Month: September 2009
KEF's flying saucer style sub – the wireless HTB2SE-W
It has two key features; its design, it looks like a mini flying saucer, and the fact that it is wireless so you really can site it anywhere in a room.
Twitter about to secure another $100 million of funding
According to WSJ that makes Twitter worth a nice round $1 billion. Not bad for a company that hasn't yet made any money or indeed said how it intends to make money. For reference sake Facebook, which has around 300 million users, is apparently worth around $15 billion
Motorola reveals app line up for DEXT Android smartphone – looks impressive, but not as good as the CLIQ
Bizarrely though unlike the US CLIQ there's no Twitter client – I guess you choose your own from the Android Market – and also Mint and the highly useful TeleNav Navigator both of which feature on the CLIQ.
Another inbound ereader – the IREX DR800SG 3G
The specs look pretty good with the IREX DR800SG sporting an 8.1inch screen, two Gigabytes of storage, memory card expansion and a stylus input. It is black and white at the moment thought the company says it will launch a colour version next year.
Michael Jackson iPhone case
On the positive side the picture is very detailed and looks like Jacko in his late 80s prime. It is made of hard shell plastic and the maker reckons it could withstand a knock or two.
Microsoft's secret 'pink phone' unveiled by Gizmodo
Over at Gizmodo there are pictures of what it claims are two of Microsoft’s ‘Pink’ phones. No that’s not the colour of the phone, it’s the secret code name. Well, not so secret anymore – but we wonder how long the pictures will remain there before someone at Microsoft asks them, and now us, to remove them.
The fact that Microsoft has been working on a phone to rival the iPhone has been widely reported for the last few months. The idea is that the handset would be based on the Zune and would have its own app store. How very original.
Pictured are two of Microsoft’s ‘pink’ phones, codenamed “Turtle” and “Pure”.
One of the pictured devices (The Turtle) resembles the chubby, ovoid, Palm Pre while the Pure – which looks more like an HTC device – comes with a keyboard and a decent-looking screen.
Vodafone 360 adds Facebook/Windows Live Messenger connectivity
From Vodafone comes a new suite of internet services for mobile phone and PC that will enable users to access communities, entertainment and personal favourites (music, games, photos and videos etc.) all in one place.
Similar to services already offered by other mobile phone operators, such as Orange’s Social Life package, Vodafone 360 works across a range of mobile phones, including the new, exclusive Vodafone 360 phones and syncs automatically with your PC.
At its heart, Vodafone 360 offers a personal address book – Vodafone People – which brings together all your contacts from the mobile phone, social networks and other internet accounts. At launch Vodafone 360 will work with Facebook, Windows Live Messager and Google Talk. It will also soon be compatible with Twitter, Hyves and studiVZ.
Two tailor-made Vodafone 360 mobile handsets, manufactured by Samsung, have been designed to give the best customer experience of the services including the unique 3D contacts display, driven by Vodafone’s ‘proximity algorithm’ which brings the most frequently contacted people closer to the front.
The Vodafone 360 H1 by Samsung boasts a 3.5inch multi-touch, high definition OLED screen, 16GB memory, WiFi, a maximum talk time of over 400 minutes (3G) and a 5 megapixel camera. It will be followed shortly by a second Samsung handset, offering customers a range of colours and price points.
At launch four Nokia Symbian smartphones will also come pre-loaded with Vodafone 360 and part or all of the service will be available to over one hundred popular phones via download.
At its heart Vodafone 360 has the most personal address book available, bringing together all of the contacts from the mobile phone, social networks and other internet accounts. It works across a range of mobile phones, including the new, exclusive Vodafone 360 phones, and synchs automatically with the PC
The 2009 launch in Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain and the UK will be followed by launches in a number of other countries in 2010, including India, Turkey, South Africa, New Zealand and Romania and in France through SFR. through MTS in Russia, and through Vodafone Hutchison Australia.
Palm Pre for the UK finally confirmed. On sale via O2 from October 16th
The device is free to O2 customers taking out a 24-month contract and to customers taking an 18-month contract at £44.05 or £73.41 per month.
Britain gets a new mobile phone network – giffgaff
Web only, SIM cards but not handsets and driven by an online community – sounds intriguing
The Next Big Sound – the website that might just be the future of music charts
It does this by collating plays, views, fans, comments, and other data for almost half a million artists across major online properties, including iTunes, Last.fm, MySpace, Facebook, and Twitter.
