News Archive for 09/05/20
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TRENDnet has announced its newest addition to the Wireless IPView Camera Series, the Wireless N IP Camera, also known as the TV-IP512WN. The camera is intended for security purposes, allowing two-way audio and video streaming over the internet. The TV-IP512WN features 300MBps wireless N technology, improving the bandwidth and giving the camera a wide range of capabilities.
According to the American Customer Satisfaction Index survey, Verizon Wireless received the highest customer-satisfaction rating of all the US wireless carriers. This is Verizon's sixth consecutive year with the top rank. The company scored above the industry average and recorded a three-percent improvement over last year. The carrier has also achieved strong customer loyalty with the lowest customer turnover rate for the past 18 quarters, reaching an industry low of 1.47 percent in the first quarter of 2009.
Apricorn has introduced its latest storage device, the Aegis Desktop. The device integrates a 7200RPM SATA drive, with capacities up to 1.5TB and an 8MB buffer. An eSATA interface is claimed to support transfer speeds of up to 300 MBps, while a USB 2.0 connection is capable transfer speeds of up to 480mbps. The drive is housed in an aluminum enclosure with swivel feet that can be tucked away for horizontal orientation.
Clarion has recently released its new FZ409 automotive head unit that sports an optical touch sensor instead of traditional buttons for control. It can play back MP3, WMA and AAC formats while displaying ID3 Tags. Users can also plug in their personal digital audio players thanks to a rear-mounted 3.5mm auxiliary input or a USB audio connection for connecting iPods.
The free online video-on-demand (VOD) service, Hulu, may be expanding for the first time to a market outside of the US, with a launch in the UK as soon as September, the UK's Telegraph reported on Wednesday. Sources close to the negotiations tell the daily newspaper that Hulu is in talks with the UK's ITV and Channel 4 for content partners, and the service would bring over more than 3,000 hours of American TV content. Content from the BBC is also being negotiated.
The latest in a series of supporting and conflicting reports of an Android-powered smartphone from Acer coming to market before the year is out has the traditional PC maker officially confirming an Android handset is indeed coming. The head of the company's phone unit, Aymar de Lencquesaing, told reports in Paris on Wednesday that one of the 10 or so new smarpthones from Acer due for release this year will run on the Google-developed Android operating system, according to a report.
Ford and Microsoft, which have jointly developed the SYNC communications and entertainment system for various Ford vehicles, may soon get streaming Internet radio capabilities via a partnership with Internet radio provider Pandora. A representative from Ford's Design and Technology team, Charlotte Fisher, has promised SYNC will receive regular updates sometime between every six and twelve months and has confirmed that Ford is currently engaged in talks with Pandora.
Unofficial images along with an approximate release date for the HTC Touch Pro2 handset flying wireless provider Sprint's colors have been leaked via a SprintUsers forum post on Tuesday. A mid-June release date is expected for the handset. The same source maintains the HTC Snap handset will also come to Sprint sometime in July, equipped with a Windows Mobile operating system but no touchscreen functionality.
Motorola's first wave of Android phones this year could include a late entry for T-Mobile, a roadmap leak shows. Further expanding on previous details of the schedule, TmoToday now says a device codenamed "Morrison" is due sometime between early November and the end of the year. No details are given about the phone itself, though a small graphic implies it will have a horizontal slide-out QWERTY keyboard and a touchscreen.
Sony is bringing its TransferJet wireless data transmission technology closer to production by announcing recently it is now accepting licensing applications from interested companies. A Wednesday report has Sony taking "adopter" membership from companies that are interested in incorporating TransferJet into their products. TransferJet, which operates on a 4.5GHz radio frequency, lets users transfer data between portable devices at up to 375Mbps when they are about an inch apart. It is faster than wired USB 2.0 and FireWire connections and is supported by Japan, the US, European Union members and South Korea.
A Russian company, RussianMac, has begun shipping a wide range of Mac clones that come with OS X pre-installed. Despite the ongoing legal battle between Apple and clone-maker Psystar, RussianMac claims it does not violate the Mac OS X end-user license agreement. Along with drawing a unique interpretation of Apple's terms, the Russian company could be confident that it will avoid legal action as long as its business does not leave the country.
