This summer, Wi-Fi access will arrive in the passenger cabins of some commercial U.S. airliners with a new system called Gogo. For travelers who want to stay connected in the air, Gogo does the job, but it has its limitations.
Hewlett-Packard is rolling out a new TouchSmart, a desktop computer with touch-controlled software. The hardware and software are better. It’s attractive, more versatile and fun to use. But the latest effort still has some problems.
In the exciting new category of modern hand-held computers — devices that fit in your pocket but are used more like a laptop than a traditional phone — there has so far been only one serious option. But that will all change on Oct. 22, when T-Mobile and Google bring out the G1, the first hand-held computer that’s in the same class as Apple’s iPhone.
Walt reviews the hotly anticipated BlackBerry Storm, the first BlackBerry model without a physical keyboard. Typing and navigation require tapping on glass, just as users do on the iPhone. Verizon will be selling the Storm for $250 with a two-year contract, though a $50 mail-in rebate can bring the price down close to the $199 that Apple charges for the base model of the iPhone.
Digital-picture frames have started to take off as a way for people to show off their stashes of digital photos in rotating slide shows. A growing number of frames even connect to wireless home networks so they can easily be refreshed with photos stored online and on PCs.
Apple’s latest version of MobileMe, a service that synchronizes email, contacts and calendars among Mac and Windows computers, is faster and more reliable.
This year, with Microsoft and Apple set to upgrade operating systems, Walt Mossberg’s spring computer buyer’s guide focuses on buying a machine for the new OS you may soon want.
Edited by Walt and written by Katie Boehret, this is a guide to gadgets, web services and other consumer technologies.
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