« April 2007 | Main | June 2007 »
Apple Debuts iTunes Plus: Bye-Bye DRM
Thanks to its recent deal with big music publisher EMI, iPod owners will
now be able to download music without the dreaded DRM (Digital Rights
Management) copyright protection software. Of course, there will be a price to
pay in the shape of a 20p bump in price to 99p per download.
This is not so bad though since the DRM-free 
tracks are double the
quality of regular iTunes downloads. Tracks are encoded at 256kbps, versus the
usual 128kbps. In addition, iTunes users can upgrade any previously downloaded
EMI tracks or albums to the higher quality versions [20p per track or
around £2 per album] with a single mouse-click.
“Our customers are very excited about the freedom and amazing sound
quality of iTunes Plus”, said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “We expect more than
half of the songs on iTunes will be offered in iTunes Plus versions by the end
of this year”.
Eric Nicoli, CEO of EMI Group, commented: “This is a tremendous
milestone for digital music, Consumers are
going to love listening to higher quality iTunes Plus tracks from their
favourite EMI artists with no usage restrictions”.
apple news itunes DRM TV music
iPod Gets First DAB Radio Portable
Digital radio specialists Roberts Radio and Frontier Silicon have teamed
up to create what they claim is the first DAB/FM plug-in for iPods. It’s also
possibly the smallest DAB radio on the market. 
The small, egg-shaped device
measures 52.4 x 32.0 x 8.1mm and is based on Frontier Silicon’s Kino 2 DAB IC.
It can also be used to browse and control music stored on the iPod.
iPod owners – and there are millions of them in the UK - have often complained
that they cannot receive radio broadcasts. Now, both companies are hoping the
floodgates will open when the £50 DAB egg launches this October, in time for
the all-important Christmas rush.
“The iPod lets listeners take their music collection with them wherever
they go,” said Leslie Burrage, CEO of Roberts Radio. “With this accessory they
can now choose to listen to live DAB or FM broadcasts anywhere they take their
iPod – a must have for the Christmas present list!”
Anthony Sethill, CEO, Frontier Silicon added: “Our world-class
engineering team has designed a technology first – the smallest and
lowest-power DAB radio available. It’s
an exciting initiative that will bring a new generation of listeners to DAB
radio and greatly increase the penetration of DAB across Europe.”
Mordaunt-Short Sounds Out New Speakers
Mordaunt Short has unveiled details of a new family of high-quality, midrange
speakers for hi-fi lovers and has promised a home cinema version is coming
soon.
Due in September, the Mezzo range currently comprises the Mezzo 2 stand-mount
and Mezzo 6 floor-standing speakers. Mordaunt Short are already well regarded for
making excellent 5:1 surround packages that look good and don’t break the bank.
Taking centre-stage in the new curved 
speakers will be the company’s Aspirated Tweeter Technology, which comes from the high-end Performance series.
It’s represented by a 25mm aluminium dome tweeter with vents in the top that,
apparently, allow it to ‘breathe’ in audio terminology. The result is meant to be a wider and more detailed sound.
The Mezzo 2
and 6 speakers will be priced at £400 and £800, respectively.
Sonos Wireless Music System Gets Cheaper
The Bundle 130 is designed to let you play and control your music
wirelessly in two rooms. The company says the £699 bundle is a direct response
to European customer feedback demanding a cheaper introductory bundle. The
company’s products have received consistently good reviews but people have
always complained that they were too expensive. The new bundle is 20 per cent cheaper
than the price of the individual components.
The 130 comprises the Sonos ZonePlayer 80 (ZP80), 
one ZonePlayer 100
(ZP100) and one Controller 100 (CR100). You hook up the ZonePlayer 80 to your hi-fi
system or home cinema kit, while the ZonePlayer 100 can be connected to
speakers anywhere in the house. The remote controller can then be used anywhere
to access your digital music library, streaming the music to the speakers via
the ZonePlayer 100.
“Sonos strives to make it easy for consumers to purchase, set up and
enjoy music all over the house with our wireless digital music system,” said
John MacFarlane, CEO of Sonos. “This new bundle is the best value for a music
lover to enjoy music in two rooms and control it all from the palm of their
hand.”
Find out more about the Bundle 130 here.
The First Heated Keyboard
I’m not sure how cold your workplace has to be in order to justify
buying a heated computer product, but would you buy a heated keyboard?
We are all familiar, and bored, with the many heated computer mice out
there but the V8 Tools Heated Computer Keyboard claims to be the first keyboard
with inner fire. 
