Gadget Access

In an effort to expand its device business beyond the borders of just the corporate crowd, The Wall Street Journal just announced that Hewlett Packard is getting ready to release a new smart phone that is also going to be marketed to the “average joe consumer.” It will be sold by a (yet un-named) mobile carrier in retail stores and will debut in Europe.

The new smartphone will be the latest in the line of HP’s iPaq devices.  The most recent iPaq smartphone, which was geared toward the business crowd, was launched this past June.  The company began selling iPaq-branded devices in 2002, when it acquired Compaq Computer Corp; although earlier iPaqs focused more on businesses and weren’t usually sold in retail stores.  So, they are obviously trying to make a leap into a broader market.

The phone is going to have the usual smartphone touchscreen and keypad, and will run Microsoft’s Windows Mobile 6.1 OS. You’ll be able to access the ‘Net, and send and receive emails.  Not much more is out there on what else separates this phone from their previous versions and no info on pricing.  We know that it is due to come out in Europe in the next two months, then will hit the States shortly thereafter.  Stay tuned for more details as they come in.

Via [techmeme] and [wsj]

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Say you occasionally like to go boating.  Wouldn’t it be nice if you could grab your standard GPS from your car and use it on your boat?  Recently, Garmin announced 2 new GPSs, which you could use on both land and sea.

The 2 new GPSs are called the GPSMAP 640 and the GPSMAP 620, the main difference between the two is that the latter isn’t going to be sold in the American market.  Both of these GPSs, like the rest of the GPSMAP 600 series, feature waterproof 5.2-inch WVGA touch screens with 800 x 480 resolution.  More specifically, the GPSMAP 640 comes with preloaded maps of North America and U.S. coastal BlueChart g2 charts.  The cool part about the BlueChart technology is that whenever the 640 or 620 are in their special marine mount, they will both immediately start up in marine mode and display necessary information including depth contours, port plans, wrecks, restricted areas, etc. 

In addition, there is an option called BlueChart g2 Vision, which displays a 3D “mariner’s eye view” which shows the area above the water, while the “fish eye view” shows the terrain below the water.  It also has an essential voice guidance system, which speaks to you the best possible route.

Another cool feature is that it comes with photo references, aerial point of views, and many POIs of ports, marinas, waterways, and famous landmarks.  As previously stated, whenever the device is in the marine mount, it will automatically display marine maps; however, whenever it is in the normal, vehicle mount, it will switch back to land mode and display normal street maps.

Furthermore, these Garmins give you the option of purchasing an additional GXM 40 antenna, which can provide much more information such as XM WX Satellite Weather, 200 channels of commercial free music, news, sports talk, and entertainment with XM Satellite Radio, and XM NavTraffic.  The 620 comes with international marine maps and a worldwide base-map. However, additional optional street maps and other marine charts can be added via SD expansion.

Dan Bartel, Garmin’s Vice President of Worldwide Sales, had this to say about their new products:

“Blending the best aspects of our popular portable marine units with the intuitive user interface of our automotive flagship line of nüvi navigators, the GPSMAP 600 series is the perfect tool in the boat and on the road.”

No word on exact availability at this time, but the GPSMAP 620 has MSRP of $999.99 and the GPSMAP 640 has a MSRP of $1199.99.

Read [Business Wire]

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by Nilay Patel, posted Oct 2nd 2008 at 7:53PM
Sony’s plan to launch an updated Reader today wasn’t exactly a secret, but there are still some surprises to the new PRS-700 — particularly the new six-inch touchscreen E-Ink display. Page turning is now accomplished by a swipe motion with faster refreshes, and there’s a stylus and on-screen keyboard for searching and note-taking — plus an LED reading light (not a backlight) for reading in the dark. Apart from that, it’s basically the same deal as the PRS-505 — internal storage for about 350 ebooks with SD and MS-Duo expansion and a 7500 page-turn battery life round out the package, as well as an updated online store. Of course, there’s no Kindle-killing integrated wireless for the $400 price tag, but it’ll be interesting to see how they stack up when the PRS-700 hits shelves next month.

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Filed under: Handhelds

When I was a kid, the Globe was just a spinning sphere you could look at and see how the world was from a “god’s eye view.” But today, they’ve become part map, part encyclopedia, party hitech experience. And kids seem to love it.

