I used to want an iPhone. Not anymore.

I had wanted an iPhone, but as a freelance professional who relies on my handheld device to secure work and to keep up with the pace of the modern office while I’m on the move, I needed something a little less gimmicky and a little more suitable for business. Yet I still yearned for all of the fun applications that are available with the iPhone.

As do so many in sector, I work solely on a Mac. A PC almost never enters my life, so a Blackberry had always seemed relatively one-dimensional object to me. Now, the good people at Research in Motion have made a Blackberry for Mac desktop manager, making its debut this month, which enables the device to be completely compatible with Mac platforms. This means that many of the applications that iPhone users flaunt of are now fully workable on the Blackberry, even if you use a Mac system at work or in the home.

For me however, a lot of the bells-and-whistles features that are on the device, are merely icing on the cake.

The Blackberry 8900 is, to me, the perfect travel companion:

Its features include a 3.2-mega pixel camera, complete with flash, variable zoom, mechanical auto focus and image stabilization. Pictures can also be easily sent to friends or family via email or multimedia message, or posted to social networking websites including Flickr, MySpace and Facebook using the applications’ integrated photo uploaders. There is also video camera option that will shoot at 15 frames per second, a voice recorder, and a competitive media player that can view pictures, movies and play music through headphones and external speakers or through surprisingly decent built-in mini speakers.

Another fantastic feature is the built-in GPS with mapping software that can give step-by-step directions to your destination, find your exact location or identify local points of interest. The GPS can also be used with other applications or location-based services, including employee and resource tracking and social networking, for an enhanced navigation experience. Another useful feature of the GPS is Geotagging, making it possible to embed GPS coordinates into photos, then view those pictures on a map.

Best of all, the 8900 boasts an application called Documents To Go which allows you to edit and send Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint documents directly on the device.

To be honest, I have very little time to learn how to use things like this and a similar lack of interest. I just expect them to work, and the Blackberry Curve seems to have done just that. It was easy to use, simple to operate and painless to transfer to from a regular phone. I give it the thumbs up and am no longer envious of my iPhone-equipped friends.

Traditions are all well and good — buying your Dad the same gift for Father’s Day every year is not. Break away from the yearly staples (ties, slacks, golf balls–The Miniature Book of Miniature Golf) and behold — after the jump — a selection of gifts from gadgets to Gurkhas, with which you can delight your Dad, or mention nonchalantly to your son or daughter.

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Whether you have been on the sending or receiving end of an ill-considered email or phone call—be it a drunk-dialing an ex or sending a venomous message to an in-law when all you really needed was a good night’s sleep—it is an oft proven fact that while technology provides convenience, it often destroys any chance for sober second thought.

Apple and Google recognize our human weakness, and have put time and money into helping users avoid alcohol- or rage-inspired mishaps. Google recently announced on their official Gmail blog that users will be able to install a “Panic Button” that will allow them to undo e-mails up to five seconds after they were sent out. 

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It’s always shocking when a new technology is found to have a secondary use to its original, intended purpose. Some cancer researchers will likely be particularly surprised that their work might be about to find its way into battlefield arsenals or police patrol cars.

Most cancer treatments are pretty simple in theory: they seek cancerous cells and kill them before they have time to spread. NewScientist.com reports that a technique thought to be a promising cancer treatment is now being investigated as the basis for a Taser-esque weapon that stuns for longer periods, using short, nanosecond-long pulses of extreme voltage.
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In a event that sits at a nexus between two areas of concern here at DRIVENmag.com (laptop theft and Facebook addiction), the admittedly amusing news has surfaced, in an Associated Press report, that a man has been arrested in Brandenton, Florida, for stealing a laptop from a fellow Starbucks patron, because the thief really wanted to check Facebook. Read More