about-electronics.eu

Engadget: It’s still a long way from the more budget-friendly model you may have been hoping for, but Bang & Olufsen has now at least introduced a smaller BeoVision LCD TV. That comes in the form of the company’s new 32-inch BeoVision 10-32, which hangs onto many of the features of the other BeoVision 10 series TVs, including edge LED-backlighting, a DVB-HD module, and a pair of built-in speakers that B&O says offers a sound quality that is “quite superior compared to the market level for TVs of this size” — you can even add your choice of one of two motorized stands. Just how much will it cost you? Try €4,000, or roughly $5,500. Full press release is after the break.

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Newlaunches: 100 years down the line and Denon’s got still got big surprises for the music loving audiophiles that they so love catering to. They’ve just unveiled the first Denon Network Music System called the CEOL RCD-N7. It’s loaded with options from network music streaming, Internet Radio, iPod/iPhone docking, USB connectivity, AirPlay (via a feature upgrade) and the list goes on. The CEOL is a compact device with all kinds of connectivity as I mentioned. It’s actually network CD receiver slash iPod dock. It has an Ethernet port and Wi-Fi (WPS) capabilities so you can hook it up to the net or your computer to stream music from your PC via DLNA or even tune into your favorite internet radio channel. And of course it has the… yawn… more mundane music player functions like reading CDs, USB devices with music file and an FM/AM radio.

The RCD-N7 is also an eco-friendly device as its standby power is below 0.4W which helping eliminate unnecessary power consumption. It’ll be available in a white color finish from this November with a price tag of about $955 (£600) just on time for the holiday rush. Also sold separately is the SC-N7 speaker set that’s designed with Denon’s “simple & straight” circuit design to optimize performance in sound quality.

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Engadget: So, what’s a company to do when turning the big one-oh? The same thing that it always has, of course! Tivoli Audio’s classic styling has somehow found its way back around again on the 10th anniversary Model 10 AM/FM clock radio, a highly compact music maker with a 7.8-inch cabinet, a pair of independent alarms (which can be set to music or a tone), inbuilt LCD and a menu screen with an adjustable backlight. As you’d expect, the pizazz is coming mostly in the form of exterior color options, with “furniture grade wood” being offered in walnut, cherry, blue, black and red. For the true historians, a Celebration Collection is available in light and dark aluminum wood finishes, with the Superior Collection adding a high gloss Frost White and Chesnut Brown (along with the ‘Lines’ pattern shown here). The auxiliary input allows pretty much any source to be connected, with all functions dictated by a single top-mounted rotary control or a bundled remote. As for pricing? They’re going for $199.99 to $379.99, or precisely 19.2 times more than you ever expected.

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Electronista: Concerned amidst reports that one in five children are suffering hearing loss in part due to unsafe earbud use, Future Sonics — a long-time maker of professional earbuds for on-stage, recording and personal use — has developed the Atrio Special Edition (ASE) earbud line, being introduced at Airport Wireless stores. The headphones use proprietary drivers to reproduce low frequencies (

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iPodNN: Yamaha has taken the wraps of its portable PDX-31 speaker dock for Apple’s iPhone and iPod. It also includes an auxiliary in (stereo mini-jack) for use by any media player. The premium sound system is built for durability with a dual-wall “box within a box” construction that houses a high quality amplifier with matched 3 ¼-inch speakers.

It is supplied with a small remote that approximates an iPod interface making for easy navigation of the device’s functions and allowing users to browse menus and select songs. To save power, it also incorporates an auto-off function.

Available in dark red, black and light grey, the Yamaha PDX-31 iPhone/iPod speaker dock will retail for $170.

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TG Daily: Is the venerable Steve Jobs and his trusty band of acolytes plotting a hostile takeover or acquisition of Sony with Club Cupertino’s $51 billion war chest?

Although many analysts doubt that such a deal would ever take place, reports of a potential acquisition sent Sony stocks up nearly three percent at one point.

Unsurprisingly, Sony has declined to comment on the rumors, which were kickstarted by a recent Barron’s report endorsing the plausibility of an acquisition engineered and executed by Apple.

As AppleInsider’s Sam Oliver notes, another possible source for the frenetic rumors may be a recent Bloomberg interview with former Apple CEO John Sculley.

“I remember (Sony co-founder) Akio Morita gave us one of the first Sony Walkmans. None of us had ever seen anything like that before, because there had never been a product like that,” Sculley told Bloomberg.

“This was 25 years ago and Steve was fascinated by it. The first thing he did was take it apart, and he looked at every single part. How the fit and finish was done, how it was built.”

However, despite Steve’s obvious admiration for Sony, Ashok Kumar, an analyst with Rodman & Renshaw, remains convinced that Apple has absolutely no intention of buying the Japanese-based company.

“We [really] don’t see any acquisitions of any size,” Kumar told Reuters.

“[Firstly], Apple is happy to keep its cash under the pillow. [And secondly], it would [obviously] be a [clear] cultural miss.”

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GPS Business News: According to a new report by market research firm IMS Research, the role of the vehicle manufacturer in car navigation is forecast to increase.

Jack Bergquist, automotive analyst at IMS, believes that Renault’s success with its TomTom system, offered as standard on some trim levels, has demonstrated there is a large market for low-cost navigation units fitted to B and C category cars.

Consequently, IMS Research has forecast that fixed navigation will win the most revenues in the segment in the coming years, soaring to over $9 billion by 2017. Jack Bergquist further comments “The rise in navigation systems will be driven in two ways: with vehicle manufacturers offering lower cost factory-fitted systems; and with the high end of the market being served by connected systems with advanced functionality, such as live traffic information, live map updates, and online points-of-interest (PoI) databases.”

