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In case you missed this, CBS News’ 60 Minutes just aired a profile of Marty Cooper who, while working for Motorola in the 1970’s, was responsible for a wireless device which allowed him to make the world’s first cell phone call.

The Motorola handset he used was the size of a adult’s shoe and weighed more than two pounds.

This is a terrific piece about a clever guy who is still plugged into the mobile device world and has a lot to say about the past, present and future of on-the-go communicating.

(I apologize, in advance, for the promotional commercial that CBS adds before letting you watch their news story.)

Finally, there is a Garmin cell phone worth talking about.

This is the T-Mobile Garminfone. It runs on Google’s Android operating system. It uses three different GPS direction-finding systems.

And it’s one of the best Android phones on the market today.

The Garminfone is actually manufactured for Garmin by Asus – famous for their netbooks and computers. They’ve been making smartphones for the rest of the world (not the United States) for years and they’ve done an excellent job on the Garminfone’s hardware.

Garminfone is a GPS device first and foremost – a cell phone second (check out the large buttons on the phone’s home screen). It’s also a modern-day Android smartphone with all the trimmings.

It has a 600MHz Qualcomm processor, a multi-touch screen, 4 GB of built-in storage (2GB goes to Garmin’s North American map storage) and also a 2GB miniSD card (upgradable to 32GB).

In the box you get a nifty car mount bracket which allows you to charge the phone, make and receive calls via the built-in speakerphone and also learn where you are going at the same time. Even better, when you take the Garminfone out of that car mount bracket the phone remembers your exactly location where you have parked – so you can easily find your car again. A clever feature.

It does that with Garmin’s built-in North American map system (other area maps are optional) as well as Google Maps software and AGPS triangulation with cell towers. The purchase price includes Garmin’s standard maps upgrade policy (called nuMaps Guarantee): you can update to the latest version of North American maps for free for 60 days (starting with the first time you acquire a GPS signal). After that, you have to pay. All the other stuff, updates of Garmin’s real-time traffic, weather, arrival time and gas prices are updated for free.

In addition, Garminfone is a GPS device which comes with all the high-end features you’d find in their top-of-the-line (and much more expensive) location devices. As a matter of fact, even more.

For instance, there’s Garmin Voice Studio which is an app that allows you to disregard the built-in voices and re-record turn-by-turn directions in your own voice. Or your friends’.. or your child’s.

Of course, it’s also able to handle your Google mail (it IS an Android phone), any POP3 and IMAP mail account and even ActiveSyncs with your Microsoft Exchange mail servers. Don’t forget all of your IM, texts photos, videos, music files and all the other smartphone goodies you can think of.

A smooth performer, the test Garminfone worked perfectly right out of the box. Their new interface – they call it Breeze – while different than other Androids is easy to master. Since this is a GPS phone – the largest buttons are for making voice calls and finding directions. Makes sense, doesn’t it?

Amazingly, I’ve found that despite a slightly slower (Qualcomm 600MHz) processor, this phone turns out to be a virtual speed demon in its own right. I’m sure, this is due to the handset support for T-Mobile’s fast (7.2Mbps) 3G HSPA network.

T-Mobile plans to begin selling Garminfone in June. No actual date had been set though. They have announced the pricing: $200 with a new two-year contract and your pledge to pay for an appropriate voice plus data plan.

Comparing the Garminfone to other Android phones is somewhat unfair – to all the other phones. This is not meant to be a super-modern PDA with support for voice calls and travel directions. This is meant to be a top-of-the-line GPS and voice device built into a super-modern Android smartphone. (and all the apps you can get from the Android store).

Garminfone is aimed at a different audience than all those other devices which highlight their ability to Tweet and handle Facebook entries.

Built for a specific purpose – Garminfone is an unqualified winner.

Like many others, I find that’s it’s a good idea to carry an umbrella when there’s a chance of rain.

Usually that’s a no-brainer.

It’s necessary this time of year here in the New York Metropolitan area – and especially during this very, very wet Spring.

I hate big, walking-stick style models preferring small, very portable umbrellas. Easy to slip in a shopping or computer bag.

I think I’ve tried them all. The $5-$10 dollar models you buy from street vendors – the slightly more expensive Totes (etc.) models you find in department stores and even some “high-end” designs sold overseas. I’d guess that I’ve spent hundreds on these little umbrellas over the years.

All those collapsible models have shared one major trait (aside from sometimes shielding me from the rain) – they all seem to have disintegrated after a few uses.

That’s why, when I discovered Davek NY’s line of super umbrellas, I had to share my find.

These are super-tooled, super-strong, heavy-duty designs which are made to protect you for as long as you own them. That means they come with an unlimited lifetime guarantee. Not the umbrella’s lifetime. YOUR lifetime.

According to Davek their umbrellas are “made to ensure satisfaction and service for the natural life of the product. If, during its lifetime, you find any defect in material or workmanship, or the umbrella should fail to function properly, we will gladly repair or replace it at no charge (except $9.50 for postage and handling).  All they ask if that you register your umbrella with them when you buy one.

