The Bluetooth Special Interest Group have officially release the specifications for the next iteration of Bluetooth, and what we can expect from it.

As we previously reported, the specs for Bluetooh 3.0 (now called Bluetooth 3.0+HS) were due to be released on April 21st, and sure enough, this came to be true.  The new high speed protoocls for Bluetooh will utilize the 802.11 spectrum (the same spectrum used for Wi-Fi) to allow for higher speed transfers of larger files.  Some of the examples they gave were streaming movies directly from a camcorder to an HDTV, wirelessly trasnfering photos from a camera to a computer and syncing music to an MP3 player over the air.

While all of this sounds very exciting, no information was given on pricing will be like for these new items.  The good news is that old Bluetooth equipment will still work with the new items thinks to backwards compatibility.  Considering the speed with which technology changes these days, this is a feature that is going to become more and more essential for everything.

Items with the new standard are expected to appear on store shelves within 9 – 12 months, meaning we will not be seeing this in phones until sometimes in 2010.

If the rumors are true, Hulu may soon be liquefying your brain on the iPhone and iPod Touch.

Silicon Alley Insider is reporting that Hulu, the popular video streaming service, is working on an application for the iPhone and iPod Touch.  Although the report states that the application should work over 3G or Wi-Fi, we find the 3G claim highly suspect as other video apps such as CBS’ TV.com (iTunes Link) have to work over Wi-Fi due to the bandwidth demands of streaming video content over a cellular network.

While the app has not yet been officially confirmed, it isn’t too difficult to imagine that this is indeed being worked on.  With their ad-supported revenue model, it only makes sense for as many eyeballs as possible to be watching their content.  And as for the end user, this will give you an enermous library of television shows and movies you can watch for free right at your finger tips.  The only possible downside to this whole scenario, and possibly the aspect that makes it untrue, is how this will effect iTunes store sales of their downloadable videos.

Only time will tell if this proves to be true, but I for one am hoping it is.

Proving once again that the iPhone and iPod Touch are capable of just about anything, Chrysler is going to let you start a car with them.

Chrysler is launching a new electric car next year called the Peapod.  While the car is pretty standard for the electric market (30 miles at 25 mph off of an 8 hour charge), its integration with the iPhone and iPod Touch are fairly different.  You place your device in the dashboard dock, and from the custom app you will be able to monitor information about your car, see how efficently you are using it, play music and so on.

Where it gets really odd is that the brochure for the car makes mention that you can use your favorite gadget as a key to start the car.  It doesn’t go into great detail on how this will work, just that it exists.  It does also mention that you can use your traditional key if you choose to, and we say “thank goodness for that!”  Imagine trying to call your spouse and explain, “Honey, I can’t come home yet, my iPhone ran out of power and I can’t start the car without it.”  Somehow we don’t imagine that would fly too well as an excuse.

The Peapod is due for release sometime next year.

Bluetooth is looking to get updated soon, and the announcement of what we can expect is coming April 21st.

The Bluetooth Special Interest Group will be announcing all of the new specifications for Bluetooth 3.0 on April 21st, and from what is being rumored, it seems everyone’s favorite wireless communications standard will be getting even better.  The biggest increase will come in the form of speed focused at the consumer electronics market which will allow you to move files between home devices quickly and efficently.  Until now the home market has not had much Bluetooth connectivity, but this is something they are looking to change with this new release.

For those of you who use Bluetooth headsets with your phones, you’ll be happy to know they are promising a new feature called “Enhanced Power Control”.  While there is no clue as to how this works, but the result of this will supposedly be less disconnects between your paired devices as you move them around such as putting them in a pocket or purse.  This has always been one of my personal biggest complaints about the technology, so hopefully this really will improve things.

Full details will be coming later this month.

Vuze has announced they are bringing HD downloads to just about every device you can think of, and best of all, some of it is even free.

In a former life Vuze was a torrent client known as Azureus, which still exists, but they decided to go for a more legit business model and came up with a video streaming service.  Well, now they are working towards making sure you can watch their content the way you want, when you want.

