AmpliTube 2 Duo bundles Notion Progression...

IK Multimedia today unveiled AmpliTube 2 Duo, a version of its AmpliTube 2 software that is bundled with Notion Music's Progression – an application for creating, learning, and distributing music. When combined, IK claims the pair allows users to create custom sounds using "ultra-accurate" sound models. IK Multimedia and Notion are offering AmpliTube 2 Duo from IK's website, but pricing is not readily available. Existing IK customers can crossgrade for $270.

MacNN reviews new Airport Express, Time Capsule...

MacNN recently posted reviews for both the new Apple Airport Express and the 500GB Time Capsule. Through the course of testing, MacNN's own Wallace Wang found the Express to be a good value for home users, as it supports a wide range of wireless standards, provides printer and audio sharing, as well as compatibility with PCs. The addition of the Draft N standard to the device allows it to remain current with Airport cards in machines.

Adobe clarifies statement on iPhone Flash player ...

Despite Adobe's positive-sounding statement yesterday, CEO Shantanu Narayen clarified that he meant Flash on the iPhone would require more than just the iPhone SDK to pull off successfully. Since Flash requires a very close relationship with Safari – something Apple is normally very hesitant to allow – Narayen says it would need to work closely with Apple to develop a satisfactory implementation of Flash for the iPhone, according to CNET.

Briefly: SanDisk Sansa Fuze review

While many portable media players have been directly compared against one or more of Apple's iPods, few of the larger names in the industry have sought to take on Apple in a direct way. SanDisk has largely been one of these competitors until March, which has seen the company release one of its most direct challenges to the iPod to date and one of the first most obvious challengers to the third-generation iPod nano. Click ahead for the full Sansa Fuze review, which suggests that Apple may have some reason for worry, especially in regards to price.

Apple releases Time Machine, Airport combo update...

Apple today released a combination update for Time Machine, bundling with it Airport driver fixes. What the update actually fixes is unclear, simply stating "This update is recommended for all users and includes compatibility improvements for using Time Machine with Time Capsule, as well as AirPort driver fixes." The update is available through Software Update under the Apple menu, but Apple has not released its typical accompanying web pages on its support site.

FCC ups 'broadband' bar, bans apartment phone deals...

The Federal Communications Commission has voted to change how broadband access in the US is measured, say reports. The old system was been criticized by various parties as distorted, using outdated and overly generous criteria; "high speed" was considered to be 200Kbps or faster, and access was sometimes considered to be widespread in ZIP codes where only one connection was present. Because this produced bad data, the FCC argues that it hindered any serious federal broadband policies, as well as how much investment would be made into infrastructure, whether public or private.

JumpStart converts FileMaker DBs for mobile web...

FMWebschool recently announced JumpStart, a web-based application that allows users to access FileMaker databases from remote locations using a cell phone. JumpStart allows users to visualize their database, and configure which layouts are viewable with which permission sets. FMWebschool is offering JumpStart to FMGateway hosting clients for no charge, while non-client users can pay $10 per month to access the service.

EMI hopes to join Nokia unlimited music deal...

EMI is eager to join Nokia's controversial Comes With Music service, the music label said today in a press conference. The company has revealed that discussions are underway which would add EMI's catalog to the current offerings, which are limited to tracks from Universal. Without detailing the progress of talks, EMI's Finland head Wemppa Koivumaki said he hoped his firm's music would be in place for the official Comes With Music launch in the latter half of 2008.

Adapter allows DVI-over-USB connections...

Gefen has introduced a new USB to DVI Graphics Adapter that allows users to connect additional displays Mac OS X systems. This tiny adapter allows a plug and play connection of a DVI or VGA display to any USB 2.0 port so you can add digital video displays or projectors to your laptop and personal computer for simultaneous video delivery without needing a DVI port. Output video is delivered in the DVI-I format, allowing for either VGA or DVI display compatibility.

Motorola slashing UK design team in half?...

Motorola may cut as much as half of its UK design team, the companysaid today in a statement. All of the 121 staffers at the cellphone maker's Birmingham location have been told they may lose their positions, with roughly half of that amount likely to be laid off in the near future. The location itself may be shut down and see the remaining workers moved to a more central location or else working in a different capacity for the company. Most of the changes will take place sometime after a 90 day period to be used to determine final plans.

Damage Effects for Final Cut debut...

Digieffects has begun shipping Damage, a new set of plugins for video and film post production professionals. Damage is a collection of four effects designed for post production professionals who want to create an extensive variety of digital and/or analog defects, errors and artifacts in their footage. It supports Adobe After Effects, Premiere Pro, Apple Final Cut Pro, Autodesk Combustion and Boris RED.

Verizon sets rules for Open Development...

As promised in February, Verizon Wireless has begun its Open Development Device Conference, explaining how third-party companies will be able to bring their own phones and services onto the network without having them directly integrated. In theory this may render Verizon into something more closely resembling an Internet service provider, as opposed to its current scheme, in which phones must be strictly customized and can only operate on first-party pathways.

Google: Mobile Internet use accelerating...

Mobile Internet use has not only increased in recent months, it has accelerated, according to a Google Mobile product manager. "We have very much hit a watershed moment in terms of mobile Internet usage," says Matt Waddell. He notes that the evidence stems from Google's own penetration into phones such as the iPhone and the BlackBerry, and more generally with devices by Finnish maker Nokia. Google is also introducing a new download for Windows Mobile, which places a search window on the home screen.

Music functions off-limits to iPhone SDK developers...

