Tech Digest

iPod mini Skins

If you've now realised your foolish mistake in buying the boring old silver iPod mini just like everyone else, you can stick these skins on to regain a little bit of individuality. Adhesive vinyl covers allow you to have a Blue Peter-style sticky back plastic moment and the waterproof covering ads a bit of protection. If you then realise you've made another foolish mistake with the tie-dye cover (or, more accurately, *when* you realise you've made another foolish mistake with the tie-dye cover) you can whip the casing off no worries and spend the rest of your life trying to wipe the glue residue off.

Read [Via Engadget]

Slider MP3 Player

Ah, that's more like it. Rather than just doing the usual bit of iPod imitating, UnisonTech has come up with this strange-looking MP3 player. Love it or hate it, at least the Soriya MF100 shows signs that a bit of thought has gone into designing something different for a change. The player comes with a slider style that's similar to Siemens' SL55/65 handsets. The screen slides up to reveal the menu buttons underneath. Support for MP3, WMA and ASF music files along with FM Tuner and direct encoding are all present and correct, and the MF100 comes in 128MB, 256MB, 512MB and 1GB capacities. There's currently no news of any UK launch.

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Gamble on your mobile

It seems that the subject of gambling is never out of the news at the moment. And now we're adding to that by reporting on a story about gambling on mobiles. Never let it be said that we don't jump straight on those bandwagons. Zone4Play is launching a virtual casino on Hutchinson 3G for 3. The application allows gamblers to play for real on fixed odds so they can lose real money more efficiently wherever they happen to be. There will also be play-for-fun games as well as the real gambling ones. Still, this has got to be better than having to go to Blackpool, right?

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Telewest Shiny Awards Part II

You may be wondering why our fantastic awards are called the Telewest Broadband Shinys rather than the Telewest Broadband Tech Digest awards. Well, wonder no more. First, Telewest Broadband Shinys sounds better; second, our sister site Shiny Shiny got its own list of nominations together as well.

Keep reading for more *lady*-focused categories. Games Digest has also got its own award for best game. Nominations after the jump.

Shiny award for bling

Siemens SL65 Escada
Jens of Sweden MP-400
Gold Gameboy
Vertu mobile phone
Sony Qualia

Shiny award for handbag-friendly mobile

Siemens SL65
Panasonic X500
Motorola RAZR
Siemens SL55
NEC e338
Sony Ericsson V800
VK530

Shiny award for shameless pink-ness

Pink Fondue Set
iPod mini
Pink Tivoli DAB radio
Hello Kitty Bluetooth headset
VK530

Shiny award for best retro gadget

BenQ Monitor
Roberts DAB radio
Pokia
Nokia 7280
Kyocera Contax i4r

Shiny award for gadget fashion accessory

Knomo laptop bags
AcmeMade laptop bags
iRiver N10
AcmeMade MacAttire iPod mini cases
Swarovski mobile phone charm
Exspect leather iPod mini carry case

Shiny icon of the year award

Walkers pedometer
Sky+ box by Matthew Williamson
Sushi USB key
Motorola RAZR
Roomba
Canon Digital Ixus i5
iPod mini

Games Digest Game of the Year

Burnout 3: Takedown (PS2 and Xbox)
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (PS2)
Half-Life 2 (PC)
Halo 2 (Xbox)
Pro Evolution Soccer 4 (PC, PS2 and Xbox)

Holographic projector

Not, as we'd first thought (hoped), the kind of 3D holographic projector that R2D2 uses but impressive nonetheless. Developed by Light Blue Optics (a company "grown from the Department of engineering at the University of Cambridge"), the Mobile Video Light projector is the size of a packet of Lambert & Butler. It uses lasers and holograms to project an image onto a surface without having to rely on the normal, bulky projection technology.

A two-dimensional holographic image is created and displayed using a small liquid-crystal-on-silicon (LCOS) microdisplay. This is then illuminated using a laser. Apparently, holograms are "extremely complex mathematically" which makes calculating them at any decent speed tricky. However, Light Blue Optics has developed a chip that can generate 200 frames a second and, with the price of lasers coming down, we may soon be seeing these projectors in all manner of portable gadgetry including laptops, PDAs, mobile phones, white and blue droids...

