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--Steve Fox,
editor in
chief,
CNET.com
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Dear
readers,
Do you carry a cell
phone? How about a handheld or BlackBerry pager? If your belt
is sagging under the collective weight of multiple devices,
you know what you want: a single, compact appliance that
combines phone, handheld, browser, and e-mail. Executive
Editor David Carnoy may have found the gadget for you. It's
the Treo
smart phone from Handspring, and David recently got his
hands on one (the first Treos won't be released until early
2002). As he notes in his Wireless Insider, the Treo--with its
diminutive profile and flip-phone design--feels more like a
phone than a handheld, yet it has all the functionality of a
standard PDA. In fact, one model even incorporates a tiny
BlackBerry-style keyboard. Of course, the Treo will have
plenty of competition--from Samsung, Microsoft, and
others--but Handspring has set the bar pretty high. Consumers
can only benefit from this battle of the belt.
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 | The
state of speech
Voice technology holds a
lot of promise, but so far, no one's been able to get it quite
right. With nearly all the major speech-recognition players stagnant
or absent, we took a look at the future of voice technology and we
have some recommendations about its ultimate niche. In
Software
Diminutive
dynamos: business card scanners
Buried
under business cards? There's relief at hand, in the form of a
business card scanner, a small device that can read the information
from your business cards and place it in a contact manager or export
it directly to your e-mail software. CNET reviewed two such products
with different prices and feature sets. In
Hardware
Top
5 bargain MP3 players
With the economy on
the brink of a recession, everyone is looking for a good deal, and
that includes digital music fans. We dug up five MP3 players that
cost less than $150, for people who don't necessarily need the
latest hot device but still want a good value. In
Electronics
Sneak
peek at Handspring's upcoming smart phone
With the announcement of its Treo line of wireless hybrids,
the company tries to steal a little thunder from Samsung. Find out
what the Wireless Insider's first impressions are. In
Wireless
CNET
exposes annoying installation add-ons
Don't
you just hate it when new software installs a ton of extra icons,
additional software, or actual spyware? We do, and we've dubbed such
software "parasiteware." Check out our list of the top installation
offenders and find some tips for getting yourself out of an install
jam. In
Software
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high-tech ad
partnerships |
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| Perhaps you've seen the recent Taco Bell ad campaign, the
one featuring Amazon.com's Jeff Bezos touting a "hot new handheld"
(in this case, a chicken quesadilla). Now, we support the idea of
tech honchos teaming up with more mainstream companies, but in this
case, we simply don't get the relationship between Mr. Bezos and a
certain talking Chihuahua. If high-tech companies really wanted to
make a statement, they'd pick partners with whom they have a natural
affinity. As in the following:
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Napster and Sprint
1,500
Anytime-MP3s to share with your family and friends.
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| 9 |
Palm and Right Guard
A new line
of antiperspirant: No more sweaty Palms. |
| 8 |
Microsoft and Burger King
The
Whopper XP: You can have it our way, since the pickles are
embedded in every burger. |
| 7 |
Microsoft and McDonald's
Over
20 billion served, whether you like it or not. |
| 6 |
Microsoft and
Campbell's
Alphabet soup for geeks. You can have
XP, Me, SE, or NT. Just don't look for OS X, wise guy.
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IBM and Kmart
The Big BlueLight
Special. |
| 4 |
Netscape and Raid
Our offices
are bug-free, and so's our browser...finally. |
| 3 |
Sun Microsystems and
Starbucks
Java for the masses! |
| 2 |
AMD and Ben & Jerry's
New
flavor: Chocolate 1.5GHz Athlon XP Chip Cookie Dough. Yum!
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| 1 |
Norton and Blue Shield
Sure,
we'll get rid of that virus for you. Just contact your primary
care provider, pony up a deductible, and wait three months for
an appointment. |
 
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