Cubalaya Blog UK

Imagini - Find Out More About Yourself

If your interested in finding out more about yourself- what kind of person you are, what your interests and affections say about you, and what kind of gift you'd most appreciate for Christmas- you should visit imagini.

This site is quite special.  It has a few different applications that make use of what they call VisualDNA.  By selecting different images that appeal to you in different categories the system builds a wish-list for Christmas gifts, which you can share with your friends.

These images can also be used to build a personal image, including your hobbies, habits, preferences and attributes.  Through this image you can meet other people that match up with you, and at the moment there are over 5 million users (the number is growing daily).

One thing that makes the site unique is the quality of the images displayed.  Every image is sharp and interesting, making the whole process of building your VisualDNA very enjoyable.

www.philodox.co.uk

If you're looking for a quick, easy way to see reviews of appliances and electronics, you might want to check out philodox.co.uk, where you can find consumer reviews along with professional ones.  The site gives short, concise information to help you decide if a product is worth buying, and aims to help users get reviews on cars, dvd's, music, books, computing and electronic items.

Furthermore, adding a consumer review on the site is substantially easier than on other review sites.  One doesn't need to sign up or create a user's account; simply add your review like a blog comment on the bottom of the page.

www.crowdedbrain.co.uk

If you're interested in technology, video games, electronic gadgets, and films, you might want to visit http://www.crowdedbrain.co.uk/.  This site has a growing library of product reviews and news excerpts, which could prove quite useful to the Christmas shopper over the coming month.

Another thing to check out on this site is an extensive list of online games to play.  You can play anything from Bookworm to The Rise of Atlantis to Yahtzee through this site, helping you kill some downtime whenever you need to.

But probably the best part of the site is the SmartPhone review section.  They already have reviews of 15 products here, including the best place to buy and photos of each phone with its accessories.

3 Skype Mobile Phone and GPhone Updates

3, Britain's fifth-largest mobile service operator, has released a new phone with built-in Skype capability.  Phone users will be able to conduct Skype calls to other users through a dedicated button on the phone's  interface.  With this new model 3 is probably hoping to reverse its steady loss of customers over the past few years, and with an estimated 2.5 million Skype users in the UK, they just might be able to lure some of them over with the mobile VOIP option.

Supposedly the Skype service will be free to users under contract or those who fill up their prepay account regularly.  However, the SkypeOut option (placing calls at low prices to non-Skype users) will not be offered apparently, for the obvious competitive reasons.  According to the Guardian, the phone will reportedly also feature a 2MB and MP3 player with video playback as well.

TechCrunch reports that Skype has an estimated 246 million users worldwide, although only about 70 million of them are believed to be active users.  And many of the active users are not paying users, as regular Skype service is free.

In more news, Google has been talking to US wireless carriers Sprint, T-Mobile and Verizon (as well as Vodafone internationally) about its plans for the GPhone.  The way things are shaping out, it looks like Google doesn't want to create one special GPhone, but rather branch out and let the manufacturers use its applications for a diverse selection of devices.  Google already has an extensive list of web-based applications, such as Google Maps and YouTube, and with the recent addition of a word-processing and an excel-like application, the Internet giant has put itself more in a position to battle Windows Mobile than Apple's iPhone.

Altogether, it looks like the mobile industry is headed for some serious changes during the next year or so, with VOIP systems like Skype starting to get a foothold in the market, and Google looking to make mobile phones an open platform for developers to build lots of applications on top of. 

Online Payment Methods

With Amazon starting its own full-blown online payment system, PayPal and its owner eBay have found a worthy competitor.  Although some people only look to Amazon as a place to get that out-of-print long-lost paperback, it has become a shopping giant for new and used items, the latter traditionally considered eBay's forte.  An online payment system makes life much easier for private merchants, allowing them to receive their payment without going through the fuss of working with the credit card companies.

