Past Helio/Sidekick designer reworking Palm...

One of the most prominent phone interface designers is now working for Palm for its next operating system, Engadget confirms in a hunt for new information. Matias Duarte, who designed much of the interface behind the Danger Sidekick and later moved on to Helio's custom interface, is now known through checks with sources and Palm itself to be a Senior Director in Palm's Human Interface and User Experience design group. The new executive quietly left his former post at Helio for the new position nearly two years ago in September 2007.

Telia reworks iPhone plans with unlimited option...

After hitting a steep wall of customer resistance, Telia Sweden is buckling to pressure and is offering an unlimited data plan for the iPhone, as well as allowing customers to choose between its existing voice plans. iLounge reveals that the company received an overwhelming amount of complaints after initially offering customers 100, 250, and 1000 minutes, SMS, and data on plans that ranged as high as 859 SEK per month, in addition to handsets costing as much as 3295 SEK.

Willcom 9 flip-phone with Java, web, email support...

At a press conference in Japan today, Willcom unveiled its new Willcom 9 handset, earning the distinction of being the company's first phone that integrates Internet and email applications accessible via dedicated shortcut buttons that jump to Google search and Gmail respectively. The flip-phone features a 2-inch, 320x240-pixel resolution LCD screen with 262K colors, and uses Willcom's proprietary W-SIM card.

Google Maps intros voice recognition for BlackBerry...

Google on Wednesday revealed that users of selected BlackBerry Pearl phones can find businesses via Google Maps by speaking into them. The new feature is made possible thanks to the same speech recognition software Google uses in its phone-accessible GOOG-411 directory assistance service. The BlackBerry voice search is still in experimental stages, but Google promises it will fine-tune its software's speech recognition capabilities over time.

HP ships its first Turion X2 Ultra notebooks...

HP today became one of the first companies known to be shipping systems based on AMD's new Turion X2 Ultra processors and platform. The 14-inch Compaq 6535b and 15.4-inch Compaq 6735b are HP's flagships for workstations and pros and use the new architecture to support up to 8GB of DDR2 memory (with 64-bit operating systems) as well as give faster integrated graphics through the Mobility Radeon HD 3200.

Telus gets Touch Diamond first in North America...

Telus today made a surprise announcement that it will be the first North American provider to carry the Touch Diamond, HTC's new flagship touchscreen phone. The news jumps Telus ahead of expected announcements from Sprint and Verizon and makes the Canadian firm the first known to get the CDMA version of the Diamond, which should have advanced 3G access through EVDO Revision A while keeping nearly all other features.

NVIDIA forced to cut GTX prices due to AMD...

NVIDIA will soon cut prices for its GeForce GTX cards despite releasing the hardware less than three weeks ago, the company confirmed today. Although unwilling to provide specific details, company spokesmen Bryan Del Rizzo and Ken Brown say the company is "adjusting the prices" for the GTX 260 and 280 downwards from their respective $400 and $650 markers and should be more affordable by next week. The costs will vary by card manufacturer, many of whom produce overclocked or otherwise non-reference versions.

Apple slashes $500 from MB Air SSD price...

Apple on Friday has quietly cut the price on the MacBook Air's solid-state drive by $500, bringing the price of the pre-built 1.8GHz model with the 64GB flash drive to $2,598 from its previous $3,098. The cut also sees Apple drop the price of adding the solid-state drive to a 1.6GHz model to $599 from its original $999 and reduces the price of adding the faster 1.8GHz processor to $200 from its previous $300.

Intel, AMD see gains in first quarter 2008...

Intel gained momentum in the first quarter of 2008, but rival AMD continued to increase marketshare year-over-year, figures from iSuppli show. Intel gained 1.2 percent to reach 79.7 percent of global microprocessor revenue in the first quarter, but was down 0.7 percent from the first quarter of 2007. AMD lost share in between Q4 2007 and Q1 2008, moving from 14.1 percent to 13 percent, but this was still a 2.2 percent increase from the Q1 2007 period.

ECSA fights standardized European music royalties...

The European Composer and Songwriter Alliance has come out against proposed changes to how online music royalties are collected, writes the Associated Press. The conflict stems from an ongoing investigation by the European Commission, aimed at addressing antitrust concerns relating to the lack of Europe-wide royalty schemes. The Commission notes that currently, national copyright agencies have effective monopolies in their respective regions; there is also a need to negotiate as many as 27 separate royalty schemes for an album, something which may be hampering the spread of European music.

Dell Studio 15 hands-on...

Electronista has just received Dell's new Studio 15 notebook for testing, and it's clear from the outset that the system will be a decided step up from not just the Inspiron line but also the XPS M1530 reviewed just a few months ago while offering features and performance that simply haven't been an option for much of the gaming-oriented XPS system's lifespan.

