With the internet celebrating it’s 40th birthday yesterday, yes, the big 4 – 0, it’s a wonderful time to learn of it’s origin and evolution.  The Guardian has done a wonderful job of putting together an interactive slideshow highlighting almost each year of it’s existence.  The slideshow provides a wonderful insight into it’s very early days, the birth of email, the WWW, the mainstream browser and more recently, social networking phenomena.

Myself, being under 40, I have to admit that while being a technology addict, my knowledge of the internet’s history was lacking.  To be completely honest, the fact that it originated before I came to be was a bit surprising.  I sincerely recommend browsing the slideshow, as it is something that you are sure to find interesting.

[Image:  The Guardian]

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Motorola DROID first hands-on! (update: video, impressions, more pics)

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We’ve got the DROID in our hands… and it is sweet. Moto claims that this is the thinnest full QWERTY slider on the market, and we’re apt to believe it. The phone is incredibly slick and solid, and we’re definitely looking forward to putting it through its paces. We’ll have more photos, video, and a full review coming, so stay tuned!

Some quick observations on the phone:

• That big screen is killer. Bright, crisp, and tons of room for your icons and widgets.
• Speed is noticeably improved — particularly when moving from app to app. We did notice that some of the home screen scrolling looked laggy.
• Android 2.0 is definitely cleaned up — but it’s most definitely still Android
• The browser seems significantly improved — pages now load up in a fully zoomed-out mode, and the load times and scrolling are way snappier.
• The keyboard takes some getting used to, and it suffers from a similar hand-position issue as the G1, but it’s fairly usable. We think it’ll be second nature once we spend some time with it.
• Facebook is integrated into accounts, which means some of that BLUR functionality is here (though now it’s part of Android 2.0 natively). The good news is that when you add a Facebook account you can choose to pull all Facebook info and contacts, or just info related to your existing contacts — a real clutter buster.

Update: We’ve added a new gallery, and video is on the way!

Update 2: Video is up after the break! More coming too…

Update 3: And we’ve got a browser speed test to round things out.

Update 4: We’ve added another gallery of the car and home docks, which are pretty neat — the phone detects the dock magnetically, and switches to the appropriate mode. We’re told that there’ll also be third-party docks, and that Google’s the one behind the different interface modes, so this could be just the tip of the iceberg.

Continue reading Motorola DROID first hands-on! (update: video, impressions, more pics)

(Via Engadget CELLS.)

LG launches official site for GW620 Android phone, sort of

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SonyStyle unleashes Sony Ericsson Aino in the US for $600

Though it may not have the most elegant name in the world, we’ve got to give Sony Ericsson’s Aino credit for at least one thing: it’s officially launching in the US, unlocked, just a few short months after being announced. You’ll be paying a stout $599.99 for the privilege of putting one in your pocket, but in exchange, you’ll get an 8.1 megapixel sensor, Remote Play support, tri-band HSPA, and WiFi on a 432 x 240 display. You’re not just getting the phone for that outlay, though: SE also throws in a stereo Bluetooth headset, dock, and an 8GB microSD (yes, microSD, not Memory Stick, mercifully) card. It’s still showing as backordered on SonyStyle’s website, but you should be able to find this in stock both online and in Sony’s stores across the land very shortly. Follow the break for the full release.

Continue reading SonyStyle unleashes Sony Ericsson Aino in the US for $600

(Via Engadget CELLS.)

Nckla W71 clone from Dongfang

Dongfang has released its latest clone handset, the Nckla W71 that will mimic the Nokia E71, although this one won’t run on the Symbian S60 operating system. Still, it packs quite a punch with its 624MHz processor alongside a 2.4′ QVGA touchscreen display, 128MB RAM, 256MB ROM, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity, a 2-megapixel camera with LED flashlight, dual SIM carriages and Windows Mobile 6.1 (not sure whether it will ever see Windows Mobile 6.5 and above running or not). All that for a mere $117? The lure of the dark side is very, very strong now…

(Via UberGizmo, the Gadgets News Blog.)

Did you know that in addition to storing and uploading photos, the Eye-Fi family of memory cards can also store and upload video?  Well, it can now… Eye-Fi will now allow you to automatically upload videos straight from the Eye-Fi card to your Facebook account, and have them appear directly in your news feed, to be shared with all 750 of your closest friends.

In light of these new video features, Eye-Fi is celebrating…and what better time to celebrate video that Halloween.  So, here is what you need to do to get that camera.  Just use an Eye-Fi card to record your best Halloween video, and upload the videos to Eye-Fi’s Facebook page.  The winner of the Eye-Fi card and Casio camera will be announced November 13, following several weeks of online voting.

Keep reading for the full press release.

Among consumers who share videos online with friends and family, nearly half do so on Facebook, according to the Consumer Electronics Association’s 2009 report Digital Imaging – A Focus on Sharing. So today, Eye-Fi Inc., makers of the world’s first wireless memory card for digital cameras, announced that Eye-Fi users can now wirelessly upload videos from their camera directly to Facebook without even turning on a computer. And users can now alert Facebook friends via newsfeed updates anytime they upload photos or videos to more than 25 sharing sites.

            “We make sharing videos with friends and family as easy as possible, so memories are fresh and relevant when they hit the Web,” said Jef Holove, CEO of Eye-Fi. “Facebook is clearly a favorite site to share videos and we’ve made it effortless to do so, just in time for Halloween, one of our users’ most popular memory sharing holidays.”

In celebration of the Facebook uploads and Halloween, Eye-Fi today launched “The Eye-Fi Haunted Video Contest.” Beginning today, people can upload their best Halloween moment captured on video through the Eye-Fi Facebook page for a chance to win an Eye-Fi Share Video card and Eye-Fi connected Casio camera. Contestants can invite members of their social network to vote for the best video and on Friday, November 13 the winner will be announced.  For more information and the full rules, visit http://www.eye.fi/halloweencontest. Check out the videos at http://www.youtube.com/eyeficard.

Eye-Fi’s complete line-up of wireless SD memory cards range in price from $49-$149 and are available at www.eye.fi, in store at Apple Retail Stores and Best Buy locations, and at major online retailers such as Amazon.com and Walmart.com. The 4GB Eye-Fi Share Video and Eye-Fi Explore Video cards can upload photos and videos directly to the computer and to one of more than 25 online photo and video sharing sites. The Eye-Fi Explore Video card automatically geotags photos with location information about where the moment was captured, and offers hotspot access from more than 10,000 Wayport and open hotspot locations in the U.S. to upload away from home.

Eye-Fi has received numerous product awards including Good Housekeeping’s V.I.P. award in 2009 and “Last Gadget Standing” at the 2009 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas for the second year in a row. For more information, please visit www.eye.fi.

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