News Archive for 08/06/19

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Patents: A/V systems for the iPod

06/19, 11:55pm

Patents for AV systems

The US Patent and Trademark Office unveiled two non-Apple iPod-related patents today from two separate parties, demonstrating several styles of audio-visual headwear for the device. The first patent, submitted by Aaron M. Philips of Granite Bay, California, shows a headband with integrated speakers that features a dedicated place for the iPod shuffle. The configuration is also illustrated in a cap-style design. Philips specifically refers to the iPod shuffle in his diagrams and paperwork.

Fabrix padded sleeves for iPhone

06/19, 11:00pm

Fabrix sleeves for iPhone

Fabrix on Thursday unveiled a new collection of sleeves for the iPhone 3G, available in seven different designs. The sleeves are currently offered in the company's Red Damask, Grey Suit, and Chalkboard patterns, as well as the red, pink, green, and blue from the Gingham series. Each sleeve has a quilted inner padding to ensure that the iPhone does not get harmed. The sleeves start at $22, and fit both the 3G iPhone, and the former 2.5G model.

Pro Tools 7.4.2 update for Leopard 10.5.3

06/19, 10:30pm

Pro Tools 7.4.2

Digidesign on Thursday unveiled Pro Tools 7.4.2 for Mac, an update that addresses compatibility problems with Mac OS X 10.5.3 Leopard and Pro Tools 7.4 HD, LE, and M-Powered. The update requires the new OS version, but does not resolve an issue with ATTO SCSI cards that 10.5.3. Digidesign recommends that ATTO SCSI users keep Pro Tools 7.4.1 and Leopard 10.5.1 on their systems.

Safari 3.1.2 for Windows fixes security holes

06/19, 9:50pm

Safari 3.1.2 for Windows

Apple on Thursday unveiled a new security update rolled into Safari 3.1.2 for Windows. Which offers users protection against vulnerabilities with the imaging engine, file saving, and malicious code execution. Users could have been affected by maliciously crafted BMP or GIF files, which could allow assailants to learn what is in active memory at any given time. Safari 3.1.2 for Windows is available through Apple Software Update, as well as the company's support page.

The Princess Bride game suite for Mac

06/19, 5:35pm

The Princess Bride for Mac

The classic novel and film The Princess Bride is now available as a five-game suite, allowing players to interact with their favorite characters, such as Princess Buttercup, Westley, Inigo Montoya, Fezzik, Vizzini, and Miracle Max. Inside Mac Games reveals that the game will feature some of the original movie cast reprising their roles, including Mandy Patinkin, Wally Shawn, and Robin Wright Penn, as well as movie-quality animation. The Princess Bride sells for $20, and will ship June 30th.

InFocus launches X10 1080p home theater projector

06/19, 5:25pm

InFocus' X10 projector

InFocus on Thursday introduced the X10 Full HD 1080p projector in the UK. Part of the company's Home Theater range of offerings, the X10 features a 16:9 native aspect ratio, and a contrast ratio of 2500:1, which can be boosted with a button push to 7500:1 via the company's Active Iris in the lens.

Intel to use Sugar UI in Classmate PC laptop

06/19, 5:00pm

Intel to develop Sugar UI

Intel has been named today as one of the parties developing its own version of the Sugar user interface for its Classmate PC with children as the targeted user. The UI would be based on the version used in One Laptop Per Child's XO educational laptop. OLPC's former executive and current Sugar Labs Foundation head Walter Bender announced about one month ago that his company is talking with four PC makers to supply them with the Sugar user interface.

Sony Ericsson 3G handset for T-Mobile gets FCC nod

06/19, 4:35pm

Sony Ericsson TM506 phone

Sony Ericsson's newest phone, codenamed TM506, was revealed today on the FCC website. The first Sony Ericsson phone to be released on T-Mobile's 3G network, it will use the carrier's 1,700MHz band. The dual-screen clamshell appears nearly identical to Sony Ericsson's Z780a, and should share some if not all of its features, including assisted GPS, integrated email clients and a web browser, along with Bluetooth support.

