Archive for August, 2005
Motorola and Apple are silent on the news, but the US Federal Communications Commission has posted documents on its website granting regulatory approval to start selling a phone that runs a mobile version iTunes.
The Motorola E790 has stereo speakers, removable flash memory and Bluetooth support.
Motorola haven’t commented and Apple are only slightly less tight-lipped, confirming that an iTunes / Motorola partnership is in the works, but with an unspecified end result.
FCC approval is not an indication that the E790 will launch soon. Regulatory approval is merely one step that a company must go through to market a wireless device in the USA and it could happen at the end or the beginning of a product’s development.
The manual posted on the FCC website has quite a few typos, but it’s fairly clear about the iTunes support, with a section entitled ‘Use iTunes’.
“iTunes is a software application you use to manage the music on your computer and transfer music to your phone,” the manual states. “You can use iTunes to purchase and download music for your phone, listen to CDs and digital music, and create playlists of your favorite songs on your phone.”
Copying music to the phone seems pretty simple. “On your computer, open iTunes, connect your phone to your computer, and when the phone appears as a source, drag and drop music files to your phone.”
US government websites are often great sources of information. Notably, the manual for the Sony PSP was posted on the US Patent Office website, months in advance of the console going on sale.
August 23rd, 2005
If our UK readers have been getting jealous of the WiMax trials going on across the pond, fear not. Pipex and Airspan are teaming up to provide a 6 month trial of the technology.
Unfortunately you have to live in the Midlands (no word as to where exactly) to take part. Pipex will use Airspan to deliver broadband to businesses and to homes. In addition to data services, the trial will also test VoIP services that would allow Pipex to offer innovative product bundles.
Mike Read, Pipex’s CEO, said, “WiMax is an exciting new opportunity for Pipex and this test will help determine how we offer wireless broadband services to our customers using our licensed spectrum. Combined voice and data offerings using WiMax will enable Pipex to deliver differentiated products in addition to our existing services. We are pleased to be working with Airspan, as they are one of the world’s leading broadband wireless companies and their products will help us evaluate the full potential of WiMax.”
The technical tests will include a wide-ranging assessment of the acceptability of wireless broadband data and voice services by end-users, and a series of radio performance measurements designed to assess the long-term stability and availability of WiMax. The trial will be based on Airspan’s indoor WiMaxmodem, which will enable end-users to self-install their wireless broadband service. Future trial phases will assess the performance of other WiMaxdevice types, including laptop cards and handheld devices for both fixed and nomadic applications.
This is the first 802.16-2004 compliant WiMAX trial in the UK.
August 23rd, 2005
Amazon.com customers can now print their photos online after the online retailer partnered with Shutterfly.
“Amazon is looking forward to working with Shutterfly,” said Glenn Cunningham, Vice President of Amazon’s Electronics store. “Our customers have come to expect a superior shopping experience from Amazon.com and we believe, with the addition of Shutterfly’s digital photography products and services, this will serve to enhance their shopping experience with us.”
The following Shutterfly photo products and services are now available to Amazon.com shoppers:
- Professionally developed photographs ranging in sizes from wallets to 20×30 large-formats
- Design-it-yourself photo cards, calendars, photo books and photo gifts, including mugs, t-shirts, and a variety of other personalized products, that can be shipped directly to friends and family all over the world
- Free online picture sharing including sharing a single album at a time and creating up to two free “Collections,” a personal address for storing and sharing an unlimited number of photo albums
- Easy-to-use image organization and uploading tools
- Free, unlimited online image storage
- Free image editing tools (i.e. cropping, red-eye removal, enhancing color effects and adding borders)
“We are very excited to welcome Amazon’s tens of millions of shoppers into Shutterfly’s community of users and to introduce them to all that they can accomplish with their digital images, online,” said Jeffrey Housenbold, President & CEO of Shutterfly. “Together, Amazon and Shutterfly will enable consumers to easily turn their precious memories into distinctive photographs and gifts.”
August 23rd, 2005
Canon has announced new compact PowerShot A620, A610 and A410 digital cameras.
“For three years now, Canon has remained America’s number one choice for digital cameras with the A70 model in 2003, the A75 model in 2004 and now the A510 digital camera in 2005,” said Yukiaki Hashimoto, senior vice president and general manager of the consumer imaging group at Canon U.S.A., Inc.
“We are building upon the success of our A-series line by expanding our offerings. Our new PowerShot A620 and A610 digital cameras really pack professional-level features into consumer cameras, while the entry-level PowerShot A410 model is designed to meet first-time digital camera buyers’ needs.”
