Ever since the iPhone went on sale last summer, cell-phone companies and manufacturers have been doing everything they can to steal some of Apple and AT&T's thunder by releasing iPhone clones. And with the second version of the iPhone -- the iPhone 3G --going on sale on Friday, expect the attack of the clones to continue.
The newest clone, the Samsung Instinct from Sprint, is the best effort yet to mimic the iPhone's simplicity, elegant hardware and interface and overall fun factor. As with the iPhone, you're able to immediately pick up the Instinct and start using it without having to consult the manual.
The Instinct also gets points for stealing some of the iPhone's best features, such as visual voice mail, and adding ones the iPhone lacks, such as external storage (it comes with a 2GB microSD card that can hold about 2,000 songs), more buttons, a removable battery, a stylus and voice-activated commands.
But what the Instinct (and the other iPhone clones) has failed to do is create a phone that's not only a phone, but a whole new platform that comes close to the experience of using a computer. Case in point: the Web browser. Surfing the Internet on the iPhone is almost identical to doing it on a computer. On the Instinct, it still feels like you're browsing the Web on a phone. Also, while Sprint says developers are free to create applications for the Instinct, unlike the iPhone, there are no plans for a formalized store where users can download some of the coolest applications.The phone costs $130 (after a $100 rebate and with a two-year contract), $70 less than the cheapest iPhone 3G. Service plans start at $70, which is comparable to the new iPhone plans, except all of the Instinct plans include unlimited text messaging.
Both phones are black rectangular slabs with a large video screen and no physical keyboard. Many of the on-screen icons and colors are also similar to the iPhone, such as sliding your finger on a virtual bar to enable something. Both are digital music and video players and cameras, though only the Instinct can record video.
The Instinct has more than one fixed button to access features. There's a home button, a phone button and a back button. The back button is especially useful because you don't have to go all the way back to the home screen every time you want to do something else.
A glaring omission in the Instinct's hardware is the lack of Wi-Fi connectivity, which would have made this phone even more attractive because having Wi-Fi gives you another option for getting online if you can't get a cell signal.
The phone's interface is divided into logical and accurately labeled sections: favorites, main, fun and Web. The favorites section saves you loads of time by letting you add buttons to launch your favorite activities, such as calling or sending a text message to a particular person, launching a Web site or even opening a specific live radio or TV station.
The Instinct's applications play nice with each other, so when there's a phone number, e-mail address or address on the screen, you can tap it to dial the number, send an e-mail, or get turn-by-turn, voice-guided GPS driving directions. You can also find local businesses by speaking what you are looking for, such as "Thai food" or "libraries."
Typing on the Instinct's virtual keyboard is pretty easy to master, especially since you can display the on-screen keyboard in a horizontal mode, giving you more space. But there is no predictive text and the auto correct function isn't great. Alternatively, you can use the stylus to write on the screen, but the handwriting recognition is hit or miss.
Setting up an e-mail is as simple as selecting your e-mail service and typing in your username and password.
You can also set up a work e-mail address, and e-mail is pushed to you so the phone automatically checks for new messages and notifies you when one comes in.
But viewing some messages and attachments on the Instinct is pretty difficult, which limits the business uses of the phone.
Although the Instinct is a touch-screen phone, it's not a multitouch phone, which is a crippling blow for its Web browser. Reading a Web page on any mobile device is going to require a lot of resizing and zooming. The iPhone makes this easier by being a multitouch phone, so you can pinch Web pages with two fingers to change the size.
The Instinct doesn't have pinching so you have to rely on zoom and resize buttons, which takes more time and is frustrating. You can use your finger to scroll up and down on a page, but it was hard not to click on links when doing this. Unlike the iPhone, you can only have one Web page up at a time and you can only view Web pages horizontally, which makes it hard to read long news articles.
I don't think many people will (or should) switch carriers to get the Instinct, but it's a great device for Sprint customers looking for a stylish and easy-to-use phone with lots of multimedia and communication features.
Sunday, July 06, 2008
Christina Applegate's Boyfriend Found Dead
"I am profoundly saddened," Applegate said of Lee Grivas, 26, in a statement to Usmagazine.com. "Lee was an incredible human being who was an extremely important and beautiful part of my life."
