Tech Digest

Knomo Bags

The fact that Knomo won Shiny Shiny's Accessory award at our awards evening the other week (yes, we know we promised to stop banging on about them, but we lied) will give you a clue that we're great fans of the bags. We've not actually covered them on Tech Digest yet, and since the company is promising to get bags out before Christmas to anyone who orders by the 23rd, we thought the time was ripe to point you in the direction of the website. This bag is called Bungo (they're all named after Wombles for reasons that are never made entirely clear). It's made from leather, has room for a 15-inch laptop and comes with all manner of inner and outer pockets. It'll set you back £150.

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ABOSS i-Pocket - iPod mini's long lost twin?

You think the designers of the ABOSS i-Pocket might have drawn inspiration from external influences? A combination of the iPod mini and the 3G iPod, the colours are the same as the mini and the front wheel button design is about as shameless as you can possibly get. How many GB the player harbours is unclear, but there appears to be a memory card slot and an OLED screen, so there are at least a couple of innovations on board.

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iRiver H10

Certain members of the Tech Digest team are beginning to wonder why they bothered to sign an Non-Disclosure Agreement for iRiver's H10 since the product was leaked with pictures of it all over the internet before the ink was dry. Still, we'll be playing it safe by sticking only to what's already been announced (not that there's much missing by the looks of things). The 5GB hard drive player is a smidgeon bigger than the iPod mini, but it's lighter, weighing 96.2g compared to the iPod mini's 102g. It's the proud bearer of a colour screen, FM Tuner and a scroll panel that we're surprised Creative doesn't have something to say about.

Read (via I4U)

Denon Home Cinema MICRO

We're keeping it all short but sweet today since we're winding down for Christmas. So just the bare facts from hereon in. The name of Denon's DHT-M330DV Two-Box DVD Home Cinema MICRO tells you all you need to know really: it's in a two-box format, it's micro-sized for small spaces, it's a DVD home cinema system. For £449.99 you get that plus a 5.1 speaker system. It comes with PAL Progressive Scan, RGB on SCART and Dolby PLIIx. Other features include Auto Decode (automatically detects the sound format when you put a disc in); Quick Setup to make it easy for new users; and, most importantly, a remote control with illuminated buttons.

DHT-M330DV 7.1 capable Micro DVD Surround System
- Delivered as 5.1 yet 6.1 and 7.1 capable
  via pre-out jacks with additional amplification
- 6 x 20 watts into 6 ohms - high-quality amplification
- DTS-ES Discrete 6.1. DTS-Neo:6,
- Dolby Digital + EX plus Dolby Pro-Logic IIx
- Dolby Headphone and Dolby Virtual Speaker 'Wide'
   which enlarges the soundfield in small rooms
- PAL 625p Progressive Scan via component
  for best picture with Plasma and LCD screens
- RGB on SCART for best picture on conventional TVs
- Denon's whole suite of MP3/WMA & Family
  Photo replay JPEG and Photo-CD
- Auto-Format Decode, Quick Set-Up and simple
  Screen On-Screen Displays for easy consumer use
- Full AM/FM radio with FM RDS and 40 memory presets
- Neat two-box design - each component is just 70mm
  high and 210 mm wide, with an alloy front panel and side cheeks

Motorola's iPod phone coming along nicely

Latest reports on The Register suggest that a Motorola-built iPod phone is well on its way. Apple is apparently "very happy" with Moto's decision to build an iPod-style mobile that will be able to play music downloaded from iTunes. Apple is developing a version of the iTunes jukebox for Motorola phones and the rumour mill has been working over time on when a handset will actually appear. Some time during the first half of 2005 seems to be the official line, but hints that the phone might be flashed about a bit sooner than that is causing speculation that Steve Jobs might produce one from his pocket at the Macworld Expo in January. The Register has also pointed out that Motorola is set to make some sort of announcement on 6th January at CES in Las Vegas so there's a chance the phone might get a mention then as well.

The likelihood of rival Napster producing a service for Windows Smartphone devices (such as the Orange SPV C500) means that Apple will need to get cracking if it wants to beat the company to market. Meanwhile, The Register is speculating that the rumoured Flash iPod and the Moto phone could actually be one and the same - especially since the companies seem to be viewing this as an actual music player and not a GPRS music download service.

