Operation Gadget

  • Sony VAIO GRT260G is a Great Multimedia Laptop

    Reading Time: 2 minutesIt’s been too long since I did a laptop review, so I’ll begin to remedy the situation with the Sony VAIO GRT260G. It just got an enthusiastic endorsement from Bill Howard in PC Magazine— about all he didn’t like about it was the fact that you need to carry a PC card…

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  • Experiencing Operating Difficulties

    Reading Time: < 1 minuteI managed to corrupt my Inbox earlier today and could not recover using its backup. So, I have lost almost exactly a month of routine email correspondence. If you emailed me anything in the last 30 days that you want me to remember, please send it again. (This does not apply…

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  • February 23-29, 2004 Weekly Summary

    Reading Time: < 1 minuteThis is the Operation Gadget weekly summary for the ninth week of 2004. I’m experimenting with a weekly summary so that readers who want to receive a periodic email with Operation Gadget headlines can receive the links to all of the articles published each week. I will post a mechanism for…

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  • Cannibalizing an iPod mini Can Be Profitable

    Reading Time: < 1 minuteBoing Boing reported on an unlikely benefit of taking apart an iPod mini: embedded inside is a Hitachi 4GB MicroDrive, available at Amazon.com separately for between $479 and $499. Reportedly, the only thing that has to be done in order to use the extracted MicroDrive in a digital camera or another…

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  • Wired News Interviews Academic with Background in Personal Stereo Use Research on the iPod

    Reading Time: < 1 minuteSlashdot pointed out an interesting interview that Wired News conducted with Dr. Michael Bull, a lecturer at the University of Sussex in the UK, about the cultural impact of the iPod and the iPod mini. This is up Bull’s alley because he has done extensive research into the cultural impact of…

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  • iPod Taken Apart by Popular Science

    Reading Time: < 1 minutePopular Science decided to tap into the recent iPod battery controversy and publish a how-to article showing the do-it-yourself battery replacement process. The article includes step-by-step instructions and photos. The article also suggests other mods you can make while the case is open– some more interesting than others. Remember, this will…

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  • Polar S-710 Back from Battery Replacement

    Reading Time: 3 minutesBefore my trip to Texas, I reported that I sent my three year old Polar S-710 in for battery service. I received the receiver and a new T61-Coded transmitter back from Polar this afternoon, via UPS. During email correspondence about the Joel McNamara’s review of the Garmin Forerunner 201, Joel asked me…

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  • Namco TV Games Back in Stock at Amazon.com

    Reading Time: < 1 minuteDuring the 2003 holiday season, I raved about Namco TV Games, an integrated joystick-game controller with five classic Namco arcade games: Pac-Man, Rally X, Galaxian, Dig Dug, and Bosconian. The biggest complaint I had about the game, in retrospect, was that it was virtually impossible to buy. If you were lucky,…

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  • Easy Media Creator 7 Reviewed Favorably in Time Magazine

    Reading Time: < 1 minuteI just received the March 1 issue of Time Magazine, where

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