Read release

Band Aid - good news and bad news

Ooh, bad move for iTunes in the UK. You may have already read about how iTunes is currently refusing to sell the new Band Aid single because it won't charge the £1.49 that the charity wants. The company seems to be unwilling to change its policy of only charging 79p a track. While this is understandable in some ways (and the US reports offer a very different slant on the story than the UK ones), the company should be wary of upsetting the GB public over a charity that's seen as part of British musical history. But upsetting the public will be the least of their worries if they upset Sir Bob - remember him confronting Thatcher over the VAT refund?

Meanwhile, Orange has just announced that the Band Aid 20 single has become the fastest selling Orange mobile phone download ever. The single can be downloaded  by texting RINGTONE BANDAID to 247, visiting Orange World or from any Orange shop. It costs £3.50 in truetone, £2.00 in mono and £3.00 in polyphonic formats with "the company donating all proceeds to the Band Aid Trust, excluding VAT and production costs. Customers who buy a ringtone therefore donate £2.98 when buying a truetone, £1.70 for a mono or £2.55 for a polyphonic tone."

Telewest Broadband Shiny Awards

Apologies for the lack of stories up so far, normal service will resume shortly. We've been working in the background though, honest. You see, we've jumped on the bandwagon and started our very own awards.

Yes, the Telewest Broadband Shiny Awards are here! We got a top notch panel of judges (ie. our tech journo mates) on board, got a list of nominations together, and had a bit of a tussle over which ones were our favourites. Read on for the nominations.

TD award for Chav-iest gadget

BlackBerry
LG 8110
Motorola Bluetooth headsets
Oakley Thump MP3 sunglasses
Nokia N-gage (nicked)
Burberry iPod case

TD award for services to digital music

Napster – for its online jukebox streaming service
O2 – for pioneering music via your mobile
Apple – for the iPod and the iPod mini
Live 365 – for letting anyone with an internet connection start their own radio station
All of MP3 – for offering an almost legit service from Russia
Griffin - for its cool iPod accessories

TD award for the coolest looking computer

Apple iMac G5
Sharp Mebius Muramasa CV50
Fortissimo
Amethyst
Sony Vaio – PCG-X505

TD award for most random place to house an MP3 player

Inside Garfield
On a watch - Aigo U watch
Underwater – Oregon Scientific MP120
In a camera – Vivitar Multimedia PVR
In sunglasses – Oakley Thump

TD award for most indispensable mobile

Orange SPV C500
Sony Ericsson V800
LG 8110
Nokia 7610
Motorola RAZR V3

TD award for best use for broadband

Napster
Live 365
iTunes
Cinemanow
Vidzone
BBC
Atom films
Skype

TD award for best e-tailer

Boysstuff
Firebox
Ebay
Amazon
Gemm
Net a porter
Dynamism

TD gadget of the year award

Apple iPod
Sony NW-E95
Archos AV800
Sky + 160
Roomba robot vacuum cleaner
Vodafone 3G card
Philips Streamium surround sound system
Nokia 7610

Samsung's Digital Scart DVD player

High Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI), also known as Digital Scart is the next big thing when it comes to home cinemal kit. The digital connection means you can get digital image as well as digital sound quality through one cable, without all the usual converting back and forth business. The only problem? There's not enough digital scart products around at the moment. Samsung's doing its bit, though, with the launch of the DVD-HD945. The player also supports both SACD (Super Audio CD) and DVD-A (DVD-Audio) playback.

Not much more to say, except it's available now for around £179.99.

Samsung

Goodmans Personal Entertainment System

Following on from Goodmans' GPDR1 budget video player, the GPDR40 is the company's higher-end addition to the PVP market. The GPDR40 Personal Entertainment System has 40GB of storage on its hard drive, which is enough room for up to 200 hours of TV recording. This can thankfully be done directly from the TV, and there's also an SD/MMC slot for memory expansion and data transfer. As you'd expect, the PVP can be used for MP3 playback and picture viewing, and there's also a calendar that you can synch with Outlook. The colour screen is 3.6 inches and the unit can be plugged into the mains or powered using the battery. It'll be available on the high street from January, with prices still TBC.

Buy Napster vouchers with your milk, fags and scratch cards

Napster's planning on extending its customer base by flogging vouchers in newsagents across the country. More than a thousand stores, including Forbuoys, Dillons and Martin's, will stock the vouchers in a bid to make life easier for those unfamiliar with that there t'interwebnet. Just how this is going to help encourage people to buy music downloads online if they've never done it before remains to be seen, but it does mean you can buy all your Christmas pressies down the newsagents - scratch cards for mum, Napster vouchers for the kids, pack of Hamlet Miniatures for dad and a selection of scotch miniatures for your nan. We're nothing if not generous.