10:03 AM by brahamt in Archive | Portable Audio/Video

Check out an announcement for the integration between two of my favorite products; the Apple iPod and BMW.

Unfortunately, the article does not specifically state my Beemer (a 5 series), but something interesting nonetheless. With Alpine announcing an iPod adapter, you might start to see the iPod replace CD changers and those custom MP3 player solutions.

iPod/BMW

09:19 AM by Colin Dunstan in Archive | Handhelds and Smartphones

At its annual "Nokia Connection" conference in Singapore, Nokia showcased a live end-to-end mobile phone (also referred to as "media device") 7700 TV broadcast over a handheld Digital Video broadcast which would be introduced at the pilot level in 2005.

The Nokia 7700 media device enables users to view web pages with a full Internet browser over high-speed mobile networks on a 65,000 color touch screen optimized for viewing Internet content. Additional features include music and video playback and streaming, an integrated VGA camera, FM radio, multimedia messaging support, as well as a full complement of personal information management features.

One step further away from the PDA?

09:06 AM by Colin Dunstan in Archive | Handhelds and Smartphones

Philips has has announced a new 802.11b low-power WiFi LAN and Bluetooth semiconductor "system-in-a-package" (SiP) solution specifically designed to operate at the same time in small form-factor systems such as smart phones, PDAs and other portable devices. "This means a consumer can use a mobile phone equipped with a Bluetooth wireless headset to make a call while using the same phone to simultaneously check information on the Internet via a WLAN network - without experiencing interference", according to Philips.

Philips' new chips will be sampling in July 2004 and will be available in production quantities in Q4 2004.

08:35 AM by Colin Dunstan in Miscellaneous | Lounge

The Yankee Group has an interesting 33-pages report predicting what will influence consumer, business and enterprise adoption of new technologies and services in 2004. One major coverage includes Wireless/Mobile. The report is (still) available for free after a quick and painless registration.

Summery of some interesting prediction and forecasts:
- In the US, subscribers are expected to grow by 7.2 percent from approximately 152 million at the end of 2003 to 163 million by the end of 2004

- At least 6% of the U.S. population will have hung up their landlines for good. Wireless minutes of use (MoU) will continue to grow from 550 monthly in 3Q 03 to 650 or more by year-end, as mobile substitutes for the fixed network

- Penetration of wireless and mobile services will grow to 27.4 percent of the world's population by 2007

- Price competition will continue in the U.S. wireless market, culminating in more widely available, virtually unlimited voice plans by the end of 2004

- Microsoft will gain share in the wireless handset OS market, leaving Symbian and Linux to make critical business decisions

- Nokia’s global handset market share will remain stable in 2004, but the dynamics of its primacy will change.

06:04 AM by Colin Dunstan in Archive | Handhelds and Smartphones

PDA Buyer's Guide reviews the Sony VAIO U50/U70, the hybrid PC/PDA that has beaten both the FlipStart and OQO to market.

They like the fact that it has a touch screen that works with any PDA stylus, is incredibly small and portable yet runs Windows XP, has VGA, USB 2.0, Firewire ports, wired Ethernet (802.11g), a Memory Stick slot, and a CF slot.

They don't like the price. $2199 (U50) and $2699 (U70).

Only one question: Why should it be necessary or any beneficial for a small device such as the U50/U70 to run Windows XP? Long-boot times are not very convenient for an "on-the-go" device like this one...

11:23 AM by Alexander Turcic in Miscellaneous | Announcements

Contest #1: The three registered visitors who will be most active in our community during the next two weeks will each receive an invite to an Gmail e-mail account. Inappropriate or otherwise nonsensical posts are ignored. This contest will have three winners. Deadline: June 29, 2004

Contest #2 The three registered visitors who give us the most constructive feedback how we could improve our site in future (please explain in detail what you would like us to change or add) will each receive an invite to an Gmail e-mail account. Feedback should be posted here. Inappropriate or otherwise nonsensical posts are ignored. This contest will have three winners. Deadline: June 29, 2004

How to enter: Both competitions are open to all registered visitors. If you don't have an account, register now. After creating an account join the discussion on the board. Its that simple!

Team members (Administrators, Moderators, Editors) are excluded from both contests

09:21 AM by sUnShInE in Archive | Handhelds and Smartphones

A U.S. company that claims it owns rights to some of the key technology used in the BlackBerry e-mail products announced yesterday that it has reached a licence agreement with cellphone manufacturer Nokia.

NTP Inc., a Virginia company that won a jury decision last year against Research In Motion Ltd. (RIM), maker of the BlackBerry, said its licence agreement with Nokia covers five U.S. patents at the centre of the legal dispute.

As you may well imagine, this is huge news in the cellphone market. Nokia had been waiting patiently since late 2002 for RIM to settle its patent disputes with NTP before offering the BlackBerry service on its cellphones. But now it seems that Nokia is tired of waiting. To cover its legal butt, Nokia has licensed patents directly from NTP. According to The Globe and Mail, a source familiar with the litigation between RIM and NTP suggested Nokia had "secured an insurance policy pending the outcome of the appeal", which is expected within the next few months.

More importantly, the move gives Nokia legal footing to begin the introduction of the BlackBerry service into its cellphones. Nokia's 6820 will be the first phone to ship with the BlackBerry service, expected to hit the U.S. in two to three months. Devices with the service have already been available outside the U.S.

The 6820 features a clamshell flip cover that turns the unit into a full QWERTY keyboard. Read more from CNET and the NTP press release, or a review from PDA Buyer's Guide.

12:28 PM by Colin Dunstan in Archive | Handhelds and Smartphones

According to NYT, Digital media company RealNetworks Inc. and Starz Encore Group launched an online flat-rate movie download service in the US this Monday. The service costs $12.95/mth. and will give access to currently hundred movies, including titles such as "Finding Nemo" and "Pirates of the Caribbean".

What makes me wonder is the quality of those downloads. Reuters mentions a 20-minute download time for each movie, which seems way too small to download a high-quality file that would be similar to DVD quality (a DVD encoded in XviD or DivX is still around 700 MB, and I believe most users won't be able to download such a big file in 20 minutes).