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Sony gives up on Plasma

Not content with dumping PDAs, Sony's also decided to give plasma television the boot as well. The company is apparently pulling out of the plasma TV market and concentrating its efforts entirely on LCD TV technology. Companies such as Sharp and Samsung have already massively invested in LCD technology, and Sony has obviously decided that it doesn't want to be left out, especially as the other companies were starting to get away from it when it came to flat panels.

What this means for the future of Plasma is anyone's guess. As I4U's report points out, Plasmas are still being developed and improved upon, but LCD is cheaper - and getting better all the time.

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2GB Flash Player from Cowon

The time seems ripe for a bit of idle speculation about whether Flash players will soon be replacing HDD players as everyone's portable music player of choice. Not while the prices are still sky high, we suspect, but Cowon's just pushed things forward a bit more on the capacity front with this 2GB Flash Player. The 2GB version of the G3 Player has just been announced for the Japanese market, so we'll be expecting it over here some time in the new year with any luck. Only problem is, at 45,000 yen (around £222), it's more expensive, with less storage space than the iPod mini.

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Stupidly cheap 3G handset

Vodafone may have some rather nice handsets in its 3G portfolio, but since you'll have to fork out around £200 for them on pay-as-you-go they're suddenly looking rather less appealing. Good job 3's on hand to offer you a deal you can't refuse, then. The company's already gained a reputation for its splendid value tariffs and now it's got a deal going with The Carphone Warehouse that means you can get hold of a Pay As You Go 3G Motorola C975 for £29.99. To get the deal you just need to purchase £15 of airtime with the handset, so it's still only costing you £44.99.

The phone itself is a pretty basic one, but it's got all the stuff you need - VGA camera with digital zoom, MP3 player, video streaming capabilities and speakerphone. Full marks to 3 for this one.

The Carphone Warehouse

TV Tuner Card for less than £30

There's no vouching for the quality of image you'll get from this thing, but £29.99 for a TV tuner card is pretty impressive. AverMedia is the company responsible, its TV GO 007 Plus card provides TV, video capture and video conferencing. It also comes with 16-channel preview, TV programme scheduler, Channel Groups and a Lockout option for adding parental controls. It's an analogue tuner and supports NTSC, PAL and SECAM. It will record TV or Video into MPEG 1, 2 and 4 formats so you can plug in a video camera and convert video to digital formats.

Available from Media Atlantic

DVD with Interesting Extra Features

Yes, we know it's probably just a ploy to get more visitors to the site and more sales, but it's Friday and it's nearly Christmas, and we're in the mood for writing stupid stories about people adding comedy extra features to a DVD recorder. Take a look at Samsung's DVD-R4000. At £299.99, it offers all the usual features you'd expect on a DVD Recorder, as well as some neat extras such as "Mosquito Noise Reduction" and "Gamma Correction in case you have the Hulk on DVD". Suddenly not so entertaining now we've written it out ourselves, but you have to credit these people for trying.

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Toshiba installs World's fastest Elevator

We're not quite sure where to file this one - it's not every day we write a story about a lift. But this is no ordinary lift, it's been elevated to new heights by becoming the world's fastest elevator in the world's tallest building. Toshiba Elevator and Building Systems Corp. (TELC) (not our favourite lift company, Schindler's Lifts, unfortunately) has just stuck the lift in Taipei 101 in Taipei, Taiwan. It runs at what sounds to us like terrifying speeds of up 1,010 metres per minute - or 60.6km an hour (although we're not sure if that's going up or freefalling back down again...).

The lift comes with a number of exciting features (for a lift), including the world's first pressure control system that prevents ear popping by adjusting the atomospheric pressure. It does this using the interestly-monikered "suction and discharge blowers".

There's also an active control system that stops the lift from wobbling about by moving the counter mass in the opposite direction and a streamlined car design that reduces the whistling noises the high speeds create.