IMS Research also forecasts that global sales of connected telematics head units will grow by 20% a year for the foreseeable future.
 

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BBC News: Apple is cashing in on the popularity of its iPhone and iPad to boost demand for its oldest product, the Macintosh.

The company announced that its popular app store for the iPhone and the iPad would soon be coming to its laptops.

It also launched a revamped MacBook Air at an event at its headquarters.

The computer is seen as a marriage of what Apple has learned from desktop computing and mobile devices. Like the iPad, the Air will have no hard drive and rely on flash memory.

Apple shares fall despite profits RIM counters Apple tablet jibes “It’s like nothing we’ve ever created before,” said Apple boss Steve Jobs.

“We see these as the next generation of MacBooks. We think all notebooks are going to be like this one day. We’ve been inspired by some of the work we have done on iOS and want to bring them back to the Mac,” said Mr Jobs.

Analysts said the laptop sends out a clear signal to the industry.

“This is a strong reminder to everyone out there that Apple is still in the PC business,” said Michael Gartenberg, research director with Gartner.

“They are still making a lot of money in the PC business and if anyone thinks they are getting out of that business given the money they are making they are very mistaken.”

On sale
 
The new MacBook Air is 0.11 inches thick at its thinnest point. Apple said the computer’s battery life lets users surf the web for seven hours. In standby mode, the battery can last 30 days.

 The first Macintosh made its debut on 24 January 1984 In an overview, Apple said the Macintosh accounted for a third of the company’s revenue or $22bn in the fiscal year that has just ended.

They sold 13.7 million Macs last year, which is three times the sales they had in 2005. The firm also cited research figures that showed Apple now controls 20.7% of the US consumer market and accounts for one in every five computers sold.

“The Mac company, if it were a standalone company, and we have no plans to do that, would be 110 on the Fortune 500 list,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s chief technology officer.

Other features
 
Apple also unveiled a new version of the Macintosh operating system, called Lion, to be released next summer.

The new OS builds on some of the features used in the firm’s iOS, which is currently used to power iPhones and iPads.

“Lion brings many of the best ideas from the iPad back to the Mac, plus some fresh new ones,” said Mr Jobs.

The company revealed that Macs will soon have an application store, mirroring the one that exists for its mobile devices.

A feature called launchpad will make it easy to organise and launch apps in the new version of the operating system. The App Store will be added to Macs, as a download, within 90 days.

FaceTime, which debuted on the iPhone 4 this summer, will also bring video-chatting to Macs.

Apple also updated its flagship software suite iLife. The new edition includes updates to iPhotos, iMovie and GarageBand.

The new iPhoto integrates more deeply with social networks, such as Facebook, allowing people to upload pictures directly from the software, as well as see comments that people have made on their photos.

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Pioneer.eu: At the 13th annual International DJ Award show, at world-famous Pacha (Ibiza) on 28th September, Pioneer were selected by a panel of experts – ranging from DJs and producers to promoters and the media – for its dedication to producing products the electronic music industry love to use.

Pioneer was the only manufacturer to pick up an award, thanks to the industry’s reception of the innovative CDJ-2000/CDJ-900 players and rekordbox software. The new CDJs have started to gain traction during their first Ibiza season – and are expected to become the club industry standard.

DJ Awards co-founder and renowned producer Lenny Ibizarre explains:

“The technology award is dedicated to the company that has provided the state-of-the-art new industry standard throughout the past decade. Pioneer have changed the game by redesigning the DJ Box as we know it and in doing so they have written history.”

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DVICE: The built-in speaker in the iPhone 4 is fine, but it’s not powerful enough to really share music with a group of people. It’ll work in a pinch, but you’re not going to want to use it for any real amount of time.

But the iPhone Horn Stand aims to make the speaker a bit more powerful without adding to the drain on the phone’s battery. It uses its shape to amplify the sound without any power necessary. It can be used to stand the iPhone up either horizontally or vertically, and at $25 it’s cheaper than most docks that promise to do the same thing.

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iPodNN: V-MODA today unveiled its Vibrato in-ear earphones, die-cast using a patented technology in zinc-alloy. The technique helps to give the earphones a unique appearance while also making them more robust. Tuned in conjunction with pro musicians, the earphones incorporate an 8mm dynamic neodymium driver to deliver high-quality sound that minimizes background noise through the application of hybrid silicone to form the ear tips.

The Vibrato also includes an inline 3.5mm microphone and remote control for use with smartphones. The remote can be used to manage music, calls, volume control and voice memo recording. The cord is reinforced with Kevlar for added durability, while the 45-degree angled jack is plated in 24k gold plating. The earphones also ship with four ear tip sizes and with V-MODA’s sport earhooks.

V-MODA also offers users a two-year warranty on the Vibrato and it is eligible for the company’s Replay Replacement Program, which gives users a 50 percent discount to replace any damaged earphones.

The V-MODA Vibrator is available through Apple’s retail stores and Apple.com for $130.

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NaviGadget: People at gpstuner must be really happy because their iPhone app got approved and it is already available on iTunes for $5. If you haven’t heard of them yet, these are the guys that make off-road GPS navigation software; now called smartroute on the iPhone. Unlike most other GPS navigation software smartroute provides users with automatically calculated directions for all off-road travel along with the option to manually calculate their routes. The application integrates the iPhone digital compass functionality for accurate positioning once users are on their way. smartroute also lets you download online maps and lets you use store them on your iPhone for offline use. Some other features of this GPS software include 8 different types of online maps from multiple providers, 4 different types of route planning logics, 40 selectable trip computer tools with multiple layout options, various selectable trip computer charts, and even bubble level functionality to assist in slope measurements.

Smartroute works with iPhone 3GS and iPhone 4.

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