Denon have released four feature-rich home cinema receivers, with prices starting at just £250. Each model builds upon the feature set of the lower spec one.

All decks including the entry-level AVR-1507 feature:
- Discrete 7.1 amplifier with 7 x 110 W output
- Auto Setup with high quality Audio Technica microphone
- New easy to use ERGO remote
- 32-Bit floating point DSP, full 96 kHz processing, 192 kHz DACs
- Dolby Digital EX, DTS-ES, Dolby Pro Logic IIx, DTS-NEO:6, DTS 96/24
- Audio Delay (0-200 ms), Night Mode
- 8 channel EXT in for future sound formats
- S-Video, 3 component, 2 coaxial digital, 2 optical digital inputs
- Dock Control connector for ASD-1R dock for iPod

On top of that, the AVR-1707 (priced at £300) and above features assignable surround back amplifier for Front bi-amping, digital component video conversion, and 3 assignable component inputs.

Here we go again with another iPod dock. This compact curved CyrusLink LinkDock boasts 4 speaker units, touch sensitive volume keys, remote control of volume, treble and bass, iPod adapter, and line in and out. It features advanced Neodymium and alloy speaker technology as well as a built in amplifier.

It measures 11 x 21 x 10cm so is small enough to fit into luggage, and weighs just over half a kilogram. It does everything else a dock should do, charging and syncing your iPod.

It's actually been out for a little while, and received some decent reviews including a 5-star at What Hi-fi, who said "Quality, value and convenience - the CyrusLink iPod dock has them all. Plug in your player, and you’re off."

It's priced £70

Cyrus Audio

I find that I rarely use a mouse pad these days, as my laser mouse works quite happily on my wooden desk, but if I were to then I might try Lindy's new illuminated mouse pad complete with a 4-port USB 2.0 hub.

Though I haven't seen a spec sheet for it my presumption (always good for being told I'm wrong) is that it's not a powered bus, so you'll probably only get away with low-drain devices (all the really useful things like Christmas trees and mug warmers and fans, plus maybe a camera and iPod dock.

If you're prone to losing your mouse then a glowing blue perimeter on your mat might be just what you need. It looks quite swish (the pink mouse doesn't come with it), and should help with your USB-overloaded digital life.

It costs a very reasonable £14.99.

Lindy web site

Apple, Dell, Toshiba, and now Lenovo: yes another swathe of batteries due for recall because the lithium-ion cell was supplied by Sony.

Lenovo are recalling 526,000 batteries issued since February 2005 with particular serial numbers, though they say it will only affect around 5-10% of the notebook computers they've produced. It follows an incident where a ThinkPad T43 caught fire at LA International Airport (presumably at the time it would've been allowed on a flight - good job it wasn't)

Lenovo say that the way they put batteries in their notebook computers is different from other manufacturers. It's obviously still not immune from the lithium-ion core which is flammable and always carries this risk.

I'm wondering if this is the last recall or if any more manufacturers are going to recall batteries. Roll on silver-zinc batteries, perhaps?

The UK record industry and music writers and publishers, the MCPS-PRS Alliance, have done a 3-year royalties deal with Apple's iTunes and the four mobile networks O2, Orange, T-Mobile and Vodafone so that musicians receive 8% of gross revenue when tracks are sold online, and a lower 6.5% rate when music is streamed.

The UK's online music sales represent the biggest market in Europe, with 34 million 'units' of music already sold this year, so it's something the powers that be are obviously keen to get a fair stake of.

Apparently, though, this is only a partial settlement and a Copyright Tribunal is set to continue for other digital music issues.

I'm all for music creators getting a fair cut for their work (in fact, and it's a long-running debate, they probably don't get a fair cut) - and this is all well and good for these large legitimate services but isn't going to do much for all the illegal downloads going on. It may mean more legitimate music becomes available to these services, though.

The big cheeses of the BBC and Microsoft have met in Seattle to discuss how the BBC can better get its content online and keep at the forefront of technology.

BBC DG Mark Thompson met Bill Gates to sign a non-exclusive deal that will see Microsoft working on plans for the BBC's news archive, a web 2.0 project (BBC beta, perhaps?), and new ways of sharing content.

