RoHS => tin whiskers?

Sure. What's the problem? Simple weenieism?

Hello Wes,

Not all the time. On mine you cannot turn GPS fully off but you can set it so it only comes on when dialing 911. If you are in a real pickle such as an armed robbery that can be a life-saver.

What's so bad about a $1 cable. Ok, so it costs $20. Many are Bluetooth and Bluetooth is everywhere these days. My problem with the cell phones today is the damned providers have crippled them. The advertised features don't work as.

Hello Roy,

Huh? I have Virgin Mobile and my cost for cell service has been about four bucks over the last month. Can you beat that with your $35/mo plan? I can keep that service active for a mere $5 a month (that keeps the number active and isn't a fee but real air time).

That's why we have a special grassed area in the back yard... for the dogs. It's going to be 112°F again today ;-)

The patio got up to 121°F yesterday :-(

I don't either, but I DO like the GPS location feature. Though my wife drove me directly to hospital when I had a heart attack, what about next time? I want the EMT's to find me NOW.

How about the new phones with BlueTooth?

...Jim Thompson

People don't 'need' the gewgaws, but it helps sell bandwidth and services, which means money jingling in the pockets of the service providers.

As far as transferring contact info etc., it's really easy with any modern cellphone that has a Bluetooth radio. It may be complex, but all that is transparent to the user.

Best regards, Spehro Pefhany

So can Smith&Wesson.

Hello Michael,

I checked all those plans out and went with Virgin. About $50 got me a phone plus $40 worth of air time, meaning the phone was around $10. They have several plans for different call habit. No extra roaming fees which is nice since I only use it on biz travel. My only gripe is that the phone is too freaking small. They still have that Nokia deal:

$15/mo isn't exactly pay-as-you-go.

Hello Spehro,

If your PC has Bluetooth, that is. None of the ones here does :-(

So? When you need to dial 9-1-1 you don't want the emergency system to know where you are?

...Jim Thompson

Hello Jim,

We also have a poop area in the yard and even guest dogs immediately understand what it's for (our dogs show them). But a little lawn isn't enough for a shepherd and a rottie to get their daily workout. And we need it, too. So now we go early in the moring before the sun is out.

Same here, that's excluded from the nerd category. It can be a live saver.

It would feel lonely, being the only device within a few hundred feet that speaks blue.

Just pop a BT dongle into the USB port and you're off and running.

Best regards, Spehro Pefhany

Hello Spehro,

True. Still, in the old days there were some really smart solutions that did not require the user to buy anything in add-on devices.

For cell phones there would be a really smart method to upload contact information but I guess that's too simple: Most if not all are messaging and email enabled. Even my cheap one is. Just allow the phone to receive a simple database, Excel, Outlook or custom converted file via an email message sent to it. For example as an attachment. Most everybody knows how to do that and some programs even allow a direct "send to" option where you'd key in your phone's email address. Ok, after being free they now make us pay 5c per received message and maybe more for a long one like that. But there would be zero hardware needed and the process would be as simple as it gets.

You'd think that cell phones would have a standard USB port just like most cameras.

...Jim Thompson

Hello Jim,

IIRC mine does. It connects to the wide header at the bottom where you'd also attach things like a hands-free set. But in contrast to the cameras the cable does not come with the phone. You have to order it extra. Makes no sense. I mean, who is going to punch in all those numbers on that little keypad?

I have one for my Audiovox. I think it cost $20 with the software. Unfortunately Verizon has disabled most of the features in my phone. ...gotta buy stuff from them.

Have you ever seen a kid send messages on that little keypad? Amazing. OTOH, there is now "text messaging thumb", replacing "mouse wrist", which replaced "tennis elbow".

Load with Lead(tm) ready to poison :-)

Hello Keith,

That's what I always wondered about as well. During a Texas MSP430 session we fired off lots of questions and one of the TI engineers was constantly pounding things into his Blackberry, all the time using his thumbs.

What pocket do you keep that cable in?