29
Sep
2007
Slashgear: Nokia announces its plan to introduce a WiMAX capable N800 Internet tablet by early next year. Intel has a hand in this plan by contributing its “Baxter Peak” WiMAX chip that will be implemented into the device.
Nokia will also add an integrated GPS chip to its next generation N series. There is small possibility for a non-WiMAX version of the N800 that is equipped with only GPS chip.
29
Sep
2007
ITPro: O2 is trying to satisfy users’ hunger for data by launching three new ‘unlimited’ packages that will be available from Monday.
While the new packages may seem appealing to both business and consumer users, those keen to get a slice of the action must pay heed to the fair usage policies in operation, which – if initial requests aren’t complied with – enable O2 to potentially remove the service or impose standard charges.
The mobile giant’s new internet service bolt-ons – O2 Web Bolt On, O2 Web Max and Unlimited BlackBerry – are aimed at both pay monthly and pay-as-you-go customers, with the former, which is aimed at web and email fans who are happy to stick to a fair usage policy cap of 200MB, available for just €10 (or £7.50) a month including VAT.
29
Sep
2007
eeTimes: Japan’s Sony Corp. and Toyota Industries Corp. have consolidated their two LCD joint ventures in an effort to cut costs.The firms announced an agreement to integrate management of their ST Liquid Crystal Display Corp. (STLCD) and ST Mobile Display Corp. (STMD) joint ventures.
Sony and Toyota will establish a new LCD company effective Dec. 1. When the new company is established, Sony’s share will be 86 percent and Toyota Industries 14 percent.
STLCD and STMD currently manufacture low-temperature polysilicon thin film transistor liquid crystal displays for mobile products. Sony and Toyota Industries established STLCD in October 1997, combining each company’s respective strengths in the production of LTPS-TFT-LCD panels. Responding to additional increases in demand, Sony and Toyota Industries established STMD in March 2005.
”With this management integration, the companies will unify manufacturing functions, and facilitate more efficient and responsive management operations with the aim of reinforcing business competitiveness,” according to the companies.
29
Sep
2007
Camera Core: Italian company KDev has developed a Linux 2.6 device which allows camera-phone photos to be easily and instantly uploaded to the web.
With its GSM/GPRS cellular modem card, KDev’s FoxBox MMS accepts photos sent via multimedia messaging service (MMS).
As MMS messages are usually free to receive, KDev suggests that it would be inexpensive for web sites to use FoxBox MMS as the basis for games or photo contests.
No phone configuration is required; photos can simply be sent via MMS to the FoxBox’s cellular phone number.
FoxBox then converts them to a JPEG, GIF or other format suitable for the web. The photos can then be accessed remotely and managed as normal files using the FoxBox’s FTP and HTTP (WebDAV) interfaces.
29
Sep
2007
MacNN: Nova Media today released a maintenance update to its mobile phone suite of applications for Mac OS X with support for the Nokia 8600 Luna as well as the Sony Ericsson S700i and W830i mobile phones. Nova’s FoneLink 1.1.4 is designed as mobile phone companion software for Mac OS X that provides a Finder-like view of all files stored on mobile phones.
The software allows users to transfer data back and fourth from the Mac to the portable device, and can sync with iTunes playlists. FoneLink includes a ringtone creator, an organizer to manage contacts as well as dates and notes. The software supports more than 90 mobile phones from Nokia, Sony Ericsson, and Motorola, according to Nova Media.
28
Sep
2007
Electronista: Sony yesterday introduced a third model in its video-capable Walkman line. The A910 series is one of the few media players anywhere that can not only receive TV but play it as well: courtesy of a built-in 1Seg tuner and an electronic programming guide, the A910 can play digital over-the-air broadcasts on its 2.4-inch LCD and encode the shows on the fly as permanent copies. Up to 100 hours of footage can be saved on a 16GB player, Sony says. Direct line-in automatically creates individual audio tracks from a CD player or a similar device. Playback is also special in the A910, Sony adds. For the first time, noise canceling is built into the player itself and will eliminate most background sounds whether watching TV or listening to music.
The new premium Walkman is capable of playing all the pre-recorded formats of Sony’s latest players, including H.264 and MPEG-4 video as well as AAC, MP3, and WMA music. The device also handles the outgoing ATRAC music format and even plays ATRAC Lossless files, according to the company. Battery life is said to be the strongest of any video Walkman with up to 10 hours of offline video, 8.5 hours of video recording with the display turned off, and 6 hours of active TV viewing. Music lasts for a continuous 36 hours and is supported by an FM radio when the user’s own collection is not enough.
