Class C felony. Great, so that covers the obvious criminal abuse of the technology. However, the original bill also included an opt-in measure that would require your approval before retailers and others could track your activity via that handy, store-issued discount card you carry, the implant you received during that stint in the joint, new credit card, or personal ID card you’re required to carry. Unfortunately, the opt-in requirement was stricken from the bill (and therefore not in the final law) after succumbing to heavy corporate lobbying. You thinking what we’re thinking? Contact information posted in the read link below.
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source:engadget

Just four days after Apple announced that the beta version of the iPhone SDK would be available to developers, some 100,000 downloads have taken place. ‘Course, it’s not like we’re shocked by Cupertino’s latest horn tooting, but we’ve all ideas that number pales in comparison to the amount of requests for unlocks. Nevertheless, the real news from the Apple camp is that companies such as Namco and PopCap are apparently on board to bring titles such as Pac-man, Galaga, Bejeweled, Zuma and Peggle to the iPod touch / iPhone via App Store. Furthermore, Six Apart’s CEO admitted that it’s already developing a “native iPhone application for TypePad,” and the VP of THQ Wireless implied that we’d be seeing some of its wares surface here as well. As for release dates? Your guess is as good as ours.

Ah, after long last, HTC’s first UMPC, the Shift, is finally making its debut in the US. The early results are in: the keyboard and the Sprint EV-DO are good, but the $1,500 price tag might be a bit heavy to swallow — especially considering our European counterparts are paying about $400 less, and we also get to tack on another $60 per month for the 3G.

source:engadget.com

Slim, rounded edges, anti-glare widescreen displays, and Bluetooth connectivity are only just a few of the improvements that Navman incorporated into its new GPS “S-Series.” The company is said to have sat on the development of the S-Series, closely taking into consideration the comments and suggestions of its customers.

The results is a GPS product line that has “more than 200 enhancement” from the old Navman series. Navman launched the S30, S50, S70 and S90i as a direct competitor of the high-end models from leaders like Garmin, and TomTom.

The new portable navigation device (PND) is slimmer than the previous Navman F series, plus the S90i is 20% slimmer than any product in its class. The S50, S70 and S90i also boasts a 4.3-inch wide-screen format, while the S30 has a 3.5-inch screen. With the exception of the S90i, the rest of the S-Series use a SiRFstarIII chipset.

One of the new and unique features of the S90i is that it speaks directions and street names as well. This is a feature that, at present, is only provided by a select few PNDs. Also, the S90i features a 2-megapixel digital camera.

The series also incorporates other improvements in the industry PND line like an “SOS” button which lists local emergency services that shows information about local hospitals, garages, dentists, police stations, etc. It was TomTom with its “Help Me” button who pioneered the use of such a feature in PNDs.

The S50, S70 and the S90 has Bluetooth wireless connectivity and can actually be used as mobile phones providing hands-free calling while driving. This is another new for Navman. The three units are also capable of receiving real-time traffic data in over 14 countries is now provided in the S-Series. The number of country coverage was twice as many as in previous Navman models.

Moreover, the S-Series contains maps from Tele Atlas. Specifically, the S30 and S50 will feature pre-installed regional maps. Meanwhile, the S70 and S90i will come with standard pre-installed European maps which covers 21 countries including the United Kingdom, Ireland, France, Andorra, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland, Liechtenstein, San Marino, Monaco and Vatican City.

Among the four S-Series model, the S30 serves as the economic model which features only a 3.5-inch LCD and does not have Bluetooth connectivity or optional traffic information. The S-Series would be out in October and would have tag prices of $305 (£149.99) for the S30, $366 (£179.99) for the S50, $406 (£199.99) for the S70, and $610 (£299.99) for the S90i.