Author: Stuart Dredge
Casio unveils Privia PX-720 and PX-120 digital pianos
A piano isn’t a proper piano unless it’s battered, has a few keys missing, and floods the room with dust when you hammer out Chopsticks. At least, that’s my view. Casio would presumably disagree, since it’s in the business of selling shiny new digital pianos like the PX-720 and PX-120, which have just been announced.
Piczo to make leap into mobile social networking
There’s a big buzz around mobile social networking at the moment, for logical reasons. For those youngsters who spend hours a day in MySpace, Bebo, Facebook or Piczo, mobile phones are just as central to their lives.
YouTube Hit: Watch Led Zeppelin's comeback gig
Well, some of it, anyway. Look, there's no tech angle here other than the fact that someone's shot footage of Led Zep on stage last night and posted it to YouTube. But hell, that's good enough for me. Watch them play Stairway To Heaven, and indulge in a spot of desk-based air guitaring. That's not a euphemism.
NTT DoCoMo launches a geotrackable mobile phone for kids
Akihabara News has been ripping into Japanese mobile operator NTT DoCoMo for its announcement of the Fujitsu F801i, a phone for kids that can be tracked by parents worried that little Johnny (well, the Japanese equivalent) has been spirited away by a stranger.
LG Chocolate goes silver and lilac for Christmas
Who in God’s name wants a lilac-coloured LG Chocolate phone? Really, they might as well have made a tigerskin edition. I’d buy that. But no, LG has announced that the Choc will be available in new silver and lilac versions this Christmas in the UK.
BetUknow launches fantasy football betting community
A new service offers football fans the chance to win prizes for their predictions for UK Premiership, Champions League and Euro 2008 matches. They won’t be gambling real money though: the site gives each user a virtual allowance of £1,000 a week to stake on their forecasts, using odds from real-world bookmakers.
Doof.com aims to cross casual games with social networking
Get set for social gaming! What’s that? Gaming is social already? Oh… Okay, so Doof.com’s big claim that it’s a “pioneer of social gaming” is more marketing message than reality. Games have always been social, whether played huddled round a C64 or SNES, or played online on Xbox Live. However, that doesn’t mean Doof isn’t an innovative site.
Orange claims "explosion" in mobile data services
UK mobile operator Orange says music downloads and mobile TV are booming, along with picture messaging, texting and mobile internet usage. The claims come out of Orange’s second Digital Media Index – a report of how its customers are using their phones.
30 Trends in Digital Music: 11-15
After a pause to take in the Nokia World show, I’m back on track with our roundup of digital music trends. So far, it’s covered topics like ad-funded music, console game downloads, governments cracking down on file-sharing, Radiohead-style choose-your-own pricing, and gnarly old rawk bands getting down with Web 2.0 technology.
Radiohead closing 'In Rainbows' site, but in talks with iTunes
If you’ve yet to choose your own price for Radiohead’s ‘In Rainbows’ album, you better get a move on. The band have announced that they’re closing the site next Monday, in advance of the album’s proper CD release at the end of December.
