Heather, On Tech

Normal's Overrated

10 March 2009 update: for more information on getting a Lincoln Mayne t-shirt like Hugh Laurie wears on the show, check out this latest post.

That's the print on the new House, M.D. charity t-shirt.  I know you've all been waiting for this, because they apparently stopped selling the "Everybody Lies" t-shirts (in reality, they did not; it can now be found here).  Don't get too excited, because now they are only in women's sizes (and we all know that women are the only ones who will buy these, right?).  I ordered a few years ago and got "my size" and it was too small, so you might want to order a size up (I just bought a replacement).

This year's NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness) House-related t-shirt is black.  The front reads "Normal's Overrated" and the back has the House logo like the last t-shirt.  They cost $19.95 and can be found here.  These are available in men's and women's sizes. I ordered mine last night, so hopefully it will be here before long.  I'll give an update on the sizing when it arrives.

And you thought I didn't love you, since I haven't posted about House t-shirts in a few months! Tsk, tsk.

Hat tip to House is Right!

Funky Earbuds

Things like this make me wish I had bigger ears. Since I don't, I'll share the news with you because if you read this blog, you're probably as twisted as I am (or nearly, anyway - there's NO WAY you're as weird as me!). Someone has come out with earbuds that have "stuff" on them. And by "stuff" I mean ducks, flies, ladybugs, and pigs. Yep, you can have an extra-long pig appearing to be walking through your empty head (meaning that one side is the head, the other side is the butt).

Oh, and there's lips and hearts too.  You *know* your teenaged daughter wants some of those!

You can buy these buds at fredflare.com for $15.

Speaking of Star Trek...

Since there's talk of the Borg the past few days and all, I figured I'd mention this cool t-shirt I found on Think Geek.  Not the same generation as the Borg, but oh well.

If you don't get it, then you're not a geek at all, so stop trying. :)

Bluetooth Keyboard for Your New Phone

OK, so yesterday I wrote about my new phone, and my husband saw fit to chide me about being an ancestor of the Borg. 

David has been talking about wanting a pocket PC for a long, long time.  "If I could just get one that you could connect a real keyboard to" and "If you could hook that up to a monitor, you'd have it made" were common things he would talk about when making the purchase.  Please note that while he's only had a cell phone for about seven years (I made him get one when I was pregnant with Little E and he's had one ever since), he's always had the same kind of phone I have.  I suspect he just trusts me to do the research, but I'm not sure.

Well, Here's exactly what you need, sweetie!  It's a foldable Bluetooth keyboard for  - you guessed it - handheld devices!  It's only 285 x 98 x 12mm (and what is that in inches? 11.22 x 3.85 x 0.47) and weighs only 184g (0.40 pounds).

It folds up to the size of a larger PDA so it's fairly easy to lug it around.  It comes with two AAA batteries and you can get one from Brando for only $54.

HTC Touch-Fuze-Diamond: You Need One!

The time has come again, and I had to get a new phone.  Well, "had" is a bit strong of a word, but I "wanted" one so I got one.  As you may or may not know, I do a lot of research before buying a new cell phone.  If I'm going to be "stuck" with it for two years, I want to get what I want, not just something that will get me by.  I generally start researching phones at least six months before the purchase, and even then if something new comes out I have to research that as well, just to make sure it's not better than what I've decided on!

So, I had decided on the AT&T Tilt (which is no longer offered) or Pantech Duo...mostly I wanted the Duo because it had WiFi.  I loved the HTC touch, but AT&T wasn't offering it (yet).

Then I found out that AT&T - whom, despite everyone else's comments, has been most excellent to me over the past 8+ years - would be carrying the HTC under the name of "Fuze".  Yippee!

So I went and got one.  And I love it even more now than I did on paper.

If you are a heavy phone user like I am, you need one of these.  Here's a brief list of what you can do with it:

• WiFi.  Need I say more?

• bluetooth (duh)

• connect a video-out.  Yep, connect that puppy to a TV or monitor and get some work done

• connect a printer.  To print out the great pix taken by the 3.2mp camera

• actually read attachments.  It has Windows Office Mobile on it

• it reads your text messages to you in Bluetooth mode.  Enjoy yourself in a meeting without letting anyone know it

• voice dialing.  I love this.

It does SO much more...but that's for you to find out.  The touch screen is incredible and so is the slide-out QWERTY keyboard.  Go get one. You know you want to.

Umm, Yeah, I'm Still Here!

OK, I'm not going to make a bunch of excuses.  The short story is that I had better things to do than blog over the Holidays.  My apologies but family does come first!

Hopefully I'm back in the saddle as of today...