Tech Digest

Apple debuts new iMac

As expected Apple has unveiled the latest version of iMac computer at its Apple Expo show in Paris.

Dubbed the iMac G5 the new computer features Apple’s high-performance G5 processor and a new design that integrates the entire computer into the flat panel display.

Apple is also claiming the system's depth of just two inches makes the iMac G5 the world’s thinnest desktop.

The new line up offers 17- or 20-inch active matrix widescreen LCDs and G5 processors running up to 1.8 GHz starting at just £919 (inc. VAT).

In the typical Apple style Philip Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing claimed that "Just like the iPod redefined portable digital music players, the new iMac G5 redefines what users expect from a consumer desktop. With the entire system, including a gorgeous 17- or 20-inch display, just two inches thin, and a lot of people will be wondering 'where did the computer go?'

Whether the computer re-ignites sales of the iMac, which has been a weak area for Apple in recent years remains to be seen.

Apple Unveils the New iMac G5

World's Thinnest Desktop Computer Features High-Performance G5
Processors

APPLE EXPO, PARIS—August 31, 2004—Apple® today unveiled the new iMac®
G5, featuring the high-performance G5 processor and a stunning new
design that integrates the entire computer right into the flat panel
display. The iMac G5 packs a complete computer system into a mere two
inches of depth—the world's thinnest desktop computer. The new line
offers 17- or 20-inch active matrix widescreen LCDs and G5 processors
running up to 1.8 GHz starting at just £919 (inc. VAT).

"Just like the iPod redefined portable digital music players, the new
iMac G5 redefines what users expect from a consumer desktop," said
Philip Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of Worldwide Product
Marketing. "With the entire system, including a gorgeous 17- or 20-inch
display, just two inches thin, a lot of people will be wondering 'where
did the computer go?' "

The new iMac G5 makes the ultimate statement in design simplicity. The
entire computer, including the power supply and slot-load optical
drive, is built right into the display and rests on a sleek aluminium
foot. All the I/O ports line up neatly along the rear right side for
easy access, and with optional AirPort® Extreme and Bluetooth wireless
modules, there's no more cable clutter. With its elegantly thin
profile, compact footprint and whisper-quiet operation (less than 25
dB), the new iMac G5 is the perfect fit for any room in the home or
office.

The new iMac G5 features the breakthrough performance of the PowerPC G5
processor, as well as numerous system performance improvements designed
to help consumers turbocharge their digital lifestyle applications. The
17-inch models come with either a 1.8 GHz PowerPC G5 processor and a
SuperDrive™ for burning professional-quality DVDs, or a 1.6 GHz PowerPC
G5 processor and a Combo drive for watching DVD movies and burning CDs.
The 20-inch model has a 1.8 GHz PowerPC G5 processor and a SuperDrive.
With a completely redesigned system architecture, the new iMac G5 now
offers up to a 600 MHz front-side bus, 400 MHz DDR memory expandable to
2GB, AGP 8X graphics and 7200 rpm Serial ATA drives up to 250GB. The
new iMac G5 comes standard with high-performance NVIDIA graphics with
dedicated video memory for outstanding graphics performance and
realistic game play.

The new iMac G5 was designed to be the perfect computer for iLife® '04,
Apple's award-winning suite of digital lifestyle applications. iLife
'04, which comes with every new iMac G5, includes iTunes® for managing
and buying digital music, iPhoto® for organising and sharing digital
photos, iMovie™ for digital movie-making, iDVD™ for creating and
burning Hollywood-style DVDs and GarageBand™, a revolutionary music
application that turns the iMac G5 into a professional-quality musical
instrument and recording studio.

The new iMac G5 desktops offer a total of five USB ports (three USB
2.0) and two FireWire® 400 ports for easy plug-and-play connections to
popular peripherals such as Apple's market-leading iPod® digital music
player, digital video camcorders, digital still cameras and printers.
Providing the latest in wireless communications, the new iMac G5 offers
an optional internal Bluetooth module and includes a built-in antenna
and card slot to support an optional AirPort Extreme Card for 54 Mbps
802.11g fast wireless networking*. The new iMac G5 also includes
built-in 10/100BASE-T Ethernet and a 56K V.92 modem for fast Internet
access.

Mac OS® X version 10.3 "Panther" is pre-installed and delivers
breakthrough features including iChat AV, an easy to use desktop video
conferencing solution; FileVault, which uses the latest security
standards and 128-bit encryption technology to ensure that data in the
home directory is kept secure; Exposé™, a revolutionary new way to
instantly view all open windows; Instant On, which wakes the computer
from sleep in just one second; and Automatic Networking, which
automatically switches the network connections between Ethernet, 802.11
wireless and modem. The new iMac G5 also comes with a collection of
productivity, learning and entertainment titles including AppleWorks,
Nanosaur 2 and MarbleBlast Gold. Everything you need for your digital
lifestyle is included right out of the box.

Pricing & Availability
The new iMac G5 line will begin shipping worldwide in mid-September
through the Apple Store® (www.apple.com/uk) and Apple Authorised
Resellers.