The PowerShot A620 and A610 digital cameras feature a sleek new body design and powerful new features that lead the PowerShot A-Series line, without sacrificing the compact size, basic camera design and sensible control layout that have made other A-series digital cameras so popular. What’s more, the new cameras feature some of the most advanced specifications in their class, including:
* 7.1 and 5.0 megapixel CCDs respectively
* 4x optical zoom lens with a focal length of 7.3 - 29.2 mm (35mm film equivalent: 35 - 140 mm) and a maximum aperture of f/2.8-4.1
* Canon’s exclusive high-performance DIGIC II image processor
* A full range of manual and 20 Shooting Modes including 8 Special Scene Modes plus a 2.0-inch vari-angle LCD screen
* Full compatibility with wide-angle, telephoto and macro supplementary lenses
Thanks to DIGIC II and a brighter AF Assist beam, the PowerShot A620 and A610 digital cameras have reduced AF time by an impressive 60% and improved focusing ability by two full stops in low light conditions compared to their predecessor, thus enabling Dad to get the best quality picture as his child blows out his/her birthday candles. DIGIC II also makes the most of the cameras’ superb all-glass Canon optics and high resolution CCD sensors to deliver exceptional image quality with vibrant yet natural color, low noise and fine detail.
The PowerShot A620 and A610 digital cameras are equipped with a 9-point AiAF “Smart” autofocus system and 20 shooting modes. The standard Shooting Modes are Full Auto, Program, Shutter-priority, Aperture-priority, Manual, and Custom with additional modes including Portrait, Landscape, Night Scene, My Colors, Special Scene (including Night Snapshot, Kids and Pets, Indoor, Foliage, Snow, Beach, Fireworks and Underwater), Stitch Assist and Movie. Both models are capable of recording 30 fps VGA movies with sound for up to 1GB per clip and 60fps QVGA fast frame rate movies for up to 60 seconds a piece, so families can capture their memories in motion.
Whether it is raising your camera above your head to get a shot of your child at her first dance recital or dropping your camera below your knees to watch your baby crawl for the first time, the large 2.0-inch vari-angle LCD screen, up from 1.8-inches in previous models, increases the ability to get those hard to view, but essential shots. There’s even a new, optional horizontal and vertical Grid Line function on the LCD screen that lets users compose their photos more accurately than before.
Much like the PowerShot A400 digital camera, its predecessor model, the PowerShot A410 digital camera is geared towards the entry-level photographer. The PowerShot A410 digital camera is functional as well as intuitive for a beginning photographer, including a 3.2 megapixel CCD image sensor, 3.2x optical zoom lens with a focal length of 5.4-17.3mm (35mm film equivalent: 41-131mm), smooth continuous shooting up to 2.5 fps for the entire capacity of the SD or MMC memory card and a 1.5-inch LCD screen. The PowerShot A410 digital camera comes equipped with eight Special Scene modes, including Portrait, Night Snapshot, Kids & Pets, Indoor, Foliage, Snow, Beach and Fireworks and five Photo Effect modes, including Vivid, Neutral, Low Sharpening, Sepia, and Black & White. What’s more, the PowerShot A410 digital camera is capable of recording VGA movies, so 10-year old Sue can capture movies of her friends during sleepovers.
Named for their use of AA batteries, Canon’s A-series digital cameras offer easy-to-use, high quality features to consumers looking to capture, save and share meaningful memories, personal milestones and family functions.
The PowerShot A620 and A610 digital cameras use four AA batteries, while providing more shots (up to 500 with LCD screen on, based on CIPA standards when using rechargeable NiMH batteries) than previous models, thanks to reductions in power consumption made possible by improvements in key components and circuit design. The PowerShot A410 digital camera uses only two AA batteries, yet captures up to 400 shots according to CIPA standards with the LCD screen on when using rechargeable NiMH batteries.
True to the PowerShot tradition, the new PowerShot A-series cameras have many of the latest advances in Canon technology including the proprietary DIGIC II imaging processor. The processor enhances picture definition, vibrancy and quality, while helping increase the speed of the cameras’ startup, autofocus, shutter response, playback and image processing speed and reducing power consumption by 35% compared to the original DIGIC chip. Image transfer speed is accelerated (when used with a USB 2.0 compatible computer, printer or other peripheral), thanks to the inclusion of a Hi-Speed USB 2.0 port. The USB 2.0 port is backwards compatible (at no increased speed) with computers featuring standard USB 1.1 connections(3).