The Smart Globe Deluxe uses a smart pen and speaker to not only give young pupil’s the name of the country it’s pointing to, but will regal said student with details from currency info, local wildlife, import and export data, landmark inventions and more. And what’s cool is, it’s updatable courtesy of the USB port which connects it to a PC and inputs up to the minute (okay, not that fast) updates and information. It has multi language support (with English, French, Spanish, German, Italian, Portuguese and Mandarin Chinese); a quiz mode for testing student geography, world culture, history and current events for three skill levels (ages 5 to 8, 9 to 14, or 15 and up); and a pullout tray with a map of the United States – where kids can find out interactive details about each of the 50 states. And because the SmartPen is wireless, it can also communicate from a small speaker from up to 25 feet away. Accessories include a 25-page book to explore more in depth of countries, animals, dinosaurs, flags, foods, landmarks and inventions. USB cable and update software also included with weekly updates online through 2009.

I can see this becoming a fixture in the classrooms and even in homes where kids love to learn. And if the updates continue, it’s not only a globe, it’s a serious educational investment. And for $200, it’s a steal. I can’t wait until they come out with a model which redraws the border lines over time. Now that would be cool.

Hat Tip – Shiny Shiny

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In New Zealand, pastors are looking to technology to reach their flock. With social networking sites like BeBo and taking advantage of the fact that youths are using text messages more than the phone, ministers are including these options as indispensable tools in their quiver for reaching them. According to Rev Paul Stanaway, young people are more comfortable using technology to deal with difficult and uncomfortable issues in their lives. In addition, Church websites now have streaming church services and sermons, online bible studies, podcasts and even the lighting of virtual candles. Kids can rely on technology as a kind of layer between them and those they are confiding in, making them feel a little more at ease with sharing often embarrassing secrets or “sins.”

“We have a whole new congregation out there who I have never met,” said Rev Wally Behan, whos website gets thousands of hits every week. “Communication is changing so rapidly that we have to keep up with it and it presents us with huge opportunities.”

But all too often, the very tools that ministers say can be beneficial in communicating to the faithful, can also be abused and cause more harm than good. Even in the church world, cyber and text bullying can be destructive and is forcing those in ministry to be more knowledgeable and understanding about what is going on in the wired world we live in. Kids are looking for help and advice from those who get it, and not from a luddite who can only speculate what it’s like to deal with the embarrassment of social bullying online.

Here’s hoping Seminaries get the trend and begin training in technology along with Bible study.

Hat Tip – Stuff New Zealand

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A few days ago, our friends over at Appletell reported on a possible increase in royalty rates that could spell out a problem for iTunes, and possibly other digital music stores.  A meeting took place on Thursday, and royalties were set on digital downloads and ringtones for the first time ever.  The good news for those who buy songs and albums online: prices probably won’t be going up any time soon, at least not because of this.  The Copyright Royalty Board set the royalty rate for songs on albums and songs downloaded online at 9.1 cents, or the same rate it was.  This rate will remain into effect into 2012.

The interesting rates announced were actually those of master tones.  That rate is a comparatively astounding 24 cents.  Yeah, you read that right, 24 cents. 

Apparently before this rate, all the rates were negotiated between copyright holders and the people who wanted to use them.  If those prices were anything like the rate now, I can see why almost every single gets a ringtone for it.  If 100 people buy a ringtone, that’s $24 in the pocket of the copyright holder, compared to $9.10 for 100 songs downloaded.  If there’s any money to be made in music aside from performances, I would imagine it be getting a ton of people to buy ringtones of your songs.

It is possible that the move might be due to Apple’s statement that it would severely impact the fate of the iTunes Music Store if the rates increased to 15 cents that publishers requested.  The reason why doesn’t really make that much of a difference.  The important part here is that consumers can buy their songs at the same prices they’ve been getting them from.  As the New York Times article points out, it might not make up for the losses of piracy, but it’s doubtful that those losses will ever be made up for given the state of the Internet at the moment.

Read [New York Times]

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Nokia has taken the mobile world’s centerstage today with the slew of announcements it made during the Nokia Remix event which happened simultaneously in London and Singapore.  An enhanced S60 mobile platform, an online music store a la iTunes and, of course, a new music phone with touchscreen features, a la, well what else, but the iphone.

The enhanced S60 Mobile Platform

Nokia’s S60 mobile platform which runs on Symbian OS finally gets a much needed upgrade in its 5th iteration.  Key features of this fifth edition S60 is none other than touch UI and support for tactile feedback.  This simply means that Nokia mobile phones using the S60 OS will now have touchscreen features similar to the iPhone. 

Likewise, the S60 is also bringing enhanced web browsing capabilities to the soon to be released S60 mobile phone.  This is made possible through Adobe Flash Lite 3 support.  With the touchscreen features, users can now browse through web pages by scrolling via a finger touch.  In addition, the sensor features of the S60 OS will enable users to put their phone in silent mode just by turning the phone upside down.  No need to navigate through menus or find the right shortcut keys.

