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Mobile Magazine: Everyone wants a piece of the iPhone pie. Rumors of a Microsoft cell phone — affectionately referred to as the ZunePhone — have been floating around for some time, but now we’ve found patent drawings depicting Microsoft’s future cell phone. Based on these sketches, the user interface appears nearly identical to that of the iPhone.

The patent calls for “extensible filtered lists for mobile device user interface”. The voicemail interface mirrors Visual Voicemail, as does the album and picture flipping. They’re almost exactly the same.

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Akihabaranews: Made by Hyundai, the W-100 is, as you can see, a phone that you can “wear” and which does not only feature a 1.3M pix camera, but also a touch screen, and Bluetooth!

The other great news is that this phone (GSM) is available in English and can be used as an Mp3 player (Mp3 files on MicroSD) as well as a video player!

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NaviGadget: Mio now features their latest GPS navigation system C728 on their website. C728 has a big 7″ screen and various multimedia capabilities making it suitable for those who don’t want to spend extra for a separate display for those on the back seat.Mio C728 also has an embedded real time traffic and weather information receiver and it uses a SiRF Star III GPS receiver. It has a 1200mAh battery that lasts for 2.5 hours – enough for most movies. AV/GPS button at the top of device will let you switch between two modes instantly and you can always use the SD/MMC slot for music and photos.

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The Register: A Sony executive has left PS3 fans all a-quiver after promising to release a firmware update “soon” that will improve the console’s support for Blu-ray Disc interactivity features.

Don Eklund, VP of advanced technologies at Sony, reportedly made the promise at the recent HDTV DisplaySearch conference in California. Unfortunately, he didn’t say anything more specific about the release, leaving PS3 buffs to speculate about what new interactive features Sony might introduce to the console.

The Blu-ray Disc Association has already mandated that all Blu-ray players launched after 31 October must feature picture-in-picture video playback, so Sony could be prepping things to make sure any PS3s sold after that date are compliant.

Any Sony update will follow hot on the heels of an interactivity features update for HD DVDs, announced recently by Universal. Its release consisted mainly of online shopping features, such as merchandise or trailer downloads, and a function allowing users to share their favourite movie clips with friends directly from their player.

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TVPredictions.com: The 1080p High-Definition TV will outsell older models over the next year and could help boost related sales of 1080p products. That’s according to a new report from DisplaySearch, as reported by TWICE Magazine.

The 1080p HDTV, which purports to offer a better resolution than 720p and 1080i sets, was introduced more than a year ago. But sales of the new model have jumped despite the fact that no cable or broadcast programming is now in 1080p; the only commercially available 1080p video are the high-def discs from Blu-ray and HD DVD.

But Ross Young, president of DisplaySearch, yesterday said at his group’s annual HDTV conference that 1080p sets will lead in sales next year. He said retailers will be encouraged to stock more 1080p sets because they carry higher price tags.

“Prices are reaching increasingly attractive levels,” Young said, according to TWICE. “The retailers are focusing on 1080p where they can make more money.” He added: “And 1080p resolution offers the best picture — you can see more content with better detail. Additionally, even though most programming is offered in the 1080i format by broadcasters, it scales better to 1080p than 720p.”

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HDTV News: Sharp and Yahoo demonstrated a new service called Yahoo! HD for AQUOS’, at CEATEC 2007.

The service displays content from Yahoo’s Japanese portal, including maps and photos, and displays them on a 1920 x 1080 resolution LCD TV.

The service acquires data written in SVG, an XML-based language, to express 2D vector images.

Software is integrated into the TV to render the images using the whole TV screen, allowing the viewer to benefit from high-quality HD images.

The service also requires an Internet browser for acTVila and a BML browser for data broadcasts. This obtains new SVG data from the server following the user’s remote controller operations.

The service would rely on content providers, such as Yahoo, preparing the server, which returns SVG data in accordance with requirements from TVs. This server will convert Internet contents for standard PCs into SVG data for TVs and transmit it to TVs in response to their requests.

The companies are focusing on content that could stimulate conversations between people sitting around and watching the TV.

The service has the potential to bring popular applications such as Joost or Facebook to large screen HDTV.

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TWICE: Samsung Electronics reported record revenue of $18.2 billion for the third quarter of 2007, ended Sept. 30. Operating profit on a consolidated basis reached $2.98 billion, a 93 percent increase over the last quarter.

Record quarterly sales in the telecommunication handset business, coupled with a strong performance by the semiconductor business, despite challenging market conditions, fueled the company’s overall performance.

The LCD and digital media businesses also maintained leadership positions in advance of significant growth expected in the traditionally strong holiday season, according to the company.