28
Sep
2007
Camera Core: Toshiba is building on its strength in the laptop market with an expansion into the smartphone arena.
The company is developing a sub-brand called Portege and releasing two slider phones for business users – the G500 and G900.
The phones are rich in features suggested by respondents to a survey of business smartphone users, and will compete with brands such as Palm, HP and HTC.
Both phones have HSDPA and Wi-Fi connectivity, plus a two-megapixel camera, Windows-interface and microSD cards. Security features include fingerprint recognition.
28
Sep
2007
NaviGadget: GPS integrated Samsung i550 is just officially announced.As expected i550 will run S60 3rd Edition Feature Pack 1 and have Flash Lite 2.0 support, and an integrated GPS receiver even though what kind of applications will be available is still unknown.
Other features include 3.2MP digital camera, USB 2.0, bluetooth, and microSD card support as well as SDHC support.
Samsung i550 measures 115 ×53 x 13.8 mm making slightly taller but slimmer than N95. i550 will come with a 1200mAh which should last about 24 hours if you don’t play with it too much.
Rumors suggest it will be available in November and cost about 400€.
28
Sep
2007
Tech On: Hitachi Ltd. has developed a 1.9-mm ultra slim 32-inch LCD TV. The company aims to start volume production of this LCD TV within fiscal 2009. The prototype will be displayed at “CEATEC Japan 2007,” which opens Oct. 2, 2007.
Sharp Corp. also revealed its slim LCD TV in August 2007. This prototype was a 52-inch model, and its thinnest part was 2 cm. If compared only in terms of thickness, Hitachi’s prototype is 1 mm slimmer than Sharp’s.
At CEATEC Japan 2007, Sony Corp. is also expected to show an OLED TV, which boasts slimness as one of its key features. Sony announced it will release the OLED TV product within 2007. Ultra slim TV manufacturers are likely to exhibit part of their battle over market leadership at the upcoming CEATEC.
28
Sep
2007
The Daily Yomiuri: New versions of familiar video game products were a major if unofficial theme of the Tokyo Game Show 2007, which boasted a total attendance of 193,000 over four days (Sept. 20-23) at Makuhari Messe in Chiba.
The most prominent example of this theme was Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. President Kazuo Hirai’s unveiling of the Dualshock 3 game controller during his keynote speech at the opening of the annual trade show.
Set to go on sale in Japan in November and designed for use with Sony’s Playstation 3 (PS3) game platform, the new controller combines two previously separate functions. One is motion-sensing six-axis control, which allows players to tilt or turn the controller in real space to direct the onscreen action. The other is the motion-creating Dualshock feature, which causes the controller to vibrate in the player’s hands in sync with onscreen events such as crashes and explosions.
“At the beginning we thought it would be very difficult technologically (to combine the two functions),” Hirai said, but a large number of customer requests made the effort necessary.
Hirai also announced that the Playstation Portable (PSP) handheld game device, which can be used as a mobile extension of the PS3, is now capable of receiving “one-seg” TV broadcasts using a small tuner attachment that went on sale the same day. One-seg programs can already be viewed on some mobile phones, but the PSP has the advantage of a larger screen.
27
Sep
2007
The Inquirer: A survey of games console users shows that more women fess up to owning a games console than blokes. Advertising agency JWT said in its Denizens of Digitivity survey that 44 per cent of women confessed to owning a gaming console compared to 39 per cent of men.
This means that the stereotype of a gamer being 18-34, male, single and white, living with his mother, is not necessarily true.
Apparently the reason for the statistics is the growth of the Nintendo Wii which apparently opened the games console to all generations and both genders.
Women are not really playing first person shoot-em-ups but games like Dance Dance Revolution’ and ‘Guitar Hero’.
However marketing dollars are still being pitched to the stereotype. This is because blokes are still the hard core gamers and take their gaming far too seriously and a prepared to queue for days to get something daft like Halo 3.
27
Sep
2007
CNet: Sharp plans to launch a Blu-ray recorder with a 1-terabyte hard drive, as it competes with the HD DVD camp.
The model will have the largest storage capacity of any Blu-ray player thus far.
The 1-terabyte model, capable of recording 127 hours of high-definition digital programming, will go on sale December 1 in Japan for about 300.000 yen (1.835 euro).
Sharp also plans to offer eight more new Blu-ray recorder models by year’s end in Japan in a bid to replace VCRs and conventional DVD machines.
The Osaka-based company said Wednesday it has no specific plans at the moment for overseas launch of these products.
Toshiba already offers an HD DVD recorder with 1 terabyte of storage.