smart

The idea of a "smart cable" has always seemed weird to us. (Where do they keep their brains?) But that's essentially what SoundTech is promising with its "LightSnake" line, which lights up in glowing green when in use.

The company is touting these USB cables as simple tools for garage guitarists and other amateur musicians who don't want to mess around with complicated recording equipment. (Even its name sounds like a rock band.) Dubbed a "sound card in a cable," the LightSnake requires no drivers and will work with a variety of … Read more

As our lives get busier and we become more reliant on text messages and e-mail, voice mail is starting to seem a tad archaic (not to mention impractical if you're sitting in a business meeting or loud bar). A company called SimulScribe has come up with a technology that claims to be the answer.

The New York-based start-up uses voice recognition technology to transcribe voice mails into text. Instead of having to sit through Grandpa Bill's three-minute voice mail, you'd get a written message, via SMS or e-mail, approximately two to five minutes after the voice mail … Read more

Boy, are Palm Treo 700w owners going to be miffed. Today, Verizon Wireless and Palm announced the availability of the Palm Treo 700wx, which is almost identical to its predecessor except for one key difference: it ups the 700w's paltry 32MB of RAM to 64MB, clearing the way for snappier performance. Aside from the increased memory, there aren't any major differences or upgrades (ahem, Windows Mobile 6) from the Treo 700w or Sprint's version of the 700wx. The Windows Mobile 5 smart phone has push e-mail capabilities, EV-DO support, a 1.3-megapixel camera, and Bluetooth. The Palm … Read more

We're still patiently waiting to get our hands on the I-mate Jaq 3 (next week, they say), which was announced at CES 2007, but do we even care anymore? Today, I-mate introduced its successor, the I-mate Jaq4, which runs the latest Windows Mobile 6 Professional Edition and looks like sleeker device overall. There's nothing that really knocks our socks off, and the lack of 3G support is disappointing, but the quad-band (GSM 850/900/1800/1900; GPRS/EDGE) smart phone still offers a solid helping of features. It comes equipped with Wi-Fi (802.11b/g); Bluetooth 1.2; … Read more

Ready or not, TV on your cell phone is here. Verizon Wireless unveiled its V Cast Mobile TV at CES 2007, and just today, Cingular/AT&T announced that it will use Qualcomm's MediaFlo technology to bring live TV to its phones. However, as fellow Craver Nicole Lee pointed out, European and Asian carriers are gravitating toward DVB-H, a competing mobile TV standard, as evidenced by the new Nokia N77. Announced at 3GSM, the N77 is the newest device to join Nokia's N series of multimedia computers and supports the DVB-H technology so you can enjoy live … Read more

So, I kind of have a secret to tell you guys. I, um, don't actually own a smart phone. I know, I know. I make a living reviewing these devices, and I don't even own one? But I have my reasons. First, because of my job, I'm lucky enough to have hands-on time with a lot of these devices, and with the recent explosion of smart phones, I can't remember the last time I haven't had one to toodle around with for a while. Also, I'm a big stickler about design. I'm a … Read more

We had a feeling we'd see these smart phones debut today (though not quite with such an awkward naming scheme, but whatever), but now it's official. Along with a slew of other new phones, Motorola announced the GSM version of the Motorola Q and a more multimedia-rich Moto Q q9 (see what we mean?).

The quad-band (GSM 850/900/1800/1900; GPRS/EDGE) Moto Q will run the latest Windows Mobile 6 Standard Edition and features the same soft-touch finish and black casing found on Verizon's version of the sleek QWERTY device. The rest of the features … Read more

In addition to the E series goodness, Nokia also announced the Nokia 6110 Navigator today, a quad-band smart phone with robust navigation capabilities. The handset is equipped with built-in GPS as well as AGPS (Assisted Global Positioning System), and comes with local maps pre-installed on a memory card so you can start navigating right out of the box. The Nokia 6110 offers all the navigation tools you'd expect in today's GPS devices, including text- and voice-guided turn-by-turn directions, real-time tracking, points of interest, and various options for route creation. An optional car mount will be available for purchase, … Read more

Things are hoppin' at the 3GSM World Congress, and Nokia's certainly contributing to the par-tay with a number of announcements this morning. First, the company has added three new models to its E series of smart phones: the Nokia E61i, the Nokia E65, and the Nokia E90 Communicator. Keeping in line with the rest of the series, the new devices are aimed at business users and have a long laundry list of corporate-friendly features. However, the E61i, E90, and E65 also offer new, sleeker designs that say, "Hey, us business peeps can have fun, too." Here is … Read more