Tag Archives: Agora

iPad competitors and the sounds of silence

  By Alex | March 2, 2010 - 5:01 pm | Published
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So today’s been a bit on the challenging side. Three days of near-torrential rain have blanketed the MediaConnect Kickstart conference I’ve been at, combined with an ill-advised (but for charidee) trip into a dunk tank last night have left me with a throat that glows in the dark, a head full of goo and a voice like Joe Cocker gargling liquid sandpaper.

Some people would say that might be an improvement. I’m rather tired of explaining it to people, however, despite the popular assumption that I’ve got a hangover. If I had a hangover, it would be over now.

That hasn’t stopped the presses turning, however, even if they are digital presses these days. For APCMag.com, I’ve written up the latest in the long and wacky gadget career of Ruslan Kogan:

Watch out iPad: here comes the $200, Full-HD Kogan Pad: “Kogan unveils a cheap competitor to the iPad, says they probably won’t make a 3D TV, and the Agora phone is NOT dead. Maybe.”

So she ran to the arms of America…

  By Alex | May 4, 2009 - 9:12 pm | Published
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I don’t really want to think about when that album came out right now. For a start, I really should be working to make up for this afternoon’s Nanna nap. Mm.. Nanna nap.

Back to work, you fool!

Who said that? Anyway, it’s back to work for me. You can keep yourselves busy with a review of mine, live now at CNET.com.au:

Kogan Agora Pro: “The Agora brings the concept of a low-cost netbook firmly back on the agenda, but its woeful wireless performance seriously detracts from its value proposition.”

It’s time to tour the planets that make up our solar system. C’mon!

  By Alex | January 16, 2009 - 5:19 pm | Published
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Ah, Yakko. Wise beyond your years.

It’s been a weird and highly frustrating week, spent largely (and fruitlessly) trying to set down a path in my front garden, stymied at every turn by the half-truths and evasions of a certain tiling company that failed to deliver on their promises. Oh, and writing work.

I sometimes wonder if my creative juices are fired up by confrontation, or blocked by it. Based on this week (and what I suspect will happen next week, given the paving drama now will continue into next week, thanks to the idiots at Amber Tiles), I suspect that it’s the blocked scenario. I’ve just not been that creative this week in any endeavor. Which doesn’t mean I’ve not written anything, however. Wow. That’s probably my worst segue ever. Read this at APCMag.com, will you? It’ll make me feel better… or something.

Second Google Android phone — Kogan Agora — “Delayed Indefinitely”: “Got your heart set on one of Kogan’s Android phones? Too bad.”

But what about my legs, Steve? She’s bound to count them eventually!

  By Alex | December 7, 2008 - 6:39 pm | Published
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2008 has been an unusual year for me, professionally speaking. I’ve gone from being one half of an income to attempting to cover an entire income — tricky, especially given current financial strains — and as a result, I’ve written all sorts of things, from advertising copy to games reviews to seemingly endless quantities of Apple stories and everything else inbetween, and often within a very short space of each other. Plus a whole lot of news, which I find an interesting pursuit, given that so much of my writing career to date has been terribly reviews-centric. Still, there’s often not a lot of similarity even between my news pieces.

Take, for example, these two stories, comissioned and written on Friday for PC Authority:

Kogan Agora – a simpler, practical Google phone? “At first we thought Kogan’s choice of name was referencing those fluffy jumpers beloved of Ed Wood Jr, but it’s actually a reference to the greek word for “marketplace”.”

Top Five Console Games of 2008: “The best of this year’s joypad twiddlers, revealed.”