Author: Duncan Geere
More Zunes on the way in 2009
Despite its poor retail performance over Christmas, Microsoft remains firmly committed to its Zune MP3 player, and a good thing too. It’s one of the few players in the market that has relentlessly innovated, and still packs features that are lacking on others, like wireless syncing and device-to-device song sharing.
Well, the pace continues. Marketing Director for Zune, Adam Sohn, has revealed to Cnet that “there will be new Zunes before the 2009 holiday season” and they’ll be a “surprising step up” from what’s currently available. That almost certainly means a touchscreen, but that isn’t ‘surprising’ so I wonder what he could mean…
Whatever happens, it’s unlikely to displace the iPod, but given Microsoft’s track record of new features, I can’t wait to see what they’ve got to offer.
Zune (via Cnet)
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GDrive gets official description, looking more real by the day
Inspired no doubt by recent mentions of the GDrive in various bits of code, aspiring hackers are now trawling through Google’s entire codebase looking for references to the mythical cloud storage service. As a result, more nuggets of info are surfacing, including this description of the service:
“GDrive provides reliable storage for all of your files, including photos, music and documents. GDrive allows you to access your files from anywhere, anytime, and from any device – be it from your desktop, web browser or cellular phone.”
Interesting bits: “All your files” and “music” are mentioned. Maybe they’re not bothered about intellectual property issues after all. Still no mention of the originally rumoured “unlimited”, though.
(via Google Operating System)
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JVC's 2009 Everio camcorder range
JVC’s just sent us a bunch of details about their 2009 lineup of camcorders, and because we’re nice, I fancied sharing them with you. There’s the HD range, the G-series and the S-series. The HD range, as you might imagine from the name, are high-definition, the S-series model has dual SD card slots, and the G series is a mixed bag.
Let’s start with the S-series, because the word “start” begins with S. There’s only one new model here, the GZ-MS120. As previously mentioned, it’s got dual SD card slots and you can record continuously, so that if you run out of space on one it’ll automatically swap to the other. In highest quality mode, you’ll get 3.7 hours of recording from a pair of 8GB SD cards. In lowest quality, you’ll get about 20 hours.
Soviet K-7 bomber blots out the sun
Second and final in our series of posts today about very big things is this Soviet K-7 bomber, which dates from 1930s, before jet propulsion. As you can see by the tiny little people in the bottom right, this thing is vast – 28 metres long and 53m wing-to-wing. It weighed 38 tonnes when loaded.
It carried 120 passengers within wings which were 2.3m thick. Melded from chrome-molybdenum steel, the design originally called for six engines, but when built, a seventh had to be added. It first flew in August 1933, but crashed that November, killing 15 people. Two more were ordered, but the project was cancelled before they could be delivered.
(via Gizmowatch)
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GIANT GADGETS: Remote Control
If I’m honest there’s very little to say about this. It’s a massive remote control. It looks funny. That’s about it. Oh, how massive? 8.26″ wide x 11.69″ tall x 1.35″ thick. Each button is over an inch wide. For comparison, it’s about the same size as a stack of A4 office paper.
Want it to go with your massive telly, massive sofa and massive can of beer? It’ll cost you $28.90 (£20 or so).
Dealextreme (via Technabob)
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Marantz debuts its first high-end DVD player, the BD8002
Marantz, makers of high-end audiovisual gear, has just brought out a flagship Blu-ray player for people with loads of cash or an obsessive interest in home cinema. The BD8002 has full 1080p and 24fps output, as well as onboard lossless decoding of most standard audio codecs.
On top of that, there’s high-quality upscaling for DVDs, and will play all sorts of stuff: VCDs, SVCDs, MP3s, WMA and DivX video files, as well as displaying JPEG images. There’s an SD Card slot, too. The BD8002 is available now, and costs a lot of money. £1,800 to be precise.
Marantz BD8002
Related posts: Marantz launches Bluetooth wireless iPod dock and hi-fi receiver | Marantz offers the SR6003 – a seven-channel AV reciever
Ireland gets 'three-strikes' policy for music downloads
Meanwhile, over the Irish Sea, the four major music labels have just come to an agreement with Eircom (Ireland’s equivalent of BT) to cut off persistent downloaders after two warnings – the famous “three strikes” approach to music piracy.
Ireland joins France in being the only countries in the world to implement the system, which alienates ISP customers, especially as people get accused of things they’ve not done on a regular basis. The labels say that they’re going to take “all necessary steps” to get other ISPs to follow suit, though I anticipate there’ll be a considerable amount of resistance, especially when they see customers deserting Eircom in their droves.
(via Irish Times)
Related posts: MEPs vote in favour of new telecoms law, could lead to universal “three strikes” | Digital Britain
Digital Britain report: a summary
So, the Government has just released its Digital Britain green paper. It discusses a number of
different things that the government wants to do for the future of Britain’s digital industry, ranging from telecoms, through radio, television, broadband and, as we discussed this morning, intellectual property.
It’s an interesting read. There’s some positive aspects, and some negative ones. Some bits of the report are very ambitious, but others show no ambition at all. I’ll go through each sector in order over the break.
£55 for a painless 802.11n router upgrade? The Trendnet TEW-637AP Wireless Easy-N-Upgrader
If you’re still rocking an 802.11b/g wireless router, then you’re living in the dark ages, networkily-speaking. The new n standard is faster, more powerful and more secure. The problem is, though, that upgrading your router is a pain, involving painstaking copying of network settings and a significant cash outlay.
Enter the Trendnet TEW-637AP Wireless Easy-N-Upgrader. Plug it into the back of your existing router, and it’ll do everything for you, converting the network to 802.11n and keeping all your existing settings. It’s available in the USA from NewEgg for just $25, but us Brits have to pay £55 for the thing! Hopefully we’ll see a similar price cut in the near future.
Product Page (via OhGizmo!)
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Turn your PC into a home cinema with a USB to HDMI dongle
Many laptops these days are starting to arrive with HDMI ports and Blu-ray drives, so you can use your new laptop to hook up your massive 40″ telly and enjoy HD content via your PC. Many people play PC games on massive monitors, too. But what do you do if you don’t have a graphics card with a HDMI output?
You buy one of these. Plug one end into a spare USB port and the other into your TV, and voila – a 720p, or 1280 x 720, display. It’ll take care of the sound too, via the HDMI cable. Best of all, you’re not limited to just one of these – you can plug in as many as you have USB ports. Fancy rocking seven in a row? 8960 x 720 resolution!
Lancerlink (via Akihabaranews)
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