Guinness has just officially certified it as the fastest, while the Taipei 101 building has beaten the previous record holder, the 452m Petronas Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, with a height of 508 metres. The grand opening is on 31st December 2004. The first people to get in that lift for a ride will certainly be earning our respect.

Ministry of Sound STIKAX

Here's an interesting little idea. Ministry of Sound has just launched the STICKAX, which is a handheld music and movie mixer for homes users. It's bascially a redesigned mouse that lets you create music, remix tracks and sample songs using click, drag and drop functions. You can also fiddle with music videos and home movies. The TRAKAX software is designed to make it all nice and easy for people withouth editing experience. The plug and play STIKAX comes with 450 "dance/techno/rock/hip-hip" CD-quality music loops so you can enjoy a spot of armchair Producing. We're told that the system of 10 buttons and LED light beam lets you trigger any combination of music or videos on screen, all without having to touch your keyboard. More than one STIKAX can be used at the same time so you can have a little mixing party for all your mates without rowing about whose go it is to be Oakenfold.

It'll set you back £89.

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Panasonic X500

Just got time to tell you about Panasonic's latest handset. The X500 uses that tried and tested sliding design favoured by all fashion handset manufacturers (it's the sincerest form of flattery, Siemens, honest). Panasonic does a good line in tiny handsets, and the X500 is no different, with credit card-like dimensions. Its major selling point seems to be the VGA camera and flash light for night time shooting. The handset's been designed to be turned sideways and held like a camera when taking pics (imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, Sony Ericsson, honest).

Inevitably, the red one's not available in the UK, but you can get the silver handset for free on contract from Phones4U.

Keep reading for a full list of specs.

Panasonic

65,536 colour TFT display
Built-in VGA digital camera with photo light
Multimedia messaging
Java MIDP 2.0
10sec motion jpeg
40-Polyphonic ring tones
Sliding Design
WAP 2.0 browser
Dual-band

Product specifications:
System - GSM/GPRS Class8
Frequency Range - 900/1800
Dimensions (hxwxd) - 85x47x22.5mm
Volume - 79cc
Weight - 96g
Talk Time* - Up to 7 hours
Standby time - Up to 200 hours
Battery time - 730mAh Li-ion

Features: 65,536-colour TFT LCD screen, VGA camera with photo light, video capability (up to 10 seconds), 2 types of menu screen - scroll launcher or 9 launcher, MMS, SMS, Short video clips, Java MIDP2.0, Infrared, phonebook - 300 +SIM, Downloadable content, Quiet mode, WAP 2.0, calculator and currency converter, clock, alarm, vibration alert, scheduler + to do list, 10 pre-installed polyphonic ring tones, 2 pre-installed games

On the Skive

We're off to a big TD Christmas drinking session meeting today, so normal service will resume tomorrow.

iPod Amp and Speakers

Looks like it's going to be a minimalist white Christmas for rich Apple fans over in Germany this year. Goldster Audio has just come up with this Concertino amp and speaker set for the discerning iPod owner. It's priced at a mere €3,200, which we're assuming means it's the mother of all iPod speaker sets. Apparently, the tube amplifier "compensate[s] for the sound distortions of today's music productions and data reduction" and so it should after you've forked out that much.

Those Germans are going to be *even more* excited when the hear about their beloved Hoffmeister's exclusive iPod. Yes, music lovers everywhere can now get their hands on an iPod signed by David Hasselhoff. The 20GB unit comes pre-loaded with the hirsute crooner's Christmas album.

Read [Via Gizmodo]

JVC's Micro System

JVC's mighty good at making little micro sound systems and this latest one sounds like a peach as well. The UX-HB4 comes with a DAB Tuner and support for MP3 playback. The auxiliary inputs are on the front of the unit and there's all the usual little extras like timer and alarm clock. There's also a tape deck, which is a nice little retro feature. It'll cost you £180.

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ASIMO learns to run

OK, so he could run before, but Honda's bipedal robot is now taking faster giant leaps for Robotkind. ASIMO (Advanced Step in Innovative MObility) now comes with "Posture Control" that means he can now run more like humans, twisting and bending his torso to help him maintain his balance even if his foot slips. This means he can now run like the wind for freedom from his cruel human masters, picking up a top speed of 3km/hour. Walking speeds, meanwhile, have increased from 1.6 km/hour to 2.5 km/hour.

