John K. Davis, Independent Distributor, SendOutCards

See, Snap, Say

In the first half of 2003, cell phones with integrated digital cameras outsold standalone digital cameras for the first time, according to research group Strategy Analytics. The group says that various companies worldwide sold 25 million camera phones in the first half of the year, compared with 20 million digital cameras.

Click here to see what's hot: Top Selling Wireless

Voq Phone

The new SmartPhones are coming on thick and fast. Here is the latest, the Voq Phone from Sierra Wireless:

The Voq phone resembles nothing in the current market for SmartPhones with a flip cover that opens to the left to reveal a traditional keyboard layout. When closed the phone looks like an ordinary cell phone with a dialing keypad and several other menu buttons visible. The phone weighs 4.73 oz., and when closed measures 133 mm long by 57 mm wide by 22 mm thick. The 2.2-inch color screen is 176 pixels by 220 pixels.

For more details, go here: Sierra Wireless jumps into Microsoft SmartPhone market - Computerworld

And, you can find the right cell phone for you by clicking this link.

T610

I have been playing with a new toy, a Sony Ericsson T610 wireless phone/digital camera/recorder/PDA/alarm/stopwatch plaything/business tool gadget. It is so much fun!

The justification is purely business, of course. The device allows me to easily access the Scopeware Server in my office, so I can use and demonstrate the advantages of instant information retrieval from just about anywhere.

Beginning a New Year

I had a wonderful vacation over the holidays. Our travels included a reunion with friends made when I was at Arizona State University over thirty years ago. We also enjoyed a lovely visit with our daughter, son-in-law and grandson. Today is my first day back in the saddle.

It is exciting to begin another calendar year. 2002 was great, and I feel very good about the prospects for 2003.

A new gadget is in the mail. I am selling my Ericsson Bluetooth Headset on eBay and replacing it with a new Jabra FreeSpeak Bluetooth Wireless Headset.

My new T-Mobile wireless phone service impresses me. Cingular was becoming a pain--limited hours for customer service, I was unable to receive calls at my home and roaming charges were costly. T-Mobile cut my monthly cost in half with unlimited calls nationwide; a deal that I could not resist despite the hassle of a new number. Cingular would not let me use their GPRS service (I purchased my phone in Europe), but T-Mobile has no such restriction.

In any event, now that I have excellent quality connections with my R520m wireless phone no matter where I am, the convenience of a Bluetooth headset is a big plus. I sit the phone on a table outside my office entryway and wear the headset all day to make and receive calls. The hands-free convenience is great around the office, house and in the car.

I expect the Jabra headset to be more comfortable than the Ericsson--my ear has been a bit uncomfortable by the end of the day. The Jabra is smaller, lighter and is engineered for comfort, so I have high hopes.

Happy New Year!

Video Projector

Making Scopeware presentations is a blast! I especially enjoy showing Scopeware to people that understand how fricking amazing it is. It is fun to watch their eyes get bigger and bigger as Scopeware's capabilities emerge during a demonstration.

In order to make a more professional presentation and be able to show Scopeware to larger audiences, I acquired a video projector. I also wanted the device to do double-duty as a home theatre projection system. So, a new InFocus LP70 arrived recently. To see what it looks like, check out this page at my personal website:

http://www.johnkdavis.net/personal/fp/infocus.htm

Please let me know if you would like to see Scopeware, or have me exhibit it to your friends and neighbors. It is a good show. Thanks to Len , Mary , John , Josephine and Philip for having already arranged a demonstration for friends or associates.

Give Me A Little Latitude

The Dell Latitude X200 arrived yesterday. I installed software I need and then played with it as I went through the day. It is an awesome little computer.

This component will make a nice addition to my personal area network (PAN). With Wi-Fi and Bluetooth in many of the components they each can communicate with one another. This extends the capability of each device.

The computer can use the wireless phone to reach the Internet when I am out of range of my home network or a public Wi-Fi access point. The headset can be used to dictate letters into the computer or take phone calls. The phone and Latitude sync with my desktop PC whenever the Latitude gets within 100 feet, and the phone 30 feet, of my office. My PAN devices synchronize by adding new or edited contact records, calendar entries, task list items and any digital files that I keep on multiple computers. Combining the power of the PAN with Scopeware will extend my ability to quickly and accurately access what I want no matter where it is stored within the PAN. And everything is so small and light that it is not much of a problem to carry it all when I'm out-and-about.

Please tell me about any new gadgets in your life. I love to hear about the toys you are enjoying.