Posts by Angus Kidman
Phones
1:54PM Angus Kidman | The gadget: The i-Mate Ultimate 8502, the company’s new entry-level workhorse touchscreen and keyboard smartphone which is making its local debut on Telstra’s Next G network.The price: $999The verdict: It’s a nice enough phone and the network is speedy, but the BlackBerry gang don’t need to get too worried just yet.
More »
Lightning Review: i-Mate Ultimate 8502
1:54PM Angus Kidman | The gadget: The i-Mate Ultimate 8502, the company’s new entry-level workhorse touchscreen and keyboard smartphone which is making its local debut on Telstra’s Next G network.The price: $999The verdict: It’s a nice enough phone and the network is speedy, but the BlackBerry gang don’t need to get too worried just yet.
More » 
Phones
2:11PM Angus Kidman | i-mate first showed off its Ultimate 8502 and 9502 models at 3GSM in Barcelona last month, but Telstra is claiming the first actual rollout of the device anywhere in the word. Both the candybar 8502 model ($999) and the slide-out keyboard 9502 (effectively the JASJAM’s successor at $1,099) will go on sale for use on the ludicrously speedy Next G network on March 25. A post-paid model will follow on April 8 ($100 a month over 24 months).
More »
Telstra Debuts i-mate Ultimate On Next G
2:11PM Angus Kidman | i-mate first showed off its Ultimate 8502 and 9502 models at 3GSM in Barcelona last month, but Telstra is claiming the first actual rollout of the device anywhere in the word. Both the candybar 8502 model ($999) and the slide-out keyboard 9502 (effectively the JASJAM’s successor at $1,099) will go on sale for use on the ludicrously speedy Next G network on March 25. A post-paid model will follow on April 8 ($100 a month over 24 months).
More »
Cameras
10:29AM Angus Kidman | Sony held one of its typically OTT launches this week, rolling out five new Cybershot cameras in its T series and W series families. The launch event featured a bunch of apparent talent from the local version of So You Think You Can Dance, but that sort of thing shouldn’t be encouraged, we reckon. Sony also showed off some previously announced Handycam models and a bunch of new living room PCs. Camera release and specs after the jump.
More »
New Sony Cyber-shots Dance Into View
10:29AM Angus Kidman | Sony held one of its typically OTT launches this week, rolling out five new Cybershot cameras in its T series and W series families. The launch event featured a bunch of apparent talent from the local version of So You Think You Can Dance, but that sort of thing shouldn’t be encouraged, we reckon. Sony also showed off some previously announced Handycam models and a bunch of new living room PCs. Camera release and specs after the jump.
More »
Software
8:08AM Angus Kidman | First questions first: why would you call an online backup service Carbonite? Apparently, company management wanted something more distinct than all the variants on backupmydatanow.com-type names that you usually see for this kind of service. It seems no-one realised that this would lead to lots of random Star Wars references, but you can’t have everything.Anyway, Carbonite, which has been running in the US since 2005, is now available locally for a fairly reasonable $59.95 a year. The big selling points are completely unlimited storage capacity (though you’d have to be careful not to blow your ISP limit using it) and totally automatic operation. Given how lazy practically everyone is about backup, it’s got to be worth considering. For now, it’s Windows only (XP and Vista), though a version for Mac OS X is scheduled sometime later this year. [Carbonite]
More »
Carbonite backs up into Australia
8:08AM Angus Kidman | First questions first: why would you call an online backup service Carbonite? Apparently, company management wanted something more distinct than all the variants on backupmydatanow.com-type names that you usually see for this kind of service. It seems no-one realised that this would lead to lots of random Star Wars references, but you can’t have everything.Anyway, Carbonite, which has been running in the US since 2005, is now available locally for a fairly reasonable $59.95 a year. The big selling points are completely unlimited storage capacity (though you’d have to be careful not to blow your ISP limit using it) and totally automatic operation. Given how lazy practically everyone is about backup, it’s got to be worth considering. For now, it’s Windows only (XP and Vista), though a version for Mac OS X is scheduled sometime later this year. [Carbonite]
More »
Design
1:05PM Angus Kidman | Hot on the heels of the Mac-as-toilet-paper-dispenser, here’s a slightly more practical adaptation of an ageing Apple which we encountered in a Melbourne suburban street. Take one Power Mac G4, strip the guts out, create a hinged front flap and voila! There’s a mailbox which stands out from the usual generic blah designs offered by national hardware chains. And let’s face it, it’s probably a more effective way of getting mail into a Mac than Entourage.
More »
Make My Mac a Mailbox
1:05PM Angus Kidman | Hot on the heels of the Mac-as-toilet-paper-dispenser, here’s a slightly more practical adaptation of an ageing Apple which we encountered in a Melbourne suburban street. Take one Power Mac G4, strip the guts out, create a hinged front flap and voila! There’s a mailbox which stands out from the usual generic blah designs offered by national hardware chains. And let’s face it, it’s probably a more effective way of getting mail into a Mac than Entourage.
More »
Announcements
9:21AM Angus Kidman | As Nick mentioned last week, the team from BRAN, Australia’s edgiest tech podcast, are pitching in to help out at Gizmodo Australia while he’s off enjoying his honeymoon. While a good chunk of our time is currently spent knee-deep in gadget galleries (and we are totally not complaining), we’re also still producing our regular podcasts. In the latest episode, #83, we look at the seven greatest technology disasters of all time — products or events that really, really sucked. We don’t want to give away the whole list, but it’s safe to say that Apple, Microsoft and Sony all make an appearance. Check it out online or subscribe via iTunes. [BRAN #83]
More »
Greatest tech disasters of all time
9:21AM Angus Kidman | As Nick mentioned last week, the team from BRAN, Australia’s edgiest tech podcast, are pitching in to help out at Gizmodo Australia while he’s off enjoying his honeymoon. While a good chunk of our time is currently spent knee-deep in gadget galleries (and we are totally not complaining), we’re also still producing our regular podcasts. In the latest episode, #83, we look at the seven greatest technology disasters of all time — products or events that really, really sucked. We don’t want to give away the whole list, but it’s safe to say that Apple, Microsoft and Sony all make an appearance. Check it out online or subscribe via iTunes. [BRAN #83]
More » 
