Video comparison of the Treo 650 versus the 700p

I’m not sure if he’s getting everything really correct with the terminology, and also he doesn’t specify the carrier specific limitations and specifications.

Also, the prices are not really correct.  They will cost about $400 and $600 for 650 and 700p respectively, but that’s full price.  For example, on amazon.com, with Verizon, you can get a 700p for under $200 if you sign up for a new plan.

However, it’s good enough for the “average joe” which is what this site is all about, right?

In addition to this video, I recommend that you read the user opinions in the link above at amazon.com.  700p’s battery life seems to be quite short, almost to the point of being too short.  Additionally, for that ultra fast broadband type speed this guy is talking about, you need to pay an additional $50 to $60 /month for Verizon.  So unless your company is paying for your Treo 700p and its use, I’m not sure if it’s worth it for personal purchase.

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Awesome video of the inner life of a cell! Must watch!

I’m no biology stud, but I saw this video, and it blew me away.  It’s a cgi video clip of what goes on inside of a cell. Makes me want to go back to college and learn biology to know what it all is…

Here is a higher resolution one from  what seems to be the original site:

http://aimediaserver.com/studiodaily/videoplayer/?src=harvard/harvard.swf&width=640&height=520 

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really crazy about Sudoku? Carry it on your keychain!

I often visit this site called http://www.surpluscomputers.com, where they have slightly outdated items for sale on the cheap. They also have some unique toys as well.

If you’re a Sudoku addict, I mean, enthusiast, you might want to consider carrying it with you to pass the time, and engage your brain in intense activity in those idle wait times.

$9.99 with free shipping, not bad!

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Record activity on your PC into a video (AVI or flash video) for free

Have you ever wished that you could just record what you’re doing on the screen to share with others as a video for tutorial purposes?

Well, you can with Camstudio. It’s yet another open-source software. I find myself using this here and there so that others can see how to do something with their computer. After all, a picture is worth a thousand words, so a video must be worth exponentially as much!

One word of warning – this saves to AVI format, and it can run kind of big. Try the ‘convert to flash’ mode, as flash videos are compressed and takes signifcantly less memory.

About a 1 min, 15 second video translated to 25mbs as AVI, and 5.5mbs as a flash video. Please note that to view flash video files, you need Adobe’s flash plug-in.

• Download Camstudio
• Download the flash plugin

They are both free. Note that Camstudio currently only has a Windows version (no Mac OS X). I haven’t been able to find an equivalent one for OS X, sorry Mac folks.

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Multitasking may harm memory

again from http://www.abcnews.com:

 MULTITASKING CAN HARM MEMORY People who learn something new while multitasking are less able to recall what they’ve learned later on, researchers from the University of California at Los Angeles found in a new study. They tested subjects on a simple memory task while at the same time asking them to count the number of random tones they heard while learning. Multitasking didn’t harm memory during the learning but appeared to make it more difficult to retrieve what was learned later. Writing about these results in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, neuroscientists speculate that having distractions around when you’re trying to make a new memory causes the distractions to get so tangled up with the memory that you end up needing the distraction to be able to get the memory back out of storage. For example, if you listen to the radio while studying for a test, you end up needing the music to be recall what you learned. The memory recall becomes less flexible and more dependent on the situation.

With so many things that vie for our attention, good old undistracted focus is the best!  Whether you’re a student, a professional, whatever, I hope you take this to heart.

Take some time to focus and take the headset off…

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TV hurts school performance for kids – sometimes news is too obvious

From http://www.abcnews.com:

TV HURTS KIDS’ SCHOOL PERFORMANCE A new study of mostly white children in the northeastern United States finds that increased time watching TV on weekdays is associated with poorer performance in school. For example, kids who were not allowed to watch TV or movies on school days were about half as likely to say their grades were poor compared to kids whose viewing had no restrictions. Weekend TV viewing was not associated with school performance. In the study, more than 4,500 middle schoolers answered questions about their TV viewing habits and their grades. Other factors that were nearly equal or more powerful predictors of doing well in school include: being female, having two parents who graduated high school, and not needing a free school lunch, which indicates higher family income. This study was published in Pediatrics by researchers from Dartmouth University.

This is amazing news – you mean if you watch more TV, you’ll actually have less time for things such as studying and homework, and therefore do worse in school?  No way!

This is for you parents – keep your kids off of being addicted to the “dummy-tube” and these days, you also need to watch for excessive use of their computers.  You think just because you bought them a computer, and because they are sitting in front of it, that they are doing their homework?  No way.  They are busily hopping back and forth from different myspace and other blog pages, commenting away, writing new blogs, and then chatting w/ others.

If you really want your kids to do well in school, minimize their distractions – I won’t go into the specifics of how.  You decide how you will do that – you are their parents.  But my humble opinion is that they don’t need the internet (most of the time) to do their homework.  If they need something off the net, you help them with it.

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