It comes with two heat settings: Low heat (85-90 degrees
Fahrenheit) which is normal hand temperature and High Heat (95-100 degrees
Fahrenheit) which is classed as normal body temperature.
It consumes 20Watts which isn’t a lot and the heat can be turned off
once the blizzards pass. Still, it’s hardly a design icon. The heating
technology might be 21st century but the styling stopped somewhere
back in the 1990s.
You freezing hordes can pick it up here for under £24.
The PSP Phone From Sony and BT
The PSP is
set to become a phone, Internet browser and video conferencing tool thanks a
new deal between Sony and BT.
BT and Sony Computer Entertainment Europe
(SCEE) have signed a four year deal to help transform the PSP by adding
wireless broadband functionality including high quality handheld video calls,
voice calls and messaging. The announcement confirms rumours that Sony was planning to expand the
PSP beyond its gaming and entertainment roots.
There are
24 million PSPs around the world, 8 million of them in EMEA. A deal like this
is certainly going to give some Apple honchos something to think about, just a month
before the official US launch of the iPhone.
BT will be
Sony's lead wireless communications 
partner across 102 SCEE territories but the
UK – for a change – will be the first the to get the new PSP extras. Whenever
it arrives, that is, since no date has been set. The technology used will based
on BT’s IP-network, 21CN, and will add BT Broadband and other ’softphone’
products to the PSP.
Sony
recently launched its clip-on Web-cam, the Go-cam [pictured] and it’s now good to know
that the PSP with added wireless broadband features, will be able to do more than just capture that video.
Steve
Andrews, BT chief, mobility and convergence, commented: “The PSP is an
excellent device for both gaming and communications, because of its high
quality screen and audio capabilities. With over 8 million PSPs shipped across
Europe, we are very excited by the opportunity to give customers a whole new
communications experience, connecting and seeing friends across the world
through BT’s technology.”
LG Says ‘Touch Me’
Measuring 51.5 x 90 x 10.4mm, it’s a neatly sized and good-looking
player with a brushed aluminium finish and a touch-screen – a feature that is
becoming increasingly popular.
It supports playback of a wide 
variety of file formats, including
MP3,WMA and OGG music files, BMP, JPEG, and GIF photo files and MPEG4, WMV, and
H.264 video files. Videos can be displayed on the 2.4in LCD display with a
resolution of 320×240 pixels. LG’s Mobile XD promises to boost picture quality
by automatically adjusting colour, contrast and brightness. There’s also the
10EQ graphic equaliser with numerous presets.
It connects to the PC via USB 2.0 for file transfers and it has 4GB of
memory, which is average but nothing to write home about. There’s no price or
availability on this yet but you can see all the specs on LG’s site here.
Steinway Moves From Pianos To Hi-Fi
World-famous piano maker Steinway & Sons is to enter the world of high-end audio by launching a limited edition series of audio-video equipment.
The company has teamed up with Lyngdorf Audio to creata
lovely looking series of audio video products under the name, Steinway
Lyngdorf. The joint ventures says it will offer:
“Unsurpassed performance, exceptional
value and, most importantly, an extraordinary experience for discerning
clientele the world over.”
If £75,000 represents ‘exceptional
value’ then this Model D music system could be the brand for you. It comes with
a full set of speakers and a receiver that uses Lyngdorf’s RoomPerfect
automatic acoustic calibration system, so that set-up is easy in any
environment.
“We have sought for 
some time to expand the Steinway & Sons brand
into the high performance digital sound system market," said Steinway
& Sons executive vice president, Frank Mazurco. “In Peter Lyngdorf, one of
the audio industry's most respected innovators and pioneers, we have found a
kindred spirit in terms of an uncompromising commitment to excellence, incomparable
craftsmanship and quality. Steinway Lyngdorf creates products that are truly
worthy of the Steinway name, offering unsurpassed performance, exceptional
value and, most importantly, an extraordinary experience for discerning
clientele the world over.”
There are only 100 of these planned
so get saving now.
music speakers steinway home entertainment
Amazon To Dump DRM Music
The
company aims to open a digital music store in a few months that will sell
millions of songs in DRM-free format from 12,000 record labels. This is good
news for consumers, who will be able to burn them to CDs or transfer them
easily between different types of music players or computers.
Digital Rights
Management (DRM) technology was introduced to prevent piracy but prevents
people from doing what they like with the downloaded music they have paid for.
Amazon
will be dipping into the vast stores of record label EMI, which recently became
the first of the ‘Big 5’ record labels to dump copyright – albeit for a small
price through Apple’s iTunes.