The new iMac G5, for a suggested retail price of £919 (inc. VAT),
includes:
• 17-inch widescreen LCD with 1440-by-900 pixels;
• 1.6 GHz 64-bit PowerPC G5 processor;
• 256MB of 400 MHz DDR SDRAM;
• Combo (DVD-ROM/CD-RW) optical drive;
• NVIDIA GeForce FX 5200 Ultra graphics processor with 64MB video
memory;
• Two FireWire 400, three USB 2.0, two USB 1.1 ports;
• 10/100 BASE-T Ethernet networking, 56K V.92 Modem;
• Internal support for AirPort Extreme wireless networking and
Bluetooth;
• 80GB Serial ATA hard drive running at 7200 rpm; and
• Built-in stereo speakers and microphone.

The new iMac G5, for a suggested retail price of £1049 (inc. VAT),
includes:
• 17-inch widescreen LCD with 1440-by-900 pixels;
• 1.8 GHz 64-bit PowerPC G5 processor;
• 256MB of 400 MHz DDR SDRAM;
• SuperDrive (DVD-R/CD-RW) optical drive;
• NVIDIA GeForce FX 5200 Ultra graphics processor with 64MB video
memory;
• Two FireWire 400, three USB 2.0, two USB 1.1 ports;
• 10/100 BASE-T Ethernet networking, 56K V.92 Modem;
• Internal support for AirPort Extreme wireless networking and
Bluetooth;
• 80GB Serial ATA hard drive running at 7200 rpm; and
• Built-in stereo speakers and microphone.

The new iMac G5, for a suggested retail price of £1349 (inc. VAT),
includes:
• 20-inch widescreen LCD with 1680-by-1050 pixels;
• 1.8 GHz 64-bit PowerPC G5 processor;
• 256MB of 400 MHz DDR SDRAM;
• SuperDrive (DVD-R/CD-RW) optical drive;
• NVIDIA GeForce FX 5200 Ultra graphics processor with 64MB video
memory;
• Two FireWire 400, three USB 2.0, two USB 1.1 ports;
• 10/100 BASE-T Ethernet networking, 56K V.92 Modem;
• Internal support for AirPort Extreme wireless networking and
Bluetooth;
• 160GB Serial ATA hard drive running at 7200 rpm; and
• Built-in stereo speakers and microphone.

Build-to-order options and accessories include up to 2GB of RAM, 160GB
and 250GB hard drives, AirPort Extreme Card, AirPort Express™ and
AirPort Extreme Base Station, internal Bluetooth module, Apple Wireless
Keyboard and Apple Wireless Mouse, and the AppleCare Protection Plan.

The new iMac G5 systems, including a new configuration without an
optical drive, are also available to education customers.

*Actual speed will vary based on range from the base station,
environmental conditions and other factors.

Apple ignited the personal computer revolution in the 1970s with the
Apple II and reinvented the personal computer in the 1980s with the
Macintosh. Apple is widely recognised for its innovative and
award-winning Mac desktop and notebook computers, OS X operating
system, and iLife digital lifestyle and professional applications.
Apple is also leading the digital music revolution with its
market-leading iPod line of portable music players and iTunes online
music store.

3 makes a deal with Emap

Here's one for the kids. 3's just made a deal with Emap that means customers can download ringtones and pictures from Emap's most popular titles. Brands such as FHM, Kiss, Kerrang!, Smash Hits!, Q, Empire, Heat, New Woman, Mojo and Mixmag.

For £2.50, you can download a selection of tunes and pictures, with 75 new selections added every week. Music from Smash Hits! and Kiss should appeal to the youth market - the ones who are responsible for keeping the ringtones and wallpapers market alive - but we're not entirely sure how popular the Mojo offerings are going to be. What are they going to come up with? Jimi Hendrix ringtones and a Fab Four picture for wallpaper? Not exactly target audience is it?

World's largest hard drive

By which we don't mean that it's large size-wise, but that, at 400GB, it's the biggest capacity hard drive out there at the moment. Hitachi is the company responsible, producing the 3.5-inch DeskStar (!) 400P for all you data hungry users out there.

In the words of Group Executive, Mark Wilkin: “the growth of broadband internet access and home networking is helping to fuel the demand for more data storage and higher transfer rates. With 400GB of storage capacity at your disposal you can download several full length feature movies, store up to 100,000 high quality 4 minute MP3 files or hold the equivalent data of 40,000 typical library books on disk.”

More details from the press release follow:

Bundled with all the software, cables and accessories needed for computer users to easily upgrade their computer systems, the Hitachi DeskStar™ 400P offers an easy way to boost storage capacity and improve system performance. By combining Hitachi’s enterprise-class hard disk drive technologies with an excellent software and accessories pack, consumers get a impressive disk drive that is easy and simple to install.
The DeskStar™ 400P is ideal for high performance multimedia playback and recording. A high rotational speed (7,200 rpm for the DeskStar™ 400P whilst the previously largest disk drives typically operate at 5,400 rpm) combined with an 8 MB data buffer ensures excellent performance and data transfer rates. This also allows users to benefit from faster system boot ups, quicker screen refreshes and quicker access to information.

The complete DeskStar™ 400P kit includes an Easy-Setup guide, high speed cable and mounting screws plus installation utilities and Hitachi Data Fitness Test software. Free on-line and telephone support is also available for customers.

It will be on sale in September.

HP iPod pics

It seems that the blue iPod we were all epecting from HP isn't going to happen after all. The company has released details of its iPod over in America, giving the 20GB version an estimated street price of $299 and the 40GB version a street price of $399.

