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Engadget: It was close to this time last year when Denon unveiled the DN-HD2500, and now it’s time for DJs the world over to get a glimpse of the DN-HC4500 Media Player and Controller. The unit itself is the firm’s “first USB / MIDI audio interface designed exclusively for computer performance club and mobile DJs,” and it plays nice with both Macs and PCs. Additionally, you’ll find internal 24-bit processing, BU4500 drive support, a touch-sensitive jog disc, integrated displays, and a trial version of Reflex LE software.

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Gizmodo: Michael Leung, some designer, made this USB “Mass Storage Stone,” which holds 4GB of flash memory inside a rock. It started as a prototype in 2005, and it’s “in development” now to become a real product. Whether that will actually happen is anyone’s guess, but who wouldn’t want to carry around storage that you can kill someone with?

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The Register: If you’re thinking of buying a plasma display, or already own one, then it seems you could be in a minority by 2011. Analyst In-Stat has predicted that within four years LCD displays will account for almost 75 per cent of the market, while plasma will only take home around 15 per cent.

The analyst also forecast that worldwide digital TV unit shipments will grow from 68m units in 2006, to over 144m by 2011. In-Stat’s figures are based on research surveys in six countries, including the USA, UK, France and Japan.

The analyst’s research also revealed a mixed pattern of interest in HD TVs internationally. For example, only 13 per cent of US consumers exhibited an interest in HD TVs, while in France and South Korea 44 and 40 per cent of consumers were interested in the technology.

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PMP Today: BMW happened to be the first to have iPod integration and now they’ve jumped on the Apple iPhone bandwagon ensuring iPhone Bluetooth (audio and hands-free calling) integration ahead of all the other luxury-brand cars. The 3 and 5 series models with a production date of March ‘07 or later, X5 models April ‘07 or later and 6 series models September ‘07 or later will have full iPhone integration when they roll out of the manufacturers’.

Following BMW’s tracks is no less than Audi announcing that it will also support iPhone hands-free calling through Bluetooth on the A5, A6, A8 or Q7 and an optional AMI music interface that supports the iPhone’s MP3 player.

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NaviGadget: Helio just introduced a super slim mobile phone from Samsung called Fin that is already available across retailers. In addition to a sexy ultra thin blue-black magnesium body Helio Fin also offers 3G content, including MySpace, GPS-enabled Google Maps, YouTube, and much more. With Fin, Helio also debuts Garmin Mobile for voice-guided navigation.Fin’s capabilities are almost endless including a 3MP camera with 4x zoom, 100MB internal memory, a microSD slot that can support up to 4GB of storage, and a full HTML browser – all of this on a high-speed 3G network. Also you get stereo Bluetooth and support for various audio and video formats including MP3 and AAC audio, and MPEG-4 and H.264 video.

Helio also took advantage of having GPS on board with Fin (unlike other providers who just disable GPS) allowing users to geotag their photos and upload them instantly to sites such as Flickr. What’s new for Helio with Fin is that now they offer Garmin Mobile on this slim phone providing a moving map with turn-by-turn directions in near real time.

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Mobile Magazine: It’s almost scary the kind of technology that people are developing these days. Some Japanese researchers have managed to create a device that can project three-dimensional plasma balls in mid-air, effectively getting us that much closer to creating true holograms.

There’s no need to use dangerous gases or any kind of vapor — that tech has been around for a while, because all they’re doing is projecting an image onto each individual droplet of suspended water — because these plasma balls are created by heating up oxygen and nitrogen molecules in the air. In essence, the lasers light up the molecules by burning them up, producing up to 1,000 brilliant dots per second. This means that smooth motion is possible.

The applications are endless. Like the “walking man” symbol at crosswalks, except now the plasma ball projection can follow you as you cross the street.

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Pioneer’s newest 1080p plasma TV, the PDP-LX508D KURO, has been voted Europe’s best Full-HD plasma screen.

The award was given by the European Image and Sound Association (EISA), a jury of editors from 50 of Europe’s top consumer electronics magazines.

EISA’s citation reads:

“Once again Pioneer has reaffirmed its mastery of plasma picture quality.

The ‘Full-HD’ PDP-LX508D sets a new standard for that key benchmark of home cinema video performance: black level depth. To achieve this exceptional result, Pioneer has simultaneously improved the three fundamental display elements – panel, filter and electronics – while at the same time paying close attention to picture processing, including motion compensation subsystems.

Plus, as befits such a home cinema workhorse, the PDP-LX508D is also capable of reproducing high definition movies in their original format of 24 frames per second, exactly as they would be seen in a movie theatre.”

Source: Pioneer website 

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Camera Core: Sony Ericsson has announced the K770 Cyber-shot, a 3G phone with a 3 megapixel camera and excellent picture quality.

The stylish K770 is just 14.5mm thick and comes in an attractive ‘Truffle Brown’ colour. The phone’s overall measurements are 105 x 47 x 14.5 mm and it weighs in at 95g.

The camera features LED flash and an auto focus lens, which can produce crisp and clear images up to A4 in size. It can also capture video. The 1.9-inch screen also serves as a viewfinder.

The phone has useful keypad shortcuts for camera functions and photo editing. It provides easy upload to an online gallery or blog, a 16MB internal memory, media player, and FM radio with RDS. The memory is expandable with a 256 MB memory card included in the package.

Connectivity is provided with GPRS, HSCSD, 3G, Bluetooth and USB v2.0.

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The Register: Logitech is once again embracing Bluetooth. Launched today, the V470 is a cordless mouse that does away with the USB-connected receiver unit the company usually connects its wireless rodents too.

The V470′s Bluetooth 1.2 connection works with any suitably enabled laptop or desktop PC and has a maximum transmission distance of 9m. It uses laser tracking to provide smooth cursor control across virtually any surface.

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Electronista: DJ specialist Numark is readying the iDJ2, a pro-level mixing board intended for iPods. Unlike many such boards, the iPod is treated as the primary source for all music: two can be connected simultaneously, or a single iPod can feed two different tracks. Generic USB ports allow the use of key drives, other media players, and external hard drives; the iDJ2 also has a host of more conventional line inputs, as well as XLR and RCA connections.In terms of control each deck has its own jog/scratch wheel, and the centerpiece is an interactive LCD display. Sliders and buttons allow DJs to quickly adjust factors such as pitch control or the three-band EQ.

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Anything But iPod: Embarking on a new breed of Samsung flash players is the YP-P2. This sleek device uses a touch screen interface with an LCD measuring 3.1 inches, while the 428 x 240 resolution provides a 16:9 standard for viewing video in MPEG-4 and WMV9 formats.

The P2 contains up to 8GB of storage, and features Bluetooth and FM Radio functions. Presently, details on the P2 are incomplete, but the player will be displayed at IFA in Berlin next month.

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VNUnet: It is no longer enough for a satellite-navigation device to get a person from A to B, it must now also look good and make a statement when placed in the front of a car.

Some sat navs do this by coming in a variety of colours, others offer the ability to display pictures from a memory card, and then there are some, like the Mio Digiwalker C320, which make their mark just by looking slick.

The Mio C320 is a sleek-looking, black unit that houses a clear and bright 4.3in touch-sensitive widescreen. The screen can be split into two, giving users the option to have the route displayed on one side while viewing speed, time, points of interest or route information on the other. It’s something that may come in handy for those who don’t want to have to navigate out of the journey planner to view those details.

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