For people with PS3s or Xbox 360s, you can download the HD files and then stream the videos from your computer to your console, and that in turn will show it on your TV.  The only drawback to this system is that you will need to have your computer running with Vuze opened as you watch.

For iPod, iPhone and Apple TV owners, you simply need to move the files from your Vuze folder to your iTunes folder, and then synch the files to your chosen device.  So if you’re using the Apple TV you can watch the files on your TV without your computer running, and with iPods and iPhones you can use them to watch your files on the go no matter where you are.

With the number of ways you can stream and download videos now, it makes you wonder how much longer broadcast television can last in this world, let alone video rental stores.

If ZillionTV has their way, paying a monthly bill to cable and satellite providers may become a thing of the past.

No one liks paying their cable company or satellite company those high monthly subscription fees, but what can you do if you want to watch current television shows?  What if there was a company that allowed you to pay them a one time fee for a device that could then stream free content to your TV via the Internet for life?

While this may sound like a radical idea, it is exactly what the folks at ZillionTV are going to try to do.

After you purchase the “ZBar”, which will be priced somewhere under $100, you will have 24/7 access to on-demand programming that will be subscription free.  The programming will include a mixture of content from 20th Century Fox Television to new releases and a selection of library titles from The Walt Disney Studios, NBC Universal, Sony Pictures and Warner Bros. Digital Distribution.  The content will be free to watch in an ad-supported format, but there will also be a mixture of programming you can rent to watch without ads as well as some that you can purchase to own.

To make the advertising less obtrusive, you will have some say in what ads are streamed to you by choosing which categories of products and services interest you.  To further encourage you to interact with the ads, they will also be launching a loyalty program that will reward you for the content and ads that you choose to explore.

The only drawback to the service is that it will require some pretty substantial speeds from your Internet Service Provider (ISP) to deliver the content to you.  Standard definition viewing will require speeds of 3 Mbps, while high definition content will require 7 Mbps.  So while you may escape paying for cable programming, you will have to continue to have high speed access, and you will also have to see how this may effect any bandwidth caps you have with your ISP.

Currently ZillionTV will only be available only by an invite-only Beta program, which you can apply to here.  The devices are expected to be available widely to the mass market by the end of the year.

I admit it—I am a gadget geek. I have the BlackBerry phone, the iPod Touch and the Garmin GPS. I love them all…when they work. I am not talking about working in the realm of the basic function for each one but the advanced functions they offer.

To keep all of my beloved gadgets in top functionality they must be updated with the seemingly endless parade of new technical applications that are offered every day, week and month of the year. I am all for improvements—let me have them all! But, as I said I am a gadget geek. I didn’t say I was a technological genius.

The question is how do I get all of those new advances on my technology when I don’t have a clue as to how to do it. Well, my answer is my son. I am not afraid to admit to him that I have my limitations. He usually grins at me, reaches for the gadget and sets me up. That is really how this blog came to be—I was stuck on something, I was out of town where no one seemed to want to help and I decided there had to be help somewhere and that place was home.

What I am trying to say is that in order to enjoy your goodies you need to be brave enough to say to someone you know—Help me!! Or get in touch with us and let us help you!

In the last couple of weeks I have come to enjoy a level ( construction level) on my Touch, a GPS locator named Google Latitude on my BlackBerry, and up to the minute updates on my Garmin GPS. Each and every one of these have added to my quality of life and I love them. Isn’t that really the point afterall? I believe that everything we can do to improve our lives is a blessing—a lot of them are FREE and most have minimal cost. All we have to do is your homework and ask the “teacher” for help.

Amazon has officially announced the release of the Kindle 2, and all of the new features it promises.

We mentioned over the weekend that it looked like Amazon was set to release the Kindle 2 today, and right on cue, they did.  So were there enough changes to make it a worthy upgrade for owners of the first version?  Are there enough features to make those sitting on the fence finally pick one up?  Lets take a look.

