Helio

• After a thorough review, the Helio Ocean 2 gets two big thumbs up. You can now pick one up from Virgin Mobile for $149. — Crave
• TechCrunch's Michael Arrington chatted with 28-year-old Etsy founder Rober Kalin at the World Economic Forum at Davos. — TechCrunch
• What is with exploding cell phones? Another incident has been reported in China where a man was killed when his phone exploded in his chest pocket. — Switched
• WiFi Rail has finally reached a deal to provide high-speed WiFi to Bay Area BART transit system and on all BART commuter trains by the end of 2010. — Engadget
• Talk about putting the "on" in Monday! MC Hammer has just released a free iPhone App called the HammerTime app. — Gizmodo
• Find out what the best sites are for uploading HD footage. — Unplggd

• Now 52, Microsoft cofounder and high-school dropout Bill Gates will work his last day at Seattle's Microsoft office before turning his undivided attention to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation he established with his wife. — Engadget
• Check out this funny video about how to cheat at the Wii Fit without breaking a sweat! — Crave UK
• Unfortunately the rumors are true. Virgin Mobile USA announced today that it is set to purchase Helio, paying $39 million in stock for it. — The New York Times
• Apple will soon be providing a free iTunes remote control application for iPhone and/or iPod Touch owners. — The Boy Genius Report
• Colorful SPECK cases for iPhones, iPods, MacBooks, PC notebooks, cell phones, BlackBerrys, and GPS navigation devices are now on sale for 50 percent off! — Popgadget
• Trying to figure out a way to sync your BlackBerry Curve 8330 with your Mac? Unplggd will walk you through the process. — Unplggd

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Rumors were swirling this week about the future of Helio. Two to be exact. First, that the Mobile Virtual Network Operator will be closing all of its retail stores in preparation of a buyout by Virgin Mobile, and that we should expect an official announcement this week of the final takeover. I contacted my local Helio store to get the details and although the number to the store was invalid (strange), after being connected through customer service, I was assured that Helio wasn't going anywhere.

And in a final attempt to kick the rumors to the curb, SK Telecom (Helio's parent company) released a statement yesterday, calling the rumors "groundless" and they are sticking by Helio till the death. However, SK Telecom did say that Helio and Virgin were in "early talks" on a deal for the US market. So just to stay on the safe side, maybe you should hold off on those plans to swoop up the new iPhone and bow out of your Helio contract (ETF free) for just a while longer!

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I know that at least one of our readers will dig this little bit of news coming from Helio, because she's a die hard Ocean fan! If you use Gmail on your Ocean, Fin, or Mysto messaging center, then rejoice! The days of "sending/receiving" your mail are over.

Yesterday, Gmail enabled a push feature on your handset that allows your mail to download right to your phone, without even so much as a request. All that is needed to start the feature is to hit "Send/Receive" as you would normally in your Helio's Gmail inbox, and clicking "yes" on a pop up that asks if you want to enable the brand spankin' new feature. . . and you would click yes, since getting your mail to auto download is so much better than pushing buttons! I tested it out on a friend's Ocean, and after a quick restart, it works great!

Like it or not, text messaging and instant messages have become a staple part of our communication, flirting and daily life. After hearing romantic text messages are on the rise and getting news that 37 percent of you send more than 10 text messages a day, it seems clear that we need some sort of rules or texting etiquette guidelines to life by.

Helio has created a witty online guide that's part marketing strategy, part social network and aimed at those of us who use text messages on the daily. My favorite feature is an excuse generator that sends you text messages when you need to get out of a bind. All you have to do is go to heliosocial.com, pick a scenario, a story, when it needs to be sent, and you’ll get the text message just in the nick of time. (Think bad blind date or a conversation with your roommate's fling.)