The "Autonomous Continuous Movement" technology means he can be more flexible in the route he takes to his destination, avoiding any pitfalls along the way. Finally, the visual and force sensors have been enhanced to allow for "smoother interaction with people". It can now synchronise its movements with humans so that it can give and receive objects and shake hands. Blimey - and we thought our Roombas were clever.

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Scratch Turntable for the digital age

Living room DJs everywhere rejoice. You too can be the proud owner of a Scratch Turntable that works with MP3 CDs. The DN-S1000 is Denon's more affordable version of its Scratch Turntable, costing £379.99. The unit is designed to be portable and small enough for home use, and it includes features such as Seamless Looping, Scratching, Hot Starts and Effects on MP3 playback as well as built-in effects such as Filter, Flanger and "the world's first Echo Loop". There's also platter effects, 3-way BPM counter, two Hot Starts and "another world first" a Next Track Reserve with Cross Fader. We're told this means that if you've got loads os MP3s stored on one CD you can cross fade to another song on the same disc.

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Hitari TVR T350c car

What we know about cars could be written on the back of an SD card, but we know something nice to look at when we see it. This remote controlled car is a 1/16th scale replica of a TVR T350c, which will probably mean something to car enthusiasts. It's available in two colours - green and blue - and two frequencies so you can buy a pair to race. All we know is that, at £29.99, it's likely to be a sight less expensive than the real thing and if you order it today it should get here in time for Christmas.

Empire Direct 

USB Eye Massager

Never have your mother's prophesies that "you'll have someone's eye out with that" seemed more appropriate. This is apparently a USB "Eye Massager", although who in their right mind is going to want to jab this at their eye and switch it on we're not entirely sure. There's every chance that it's beautifully relaxing and does wonders for your over-worked eyes, but we're certainly not going to be the first people to try one out. If you're feeling daring just make sure you don't stumble and fall or, as any mother worth her salt would tell you, it will all end in tears.

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Now that’s what we call a roaming agreement

Speaking of Wi-Fi on transport services, Vodafone has just announced a deal with Boeing Connexion that allows Voda customers to use the in-flight wireless service. Charges will be made to the customers’ Vodafone bills, but you’d better be ready to pay through the nose, with Connexion charging $29.95 for long-haul flights, $19.95 for 3-6 hour trips, and $14.95 for short journeys. You then get unlimited access for the duration of the flights. Alternatively, you can pay $9.95 for 30 minutes and 25 cents a minute after that. It’s currently a trial service, with a proper agreement possibly in the pipelines in the coming months. Those interested can find the service predominantly on Lufthansa long-haul flights from Europe. Others offering the service include Japan Airlines, Scandinavian Airlines and Singapore Airlines.

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Eurostar goes wireless

We got all excited about the prospect of having wireless internet access to keep us entertained on the channel tunnel journey. Turns out it’s just a wireless hotspot at Waterloo International and Ashford International terminals. You’d have thought they’d have put hotspots up in the stations ages ago, but it seems the ReadytoSurf connection from Broadreach Networks has only just gone up in departure lounges. Vouchers can be bought from the Eurostar ticket office, travel centre or information desks. You can also buy time with your credit card or use an account with one of Broadreach’s partners. All hope is not lost for full wireless service, however. Trials for on-board Wi-Fi begin next year with two different suppliers. Paris already has wireless in the terminal, but Brussels will have to wait till next year.

The most highly specified TV in the world?

Want to see the TV being credited as the world's most advanced? Vivadi's Saturn is on display in Harrods right now. The plasma TV comes with a 46-inch screen, a DVD recorder and a 200GB hard drive recorder (admit it, you'll never watch all those shows you record on it). The hard drive comes with a 14 day EPG (Electronic Programme Guide), which is nice and, as the press release rightly points out, you'll have enough room for all your MP3's on there as well. There's full Dolby Digital and DTS surround sound system with 600 Watts of amplification. Because it runs on Windows Media Centre you can use it as a computer.