First Look: CrossOver Mac, Windows virtualization

06/19, 4:30pm

First Look: CrossOver Mac

No matter how much you may love your Mac, there may still be programs that you may need to run on Windows. The simplest solution is to buy a copy of Windows to use on Boot Camp, Parallels, or VMware’s Fusion. Unfortunately, Boot Camp only lets you run either Windows or Mac OS X, but not both at the same time. Parallels and Fusion let you run Windows at the same time as Mac OS X, but all three solutions still force you to buy a separate copy of Windows. To avoid the cost and hassle of buying and using Windows, just get CrossOver Mac 7.0.

Nokia Eseries no "credible response" to iPhone

06/19, 4:10pm

Nokia E71 No iPhone Threat

The improvements made to Nokia's smartphone lineup through the E66 and E71 show no signs of avoiding a slide in the smartphone market, says a new investment note from American Technology Research. While Nokia has been facing increasing pressure at the low end of the phone market, which is often considered the most vulnerable, the new devices may suffer in light of upcoming launches of the BlackBerry Bold and iPhone 3G are now fostering "concerns of competition" among European stockbrokers, who now see Nokia's control of world smartphone marketshare at risk.

Survey: 42 percent considering iPhone

06/19, 3:50pm

42 percent want iPhone

Some 42 percent of the public are interested in buying an iPhone, a new PriceGrabber study suggests. Between May 20th and June 5th, the group surveyed some 3,066 people online, and found that an unusually large number of people wanted the device, while another 4 percent already had one. Of the 54 percent that did not intend to buy an iPhone, 41 percent said it was too expensive, while 22 percent said they refused to subscribe to AT&T. The survey predates Apple's iPhone 3G announcement, in which lower $199 and $299 prices were revealed.

FCC gives Sprint stay on Nextel airwave handover

06/19, 3:30pm

FCC Stays Nextel Handover

The US Federal Communications Commission today said it has reached an agreement with Sprint that will give the cellular company extra time to give up using some of the channels it relies upon for its Nextel-born iDEN network. The company had previously been required to clear out some frequencies by June 26th to prevent interference for new public safety services but has now been given an indefinite but conditional grant to continue using some of its push-to-talk network channels until they become necessary.

Remote Management exploit found in Mac OS X

06/19, 3:05pm

Remote Mgmt. exploit

A new vulnerability connected to Mac OS X's Remote Management feature has been discovered, says the security firm Intego. The issue is specifically associated with ARDAgent, a component of the feature, which has a "setuid" bit set. Running an executable of this type gains root control, and so ARDAagent may potentially be used to gain access to base functions without a password.

AT&T paying Apple $325 per iPhone 3G

06/19, 2:45pm

AT&T iPhone subsidy

AT&T reportedly paying a $325 for each iPhone 3G, an unprecedented dollar amount that would put the device well above competing smartphones and mobile devices in terms of carrier-supplied financial assistance. Oppenheimer analyst Yair Reiner told Barron's that typical smartphone gets a subsidy of about $200, but the iPhone will command a dramatically higher subsidy because of "AT&T's faith in the iPhone's ability to attract new subs and increase ARPU." The report also claims that AT&T is paying Apple an extra $100 for subscribers signed up in Apple stores, for a total commission of $425.

Xohm coming to Boston, Dallas, more soon

06/19, 2:40pm

Xohm Second Wave Expansion

Sprint's next wave of cities to receive its Xohm WiMAX service after Baltimore will focus primarily on Texas and the northeast, the carrier is telling interested customers. In addition to extra launches planned for Chicago and Washington DC, the 4G service should be available in Boston, Philadelphia, and Providence in the New England area as well as its first southern effort in the Dallas/Fort Worth area.

Webstate announces iSharephone for the iPhone 3G

06/19, 2:30pm

iSharephone announced

iPhone enterprise developer Webstate has announced iSharephone, a native application for Apple's iPhone 3G that allows the user to access the Microsoft Office SharePoint portal. Sharepoint is Microsoft Office 2007's server program that allows content management, publishing and collaboration. It also allows people, data and document searches and data analysis. iSharephone, as yet unpriced, will allow users of Sharepoint to access the information from the field.