These Daveks are built from a special, 190-thread count, micro-weave fabric with a waterproof coating on the outside and a special protective coating on the inside. The frame is crafted out of carbon polymer and fiberglass ligaments to stand-up to strong winds. The main shaft is made strong to resist bending and distorting.

You know you’re dealing with a quality product as soon as you hold it. They are heavier than they look, solidly built and project an air of confidence in bad weather. Even the huge leather closing strap screams “super-luxury”.  Plus, my test umbrella came in a red presentation gift box!

I got to test one of the smaller Daveks in their product line – the auto-open/auto-close Solo. It’s made to protect one person – and protect them well. It kept me dry during some recent downpours. After the soaking, the umbrella seemed to dry within minutes – and I was able to stow it back into it’s fabric case in no time. What more can you can from an umbrella?

All this superior craftsmanship does come at a price. The Solo I tested retails for $99. There’s also a slightly smaller, Traveler 2.0 model ($79), The Golf, with a full-sized canopy ($99) and The Duet, a compact model large enough for two people ($149). Davek offers discounts for multiple purchases: check out their Website.  Also see Davek’s site for a full list of retailers.

I can vouch for the quality of the Davek Solo. If the rest of the line is as good (and I’m guessing that it is) buying one could be the last time you have to buy a new umbrella.

Not everyone on the planet speaks English – despite what many Americans believe.  As a matter of fact, not everyone on the planet uses a Latin-based alphabet to communicate.

That’s why, a few months ago ICANN — the organization which controls Internet names and addresses worldwide – announced that that would soon begin handing-out non-Latin-based URLs.

Soon begins now.

As of today, you can head to http://موقع.وزارة-الأتصالات.مصر and be among the first to visit this Website with an Arabic address.

For those not adept at typing Web addresses from right-to-left, this basically translates into http://xn--4gbrim.xn—-ymcbaaajlc6dj7bxne2c.xn--wgbh1c/ar/default.aspx which is just a tiny bit easier to understand.

The Website belongs to the Egyptian Ministry of Communications and Information Technology.  It can also be accessed in its English form at http://www.mcit.gov.eg/.

The Arabic-based URL opened with no problems for me in Internet Explorer, Firefox, Opera and Google Chrome in Windows XP, Vista and 7 as well as Ubuntu Linux 10.04 LTS.

Remember, this is the first non-Latin based URL.  Expect many, many more.  Just think how many hundreds of thousands of additional Websites will be asking for native language addresses in China, India, Russia, Indonesia, Israel and lots more.

No longer will surfers around the world have to know a Latin character-based language (usually English) to get to a Website in their native tongue.

And, from now on, it’s the rest of us who may have to become adept at using URLs in someone else’s language.

Every once and awhile you come across a product – or a group of products – which are unlike anything else in the marketplace.

There are lots of similarities but for reasons which only become apparent when you get to live with them, some products can’t really be compared to or measured against others.

That’s how I feel about Microsoft’s new line of KIN devices. Notice I don’t call them cell phone or smartphones.  That’s because they’re not about being cellular voice devices. They are really a new breed of mobile social-networking devices.

That said, let’s talk about these new devices. KIN is a Microsoft idea. The KIN operating system is an outgrowth of Microsoft’s work on their Zune HD media players and the upcoming Windows Phone 7 smartphones. Microsoft calls KIN a new “Windows Phone” but wants you to know it’s not a new Windows Phone 7 device.

KINs are made for Microsoft by Sharp. Even though their name isn’t on everyone’s lips when it comes to cell phones they are big players in the Japanese marketplace and are known here, primarily, as the company that manufacture Sidekick handsets for T-Mobile. The company that originally designed Sidekicks (Good) is now a division of Microsoft. Sidekicks are still wildly popular with ‘tweens and young teens as portable IM-ing platforms.

There are two new  KIN designs. Both sport capacitive touchscreens, have slide-open QWERTY keyboards and only one button on the front – allowing you to go “back” one level. (More about that Back button in a minute.)

The KIN ONE (from now on I’ll refer to it as the ONE) is a cute little square (3.25 by 2.5 by 0.75 inches; 3.9 ounces) vertical slider handset that sports a 2.6-inch, TFT (QVGA) touchscreen, a 5-megapixel, autofocus, still/video camera with LED flash and 4GB of built-in (non-user-replaceable) storage.

The KIN TWO (from now on I’ll call it the TWO) is a horizontal slide (4.25 by 2.5 by 0.75 inches; 4.7 ounces) with a 3.4-inch HVGA touchscreen, an 8-megapixel camera capable of creating 720p high-definition videos, stereo speakers and 8GB of built-in (non-user-replaceable) storage. The TWO’s shape and good looks remind me a lot of the Palm Pre.

Both KINs share the Tegra APX2600 processor and 256MB of RAM, the Zune powered music/video/TV/podcast/ FM Radio experience (yes, there’s an FM tuner which only works with earphones), a 3.5mm earphone/headphone jack, “push” Exchange mail (that means the mail server constantly send your email to your phone), POP3 and IMAP “pull” email (that means your device asks for the mail to be delivered), an HTML browser with Bing search capabilities (of course), 802.11b/g Wi-fi, Bluetooth 2.1 and GPS. Both KINs connect seamlessly to Verizon’s 3G network.