We're not sure about you, but for £15,000 we'd expect an even longer spec list than that - strange wood stand or no. The surround sound speakers will set you back a further £7,999.

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Amazon Launches DVD Rental

Amazon has launched a DVD rental service. £7.99 a month gets you four DVD rentals a month and you can have two at any one time. For £9.99 you can have three DVDs at home at any one time and up to six DVDs a month. Users create a list of the DVDs they want to rent and Amazon sends them out as and when. You can keep the DVDs at home for as long as you like without late fees and all that business, but if you want to rent more you'll need to send them back in the pre-paid envelopes provided. Become a rental member and you get 10 percent off all DVD purchases.

Amazon

Commodore 64 gets a relaunch

Obsession with retro gaming continues apace, with the ultimate retro console, the Commodore 64, set to make a reappearance on the UK market. Already out in America, where it apparently sold around 400,000 units on the first day, the console has now hit UK stores. It's not quite the original but we're told this "Direct to TV" unit is so faithful to the original that some C64 DTV users have already added a keyboard and a Commodore Disk Drive.

Available in limited numbers from Gadgets.co.uk with more arriving in 2005.

Britain's Cheapest iPod Rival

It seems that the people at Apple weren't best pleased about AnexTEK using the word "pod" for the CoCoPod. The player's now been re-christened the GP-2000, which is less memorable but also, we suppose, more sensible. Not sure why they couldn't have just kept the CoCo bit though - we're tired of names made up of random letters and numbers. The 20GB player is a very reasonable £140 (down from £240) and while it's on the wrong side of chunky, we were pretty impressed with it when we had a go.

[Edit: Managed to write that whole story without actually giving any specs. Aside from the 20GB memory, the player has a blue backlit display, an SD/MMC card reader and an FM radio. It supports MP3, WAV and WMA file formats.]

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Shower radio

You are cordially invited to join us dancing naked in the shower this Christmas.  We'll be singing like idiots along with Magic FM in a vain attempt to use up the endless supplies of stinky shower gels we receive from distant relatives. The Shower Radio from I Want One of Those will be helping us in this endeavour as will the microphone-shaped sponge that will smell of mildew within a week but will remain in our loving care nevertheless. The radio suckers onto the wall of your shower, while the big twiddle knob lets you turn the volume up and down as you would the temperature on your shower. The Singing in The Shower set will cost you £18.99 - a small price to pay for in-shower entertainment.

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Sagem My X-8

The My X-8 from Sagem certainly has a look that's all it's own with that big screen and those skinny little buttons. It's slightly on the large side, but that's to be expected from a handset that's got a 1.3-megapixel camera and a 262k colour screen. An 8X digital zoom on the camera plus a flash makes this a rather nifty handset for snap happy types and the white finish keeps that torch burning for iPod's minimalist design. A music player, Wap browser, Bluetooth and SD card slot finish off the specs list nicely.

No pricing as yet, but the phone will be out in the new year from Sagem's site.

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Aigo launches another music player

Aigo may be relatively new to the UK market, but the company is certainly making up for it now, with a new music player announced pretty much every week as far as we can tell. The latest is this rather nice looking F660 is, apparently, a "rocket in your pocket". But before your imagination has a chance to ascend to the top shelf, the press release brings you back to cleaner territory with the information that the F660 is made from the same magnesium alloy casing that missiles and rockets are made from.

As with all Aigo's players, the F660 comes with an FM radio and sizes are 128MB for £79.99 or 256MB for £99.99. The Organic LED screen has a two-colour mirror effect and there's also a voice recorder.

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Kwik Save's super cheap HD Player

As Shiraz at the Mirror rightly points out, more attractive music players exist in this world than Medion's hard disk Jukebox, but not many of them cost just £100. 2.5GB of storage and 9 hours' battery life makes this a pretty fair deal as far as we can tell - but who knows what that UI's like to operate.

Also, it does mean venturing into Kwik Save and we haven't done that since we were students looking for super-sized bags of Flumps.

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Games Digest Awards

We're almost done harping on about our awards, honest, but we thought it only fair to alert to the existence of Games Digest's own set of Telewest Broadband Shinys. As with all our awards, the categories veered sharply between sensible prizes for things like "Game of the Year" and "Best Online Game", and less sensible ones like "Milked Franchise" and "Over-hype" of the year.