While the pictures of HP's branded Apple iPod may look pretty bright and colourful, they're actually just bog standard white like the normal ones. The colours are courtesy of some bright stickers - or tattoos - that users can print off from HP's website. The tattoos are removable so you can change the colour of your iPod whenever the mood takes you.

No news as yet on when the music player will be out over here.

Read the press release here.

World's slimmest Optical Zoom Digital Camera

Casio over in America has announced the launch of what it claims to be the world’s smallest optical zoom digital camera. We’re certainly not going to dispute that, the Casio Exilm Card EX-S100 looks tiny. Available in October for $399.99, the 3.2MP camera uses Casio’s innovative transparent ceramic lens technology in a 2.8X optical zoom lens unit.

Just like all the Exilms, the EX-S100 is made entirely from stainless steel and there’s a 2-inch preview screen on the back of the casing. It measures 3.46 x 2.24 inches (88 x 57mm), is .66 inches (17mm) thick and .56 inches (14mm) at its thinnest point.

Read the full press release here.

First Treo 650 pictures appear

First pics of the Treo 650 (not the 610 as rumoured) have emerged. A poster on the Treo Central forums has come up with the goods, and it looks like the Palm smartphone has a removable battery, new backlit keyboard and Bluetooth. There's also a 1.3-megapixel camera and a high resolution screen.

Apparently none of the 600 peripherals will work with the new handset.

Read [Via Gizmodo]

USB Desk fan with a difference

A couple of nice gadgets have appeared on Japanese website, Rare Mono Shop, which no doubt one of the gadget e-tailers will import at some stage. The two USB desk fans provide a nice cooling flow of air in your direction, but also double up as more sensible USB peripherals. One of them comes with a 7-in-1 Card Reader, capable of reading CF, MD, SM, MS, SD, MMC, MS-PRO memory cards. The other is a USB Hub providing 4 extra USB 2.0 ports.

Both fans use USB 2.0 connection. The fan head can be angled up and down on its base and you can switch the fan speeds up and down, which is pretty impressive as far as we're concerned.

Read

Griffin EarJams for iPods

Griffin has been at it again producing add-ons for the iPod you didn't know you needed. This time it's snap on EarJams, designed to attach to your iPod earphones. The idea is that they will improve the sound quality as well as the comfort of the earbuds, supplying "massive bass" and raising the volume by up to 10 decibels.

Three different sizes are supplied in the pack so you can find a set that fit comfortably into your ears. Because they wedge inside your ears, they also help to reduce outside noise. If they reduce noise leakage you owe it to your fellow commuters to buy a set. People with noisy headphones always have terrible taste in music. It's a fact.

Griffin

MPx220 to include Blackberry service

It has come to our attention that Motorola’s new smartphone, the MPx220, is going to come with Blackberry push emails. The quad band MS Smartphone-based handset is definitely due out later this year (despite rumours to the contrary, Motorola in the UK has just confirmed this.) It’s already a pretty appealing phone, including features such as a 1.2-megapixel camera with flash and a mini-SD card, but the Blackberry functionality will add that little bit extra.

Since the lovely MPx handset appears to have been delayed indefinitely for the time being, we’ll have to content ourselves with getting excited about the 220 – no great difficulty. We’re easily excitable.

Moto

Vieta adds DivX to its in-car DVD

In car DVD players are the perfect way to avoid ever having to communicate with members of your family. Stick on a DVD and everyone can stare slack-jawed at the TV for the entirety of the journey. What could be better?

Vieta’s CDV-50D adds an extra twist to the in-dash DVD player. The box includes DivX compression, which means you’ll be able to squeeze a whole load more films onto one disc or burn films to CD-R. The player, which should cost around £150, also supports MP3, WMA, VCD, SVCD and MPEG-4 file formats.

There’s three outputs, so you can have up to three LCD screens set up in the car. Inputs for games consoles and rear-view cameras, along with both optical digital audio output and analogue stereo audio output are all on board.

Vieta

Is this the biggest screen on a digital camera yet?

Another new release from Oregon Scientific. This time it’s a slighter higher spec PV100 digital camera, sporting what surely must be the largest TFT preview display on a camera so far. At 3.5 inches, the preview screen takes up a fair proportion of the back of the 3-megapixel camera. Yet, measuring 109 x 70 x 27mm, it’s still pretty pocketable.

16MB of internal memory and an SD card slot are on board for storing your pics, while a docking station is included to make downloading images to your computer that little bit easier.
You can buy it now in Argos for £199.99.

Zodiac on its way

The Palm-based Tapwave Zodiac will be on sale in the UK in Autumn. The PDA, which also doubles as a handheld games console, has been available in America since November. The handheld, which is compatible with normal Palm programs, has a 64k colour 3.8-inch TFT display and 128MB of memory. There's 30 games already available, amongst them Doom II and Duke Nukem Mobile. The console, which also includes an MP3 player, costs around $300 in the States.

Read

Smallest smartphone on sale now

The lovely Orange SPV C500 goes on sale this week. It will be available for free on some contracts up to around £80. Weighing just 100g and measuring 108 x 46 x 18mm, it both the smallest smartphone and the smallest MS Smartphone-based handset currently available.