Dell launches 2709W LCD with DisplayPort

06/19, 1:55pm

Dell 2709W Display

Foregoing a full announcement, Dell today secretly put up the 2709W, its second-ever 27-inch LCD. The 1920x1200 display is touted for its extreme color accuracy and reproduces just over one billion colors, or 110 percent of the NTSC color gamut. It also produces a 3,000:1 claimed contrast ratio and 450cd/m2 of brightness while maintaining a reasonably fast 6ms pixel response time. The new offering is additionally the first Dell display at the size to include a DisplayPort connector that addresses the new computer display format.

Netflix drops multi-user queues

06/19, 1:35pm

Neflix Drops Multi Queues

Netflix is dropping support for multiple queues per account on its movie rental service, the company says in a message sent to subscribers overnight and picked up by Ars Technica. The company plans to drop its Profile Queue feature as of September 1st and will merge all the queues into one, preventing users from individualizing their queues for individual family members and potentially interfering with recommendations. The move is meant to "improve the Netflix website," according to the company, though its plans are unclear.

Innovelis debuts iPod/iPhone "BudFits"

06/19, 1:20pm

BudFits for iPod/iPhone

Innovelis on Thursday announced the release of BudFits, an around-the-ear product that prevents iPod and iPhone earbuds from falling out during physical activities like skateboarding, snowboarding, running, cycling, and other high-energy activities. BudFits are soft, rubber ear-wraps that snap onto an Apple's ubiquitious earbuds. They prevent earbuds from falling out and eliminate the need to tightly wedge the earbuds into the ear canal -- in addition to maximizing comfort and utility. Budfits retail between $9 and $10 at retailers such as Amazon and work with al iPod and iPhone earbuds.

NEC develops tech for 8x Blu-ray recording

06/19, 1:15pm

NEC 8x Blu-ray recording

NEC has developed a technology for 8x Blu-ray burners, a Japanese site reports. Current NEC drives can only burn Blu-ray at 5x, and many other commercially-available models are slower still, or complete lacking in Blu-ray burning. Samples of the 8x chipset are going out to manufacturers; the technology is said to merge a digital signal processor (DSP) with an analog one, the latter originally intended to serve in 20x DVD drives.

Easyishop offers iPhone 3G products to UK

06/19, 12:50pm

iPhone 3G store announced

UK-based Easyishop has announced a new webstore section for iPhone 3G. The shop's main focus is iPhone protection, featuring products such as The Invisible Shield. As the first shipping product for the iPhone 3G, the Full Body Shield offers 100 percent coverage of the phone's screen and body. It claims to use the same technology the military uses to protect helicopter blades. This product will be available for £20 and can be pre-ordered today; it is expected to ship before the iPhone 3G launches on July 11th.

Casio intros new Super Slim projectors

06/19, 12:30pm

New Casio XJ projectors

Casio has revealed information on a new Pro-Series group of Super Slim projectors. The base-level systems fall under a "Super Colorä" line, and are said to have a higher level of color accuracy than previous Super Slims, with a 10 percent larger chromacity region. The units have a 2x optical zoom, a native resolution of 1024x768, and a contrast ratio of 1,800:1, achieved through a 2,500-lumen lamp. Of the two the XJ-SC215 also has a built-in USB host, which lets users view converted PDF, JPEG, BMP and AVI files directly from a flash stick.

NVIDIA quietly reveals GeForce 9800 GTX+

06/19, 12:00pm

GeForce 9800 GTX Plus

NVIDIA today addressed the sudden performance gaps created by the GeForce GTX 200 with a new mid-range video chipset. The GeForce 9800 GTX+ has the same two-slot design as the earlier 9800 GTX but uses NVIDIA's smaller and more efficient 55 nanometer technology to ramp up clock speeds: a reference card's core speed increases from 675MHz to 738MHz while shaders jump from 1688MHz to 1836MHz. Both are intended to give the card better performance against AMD's upcoming ATI Radeon HD 4850 launching later this month.