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B&O's BeoVision 7

We've seen the BeoVision 7 in operation and it's got all the super-swanky features a rich person could possibly require. The people presenting the 32-inch TV were at pains to show us how beautifully finished it was, with all the metal brushed in the same direction. It's the little things, you see. Forget about the sleekly hidden DVD player under the screen, or the large built in speakers along the bottom that go up way past 11, we were sold on the motorised stand that moves your TV to your favoured viewing position at the touch of a button; the adjustable screen that glides every which way with the merest persuasion; and the colour screen that reacts to light, altering the picture settings accordingly.

Anyone got a spare £6k they could lend us?

Bang & Olufsen

Eyetop Video Glasses

If you haven't yet recovered from the ridiculous notion of wandering about with a pair of Oakley Thump MP3 player sunglasses on your head, look away now. Eyetop released a pair of video sunglasses a while ago to, so far as we recall, universally poor reviews. Undeterred, however, the company has done a bit of tinkering and has come up with the latest Eyetop incarnation which includes a DVD player built in. Well, when we say "built in" we mean strapped to your body in a large black carry case that has a faint whiff of bum bag about it. It's priced at 599 Euros and will be at CES 2005.

Eyetop

Orange debuts 3G for consumers

After 3 and Vodafone Orange is to become the third British mobile phone network to launch a 3G offering for consumers. It will debut four new phones next week with two models set to arrive early next year.

To be fair there isn't a huge amount to choose between what Orange is offering and the services already delivered by 3 and Vodafone. Unlike 3 and Vodafone Orange is, however, offering full web browsing via both the handsets and laptops (with the phone functioning as a modem) as part of its tariffs. Subscribers pay £30, £50 or £70 a month for which they can download up to 50MB data. This includes web browsing as well as email and film and news videos from the Orange World site. The pricier tariffs include more voice call minutes. Football videos also cost extra.

We have written about some of the phones before, most notably the Sanyo S750, which will be the service’s signature phone and is available free no matter which tariff punters choose. Other handsets include Samsung’s Z107, a fairly small clamshell which features a large protruding battery; Sony’s Ericsson’s Z1010, which has been available to networks for the best part of two years now; and the LG U8150, which is pretty much the same phone as the LG U8120 as offered by 3. Nokia’s excellent 3G smartphone, the 6630, and Motorola’s C975 will follow shortly.

Subscribers can make video calls – to any 3G network - and watch downloads of sports and movie clips. Orange has also confirmed that it will unveil a 3G version of its SPV smartphone in the spring.

iPod Flash rumours

Regular readers will know that we love a good Apple rumour, and it looks like the iPod Flash rumour we reported on a few weeks back is building momentum. The player looks set to appear early next year, and apparently the company is creating a stockpile of units in anticipation of huge demand for them. The interface and controls are expected to be similar to the iPod and iPod mini while storage capacities look likely to be from 256MB up to 1MB.

Mac Rumours speculates on the design
Macworld - iPod Flash could cost as little as £51
Mocked up images from the MacMind - what no screen?[via Endgadget]

TD Gadget of the Year Award

This was the award that everyone wanted, but only a few gadgets came up to our exacting standards to win a place on the nominations list. Runner Up Apple may have got more column inches with its iPod (and rightly so - it is after all, an iconic gadget that's taken technology into the mainstream) but it was Sky's Sky+ Box that finally won the day. The hard drive recorder has changed the way we all watch TV. OK, it's signalled the death of "event" TV when the  whole country stayed in to watch the same show, being able to record every episode of Corrie means that children everywhere might finally get a bedtime story read to them.

TD Award for Indispensable Mobile

This was a toughie - everyone's got their favourites when it comes to mobiles and one man's top spec, top notch phone is another girl's ugly cumbersome brick. In then end, though, the winner was pretty obvious to all of us. The Orange SPV C500 was a surprise when it was first announced - after all those big, ugly handsets we were expecting more of the same, but the C500 defied all expectation with its tiny size and some rather nice styling. A phone this size that let's you send emails, sychronise with Outlook and browse the Internet - and looks good while it's doing it - is truly indispensable. Nokia's 7610 was our runner up. It may look a bit funny, but the screen and the 1.3mp camera got the judges vote.

