Bridget Carey: The Digital Dish

Frugal spenders, look away. Review of a $700 phone.

It seems like a sin to call it a cellphone when it costs $700. Nokia calls it a "multimedia computer" -- but it makes more sense to call it an all-in-one phone that plays media files and has two cameras. (Yes, I said two cameras.)

You can read this week's review here. Today is also the premiere of my 60-Second Video Review, which you can watch below. I'll be doing videos of the product reviews on Tuesdays, so check back for more gadgets each week.

Facebook friends don't let friends become compulsive application invite senders

Remember the old days when you didn't get 15 application invites a day from Facebook friends?

Oh how peaceful Facebook was back then. Now I can't log on without someone inviting me to find out what kind of fruit best fits my personality, or to feed someone's virtual fish, or to become a zombie/vampire/slayer/pirate/Oregon Trail pioneer.

The worst I've seen lately is "Puff Puff Pass" -- someone invited me to add an application that encourages virtual marijuana usage. What? Uggh!

So I ask, please, stop the pointless application invites unless it is an application you think someone would really like. And as a matter of Facebook etiquette, DON'T send application invites to every single person on your friend's list. If you send 5 requests each day to all your friends, it is just like sending spam e-mails. It gets old.

But maybe it's just me. According to a comScore report that measures the usage of widgets, it reported that more than 20 million Facebook users (that's 61 percent of the site's U.S. audience) have engaged with an application in November.

The application named "Top Friends" by Slide -- which lets you highlight friends much like MySpace does -- was the top ranked application during November, with more than 6.2 million engaged viewers, followed by "Movies" by Flixter with 5.2 million and "SuperPoke!" by Slide with 3.6 million.

Next in line was Compare People, iLike, Super Wall, Likeness, Quizzes, FunWall and Graffiti.

But even though I don't like the barrage of invites, I do accept a few and get addicted to some of them. The other day I found myself getting lost for hours in the Movies application. Sigh. Guess there's no escaping it. My Facebook life has become one where people throw virtual sheep at me and co-workers challenge me to Disney movie quizzes. (Which by the way, I scored 100%. Take that!)

Hey, loser! Get a job!

No, I'm not calling you a loser. But your phone is.

If you can't stick to your New Year's resolutions to quit smoking, lose weight, get a job or get out of debt, then you can download ringtones to motivate you. And no, not all are the peppy rah-rah-rah-mommy-loves-you-and-you-can-do-it motivation. It's the feel-bad-about-yourself-for-being-a-loser-and-have-an-embarrassing-ringtone-until-you change-your-habits motivation.

Hear it for yourself at www.thumbplay.com/newyears

Where's George?

As I headed over to the vending machine, I noticed a dollar bill in my wallet stamped with the phrase "Track this Bill at www.wheresgeorge.com"

I couldn't resist knowing where this shabby thing had been. When I entered in the serial number it told me it's been tracked since December 2005. It traveled 1,433 miles in the past two years and 30 days. Of course it probably traveled more than that -- it all depends on how many people logged on to say where that bill has been. Only two other people tracked my George -- once in 2005 and again in April 2006.

It made me a little sad that not everyone George met wanted to track him. Seems like it's a neat experiment if people participated. Maybe the next owner he finds will log online... maybe it'll be you.

Any suggestions on how I should spend this bad boy?

Would you buy the MacBook Air?

Let's say you're in the market for a new notebook computer. Would you buy the MacBook Air? In two weeks, the new super-thin notebook goes on sale. It's about .76 inches thick (about equal to the thickness of an index finger), has a 13.3-inch screen, 80 GB hard drive, 2 GB memory and full-sized keyboard.

But no drive for CDs or DVDs.

Steve Jobs says it won't matter because we download everything off the Internet. And if you have to install software that requires a CD drive, he says the system lets you wirelessly connect to another computer's optical drive.

It's a pretty neat feature. But is it a good buy? If this is your one and only computer -- like is the case for many students -- then you're stuck without a CD/DVD drive. That is, unless you dish out another $99 for the portable drive, which plugs in through a USB port. So that would bring the price to about $1,900.

You can get a regular MacBook with double the hard drive (160 GB) for $1,499. And if history repeats itself, wait a few months and it'll cost even less.

When Apple came out with the iPhone, it was only a few months before prices dropped. Will he make the same mistake again? I doubt it, but he might drop prices of other MacBooks. Hard to guess after last year's fiasco of angry customers.

It's all comes down to this -- do you trust the company enough to be an early adopter and buy the Air right away? Or will you wait several months for a drop in prices -- in either the Air or the other MacBook models?

Or maybe you will just stick with a notebook that comes with a CD/DVD drive and has a larger hard drive for a price tag under $2,000.

Toss out your old electronics on Saturday

As part of a Comedy Central environmental campaign, Sony Electronics and Waste Management will collect old electronics in front of The Fillmore at the Jackie Gleason Theater Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. in connection with the South Beach Comedy Festival to help "Scrap Your Crap and Save the Planet."

Accepted: items like mobile phones, computer monitors, computers, printers, fax machines, keyboards, TVs, VCRs, stereos, home and office phones, cell phones, and consumer electronics.

Not accepted: microwaves, smoke and alarm detectors, thermometers, dehumidifiers, large appliances or any unit with sludge or liquids.

To learn more about the network's "Address the Mess" initiative, go to addressthemess.com. Don't live in Miami? The site has a place to search for other places to toss out electronic waste near your zip code.

MySpace, Florida agree on site safeguards

Read the full story and reader comments here: MySpace, Florida agree on site safeguards

By EVAN S. BENN
ebenn@MiamiHerald.com

Florida is among 49 states and the District of Columbia that announced an agreement Monday with social networking giant MySpace.com to clamp down on misuse by sexual predators on the site.