Gear4 unveils BlackBox 24/7 iPod dock

06/19, 11:55am

Gear4's BlackBox 24/7 dock

UK-based Gear4 on Thursday announced the release of its newest iPod dock, the BlackBox 24/7. The new dock is a 12-hour clock with alarm functionality, has a built-in FM radio tuner, and will play music and charge all iPods with docks. An auxiliary input allows the twin 2.75-inch speakers to play music from more traditional MP3 players as well.

Telstra to enter late into iPhone 3G sales?

06/19, 11:35am

Telstra late on iPhone 3G?

Australian phone carrier Telstra will sell the iPhone 3G, but may be late in joining its peers, writes The Australian. The newspaper cites "people close to the company," who say that while Telstra has perpetually refused to confirm any plans for the iPhone, it has in fact signed a deal; this may be announced by chief Sol Trujillo as soon as next week. Telstra's retail head, David Moffatt, is said to have toured the new Sydney Apple Store last week with a team of executives.

Sprint gives Instinct support for Exchange

06/19, 11:20am

Sprint Mobile E-mail Work

Sprint today hoped to close one more perceived gap between the Samsung Instinct and the iPhone 3G with the launch of Mobile Email Work. The service gives users access to messages from Microsoft Exchange and IBM Lotus Notes servers without requiring a smartphone that already has built-in support. Like the more specialized clients, mail is pushed in real time to the phone while messsage deletes or replies are synchronized with other computers accessing the same mailbox.

Apple patenting cheaper plastic touch panels

06/19, 10:45am

Apple PET Touch Patent

Apple has been developing technology that would let it offer inexpensive multi-touch panels made out of plastic, according to a newly-published US patent filing. The company believes it has discovered a way to drop expensive, thicker glass panels by using polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plastic without the drawbacks associated with the format. The invention would put near-transparent, capacitive wires in rows on one panel and link them to columns on another. A resulting multi-touch panel could be made out of the low-cost material without being wider than its glass equivalent, as with existing techniques for plastic that put all the wires on the same panel.

Suppliers: 10 million iPhones to ship in Q3

06/19, 10:40am

Taiwan: 10M iPhones in Q3

Some 10 million iPhones should ship in the third quarter of 2008 alone, according to component suppliers. The information comes from sources contacted by the Taiwanese industry publication Commercial Times, which adds that Apple's plans to launch the iPhone 3G in 22 countries on July 11th should prove extremely lucrative to the companies' profits. Over 70 countries are expected to have the iPhone by the end of the year, and Apple CEO Steve Jobs has promised sales of at least 10 million units within the 2008 calendar.

Intel makes on-CPU system RAM breakthrough

06/19, 9:50am

Intel On CPU RAM Discovery

Intel has developed an updated technology that could virtually solve questions of memory speed, the semiconductor firm has revealed at its recent Research@Intel event. Developers at the company have created dynamic RAM that behaves like typical system memory but needs just two transistors for each memory cell and which needs no capacitors. The invention makes dynamic RAM small enough that it can be embedded in a processor rather than put into a separate module, potentially eliminating several bottlenecks inherent to the static RAM used for cache on current processors.

Telecom Italia exposes pre-paid iPhone 3G prices

06/19, 9:50am

TIM iPhone 3G pre-pay

Telecom Italia has announced some of its first pricing options for the iPhone 3G. As opposed to most carriers, TIM subscribers will have the choice of pre-paid plans alongside contracts; the former have been announced to be €499 for an 8GB iPhone, or €569 for a 16GB model. These prices are effectively identical to Vodafone's pre-paid options, and both companies will launch on July 11th.

iTunes Store cracks five billion sales mark

06/19, 9:00am

iTunes Store hits $5B

Total, worldwide music sales at the iTunes Store have crested the five billion songs mark, Apple has announced. The store was first launched in April of 2003, and currently hosts over eight million tracks from major and independent labels; it is also hosted in close to two dozen countries, ranging from Canada and the United States to Japan and Australia. Apple additionally claims that it is selling or renting 50,000 movies per day, drawn from a library of more than 2,000 titles. Only 350 of these are in HD resolutions.

Microsoft reverses course on MSN Music DRM

06/19, 8:30am

MS Extends MSN Music DRM

Microsoft today changed its policy on MSN Music content and extended the lifespan of music bought from the defunct music service. The company has removed its August 31st deadline for shutting down its digital rights management (DRM) servers and now says owners of purchased music from the online store can authorize PCs and portable devices until "at least" late 2011, letting users transfer music to new or reformatted devices for another three years.

