Telstra has given us an insight into where and when customers can pick up their NextG iPhone, although the specifics of their plans are still under wraps.
If you live in Sydney or Melbourne and can be bothered getting to the respective T Life store at 6am, then you could be one of the first Next G customers riding the iPhone wave. Other T Life stores around the country will open at 8am, including Chadstone (VIC), Hobart and Canberra.
The full list can be grabbed from Telstra’s website.[Telstra]
I play golf, but I hate the outdoors, so I’m going to move to the Netherlands, because they’re on track to open this rad, giant, indoor golf course that I can play year round. Non-golfers won’t understand what that means, but those of us in Seattle have a fairly short period that we actually get to go out and play, thus it’s a crowded affair, making it very expensive. This magic land will have 34 indoor driving range berths, measure over 15,000 square feet, and feature weather-protected sand traps and water hazards. I’m hoping George Jetson attends the opening, because his handicap sucks. [Tuvie, via TechFresh]
There’s something satisfying about having multiple monitors on your machines to keep things organised that you can’t really describe. Samsung knows this but also knows that sometimes a full second monitor is overkill, thus the SyncMaster 2263. We’ve seen it before, but Wired has the first review we’ve seen up, and it’s a a fairly neutral one. Highlights include the attractive finish and innovative design. The downsides include average performance and a high price. We do agree with reviewer, though, that it’s a neat idea and somebody’s going to figure out how to execute it well, and they’ll probably make quite a bit of money. [Wired]
Screw the iPhone. Screw the networks. Hell, screw everyone. Except your friends at Gizmodo, that is. In case you’ve forgotten, we’re giving away a Nokia N78 this week. It’s an awesome little phone – I’ve got a review unit sitting here charging in front of me that I’m going to put through its paces. But you can do the same thing if you enter this comp.
All you need to do is go back to the original post here. Then answer the question in 25 words or less. Remember that – it’s 25 words or less, people… go over and you miss out. And don’t enter in this post – you won’t get anywhere…
I’ll be judging this one on Friday (although we have another one to give away next week). Try and make me laugh, and you might not need to queue up for a new iPhone – we could be sending you a new N78 instead.
Blu-ray set-top players are expected to be hot sellers this upcoming holiday season, but you might want to hold off until early next year when Pioneer and Sharp team up to bring Blu-ray recorders to living rooms in America. The partnership is hardly surprising—Sharp is part owner of Pioneer—and the recorders will launch in Japan this year and be shipped overseas next, with Europe and America likely being the first markets to get them. No word if they’ll use those awesome new ultra-high-capacity disks we mentioned earlier, but not likely for this consumer-focused line. [Reuters]
It’s two days and counting until iPhone 3G liftoff. If you’re planning on getting your hands on a shiny new (i)phone on Friday, then it’s time to start preparing for a big couple of days. So what do you do? Fortunately, Giz is here to hold your hand through the hardest part of it all – the waiting.
It all begins in New Zealand. At 12:01 NZ time, the very first iPhone 3G handsets will be sold. Hell, they’re already queuing up to lay claim to that exclusive title of “first”. Giz AU will actually be over in Auckland on Thursday night, covering the world launch of the next Jesusphone (and hopefully scoring one ourselves), so make sure you come back for all the latest up-to-the-minute information. And if you happen to be lining up in Auckland yourself, make sure you say G’day.
Back in Australia, the first step is getting over the fact that the Kiwis beat us at getting their hands on the iPhone (you can always take solace in the fact that no matter how bad the iPhone plans are over here, they’re much worse over there). The second step is planning either a late night or an early morning, so long as you’re in Sydney, that is.
The first iPhone 3G reviews have just hit. Walt Mossberg of the WSJ has been testing it “for a couple of weeks” and sees that surfing on the faster 3G is between three and five times the speed of the original iPhone. However, Moss found that browsing on the 3G network drained his battery much faster than browsing on the original. Externally, he says the speaker was “much louder” (YES!) for both music and speakerphone, but otherwise pretty much the same as the original. One bug/feature he ran into was that you can only sync your calendar and contacts with either Exchange or your personal accounts, not both.
Packard Bell—yes that Packard Bell—is diving head-first into the gaming PC market with the ipower X2.0, a gaming rig that features full customisation at a decent price. It’s aimed squarely at offerings from Acer and Ares. The Intel-based machines give customers their choice of ATI or nVidia graphics, disk drives, audio options, TV tuners and other add-ons. In addition, the PC features advanced cooling, including a silent water cooling system. The boxes are expected for this holiday season at about US$2000, and we’re hoping they’re nothing like the PBs of the past. [Trusted Reviews]
Inadvertently posted to the Nokia site, the 8208 not only looks similar to the n96, the first non N-Series phone to feature a two-way slider. Part of Nokia’s music phone push, the phone features the 0-9 keys below the screen, and music player controls above the screen. In addition, the CDMA phone has a 3 Megapixel camera and EVDO Rev.A. No word on release date or price. [Electronista]
Windows Media Centre still isn’t what Microsoft wants it to be, but it has its fans, and its getting an update this month that they’ve been waiting for. Word is coming down, though, that this update isn’t the one the users are lusting after, the one with H.264 and DirectTV tuner support. Instead it’s a minor upgrade that adds things like international support. But fret not, users, as now it seems like there’s another rumour flying around about another update later in the year which will add many requested features. Patience, my fellow home theatre nerds, we’ll get our updates. [EngadgetHD]