Samsung Instinct to reach Canada, rival iPhone...

Bell Canada today said it would be the first carrier outside of Sprint to carry the Samsung Instinct. The touchscreen cellphone will keep the same custom interface designed by the US carrier and will be Bell Canada's most direct answer to the iPhone 3G's appearance on Rogers with similar features. Bell's version of the phone should have the same EVDO Revision A-based 3G Internet access, true GPS, and full HTML web browser as the American model.

BenQ to drop phones for MID handhelds?...

BenQ may shift much of its handheld business from cellphones to Mobile Internet Devices (MIDs), according to unofficial reports from within the company. The contacts claim that the launch of an Intel Atom-based MID in the summer (pictured) will signal the start a transition to where most every mobile device from BenQ will fulfill similar roles, which include basic web browsing and e-mail access as well as media playback and video conferencing. Cellphones will only be made as customers request them, according to the claims.

Hitachi plans 5TB drives by 2010...

Hitachi expects to offer a hard disk with five terabytes of storage by 2010, the company tells Japan's Nikkei BP (registration required). While some recent developments are nearing one terabit per inch, Hitachi says its CPP-GMR (Current Perpendicular to the Plane Giant Magnetoresistance) technology has improved to where the company will push past 1TB per inch in two years and allow a 5TB, 3.5-inch desktop hard drive in two years.

Yahoo still looking into AOL deal?...

Yahoo is still entertaining the prospect of a full deal with AOL even in the wake of ending talks with Microsoft, alleged sources tell the Wall Street Journal. Those claimed to be aware of negotiations say AOL's parent company Time Warner is still interested in handing AOL to Yahoo in exchange for a minority stake in the search engine company. The talks aren't said to be as in-depth as when Yahoo still faced the threat of a hostile Microsoft takeover.

AMD Radeon HD 4870 X2 ready in weeks?...

AMD is preparing a dual-chip version of its Radeon HD 4870 card within a matter of weeks, say board designers. The 4870 X2 would be a direct sequel to the 3870 X2 and would once again graft two high-end graphics processors on to one card with a similarly doubled amount of memory; the 4870 edition would be the first home card to carry 2GB of total memory. Past cards have also been underclocked slightly from the single-chip version to avoid overheating.

ASUS rolls out toughened B51E notebook...

PC maker ASUS on Thursday saw fit to introduce one of its first semi-ruggedized notebooks. The B51E's magnesium-alloy chassis is sturdy enough to survive potentially crushing pressures and is braced by rubber edges that both soften shocks and drops (up to almost 2.5 feet) and guard against dents; the keyboard itself is both spill-resistant on its own and includes a drainage path underneath to prevent liquids from seeping into core components. The system is one of ASUS' first to meet US military-grade standards for durability, the company says.

Nikon updates D3, D300 firmware for dSLRs...

Only a few days after its D700 announcement (pictured at right), Nikon has released v2.0 firmware for its D3 digital SLR (Windows/Mac), bringing improved autofocus performance, improved Auto White Balance, and an issue that caused the battery indicator to blink, regardless of actual battery charge (which the company claims happened in "rare circumstances"). Nikon says that the firmware update incorporates a number of other fixes, including (1) allowing the aperture setting to be adjusted from the computer when shooting LiveView mode using Camera Control Pro 2 (ver. 2.2.0) or later with a PC-E lens. Other fixes include more "Vignette control" settings and fixes, more world-time options, new options for "Choose image area," and a new "Copyright information" item that has been added to the setup menu.

Microsoft offers iPods as search incentives...

Microsoft is attempting to convince Australian users to use its Live search engine by offering products from industry competitor Apple as bait through a local venture with the Nine Network, Ninemsn. The Brisbane Times reveals that the software giant is offering the iPod nano, Shuffle, and Touch to users who perform searches through Ninemsn. Ninemsn head Alex Parsons said that it would have run the contest using the Zune, but the Microsoft-made player does not currently sell in Australia.

Simultaneous dual-N-band Linksys WRT610N Wi-Fi router...

Just days after announcing Mac OS X-specific support, Linksys has announced its WRT610N Wi-Fi router, which offers wireless connectivity for 802.11b, 802.11g, and 802.11n devices on two separate spectrum bands simultaneously -- effectively doubling available wireless bandwidth. Designed so all types of wireless devices can achieve maximum bandwidth, the "Simultaneous Dual-N Band Wireless Router" is packaged in Linksys' new, low-profile glossy black housing and offers Draft N performance on both the 5GHz and 2.4GHz spectrums. Users can connect high-bandwidth 802.11n devices (such as video hubs, media extenders, etc.) to the higher-performance, 20-channel 5GHz band, which coincidently also has less interference from devices such as microwaves, other 802.11g networks, etc. The more crowded 2.4GHz band can be used to connect both devices that don't require as much bandwidth and older 802.11b devices.