Read

Waterproof MP3 player on test

The Guardian has the first review of the Waterproof MP3 player from Oregon Scientific. The verdict seems pretty positive overall. Sound quality is good underwater, if a little quiet, and there was no sign of the player drowning at any stage.

Read the full review here

Bonusprint to kill off MMS?

The introduction of photo messaging onto UK networks two years ago was touted as the next big thing by the service providers. And while the networks themselves haven’t been forthcoming with the figures, analysts reckon that the revenue from these has been more than a little disappointing.

It turns out that people in the UK like to use their phones to take photos, but they have no interest in sending those photos to all and sundry via MMS. Instead, they’re just storing them on their phones to look at later, or show to friends when they see them in flesh.

Now that we’re starting to see one-megapixel camera phones, companies are eager to find new ways to cash in on consumer habits. The Guardian has an piece on Bonusprint’s new Mobile service, designed especially for mobile snappers.

The idea is that each image that you take is automatically uploaded to a personalised website (once you’ve downloaded the necessary software to your phone), allowing your to store and order prints online from there. Unlike MMS, which compresses the images sacrificing a little resolution, the Bonusprint image are the same resolution as when they were taken.

We have nothing but praise for the service which has been developed by UK company Cognima. The only downside is that the service is currently only available with Symbian phones like the Nokia 7610 and Sony Ericsson P900.

Cognima hopes to roll out a version for Java version later in the year.

Read the full article here.

Home speakers for your iPod

Obviously, the whole point of iPods is that you can carry music with you when you’re out and about. But after giving up valuable hours of your life to fill up the hard drive with your entire music collection, being able to pack away your CDs and get all your music from that little white unit is quite an appealing prospect.

This TD 307 speaker set from Eclipse TD 307 can be connected directly to your iPod (as well as CD players, computers or any stereo source), providing decent sound quality for home use. The system comprises two egg-like speakers and an amplifier, and costs £400. There’s also an option of adding a sub-woofer, too add a bit more oomph. Or you can opt for the full cinema system, which includes 5 speakers, amp and a sub-woofer for £1300.

Eclipse

MP3 Alarm Clock in UK

You may recall the MP3 Alarm clock we wrote about a few weeks ago? Well, Firebox has bought it over to the UK will be selling it from October for £24.95. The MP3 Alarm Clock (not the most innovative title, but it does what it says on the tin) allows you to download MP3s or record short voice messages to tailor-make your wake up call.

While we still can’t discover much information about it, we’re beginning to suspect it’s not quite the MP3 player we thought it was. From what we can gather, the alarm clock only has space for 50 seconds of recording, which then acts as your alarm. So rather than waking up to the sound of your favourite tunes, you get a short burst of one tune every day until you change it to a 50-second snatch of another tune.

Fair enough for the price, but disappointing nonetheless.

Firebox

Amstrad set to launch 3rd generation E-mailer phone

Remember when Amstrad ruled the world with its green-screened word processors and computers? Then the company moved on to satellite dishes, becoming the top European provider for satellite dishes. Now, however, it’s probably more well-known for its e-mailer phones, the large phone units with screen and keyboard that provide tech-phobes with the facilities to send emails. The second version, the e-mailerplus (pictured), added texting facilities and internet connection, as well as a smartcard reader for making online transactions.

Now the company is set to launch the E3, the third generation model. The official announcement will be made on 15th September, and all we could get out of people over at Amstrad is that the phone will come with a completely new feature not currently present on the e-mailer plus.

We’re guessing it will be a camera with MMS capabilities, or maybe a webcam facility so your mum can chat to your auntie in Australia. Another slight possibility is Voice over IP. Either that or Amstrad is about to embark on another new venture, and the E3 will come with built-in washer-drier, a microwave oven and a fondue set.

Canon PowerShot A400

Entry level digital camera users get all the fun stuff. If you want a serious number of pixels, you’ll have to make do with a black camera or, if you’re lucky, a brushed metal model.

For those who just want a camera that takes decent quality pics without having to re-mortgage the house to pay for it, the choices are far more varied and attractive.

These Canon PowerShot A400 models make up part of Canon’s recent batch of releases. The 3.2-megapixel cameras come in four colours and offer 2.2x optical zoom along with 12 different shooting modes. There’s no internal memory, so you’ll have to make use of the SD card slot, but Canon also provides a free 100MB photo album with iMAGE GATEWAY. It uses the print/share button, which is designed to make it easier to upload pics to your (Windows) computer and send shots straight to a printer.

My M8 Fncies U

It seems if you’re a teenager in the multimedia world you need to get yourself kitted out with a mobile phone if you want to get lucky while hanging around outside Blockbuster video.

According to a study conducted by the University of Oslo, teenagers who use mobile phones are more likely to have sex than their phone-free counterparts. Researchers questioned more than 10,000 teens, between the ages of 13 and 18. They discovered that 60 percent of those who use mobiles had a lot of sex, while among those who seldom or never use mobiles, only 9 percent had done the dirty deed.

Apparently, those who own mobiles also start earlier, with many of them starting at the tender age of 13. This is all due, according to researchers, to the ease with which youths can flirt and make contact with fellow teens via text message.

