LG LCD TV, aka Scarlet
Check out what turned up today. Mmmmm one very very nice LG 107cm (42 inch) LCD television, aka Scarlet. And you know what, I don’t want it…..that’s right I don’t want it so I’m going to be giving it away. Some time in the next couple of days I’ll be announcing a competition on Cool and Stuff where you can win Scarlet.
More details will be announced in the next couple of days, for now you should definitely subscribe to the email version of this blog which you can find below this article, and you should definitely subscribe to the Cool and Stuff blog’s email list by entering your details at the bottom of this blog.
How To: Install a 3G USB modem on EeePC
I’ve spent the last 3 days hacking around on my Asus EeePC 701 trying to find information on how to install my USB 3G modem, Vodafone 3G to be precise, on it. I was directed to a number of different websites prompting me to download a load of different drivers and all sorts of other stuff the the EeePC.
As it turns out it is really simple, and takes about a minute.
Here’s how (it’d be useful for you to turn on your Asus EeePC now);
- On the ‘Internet’ tab open up the ‘Network’ icon, this will take you to Network Connections
- Click on ‘Create’ to start a new connection
- Select the type of connection, for the 3G USB modem select GSM / 3G (UMTS) / HSDPA, click ‘Next’
- Select Hardware, huawei E-220 /dev/ttyUSB0 and plug the modem into the first (closest to front) USB slot and click ‘Next’
- Network Registration, click on ‘Search’ to find the modem and 3G service. Once you get the list select your provider by clicking on their name and click ‘Next’
- Login Data, select the operator location you’re in, ie. Australia - Vodafone, then click ‘Next’
- Name your connection, ie. Vodafone 3G, and click ‘Next’
- You can now choose for this connection to start at system start, and also when you finish the wizard. It’s up to you but I prefer to start mine manually. Click ‘Finish’ and you’re done
In your Network Connections list you should now have your new 3G USB Modem connection, right click on it and select Connect and after a short period of connection time you will have yourself a 3G USB Modem connection. Go browse the internet, download some emails, chat, etc.
Hopefully your install goes as smoothly as mine did.
iPhone, 72 hours later
I’m not sure whether I have the time or inclination to write a big review of the iPhone, it’s pretty much the most awesome piece of technology that I’ve ever used. I had a few problems initially getting the email sync setup, mostly it was problems that I caused myself, but apart from that the iPhone has been rock solid.
A Couple of Thoughts
I love the camera, it’s way better than I was expecting considering all the groans of ‘wah it’s only 2mp’. I’ve taken a bunch of photos on it, and via the email published them to my flickr stream, and have actually been reasonably impressed at the quality in both daylight and low-light situations.
If you don’t know already I love location based social networking, ie. Brightkite, Twitter, and Flickr, and the iPhone allows me to login to all these, post photos, messages, etc. it’s all so easy with the address book and email integration. There’s even a couple of Apps in the iTunes Apps store that allow you to directly logon to these networks and converse.
SMS, Phone, Mail, Contacts, all work brilliantly and having them all seamlessly integrated makes calling, txt, emailing, etc. all so simple to do.
The various other features like Calendar, Apps, iTunes, iPod, Weather, etc. all work as you would expect. Maps is something I haven’t spent much time using, though I did have a quick play with it and it seemed to be ok though I would hardly recommend using it as a GPS as it lacks turn-by-turn instruction.
Recommendation
Buy one, buy one as soon as you can. Before you plug it into your Mac or PC, make sure you clean up all your Contacts, Calendars, and if possible convert your POP3 email to IMAP, once all that is done you’re ready to rock and should not experience any dramas.
Here’s a couple of photos that I shot with my iPhone so you can see what the quality is like, I’m pretty happy with them and think they are more than fine for blog usage and alike.
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