Hardware
Review of Samsung Epic 4G Official Accessories
I picked up the Samsung Epic 4G yesterday and I’m enjoying making the upgrade from the Palm Pre. There have been plenty of reviews of the phone by those that are lucky enough to get review units but not much discussion of the accessories available. Here’s my opinion on the official accessories like the holsters, screen protectors, cases, and others.
Recycle Your Gadgets for Free or for Cash with Gazelle
There’s a guest post with my name on it over at Freewaregenius. Today’s article is about Gazelle.com, a site that assists recycling your used gadgets. If they’re really old, Gazelle will ship you a box to return the gadget to them for proper disposal. If it has value, they’ll send you a quoted amount of money. It might be a whole lot easier than trying to find a buyer on eBay or Craigslist.
Check out all the details with today’s Freewaregenius article: Recycle Your Gadgets for Free or for Cash with Gazelle.
How Your Car’s Tire Pressure Monitoring System Could Allow You To Be Tracked and Hacked
Many modern vehicles (2008 or newer) have a Tire Pressure Monitoring System (TPMS) that alerts the driver when the tire pressure is getting low. In fact, it’s required for all new vehicles in the US following legislation that was prompted by the 2000 Firestone tire issue. For my car, that means this little orange light comes on to tell me if a tire reports that it is low on air pressure. Right now, the light says the tire is low because I had to get a new tire after a flat and it requires a tool only the dealer has to re-sync it. Researchers have now proven that it is possible to track a car and disable a component of the electronic system through a car’s TPMS.
Each tire has a unique 32-bit code and it can be queried by the car’s electronic system. The information is broadcast wirelessly from each tire’s RFID using an unencrypted signal which travels up to 130 feet. To researchers from Rutgers University and University of South Carolina, this meant an attack vector. Somebody could essentially track a car’s location by querying the broadcast ID at intersections, toll booths, or specific locations (seedy clubs, political rallies, medical clinics, etc.) to watch where one went or prove that they were there.
404TS Asks: Should I trade in my Palm Pre for the Samsung Epic 4G?
Sprint has finally made the release date of the Samsung Epic 4G official after multiple rumors gave incorrect dates. The news release was just published and states that the Epic 4G will be available on August 31st. The smartphone will cost $249 after $150 instant savings and $100 mail-in rebate for those signing a two year contract. Details from the Samsung Epic 4G Fact Sheet state it has a full, slide-out QWERTY keyboard and a 4″ AMOLED touchscreen as well as obviously being 4G ready. Other hardware boasts include a 1GHz CPU, 512MB RAM, 1GB ROM, up to 32GB expandable memory, b/g/n Wifi, and a camera on both sides. The Epic 4G is powered by Android 2.1 and is to be upgradeable to version 2.2.
This device has caught my eye even though I’m only a few months past the one year mark of having my Palm Pre. I’ve been rather satisfied with the Pre, it has found its niche in allowing me to do a certain number of tasks. Since WebOS app development hasn’t really taken off and Palm hasn’t created any new hardware for the next gen, it feels like I’m on a sinking ship. With the Palm Pixi and beefed up Plus versions being the only hardware revisions, I’m going to have to change from the WebOS at some point it seems and I’m wondering if it’s worth changing now in order to take advantage of the Android features. So, what do you think: should I trade in my Palm Pre for a Samsung Epic 4G on August 31st?
Product Review: Rust-Oleum Dry Erase Paint
As part of moving into my house, I had big dreams to finally create my ideal office. Even though part of that fell through when the cooling for my datacenter window air conditioner in my office had to be removed, I still had high hopes after being stuck in a few apartments that allowed minimal modifications. In this day and age, what does every good office have to have? A white board (or dry erase board), of course! With that in mind, I went looking. I thought we had found the ideal solution. We were going to be repainting the rooms anyway, why not use this Rust-Oleum Dry Erase paint and make the white board whatever size and dimensions desired? One box can covers a 7′ x 7′ area. There was also the benefit of no shipping costs. It was almost too good to be true.
Today’s iPhone 4 Press Event – Free Cases For All!
Apple is hosting a press event today to address the issues that are being discussed daily in the media: iPhone 4 dropped calls by holding the phone a particular way. Since we can’t all make it to Cupertino, Macworld is doing an excellent job covering the event with a Macworld Live Blog. Be sure to check that out for the full scoop. Apple has a video and I’ve included some quotes to highlight below.
Apple is providing a video of the conference and shows their testing of antenna problems on other smartphones. You can also take a tour of Apple’s $100 million building for testing antenna design and learn about it and watch a video showcasing it.
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