Wrapup: Write for last100, HTC Tattoo review, Sony Ericsson Satio #fail, MiFi hands-on, Flip and Boxee set-top boxes, and more

Here’s a summary of the last two few weeks’ digital lifestyle action on last100. Note that you can subscribe to the weekly wrapups, either via the special weekly wrapup RSS feed or by email.

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htc-tattooFirst up, an apology for not posting as regular as usual on last100. As some readers may already know, I’ve recently been appointed as Contributing Editor at TechCrunch Europe where I’m helping to cover the European technology start-up scene. I’m also doing quite a bit of consultancy work at the moment for Curverider, the company behind the open source social application engine, Elgg.

That said, I’m hoping to juggle my time a little better now that I’ve settled in at TechCrunch and to post more regularly again on last100. Although if anybody is interested in helping out from time to time or doing the odd guest post then please get in touch. I don’t really have any budget (for the right person, I’ll try and find some) but it could be good exposure for someone starting out in the world of tech and gadget blogging and wanting to get ‘out there’. The remit as usual is primarily news and analysis of the Mobile, Internet TV and Digital Music space. We love hardware and app reviews too.

Anyway, onto the wrapup…

Mobile

Review: HTC Tattoo (vs HTC Hero) – Android’s mass-market future?

First, a quick confession: I had no intention of reviewing the HTC Tattoo. Why? On paper at least, it’s a poor man’s HTC Hero. Yes it does feature the same HTC Sense UI, which greatly improves on the stock version of the Google-led operating system, but the Tattoo lacks some of the hardware features to match. However, following a mix up with a courier and a serendipitous email from HTC’s PR firm, a Tattoo for review was sent my way.

Carphone Warehouse pulls Sony Ericsson Satio – I’m not surprised [mini review]

I had it on good authority some weeks ago that Carphone Warehouse had already returned a batch of Satios on Day One of its release. The issue: buggy software.

I’m really liking 3’s MiFi, mobile broadband turned WiFi hotspot

I’ll admit that when I first heard about 3UK’s MiFi offering and similar devices from other mobile networks, I didn’t really see the appeal.

The tiny gadget – about the size of a typical candy bar phone – uses its own built-in 3G modem to create a mobile broadband-powered WiFi hotspot, which, optionally, several devices can connect to. In my experience, however, mobile broadband isn’t the quickest (not helped by the fact that I sit in front of a fiber-optic connected laptop most of the day), so it’s not something that I’d instinctively want to share. But…

Now that I’ve actually used the MiFi, I totally get it.

The Guardian newspaper’s iPhone app offers off-line mode – mobile Internet’s killer feature?

The Guardian has released a paid-for iPhone (and iPod touch) app that makes reading the UK newspaper on Apple’s device a truly smartphone experience. Along with features such as the ability to customize the newspaper’s ‘front page’, support for audio, finger-friendly navigation, including ’swiping’ through photo galleries, the feature that really stands out is off-line browsing.

Nokia E72 in the house!

Regular readers of last100 will know how much I like Nokia’s QWERTY touting E71, with it superb keyboard and BlackBerry-esque – only more svelte – form factor. I was therefore really looking forward to the E72 (see ‘My favorite smartphone just got superseded‘)

Internet TV

Flip’s home movie set-top box launches – wrong target audience?

The FlipShareTV set-top box has finally launched. The device aims to make it easy to share home videos shot on a Flip ‘point and shoot’ camcorder onto the living room TV. Additionally, it can pull down video from Flip’s own video sharing website, so there’s a ’service’ element too.

Roku launches app store for its set-top box – adds Flickr, Facebook, Pandora and others

Roku’s $100 set-top box (U.S.-only) just got even more compelling. The company has launched its own app store of sorts – called the ‘Channel Store’ – that brings a growing number of third-party content sources to the device including Pandora (music streaming) Facebook photos, Flickr (photo sharing), along with FrameChannel, Mediafly’s podcast directory, Revision3 and more.

Boxee set-top box on its way – let the connected living room battle begin

Boxee, the socially driven and feisty Internet TV browser, will soon land on a set-top box of its own. Currently the media center software is only available on Mac, Windows, Linux, along with a hacked together version for the AppleTV (the closest that Boxee has come so far to appearing on a set-top box). That’s about to change, says the company.

Plus…

The Gadget Show Live 2010 – discounted tickets available

It seems a bit early to be talking about an event that doesn’t take place until April next year, but I wanted to give UK readers a quick heads up that The Gadget Show Live 2010, which takes place from 8 to 11 April, is currently running a pre-Christmas promotion.

Zatz Not Funny: Living with the Android, One year with my Eee PC, Boxes of the year, Apple’s purchase of Lala

A periodic roundup of relevant news from our friends at Zatz Not Funny

That’s a wrap. Thanks for reading,

– Steve (follow me on Twitter: @sohear)

last100 is edited by Steve O'Hear. Aside from founding last100, Steve is co-founder and CEO of Beepl and a freelance journalist who has written for numerous publications, including TechCrunch, The Guardian, ZDNet, ReadWriteWeb and Macworld, and also wrote and directed the Silicon Valley documentary, In Search of the Valley. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.

2 Responses to “Wrapup: Write for last100, HTC Tattoo review, Sony Ericsson Satio #fail, MiFi hands-on, Flip and Boxee set-top boxes, and more”

  1. eedetik says:

    Meskipun jika ada yang tertarik untuk membantu dari waktu ke waktu atau melakukan posting tamu aneh maka silakan menghubungi kami. Saya tidak begitu

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