Samsung tries a big LCD with a baby monitor attached
Samsung unveiled its SyncMaster 2263DX monitor, a dual-screen display, with one 22-inch LCD display and an additional 7-inch connected monitor on a swiveling, positionable arm to create a multi-screen work environment in a single package.
Optimized with Microsoft Office Communicator 2007 in mind, the 7" monitor can be used for unobtrusive web conferencing, or for running instant messaging clients without infringing upon work space.
Samsung goes small in '08 with new UMPC, printers
Samsung has announced it will be releasing an addition to its Q1 Ultra line in 2008.
Packed in a tiny sub-2 pound form factor, the Q1 Ultra Premium PC will have a 1.33 GHz ULV Intel Core Solo U1500 Pentium processor and 1 GB of DDR2 system memory. The device is powered by a 57.7 watt hour Li-Ion 0cell battery with about 7.5 hours of life. It features a split QWERTY keyboard. integrated 802.11b/g Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 2.0 + EDR, 300 pixel webcam, dual-array mic, 1.3 megapixel camera, 7" wide WSVGA backlit LED 1024x600 monitor with touch screen capabilities.
Album music sales drop, singles in renaissance
The Associated Press today reported 2007's substantial decline in the music industry's album sales, illustrating how albums are no longer the vehicle of choice for music consumption.
The year 2007 saw a total of 500.5 million albums sold, including "hard copy" media: CDs, cassettes and LPs -- yes, someone's still out there pressing vinyl. This is a 15% drop from the unit total for 2006, according to Nielsen SoundScan.
Sling to demonstrate remote TV for BlackBerry
California-based Sling Media Inc., maker of the popular SlingBox place-shifting hardware device, has officially announced its intention to demonstrate SlingPlayer for BlackBerry and a new HD SlingBox at CES 2008 next week.
Sling Media announced that it will be showing off SlingPlayer Mobile on a BlackBerry Pearl 8120, with a release slated for later this year. Sling intends to extend its service for watching and programming TV remotely through the popular e-mail handset.
PSP to finally become a communications device with Skype
On a site dedicated to building up excitement over its announcements at the 2008 Consumer Electronics Show, Sony inserted language all but confirming the rumors of Skype for PSP.
Sony's site gives new credence to rumors of Skype for the PlayStation Portable -- rumors which date back to June 2006: "Call friends, talk trash to fellow gamers or catch up with acquaintances via Skype for PSP."
Analyst: Blu-ray Macs will premiere at Macworld
AppleInsider has posted predictions from American Technology Research analyst Shawn Wu that point to new Macs with Blu-ray drives premiering at Macworld on January 15.
Since Apple has held a seat on the Blu-ray consortium for years already, and CEO Steve Jobs is on the board of directors at Blu-ray supporter Disney, it seems that if Apple was to align with a next-gen format, Blu-ray would be favored.
French Health Ministry warns about heavy cell phone use
France's Ministry of Health made a statement yesterday warning citizens not to use their cell phones too much, although actual data on specific health risks remains inconclusive.
The statement advised against making calls when reception is poor or during high-speed travel. It also warned that phones should be kept away from "sensitive areas of the body" by using hands-free mode whenever possible.
Motorola offers sneak peek at DH01 mobile TV
Motorola announced today that it will be showing off a new mobile media player at CES 2008 in Las Vegas next week that also acts as a mobile DVR.
The 4.3 inch screened DH01 will show live television, on demand video clips and DVR programming at 25 frames per second. According to Motorola, the device has a 5-minute memory buffer that allows for pause and replay functions on live television broadcasts.
US ranks poorly as global privacy situation worsens
A London-based human rights watchdog group on surveillance and privacy has released its National Privacy Ranking for 2007, ranking the U.S, Russia, China and much of Southeast Asia at the bottom.
Privacy International ranked Greece, Romania and Canada as leaders in protecting their citizens' privacy.
FCC relaxes rules for digital TV transition due to testing overlap
The FCC has posted its third periodic review of the rules and policies regarding the conversion from analog to digital television, showing a further degree of slackening in regulations.
In light of FCC commissioner Adelstein's criticism of the transition from analog to digital TV, saying that the Commission lacked a strategic plan, it appears that the FCC is now even becoming hazy on the February 17, 2009 deadline date mandated by Congress.
Low-cost Laptop effort sued in Nigeria for $20 million
LANCOR (Lagos Analysis Corporation), a Nigerian company headquartered in Massachusetts, has sued One Laptop Per Child for $20 million in damages and an injunction blocking OLPC from distribution in Nigeria.
In August, the company's lawyers publicly accused OLPC of clandestine use of LANCOR product "information," and infringement of intellectual property rights. They claimed Nicholas Negroponte, chairman of OLPC, purchased 2 of LANCOR's keyboards on August 7, 2006, then, weeks later, the company reverse engineered its XO keyboards to be more like the KB-201s Negroponte allegedly purchased.
Apple stock flirted once again with $200 close
4:10 pm EST December 27, 2007 - The assassination of Pakistan's leading challenger to the prime minister's post may be to blame for a late afternoon plummet in Apple's stock value, along with the rest of the tech sector.
With the Dow Jones Industrial Average falling nearly 200 points by the close of trading Thursday, even a buoyant Apple -- which had traded at $203 per share at about 10:15 this morning -- couldn't help but get weighed down, falling to a half-dollar below yesterday's close at about $198.50.
Samsung to show off lower-profile OLED at CES
Major consumer electronics producer Samsung is expected to show off a prototype 31-inch active matrix OLED, and to begin producing 14-inch displays in 2008.
Samsung's latest prototype active matrix screen will be a 31" 4.3 mm display, slightly larger and lower-profile than Sony's 27" 5 mm prototype that it showed off at last year's CES.
Scotland plans in-game public service ads
The Scottish government recently announced that its anti-drinking and driving campaign will utilize video game ad space.
Public Service Announcements (PSAs) in the past have had a very low impact on behavior. An estimate of the size of the audience for the US Ad Council's drunk driving campaign earlier in the decade detailed just how limited the influence was. 902 television ads were shown in 30 markets, and data showed that an average of only 11.2% of households watched even a single PSA.
Windows Live OneCare randomly expires
Microsoft's Windows support forum found a throng of users yesterday complaining of their Windows Live OneCare subscriptions inexplicably showing up as having been terminated.
This left many scrambling to find out whether OneCare was still providing them with updates, firewall, and antivirus protection, or if Microsoft had forgotten about them.
Tim's Bio
Tim Conneally was born into dumpster tech. His father was an ARPANET research pioneer and equipped his kids with discarded tech gear, second-hand musical instruments, and government issue foreign language instruction tapes. After years of building Frankenstein computers from rubbish and playing raucous music in clubs across the country (and briefly on MTV) Tim grew into an adult with deep, twisted roots and an eye on the future. He most passionately covers mobile technology, user interfaces and applications, the science and policy of the wireless world, and watching different technologies shrink and converge.
© 1998-2026 BetaNews, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Privacy Policy - Cookie Policy.