Australia's Swinburne University of Technology today revealed that it has developed an optical disc technology that could hold at least 1.6TB, or 32 times the storage of a 50GB Blu-ray disc. By adding nanoparticles to discs, researcher Min Gu and others at the school successfully recorded data to discs using not only multiple wavelengths of light but to the polarization, or angle, of the light itself. The approach would effectively let a given segment of a disc hold data in five "dimensions" and in many cases layer multiple polarizations on top of each other, all without increasing the disc size.
Roland has announced the VP-770 Vocal & Ensemble Keyboard, a successor to the VP-550 that features new vocal designer effects, and ensemble sounds based on the company’s SuperNATURAL technology. The 770 is designed for musicians who perform in small or large groups, and/or those who need real-time background chorus. Included in its effects is vocoder modeling, which can be used to generate signature vocal effects for dance, pop and hip-hop.
Nintendo entered into the world of portable exercise hardware on Wednesday through the imminent launch of its latest addition to Personal Trainer: Walking game for the DS and DSi. Each copy of the game will ship with two Activity Meters, or advanced pedometers, that sync wirelessly with the gaming system and count and record steps during a given period of time. The game's software then converts these into statistics. Each Activity Meter can store up to seven days of data, while the DS/DSi game card can hold up to five years' worth of downloaded data. A single game card can store four users and their data.
YUBZ has released a new entry in its line of Bluetooth cellphone headsets, the CLIPO. The device features a separate earpiece with a retractable cord; this allows the main portion of the CLIPO to be attached to a person's shirt or jacket. The earpiece also fits directly inside the ear, in order to cancel out background noise.
Location-aware iPhone apps not only outnumber their BlackBerry counterparts by 40 to 1 but are less expensive as well, Skyhook Wireless said Wednesday. Best known for the Wi-Fi positioning used to help the iPhone, the company notes that there were 2,300 iPhone apps with location-finding as a major feature and just 57 in BlackBerry App World. By contrast, Android Market had more still at 300. The difference comes in spite of BlackBerry devices having GPS and third-party app support for longer than the iPhone has supported either.
As promised, Samsung's t349 candybar handset is now available at wireless provider T-Mobile. The handset has a partial, 20-key QWERTY SureType keyboard and is otherwise fairly basic in its specifications. It sports a 1.3-megapixel camera with 4x digital zoom and support for AIM, Windows Live Messenger and Yahoo instant messaging programs.
Sakar has taken the unusual step of reissuing a film SLR, the Vivitar V3800N. The camera is meant to serve as a cheap, 35mm alternative to modern DSLRs, and uses a traditional focal-plane shutter. Features include a 10-second timer, shutter speeds ranging from 1 to 1/2000, and support for film rated between ISO 25 and 3200. Multiple exposures can be combined in-camera, and an X Contact hotshoe allows for the use of external flash.
AT&T today priced and dated its version of the BlackBerry Curve 8900. The smartphone should arrive both in stores and online Friday, May 22nd, and should ship for $199 after factoring in a $100 rebate. AT&T's version adds support for AT&T Navigator for the built-in GPS, XM Radio Mobile Internet streaming and a dedicated Yellow Pages app, but strips out the Unlicensed Mobile Access (UMA) used for VoIP calling on T-Mobile.
Best Buy late Tuesday claimed an edge over Sprint and said that it will sell the Palm Pre at its Best Buy Mobile ships for the same official $200 but without the mail-in rebate. The difference effectively gives the retailer a $100 price advantage over the carrier itself, which is otherwise charging $300 for the smartphone. Why the difference is possible hasn't been explained by either firm, though one rumor suggests Best Buy may have very limited stock and doesn't expect to be hurt by the discount.
Virgin America on Wednesday morning said it has become the first airline to offer Wi-Fi on all of its flights. The extension gives those flying to or from Boston, LA, Las Vegas, San Diego, San Francisco and Washington, DC the option of using most non-voice Internet features on any Wi-Fi equipped computer or handheld as soon as electronics are cleared for use on the plane. Virgin had originally started its access on just flights between New York and San Francisco.