TD's award for Must-Chav gadget

It's all very well us giving prizes for the best e-tailer, services to digital music and what-not, but we all know the one you're really interested in is the Telewest Broadband TD award for Must-Chav chav-iest gadget. The Burberry iPod case was probably the favourite to win, but it seems that the judges eyes were caught by something even more townie-friendly and Burberry's lad plaid case was knocked into the Runner Up position. Instead, it was Oakley's Thump MP3 player that impressed the judges with its Chav-attracting potential. We just hope that the guys at Oakley don't send round one of their big, tattooed models to beat us up.

Telewest Broadband Shiny Award Winners Announced

Yes, it's that moment you've all been waiting for, the moment we finally haul our behinds out of our beds to tell you how fantastically well our awards ceremony went last night.

We're pretty much all schmoozed out and our witty repartee is well and truly spent, but we've got just enough energy to let you know  who benefitted from one of our marvellously spangly awards. Keep reading for our list of winners

Tech Digest award for services to digital music

Winner Napster
Runner up Apple

Tech Digest award for the coolest looking computer

Winner Sony Vaio PCG-X505 - A laptop so skinny it is probably powered by celery Runner up Apple iMac G5 - The best-looking iMac since the last one

Tech Digest award for most random place to house an MP3 player

Winner - Oregon Scientific MP120 - It really handles water music
Runner up - Oakley Thump Sunglasses - no one need know you are listening

Tech Digest award for best use for broadband

Winner – iTunes - For the best music download service
Runner up - Skype – Phone the world for nothing

Tech Digest award for best e-tailer

Winner - Amazon – Still the best customer service online
Runner up Ebay – Really good for buying women’s shoes, apparently.

Games Digest game of the year award

Winner - Half-Life 2 (PC) – So innovative it will set the standard for games for the next few years
Runner up - Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (PS2) – Bigger and better than ever

Tell BBC Five Live listeners about gadgets

Want to tell the world about your gadgets. BBC Radio Five Live is looking for an early adopter to talk about their gadget obsession for a programme that goes out over the Christmas period.

Email us if you fancy having a go and we’ll pass on your details.

Telewest Broadband Shiny Awards announced today!

Less nimble-minded readers may already have forgotten that it's our awards evening tonight, so we thought it only fair to remind you. We'll be having an informal awards presentation tonight, mainly because the less time spent handing out prizes and clapping, the more time spent adding to Britain's binge drinking problem. If you want to read the list of nominations again, which include an award for most Chav gadget, the most Bling gadget and an award for shamless pinkness, the Telewest Tech Digest ones are here, the Telewest Shiny Shiny ones are here, and the Telewest Games Digest ones are here.

Casio Exilm in White

We covered the Exilm EX-S100, Casio's latest super slim point-and-click, a month or so ago. But we've never shirked from shamlessly covering the same story twice and we see no reason to change now. You see the EX-S100 is set to be launched in white as well as the standard silver variety, which makes it worthy of another mention. The 3.2-megapixel camera has the distinction of being the (current) smallest digital camera to include an optical zoom lens. That's because it uses a special ceramic lens that means a 2.8X optical zoom can be crammed into the tiny casing. The white one's out in January; the silver's available now.

£349.95 from Firebox

Digital Square PMP

We must confess that we're beginning to lose track of all these hard drive music and video players. Maybe it's just a short term memory loss problem - or maybe it's just that there are so many of the damn things coming out right left and centre that even the best minds would have trouble retaining all the names, makes and specs of these things. We're pretty sure this is a new one, though, so we're just going to plough on regardless and hope for the best. Available from MP3Players.co.uk, the Digital Square PMP1000 is a 20GB hard disk personal video player with a 3.5-inch colour screen. It supports direct coding and will play MP3, WMA, OGG, AC3, AAC file formats.