The report in the The Mirror asserts that the researchers, who questioned more than 10,000 youngsters between the age-group of 13-18, found that 60 per cent of teenagers who use mobiles a lot had sex, whereas, only nine per cent of the children who seldom or never used mobile phones had had sex.

Researchers also found that children with mobile phones often started having sex at the young age of 13. They are attributing this disturbing behaviour to the fact that children often flirt on SMS and can also make "speedy contact" with their phones.

The report in the Mirror isn’t that forthcoming with the specifics, such as the actual number of those with phones having sex at 13, so we’ll take this one with a pinch of salt. But if we were teenagers, we’d be off to Argos for a pay as you go at the earliest possible opportunity.

Read

Keep you girlfriend in your pocket

Ok, we know that gadget lovers have a reputation for being bereft of any social skills, but surely it hasn’t come to this? Hong Kong company, Artificial Life, has developed a 3G “game” for the lonely 3G phone-owner: Virtual Girlfriend.

Based on Simms-like 3-D animated characters, the virtual girls can be contacted or spied on using a 3G phone whenever the mood takes you. The characters in the virtual world get up to all sorts while you’re off in the real world: shopping, going to work, visiting friends, or just chilling out in their virtual homes. A daily and weekly schedule guides the lives of the characters and this changes over time to keep you interested.

So you don’t feel like a complete sad loser, watching a couple of cartoon characters on your phone all day, you can “interact” with your virtual lady friends by sending them texts and picture messages. A J2ME client will allow you to chat to the girls in real time and you can send your girlfriend/s virtual gifts to stop her from virtually cheating on you.

A Virtual Boyfriend version is being launched at the start of next year, while the Virtual Girlfriend will be available in December of this year. No doubt Virtual Husband/Wife, Virtual Children, Virtual Affair and Virtual Divorce will follow shortly. It's like some creepy update of Pygmalian.

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For the Apple lover who has everything

We’ve noticed an alarming number of people walking about sporting Apple tattoos recently. And what’s more they appear to be entirely shame-free, which means that those large X’s from the OS X design, and the retro Apple logos were inked into their skin when they were entirely sober.

For those who feel deep love for the Apple brand, but not enough to actually brand the brand on their backsides, there’s always this fine selection of random objects to pick from instead. All elegantly enhanced by an Apple badge, customers can take their pick from a large number of miscellaneous items – from licence plate frames to travel mugs, all the way over to OS X dog tags.

Still crazy, but far less permanent.

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Music downloads reach the 2 million mark in the UK

According to the figures from the British Phonographic Industry (BPI), over 2 million songs have been downloaded since 1st January. This hasn’t had quite the fatal effect on the UK music market that people were predicting, since actual single and album sales have grown in the past year.

By May, only 0.5 million tracks were downloaded legally, but in three months that number leapt to 2 million. This is partly due to the recent UK launches of Napster and ITMS.

In the real world, album sales were up 3.7 percent, while the singles market saw its first increase in five years. So all the hysterics in the music industry will have to come up with a better excuse when their latest pop sensation fails to sensate.

Read (PDF) [Via The Register]

O2 sponsors the England Rugby team

Another one for the sports fans, O2 has just announced that it is renewing its rugby union sponsorship deal of the England team. The four year deal is worth £3 million a year to the rugby team, who swept to World Cup victory back in 2003.

O2 seems to be in the habit of backing winners, as the company also sponsors current Premiership champions Arsenal.

Footie text alerts from Carphone Warehouse

For those who can’t bear the thought of having to wait until they get home to find out the footie scores this season, The Carphone Warehouse has come up with the winning idea of offering text alerts for all the teams you could possibly want to know about.

OK, so we admit this is hardly a new concept, but the price is right at £4.99 for the package, giving you the codes for all the teams in the Premiership right through to the Conference leagues as well as the Scottish Premier League. You just need to pick your team to get all the goals, news and fixtures sent straight to your mobile phone.

Carphone Warehouse

Digital Cameras from Oregon

Oregon Scientific’s new range of MP3 players seems to be only part of the company’s grand plan to reinvent itself. The company has also announced a range of colourful and slim digital cameras.

Features on both the DS6688 and the DS6639 cameras are pretty standard fare, but it’s the colourful and svelte cases that provide the cameras’ main selling points. (There's an orange one as well as the ones pictured).

The £200 DS6688 is the 3-megapixel offering, with a 1.5-inch TFT screen for previewing images, and a 2x digital zoom. There’s also autofocus, automatic exposure and white balance and an automatic flash (hardly pushing the boundaries of technology, we know, but we thought we’d mention it all anyway). 16MB of internal memory can be bolstered by the SD/MMC slot, while a docking station means you can download pics to your computer with ease.

The DS6639 is even skinnier, with 2 megapixels for £90. There’s not much else to talk about on this one really. No mention of the internal memory or external storage and there’s no preview screen so far as we can tell either.

Oregon

Latest iPod challenger

Some of you may recall the Auvi SA1500 MP3 player that we reported on back in January. Well, the tiny player that makes the iPod look positively obese, is coming soon to Firebox for £249.95.

Measuring 96mm x 60mm x 13.1mm and weighing a paltry 116g, the Auvi SA1500 is almost as mini as the Mini, and yet comes up with 20GB of storage space for MP3 and WMA files. The battery life of the Auvi also puts the iPod to shame, touted at 20 hours of continuous playback. And while many of the so-called iPod Killers let themselves down with chunky design or ugly colouring, the Auvi SA1500 appears to be a rather appealing little player in silver and black.