The PowerShot A620 and A610 Kits will include a full set of Canon’s powerful yet easy-to-use digital camera software, featuring the latest versions of ZoomBrowser EX, ImageBrowser, PhotoStitch and PhotoRecord, as well as ArcSoft PhotoStudio. Supplied accessories include Interface Cable IFC-400PCU, AV Cable AVC-DC300, Wrist Strap WS-200, four AA-size alkaline batteries, and a multimedia card MMC-32M (A620 model) and MMC-16M (A610 model). Optional accessories include NiMH Rechargeable Battery Kit NB4-200, Battery and Charger kit CBK4-200, AC Adapter Kit ACK600, Soft Compact Case PSC-60, Waterproof Case WP-DC90, High Power Flash HF-DC1, Conversion Lens Adapter LA-DC58F and the choice of wide-angle, telephoto and macro supplementary lenses. (These are the same supplementary lenses used by Canon’s high-end PowerShot G6 digital camera.)
The PowerShot A410 Kit includes the same software bundle as the A620/A610 cameras, plus Interface Cable IFC-400PCU, Wrist Strap WS-800, two AA alkaline batteries, and a multimedia card MMC-16M. Optional accessories include NiMH Rechargeable Battery Kit NB4-200, Battery and Charger kit CBK4-200, AC Adapter Kit ACK800, Soft Compact Case PSC-80 and High Power Flash HF-DC1.
The Canon PowerShot A620, A610 and A410 Digital cameras will be available in September for estimated selling prices of $399.99, $299.99 and $149.99, respectively.
August 22nd, 2005
The Japanese government is to plough $9 million in the next tax year into researching 3D TV, with the aim of making it a commercial reality by 2020.
Although there is absolutely no indication that researchers have the faintest idea how to achieve this goal, officials are already excited about the idea of watching images projected from a panel in the floor and being able to interact with them and even smell them.
The scheme is part of a broad national project that will bring together researchers from the government, technology companies and academia.
TechSmec.com applauds the idea from a ‘cool’ point of view, but it involves such a leap in technology, that even if the 2020 date is achieved such a system would take decades to become ubiquitous. Still, you have to start somewhere.
Source: MSNBC
August 22nd, 2005
Sony has unveiled its ‘Shuffle killer’ - the Walkman Bean.
The eponymous Bean comes in white, black, blue or pink and with 512MB or 1MB storage. However, you can only get the blue version, which is our favourite, at Sony Style stores.
It comes with an inbuilt pop-up USB plug which means that when you hook it up to your PC, you don’t even have to hunt around for a wire as it connects directly.
Charge time is ridiculously fast - you only have to charge it for 3 minutes to get 3 hours’ playback from it, though if you charge it to capacity you’ll then be able to use it for 50 hours non-stop.
Of course, the Bean won’t let you play tracks purchased at iTunes, you’ll have to use Sony Connect instead, but that’s a small price to pay for what TechSmec.com thinks is the coolest-looking flash mp3 player around. Sony is already accepting pre-orders for the Bean which will ship in the middle of September.
August 19th, 2005
It seems a shame that after some of the most talented designers in the world slave to develop beautiful gadgets like the iPod and the PSP, some of you like nothing more than covering them up with stickers in the name of personalisation. However, TechSmec.com has fallen under the charms of Tego, a customer designed custom covering that fits onto practically any phone or personal electronic device. It is a thin, flexible covering that can be customized in any way imaginable.
The custom covers are precision cut to fit exactly to your device. They completely cover the surface; the only thing that you see when your custom cover is applied are the keys/buttons and the screen. Made of a high quality, extremely durable material, yet thin enough that will allow it to conform to the shape of your device, Tego won’t stretch, rip, tear, crack, fall apart, or whatever, when applied.
The skins are easy to apply and easy to remove. When you want to take it off, simply peel it off.
A single skin for your PSP, for example, would set you back $12 Canadian, plus a $3 handling charge, wherever you are in the world.
myTego
August 18th, 2005
The Xbox 360 hype is picking up after Microsoft announced the prices and final product specs at a convention in Germany.
There will be two packages on sale - the basic Xbox 360 core, and a more fully featured Xbox 360.
The core system will sell for $299.99/€299.99/£209.99 and includes the console itself, a wired controller and an AV cable. This will enable you to play games, watch DVDs and not a lot else. It’s fully expandable to ‘media center hub’ configuration, but you might be better off buying the Xbox 360 package which has $200 of extras for only $100 more.
The Xbox 360 (confusing this isn’t it? Perhaps Microsoft should have come up with a catchy title for the enhanced version?) will sell for $399.99/€399.99/£279.99 and includes the following components.
* Xbox 360 console - three powerful core processors are poised to pump out 720p/1080i output, 16×9 cinematic aspect ratio, anti-aliasing for smooth textures, full surround sound and DVD playback right out of the box.
