Author: Stuart Dredge
New iPod models: UK pricing confirmed
Foaming at the mouth in anticipation of the new iPod Touch, iPod Nano or iPod Classic models? Well, they’re all on sale through the UK Apple Store, so here’s details of how much they’ll cost, with links to our earlier stories on each product:
London is an internet fraudster's paradise
Anti-fraud firm Early Warning has released new figures showing that crafty cockneys are the Brits most likely to be fraudulently obtaining goods over the internet. The company has even worked it out by postcode, identifying SE18 as the ‘Card Fraud Capital of Europe’. Those pesky Thamesmead residents, eh?
The world's best (alright, only) robot-shaped calculator
Surely a calculator-shaped robot would be a cooler thing to have in your pencil case? You could let it out in exams to shoot lasers at the invigilator while you crib quadratic equations answers from the person next to you. It’s daydreams like this that stopped me getting a decent Maths GCSE grade, incidentally.
Anyway, US gadget site Perpetual Kid is selling the less attractive option, a robot-shaped calculator…
Sony staffer fingered for negative Halo 3 Wikipedia edits
Life’s got very entertaining since the development of technology allowing you to track who’s been making what edits to Wikipedia entries. Sony is the latest company to end up with egg on its face, after some negative edits to the Halo 3 page were traced back to its Sony Liverpool studio.
Escher's 'Relativity'… with Lego!
You know M.C. Escher’s ‘Relativity’ – it’s a famous lithograph print showing lots of impossible staircases. And if you don’t know it, you’ve probably seen the modern version (i.e. that scene in Labyrinth with David Bowie, a baby, and a worried-looking Jennifer Connolly).
But I bet you haven’t seen the Lego version…
High-speed Eurostar trains hit the UK… at last!
It’s taken a while, but the high-speed Eurostar track in the UK has finally been christened, cutting the time between London and Paris to 2hrs 3min. The new track will allow trains to zip along at 199 miles per hour on this side of the Channel.
MyStrands.tv: a personalised MTV for Web 2.0 heads
It’s a bit of a cliche to say that MTV doesn’t play music videos any more: that might be true on its main channel, but then it’s got plenty of music-focused spin-offs (MTV2, MTV Base etc) for that.
Nevertheless, a number of Web 2.0 startups are working the ‘we get back to the days when MTV wasn’t full of annoying Jackass blokes and prom queens’ angle, serving up just music – except personalised to your tastes. The latest is MyStrands.tv, an offshoot of music recommendation service MyStrands.
LG unveils new BH200 Super Multi Blu player – now with HDi
We got quite flustered over LG’s BH100 Super Multi Blu player (pictured) when it was announced at CES this year, what with it offering a solution (a very expensive solution, admittedly) to the dilemma over whether to choose Blu-ray or HD DVD.
However, LG has just announced the follow-up BH200 product, which is due to go on sale next month in the US for around $1,000.
Wot, no coloured new PSPs and TV-out cables for us Brits?
UK gamers, it’s time to puff yourselves up into righteous rage. Reports suggest that when Sony’s new slimline PSP goes on sale next week, it will only be available in plain-old black, rather than the different-coloured versions seen in Japan.
Microsoft gives Zune a 'B-' for its first year on sale, hints at ZunePhone
Here’s to consumer tech execs eschewing hype in favour of realistic assessments of their products. Mindy Mount is corporate VP and chief financial officer at Microsoft’s entertainment and devices division, so you’d expect her to bang on at length about Zune’s zeitgeist-seizing iPod-slaying revolution. And stuff.