“Our
MP3-only strategy means all the music that customers buy on Amazon is always
DRM-free and plays on any device," said Jeff Bezos [pictured], Amazon.com founder and
CEO. “We're excited to have EMI joining us in this effort and look forward to
offering our customers MP3s from amazing artists like Coldplay, Norah Jones and
Joss Stone.”
“Amazon has been an important retail partner of ours, and we are delighted they will be offering consumers EMI's new premium DRM-free downloads in their new digital music store.”
The
arrival of heavy-hitter Amazon to the DRM-free camp is a big boost and may,
hopefully, force the other major music labels to start offering some form of DRM-free
music downloads.
The First OLED Keyboard Costs £790
The long-awaited and elusive Optimus Maximus keyboard, featuring
innovative OLED displays on each of its 102 keys has just gotten its price tag:
£790.
The stunningly expensive keyboard from Russian designer, Art Lebedev,
has been the stuff of legend for the past two years and has undergone a number
of changes in its roller-coaster development. 
Most notably has been the
inability of its maker to stick to a deadline, with the keyboard arriving over
a year later than originally planned.
However, in three days time people with the best part of £800 to spare
will be able to pre-order the Optimus Maximus for delivery in November. The
small, 48 x 48 pixel displays under each key can be programmed using special
software to display different images.
The high cost of the keyboard has been attributed to the cost of OLEDs,
which worked out at around £4 per key. Only 200 keyboards are expected in the first run
but expect them to sell fast, despite the heart-stopping price tag.
We prefer the Steampunk Keyboard anyway.
news technology gadgets keyboard oled
The First HDTV Fridge
This double door 
LG fridge, sporting an ice-maker on one door and a 15in
HDTV with digital TV tuner on the other, was unwrapped at the recent 2007
Kitchen & Bath Industry Show in Las Vegas. There’s also an FM radio and
a port for hooking up a DVD player.
For those that can’t be bothered to look out the window, the new fridge will also deliver personalised weather forecasts based on your geographic area. It features a ‘recipe bank’ that stores a 100 pre-installed recipes from the Culinary Institute of America.
There’s also a handy child lock to keep little Johnny away from the
Haagen Daaz. It’s due out next month – in the US to start – and will cost
£2,000.
news technology gadgets home lifestyle geek shopping
Pioneer’s Luxury LX01 Home Cinema
Pioneer has just announced the LX01 Home Cinema System, centered around
its 250GB hard disk drive recorder, with in-built digital TV tuner, HDMI
support and 1080p upscaling for DVDs.
The stylish dodecahedron shaped speakers have been designed to throw
sound around the room for a ‘fuller’ surround sound effect. We’re not sure how
this 'omni-directional audio' approach will work since there are just four
speakers, with the front two combining to replace the dedicated centre speaker
[dialogue] found in most 5.1 
surround sound set-ups.
Pioneer claims that these speakers will allow you to get the full
surround effect anywhere in the room, without the usual careful placement of
speakers. Again, we’ll believe our ears rather than the press release.
Beefing up that sound is the imposing sub-woofer and there’s a stylish
LCD touch-screen remote thrown in too. This glossy black number – which matches
the new HDTVs - will be arriving in October and it’s safe to say it will not be
cheap, so start saving now.
home cinema audio movies pioneer
The Mahogany Charging Station
It’s the sheer ‘commonness’ of it all that brings out their inner, or
not-so-inner, snob. 
This will no doubt appeal then. It’s a solid mahogany
charging station from Frontgate, with all those unsightly cables tucked around
the back.
It will charge up to four gadgets at a time, which can be laid out in a
neat row on the smooth felt surface. There are even four drawers on the front
for those solid gold cufflinks, Ray-bans and knock-off Rolex watches. It costs
£75.
There’s also an optional battery charger for an extra £20.
gadgets home charger technology
Lewis Unveils HD DVD Movie Server
Now this is some serious hardware for you movie buffs.
Lewis, makers of classy media PCs and DVD servers, has just unwrapped
the MS4800 and MS9000 HD DVD/DVD servers which are capable of storing – wait
for it – 4.8TB or 9TB of video content.
This is the equivalent of 160 high defintion HD DVD movies, 685 DVDs or 8,000 CDs for the
MS4800, 
and 300 HD DVDs, 1,285 DVDs or 15,000 CDs for the MS9000. The storage
capacity is made up from 12 fault-tolerant hard disk drives - 400GB drives for
the MS4800 and 750GB drives for the MS9000. They employ Raid 6 which means two
drives can fail without impacting your precious collection. They come with dual HDMI inputs.
The servers can also record from two digital sources and can output in all high-def formats - 720p, 1080i and 1080p.