MySpace, which is owned by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. and claims more than 100 million members, agreed to add several protections, including a way to verify the ages of users. The pact was announced in Manhattan; Texas was the only state that did not participate.

''MySpace has worked closely with Florida for some time now,'' said Sandi Copes, spokeswoman for Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum. ``We appreciate what they're doing to protect our children on the Internet and protect our future.''

MySpace officials noted in a news release that Florida has been a leader in keeping children safe online.

''Florida was one of the first states in the nation to enact laws requiring convicted sex offenders to register their e-mail addresses so social networking sites can block them from their communities,'' MySpace Chief Security Officer Hemanshu Nigam wrote.

Among other measures, MySpace agreed to:

• Allow parents to submit children's e-mail addresses to MySpace to prevent anyone from misusing the addresses.

• Make the default setting ''private'' for 16- and 17-year-old users.

• Respond within 72 hours to complaints about inappropriate content and devote more staff and resources to classify photographs and discussion groups.

• Strengthen software to find underage users.

• Create a high school section for users under 18.

Investigators have increasingly examined MySpace, Facebook.com and other sites where people post information and images and invite contact from other people.

New York investigators said they set up Facebook profiles last year as 12- to 14-year olds and were quickly contacted by other users looking for sex.

''I encourage other social networking sites to adopt many of the design changes announced by MySpace today,'' McCollum said Monday.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Gizmodo banned from CES

It's almost unthinkable, yet they did it. With the help of a TV-B-Gone clicker, tech blog Gizmodo wreaked havoc all over the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this week. The clicker turns off just about any nearby TV. Just watch the video below.

I don't think I could be this evil. But I'm glad Gizmodo has no conscience, cause this is hysterical.

But I gotta say, turning off screens during people's presentations was going way too far. Makes you wonder if Gizmodo will be invited back to cover it next year.

UPDATE: Gizmodo has been banned from ever coming back to any Consumer Electronics Show event. It's not yet known if its owner, Gawker Media, or its affiliated media outlets will be punished.

This show is only open to the media, and I'm glad they were punished. A true journalist would never interfere with an event to create their own news, or cause harm to others to get an entertaining story. They sabatoged presentations, and that's over the line. And it serves as a warning for other non-serious bloggers.

There's also the chance that this stunt may sway CES officials to not allow bloggers full-access press credentials in the future. I don't believe in punishing every blogger for the sins of one, but it could happen.

Want to learn about blogging? Class tonight in Miami.

The Miami chapter of the National Association of Women Business Owners is hosting a hands-on session on how to blog for Dade and Broward county women business owners. It's today (Jan. 10) from 5 to 7 p.m. at the Biscayne Centre, 11900 Biscayne Blvd., Miami.

President Anne Freedman told me members and non-members are invited, and that there will be drink served to calm any first-time blogging fears. It costs $45 for non-members and $25 for members.

Here are more details from the NAWBO event release:

Contact: Anne B. Freedman, 305-273-6640,President, Miami Chapter, email: anne@speakoutinc.com or info@nawbomiami.org. Valeska I. Jacques PR Director 786-218-1021, valeska@uvium.com

StateWide Blogging Party to Give Florida Women Business Owners Chance to Launch Their Own New Media Outlet
January 10, 5-7 p.m.
Biscayne Centre 11900 Biscayne Blvd., Miami

Blog, blog, everywhere a blog – but what is it and where is ours?

Knowing that fear of technology was a potential hurdle but wanting to take advantage of a new, fast and a free way to communicate with and among members, the Miami Chapter of the National Association of Women Business Owners decided to combine two passions: education and having fun. The result is a first ever statewide "blogging party" with a goal of teaching women entrepreneurs in Miami-Dade, Broward, Orlando and Lakeland how to create and conduct business networking through an association “blog” for their chapters and one for their own businesses at the same time.

“We wanted to eliminate the anxiety some people have about new Internet technology by making this a really fun learning experience,” said Valeska Jacques, CEO of uVium, Inc., who will be giving in-person,hands-on instruction to Miami and Fort Lauderdale women business owners. A blog is a new online media outlet that allows instantaneous, 24/7 communication between the writer and readers. Those at the party will be joined via Internet conferencing by members of the Orlando and Lakeland chapters of the National Association of Women Business Owners.

Biscayne Centre, an office condo at 11900 Biscayne Blvd., North Miami, has donated the use of its wireless conference room for the meeting. Participants are invited to bring their laptop.

“We’re excited about the new opportunities for quickly and easily sharing ideas, information and expertise through blogging and how we may use this as a way to network with other women business owners throughout the state,” said Anne B. Freedman, president of Miami Chapter,NAWBO, and owner of Speak Out, Inc. Cost for the “Blogging Party” is $25 for members and their guests. $45 for non-members and at the door. Space is limited. RSVP@nawbomiami.org or by calling 305-271-6797.

Become a scanning fool

I reviewed an interesting device called the IntelliScanner Mini, which scans bar codes of items in your house so you can keep track of what you own.

There are several uses besides just making lists of what you own. You can scan things you want to sell and transfer the data to a place like Amazon.com. You can scan the UPCs of food as you throw them out, and then have a shopping list of things you need to buy.

Or if you're putting things like books, games and movies in storage, just scan the items and label them all as in a box in the attic. That way you don't have to dig out the box to remember what is in it.

After becoming impressed that it recognized some old and rare books, I wanted to test it to see how far it could go. I became a scanning fool. It knew almost all of my Sega Genesis games, as well as new ones like Guitar Hero III. There were a few misses -- I had to manually enter in my copy of Casino Royal.

I would scan wine bottles and it knew the list prices and facts about it. It knew computer paper from an office supply store, it knew the bar code of The Miami Herald, but it didn't know Tostitos.

Click here to read the full review.