The new XpressMusic 5800 mobile phone

To kick off the availability of the fifth version of the S60 mobile software, Nokia has launched the XpressMusic 5800 phone which is Nokia’s first mobile handset to support Nokia’s new music service, Comes With Music.  Nokia 5800 phone users will have unlimited access to the entire Nokia Music catalog for one year.  The Nokia 5800 also features a “Media Bar” for accessing music and entertainment that includes tracks, videos and photos, as well as direct links to the web and online sharing.

The Nokia 5800 also comes with a graphic equalizer, 8GB memory that supports 6000 tracks and all major digital media formats, a 3.5 mm jack and built-in surround stereo speakers.  Additionally, the 5800 features a “Contacts Bar” which allows users to mark up to 4 of their contacts as favorites and put them in the phone’s homescreen.  From there, users can track down the contacts recent text messages, emails, phone logs, photos and blog updates.

The Nokia Comes with Music

Capping off Nokia’s trio of announcements is the launch of the Nokia Comes with Music service would allow users with compatible mobile phones unlimited access to the Nokia music catalog for one year.  Users who will opt for this service will have one year to keep the music they downloaded from the Nokia Music store.  Comes with Music will also be available in the Nokia N95 and Nokia 5310 mobile handsets.  The service is fully supported by major US labels as well as independent music producers; so, that gives you a pretty comprehensive music catalog.

Read [Nokia Press Release]

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Valeo will take the opportunity to roll out its new smart key at the Paris Motor Show.

The smart key provides a genuine interface between driver and car, allowing people to send information to their vehicle over a considerable distance (several hundred meters). The key’s mini screen displays information such as whether the doors are locked and the alarm is activated, tire pressure and fuel tank level. The key can be used to preprogram the seat position or radio station, to pre-ventilate the cabin, and to exchange navigation destinations downloaded from a computer. Information can also be exchanged between keys.

Sounds pretty interesting, and no longer will you have to walk away from your car only to think to yourself, “Have I locked my car?”

Press Release

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Acer from Taiwan is already the third largest vendor in the PC market, and has announced its Acer Aspire Predator desktop PC as well as the Acer G24 widescreen LCD display to accompany that gaming beast. Both models will be available to customers in the US, packing in top notch gaming specifications into a case that looks way too cool to be an ordinary PC, and chances are anyone who lays their eyes on it might be forgiven if they’re fooled into thinking the case might actually transform into a robot suddenly when nobody’s looking. Gotta love the deep metallic copper color it comes in, where the top of the chassis features USB and audio ports that are easy to reach, while a multi-memory card reader is located on the front.

What lies within the belly of the Acer Aspire Predator? Well, for starters, you have the powerful Intel Core 2 Quad processor to help you out when it comes to processing crunch, while NVIDIA’s GeForce 9 Series graphics cards will be able to let you enjoy even the most demanding games without dropping enough frames to render the title unplayable. In addition, it won’t rely on regular air to keep everything inside running cool - instead, the Aspire Predator will use an advanced state-of-the-art liquid cooling system that ensures all parts run at an optimal level without overheating no matter the processor-intensive tasks thrown its way. The Acer Aspire Predator is also accompanied by the Acer G24 LCD display, a 24″ widescreen LCD display to go along with the Predator’s stunning looks. You will find a 2ms response time, a brightness of 400cd/m2, a contrast ratio of 50,000:1 and a maximum resolution of 1,920 x 1,200. You will be able to pick up the Aspire Predator from $1,649 upwards while the Acer G24 LCD display will retail for $399.99.

Press Release

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So, most of us probably already use the easy route of auto locks for our vehicle and the familiar “beep-beep” as we walk away is nothing new.  The thought of actually having to fumble around and (gasp!) insert a key in the lock is an almost foreign concept these days.  But the new smart key offers oh so much more than that.

From as many as several hundred yards, drivers are able to send information to their vehicle to set their seat position to just where they like it, program the radio to their favorite station, even exchange navigation destinations downloaded from a computer.  The key has a mini-screen which can display information like whether the vehicle doors are locked, if the alarm is turned on, how your tire pressure is doing, and whether you soon need to stop for gas.  Nice little reminder for those who tend to forget that rather important little tidbit.

No, that’s not all.  You can check if your windows are open, crack your windows, start the ventilation system, plus a bunch of the “boring stuff” like have it tell you your license plate number and VIN number, and how soon you’re going to need maintenance.  Information can even be exchanged between keys, which is useful is you have your kids borrowing them and you need to change the info you have programmed.

The Valeo smart key was displayed at the biennial Paris Motor Show which is held in Paris Expo in Porte de Versailles.  A pretty nifty little gadget, now all we need is one that drives the car for us.  No mention of price or availability at this time, stay tuned for more info as it becomes available.

Via [prnewswire] and [motortrend]

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