News Archive for 09/12/02
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Nokia has begun shipping its N97 Mini smartphone in the US market. The device, which first launched in Europe for the equivalent of approximately $664 USD, is now available through Amazon for $480. The handset integrates a 3.2-inch touchscreen, slightly smaller than the 3.5-inch LCD of the standard N97. The slide-out QWERTY keyboard has also been reduced in size, although the Mini retains all of the basic functionality of its larger counterpart.
Samson on Wednesday introduced the Q2U Recording Pack which includes a microphone, HP20 headphones, and other accessories. The Q2U dynamic mic features both XLR and USB outputs, allowing users to simultaneously connect with a computer and other gear for live performances and recording. The mic offers a cardioid pickup pattern and an integrated A/D converter for 16-bit, 48kHz sampling.
Optoma has introduced two new 3D-ready projectors, the HD66 and PRO350W. The HD66 features the ability to display 3D content such as movies or games in 720p resolution, while 2D content can be displayed in 1080p. The projector integrates a TI chipset with BrilliantColor technology, bringing a brightness rating of 2500 ANSI lumens with a 4,000:1 contrast ratio. Both projectors support a variety of connection options including HDMI, VGA, S-Video, Composite, stereo audio, and RS-232.
As promised, Time Warner has launched a new WiMAX service, named Roadrunner Mobile, in several markets located in Texas and North Carolina. The service has been made possible through a joint venture established last year with Clearwire. Users are said to expect data speeds of up to 6Mbps, although typical real-world performance will likely fall somewhere closer to 3Mbps.
Media publisher Time Inc. has previewed specialized version of Sports Illustrated magazine reformatted for tablet devices. A demo of the tablet variant shows a variety of additional features such as video clips from game highlights, audio content, extra photos and dynamic advertising. The layout would allow users to quickly focus on particular sections or teams, while switching to a text view fills the screen with the story.
Microsoft today caught up to Google in a significant way by expanding Bing's search features, particularly for maps. A beta of Silverlight version of Bing Maps now includes a more fully developed Streetside view that, like Google's Street View, shows on-the-ground panorama photos of mapped-out locations with road overlays and the ability to navigate through in-world clicks. Bing's approach, however, stitches photos together in perspective-correct 3D and now has an app gallery that can merge geolocated data into the street-level look, such as Twitter feeds or local blogs.
At the Zii Summit in Singapore on Tuesday, Creative showed off a new range of iPod speaker docks branded as ZiiSound. Despite the name, the speakers will not have Creative's Zii stemcell processor integrated into them. The ZiiSound D5 iPod dock sports a wireless iPod connector and sends the audio to the actual speakers using Bluetooth.
A rumor has appeared on Wednesday that has Logitech developing an add-on UMD drive for the PSP Go portable gaming console, which only has the ability to download content or transfer it using memory cards. The add-on would attach to the back of the PSP Go and make it bulky, according to an unnamed source speaking to CVG. Likely, a software update of some sort would also be required in order for the PSP Go to play back UMD movies and games.
A keyboardless version of the Droid smartphone from Motorola has been spotted in photos on Tuesday, revealing some of its specs. It uses the same 550MHz OMAP TI 3430 processor as the Motorola Droid handset. The prototype device shown also has the same 854x480 pixel, 3.7-inch touchscreen display and will get an HDMI output. Otherwise, there is a 3.5mm headset port, and the handset will be able to connect to UMTS/HSPA data networks.
Spring Design's hopes of quickly banning Nook sales in its lawsuit against Barnes & Noble were dashed today after a San Jose US District Court denied a request for a preliminary injunction. The move will let Barnes & Noble keep selling the e-readers until at least the final decision. In its ruling, the court denied that there was any clear indication that Barnes & Noble was damaging sales of Spring Design's Alex to other companies and that there was a "genuine dispute" as to whether the bookseller had stolen any ideas.
Apple's long rumored tablet could have a surprisingly low price, based on an unusual rumor from the latest episode of Revision3 show Diggnation (viewable below). Following prompting from Digg founder Kevin Rose, who insisted his co-host "heard about something" related to the device, fellow presenter Alex Albrecht reluctantly claimed shortly before the halfway point of the show to know that the tablet would be less expensive than he and likely others would expect.
After introducing it in August, Dell is now shipping the 15.6-inch Vostro 1015 notebook PC meant for business users. The range starts at $429 and tops out at $629, though buyers can also specify other standalone options. The entry-level model includes a 2.2GHz Celeron 900 CPU and Windows Vista Home Basic preloaded onto its 160GB hard drive.
Intel today gave a look at its long-term future by showing the Single-chip Cloud Computer (SCC). Actually a 48-core processor, the chip is an offspring of a very early 100-core project and shares its unique "network" approach that keeps each one of the full x86 cores communicating with each other at full speed, earning its cloud computing-inspired name. The new model, however, is extremely efficient: it uses unspecified new energy management to consume no more than 125W at peak load and as little as 25W, even when all 48 cores are active.