“During the third quarter, all businesses of the company, including semiconductors, demonstrated solid performances on the foundations of their product and cost competitiveness,” said Dr. Woosik Chu, executive VP and head of Samsung Electronics’ investor relations team.

“Our results demonstrate strong fundamentals throughout the company, with earnings expected to continue trending upward as the fourth quarter brings greater demand for mobile phones and LCD TVs.”

The telecommunication network business posted an operating profit of $642.5 million on the quarterly revenue of record-high $5.53 billion.

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Cellular-News: Motorola has announced the launch of nine new handsets, including seven new “everyday phones” as well as a new version of its RAZR handset and a new music phone. All the new phones will be available during fourth quarter of 2007.

The W377 delivers excellent sound with an integrated FM radio and MP3 ringtones so users can personalize their mobile music experience. This handset also features an integrated VGA camera, Bluetooth wireless technology and preloaded games.

The W377 packs organization tools, such as one-touch SMS, speakerphone, mobile calendar and an alarm clock. Packed with 10MB of user memory, the W377 ensures users can always save what is most important to them.

The Motorola W206 and W213 offers a large phonebook for up to 500 entries, and SMS storage for up to 500 messages. A large color display, MP3 ringtones, pre-loaded games and WAP/GPRS keep consumers entertained on the go. Consumers can customize the W206 and W213 by downloading up to 1MB of wallpaper, screensavers and ringtones, with GPRS connectivity.

The W213′s FM radio rounds out the entertainment experience…

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Slashdot: Macworld reports that Universal Music Group has enlisted the help of Sony to join forces in a new music service.

The price of the subscription is expected to be built-in to the cost of digital music players, leaving the music ‘free’ to the consumer. ‘The plan is still in flux and faces several hurdles, BusinessWeek notes. Among them is finding a business model that allows the hardware makers to subsidize the cost of the music.

In addition, the labels have tried to develop their own online music services before without success.’

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Absolute Gadget: Nottingham. It’s more famous for Robin Hood, bows and arrows. But on 26 October it will play host to a weapon Star Wars fans have been itching to get their hands on for 30 years – the lightsaber.Yes, gamers attending the Star Wars day at the GameCity festival in Nottingham will be the first in the world to feel like a true Jedi.

LucasArts’ Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga, which launches on the Wii on 9 November, will let players swing the energy blade.

“Since the first film’s debut 30 years ago, fans have longed for the day when they could fight their own lightsaber duels,” a GameCity press statement said, as X-Wings and Tie Fighters buzzed overhead.

“Now, thanks to the Wii’s motion-sensitive controller, The Complete Saga will finally make that fantasy a reality, allowing players to battle with thrusts and slices of the Remote.”

The GameCity festival runs from the 24-28 October, running across 25 venues and playing host to 3,000 attendees.

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Just Another Mobile Phone Blog: Korea has developed the world’s fastest wireless networking technology — one which enables users to download a song file in less than a brink of an eye, while a person is moving.

Named “NoLA,” the New Nomadic Local Area Wireless Access enables users to download data at 3.6 gigabits per second while they are moving at 3 kilometers per hour or slower, the state-run Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute said yesterday.

That is fast enough to download a disc full of data in under two seconds. For subscribers of fixed-line broadband services using the optic LAN, it normally takes take about 52 seconds, if they get the maximum speed of 100 megabits per second.

The government hopes that the new technology will create a billion-dollar market, allowing ubiquitous computing at homes, offices and schools.

“With NoLA, data transmission is more than three times faster than the international 4G benchmark for slow-moving users,” Choi Mun-kee, head of the Daejeon-based institute, said after researchers successfully demonstrated the 3.6 gigabit data transmission.

Short for the fourth-generation wireless communications, a 4G network must support data transmission rates of up to 100 megabits per second for highly mobile users, and up to 1 gigabit for slow-moving users.

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NaviGadget: JVC who initially made us think they were out of the GPS navigation market must’ve regretted their decision since they just unveiled two new devices called KV-PX701 and KV-PX501.KV-PX701 have the wide 4.3″ touch screen and run on a 400Mhz processor. Maps are supplied by Navteq and they cover the whole continental Europe. RDS-TMC is standard on the KV-PX701 and it uses a GPS SiRF Star III GPS receiver.

KV-PX501 on the other hand has a 3.5″ screen and uses Media Tec’s GPS receiver. This model also features RDS/TMC receiver but JVC decided put it into the car mount rather than integrating it into the body.

KV-PX701 will cost you 400 € and KV-PX501 will be 50 € cheaper. Expect to see them in stores later this month in Europe.

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