The most notable change is that all of the odd angles are gone.  All we can is thank goodness for that.  The original Kindle was not the most physically attractive gadget, but it still got the job done.  This one is a lot more rounded, and a looks a lot less like a 1980′s cell phone.  It’s super thin at only .36 inches thick, which brings it at even thinner than the iPhone.  It only weighs in at 10.2 ounces, which is actually lighter than the original version.

As for what is inside the device, well the memory got an upgrade from 256MBs of memory to 2GBs, meaning it can now hold up to 1500 books.  It can also now “turn” pages 20% faster then the previous version.  It is also now sporting a 3G connection so that you can download a new book anytime, anywhere.  They have also added a text-to-voice feature which will allow the Kindle 2 to read to you so that you can do other things at the same time, but people who have heard the voice say it would get old pretty quickly.

I think the biggest let down is in the screen.  The previous version’s screen had 4 shades of gray, and the new one has upped that to 16 shades.  While a nice increase, one still has to wonder where the color screen is.  True, colors would make the battery drain faster, and this one’s battery does last 25% longer than the original, but until this goes color, I just don’t see it being much more than a niche product.

The device will be available on February 24th, and will sell for $359.00

It appears that Amazon is about to release the second version of their popular ebook reader, the Kindle.

The first Kindle was released on November 19th, 2007, while they have been sold out most of the time since they were released, and it is estimated Amazon sold 500,000 units in 2008, they have gotten to be a popular item due to their usability, and being endorsed by Oprah.  While people have gotten use to frequent updates of products, and people kept expecting an update priror to the holiday 2008 shopping season, Amazon seemed to be taking a more reasoned approach to releasing a second version of the device.

Over the weekend pictures appeared on Engadget that purported to be the second version of the Kindle, and while they looked to be fairly official, there was no word from Amazon.  That changed later in the day and it was announced they would be officially launching the product on Monday at a press event.  While no details have been released on what the new technical specs will be, it appears the price will be the same as the original release, $359.00.

While a new version is always exciting to see what upgrades it will have, lets contain our excitement until we see if they can keep it in stock for more than a day at a time.

As most of you know I absolutely love my Garmin Nuvi 750. I don’t get lost anymore nor do I have to spend hours printing off maps that usually are erroneous. It will even tell me exactly where in the US I am at almost any given moment. I love it—I highly recommend it but I am so frustrated that I could say a few bad words and have in fact.

Garmin seems to be under the impression that my 60 year old brain is encoded in some way to know the rest of the instructions that were not printed by the printing company and that their proof reader missed. As well, they assume that my bifocal contact prescription for my old eyes allows me to read the smallest serial number ever printed in the history of mankind in the most absurd place I have ever seen. The reason we started this blog was to address just these problems so hold on—here we go.

The Garmin instruction booklet is written in pretty simple terms but leaves out so much that all you can do is pick up the thing and explore all the buttons. I did this with the fear that I might fry it at any moment but I am happy to report that it withstood my crazed punching of buttons and button combinations. I found out how to do just about everything I wanted to know how to do but I am left with a feeling that there are really good things I am missing. As I find out more I will share them with you and of course if you have any questions now please feel free to e-mail them to us and I will find the answer for you. I am trying to do this without help so that I may speak confidently on what was left out of the instructions so please let me try to help you bypass that frustration.

My Garmin sent me a New Years message—it said my information and maps might be over a year old and suggested that I visit their website to obtain new maps. Goodie!! I thought some of the information was old and some places were missing so I am all for new maps!! So I went to the website and couldn’t just find out how much my new maps were going to cost unless I had registered the unit and had my USB cord at hand. I didn’t want to download it at that time I wanted answer to a simple question—HOW MUCH! So many companies assume that we are all techno zombies and that anything new will just open our wallets—but not me. Cost has to have a balance in value for me—will that $69.95 reduce my frustration level significantly? The jury is still out on that one—I may wait until after my first two business trips this year to decide so stay tuned. I still have some brain cells left.