Emblaze has warned Apple that a new app for the iPhone and iPod touch infringes on Emblaze's US patent related to media streaming technology. Although the company did not provide the name of the app in question, Apple on Tuesday approved an app, Knocking, that is the first to allow live video streaming, on the 3G network, directly from one device to another.
After a brief tease earlier this fall, Harman's JBL label today released its Creature III speakers. The successors to JBL's 2.1-channel computer speaker line keep a similar alien-like shape but have a more compact subwoofer that more readily fits on a desktop. It also glows from beneath and now remembers volume set by the touch-sensitive controls on one of the satellites.
Samsung on Wednesday introduced a Gold Edition of its Omnia HD handset, also known as the i8910 HD. As the name suggests, this special edition smartphone has a 24K gold inlay around its perimeter and is available in gold and brown. Otherwise, the touchscreen phone gets a leather case and a mini-cradle that includes a TV output cable, letting users show the phone's video content on larger displays.
The first ASUS Eee PC to get Intel's Pine Trail platform is this special edition Eee PC Seashell 1008P-KR, with the suffix standing for designer Karim Rashid. Apart from the platform, which allows for the new Pine Trail-based 1.8GHz Atom N450 processor, the netbook also features a removable battery that simply slides out of the side of the 10.1-inch netbook. Otherwise, specs are nearly identical to the Eee PC 1008HA, including its 1024x600 resolution, 1GB of RAM and a 160GB hard drive.
Best known in recent years for its budget displays, ViewSonic on Wednesday took a turn to the high-end with two displays using much more color rich IPS (in-plane switching) panels. The 23-inch VP2365wb and the 26-inch VP2655wb both have much wider color palettes that culminate in the larger display showing 118 percent of the NTSC color range, making it particularly ideal for video editing. Both get a wider 178-degree viewing angle from any orientation and are more more likely to show an accurate picture when seen off-center as a result.
Traffic at Apple's online store rose 71 percent on Cyber Monday 2009 versus the same day in 2008, according to data collected by Experian Hitwise. Although Apple remains outside of the top 20 websites, the growth is nevertheless thought to be significant, as traffic amongst the top 500 sites declined 9 percent overall. The biggest gain within the top 20 was Staples, which jumped 61 percent.
AT&T and Verizon today agreed to mutually end lawsuits attacking each other's networking claims. US District Courts in Atlanta and the Southern District of New York have dismissed both AT&T's suit hoping to block Verizon's "there's a map for that" ads as well as an earlier Verizon complaint that would have shut down AT&T's criticisms of its "most reliable" claims. Both cases end without prejudice and allow either company to sue again.
A series of LinkedIn resumes have spoiled some of Microsoft's plans for Windows Mobile 7. In addition to reinforcing CEO Steve Ballmer's admission that the phone OS will have Zune features, the profiles show that the phone will have an optimized game experience. It's also teased that a mobile Internet Explorer 7 will make its appearance, that elements of Portable Media Center should make an appearance, and that it will support Microsoft online technologies like the Silverlight plug-in and SharePoint collaboration servers.
ThinkFlood today formally unveiled RedEye, a unique adapter that turns an iPhone or iPod touch into a remote for a home theater. It bridges Wi-Fi to infrared and uses a custom iPhone app (free, App Store) to steer the device using premade infrared codes. Much like a Logitech Harmony remote, the app not only has an onscreen remote interface but can be programmed to automatically perform multiple tasks for a particular activity, such as turning on the TV, switching inputs and ejecting the tray on a Blu-ray player to load a new movie.
Maker of text and e-mail only handsets Peek is offering a one-day sale that will see buyers paying just $10 per month for the life of their device. This is half of what the usual monthly subscription fee costs for either the Pronto or Classic hardware devices. The deal is only valid on Wednesday, December 2nd.
Intel has again released a new firmware and firmware update tool that is said to address an earlier issue that could have users' data corrupted. The original firmware update contained a flaw for the TRIM functionality that tells the SSD's controller when data blocks are no longer usable, which could result in corrupting data on the SSD. This error was triggered simply by setting a password for the drive in its BIOS.
Palm surprised Pixi owners this morning by pushing webOS 1.3.2 to their phones. The fix doesn't currently have any release notes but appears to boost performance for the phone, which uses a slower processor than the Pre and has been more likely to bog down with multiple apps open. The slightly older phone as such may not need the upgrade.
Nokia at its Capital Markets Day gathering provided a pessimistic outlook for its own fortunes next year in spite of new developments. Company chief Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo says he expects Nokia to take the Symbian interface "to a new level" and improve the user experience. However, the cellphone maker also expects its market share to stay flat in 2010 even though the overall cellphone market is predicted to grow 10 percent next year.
Industry tips on Wednesday suggested Acer will be one of the earliest companies to produce a finished computer based on Chrome OS. The company has reportedly been working on a netbook design since mid-2009, or when the Google platform was first announced, and expects to ship it in the second half of 2010. The DigiTimes source isn't confirmed but corroborates Acer chief JT Wang's own belief that his company will be the first to ship a Chrome OS computer.
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