The Auvi should be available around October time. Check Firebox's website for pre-order info.

Firebox

Portable DVD Player with DivX

Firebox has been stocking Shinco Portable DVD players for a while, and the company has just added a new model to the range available: the £399.95 SDP-1910. The new machine is the largest in the range, with a 9-inch widescreen that should make watching films more comfortable, even if the 1.05kg weight leaves it slightly less portable than the 580g 5-inch and the 800g 7-inch models.

The most appealing feature, however, is the inclusion of built-in support for DivX playback, which we're pretty sure is a first for portable DVD players. With DivX video compression, you’ll be able to fit far more movies onto a normal CD-R , which means less to carry and more to watch.

The SDP-1910 is compatible with both DivX4 and DivX5 formats and is available now.

Firebox

Blackberry for Mac users

Mac devotees should be pleased to hear that a third party app has been developed that allows OS X to synchronise with Blackberry handsets.

Developed by Information Appliance Associates (IAA), the iSync plug-in, PocketMac Blackberry Edition, allows Mac owners to upload and download information to and from their Blackberry devices. The software is compatible with Microsoft Entourage, the Mac OS X address book, Now Contact, iCal and Now Up-To-Date.

Available now for $29.95 on IAA’s website, the software will allow Blackberrys (Blackberries?) to connect via either USB or serial ports.

Read [Via The Register]

Top Up TV available in stores

Those living in a Freeview area can now receive Top Up TV services via Thomson’s DTI2300 set-top box. The service is built-in, which means that Top Up TV can be sold in store for the first time.

The box is likely to cost around £79.99, while the Top Up TV service costs £20 for the initial connection and £7.99 a month after that. There’s no contract to sign, so users can subscribe to the service on a month-by-month basis.

The box can receive standard digital Freeview channels, as well as the 10 extra Top Up TV channels. The service is provided via a conditional access module, and customers simply plug in a card to get the service up and running.

Top Up TV

The extra channels are:

UKTV Gold
Turner Classic Movies (TCM)
E4
Boomerang
Cartoon Network
Bloomberg
UKTV Style
Discovery Channel
Discovery Home & Leisure
UKTV Food

MYMO kid's mobile

Soon you’ll be able to set up wireless hotspots in utero and embed mobile phones directly into the ear canal at birth. In the meantime, however, there’s the MYMO mobile phone, made especially for children between the ages of 4 and 8.

The bright coloured plastic mobile has been designed to appeal to children and, with just 3 buttons controlling all the functions, it should be easy enough for adults to work out how to use it before handing it over to their far more tech-savvy offspring.

The headset also doubles up as a necklace, so kids don’t have to carry it around in a bag. Because it only works with a pay as you go SIM, parents don’t have to worry about phone bills. Plus, the phone can only hold 5 pre-programmed numbers, so kids will be limited in who they can call. Loc8tion services mean you can locate the MYMO (and the child) wherever they happen to be.

The phone costs £60 with an O2 SIM card.

MYMO

KEF Audio's Q Compact AV System

KEF Audio’s Q Compact AV System is a complete home cinema speaker package. Two pairs of QCompact speakers for front and rear, a Q6c Central Channel speaker, and a PSW2500 Sub-Woofer make up the £850 system.

Details include:
Qcompact
Reference-Based 130mm (51/4") Uni-Q Driver Array, Elliptical Cabinet Design,
Magnetically Shielded, 2-way Reflex Stand Mount Speaker, Bi-wire terminals.

Q6c
Reference-Based 130mm (51/4") Uni-Q Driver Array, Elliptical Cabinet Design,
Magnetically Shielded, 2-way Reflex Centre Channel Speaker, Bi-wire terminals.

PSW2500
Active Subwoofer with 250W Built-in Amplifier.
250mm (10") Long-throw Bass Driver.Variable Frequency, Phase and Level Control.
Music/Cinema Switch, Ground Lift Facility. Closed Box design.

Read

Mini Maxi

We may not have a "cars" category on Tech Digest, but when the car looks like this, there's no way we can be expected to ignore it.

A stretch limo Mini. This is what the world has been missing. A stretch limo Mini with a whirlpool spa in the boot. Makes us want to be American and attending High School.

The Mini XXL also comes with flat screen TV, DVD player, CD Player, Intercom, Telephone, Sunroof and Air Conditioning.

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Swap your tat

What goes around, comes around, and what better thing to revive than the joyful innocence of Saturday Swapshop? Long before Keith Chegwin proved that Cheggars can be boozers (old joke; still funny), before he’d treated us all to the sight of him stark nekkid on Channel 5, Swapshop was a show that allowed kids the chance to exchange their old crap for someone else’s.

And this simple, yet superior idea has inspired a new website. Swop me (they spelled it wrong, not us) is an online swap shop where people pay £1 for goods so long as they’ve put an unwanted item online first.

The site specialises in things like DVDs, CDs, computer games, magazines and books. While this makes the whole process so much easier, there’s always going to be that feeling in the back of your mind that some fool on eBay might have paid a fortune for your old copies of Look-In if you hadn’t already swapped them for a load of SEGA Megadrive games.