A neighbor found the body on Tuesday evening in the living room of his Hollywood apartment, TMZ reported on Thursday.
Grivas and Applegate, 36, dated on and off for years after meeting through a performer in her "Sweet Charity" Broadway show.
Grivas allegedly had a history of drug abuse, and an autopsy report was pending.
A neighbor found the body on Tuesday evening in the living room of his Hollywood apartment, TMZ reported on Thursday.
Grivas and Applegate, 36, dated on and off for years after meeting through a performer in her "Sweet Charity" Broadway show.
Grivas allegedly had a history of drug abuse, and an autopsy report was pending.
California firefighters brace for new heat wave
Weary California firefighters braced on Sunday for another heat wave in the next few days as they battled to bring two major blazes threatening towns along the central coast under control.
Residents in more than 2,600 homes in the path of a 9,367 acre fire in the Santa Barbara area were still under evacuation orders. Families who live in another 850 houses were warned to be ready to leave at short notice, county officials said.
Cooler weather on Saturday helped fire crews make some headway against a six-day old fire raging in rugged terrain near the small town of Goleta, about eight miles from Santa Barbara.
But with the fire only 28 percent contained, temperatures rose and humidity dropped on Sunday ahead of what forecasters warned would be another heat wave ahead with temperatures exceeding 100 degrees F (38 degrees C) in many areas.
"Any time temperatures increase and relative humidity goes down, the fuels get drier and you have a more combustible situation. There is a lot of concern for firefighter safety," said Karen McKinley, spokeswoman for the National Forest Service.
"We've got increased temperatures and increased winds today. Canyons and passes tend to channel winds, so what could happen is that the winds could channel the fire down San Marco pass and that would hit Goleta and Santa Barbara," she said.
The blaze near Goleta is one of more than 1,700 to hit central and northern California since June 21, destroying at least 69 homes, charring 520,000 acres and killing one firefighter, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said on Saturday.
Nadal over Federer: The sports world stands still
Sometimes, thankfully, we are given opportunities to pause, drop everything and melt in the scorched earth. No matter where you were and what you were doing Sunday, the TV screen was a magnet, and the epic grip of sport had seized your being. We won't experience 10 or 12 greater athletic moments in our lives than the Wimbledon men's final, which was so epic in its intensity and attrition that it trivialized the concept of a mere Instant Classic.
How about Eternal Gratification? Or Better Than Sex?
» Click to enlarge image
Rafael Nadal outlasted Roger Federer in an epic Wimbledon battle.
(AP)
After four hours and 48 minutes of majesty, when Roger Federer dumped his final forehand into the net and Rafael Nadal tumbled joyfully across the Centre Court grass that Federer no longer rules, I heard applause all around me. Which was strange because the setting was a sports joint inside O'Hare International Airport. The Cubs were playing on Channel 9. The White Sox were playing on Comcast SportsNet. Our parochial city was buzzing about why seven Cubs and only two Sox had made the All-Star Game. Cubdom was crying about C.C. Sabathia heading to the rival Brewers. Yet I looked around to see two guys in Cubs caps and one in a Sox cap staring up at the screens and smiling as Nadal, climbing like Spider-Man through the tooty-snooty stands of the All England Club, hugged his loved ones and waved the yellow-and-red flag of his native Spain.
All eight TV screens were tuned to the match, too, as they'd been for hours.
"This is much bigger than the baseball games," the manager told me. "No one has complained." The only person who had a beef of any sort was a waiter, who asked me why I wrote such a tough column this year about Cubs prospect Felix Pie. I told him to find the column -- it doesn't exist because I never wrote it -- and to, um, please excuse me so I could absorb history with my Sprite.
The game was tennis, never taken seriously by the Grabowski crowd. But for all we knew, these could have been two barbarians -- football players, boxers, mixed-martial-arts goons -- as they wailed away on each other.