Overheating mobile chips to affect Nvidia Q2 earnings...

Nvidia says that a heat problem in with one of its mobile chips will hurt its earnings for the second quarter, sending its shares tumbling down almost 25 percent to below $14 in after-hours trading. According to the Wall Street Journal, Nvidia said that the overheating problem -- which appears to be focused on older chips for notebook computers -- caused higher-than-normal failure rates in certain GPU models as well as related chip sets; the company's said that it could see a revenue shortfall of nearly 24 percent in the second quarter (ending July 27th), but also cited problems such as general market conditions, price cuts to match rival AMD, and delayed product ramps. In June, the company debuted its Nvidia GeForce 9M series, which it said was built on a new, multi-core graphics engine that is up to 40 percent faster than its earlier 8M chipsets; the GeForce 9M series chips were set to appear this summer, and while a few manufacturers had already begun shipping designs with the newer GPUs, the company used most of the quarter to push out its older chips.

FireFox 3 sets world record, FireFox 2 patched...

Mozilla on Tuesday posted Firefox 2.0.0.15, an update to its web browser that resolves several vulnerabilities, ranging from several benign problems, to critical bug fixes related to arbitrary code execution and remote control of a user's system. Among the major fixes are MFSA 2008-21, 2008-24, 2008-25, and 2008-33, which resolve crashes when memory is corrupted, Chrome script loading vulnerabilities, arbitrary code execution in a .loadSubScript() command, as well as crashing and remote code execution.

Virgin Mobile picks up camera-equipped Arc...

Virgin Mobile today quietly posted its first phone since its buyout of Helio. The UTStarcom Arc sits slightly above the baseline for most of Virgin's budget lineup and focuses primarily on its inclusion of a VGA camera, Bluetooth, and its two-tone, rounded flip design to stand out from other offerings on the pay-as-you-go carrier.

GEAR4 intros portable USB-powered speaker...

GEAR4 today announced the release of its newest portable speaker, the USB-powered BlackBox micro. As the smallest speaker in the company's range, the speaker can enhance the audio playback abilities of laptops or MP3 players thanks to an included mini USB-to-USB cable. There are two drivers hidden in the plastic shroud, with one dedicated to high notes, the other an SFX gel base driver for bass reproduction.

Sprint-badged Touch Diamond images leaked...

The first images showing what appears to be a Sprint-badged and therefore first CDMA version of the iPhone-fighting Touch Diamond from HTC have leaked on the Internet today. While the rumors of a Sprint Diamond date back to April, the phone is expected to be delayed. Little other details are confirmed, except for an unsubstantiated claim that the Diamond will launch ahead of the Touch Pro.

Nokia intros Loopset for cellphones, hearing aids...

Nokia on Wednesday announced the release of its latest Wireless Loopset, the HS-67WL, designed to improve cellular phone usability for users with hearing aids. The Loopset is compatible with T-coil-equipped hearing aids or cochlear implants and makes hands-free connections between the hearing aid devices and Bluetooth 2.1-equipped cell phones. Background noise filtering thanks to induction technology improves speech discrimination for clear, distortion-free calls, Nokia says.

MS tests sub-based Office, anti-malware...

Microsoft today has announced it would launch Equipt, a new software package that will let it experiment with subscription services. The suite gives users both a copy of Office Home and Student 2007 as well as the company's OneCare anti-malware and backup service; in exchange for an immediate discount on both services, customers will pay $70 per year to keep the full service active. Office is believed to remain active regardless of when the subscription ends.

T-Mobile balks at FCC's AWS data plans...

T-Mobile on Wednesday resisted moves by the US Federal Communications Commission to hasten its moves towards a free wireless broadband. The carrier has requested that the FCC delay an auction for its 2,100MHz Advanced Wireless Spectrum 3 (AWS-3) band by 90 days past its July 9th deadline to allow for a longer comment period and let T-Mobile air its potential problems with any future service; filling the AWS-3 band may create interference that prevents T-Mobile from using space it wants for its 3G service, according to a filing sent to the FCC.

Sprint to force all-in plans, drop data-only?...

Sprint may be shifting all its customers who want discounted data to opt into all-in-one plans that in many cases cost more than what they originally had, say reports from subscribers attempting to renew their contracts. The US carrier already requires a $70 monthly Simply Everything plan for the Samsung Instinct to use both its voice and data features but is now reportedly asking owners of Palm Centros and other data-centric phones to accept the same plan when they renew service, in many cases increasing the costs of using the phones regardless of the customer's actual intent.

Samsung readies budget Win Mobile touch phone for US...

