03:06 AM by Alexander Turcic in Miscellaneous | Lounge

As I am currently writing a market study on the optical media market, I find the following article from WSJ more than just interesting: In fact, I find it fascinating, because it confirms my belief that the market is (not yet) ready for High-Definition DVDs (Blu-ray, HD-DVD).

Directly from the article:

At a recent private meeting with Hollywood studio heads and tech czars like Microsoft Corp.'s Steve Ballmer and Hewlett-Packard Co.'s Carly Fiorina, Mr. Jobs argued that studios shouldn't license their movies for use in the planned "high-definition DVD" format until Hollywood is assured by the tech industry that the discs can't be copied by new DVD burners that will come along. High-definition DVDs are being developed as a successor to the current digital-video-disc format and are expected to be on the market by next year, along with high-definition DVD burners.

Mr. Jobs even suggested that high-definition DVD burners not be bundled with computers at all -- a scenario he said in an interview was "extreme" and one that "I hope we don't have to get to, but it helps to put the issue in perspective." He said it is up to the tech industry to prove to Hollywood that high-definition content can be adequately protected.

I think Jobs has a point. Besides, I believe that big consumer electronics makers such as Sony only want to keep introducing new formats to stay ahead of competitors in China and Taiwan who have become a huge force in supplying cheap players and burners. But are consumers ready again for yet another fight in the market between competing DVD (Blu-ray, HD-DVD) formats?

02:53 AM by Colin Dunstan in Archive | Portable Audio/Video

With the Oceanic H2OAudio Player you can now play your MP3's from the depths of the worlds oceans (e.g. Scuba diving, free diving, snorkeling), or other wet locations (e.g. in your morning shower). The player includes 64mb (USD $449.95) to 512mb (USD $649.95) of built-in memory to deliver from 2 to 16 hours of CD quality tunes.

03:03 PM by Colin Dunstan in Archive | Handhelds and Smartphones

According to Pocket-Lint, Intel designed and created a surf board that had a built in wireless laptop in it. The board makes its first appearance at the GoldCoast Oceanfest at the North Devon free sports and music festival this weekend.

"The surfboard allows surfers to check their emails, surf the web (literaterally) and even record the footage of themselves catching the best waves. The tablet laptop based on Intel® Centrino™ mobile technology allows a wireless Internet connection from the surfboard to a ‘hotspot’ on the beach," says the article.

Now, and you really thought that you already knew web surfing?

02:42 PM by Colin Dunstan in E-Book General | Deals and Resources (No...

Library Journal, a bimonthly magazine, started the first American best-seller list based not on book sales but on demand at public libraries. Unlike those best-seller lists from NYT or Amazon, this one tells us what we're actually reading as opposed to what we think we ought to be reading, or would like other people to believe we're buying.

02:33 PM by Colin Dunstan in Archive | Handhelds and Smartphones

I always wanted to own one of these flash drives... now look at this one: 1 GB memory!

The new Crucial Gizmo! Hi-Speed version is faster than ever, and can move data at speeds up to 480 megabits per second. All that power in a sleek device that you can handily attach to your key ring! It also comes with integrated security and is available in 64MB, 128MB, 256MB, 512MB and, as I mentioned before, 1GB (enough space to store an entire movie encoded in divx).

11:05 AM by Colin Dunstan in Miscellaneous | Lounge

Perhaps not the latest news, but it was new to me and I think worth to be mentioned...

MobileRSS.net enables you to view RSS feeds from anywhere on any mobile device. It converts your favorite feeds into a webpage format that can be used as a channel by any offline or online browser.

Click here to see how it works with MobileRead.com.

08:32 AM by Zire in Archive | Handhelds and Smartphones

Hey All,

Another cool app to report.

The name of the site is deceiving but the name of the app says it all! Turn your camera enabled palm into a web cam!

Use your Palm as a Webcam!

Find it at Clie Video's Site.

From the Site

Palm Webcam lets you use your camera equipped Palm OS handheld as a USB Webcam!

The included Windows WDM driver allows for using a Palm handheld with a built-in digital camera as a Webcam with Windows applications that makes use of regular webcams.

The Windows application Palm Webcam PC displays the video from the camera and lets you change the webcam settings.

You will be able to select your Palm as the camera source in your favorite Webcam, Instant Messaging and Video Capture applications. These include widely used applications such as MSN Messenger, Yahoo Messenger and Windows Movie Maker.

Palm Webcam requires a PC running Windows 2000 or Windows XP.

All Palm OS models with a built-in camera are supported.
These are currently Sony CLIE NR70V, NX70V, NX73V, NX80V, NZ90, UX40,UX50, TJ27, TJ37, TH55, palmOne Zire71, Zire72 and Treo600.

Enjoy the new webcam capabilities of your Palm!

06:20 AM by Colin Dunstan in Archive | Handhelds and Smartphones

InformationWeek runs an article on how El Camino Hospital in Mountain View, Calif., last week became one of the first hospitals to provide high-speed wireless access to patients and visitors at its hospital campus and two off-site dialysis centers.

Access is free, but visitors will be charged $3 for 24 hours of access starting in September. Patients will likely continue getting free access. Patients or visitors need to have their own computers or PDAs.

I only hope that WiFi-rays are really not bad for your health...