Convergence Is Crushing Gadget Functionality

An article on MSN’s Tech and Gadgets section caught my eye today.

Called ‘Converging on a big mistake’, the article points out that technology convergenge - specifically in gadgets - isn’t so great, and can really make the water murky when it comes to functionality, as well as some other points.

To some extent, I agree with her. By cramming many gadgets in one, you tend to lose the essence of some of the functions that you’re putting in as extras. If you look at - oh, say - a mobile phone, you can get a mobile phone loaded with extras like video recording, still camera functionality, GPS, WiFi, and others.

On a mobile phone, the video camera quality is poor, the sound is tinny, the GPS is a little hard to use, and most mobile browsers are - I find - depressingly complex to use, and have cluttered interfaces. This is because the mobile phone isn’t meant for this kind of use, meaning you do get reduced quality of the in-built kind.

Finnish Minister Nailed For Saucy Texts

In my experience, it’s my opinion that those who text, flirt (I might call that Graham’s First Law - to the patent office!). Finland’s foreign minister has unfortunately discovered that those who flirt, get caught.

Ilkka Kanerva sent about 200 saucy texts to Johanna Tukiainen, an erotic dancer, and unfortunately - you guessed it - got caught.

Others in his political party are now calling for his resign, not helped by the fact that he admitted that the messages were less than kosher:

“I would not present them in Sunday School, but they are not totally out of line either”

Apparently Finnish TV station MTV3 heard from unnamed sources that Kanerva’s party is preparing for his resignation.

I guess the moral of the story here is ‘be seen, but not caught out’.

Verizon Wins 700Mhz Auction, And Why That’s Not So Great

What Just happened: Just as Gizmodo, and to a lesser extent I believed, Verizon has won the auction for rights to the 700Mhz chunk of the US airwaves. The Giz has a handy guide here about why that’s important, and what it is.

Why that’s not so great: Simply put, Verizon doesn’t really change things.

When Google threw their hat into the ring, opinions were divided on whether it was purely to save face, but I thought that a Google-owned 700Mhz band would have been far more interesting.

More info after the jump>

March 6th Is A-Day, Apple To Talk iPhone SDK

I thought that ‘Febuary’ deadline for the iPhone SDK was a bit soon, and I was right. March 6th is A-Day, and the big fruit is calling the world’s media to the Cupertino campus.

I love how I get left out, no invitation heading my way - thank you Apple. Even if I couldn’t attend the event, it’d be nice to know His Steveness still cares about the little guy.

Microsoft Lifts The Lid On Key Software… Excuse Me?

In a move of unheard of open-ness, the Big M - Microsoft - has said that it will lift the lid on some of its biggest software products.

Go ahead, read that again, I’ll wait. Done? Good.

Microsoft Vista, Windows Server 2008, SQL Server 2008, Office 2007, Exchange Server 2007 and Office SharePoint Server 2007, as well as all future versions of the same products will all be getting a healthy dollop of API (Application Program Interface).

The aim of these new developments is to allow third party applications like Nero, Blender, OpenOffice, and Photoshop to work more smoothly with Windows.

Nokia’s Remade Phone Concept Is Rubbish

Remade is a design concept from Nokia, and is nothing new - literally. Announced at the Mobile World Congress, Remade is a mobile phone created entirely from re-used materials.

The concept is made from such tree-hugging materials as upcycled aluminium cans, plastics from drinks bottles, keys from old tyres, and printed electronics on the inside. No real info on the screen (or the battery), but at a push, you could possibly use second-hand materials to create small LCD panels for the display.