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HDTV.org: Recognized by many as the most prestigious audio visual awards in Europe, Pioneer has scooped best ‘European Plasma-TV’ from the European Imaging and Sound Association.

With a judging panel composed of around 50 editors of the leading European audio, mobile electronics, video and photo magazines, EISA is recognized by many as the best judge of audio visual excellence.

EISA commented: “The Pioneer PDP-LX6090 is a superb plasma TV whose advanced functions bring out the very best results from Blu-ray, DVD and standard TV signals. Thanks to an amazingly low black level – KURO – this set’s contrast ratio is sky-high. The result is an impression of immense depth and crisp detailing.”

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Phones review: Nokia introduce the Nokia 8800 Carbon Arte, their new premium mobile handset which combines the design of the Nokia 8800 Arte range with materials engineered from carbon fibre, stainless steel, polished glass and titanium.

Carbon fibre is a strong but ultra light material that gives a high-tech woven pattern. The Nokia 8800 Carbon Arte features 3D patterns that express the lustre of the carbon fibre.

Each detail of the Nokia 8800 Carbon Arte has been considered to enhance the premium value and quality of the mobile phone with minimalist seamless surfaces, impressive weight and slide mechanism.

The devices background images organically change during the day bring a unique appearance to its display.

With 3G capability, OLED display, 3.2 megapixel camera with auto-focus, all-in-one microUSB, 4GB built-in memory, high quality audio, and anti-fingerprint coating to reduce smudges on glass and metal.

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OhGizmo: JBL refers to this speaker design as “90 degrees of pure ingenuity” and while I’ve personally never been stymied by a corner or a 90 degree angle when trying to install speakers, they do appear to make the task somewhat easier.

I think the real innovation with these speakers (if you can call it that) is the modular design which allows you to easily connect up to 4 of them together.

This makes it possible to reduce the number of mounting brackets you need to attach them to a wall or other structure.

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Electronista: French consumer electronics maker Archos is getting set to unveil its sixth-generation portable media players (PMP), including the 606.

The company has been developing the 3G data network capable PMP as part of the range for about six months now, and has reportedly hosted a press event in July that was believed to feature the new device.

The devices should launch in the company’s home market of France first, as a deal with French data network carrier SFR has been made to put modems into some of the devices.

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HEXUS.lifestyle: Sony’s highly-anticipated XPERIA X1 is yet to make it to retail, but images of what appears to be its successor have leaked onto the web.

The poor-quality shots are said to be of a forthcoming Sony Ericsson handset, the XPERIA X5.

The images could, of course, be an elaborate Photoshop, but the leak has been accompanied with an early set of specifications.

The iPhone-like device is said to feature a 3.2in touchscreen display, slightly bigger than the XPERIA X1′s 3in offering. The touchscreen takes up nearly the entire front face, with what appears to be just two front-facing buttons.

It’s rumoured to feature 8GB of internal memory and will offer Wi-Fi and GPS.

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Computerworld: Apple updated the iPhone’s software Monday afternoon, but according to first reports posted to the company’s support forum, the new 2.0.2 firmware has not fixed users’ 3G reception problems.

As it did two weeks ago when it released iPhone 2.0.1, Apple gave no details of today’s update contents, stating only that it included “bug fixes.”

Users expecting to see a fix for long-running 3G reception issues, however, were mostly disappointed. The majority who posted messages on the subject to Apple’s support forum after installing iPhone 2.0.2 said that the update had not solved their problems, which included dropped calls, weak signal strength and slow surfing speeds.

Users have been complaining about 3G network problems almost since the July 11 debut of the iPhone 3G.

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Register Hardware: A trio of psychology reports examining the benefits of videogames have unanimously concluded that some titles can have positive effects on their players.

The research, which was released at the Annual Convention of the American Psychological Association in Boston, Massachusetts, found that people of all ages and from all walks can benefit from certain types of videogames, such as brain training and educational games.

For example, one research paper conducted by psychologists Fran Blumberg and Sabrina Ismailer from Fordham University, New York measured the ability of 122 fifth-, sixth- and seventh-grade US school children to problem solve while playing a videogame. The kids had to think aloud for 20 minutes, while playing the title, and researchers assessed their problem-solving ability by examining the types of “cognitive, goal-oriented, game-oriented, emotional and contextual statements” the young gamers made.

“Younger children may show a greater need for focusing on small aspects of a given problem than older children, even in a leisure-based situation such as playing video games,” concluded Blumberg.

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Techradar.com: Anyone foolish enough to attempt to avoid buying no-name Taiwanese electronics in favour of the big brands had better think again after Sony and Toshiba both leaked plans to farm out TV production to factories there.

The two giants will outsource almost 4.5 million LCD TV sets to Taiwanese manufacturers this year.

Three million of those are accounted for by Sony’s choice to work with Hon Hai Precision Industry, which also makes iPods, iPhones and Intel motherboards. The remainder of the massive order is going from Toshiba’s own factories to Compal Electronics, which already makes laptops for Dell, HP and Toshiba itself.

The move comes as the market for flat-panel TVs is becoming increasingly difficult due to price cutting.

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ElectricPig: Palm’s smart phones aren’t generally regarded as the pinnacle of sexy design, but that could all change with the firm’s next device. The Treo Pro (that’s the rumoured name) retains a classic Palm look – but kicks the style up a few notches.

Problem is, we don’t know if this pic represents the real deal or not.

Apparently it was mistakenly posted on the official Palm website for a brief time, before being taken down – so we know nothing about specifications and features, or even if it’s an actual handset or just a concept design.

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PC Advisor: For some time Google has been perceived as the darling of the net, the tech company that can do no wrong. Yet the company’s controversial Android mobile platform venture threatens to seriously dent this notion, at least with some of the people it needs most.

As it readies its long-anticipated open mobile operating system for public release, Google is behaving in a way that threatens to permanently taint its relationship with many Android developers.

The company’s actions, including restricting access to key development tools and allegedly treading on open source principles, have created, if not a full-fledged revolt, at least a sense of disappointment and disillusionment among many in the tightly knit Android development community, which numbers perhaps 2,000, according to an estimate by AndroidGuys, an independent Android blog site. Some developers have threatened to shift their attention to other mobile platforms.

At the heart of the developers’ discontent is the status of the Android Software Developers Kit (SDK).

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Register Hardware: Sony looks set to launch a fresh assault on the iPod, because pictures and specifications of the electronics giant’s latest Walkman MP3 players have appeared on the web.

According to a report by website Sony Insider, Sony’s upcoming NW-E series consists of three players: the 2GB NWZ-E435, the 4GB NWZ-E436 and its flagship 8GB NWZ-E438.

Each model supports a range of audio formats, including MP3, WMA and AAC. The report also claims that transferring music onto and off of the Sony Walkmans is easy, because each player is compatible with both Windows Media Player and iTunes.

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PCRetail: Toshiba is driving demand of the standard DVD with the launch of a new advanced player, after abandoning its efforts to beat Blu-ray with the now defunct HD-DVD format. 

The XD-E500 is an upconverting player which apparently improves the visuals of a standard DVD disk, while costing much less than a Blu-ray system. XDE stands for eXtended Detail Enhancement and promises to make DVD’s look similar to Blu-rays.

At a product demonstration, Toshiba was insistent the device was not a Blu-ray rival. “If you want Blu-ray, go get Blu-ray”.

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