Including two rain delays, the match actually encompassed around 6 hours of real time, a mood-swing marathon in which young Nadal won the first two sets in a white, sleeveless, Capri-like get-up that reflects his brawling style and highlights two guns that would rival any strong safety's. This was what we¹ve been waiting for, the child of clay to challenge the grass dynasty of the stately Federer, and who knew it would evolve in one afternoon into the most crackling rivalry in sports?
Nadal is what Phil Mickelson never became in a golf world owned by Tiger Woods. He is the lefty challenger who stared down Federer's 65-match winning streak on grass, which spanned five consecutive Wimbledon championships, and interrupted his reign as the sport's top player. With 12 Grand Slam titles, Federer has been making his case as tennis' all-time greatest player, yet is it possible his place in history will be swallowed up by Nadal? Already generally regarded as the most dominant ever on clay, he has mastered the grass game quicker than anyone imagined, becoming the first player since Bjorn Borg in 1980 to pull off the Wimbledon/French Open double in the same year. To see him hold off the charging Federer repeatedly in a mesmerizing fifth set, which trickled deep into the London twilight, ranks as high as any drama ever produced by tennis.
"The greatest match I've ever seen," said NBC analyst John McEnroe.
Yes, the same McEnroe who played in what previously was viewed as the greatest match ever, the 1980 Wimbledon final won by Borg in five sets.
What made it such a colossus in time was the toppling of a champion. Had Federer become the first male player since 1927 to return from a two-set hole and win the Wimbledon final, we would have hailed it as the crowning moment of his legacy and counted the days until he passes Pete Sampras' record of 14 Grand Slam wins. Now, all eyes turn to Nadal, who might be emerging as the greatest of them all at 22. To call it a changing of the guard, right there in the midst of English royalty, wouldn't be a stretch as much as probable reality. The enduring scene -- Nadal rolling on the sod and dirtying his shirt in euphoria, then scaling the TV commentators' booth with tears in his eyes to greet all of his family members and Prince Felipe and Princess Letizia of Spain -- marks the beginning of a long association we'll have with Nadal.
"It's impossible to explain what I felt in that moment," he said after winning 6-4, 6-4, 6-7 (5), 6-7 (8), 9-7. "I'm just very happy to win this title. For me, it is a dream to play in this tournament on this court. But to win, I never imagined something like this." The result, in the longest Wimbledon men's final ever, shouldn't have shocked anyone who has studied Federer of late. His game has regressed this year, and nearing 27, he could be nearing the end of his blurry run. We've tried to group him with Woods as two impenetrable pillars. They've become friends and even did a razor commercial together, but make no mistake, Federer is not Woods because Woods doesn't have a Nadal in his crosshairs.
"Probably later in life, I'll go, 'That was a great match.' But right now, it's not much of a feel-good thing," Federer said. "It's probably my hardest loss, by far. I mean, it's not much harder than this right now." The Swiss gentleman is more of a tennis throwback. His steady comportment falls more along traditional lines, right down to the classy sweaters that bear his initials. Nadal? He's a long-haired streetfighter who wears a large headband that covers his entire forehead and ties in the back. When he wins a point, he shouts instinctively and pumps his forearms, which are covered by huge wraps. But the clash of personalities and styles is what defines this rivalry and makes it fun and cool. They also are dignified and mature about the magnitude of it all, unlike some sports rivalries manufactured in America.
"I am very happy for me, but I'm sorry for him because he deserved this title, too," Nadal said. "He's still No. 1, still the best, still a five-time champion." "I tried everything. But Rafa's a deserving champion," Federer said. "He just played fantastically." Not only were they dueling each other, they were fighting the sky, the moon and the stars. By the end, it was dusk at Centre Court, where the players were engulfed by a roof that hangs over the stands. The fifth set couldn't have lasted more than another game before play would be suspended until today. Did we hear some snippiness from Federer over visibility issues at 9:15 p.m.? "It's rough on me now, to lose the biggest tournament in the world over maybe a bit of light," he said.
He wasn't the only one playing in near-darkness. "In the last game," Nadal said, "I didn't see nothing." But the challenger persevered as the champion expired. That's why we watch sports, of course, to see champs and challengers, and when they finally raise the level of drama high enough to cut through sport's scandals and smut, we tend to stop what we're doing and just gaze.