But not just the merchants benefit from this kind of system- giving personal information online, especially a credit card number or an electronic check, has always been a bit risky.  Online security has improved substantially over the years, but the fear of electronic fraud has been one of the major factors in PayPal's success.  They act as the middleman between the customer and the merchant, and keep the fomer's financial data to themselves, offering a stronger sense of security, not to mention making purchases a quicker process.  In fact, eBay determined this idea so useful to its business model that it purchased PayPal in 2002. 

And then came Google Checkout.  Waiving all transaction fees through the end of 2007, Google is looking to expand its circle of merchants during the holiday season.  While still lacking many of PayPal's features, the Google has a wide range of online stores which accept Google Checkout, allows payments through a mobile phone (soon to be extended further with the GPhone?), and, unlike PayPal, has great customer service.  And looking at the recent upgrades to the Checkout service- it seems Google takes customer feedback to heart.

GPhone vs. iPhone?

Although Google executives all but deny it, a few leaks, the recent publishing of a patent, and a lot of healthy speculation can only lead one to think that the iPhone won't be alone for very long.  When given a moment's thought, it seems that Google has the right basic applications for a successful 3G, Wi-Fi-equipped mobile phone.  GMail, Google Search, Google Video, YouTube (acquired by Google last year), Google News and Google Maps can provide a strong basis for mobile phone services such as e-mail access, GPS, video playback and web-surfing.

One thing Google hasn't done yet, though, is step into the hardware world.  But rumor has it that Samsung is handling that part of the business, leaving the Internet giant free to focus on what they do best- user-friendly operating systems.  Best of all, Google might be looking to bypass the mobile service providers and traditional payments, instead enabling the customer to pay for everything from the phone bill through parking fares to vending machines through the newly patented Text Message Payment system.

Looking at the supposed design of the GPhone, it's hard not to draw comparisons with Apple's recently released iPhone, even though we haven't seen it yet in the UK (in October perhaps?).  The iPhone is quite compatible with some of Google's services and so have they recently increased the compatibility with Google on their personal computers too, but it looks like they will be in direct competition sometime next year. 

One can only expect that the GPhone, whatever qualities it may have, will probably cost less than the hefty $500 price tag of the iPhone.

Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ3 Digital Camera

I'm excited, very excited. I've always looked to Canon, Fuji and Nikon in the past when buying a digital camera and never really the big electronics brands of Sony and Panasonic. Well for Panasonic that has just changed. Panasonic digital cameras have been driven by the Lumix range and the launch of the Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ3 digital camera in the next few weeks has got my attention. It is billed as the smallest 10x optical zoom digital camera in the world and as you can see from the pictures below it looks stunning in black, silver or blue.

Now thats what you call a sexy body. At 7.2 mega pixels it will have more than enough power to capture the finest detail you could want but the really impressive feature of this small super zoom camera is the 28mm wide angle lens that will help you take stunning landscape or architecture pictures. The camera also comes with Panasonic's anti blur and anti shake technology which will help ensure your snaps look great.

   

The 3 inch LCD display is cleverly incorporated to fit on this mini camera and from the back you'd never guess it was such a powerful zoom model.

No doubt about it, the Lumix digital camera range has been given a great boost with the arrival of the DMC-TZ3.

The Cubalaya Shopper

Sony Ericsson W960i

Sony Ericsson recently announced the launch of their W960i mobile phone. It's a nice looking model as you'd expect with a large screen to give you 'tv quality images'. One of the key selling features of this model will be the integrated sony walkman technology. It will have the latest touch screen functionality making the most of that larger screen. It will have 8GB which they claim will allow you to store up to 8000 tracks. This is another move prior to the new Apple iphone to integrate two of the key portable technologies of mp3 players and mobile phones. There are plenty of other neat functions that will come with this phone such as the music recognition software and 3 click music download option which clearly play further to it's portable music player persona. You will be able to record a few seconds of music and get back the song and artist name in full which is probably a novel feature to impress friends rather than a life enhancing function. It will also naturally come with all the other functionality you expect on a phone today such as the digital camera. We are now arguably seeing the type of phone that was expected from the Sony Ericsson marriage and it is going to be interesting to see just how good this latest model is when it launches in several weeks time.

Useful Sites and Links

Official Sony Ericsson site

The Cubalaya Shopper