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It isn’t often that I’ll post about the latest and greatest mobile phone. Mainly because too much happens in the mobile market for me to cover, and our friends at Engadget Mobile do a better job of this than I ever could.
But today I’m going to make an exception for the newest phone on Sprint – the Touch Pro is the top of the line Windows Mobile device from HTC at the moment. This phone has everything you’d expect from a high-end smartphone; GPS, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, sliding keyboard, large VGA screen, HTC’s “Touch Flo” system, loads of memory and a 3.2MP camera.
The phone is scheduled to be launched on Sprint.com on November 4th, but Engadget reported yesterday that it would be available at select retailers today. They were not joking, because I found 2 of them this morning at my local Best Buy. Amazingly the phone retails for just $299 AND you can get an extra 20% off using a coupon located in your Best Buy Reward Zone account (or at this handy URL).
To make things even better, if you got in on the awesome Sprint SERO plan (which started at just $30/month), you should be able to keep that plan without being forced to upgrade to their higher “everything” plans. To see whether your local Best Buy store has the Touch Pro in stock, follow this inventory checker.
Re-introducing Gadling’s newest returning blogger, Karen Walrond:
1. Where was your photo taken: At a departure gate at Piarco International Airport, in my homeland of Trinidad & Tobago.
2. Where do you live now: Houston, Texas, USA
3. Scariest airline flown: Well, I’m the Queen of the Aborted Landing: for some reason, I’ve been on an alarming number of airlines that, upon coming in for a landing, suddenly change their minds, accelerate and ascend rapidly. They freak me out every time. And seriously, if you’re ever on a flight where this happens, take a look around, locate me, and wave, because I’m likely on board.
4. Favourite city/country/place: When I’m looking to visit a city, I pretty much love both Buenos Aires, Argentina, and Paris, France. If I’m looking for beaches and scuba diving, however, Cayman’s my fave.
5. Most remote corner of the globe visited: My husband and I spent our honeymoon on the island of Mauritius. Beautiful, beautiful place.
6. Favourite guidebook series: When I travel to a new city for a short visit, I often take advantage of Fodors.com. However, glancing at my library as I type this, it looks like the Lonely Planet series is my favourite!
7. Leeches or mosquitos? THESE are my choices?
8. Where would you buy a second home/retire? Definitely somewhere near the ocean, or at the very least, a large body of water. Being a tropical girl, the Caribbean would be ideal; however, any shoreline will do.
9. Traveler’s resume: where have you been? At last count: United States, Canada, Mexico, Venezuela, Brazil, Argentina, Trinidad & Tobago, Barbados, Aruba, St. Lucia, Jamaica, Cayman, Puerto Rico, England, Ireland, Spain, France, Norway, Italy, Greece, Belgium, The Netherlands, Scotland, Wales, The Canary Islands, Nigeria, Egypt, Mauritius, United Arab Emirates, Oman, China. I’m seriously hoping that I get to add Australia, Japan and South Africa to this list some day.
Yesterday I posted on the European Parliament’s rejection of full body scanners at European airports.
Lawmakers couched their rejection in calls for more studies to be conducted on the health and privacy implications of using these scanners. Yet even though these scanners are opposed throughout much of Europe, the feeling overhear is that the European Union will eventually go along with the technology — I’m guessing once these scanners become the norm in the US.
But Germany is going one step further: Yesterday the country’s interior ministry said that no matter what the EU may eventually decided vis a vis the scanners, they will never appear in German airports.
Interior Minister Gabriele Hermani told the Associated Press, “We won’t join in with this nonsense.”
Can Germany go its own way, even if it is against an EU directive? Hard to say. The way the EU is set up gives an awful lot of power for individual countries to make and carry out their own laws and regulations (one reason why a lot of people think the concept of the EU is a sham). But Brussels does have some power in enforcing bloc-wide regulations in industries such as air travel.
One thing is for sure: Look for German lawmakers to be a key opposition force whenever these scanners whenever there is another vote on these scanner.
Garage and yard sales are on the rise as the stock market falls. The picking through what people don’t want to find the items that you must have–even if you never thought you might want one until it was in front of you– has never been better.
Instead of donating items to charity, these days more people are selling them to make some extra cash. Unfortunately, forclosures are also adding to the bounty.
Reading this article in the New York Times about the proliferation of garage sales reminded me of the used items I’ve purchased in my travels and why garage sales are worth putting on your itinerary. Going to a garage sale (or a flea market or thift store) is one way to find items for a lot less than they would cost new, and often reflect the place where you are traveling. You may not be able to find the items back home.
This summer, for example, I bought a brown chips and salsa bowl shaped like a cowboy hat from the thrift store in Philipsburg, Montana. The indentation at the top of the hat is where the salsa goes–the brim is for the chips. It was in mint condition and something I would never buy back home. Because I was in out West, and it looked western, I had to have it. I gave to friends of mine who appreciate kitsch.
When we were in England, I headed to a “boot sale,” the British version of a flea market. There, displayed on a blanket stretched out on the ground, I found a Wedgewood child’s mug with a Beatrix Potter Peter Rabbit design. What could be more British or more perfect than that? I bought it for my son who I pushed in his stroller up and down the rows of goods.
If you end up at a destination and discover you’re missing items that you ought to have with you, a garage sale may come to the rescue. A few years ago, we arrived at an A-frame cabin near Mohican State Park in Ohio for a weekend get-a-way with my husband’s brother and his family. We knew the cabin had beds, and for some reason, we thought there would be bedding. There wasn’t and we were so unprepared.
Off we headed to find a store to buy sleeping bags, but with no luck. Instead, we came upon a garage sale at a motel of all places. There on a table were sheets, pillow cases, pillows, one sleeping bag and a full-size comforter. All were clean, in great condition, and ours for $20.
Keep your eyes open. Maybe there’s a deal just around the corner waiting for you in someones yard.
