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DriveNTalk BHF-2000 lets you drive while your smartphone talks, we go hands-on
Sadly, no, we still haven't seen a gadget that lets your smartphone drive. Maybe next year, but this year it's the BHF-2000 letting your smartphone talk while you drive. It's the latest DriveNTalk, a lineup that specializes in advanced hands-free kits, and the BHF-2000 is the furthest ahead of the bunch. Like the others it uses Bluetooth to connect to your phone and then voice-to-text to read e-mails or SMS messages to you and accepts simple voice commands, but this one also accepts simple hand gestures, so you can silence playback by making the classic "talk to the hand" gesture, and it has a solar panel so that it can try to stay charged while clipped to your visor. Naturally it will let you take calls, just like the lesser-expensive 1700 and 1800 also on display -- but they'll just ignore your hand waving. Finally there's the KlaT 7, a little wireless remote control that can clip on your dash, if you still need buttons. %Gallery-112564%
Magic Mouse draining Bluetooth keyboard batteries
There's a group of users on Apple's Discussion Boards who claim that their Bluetooth keyboards have been devouring batteries since they started using a Magic Mouse. Despite switching to rechargeable batteries and running all pertinent updates, the problem persists. Most of the thread's participants claim to need new keyboard batteries weekly. Some have guessed that the Magic Mouse is preventing the keyboard from going into sleep mode. One user swapped his Magic Mouse with a Logitech model and saw the problem disappear, while another claims to have heard from Apple Tech Support that this is a known Bluetooth driver issue and that a fix is in the works. This thread appeared on November 12, 2009, just a few days after Apple released Wireless Keyboard Update 2.0 on the 9th. The update was meant to "...use the function key one-touch controls of your Mac with your aluminum Apple Wireless Keyboard," and doesn't seem related to the battery issue. The Magic Mouse was released on October 20, 2009, and is the first consumer mouse to have multi-touch capabilities. Together, the mouse and keyboard make a pleasant, clutter-free desktop, but aesthetics are worthless if you're constantly buying batteries. Have you experienced this issue? Let's hope it gets fixed soon.