You may want to check your bank balance, and your heart
rate, first though as all of this HD movie luxury will not come cheap. The MS4800 and MS9000 cost a cool £9,000 and £11,500, respectively.
movies music HD DVD home cinema
Pioneer Plasmas Go Back To Black
Pioneer
has unveiled a new range of high-definition TVs (HDTVs) that it claims take plasma
picture technology to a whole new level.
Codenamed
‘Project Kuro’ (Kuro is Japanese for black), its eighth-generation panels
feature a contrast ratio of 16,000:1 – four times that of its existing screens. 
Along
with improved image processing, this results in images with far deeper black
levels, richer colours and more enhanced detail.
A
recent demonstration in Rome showed a clear improvement on current models,
which have already earned a Buy It! award.
With
the rise of Blu-ray and HD DVD, the company has also started to emphasise the
option on its TVs to play back video at 24 frames per second – or, as Pioneer
says, ‘exactly as movie directors intended’.
As
pointed out in Active Home, this feature removes the juddering seen on slow
camera pans and scrolling text, such as credits, when watching HD movie discs.
The
new range starts at 42in with the HD-ready PDP-4280XD and 4280XA, featuring
digital terrestrial and analogue TV tuners respectively. Moving up, the 428XD
incorporates a USB socket and a memory card slot for displaying camera pictures
plus options for professional picture calibration.
Those
looking for larger screens can opt for the 50in PDP-5080, 5080XA and 508XD.
Prices for the new screens have yet to be set but are expected to be set around £500 higher than the current seventh-generation models, starting at around £1,700.
At
the same time, 
Pioneer also announced the BDP-LX70 Blu-ray player and the LX01
– a minimalist home cinema system with a 250GB hard disk DVD recorder with
digital tuner, HDMI with 1080p video scaling and surround sound speaker design
technology unique to Pioneer.
Ground-breaking ‘Spore’ Delayed
Spore, the brainchild of Will Wright, the legendary creator of such
innovative titles as 
SimCity and The Sims, will allow players to create and
control the evolution of an entire race from their humble cellular beginnings
through to conquering space.
The bad news was dished up at a pre-earnings briefing, where it was
revealed that Spore will not impact on EA’s 2008 financial year, which ends in
March 2008. EA attributes the delays to quality control. EA CEO John
Riccitiello said:
“Spore is a title we have enormous confidence in. I've had the chance to
review the title three times in my short return to EA and it looks fantastic. I
will also tell you that its release will be right up to the bubble in Q4 [of
fiscal '08], if not sometime in early fiscal '09 so we don't feel comfortable
in forecasting it.”
Find out more about Spore here.
Marantz Goes For Audio Gold
However, be warned that the gold finish is matched by an equally luxurious £5,000 price
tag which will rule the SA-7S1 out for any but the most dedicated and
well-heeled audiophile.
The 
build quality is typically superior, with the circuitry housed in a
double-layer, copper shielded chassis for “dimensional stability and thorough
isolation for external radio frequency (RF) and electromagnetic (EM)
interference”. The rear panel is copper-plated steel and the disc drawer sits
in a crafted 10mm case of extruded
aluminium. It will play CDs, CD-Rs, CR-RWs, and stereo SACDs.
The SACD format has hardly taken off in a spectacular way so £5,000 for
a device to play them and CDs only – there's no support for MP3s – is a luxury indeed.
Check out the full specs here.
Currys Kills-Off Cassette Tapes
It is
also planning to phase out the sale of cassette decks too, blaming MP3 players
as the key reason why music cassettes are finally coming to the end of their
reel.
According to research from Understanding & Solutions, in 
the UK 83
million music cassettes were sold in 1989, 53 million in 2000, 500,000 in 2005
and only around 100,000 last year.
Peter Keenan, managing director of Currys, told the Daily Telegraph:
"I remember the tape with some fondness. The hours spent putting
together compilation tapes and the all-too-familiar experience of finding that
your deck had chewed your tape will resonate with many now in their 30s and
40s. For today's MP3 generation, it's just a few clicks of the mouse to achieve
what's arguably a better outcome."
Currys is the last big player to abandon music cassettes, as Woolworths and HMV ditched them over 18 months ago.
World’s Fastest Graphics Cards On The Way
nVidia has announced what many are claiming is the fastest graphics processing unit (GPU)
in the world for PC gamers and enthusiasts.
The new GeForce 8800 Ultra takes over at the top of the range from the
current GeForce 8800 GTX , already considered to be the fastest GPU on the block for use in high-end graphics cards.
The new card promises a 10-15 per cent 
performance boost but
you can expect to pay through the nose for the privilege since the new card
will cost around £450, or more, when it hits the streets in a few weeks.
