Author: Stuart Dredge
Rumour: Sony preparing to launch revamped PRS-505 Reader devices
E-Books. Still not big. But give it time: the publishing industry and technology firms are gradually getting themselves into alignment to give e-books a proper marketing push.
Sony’s Reader device could be at the forefront of that, particularly now it’s getting two new models with more internal storage and tweaked controls. The new models are both called the PRS-505, with one being silver and the other being blue.
Orange bags Christmas exclusive on red Sony Ericsson W910
Orange has announced its Christmas mobile phone lineup for the UK, and it includes several high-profile exclusives. Like what? Well, the red Sony Ericsson W910i music phone, for starters (although Vodafone has got its own exclusive on the Havana Gold version).
Logitech beefs up your laptop tunes with AudioHub speaker bar
Fed up with tinny sound from your notebook’s built-in speakers? You’ll be wanting Logitech’s new AudioHub then, which is a speaker bar that doubles up as a three-port USB hub. Oh, and a removable camera stand too, for webcam enthusiasts.
Sony launches three new Net Juke hard-drive hi-fis
Every new hi-fi seems to have an iPod dock these days, but it won’t be long before the manufacturers look to cut out the middleman and get you ripping your CDs to a hard drive inside your stereo. It’s not a new idea, but it’s on the rise.
Sony has just announced three new models in its Net Juke range. The NAS-D55HD, NAS-M75HD and NAS-M95HD come in 80GB or 250GB flavours..
PSP firmware 3.70 arrives with hot new features including, er…
Okay, so there’s rarely dancing in the streets at the arrival of a firmware update for PSP, so 3.70 shouldn’t be criticised for being a trifle underwhelming.
New features include the ability to listen to music while browsing photos, custom themes support, a scene search during UMD movie playback (for all those users who watch UMD movies. Both of you.) and custom button assignment during Remote Play. It’s an evolution, not a revolution, kids. And custom themes do sound cool.
Six Apart launches Typepad blogging for iPhone and iPod Touch
How d’you fancy blogging with an on-screen keyboard? iPhone users are about to find out, thanks to Six Apart’s launch of an optimised version of its Typepad blogging platform. And guess what? It’ll work on the new iPod Touch too.
The latest wheeze to punish P2P downloaders: bill them!
US firm Nexicon says it’s signed up “a motion picture studio” for its GETAMNESTY program, which aims to charge P2P downloaders for the files (films, in this case) that they’ve illegally downloaded.
Nexicon hasn’t named the studio, so it’s unclear whether it’s one of the big guys or not. I’m a bit unclear on how GETAMNESTY works, other than the original press release’s promise that it “enables copyright owners to identify violators with precision, document specific copyright infringements perpetrated by the same infringer, and obtain compensation efficiently and cost effectively”.
V_Bot: the dancing Transformer that plugs into your MP3 player
Actually, just to be clear for the watching trademark lawyers, V_Bot isn’t a Transformer in the official sense. But RC2’s new toy is heavily inspired by Hasbro’s bot brand, being an “evolving action vehicle” (i.e. a car that turns into a robot).
Fujitsu Siemens launches eco-friendly Scaleo PC Green Edition
Sadly, Fujitsu Siemens hasn’t opted to make its new eco-friendly computer ACTUALLY green, which would’ve been a neat design touch. So it’s a regular grey-box PC that won’t be causing you sleepless nights over whether to display it in the living room (clue: No).
But its appeal goes beyond mere looks. Apparently, the Green Edition Scaleo’s software has been developed to reduce its power consumption, while its internal citcuit board has been manufactured in an eco-friendly stylee to reduce the PC’s carbon footprint.
Lamborghini Reventon: the million-euro supercar inspired by fighter jets
As you may have gathered, there’s a low-profile little motor show going on in Frankfurt this week. Now, I can’t drive, have no interest in Top Gear, and fear the open road. But I do know a dribbleworthy concept car when I see it. And I see it in Lamborghini’s new Reventon.