Creative on Wednesday took a different approach to earphones and launched the Aurvana Air. Taking some of its name and basic design philosophy from Apple, the design focuses on weight with unique nickel-titanium ear hooks that keep the earbuds light but which also remember their shape to save owners from readjusting the fit every time. The pair's neodymium drivers are also said powerful with slots specifically meant to drive bass; frequency response is estimated at between 20Hz and 20kHz with 32ohms of impedance.
Digital map and dynamic content creator Tele Atlas on Wednesday announced it will soon offer 3D, photorealistic images of major European city centers called Advanced City Models. Meant for in-car and portable navigation systems, the highly detailed images match the actual surroundings and help users find locations and services. The images were developed in conjunction with Norway-based BLOM, which provided Tele Atlas with aerial imagery of the city centers.
Apple has managed to more than double its smartphone market share from year to year in the first quarter of 2009, according to Gartner data. iPhones jumped from 5.3 percent of the industry in early 2008 to 10.8 percent a year later. The jump has made Apple the third-largest smartphone maker in the world and gives it twice as much share as HTC, which had just 5.4 percent of the market and grew slowly even with the launch of Android phones.
Pentax has formally introduced the new K-7 DSLR featuring a 14.6-megapixel sensor and HD video capture capabilities, confirming several details leaked earlier this week. The redesigned CMOS sensor is claimed to offer reduced noise, while four-channel output enables fast captures. Users can select various video resolutions, including 1280x720 and 1536x1024 at 30 frames per second, including with controls for aperture. An external microphone terminal supports stereo recording.
Dell has quietly drawn attention to its netbook plans by demonstrating Google's Android 1.5 running on an Inspiron Mini 10v (video below). Company technology strategist Doug Anson describes the mobile OS as "small and snappy" on the Intel Atom-based portable but doesn't do more than show the operating system running on the 10v alongside another system using Ubuntu Netbook Remix. It continues to show the stock home screen and doesn't show signs of customization by Dell.
Epson has added a new entry-level model to its Artisan line of inkjet and all-in-one printers. The Artisan 50 is equipped with six separate ink cartridges, and is designed for everyday use, including photos, documents and printing on CDs and DVDs. Epson says the printer is capable of 37ppm with black ink, and 28ppm when operating in color. So-called "laser-quality" print speeds are much slower, measured at 5ppm in black, and 4.8ppm in color. Manual two-sided printing is also supported.
Panasonic today unveiled a pair of camcorders in Japan that each claim their own world's firsts. The TM350 is the first HD camcorder to hold 64GB of flash memory and can use the storage to record about 16 hours of 1080p, AVCHD (H.264) video at a film-level 24 frames per second, with an SDHC card slot holding more. It can also add 5.1-channel surround audio to the mix and uses a 3MOS (3 CMOS) sensor that better handles lower light compared to CCD.
OCZ late yesterday added to its solid-state drive line with the Summit series. The new 2.5-inch SATA II design is considered a balance between speed and durability. Better-than-usual flash memory chips contribute to a mean time between failures of 1.5 million hours; a fast controller and 128MB of cache bring peak read speeds up to 220MB per second and sustained write speeds up to 200MB per second depending on the capacity.
Microsoft today quietly added Netflix support to Windows Media Center. The extension gives it features above and beyond athe Xbox 360 and lets users both add to as well as play their Watch Instantly movie queues. It can also auto-suggest new movies based on existing viewing habits. The addition gives home theater PCs access to a 10-foot media interface instead of having to use the Netflix website itself to stream shows.
WaterField Designs has launched the Muzetto bag for men, a light-weight vertical bag complete with distressed, dark brown leather and a choice of six color accents. The bag is available in both a Personal Size for carrying daily essentials or small digital items like cellphones as well as a Laptop Size that fits up-to a 13-inch MacBook, similar notebooks and their accessories. Muzetto offers one main compartment, a back pocket, an under-flap pocket, a zippered interior pocket, and an adjustable strap.
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