DroxLA

I love dogs. I have one, and I’m glad he’s a healthy little guy, but in the case that anything ever happened to him, I have to take up inspiration from this little pup.

That’s right – Hope was born without legs, and is being fitted for some prosthetics! The end result:

Crazy huh? Well, here’s hoping this little puppy has a good, long life with her wheels. Although I can’t help but think that those first steps probably looked something like this:

For more, visit DailyMail

Following up with the post on the SmartCar vending machine comes this clip from one of our favorite shows, Top Gear from the BBC (the NBC version is coming later this year!). In it, they run a Toyota Prius versus a BMW M3 around a track 10 times to figure out which was more economical. Turns out, the Prius is not. The BMW averaged around 2 more miles per gallon than the Toyota Hybrid. As it stands with gas prices quickly rising, the sales of Prius’ are ever increasing and it’s getting harder to find one on lot for MSRP. Wonder how those sales would change if there were a report that went out showing that the Prius is only REALLY more economical if you’re driving local and in stop and go traffic all day long, and that the costs that you pay in premium for a hybrid vehicle are not recouped for years in gas savings (although probably less that nowadays). The Prius is still more GREEN however, and therefore will be the choice vehicle for people like Leonardo di Caprio – at least until the Chevy VOLT comes to the market…for me, I’d rather take the V8 M3, I’d be getting better mileage than those hybrids on the freeway!

So finally Apple has released the new iPhone. About a year ago when the first gen (from here on out to be known as 1.0) came out, I was amazed at how sleek it was, and the natural feeling of how easily everything just flowed. When you played with one at the store, it was almost second nature, as if somehow Steve Jobs himself had pre-programmed everyone to know how to use one. Perhaps it was just me, since I’m just a technogeek, always getting and playing with the newest toys on the market first – but with the rapid adoption it garnered it seemed like Apple was on the cusp of bringing the US into a market where other countries had dominated in for so long. But alas, I never had one

Amazingly when the 1.0 first came out, I never had the urge to go and get one. Sure, I thought about it, but when it came down to it, I was already used to having 3g speeds for data, and was pretty happy having a full QWERTY keyboard on my phone (a first gen Motorola Q). Well, the Q’s getting old, and it’s time to move on – so the question now moves to this – should I go to every Apple fanboy’s dream phone, or go in to another direction completely?

The hardware in question that may find themselves competing for space in my pocket are:
The Sony-Ericsson Xperia X1

and the HTC Touch Diamond

When it comes down to it, the Diamond and the X1 both have the same operating system (with customized WM 6.1 shells of course) and the iPhone dominates them in this area in terms of use. But will I need the other, more powerful features found in the other phones such as the copying and pasting or even simple e-mail search? I think it’s a matter of preference, up to this point, one of the primary reasons I didn’t want to get the iPhone was because of my need for a QWERTY keyboard, something with the X1 has (in a sexy slider form, might I add). But with the addition of my work blackberry filling my pocket, is it really necessary to have two similar form machines stuffing my pockets? I think that for me, because it’s no longer an immediate need for me to have on my personal phone that I could live without it (along with it’s added thickness) so that knocks the X1 out of contention.

So what about everything else? With the release of the iPhone 2.0 firmware, the new SDK, and *gasp* even MobileMe.com – I think for now the iPhone wins out. The Diamond is hot – and the size probably is more suited for my pocket space, but after using a WinMo phone for the past 2+ years I just can’t say that it’s really that stable enough for me. Sometimes slow, and unresponsive, despite the extra features – I’m still drawn to Apples more simplistic approach. Call me a bandwagon jumper – but this iPhone is just too sexy and compelling (with the 3g, wi-fi, ipod) to not become MyPhone soon enough.

So July 11, 2008 – you know where I’ll be – anyone else want to join?