GeekSugar

Daily Tech: The Helio 2 Is New and Improved

GeekSugar — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 11:55:11 -0800

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

Daily Tech: Bill Gates Works His Last "In-Office" Day at Microsoft

GeekSugar — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 12:00:54 -0700

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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Should We Say Sayonara to Helio? Maybe Not Just Yet

GeekSugar — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 07:34:17 -0700

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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Helio Pushes Gmail Right to Your Phone

GeekSugar — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 03:00:00 -0700

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!

Website of the Day: HelioSocial.com

GeekSugar — Tue, 02 Oct 2007 13:00:09 -0700

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

Text Message - Keep it short. These little nuggets of conversation are made up of words, abbreviations of words, and variations of the smiley face emoticon. Limit your use of all three.
Picture Message - Pictures speak louder than words. So use a pic when you don't know what to say. And do call it a pic. That's what photos are called now.
Emoticons - Never use the "cool" emoticon (i.e., the one with the sunglasses). It's the virtual equivalent of the fanny pack.

Check out the full guide at heliosocial.com. Want to share your favorite websites? Join the Website of the Day group!

Helio Ocean Now Available

GeekSugar — Fri, 01 Jun 2007 10:00:15 -0700

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.

Edible Geek: Helio Ocean Cake

GeekSugar — Tue, 29 May 2007 09:04:58 -0700

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

View 16 Photos ›

"Needless to say my boyfriend was blown away and I got kudos from all his tech loving pals," added LilLeaPod. "And food coloring stains on my new Yumsugar apron. Finally broke it in."

Up Close Look At Helio Ocean

GeekSugar — Wed, 16 May 2007 08:00:44 -0700

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

View 10 Photos ›

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. What are your thoughts? Have you checked out the device yet?

Check out LilPeaPod's full review of the Helio Ocean.

Do you want to share information about your favorite gadgets with me? Follow the steps below and submit your reviews to the My Favorite Gadgets group.

I know that this long list looks scary, but trust me, once you get the hang of it, it'll be a snap the second time around.

First of all, join the My Favorite Gadgets group
Click "Create and Share!" on the left hand side
Choose "Blog"
Give your photo a Title
Leave the category as "general"
Change the channel to "technology and gadgets"
Add keyword(s) (for example mine for this photo was "My Favorite Gadgets")
Click on the "Add Image" link below the "body" box
A popup window will happen - click on "Browse" to find your image on your computer
Once you have the image chosen, click "Submit"
The popup will show you your image, choose size: "normal" - if you want, you can give it a title (which will show up as a caption)
Click "Insert" and the popup will go away
Your "body" box will now have some text in it. Leave it as is. If you want to add some text before the picture, do it before the code that has appeared.
Click Submit

So join the My Favorite Gadgets group and start posting your great photos! Yours just might end up on the geeksugar homepage!

Helio Ocean Rolls Into Market

GeekSugar — Sat, 12 May 2007 08:04:57 -0700

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?

View 2 Photos ›

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Helio's Hot New Heat Phone Brings It

GeekSugar — Thu, 01 Mar 2007 13:42:40 -0800

We'd like to give a very special thank you to our Oscar sponsor Helio, who helped us bring you live red carpet coverage and just happens to be one of the coolest gadget makers around. To show our thanks for their sponsorship I hope you will check out their newly-launched slim and sexy phone that looks to be the new must-have in Hollywood - and not just because it's pretty.

The Heat is a gleaming slider phone with an electrostatic touchpad (think iPhone-like sleekness but available now!) that's chic, but has all the right geeky qualities. The touchpad is set so you can customize its sensitivity (super, high, medium, low) for navigation through a simple finger tap, which means no more pushing extra hard while trying to navigate through applications.

Produced by Samsung for Helio members in the US, the Heat comes in two colors: high-gloss Onyx and shimmering Gold. I am sure most of you know by now that you can read PopSugar on your Helio, but the company has added even more of your favorite websites and features to their service! read more

Earlier this month, Helio introduced Helio Music, which allows users to organize their music, create custom playlists and get instant access to their favorite tunes through their phones. It's a service that got the attention of Pete Wentz from Fallout Boys and celebs like Kim Kardashian and caught my eye because it means you get all the goodness of a MP3 player inside your phone.

The Heat features stereo Bluetooth support, 136MB available internal memory, 1.3 megapixel camera with digital zoom and flash for shooting photos and video MP3, MPEG-4 and VOD support. It also features Helio Music compatibility and built-in GPS capabilities for access to Helio services including GPS-enabled Google Maps for mobile and Buddy Beacon. Another chic and functional feature: the Helio service now allows users to interact with online communities like Boing Boing, Craigslist, Digg and Wikipedia.

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The Heat is now available for $150. Boing Boing, Craigslist, Digg and Wikipedia are free with Helio All-In Memberships, data charges apply for A La Carte Memberships.