Thompson is keen that BBC 'embraces the creative challenges of the digital future' and this is a 'strategic partnership' with Microsoft. The two companies aim to find areas of common interest such as search, navigation, distribution, and 'content enablement' (inventing new words might be another area)

Do we want to see a partnership between Auntie and Bill?

New research from ntl:Telewest and Virgin Mobile shows that every 16-year-old they questioned thinks they know more about technology than their parents. Two-thirds of adults regularly ask their under-18 kids to help them with their mobile phone, the internet or TV.

Here comes another silly acronym: these kids are TANKs. Yes, really. Technically Able Noughties Kids. Great.

One-third of these TANKs (I can't carry on using that) have a MySpace account, and over half use YouTube, whereas 82% of adults hadn't even heard of it. Two-thirds of these kids would rather go without food than their mobile for 24 hours (what, no Burger King?)

So, what do you get if ou cross a rubber duck, Star Wars and some LED lights? Duck Fadar - a glowing bath time buddy.

Yes, it looks like Darth Vadar on a raft - but stick it in your bath and it's a nice variation on the traditional plastic duck. But wait, there's more - flick off the light and watch Duck Fadar phase through an assortment of colours for some mood lighting in the bathroom. The LEDs are water-activated, so once you've taken Duck Fadar out of the bath, you'll get a glimpse of the dark side (sorry).

Available now, you can pick one up for £6.95 from Firebox.

Find out more

  Following the lead of Scalextric, another old favourite has gone digital - Hornby - with the launch of their new Digital Command Control (DCC) system, which allows up to 254 locomotives to be 'called up' and controlled individually without lots of messy wiring.

The digital system comes in two variations from October - Select and Elite. A small micro chip processor fitted into each locomotive communicates with the digital unit and responds to any instruction issued to it, such as to move forward, reverse, speed up, slow down or to turn lights on or off. The digital units also allow the user to remotely control the track’s railway points so that trains can be moved onto different sections of track at the touch of a button.

Looking to change your life? You could watch one of the many TV shows or read one of the numerous books on the subject - or if your apathy levels have dipped beyond the point of opening a book, you could visit wemakechangingeasy.com.

The site is pitched as a "motivational hub" to help people overcome apathy when it comes to sorting their finances, as well as other aspects of their lives. You can interact with life coach Pete Cohen by visiting the website, get some motivational coaching from the experts and watch and listen to vodcasts and podcasts from experts covering areas from relationships through to personal finance and banking. And if all that sounds a bit serious, they're apparently throwing in some comedy performances too.

If your problems stem from spending too much time on the internet, it might not help. For anything else, it might be worth a look.

wemakechangingeasy.com

This is, without doubt, the funniest thing I've ever seen in my whole life. We all like to laugh at other people's misfortune... well I do...  and the punchline of this actually made me weep tears of painful laughter. Enjoy.

Mof Gimmers

Samsung has launched another handset in South Korea that we may or may not see in some form, going under the name of the FX.

It's a slider at just 1.9cm thick and with phone and PDA functionality, along with Wi-Fi, digital TV reception and 5.1-channel audio. There's also a 2.4-inch colour screen, front-mounted VGA camera and a two megapixel camera on the back. It features all the call and media playback facilities you'd expect, and of course, with virtual 5.1 audio support, one you wouldn't. According to Samsung, the phone can mix the audio into two channels for a better-sounding stereo experience. Storage of media is on the phone or via Micro SD cards.

No news as yet of it coming to Europe - we'll keep you posted.

Samsung website

Via The Register

Yesterday, we featured Robosapien creator Mark Tilden talking about his latest project - RS Media. If you liked what he said, you'll be interested to know that RS Media is launching in the UK next week, exclusively through Debenhams until October 21st.

RS media combines Robosapien V2's features with some multimedia functionality -  a full colour LCD screen, a USB connector and MP3 and MP4 playback. RS Media can display and store data easily from your PC or play a song through the speakers in his hands. Using the Personality editor, you can edit all his movements, sound files and video files.  You can even assign voice files or choreograph a routine to a favourite dance track.

