The Peek is like a BlackBerry without the phone. It's built for one function only: e-mail. And right now, Amazon is offering a pretty sweet two-for-one deal: Buy one Peek for $79.99 and get a second one free.
Keep in mind that you'll have to pay $19.95 per month, per unit, for service, but at least there's no contract; you can cancel anytime you want. Doing so would leave you with a fairly useless chunk of hardware--two chunks, actually--but there you go.
Actually, that's a big part of the Peek's appeal. Another is that it's way cheaper than most smartphones for folks who just want e-mail on the go (and even around the house). Plus, it's significantly less complicated than, say, a BlackBerry.
Would I buy one? Heavens, no. But I'm not the target audience for this gizmo. And I can't argue with the glowing user reviews on CNET and Amazon.
As with Netbooks, people just seem to love this thing--logic be damned! The twofer deal probably won't last long, so if you want in, act fast.
(Credit:
ShoppingNotes)
Want to know when there's a price reduction on that PS3 you've been eyeballing? Or the Amazon Kindle? Or just about anything else sold online?
There are two ways to use ShoppingNotes. First, you can copy and paste a product-page URL into the site's Web form, then enter your e-mail address for receiving alerts. Alternately, you can install the ShoppingNotes bookmarklet, which greatly simplifies the price-watch process: when viewing a product page, just click the bookmark.
You can also sign up for a free ShoppingNotes account, which lets you view and organize your alerts, get up-to-date prices, and so on. Definitely a handy little service for anyone waiting for a bargain to come along. Of course, there are loads of other price-watch services--this one just happened to cross my radar. If you've had good luck with another service, tell me about it in comments!
One of the Web's best freebies, Jott turns your spoken words into text messages.
(Credit: Jott)You know the old trick of leaving yourself a voice-mail reminder? Jott does that idea one better, turning your message into text that's delivered via e-mail. All you do is call Jott from your cell phone, then say your piece. The service transcribes your message and sends it to your inbox.
But that's just the tip of the Jott iceberg. By setting up an address book on the Jott site, you can also have messages delivered (via e-mail and/or text message) to friends, family members, co-workers, etc. You can "Jott" a new entry to your Google Calendar, send a Twitter update, add a post to your blog, and so on.
Jott is ridiculously easy to use, incredibly convenient (I use it to send myself reminders when I'm behind the wheel and can't easily take notes), and, best of all, free. The catch? Jott relies on human operators to transcribe your messages. I know this will bug the bejeezus out of privacy-mongers, but the service does promise total privacy. And, hey, if you've got something super-secret to say, no problem: don't use Jott.
Me, I've got it programmed at the top of my speed-dial list. It's one of those Web gems that sounds too good to be true, but turns out to be even better.
Thanks to Craig, Doug, James, Pat, and Robert for reminding me that not everyone has heard of Jott.
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