May 14 - 12:25am EDT   Philips is preparing to launch two high-end touchscreen phones - the X800 and Xenium X-Connect - which feature large color screens and several luxury features. The X800 offers users a tri-band GSM/GPRS platform, which uses a 2.9 inch touch screen to display information, with a screen resolution of 240 by 400 pixels. It also features handwriting recognition, a 2MP autofocus camera, a MicroSD slot, Bluetooth, and an office document reader. Battery life for the unit sits at 850 hours standby, and 8 hours of talk time. [full story]

May 7 - 12:20pm EDT   Dutch electronics giant Philips is working on its own attempted competitor to the iPhone, leaked information suggests. A Chinese site, CCID, says it has obtained preliminary information on a new Xenium phone, called the X800. Like the iPhone the X800 is designed as a mostly touchscreen-controlled device, with any physical buttons relegated to essential commands; its physical differences consist mostly of a black backing and a more slender profile. [full story]

April 25 - 5:00pm EDT   Philips on Friday unveiled its latest cellular phone, the dual-band GSM M600. The M600 is meant to appeal to music fans, as it offers SRS Labs' WOW equalizer technology to enhance sound quality and simulate 3D surround sound in the MP3, WAV and AAC format files it supports. Otherwise, the phone is optimized for music listening with dedicated navigation hotkeys, and an included set of in-ear headphones as well as up to 40 hours of music playback. [full story]

April 14 - 4:05pm EDT   The Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association today lent support to a movement for new wireless standards by asking that the US government officially license white space frequencies. The organization, which typically represents carriers, is opposing attempts by the Google-backed White Space Coalition to develop and used devices with the deliberately blank spectrum on grounds that the technology could create problems for existing services. By leaving little to no gap between one frequency band and another, new companies using the service could create interference on existing services or cut out space that could be used for background portions of established, ... [full story]

April 8 - 3:15pm EDT   Philips today revealed that it will stop its direct development HDTVs for North America. The Dutch firm now says it will outsource all of the work for both these sets and Magnavox models to Japan-based Funai. The company will handle both manufacturing sets as well as marketing them in the two western countries. The move is cited as necessary to turn around Philips' loss-taking HDTV business, which is successful in Asia and Europe but has struggled in the more competitive North American space through tight profit margins. [full story]

March 24 - 1:10pm EDT   Google has submitted a new proposal to the FCC to develop so-called white-space frequencies in the US, reports say. The frequencies lie in the spectrum between channels 2 and 51 in the television range, but are used by neither satellite nor cable providers; Google, one of the members of the White Spaces Coalition, is proposing that the FCC authorize the use of the space for a "once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to provide ubiquitous wireless broadband access to all Americans," according to a letter by company lawyer Richard Whitt. [full story]

January 7 - 4:45pm EST   Philips today introduced several new home and personal audio products, also a new line of LCD TVs. Pairing up with RealNetworks, the company’s new Streamium NP1100 relies on the 4.5 million track collection offered by Real’s Rhapsody network, as well as internet radio, and PC music libraries to bring audio to the home environment. The device uses a black and white display to show track information, and has a built-in WiFi receiver to connect with users’ home wireless networks. Philips expects to ship the NP1100 in May for $150. [full story]