Swop me

Philips’ new line up of DVD recorders

The two most interesting machines in Philips’ latest batch of releases are the DVDR725H and the HDRW720. These two multi-format DVD recorders are also hard disk drives, with 160GB and 80GB of storage respectively – room for 250 hours and 130 hours of programmes.

Any programmes you watch are automatically stored on the six-hour hard drive buffer, giving you the opportunity to watch them again, transfer them properly into the hard drive, or record them onto DVD.

If you’re watching a programme and recording it at the same time, you can opt to watch the show from an earlier point without interrupting your recording. You can also watch a stored programme while recording another.

The Guide Plus+ Interactive Programme Guide means you can get your recordings sorted a week in advance.

With people – especially younger people – beginning to spend more time on the Internet than watching TV, it will be interesting to see how recorders such as these will affect people’s viewing habits.

Philips has also launched a number of other products. Details from the press release follow:

DVDR610, DVDR615, DVDR520H and DVDR630VR

The new range starts with the entry-level DVDR610 and step-up DVDR615 that offer up to eight hours recording. The DVDR520H is the lead-in DVD recorder/Hard Disk player with its 80GB HDD allowing up to 130 hours of recording time. Like the DVDR725H and HDRW720, the DVDR520H offers Instant Replay and Pause Live TV functionality and one-touch recording from the hard drive to DVD disc at x12 speed.

The DVDR630VR is Philips’ first DVDR/VCR, combining the benefits of a Long Play/record Nicam stereo VCR and DVD+R/RW recorder that allows up to six hours recording on a disc.

Connectivity is extremely generous with RGB Scart and i.Link present on all models except the DVR610, while the DVDR630VR also features progressive scan enabled component video output.

HDRW720
Due: Now
RRP: £550

DVDR725H
Due: September
RRP: £650

DVDR520H
Due: September
RRP: £450

DVDR615
Due: August
RRP: £280

DVDR610
Due: August
RRP: £250

DVDR630VR
Due: October
RRP: £400

Gadget Britain

The tech heads over at Boys Stuff have been having a play about with their e-Pandora software, looking at the spending habits of the nation. Turns out, there's a whole new vein of regional stereotyping opportunities out there just waiting to be mined.

For reasons we're unable to fathom some gadets sell far better in some areas than in others. One of the most obvious differences was between ancient rivals, Yorshire and Lancashire. When it came to gadgets, the Mancs are, as ever, Mad For It, going crazy for the MiniMoto motorbike. Over in Yorkshire, however, they seem to be far more reluctant to hand over cash for the latest boys toys, wanting nothing to do with the MiniMotos at all (or should that be "nowt to do wi'em?" ...er, probably not actually. Sorry).

Up in Scotland, the Highlanders are almost as keen as the Lancastrians on their technology. They account for a fair proportion of Boys Stuff's sales on all its gadgets. All its gadgets, we should say, except the Robosapien, which they don't appear to like at all. Why they'd go for everything but that is anyone's guess.

When it comes to the Orgasmatron head massager and the Omax vibrating "back" massager (yeah, right, it's for your back) the Welsh are looking a little tense, with the valley boys not interested at all. We're not going to make any regional slur about their fondness for sheep, but they're obviously not too bothered about keeping the ladies sweet with sensual massage. (They sell well in the Home Counties though - if you're after a bit of posh totty, ladies.)

The La-Z-boy armchair that Joey and Chandler play on in Friends sells ridulously well in Luton, which means those silly people who say "I'm going to Bedfordshire" when they mean bed, may actually be telling the truth.

Boys Stuff

The nation's first music downloads chart

The singles chart in the UK maybe looking increasingly sickly, but, as we all know, the world of online music downloads is fighting fit and growing stronger by the day. And, unsurprisingly, radio is beginning to want a piece of the action.

Virgin Radio is launching the nation’s first online music chart, to be broadcast from Sunday 29th August at 7pm. The sales figures that make up the music chart are being taken from Napster, with a countdown of the top 20 tracks sold on Napster’s online store.

The chart will register full-length live streams and downloads made on subscription, as well as permanent downloads. It’ll be interesting to see how music downloads differ from normal single sales. We predict more goth tunes making the top 20, since goths don’t like to go out in the sunlight too much. Virgin radio certainly thinks (hopes) so – it’s giving away a day with Robert Smith of The Cure as a promo for the countdown. Plus, it won’t really fit with Virgin’s demographic if it turns out that online shoppers are downloading Busted and Rachel Stevens tunes.

3G LG comes to 3

3’s been doing a good job recently of getting some decent sized (by which we mean small) 3G phones onto its network. The LG U8120 is its latest addition, an upgraded version of LG’s U8110 video mobile that comes with some additional features.

The LG8120 has had a bit of a redesign, but it’s the same dimensions and weight, measuring 96 x 50 x 23mm, and weighing 126g. The memory capacity has been increased, with 32MB of space now available for storing videos, music and photos.

The VGA camera is of the rotating variety, with self-timer and light that acts as a flash indoors. A speakerphone is also included so users can make video calls without having to involve a headset.

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Personal video player with TV tuner

Must admit to getting really excited when we heard that UK accessory specialist Peripheral Corner was to start selling a personal video player with an integrated TV tuner.

