Author: Andy Merrett
3 to launch one-touch YouTube mobile phone in UK early next year
With all the fuss surrounding the likes of the iPhone (O2) and the HTC G1 (T-Mobile), it seems that 3 is feeling a little left out, and so has said that it will launch a Sony Ericsson Walkman phone offering one button access to YouTube.
Due to be launched first in Italy, followed by the UK early next year, the phone will allow users to upload videos directly to YouTube. Sounds like a recipe for disaster as it becomes even easier to upload videos of drunken nights out. According to 3 Italia, mobile service usage increases by around one-third when direct access is supported — in other words, stick a button on a mobile phone that gives access to just one service, and people are more likely to use it. Magic…
Sky looking to take over Tiscali broadband
Not only is Sky spending heavily on advertising at present, hoping to improve upon its recent increase in subscribers, but it could be about to bid a cool £450m for the broadband provider Tiscali.
If Sky’s take-over of Tiscali, with around 1.2m broadband subscribers, is successful it would put its broadband business into third place, behind BT and Virgin Media…
JVC rolls out PVR-integrated LCD TVs
JVC has announced its new DE9 series of LCD TVs featuring built-in 160GB hard disc based PVR and Freeview tuners.
Available in 26- and 32-inch screen sizes, these are HD Ready sets with a screen resolution of 1,366 x 768, so won’t display full 1080p content without scaling it…
O2 changes mobile broadband based on consumer survey
Consumer surveys are all very good for finding out what people like and don’t like, but so much the better when a commissioning company takes note of the results and changes its product accordingly.
So it is with O2, which carried out a survey of consumers to find out what they thought of mobile broadband.
Over one in ten responded by saying that they felt they’d been mis-sold a package, with a third saying that they were paying more than they believed the deal stated, while one-fifth cited poor coverage as a bugbear. Around one in six said that there was no returns guarantee if the service wasn’t right for them, while half wanted free use of Wi-Fi hotspots as standard…
Vodafone taking pre-orders for BlackBerry Storm, still no release date
Reminiscent of the iPhone 3G launch, but still without an actual release date, Vodafone is now taking pre-orders for the BlackBerry Storm 9500.
Presumably it’s expecting a lot of pent-up demand for RIM’s new consumer-friendly handset, but it would be nice to know when exactly it’s arriving here.
What we do know is that, if you want it for free, it will cost you a minimum of £40 per month on an 18-month contract, or £35 per month on a two year contract. All plans seem to come with unlimited texts, but unlimited email and Internet usage appear to only be available on higher tariffs…
Tech Trumpet: Synth in the Pond
Welcome to another iPhone-inspired Tech Trumpet.
Following on from iPhone Bloom comes this interesting “music” created with SynthPond (iTunes link) by Zach Gage. It’s all quite random but you can get some nice ambient sounds from it…
Pioneer announces HDJ-2000 professional DJ headphones
I should probably have left this announcement for our resident DJ Duncan, but as an aspiring one (and resident trumpeter) I’ll bring you the news that Pioneer has just announced its HDJ-2000 professional DJ headphones.
Let’s take a look at the specs:
These fully-enclosed dynamic headphones have a decent frequency response of 5Hz-30kHz, 36Ω impedance, 107dB sensitivity, and 3,500mW maximum power input. They are constructed with 50mm dome type drive units and come with a 1.2m-long coiled type connecting lead which connects via mini-XLR…
PNY launches SDHC memory cards aimed at netbook users
PNY has managed to re-brand the humble SDHC memory card, calling it an SDHC NetBook Memory Card, and aiming it at netbook PC users who want to increase the capacity of their lowly portable machines.
Forget that SDHCs are used in a variety of portable devices already. PNY’s SDHC NetBook Memory Card comes in 8GB and 16GB capacities so is perfect for upgrading the oft-minimal built-in storage of netbook computers.
Next month, PNY is even going to upgrade its range of cards to suit netbook users. Can you tell that I’ve run out of things to say about memory cards and netbooks?
TomTom announces Go Live x40 sat-nav with petrol price-tracking tool
TomTom has announced that its latest satellite navigation system, the Go Live x40, is the first to contain a petrol price-tracking tool.
In the current economic climate (are you fed up with hearing that yet?), an automated tool which helps motorists to find the cheapest petrol is arguably more useful than having access to all the historic landmarks in Dorset (great though that is).
In fact, TomTom has calculated that each driver using the system could save an average of £162 every year (based on the user driving an average of 12,000 miles per year, 7.4 miles/ litre, at a saving of 10p per litre, in case you were wondering)…
