The phone wars have been heating up for a while, resulting in a bumper crop of cool gadgets and racking up a few casualties along the way. First the RAZR, then the iPhone
then the Diamond?
With Motorola’s phone division a distant memory and Apple looking surprisingly shaky, Microsoft is aiming to clean up with its Diamond, a new handheld that handles all the usual webbery but possibly with slightly more panache. And a full ounce lighter, which is what has the gadget-heads excited.
More on the Diamond»
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Stripes of Summer: The dangerous allure of the white striped tie is considered. [A Suitable Wardrobe]
Vlogs, and the Media Moguls Who Love Them: A Facebook group stunt goes awry and a long-suffering underling pays the price in this web short. [Vanity Fair]
Western Homes: Considering American houses
no, that’s not a metaphor for anything. [A Continuous Lean]
Is Your Refrigerator Running?: A brief overview of the rich world of prank phone calls. [AV Club]
Shirts, Books, Shirts, Books: Taking a literary inspiration for your style is a great idea. If you’re that into sci-fi, you’re probably screwed anyway. [Details]
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The touchscreen-only phone was a good idea. A very good idea, in fact. So it’s only natural that the rest of the world is still catching up.
Blackberry’s latest model is definitely riding in the wake of a certain much-heralded, much-reported, Jobs-endorsed model we won’t bother to mention, but it has a certain charm all its own, including a remarkably solid email platform. Which was supposed be the point
right?
Plus, you won’t have to bother with AT&T.
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Although we love a good Blackberry now and then, our heart belongs to the iPhone for one simple reason: the programs.
We got an extra boost today, when our favorite tech-savvy producer weighed in. The last time we checked in he was putting out an album with his old Talking Heads chum David Byrne, but this time around he’s taking the experimental route. He’s put together a music program called Bloom for the iPhone that creates music based on the user’s touch. (Those are the high-tech controls on the left; each bubble plays its own sound.) It’s an example of Eno’s pet project of generative music, but all you really need to know is that it’s a musical toy that could only exist on a touchscreen phone, and it’ll only set you back four dollars.
Just the thing to keep you occupied until Google gets its act together.
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Blackberry’s touchscreen model (the poorly named Blackberry Storm) is finally out and, while we knew they were aiming for the boring-businessman demographic, we have to say, it’s a lot less remarkable than we thought.
We understand the appeal of stripped-down utilitarianism as much as anyone, but once you’re throwing in a camera and media player, there’s no good reason not to have a Pandora application and a bubbly generative music program. And, you know, a map or two.
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