Gadgets Blog » 3G

Mt. Everest. The name inspires something truly awe-inspiring. The world’s tallest peak, Everest has been a beacon of accomplishment and a tremendous challenge ever since Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay ascended to its highest point, a staggering 29,000 feet above sea level. The first climbs to the top were wrought with danger — many climbers perished in the harsh conditions. Today, however, Everest has been turned into something of a tourist attraction, with climbs to the summit available through certain agencies for $25,000.

Complaints that the mountain has turned into nothing more than a vacation for the rich are only going to be soured further by today’s news story. Ncell is the Nepalese branch of global telecommunications company TeliaSonera. The company recently installed a 3G tower near the mountain, the highest tower in the world, with its base at a staggering 17,000 feet. The result? A 3G signal is now receivable on the summit of the world’s tallest mountain. The 3G tower will allow not only for phone calls, but also for data collection and even for video chatting.

Today’s top news story also makes for a great way to discuss a nifty gadget: the e-reader. On Monday of this week, Barnes & Noble proudly announced they would be cutting the price of their in-house gadget, the Nook, to the spectacularly low price of $149. It wasn’t available for all editions of the Nook, just those with only WiFi support (as opposed to the more luxurious model which boasts WiFi and 3G coverage). Scarcely hours later, Amazon.com struck back with a price cut of their own, knocking the Kindle down to $189. The result? A price war just before summer reading. But which one to buy?

The Kindle has stood as the favorite in the e-reader arena for some time now. Hitting the market before the Nook, it was one of the first devices to exist solely for the reading of electronic books, and made a sizable impression in the market. Lightweight and portable, with battery life lasting a staggering amount of time, the Kindle offered up a great way to take an electronic library on the go. Factor in how the device was tied to Amazon’s burgeoning online book empire, the availability of texts was an excellent addition to a serious reader’s gadgets.

The Nook, on the other hand, is the challenger in this fight. Barnes & Noble’s gadget offers up some features that improve upon the ideas found in the Kindle, and advantage it gained by being the latter of the two devices to be released onto the market. The Nook features a touch-screen instead of the bulky Kindle keyboard, and also enables the user to “lend” a book to another Nook user for up to two weeks. The better-looking of the two gadgets, the Nook is somewhat troubled by its slower loading speed and shorter battery life.