Lenovo ThinkPad X200 spotted, detailed

06/19, 8:25am

ThinkPad X200 Spotted

Lenovo's ThinkPad X200 ultraportable today has been almost completely detailed through a new leak. The 12-inch notebook now appears set to replace the X61 and, while holding a keyboard as large as for the X300, is small enough to drop the larger system's trackpad in favor of the ThinkPad's characteristic trackpoint. It also has to drop support for an optical drive but should weigh even less than the X61 at 2.9 pounds.

Sony reveals HD vidcam with smile detection

06/19, 7:30am

Sony CX12 Camcorder

Sony on Thursday issued a relatively surprising mid-year Handycam update through the CX12, a new mid-range camera. The handheld is Sony's first to use smile detection and does so to give videographers a hands-off approach to taking photos alongside video; the camera can automatically snap 10-megapixel still photos when it sees smiles without having to interrupt video capture. Like recent Cyber-shots, the CX12 can also prioritize those shots to take photos only of smiling groups or of adults or children. The Handycam can even take these photos in standby mode.

Hidden Expedition: Amazon sequel to hit Mac

06/19, 6:05am

Hiddem Expedition Amazon

Big Fish Games on Thursday unveiled Hidden Expedition: Amazon, its third in the series behind Titanic and Everest, leading players to discover and explore the remains of an ancient, albeit advanced, civilization. Players seek to find the scholar Professor Mandible after he disappears during an expedition to the Amazon jungle. While the PC version is available right now, Big Fish Games will sell the Mac version for $20 in a few weeks.

Troi File Plugin-In 4.5 adds drag and drop

06/19, 5:45am

Troi File Plug-In 4.5

Troi Automatisering has unveiled its Troi File Plug-In 4.5 for Filemaker Pro 9, adding 'drag and drop' functionality to file and media manipulations, as well as numerous bug fixes and 'under the hood' improvements. Adding to over 60 previously available functions, Troi 4.5 introduces support for GPS, XMP and timecode metadata, as well as a 'reveal' feature, allowing users to see the exact location of files and folders on a system hard disk. It requires a copy of Filemaker Pro 7, 8 or 9, and Mac OS X 10.4.5 or higher and costs $90 per user (available immediately).

Aquapac: Waterproof cases for iPhone 3G

06/19, 4:15am

Aquapac cases for iPhone

Aquapac this week announced that its established line of 100% waterproof durable polyurethane cases for first generation iPhones, are also an ideal match for the iPhone 3G. Promising full protection of the iPhone in any season or weather condition, the company says the cases enable full use of the iPhone's multi-touch display, as well as enable sound to pass through from the speaker (or to the microphone). Three sizes of Aquapac case suitable for the iPhone are currently shipping: the action-sport ready Small Armband Case with velcro strap ($35), Mini Phone/GPS Case ($25) and Small PDA Case ($25).

Leaked documentation hints at D700 features

06/19, 12:40am

Nikon D700 features

Purportedly leaked images of promotional material reveal that Nikon is preparing to unveil the Nikon D700, with a full outlay of specifications available to browse. Photography Bay reveals that the camera boasts a 12.1 Megapixel CMOS FX format sensor, with 16-bit EXPEED image processing and 14-bit analogue-digital conversion, all housed in a magnesium alloy body. Images are taken at a native 4256 by 2832 pixels in Nikon NEF, JPEG, or TIFF formats.

Samsung P400 "pocket" projector ships in US

06/19, 12:20am

Samsung P400 projector

Samsung on Thursday unveiled the P400 "pocket" projector for the North American marketplace, a lightweight, miniscule device designed for mobile professionals. The device, unveiled at InfoComm, offers a miniature DLP projector in a tiny, glossy black finish, displaying a resolution of 800 by 600 at a contrast ration of 1000:1. Samsung claims the projector bulb is rated at 150 ANSI lumens, bright enough to display a 30- to 40-inch image in a well-lit office setting.