Category: Top stories
Video: the Yamaha Tenori-On music sequencer in action
Yesterday night, Yamaha held the world launch of its Tenori-On music sequencer, so despite the tube strike, I schlepped into Soho to hipster-joint Vinyl Records to see what the fuss was about. Tenori-On designer Toshio Iwai was demonstrating the device, as you can see from the video below.
Top five IFA 2007 stories from Tech Digest
IFA is well and truly over, with most Berlin-bound geeks back in their natural habitats, in our case, Shiny Towers. If you missed our coverage last week, and over the weekend, here are the top five most news-worthy stories. Expect these products to be rolled out over the next few months.
1.) LG’s ‘Design Art’ LCD TVs – two models, the LF75, LB75, with the first model coming in 1080p Full HD and 10,000:1 contrast ratio, and the latter model packing a still-impressive 720p/1080i and 8,000:1 contrast ratio. Three HDMI 1080p inputs and LG’s Intelligent Eye technology which ‘optimises brightness and contrast according to ambient light’ are also included…
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.
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.
Shiny Video Review: The Shocking Taser Guns
So, we thought we’d have a little fun. We put Zara in a room with Katie, armed them both and, well… just take a look. Not so much Alien vs Predator as a couple of squeaking squirrels…
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.
13 tech-related product placements in The Bourne Ultimatum
Last night, whilst all the ‘slebs were walking the red carpet in Leicester Square showing off their designer frocks for the premiere of The Bourne Ultimatum, a few of us lucky Shinies got to go to an advance screening with Motorola at the BAFTA down the road. No fancy dresses for us, we all wore jeans. And boy, were we impressed, and I don’t even LIKE Matt Damon. (Said in Team America-esque voice, obviously).
One thing you’ll notice minutes into the film is the blatant product placement – director Paul Greengrass didn’t even try to hide it. Like the good little Tech Digester that I am, I sat there with a pen and paper and scrawled down every techie product placement I saw in the film, whether used by Jason Bourne himself, CIA agents, hit-men, or just billboards seen in shots. If you noticed any more I’ve missed, definitely leave your comments in the field below…
Top five left-handed gadgets for Left Handed Day 2007!
Your whole life you’ve been ostracised for being a darn lefty, you’ve had troubles using implements such as knives and scissors every day of your life. Of course, you’re blessed with an extra-creative mind, but that’s small compensation when you can’t even open a tin of baked beans. Today you can rejoice in all your left-handed glory however, as not only is it the international Left Handed Day 2007, but we’ve put together a list of the top five gadgets for lefties, enjoy.
1.) Virgin’s Sony Ericsson LH-Z200 mobile phone – it’s about three years old, but you can still find them lurking on eBay, where they have a unique keypad layout perfect for lefties, with the number keys positioned from right to left. It was £119.99 when it came out three years ago, but would obviously be significantly less now…
Built to last? Panasonic high definition plasma TVs will last at least 42 years
Panasonic has published a lifespan statistic for its “full” high definition (1080p) plasma TVs: on average they’ll last at least 42 years before the brightness of the display degrades to less than 50%.
That’s based on an average 6.5 hours viewing every single day – or 100,000 hours in total.
Even its 720p high definition plasma TVs will last for 60,000 hours (around 25 years).
It’s an interesting statistic to highlight, in a fast-paced, needed-to-be-replaced-last-week technology culture, and though I don’t know the exact statistic for people replacing their TVs is, I bet it’s closer to 5-10 years than 42.