It isn’t however quite as thrilling as it sounds, as the tuner is in fact integrated into the NHJ-MPM 202’s docking cradle. This means that if you connect the cradle to an aerial you can view programmes on the device’s 3.5inch screen or record them on to the hard disk. You can’t however tune into Wife Swap on the train.

Still the unit, which is available with either a 60 (£372.48) or 30 Gigabyte (£317.35) hard disk, is definitely one of the best PVPs we’ve seen so far.

The device can also archive DVDs and VHS videotapes converting the footage into to MPEG4. Other facilities include compatibility with MP3s and JPEGs and a Secure Digital/Compact Flash card slot.

More details here.

Griffin's iTrip hits the road

Typical! Just as we go and invest in a Griffin Technology iTrip, that little FM transmitter device that broadcasts music from your iPod to FM radios in your home/car, the company announces an even better product.

Scheduled to launch in the US on September 1st the $79 RoadTrip not only features a transmitter but includes a cradle for the iPod/iPod mini and an adaptor that plugs into a car’s cigarette lighter to power the player.

Its key feature for us though is that the FM transmitter can be removed from the cradle and connected to a PC or Mac to transmit music from a computer to radios around a home.

Remember kids though. If you use one of these devices you are in breach of the Wireless Telegraphy Act of 1949. And if the boys in blue call don’t blame us.

More here

Yet another storage card

Must admit to feeling a little naffed off over the proliferation of storage cards for phones and music players. In an ideal world there would be one, maybe even two formats, not around 20!

The bad news is that there is another one coming.

A consortium of Taiwanese firms in partnership with the country’s Industrial Technology Research Institute is lining up a storage card that can accommodate more data and boasts faster transfer speeds than its rivals. The oddly named μcard will be able to transfer 120MB of data per second, 10 times faster than Secure Digital (SD) cards, and will have a capacity of up to two Terabytes (TB).

Mass production of the card, which includes USB 2.0 compatibility, is slated for early 2005. An I/O version of the card that will enable consumers to add extra functionality to their devices is also being developed.

Nokia 7610 V Sharp GX-30

The Guardian has a short-ish feature on the future of the camera phones. It looks at the pair of one mega pixel models currently on sale (Nokia 7610 and Sharp GX30) and gauges whether they can give digital cameras a run for their money.

Telewest Broadband's wireless wizard

Telewest Broadband is making things easier for users to set up a wireless broadband network in their homes. The company has partnered up with Netgear to provide an online wizard that allows Telewest blueyonder customers to design and configure a home network via the Internet.

The necessary kit can be ordered at the same time, with the option of purchasing extra stuff, like Netgear’s digital music player. The average cost of setting up a wireless home network will be around £75, although this will vary depending on the individual set-up.

Blueyonder’s also adding a wireless channel to its website that will offer advice and a “video blutorial” (their name for it not ours, we hasten to add).

There’s more information about the service www.blueyonder.co.uk/wireless..

Sony PlayStation 2/XBox for under £100

Not a huge surprise but Sony today announced it has cut the price of the PlayStation 2 games console to £104.99. It was officially selling for £150, but many retailers had shifted it down to around £125.

With a bit of jiggery-pokery expect it to be available for under that crucial £100 price point by the end of the week.

Microsoft has also slashed the price of its games console the Xbox, which from Friday will retail for a penny less than £100.

iPod PDA inevitable?

Interesting article in the FT about the inevitability of an iPod PDA. Analyst Jakob Nielson insists that, "as the pods go up in gigabytes, it's inevitable that they will become general purpose storage devices. Add a colour screen and they become photo viewers." From there he believes it's a small step for music hard drives to add PDA functionality: "all a PDA needs to become a music player is a higher quality chip and a headset plug."

So Apple CEO Steve Jobs can insist all he likes about the iPod's only raison d'etre being the music, but as hard drives become smaller and cheaper, an all-singing all-dancing music player-PDA hybrid is apparently the obvious conclusion.

iRiver certainly seems to think so. Marketing manager, Carsten Bickhoff, expects that "within 12 to 15 months there will be a hard drive-based player with true PDA functionality."

Read [via Macworld]

KEF drops its prices

This is really just an excuse to get a nice picture of some red speakers on the site, but KEF has dropped the prices of its speaker ranges. This is apparently due to "a much increased manufacturing capability" which means that the company has been able to knock a fair whack off all its speakers.

The XQ five in the picture has been reduced from £1999.99 to £1499.99. It's a four-way floor standing speaker, with two 165MM bass drivers and a 165mm midrange/HF Uni-Q and a titanium dome Hypertweeter.

KEF website

Details from the press release follow:

XQ one - £749.99 (was £999.99)

A compact three-way stand mount speaker - packed with Reference Series technology. With a performance envelope extending way beyond what is audible, XQ one has a 19mm (3/4”) titanium Hypertweeter, with its output perfectly aligned with the 165mm (6.5”) Uni-Q array.

XQ two C - £499.99 (was £799.99)

The four-way centre speaker that completes the XQ range. Like the flagship floorstander, it packs two independently loaded 165mm (6.5”) ultra-low distortion bass drivers, flanking the 165mm (6.5”) Uni-Q midrange array and titanium dome Hypertweeter. It is equally sophisticated inside - the separate bass crossover, the same high quality capacitors and inductors and meticulously engineered enclosures.