Technogeek Report

For several months I have been trying to figure out a way to get MP3 ringtones on my Motorola V557 without paying for them. I had thought maybe there was a way I could put the 'tones on my Palm TX, then beam them over via Bluetooth, but I couldn't make that work. So I suffered with the generic tunes and vowed I would, somehow, someway, get the 'tones I really wanted.

And now I have! I found ToneThis, a free software that allows you to convert MP3, CDA, and WAV files into ringtones, all for free. The interface is very user-friendly: you click on the Browse button to pull up the file from your PC, then you use the mouse to select the portion of the song you want to turn into a ringtone. I pulled up Zapp "More Bounce to the Ounce" and while the song was too big for ToneThis to pull up in its entirety, it got most of it, which was fine by me. Once you've made your selection, click Play to listen to the clip. There's a counter at the top of the window to show you the clip length. Once you've gotten the clip just right, click Upload. A message is sent to your mobile phone on how to download the ringtone. I now have a ringtone of the Zapp song for my friend T., a salsa song for George (since he loves him some salsa dancing), and "Superstition" by Stevie Wonder for my main 'tone. The software also lets you convert images into wallpaper for your phone - I tried that too and again, it was super-easy. God bless ToneThis!

The other item I am excited about is the iBlaster Cube MP3 speakers. Yesterday I was looking at some MP3 speaker systems at Bed Bath & Beyond and thought, why for the love of Steve should I pay $50 for this cheesy piece of plastic? Then I turned around and saw some speakers for $9.99. Well, I don't have a problem paying $9.99 for a cheesy piece of plastic, so I got them. These speakers work very well. They can operate off of a AC adapter, which is included, or 4 AAA batteries. The speakers fold up into a cute little cube, once you've detached the plastic holder for the player. It comes with a USB cable as well.