The heliosocial.com site also features a fun Mobile User's Guide to emailing, texting, calling and IMing that I can only pray will resonate with people. (You may have noticed small paper versions of the guide in magazines like Wired this month.) The EMOTICONS101 page decodes those smiley faced things we all use daily as well as a funny guide to web abbreviations (you know lol, brb, jk etc.). I was shocked to learn some of the more random abbreviations like WYSMC?, which means "will you sign my cast?) and YMMFS, which means "you make my fingers sweat." The online guide, which is written in a clever and amusing voice, allows you to add your own rules, rate rules and offer proof. For my items from the Tools of The New Social Etiquette, read more

As a thank you for their sponsorship I would like to take the opportunity to explain that there is a reason behind the Helio "Don't call us a phone company" ads. The devices aren't just phones, they actually are mobile, talking and messaging machines. Case in point: The Helio Ocean device released earlier this month is a dual-slider with both a numeric keyboard and a separate QWERTY keyboard.

The device merges instant messaging, text messaging, picture messages and e-mails with over-the-air music downloads, video-on-demand, a camera, HTML browser, GPS-enabled Google Maps, photo caller ID and audio with stereo bluetooth. It also features Myspace for Helio and Helio Music. If the device's features weren't enough to convince you, check out the Helio Ocean Cake one of our readers made as an ode to hers.

The Ocean is available for $295 at Helio Stories or Helio Online.

I must admit, I had a little warning that LilPeaPod was planning on making her boyfriend a special Helio Ocean Cake so it was all I could think about this weekend. It turned out a bajillion times more beautiful than I dreamed and certainly outdoes the Rubik's Cube cake, matching his and her TiVo cakes and even an assortment of geeky wedding cakes. "I wanted to do something really special for the BBQ we were having in his honor," said LilPeaPod. "After tossing around ideas of gifts, I came up empty handed. He has everything that he wants! What could top his Helio Ocean?! That's right my friends, A Helio Ocean CAKE!!! My Mom helped me with the details, walked me through frosting the cake, how to use fondant, painting the pieces with food coloring and four point five hours later we had this masterpiece."

To check out more pictures of the Helio Cake,  read more

The wait for the Helio Ocean ended last week and while it took a few days to get our hands on the hot device, our hardcore Helio fan LilPeaPod swooped hers up and shared her review of the device on TeamSugar.

As I have told you before, the device is being marketed as the "world's first dual slider that has it all." The "all" includes: full keyboard, separate numeric keypad, idle screen search, video, camera, e-mail, text messaging, AIM and audio with stereo bluetooth. Of course, it also supports Helio Music, GPS-enabled services and applications and photo caller ID.

LilPeaPod says the dual slider is everything she ever wanted out of her SKII and didn't get. "I can surf the web faster than I could with my SK, Pearl or SDA," says LilPeaPod. "Yes, I've had a lot of phones. But this is by far the easiest surfing experience yet. The speakers on the back are killer. Really great sound." As for things she thinks need improvement, she said she wishes there were Alt Keys on both sides to make switching between numbers, letters and symbols a little easier - there is only one on the left on this model. She also wishes there was a wider space bar (I can attest, it's tiny!)

To check out a full gallery of the Helio Ocean and for more review,  read more

The much anticipated Helio Ocean hit the market Friday and hardcore Helio fans like LilPeaPod couldn't be more excited. It's being marketed as the "world's first dual slider that has it all."

The "all" includes: full keyboard, separate numeric keypad, idle screen search, video, camera, e-mail, text messaging, AIM and audio with stereo bluetooth. Of course, it also supports Helio Music, GPS-enabled services and applications and photo caller ID.

While the device was released more than a month in advance of the iPhone, some people are saying it will give the Apple phone a run for its money. In fact the last time I checked more than 50 percent of people who voted on Gizmodo's Helio Ocean vs. Apple iPhone poll had chosen the Helio. What are your thoughts? Have you checked out the device yet?

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We wanted to give a big PopSugar thank you to Helio, who sponsored all of our Oscars Coverage this week. It's been a blast working with them and we are super excited to check out their brand new phone (but don't call it a phone! It's SO much more), Heat. Not only would the gold Heat match excellently with certain little gold men, but it's a great way to read PopSugar while on the go! With HOT (Helio On Top), you can get an instant update any time we post -- it's like having Pop in your pocket! If you want to know more about the Gold Heat, check it out here. Come on...all the cool kids are doing it...