Mobile Crunch reviews Windows Mobile 6.5. “It still sucks.” Among other things, “We. Hate. This. Keyboard. Typing on this keyboard is like sewing with your feet. Even with a stylus (do not even TRY typing without the stylus. You can not. Your fingers will hit every button except the one you intend to hit), an awkward lag between letters and the overall clunkiness made us want to rip out our hair. If nothing else did it, typing in Windows Mobile 6.5 immediately killed the entire OS for us.”

Gizmodo chimes in as well. “There’s no excuse for this.” “Microsoft has simply lumbered in the wrong direction for two years, letting everyone, save maybe Nokia, fly right past them.”

Motorola took a look at WinMo 6.5 and decided to pass, saying they’ll wait to see what the next gen looks like and in the meantime going after Android.

Amazon’s dropped the price of the Kindle 2 to US$259. And they’re also releasing a new model next week with a 3G modem inside, for US$279. Sadly, if you use the wireless to download ebooks outside of the US, there’s a $2 surcharge per book. Of course, one can always download via the internet from anywhere in the world to one’s PC or laptop and then transfer to the Kindle via USB. So since this new model is still only meant for the US, costs $20 and downloads cost more, who’s going to buy it?

With the nano set to random in the car yesterday, up came Fairytale of New York, the Pogues song written by Shane MacGowan and Jem Shiner and featuring the voice of one of the few women who could have gone toe to toe with MacGowan, the late Kirsty MacColl. It’s not just one of the few Christmas songs I can tolerate, it’s one of the few that sounds good any time of the year. How can you not love a Christmas song that includes the lyrics, “You scumbag, you maggot, you cheap lousy faggot, Happy Christmas your arse.”

I saw the Pogues in concert when they were first getting started. It was in London circa 1984 and they were opening for Elvis Costello. The crowd loved them and I did too but I confess to thinking that they were at best a novelty act. Had you told me then that I’d still be listening to them 25 years later, I would have scoffed to say the least.

And then, through the vagaries of the shuffle programming, up came my favorite Kirsty MacColl track, My Affair. Lyrically it’s about a woman declaring her independence and it matches that theme musically – starting off with some guitars and violin in a western swing mode, then the horns kick in and it swerves free-form between pure pop and salsa; by the end she’s singing in Spanish. It’s kind of criminal that most people who know MacColl know her more for writing a song that was a minor hit for Tracy Ullman than for her own work. Never got to see her live, I’m sure it would have been memorable though.

Another Irish singer I’ve never seen, Gavin Friday, headlined a benefit tribute concert at Carnegie Hall in NYC last night. The show, produced by Hal Willner, was a benefit for RED. Accompanying Friday at various points were U2, Courtney Love, Lou Reed, Laurie Anderson, Scarlett Johansson, Rufus Wainwright, Lydia Lunch, Shane MacGowan, Joel Grey, Flo & Eddie, Antony Hegarty, Bill Frisell, Martha Wainwright, Andrea Corr, Maria McKee, John Zorn, Lady Gaga and a reunion of Friday’s group the Virgin Prunes. All on one stage, all in one night.

Sigh.

What live shows are coming up in Hong Kong? Oh yes, the “Ultimate Michael Jackson Tribute Concert” starring Tony McKay, the “world’s number 1 Michael Jackson impersonator.” “Tony McKay is born with a Michael Jackson face. Incorporating this appearance with his natural ability in dancing, he is able to resemble the original by 90%.” I presume that was scientifically calculated, but given Michael Jackson’s frequent dramatic physical changes, shouldn’t they tell us if he resembles the 1981 or 1991 or 2001 versions? Kind of like going to see an Elvis impersonator and getting Old Fat Elvis instead of Young Skinny Elvis.

Over at the Venetian Macao, this weekend there’s the “Kinky Malinki Pool Party.”

At least the Global Battle of the Bands is also on this weekend, I’m judging again on Saturday night, 9 PM at the Melting Pot in Soho. I think there are eleven bands competing that night (2 songs each). So be there or … be someplace else, I guess.

Running errands in Wanchai this afternoon. Decided I needed a folding table. I’ve got this soft light box, great for photographing small objects (like Zippo lighters), and the only place I’ve had to set it down is on the spare bed. Every time I try to use it, with a couple of small lights alongside (also on the bed, not on a flat surface), the slightest jar and the lights fall down and the bulbs break. After days of frustration, I just gave up.

So went to the housewares shop on Wanchai Road where they had the perfect size folding table for HK$189. Not too heavy, easy enough to carry. Get back to the car park and of course it’s about four inches too long to fit into the trunk of the car.

So, top down and I swing it into the back seat. Very carefully, not to let any of it come into contact with the outside of the car, don’t want to scratch the paint. So carefully that I forget the age-old adage, lift with your legs, not your back. And as I swing it around, up and over, my lower back just totally yanked out on me. Yes, I’m pissed off. At myself. Heating pad, hot bath, now if I can only wake up my gf for a massage. Yes, right now it hurts when I move, period.

Even so, I hobbled over to the Wanchai Computer Centre. The speakers I use with my computer have been dying for a long time, not that they were ever that great to begin with. A JVC 3 piece DVD player with two speakers (with gimmicky wood cones) and an all-important AUX input on the back. The DVD player started coughing up blood a couple of years ago, but I don’t use it so often anymore. But lately, something went haywire with the speakers, lots of distortion – termites?

Wasn’t really certain what I wanted but knew it had to have at least halfway decent sound and I wanted a 2.1 speaker system. I listened to some Logitech and Creative speakers, prices up to around 800, 900 bucks. The guy kept plugging in his (or the shop’s) ipod and I kept yanking it out and plugging in my iPhone and cranking up the Radiohead. Now my hearing isn’t the best in the world and I don’t think I’m the discriminating audiophile snob, but they sounded like toys to me.

I was about to give up and save it for another day, perhaps try the Bose shop (yeah, I know, don’t start, okay?). And then they suggested the Harmon Kardon Soundsticks II. I always liked the look of these beasts (clear plastic speakers) and knew they’d gotten some halfway decent reviews. There was an open set on the shelf so I thought they’d just plug that one in, but instead the guy yanked down a box, took ten minutes unpacking the box, plugged in his ipod again, I unplugged it again and cranked my stuff instead. Fortunately, these sounded fairly respectable and I figured that for the price, I wasn’t going to do much better so all the guy’s effort to unpack (and then repack) them didn’t go to waste.

At home, I note that these received an A- “highly recommended” review on iPodLounge. “… we wouldn’t hesitate for a minute to add a set of the Soundsticks to an iPod or computer setup. They look great, sound great, and won’t kill your wallet.”

More importantly, listening to music, and the sound is a significant improvement over my old JVC set-up, even at lower volumes.

And what am I listening to right now? I’ll mention in passing because no one seems to know about this, but look for a more complete write-up in BC in the near future. It’s a group called Seven Worlds Collide, an album titled “The Sun Came Out.” Oh, the group members include Neil Finn, Johnny Marr, Jeff Tweedy, K.T. Tunstall, Bic Runga, Lisa Germano, Tim Finn and others. It’s a charity album for Oxfam and it sounds great (and I’m not just talking about the new speakers). If you know any of those names and you like what they do on their own, you’re gonna like what they’re doing together.

Now I gotta get some pain pills and the heating pad running again.