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Flash And Flat Speakers From TDK
The TDK Tremor XA-10s are colourful and thin, measuring 117mm x
80mm x 16mm. They join the larger XA series of speakers that use NXT’s flat
panel audio technology but these are the first designed for tunes on the go.
They have a 3.5mm stereo output and can be run off the mains, some AAA
batteries or USB, which would prove very handy for mobile use. OK, the 1.2Watts
of output is not going sonically blast your ears off but they are designed as
travel speakers and should be enough. However, whether that 1.2Watts of sound
contains any bass or is comprised of tinny, shrieking treble remains to be seen.
They are not due to ship for another month or so but will come in lime, orange, and silver and, with a suggested price tag of around £15 (probably £20 by the time they get here), they’re not going to burn a hole in anyone’s pocket.
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Al Gore Beams DIY TV To The UK
The former US vice president and eco-warrior, Al Gore, is to launch his TV
channel in the UK where programmes made by the viewers will be aired.
Called Current TV, the channel already reaches 40 million people in the
US, mainly in the 18-34-year old bracket, and 10 million UK viewers will now
have access too.
Available through Sky and Virgin
Media, Current TV will feature short, non-fiction content from three to eight
minutes long, called Pods, many made by viewers. 
The majority of the content
will come from sources not generally tapped by regular TV stations. For
instance, a third will come from video subscriptions via the Internet which are
first cleared by the TV execs, while the rest is voted on by the general public.
There will be news bulletins on the half-hour and Google will be
providing access to its top searches. Gore has assured people that the channel
will not push the green agenda, nor will it endorse any political stance.
He was quoted as saying: “This is not going to be a political or
ideological channel - it's more revolutionary than that.”
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Archos PMP With WiFi Internet Access
It comes with a 7in touchscreen and
will allow you to play stored music, photo or video content, access content
stored on your PC wirelessly or connect to online video and music download
sites. It can be hooked to a TV for playback or, 
even better, used as a
portable digital video recorder (DVR) for recording your favourite TV shows or
DVD movies.
Archos has pushed the boat out on
this one in terms of features, with the screen boasting a high resolution of
800 x 480 pixels and housing an 80GB hard disk drive, which will allow for 100
hours or video, or about 70 DVD-quality movies. Battery life is estimated at 25
hours for music playback and five hours for video playback and Net browsing. It
measures 7 x 5 x 7.75in and weighs 1lb
6ozs.
The US price is $549 but that will be
closer to £400, or more here. For what’s on offer though, this is not all that
expensive. More here.
Twin Tuner 7in TV
Anyone with kids will appreciate the
value of in-car entertainment for those long journeys.
Roadstar has just launched a useful looking
7in widescreen TV for those testing times, boasting not one, but two, TV
tuners. The LCD7082D comes with a digital tuner for picking up the Freeview
channels and an analogue one for when you lose the signal. 
The company claims
the purpose built antenna and circuit deliver top pictures but I’d like to see
it tested first since TV-on the-go is not exactly known for its 100%
reliability.
It can be run from mains or 12V and
comes with a car adapter kit. There’s also a handy AV output for hooking it up
portable DVD players. At £150, it won’t break the bank either.
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AA Launches First Sat-Nav Device
The AA has finally joined in the
sat-nav game with the launch of its first portable device, the Navigator Vive!
Priced at £150, the Vive (nothing to
do with Intel’s Viiv PC technology) is a compact device that allows for 'full' or
'easy' navigation via an icon-driven user interface.
'Easy' allows 
users to find their destination
by a number of methods, ranging from postcodes and town names to points of
interest. You can choose to have a male or female voice to
present the 2D or 3D directions.
You get 6-months worth of speed
camera alerts but can subscribe to have this extended to 3-years. It also supports photo viewing and MP3 playback. Battery life
is estimated at around 3 hours. Find out the full details here.
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Portable DVD push by Panasonic
Portable DVD players are being somewhat overshadowed by the rise in portable
video players that use hard drives but this has not stopped Panasonic from
rolling out three new models. The DVD-LS85, DVD-LS90 and DVD-LX95 all sport
big, 9in screens and are targeted for use by travellers, whether it’s for those
long train journeys or for keeping the kids in the back of the car quiet for a few
hours. All of them are multi-format players which means they can play DVD-RAM,
DVD-R/+R, DVD-RW/+RW and DVD-Video discs, CDs, CD-R/RW, VCD and Super VCD, MP3 and WMA
music files and JPEG photos. The DVD-LX95 is Panasonic’s flagship portable DVD
player and boasts an SD Card slot so you can playback movies and photos
in MPEG4 and JPEG formats, respectively. 
The biggest difference seems to be in
battery life with the DVD-LS85, DVD-LS90 and DVD-LX95 having claimed battery
life of three, six and ten hours. Prices start at £279 and run to
£499.
