Author: Stuart Dredge
Lair: the dragon-packed PS3 game you can play on your PSP
As if any game needed more to recommend it than the phrase ‘involves bluddy great big dragons flapping about all over the place’. I’m sold on Lair right there. But Sony’s upcoming PS3 title just got another unique (for now) selling point.
See, Lair will be the first PS3 game that’s also playable on a PSP, using Sony’s Remote Play technology…
Joost opens up its API for developer widgets
Widgets rule. They’re taking over the Web 2.0 world, as companies realise that the more open you are, the faster you grow. And if that involves people biting each other as Facebook Vampires, so much the better.
Joost is the latest Web 2.0 outfit to get widgety. The online TV service has opened up its API, allowing developers to create their own Joost plug-ins. There’s a dedicated website with all the documentation and tutorials eager coders will need.
Tiscali goes nationwide with broadband TV service
Digital TV’s not just about Freeview, Sky or Virgin Media any more. Tiscali has announced that its Tiscali TV service has gone nationwide, and is aiming to sign up half a million users by the end of this year.
The service will offer more than 80 channels, including Sky 1 (that means Lost and 24 – stop weeping Virgin Media customers…). The basic package will cost £19.99 including broadband and a phone line, although sports fans will be able to pay £22 extra a month for Sky’s sports channels too.
LG Viewty cameraphone gets a UK release date
We’ve written about the LG Viewty phone before, and Susi even got hands on with it at the IFA show last week. But today, LG has confirmed that its slinky 5.1-megapixel camphone will be available to buy in the UK from mid-October.
Rumour: Amazon to launch its iTunes rival by mid-September
It’s no secret that Amazon is working on a digital music store: the company announced it back in May. However, a well-sourced report in the New York Post says the new service has a tentative launch date of… this month!
First video of Sony's Rolly MP3 player hits YouTube
Can Sony ever seize back even a fraction of its former dominance of the portable music market? Apple has done a good job of turning Walkman into a duff brand (well, at least until Sony Ericsson's successful music phones), but Sony is looking to get its MP3 mojo back with Rolly, an innovative new player.
Innovative how? Well, er, it rolls around in time to your music, like a little breakdancing robot. I'd be more sold on the idea if I had a decent coffee table. Nevertheless, Rolly has been creating a stir online with a drip-feed of internetweb leaks. The latest is a video showing it in action – feast your eyes below:
Video: Nokia's new N81 music phone in action
As you’ll know if you ready our Nokia Go Play liveblog yesterday, alongside its launch of the Nokia Music Store, the company unveiled its new N81 8GB music phone.
Well, there were plenty of ’em available for demoing at the event, so I grabbed one to shoot a quick video, showing its neat multimedia user interface that sees one button take you directly to your music, videos and other content.
First hands-on impressions of the Nokia Music Store
At today’s Go Play event, Nokia announced its new Nokia Music Store service (see the earlier story and liveblog for full details). In the afternoon, I got hands on with the web and mobile versions, to see how they’re shaping up.
First, some factual info that didn’t come out in the earlier press conference:
– The DRM-protected tracks will be WMA files encoded at 192kbps. Initially, it’s using Microsoft’s old Windows Media DRM, but in the future, there’s scope to switch to the newer PlayReady system (you might remember, a couple of weeks ago, Nokia and Microsoft signed a deal to work together on the latter).
Liveblog: Nokia's Go Play music launch in London
Nokia is hosting an event today called Go Play, which looks set to see the debut of the company’s rumoured digital music store, which would be a direct iTunes competitor. Its new N-Gage mobile games platform (as opposed to the old N-Gage games phones) is also set to feature.
I’m liveblogging the event in full: see below for the latest couple of entries, and click on the link below for the full liveblog in chronological order.
Nokia unveils Nokia Music Store, its iTunes rivalling digital music store
As predicted, Nokia announced its digital music store this morning, at its Go Play event in London. The new store is called Nokia Music Store, and it will launch by Christmas in Europe. Nokia claimed that it's the first…