* Xbox 360 Hard Drive. 20 GB and detachable, the hard drive allows gamers to store their games, music, downloaded trailers, levels, demos and community-created content from Xbox Live Marketplace.
* Xbox 360 Wireless Controller. Hassle-free high-performance precision wireless gaming features the Xbox Guide Button for quick access to digital movies, music and games libraries as well as a range and battery life of up to 30 feet and 30 hours of life on two AA batteries.
* Xbox 360 Faceplate.
* Xbox 360 Headset. This lets gamers strategize with teammates or trash-talk opponents while playing games on Xbox Live.
* Xbox 360 Component HD-AV Cable. This connects gamers to the world of Xbox 360 games and graphics through high-definition and standard-definition connections.
* Xbox Live Silver membership. With this, gamers can chat with friends online, send and receive voice and text messages, and access new content from Xbox Live Marketplace demos such as trailers and casual games from Xbox Live Arcade.
* A bonus Media Remote: Included for a limited time, the integrated control center for the entire digital experience lets consumers play DVDs, movies and music, as well as access their Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005-based PC’s controls with a single remote.
Meanwhile Microsofot have been talking to PCmag.com about the Windows Media Connect functionality of the Xbox which allows it to access media files stored on your (networked) desktop PC. A beta release of Windows Media Connect to take advantage of the Xbox 360 is scheduled for the end of the year.
August 18th, 2005
Nintendo has cut the price of the DS handheld console in the US by $20, bringing the price down to $130.
The new price kicks in on August 20 at the same time as the Nintendogs virtual pet game that has proved popular in Japan.
There’s no news yet as to whether Nintendo will also cut the price of the DS in Europe to coincide with the release of the Sony PSP.
Nintendo has also revealed more details about the Gameboy Micro, essentially a normal Gameboy in slimline clothing. It will retail for £69 in the UK, and is expected to go for $99 in the USA.
August 17th, 2005
Toshiba claims to be the first manufacturer to bring a product to market featuring Perpendicular Magnetic Recording.
The new 1.8-inch HDD, used primarily in consumer electronics devices, enables up to 10,000 songs or 25,000 photos on a single 40GB platter.
The MK4007GAL HDD 1.8-inch HDD packs 40GB on a single platter - the largest single-platter capacity - yet achieved in the 1.8-inch form factor. This breakthrough technology sets new benchmarks for data density with the highest areal density currently on the market at 206 megabits per square millimeter (133 gigabits per square inch). The 1.8-inch PMR HDD is now shipping in Toshiba’s new Gigabeat F41, enabling the MP3 player to store up to 10,000 songs.
“Toshiba has started an exciting new frontier for the HDD industry by leading the race to achieve this revolutionary technology, which has been the industry’s aim for more than 20 years,” said Scott Maccabe, vice president, Toshiba Storage Device Division. “PMR opens the door to products we haven’t even begun to imagine, by removing the technical barriers inherent to packing more data on an HDD. Providing greater storage capacity on mobile disk drives allows Toshiba to give system OEMs the tools they need for next-generation digital information and entertainment devices.”
The 1.8-inch HDD form factor has been a critical component for consumer electronics products from MP3 players to handheld GPS systems and ultra-portable PCs. To date, Toshiba has shipped more than 14 million 1.8-inch HDDs since its introduction in mid-2000. The addition of PMR technology will increase capacity options for product designs beyond those currently on the market today, especially as Toshiba introduces an 80GB 1.8-inch HDD with PMR later this year.
Toshiba is the first company in the storage industry to commercialize PMR, providing unsurpassed recording density and high-operating reliability on its 1.8-inch HDD platform. The technology is based on a new magnetic disk structured to support perpendicular recording, a new high-performance perpendicular magnetic head, and disk and head integration technology that maximizes their combined performance.
Conventional longitudinal recording stores data on a magnetic disk as microscopic magnet bits aligned in plane. Although advances in magnetic coatings continue to improve data recording densities on HDD, when the densities become too extreme, the magnetic bits repulse each other due to in-plane alignment. Squeezing more bits on to a disk will eventually reach a point in which crowding degrades recorded bit quality. As such, HDD manufacturers face fast-approaching limits on storage capacities.
By standing the magnetic bits on end, perpendicular recording reinforces magnetic coupling between neighboring bits, achieving higher and more stable recording densities and improved storage capacity.
Toshiba is currently shipping the 40GB MK4007GAL to OEM and channel partners. The company plans to apply PMR technology to its 0.85-inch HDD in 2006, increasing capacity to 6GB-8GB per platter and supporting Toshiba’s efforts to pioneer the market for ultra-small form factor drives.
August 17th, 2005
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