£350 from MP3 Players.co.uk

Doggie Doorbell

Don't leave your poor dog out in the cold this winter - not when there's a Pet Doorbell in this world. Shut your poor, hapless dog out in the garden to do its business on your lawn and pooch just has to press the pad on the floor to ring the bell. Another option, as retailer I Want One of Those rightly points out, is to put the doorbell inside the house and the dog can ring the bell when it wants to be let out. First you've got to figure out how to train the dog to step on the doorpad, however. No mean feat since it's likely to resent you for being too lazy to take it out for a walk in the first place.

£24.99 from IWOOT

Microsoft gets into blogging

Continuing its grand tradition of waiting till everyone else has done it first before following suit, Microsoft has announced the launch of its own blogging tool. MSN Spaces will allow anyone with a Hotmail or MSN Messenger account to set up a blog for free. The service, currently in test phase, will be supported by banner ads, and users will be able to choose their blog design and upload images and files. The company's got a bit of catching up to do, with the likes of Blogger from Google and AOL's journal service already available, not to mention the countless other software services such as Typepad, Upsaid and Live Journal.

Read

Another iPod contender

Looks like Olympus has just joined the throng of Apple competitors with the launch of two m:robe music players. The hard disk players have been released in Japan, marking the company's first foray into the digital audio market. As The Reg points out, the company obviously feels it would be missing out on a booming market if it didn't launch its own attempt at an iPod "killer". The 20GB MR 500i hard drive comes with a large 3.7-inch colour touchscreen and a 1.3-megapixel in-built digital camera, which gives it a bit of uniqueness in a crowded field.

The MR 100, meanwhile, is the company's iPod mini with 5GB storage. Both players are expected to launch in the US by January and Europe by spring.

Read [via The Register]

Zodiac adds Wi-Fi

While we have been reasonably impressed with the Tapwave Zodiac Palm based PDA/games console we do think it a little short on the features front. In particular its lack of a decent email client and even worse Wi-Fi are criminal. Both seem essential for any PDA even if it does end up spending most of its battery life on Duke Nukem Mobile.

Fortunately Tapwave has today rectified the situation via new software drivers for SanDisk and PalmOne’s Wi-Fi SD cards, both of which are compatible with the SDIO-enabled of Zodiac's two SD slots.

Zodiac owners can now buy a complete Wi-Fi solution from Tapwave for $99 – not sure how much it will cost in the UK, but given exchange rates you are probably best ordering from the USA. For your money you get a Wi-Fi SD card, Wi-Fi software, an enhanced e-mail application, and a Web Browser.

Incidentally the software driver and e-mail application are also available as free downloads from the company's Website.

More top notch games news from Games Digest.

BT hops aboard digital radio bandwagon

Seems like everyone is hitching a ride on the digital radio bandwagon. The latest aboard is good old BT, which today announced its Aviator 10M model. There isn’t a huge amount to say about it apart from it tunes into both digital and FM stations, features an alarm and has five (which seems a bit mean) presets.

It does however boast a record feature which will keep up to ten minutes of radio, enabling you to nip out to the offi, feed the cat or whatever else you fancy and not miss a second of your favourite show. The BT Aviator 10M also has the ability to play MP3s if they are stored on standard SD and MMC Cards.

Its is on sale now for reasonably competitive £129.99

Orange's 3G blitz starts Monday

Well the rumours turned out to be true. Orange is set to announce its 3G offering for consumers on Monday when it will give journos a quick spin with its new handsets.

Some of us have already been there and done that with Orange’s lead 3G mobile – the Sanyo S750.

Orange has also lined up Nokia’s key 3G phone the 6630. There’s no word yet if web browsing beyond the Orange portal will be included in Orange’s 3G tariffs. If surfing is included the Nokia 6630 will be a very attractive option for web obsessives - we should know because we have been using it on the Vodafone 3G network all week. Also on board is LG with the 8150, a slightly different take on the handset that has been doing great business for UK 3G network 3. Completing the range are the rather podgy Sony Ericsson Z1010 and Samsung’s Z107.

As for the network Orange is now claiming that it 3G coverage will be available to 66% of the population – slightly more than Vodafone but still a long way behind 3.

Why Which? is wrong about 3G