The first thing you notice about the KINs is the packaging.  High-concept round cylinders – white for the ONE and dark gray for the TWO. Inside there’s another cylinder which cradles your new device, the battery and charger and the very friendly basic operating instructions.  It looks like Microsoft spent a lot on the packaging.

Take the KIN out of the box, insert the battery and start charging it up. While that’s going on you can start the KIN set-up/registration process. You give your KIN account it’s own name and password and then you can add your Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, Windows Live and email account(s) information. That’s it. Takes about 2 minutes. By the time you’re done your KIN is already downloading and displaying your personal info.

There are three KIN display screens. The main screen is called “The Loop”. That’s where you can monitor your always-updating social networking information. If you scroll left you encounter the KIN’s “Apps” screen where you will find icons to get to your “Browser”, “Email”, “Phone”, “Messaging” (the instant kind), “Feeds” as well as places to change the “Settings” and “Alarms”.  The third screen (scrolling to the right of The Loop) is reserved for your “Favorites” where you can drag and drop pictures/info for your most favored social networking contacts.

Unlike other smartphone-like devices, you can also scroll up and down (as well as left and right) to fully navigate these three KIN screens.

There is also a dot on the bottom of each of these screens.  Microsoft calls it “The Spot”.  Sounds silly but it’s what makes a KIN one of the more interesting devices on the market.  The Spot is really an information hotspot. If you have an interesting Tweet or Facebook entry, or email, or photo, or video and want others to see it you drag that object to The Spot and then also drag the icons for the people you want to share with into The Spot and the KIN does the rest.  It takes cutting and pasting to the next level.

Actually taking this to the next level, say you want to meet some friends. Decide on a location, ask your KIN to map it out, drag the map, and the friends you want to meet, into The Spot – type a quick message (“Let’s meet in 15 minutes”) and they’ll get the message quickly.

Now, I know that some of this can be done with other smart devices like an iPhone or Motorola Blur/Android phones but combining these different abilities with “The Spot”, a simple way to tie them all together, makes KINs unique in their ability to take social networking to another level.

The other half of the equation is the KIN application for your computer.  Microsoft calls it the KIN Studio.  Nearly everything on your KIN (messages, contacts, photos and videos) are backed up to a private, password-protected website. As a matter of fact, any photos or videos that have been stored on your KIN for more than 30 days are automatically uploaded to your KIN account for safe-keeping. You’re left with a little thumbnail on your KIN. Microsoft promises virtually unlimited storage and almost no limit to what you can keep in your “cloud”.  Very cool.

And, being a Zune-like product in a number of ways, Microsoft is offering KIN buyers a free 14-day trial of their Zune Pass. For $14.99 per month, the pass allows you unlimited access to streaming music onto your KIN and your PC – and allows you to download and keep 10 MP3s per month.  Since KIN is a “closed system” (that means there are no apps to download and use” you can’t use similar “advertising-supported” services that are available on other phone platforms.

The only feature I found annoying on the KIN was the “Back” button – but that’s because I also use a Palm Pre where you just flick your finger to slide from screen to screen.  The Palm method is easy to get used to and use.  KIN’s back button might come naturally to you – just don’t use a new Palm product too.

I spent some time playing with the KIN TWO and found that, overall, it’s easy to learn and master.  Information flows quickly in all directions. Email (remember email?) seems to work well but if you use a service like Gmail don’t expect KIN to be able to easily access your contacts or calendar.  (To be fair, Android phones do GMail well but have the same contact/calendar problem with other services.  Same for Windows Mobile devices and most other platforms).

The Web browser works well but chugs along at average-to-below average speed. The phone made and received voice calls and sounded fine to the user and to callers alike.

KIN is available online on Verizon’s Website and will be available in Verizon stores on May 13.  KIN ONE will sell for $49.99, and KIN TWO for $99.99, both after a $100 mail-in rebate with a new two-year contract.  According to Verizon, customers will receive their rebates in the form of a debit card which can be used wherever debit cards are accepted.

For the record, those prices were lowered late last night – from $80 and $150 respectively – just before the official announcement at midnight.  I think the price drop was a great idea.

There’s also the service plan to contend with. KIN users will also have to subscribe to a Nationwide Talk plan ($40/month), and an Email and Web for Smartphone plan (starting at $30/month). Verizon should not be charging KIN users full smartphone rates.  One of the reasons for the Sidekick’s great success was the reasonable service contract prices.   Verizon should reconsider. 

I was told that adding a KIN to an existing Verizon family plan should bring down costs to somewhat more reasonable levels.  I hope so.

I don’t know what the KIN advertising campaign will look like – and I don’t know how Microsoft’s target audience (ages 13-to-30) will respond to these two new devices.  But if buyers do their due diligence KIN might become as big a hit as the Sidekick.  And in this iPhone/Android/Palm/BlackBerry smartphone world that says a lot.

KIN’s unique features bode well for Windows Phone 7 devices which we’ll get to see later this year.