Any functionality related to music playback is inaccessible by the iPhone SDK, a new report claims. While the SDK allows access to many other functions of iPhone and the iPod touch, such as dialing, the camera and Internet access, The Inquirer writes that any components connected to iTunes are off-limits, preventing developers from accessing one of the most popular features of the phone, next to web browsing and Google Maps.

WD ships two-platter 640GB hard drive...

Western Digital on Wednesday said it had started shipping its 640GB Caviar SE16. The 3.5-inch desktop drive stores less than the 750GB and 1TB drives that have reached shelves but achieves its 640GB capacity using only two platters. With such sheer density, the drive is both faster than some other drives and also runs at cooler (and thus quieter) levels than disks which would need three or even four platters to push past the 500GB mark, according to the company.

X-GEAR 1.1 available for all AmpliTube users...

IK Multimedia has announced that its X-GEAR software, currently in version 1.1, is now available for free to owners of any "Powered by AmpliTube" package, in addition to registered owners of the StompIO floor controller. X-GEAR acts as a unifying host interface for guitar players, compatible with the StompIO and generic MIDI controllers; users mix and match combinations of amp and effects modelers, added via AmpliTude software such as Metal, Jimi Hendrix and Ampeg SVX.

Dell rebuffs claims of high SSD fail rates...

Dell today denied claims that its solid-state drives were experiencing unusually high failure rates. Although it had not been directly linked to the problem by the Avian Securities analysis and instead had been the implied subject only in follow-up journalist reports, the company has effectively admitted that it was the subject of Avian's research but now claims that the analysis was fundamentally flawed, taking no input from Dell itself.

Sonica plug-in syncs Maya to sound...

EI Technology has released the public beta version of Sonica, a plug-in for the Maya rendering suite. The software is used to synchronize animation in Maya to sound; it does this by extracting spectrum and waveform animation from a track, and generating dependency nodes that can be connected to others for different effects. Multi-tracking is supported, and pre-made scripts are included for common representations of sound such as vertical bars.

Sony-Ericsson high-end phone sales drop...

Sony-Ericsson will see lower profits than expected in its next quarter due to a drop in sales of mid- and high-end phones, the company has revealed today. The cellphone partnership now expects to sell a comparatively modest 22 million phones between January and March and should see reduced income as well as a lower average phone price of €120 ($188), showing an emphasis on low-cost phones. The dip is largely attributed to struggling sales in Europe, where Sony-Ericsson has often had its best market success but where it also faces its stiffest competition. Moves are underway to escape dependence on the region but are not far along enough to have affected near-term results.

Study: Electronics spending to crash, may hurt Apple...

American spending on electronics is about to take a sharp slide, suggests a study by ChangeWave Research. In a survey of over 4,400 Americans conducted between February 18th and the 25th, a full 33 percent said they would be spending less on electronics in the next 90 days, versus only 19 percent who said they would spend more. Although "spending less" responses tend to dominate in most months of the year except for the run-up to Christmas, the gap is now the largest it has been since 2002, a factor which may both reflect and harm an already damaged US economy.

Dell reviving handhelds after Acer move?...

Dell is resurrecting its handheld business in the wake of Acer's buyout of E-TEN, market contacts have claimed. Although Dell has repeatedly denied smartphone rumors that have surfaced over the past few months, new information suggests the Texas PC maker wants to return to the Windows Mobile device market it abandoned when it cancelled the Axim last year in a bid to prevent Acer from gaining marketshare in that space. Rather than offer strict PDA-only functions, however, the new Dell handhelds would offer both GPS mapping and smartphone features.

Scribbles 1.2 adds independent layer control...

atebits has released v1.2 of Scribbles, its Mac drawing tool. The software is deliberately simplified, so that users do not have to wade through a sea of menus to produce a quick sketch or illustration; drawing tablets are supported, and users do not have to pre-define the size of their canvas. The update makes several important changes, notably the ability to independently translate, rotate and scale layers, which were previously static.

Sanyo intros Xacti vidcam with 9.1MP stills...

Sanyo this morning boosted the Xacti camcorder line with the CG9. The pocket camcorder records video at standard definition but includes one of Sanyo's sharpest-ever CMOS sensors, allowing it to record native still shots at 9.1 megapixels. Enhanced processing also lets it capture short bursts at five frames per second. For its primary movie mode, the CG9 records using AVC (H.264) and can fit about an hour of high-quality footage for every 1GB of memory on an SD card; SDHC support allows this newest Xacti to hold at least 32GB of storage with the right cards.

Code crashes Safari in iPhone 1.1.4, fixed for Mac/PC...

A new exploit has surfaced for the iPhone's Safari browser that, while drawing parallels to an earlier issue, requires no user input to function. According to iPhone World, the vulnerability is triggered by previously conceived code that has been refined in the above manner. The issue affects firmware version 1.1.4 iPhones, and presumably previous versions. Safari on the Mac and PC were also affected by this vulnerability, but it was recently fixed in Safari 3.1, released today.

Plustek unveils 7200dpi consumer film scanners...

Plustek today unveiled several new OpticFilm scanners, the 7300, 7500i SE, and 7500i AI, three consumer models that feature a scan resolution of 7200 by 7200 dots-per-inch. In addition to offering four-scan multisampling and a multi-exposure engine, the 7500i models feature SilverFast's Infrared Smart Removal of Defects technology, which removes defects on the surface of the film in the scanned image. The two 7500i models will sell for $400 and $600 respectively, while the 7300 is priced at $300.