How about Eternal Gratification? Or Better Than Sex?
» Click to enlarge image
Rafael Nadal outlasted Roger Federer in an epic Wimbledon battle.
(AP)
After four hours and 48 minutes of majesty, when Roger Federer dumped his final forehand into the net and Rafael Nadal tumbled joyfully across the Centre Court grass that Federer no longer rules, I heard applause all around me. Which was strange because the setting was a sports joint inside O'Hare International Airport. The Cubs were playing on Channel 9. The White Sox were playing on Comcast SportsNet. Our parochial city was buzzing about why seven Cubs and only two Sox had made the All-Star Game. Cubdom was crying about C.C. Sabathia heading to the rival Brewers. Yet I looked around to see two guys in Cubs caps and one in a Sox cap staring up at the screens and smiling as Nadal, climbing like Spider-Man through the tooty-snooty stands of the All England Club, hugged his loved ones and waved the yellow-and-red flag of his native Spain.
All eight TV screens were tuned to the match, too, as they'd been for hours.
"This is much bigger than the baseball games," the manager told me. "No one has complained." The only person who had a beef of any sort was a waiter, who asked me why I wrote such a tough column this year about Cubs prospect Felix Pie. I told him to find the column -- it doesn't exist because I never wrote it -- and to, um, please excuse me so I could absorb history with my Sprite.
The game was tennis, never taken seriously by the Grabowski crowd. But for all we knew, these could have been two barbarians -- football players, boxers, mixed-martial-arts goons -- as they wailed away on each other.
Including two rain delays, the match actually encompassed around 6 hours of real time, a mood-swing marathon in which young Nadal won the first two sets in a white, sleeveless, Capri-like get-up that reflects his brawling style and highlights two guns that would rival any strong safety's. This was what we¹ve been waiting for, the child of clay to challenge the grass dynasty of the stately Federer, and who knew it would evolve in one afternoon into the most crackling rivalry in sports?
Nadal is what Phil Mickelson never became in a golf world owned by Tiger Woods. He is the lefty challenger who stared down Federer's 65-match winning streak on grass, which spanned five consecutive Wimbledon championships, and interrupted his reign as the sport's top player. With 12 Grand Slam titles, Federer has been making his case as tennis' all-time greatest player, yet is it possible his place in history will be swallowed up by Nadal? Already generally regarded as the most dominant ever on clay, he has mastered the grass game quicker than anyone imagined, becoming the first player since Bjorn Borg in 1980 to pull off the Wimbledon/French Open double in the same year. To see him hold off the charging Federer repeatedly in a mesmerizing fifth set, which trickled deep into the London twilight, ranks as high as any drama ever produced by tennis.
"The greatest match I've ever seen," said NBC analyst John McEnroe.
Yes, the same McEnroe who played in what previously was viewed as the greatest match ever, the 1980 Wimbledon final won by Borg in five sets.
What made it such a colossus in time was the toppling of a champion. Had Federer become the first male player since 1927 to return from a two-set hole and win the Wimbledon final, we would have hailed it as the crowning moment of his legacy and counted the days until he passes Pete Sampras' record of 14 Grand Slam wins. Now, all eyes turn to Nadal, who might be emerging as the greatest of them all at 22. To call it a changing of the guard, right there in the midst of English royalty, wouldn't be a stretch as much as probable reality. The enduring scene -- Nadal rolling on the sod and dirtying his shirt in euphoria, then scaling the TV commentators' booth with tears in his eyes to greet all of his family members and Prince Felipe and Princess Letizia of Spain -- marks the beginning of a long association we'll have with Nadal.
"It's impossible to explain what I felt in that moment," he said after winning 6-4, 6-4, 6-7 (5), 6-7 (8), 9-7. "I'm just very happy to win this title. For me, it is a dream to play in this tournament on this court. But to win, I never imagined something like this." The result, in the longest Wimbledon men's final ever, shouldn't have shocked anyone who has studied Federer of late. His game has regressed this year, and nearing 27, he could be nearing the end of his blurry run. We've tried to group him with Woods as two impenetrable pillars. They've become friends and even did a razor commercial together, but make no mistake, Federer is not Woods because Woods doesn't have a Nadal in his crosshairs.