Once more, our intrepid team has been out and about, trying to get their hands on the latest gadgets to give you a first-hand view of them before you part with your cash. Here's our latest pick of the week.

Fuji S6500fd camera
The Fuji S6500fd is the company's attempt to bridge the gap between compact and full SLR cameras. Do they succeed? Find out below.
Watch the video review

Parrot Photo Viewer
Parrot's Photo Viewer promises to proudly display the photos on your phone in a living room frame. See it in action.
Watch the video review

  So, what's the difference between the Fossil Abacus Bluetooth watch and the Sony Ericsson MBW-100 Bluetooth watch we featured yesterday? Both are made by Fossil and both feature technology from Sony Ericsson to connect to your mobile phone. However, there's a marked difference in looks - and this one retails for around £50 cheaper.

The Abacus was developed from one of Fossil's bestselling analogue watches. In terms of functionality, it seems very similar to the MBW-100, with auto-pairing to your phone to offer caller ID information on your wrist (and the ability to reject a call) via an OLED screen, along with notification of incoming texts by vibration. There's an out of range warning if your phone and watch separate, time/date from your phone and it's water resistant up to 3m. The battery lasts for around 7 days before it needs a charge via AC adapter or USB.

Available in two styles, with a stainless steel case and bracelet or with a stainless steel case and black PU strap. Both retail at £149.99. Check your phone will pair with it before buying.

Find out more

Okay, so it's not the actual pistol used in The Man With The Golden Gun. Instead, this is a replica made to the original specifications, which you can dis-assemble into its constituent parts: pen, cigarette case, lighter and cuff-link. You still wouldn't be able to get on a plane with it, mind. Oh, and it comes with a bullet inscribed '007', in case you happen to meet any pesky British agents who need dispatching. My advice: shoot them first, THEN talk them through how clever you are.

Also today on Bayraider: Michael Jackson gets immortalised in wood, plus a RAWK Guns'n'Roses pinball machine.

Vodafone is launching new sets of tariffs from 1st October - Anynet and Anytime - which removes higher call rates to other networks, with call charges to any network from 10p per minute and texts from 3p.

The 10p call price is for evenings and weekends, whille the text rate is only applicable if you buy a 500 text pack, which retails for £15. The prices will work in conjunction with Free Weekends and Vodafone Stop the Clock offers. In addition, you'll also receive 10% back when you buy a top-up card by credit or debit card worth £15 or more.

All new customers activating after 1st October will go onto the new plans, whilst other customers can switch by calling 2345.

Vodafone website

How many times have you tried to lamely sing along with a tune playing on your PC without really knowing the words? Yes, we know it’s easy enough to look them up on the web, and some music files have the lyrics embedded, but for all those other occasions when you just want to know the words Propellerhead suggests that you try Evil Lyrics. It can be set to open automatically with all popular media players,

If you missed out on the Windows Vista Beta test a few months back, and still want to get your hands on a preview copy of the new operating system, then you’ll be pleased to know that Release Candidate 1 (RC1) which was made available to testers in mid September has now gone public and you can download it direct from Microsoft. RC1 is as near as dammit the final finished product, and this is the very latest version (build 5728), which has a number of small tweaks and improvements. The download is in the form of an ISO file, so you will need a DVD burner and a ISO burning program like Roxio Media Creator, Nero Burning or the excellent freeware utility Imgburn. Just remember, you try it at your own risk so don’t use it on your Sunday best PC, and don’t get too attached, it will self destruct (or probably just stop working), probably around June/July time next year, and there may not be a way to upgrade to the commercial release.

There are times when you want to just check something quickly, or change the volume on the music, or look for a WiFi signal, and don't want to have to open up the whole laptop. For that, Asus has added a second screen to a prototype notebook at the Intel Developer Forum in San Francisco. It's basically a mobile screen embedded in the top of the notebook enclosure, and hopefully has a good rubberized protection on it so it doesn't get scratched all to hell in the first week or so like my Powerbook case. Not that I'm bitter. I mean, er, yes, thanks Asus, great idea! [GT]

Asus sticks a screen on the outside of a laptop [via DigiTimes]

Display your alien, glowing DNA in a GloFrame | Authentic introduces world’s first projection screen with sound | Plasma screen fireplace