A Czech leak today has revealed a Samsung phone in development that will stand as an alternative to the i900 Omnia. The i740 will still have a 640x480 touchscreen with Windows Mobile 6.1 but makes a number of cuts to reduce the cost, including dropping 3G and Wi-Fi access in favor of EDGE, a three-megapixel camera instead of the Omnia's five, and no large amounts of internal storage.

iDEN BlackBerry indentified as 8350?...

The next BlackBerry for Sprint's iDEN push-to-talk network will be a Curve phone, called the 8350, a report claims. Although Sprint announced in February that it would receive a new iDEN BlackBerry, it has otherwise kept quiet on the issue, leaving most information to media leaks and speculation. The new device is expected to help revive Sprint's struggling iDEN network, whose most recent BlackBerry is the outdated 7100i.

European Commission approves Nokia/NAVTEQ deal...

The European Commission has approved an acquisition of map maker NAVTEQ, Nokia has announced. With this validation in hand, the company says it has met all regulatory concerns, and plans to complete the buyout within a matter of five days. "NAVTEQ will play a key role in our Internet services strategy," reads a statement from Nokia CEO Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo. The acquisition will also likely save the company money on licensing, as it has previously had to pay companies like NAVTEQ for each use of a map on a phone.

Motorola slips out ZN200 media phone...

Motorola late yesterday slipped out a previously unannounced media phone with a local Brazilian launch. Known as the ZN200, the slider is part of an increasing wave of mid-range Motorola media phones with a 2-megapixel camera and basic on-camera photo editing. It also supports mobile uploading through its 3G cellular Internet access and supports stereo Bluetooth for listening to music through wireless earphones.

Linux-based OpenMoko touch phone ships...

OpenMoko today said that it will start selling the Neo FreeRunner to the US on July 4th, marking its first phone release in the country. The touchscreen device is positioned as an unusual competitor to the iPhone whose strength is in its open access: based on a strictly open-source version of Linux, the device includes just the basic software for calling and SMS but is freely modifiable down to its core functions. Users can write or install apps that extend the phone's features without paying royalties.

Motorola preps RAZR2 V9x with GPS...

Motorola is developing a new version of the RAZR2 with AT&T's navigation services in mind, says Engadget. Called the RAZR2 V9x, the phone would add the assisted GPS mapping of the Z9 slider to be used with the TeleNav-run AT&T Navigator service. In a unique change, however, the GPS functions would work even through the RAZR2's external screen and supply directions (though not controls) without having to flip open the handset.

iPhone most sought-out smartphone in Japan...

Japanese cellphone users are most eager to have the iPhone 3G over any other smartphone in or coming to the market, according to a new study by iShare. The research group says that 57.9 percent of all those responding to a survey said they most wanted the Apple device, which placed well ahead of others despite the study method allowing multiple answers. Second place belonged to the Japan-made Willcom D4 UMPC and phone crossover at 35.8 percent, while the more conventional Willcom 03 was third at 33.1 percent.

Microsoft to make joint bid for Yahoo?...

Microsoft is actively exploring bringing other companies into a deal that would dismantle Yahoo as it's known today, says the Wall Street Journal. The newspaper cites anonymous sources aware of discussions who say Microsoft is still interested in buying just Yahoo's search business but has asked both News Corp. and Time Warner about merging what would be left of Yahoo into one of their respective properties, such as MySpace or AOL. A meeting between Microsoft and Yahoo was scheduled for Monday but canceled because Microsoft has so far been unsuccessful in lining up a partner, according to the report.

Apple ordering 50m flash chips for iPhone?...

Apple is crowding out other orders for flash memory at Samsung through orders connected to the iPhone, according to reports from some of Samsung's smaller customers. The American company has allegedly ordered 50 million of Samsung's eight gigabit (one gigabyte) chips that are primarily intended for the iPhone 3G and is putting enough pressure on Samsung's supply that the Korean firm is informing smaller firms that their own orders are being reduced to keep Apple in healthy supply.

eMachines revamps desktops for back-to-school...

Gateway's budget label eMachines today served up three new desktops that it says ought to appeal to students heading back to school in two months' time. The W3653 is the most complete system of the group with the company's 17-inch, 1440x900 bundled with the tower; the system also packs a relatively new 1.6GHz Celeron Dual-Core processor, 1GB of memory, and Vista Home Premium stored on a 320GB hard drive. The system sells for $500 at retail shops.

T-Mobile adds Netherlands iPhone 3G plans...

T-Mobile clarified its 3G iPhone offerings for the Netherlands, which were previously hinted at on the company's website, offering unlimited data plans starting at €30 (~$50). The plans start at a basic 150 minute/SMS plan, with the next at 300 and 500 minutes/SMS messages, and offer varying discounts on the actual device itself. From lowest tier to highest, the 8GB and 16GB iPhones are priced at €80 (~$130)/€160 (~$250), €1 (~$2)/€80 (~$130), and €1 (~$2)/€20 (~$30), offered under a two-year contract.