"Probably later in life, I'll go, 'That was a great match.' But right now, it's not much of a feel-good thing," Federer said. "It's probably my hardest loss, by far. I mean, it's not much harder than this right now." The Swiss gentleman is more of a tennis throwback. His steady comportment falls more along traditional lines, right down to the classy sweaters that bear his initials. Nadal? He's a long-haired streetfighter who wears a large headband that covers his entire forehead and ties in the back. When he wins a point, he shouts instinctively and pumps his forearms, which are covered by huge wraps. But the clash of personalities and styles is what defines this rivalry and makes it fun and cool. They also are dignified and mature about the magnitude of it all, unlike some sports rivalries manufactured in America.
"I am very happy for me, but I'm sorry for him because he deserved this title, too," Nadal said. "He's still No. 1, still the best, still a five-time champion." "I tried everything. But Rafa's a deserving champion," Federer said. "He just played fantastically." Not only were they dueling each other, they were fighting the sky, the moon and the stars. By the end, it was dusk at Centre Court, where the players were engulfed by a roof that hangs over the stands. The fifth set couldn't have lasted more than another game before play would be suspended until today. Did we hear some snippiness from Federer over visibility issues at 9:15 p.m.? "It's rough on me now, to lose the biggest tournament in the world over maybe a bit of light," he said.
He wasn't the only one playing in near-darkness. "In the last game," Nadal said, "I didn't see nothing." But the challenger persevered as the champion expired. That's why we watch sports, of course, to see champs and challengers, and when they finally raise the level of drama high enough to cut through sport's scandals and smut, we tend to stop what we're doing and just gaze.
GameGain 2 2.5.5.2008
GameGain is a tool that optimizes your computer performance to make your games run faster. Based off our popular PCMedik software GameGain differentiates itself by focusing entirely on gaming performance upgrades only. Playing computer games that run entirely too slow or show poor performance? GameGain attempts to solve such problems and at the same time increase computing performance. GameGain boosts your computer gaming performance by modifying several system settings, so you can now use that old computer or new computer of yours as your primary gaming station. No installation or modification needs to be made to your hardware, GameGain does all the complicated settings for you instantly.GameGain works on all 32 bit platforms of Windows. From Windows 95 up to the latest Windows XP you will enjoy the benefits that GameGain will bring. Simply choose your operating system, select the processor type you’re using and then choose the speed setting you want and hit the ‘GO’ button and you will notice performance increases for gaming that your computer has never seen before. We wont promise that GameGain will do wonders and make your computer work at astronomical speeds, but you will notice your computer working much smoother and overall performance greatly improved.
Download:GameGain 2 2.5.5.2008 (842 KB)
WhereIsIt? 3.92 Build 505
WhereIsIt is easy to use for both beginners and advanced users. It features a familiar and well thought-out, Explorer-like user interface, combined with strong searching and reporting capabilities, multi-language support, automated description and thumbnails importing through extendable plugins from more than 70 different sources, and much more.
Download: WhereIsIt? 3.92 Build 505 (4.96 MB)
WebSite-Watcher 4.41 Final
WebSite-Watcher allows you to monitor your favorite websites for updates and changes with a minimum of time and online costs. Now you can monitor your competition without having to lift a finger! When changes in a website are detected, WebSite-Watcher saves the last two versions to your hard disk and highlights all changes in the text.
Many Features
Monitor web pages
Monitor password protected pages
Monitor forums for new postings and replies
Monitor RSS feeds, Newsgroups and local files
Highlight changes in a page
Powerful filter system to ignore unwanted content
Many more features to stay up-to-date!
Many Benefits
Don’t waste hours checking websites for updates when WebSite-Watcher can do it automatically for you
Know what your competitors are doing, WebSite-Watcher scans their websites for you
Know when a new software version or driver update is released, WebSite-Watcher detects the updates for you
Stay informed with new postings or answers in discussion forums, WebSite-Watcher will notify you as soon as possible
Download: WebSite-Watcher 4.41 Final (4.0 MB)
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