It boasts a massive 768Mb of dedicated graphics memory and has been
specifically tuned to work with the latest DirectX 10 software from Microsoft.
DirectX 10-optimised games include Hellgate: London, Lost Planet, Crysis and
Company of Heroes: Opposing Fronts, among others.
Still, £450+ is a lot to ask for a graphics card, especially when the existing 8800 GTX card is so close in performance terms. In fact, gamers can now now download nVidia's nTune tool for safely overclocking the GTX card, which can close the performance gap even more.
Apple Promises To Be A Greener Apple
Apple CEO, Steve Jobs, has written a document entitled ‘A Greener Apple’
in which he refutes claims by leading environmental action group, Greenpeace,
and takes a few swipes at the green policies of rivals Dell, HP and Lenovo,
among others. More importantly though, he has committed Apple to an ambitious
series of measures to improve the company’s planet-friendliness.
Greenpeace recently ranked 
Apple last again in its quarterly ranking of
environmentally friendly IT companies, based on Apple’s policies on recycling
and use of toxic substances in its products.
Today, Apple set out to clear up any misconceptions and improve its image,
by firstly pointing out that it stopped making CRT displays, which are filled
with lead, back in 2006 – while certain rivals still do [Dell, HP, Gateway].
Apple plans to completely
eliminate the use of arsenic in all of its displays by the end of 2008 and will
stop using mercury in its displays when moving to LED backlighting becomes more
“feasible”. It will also stop using PVC and brominated flame retardants, or
BFRs, by the end of next year.
On the recycling front Apple is planning to extend its free recycling of
people’s old iPods to all of its global stores this summer, not just the US
ones. In addition, it will offer consumers a 10% discount on the cost of new
iPod when they turn in the old one.
Jobs said: “It is generally not Apple’s policy to trumpet our plans for
the future; we tend to talk about the things we have just accomplished.
Unfortunately this policy has left our customers, shareholders, employees and
the industry in the dark about Apple’s desires and plans to become greener.
“Our stakeholders deserve and expect more from us, and they’re right to
do so. They want us to be a leader in this area, just as we are in the other
areas of our business. So today we’re changing our policy.”
Read the full document here.
apple greenpeace environment ipod
WE7 Promises ‘Free’ Music Downloads
In order to avail of this so-called freebie from WE7, you have to listen
to an ad before the track plays. The company claimed that ad-funded music
downloads ensures that artists get paid and people get legal downloads without
digging into their pockets.
WE7, being fronted by Peter Gabriel, 
claims that the ads attached to
singles or albums will are not permanent and after some time, users can
requests the track ad-free. However, there’s no indication of how long
listeners will have to endure the ad versions first. There will also be an
option to buy the tracks without the ads, but then that’s hardly revolutionary.
Peter Gabriel commented: “We7 provides artists - even across the more
experimental or minority genres - with the opportunity to build a new source of
income from their music. Ad funded downloads are the way to provide free music
to the consumer without depriving musicians of their livelihood.”
The service goes live next month.
This approach was tried in the early days of the Internet, with ISPs
offering ‘free’ surfing in exchange for displaying ads on your desktop. It
failed miserably then and I can’t see WE7’s ad-fuelled freebies doing much better. The download space is
crowded enough as it is.
Sony Sacrifices Goat At Game Launch
Sony is hot water again this week after featuring a freshly slaughtered
goat at the European launch of its latest game, God of War II, last month in
Athens.
Characters decked out in furs, topless chicks and others gathered around
the grisly centerpiece where launch attendees were invited to fish around in
the goats stomach for offal to eat. In other entertainments, attendees got to
throw knives at targets and yank live snakes from pits with their bare hands.
The images of 
the event appear in the latest issue of the official
Playstation magazine but the uproar has led to many copies being withdrawn from
circulation. Animal rights groups and others have been up in arms, so to speak,
ever since the event.
A spokesperson for the International Fund for Animal Welfare said:
“We
are always opposed to any senseless killing of an animal and this sounds like a
gruesome death. We condemn Sony's actions. It is stupid and completely
unjustified.”
Sony issued the following statement:
“Sony does not condone or sanction
any inappropriate behaviour by its staff or sub-contracted staff. It has come
to our attention that at the God Of War II launch showcase, an element of the
event was of an unsuitable nature. We are conducting an internal inquiry into
aspects of the event in order to learn from the occurrence and put into place
measures to ensure that this does not happen again.”
It seems highly surprising that Sony management could be that clueless
about the launch plans for one of its biggest titles.
[More]
playstation sony console games PS2
