Parrot has unveiled its new “Zikmu” the Parrot by Philippe Starck wireless speakers for iPod and iPhone. One of the 2.5-foot high freestanding columns has an iPod dock that will charge compatible Apple devices, including the original and iPhone 3G, and use it as the source for audio files. This main tower then sends the audio files to its near twin over Bluetooth, which is also used to play tracks from other compatible and paired cellphones or personal media players
In addition, they offer an integrated iPod and iPhone Dock, and can accept streaming audio over Wi-Fi or an A2DP Bluetooth connection. All that comes at an expectedly premium price, however, with the speakers set to run $1,500 when they’re released sometime in the spring.
Toshiba on Thursday introduced what it says is the first 2.5-inch, 512-GB solid-state drive for notebooks. The drive will make its public debut at CES in January. The company will also be debuting a number of different capacity SSD drives–64-, 128, and 256GB drives, available in either 1.8-inch or 2.5-inch form factors. The drives feature MLC controllers, read speeds of 240 Mbytes/s, and write speeds of 200 Mbytes/s. The new drives provide a high level of performance and endurance for use in notebook computers, gaming and home entertainment systems, and will be showcased at International CES 2009 in Las Vegas, Nevada from January 8 to 11, 2009, with mass production beginning the second quarter.
No word on pricing yet, which will likely determine. Early in the SSD market the other barrier was the limited capacity, as 16- and 32GB were the norm less than two years ago. Now that the capacities are approaching or exceeding traditional magnetic media.
Google has launched visually optimized search results that are designed to fit the screens of the iPhone and G1 mobile devices. Search results have been optimized to load faster and are formatted to fit just perfect on the device’s display. The new results pages are available in U.S. English for Android… the iPhone and iPod Touch devices with firmware 2.x.
Of course, if you want to view the results like on a desktop PC, you can always click the “Classic” link found at the bottom of any Google mobile page. For the G1, you can access the new results page after searching via the search widget on the Android home page or also through Google.com in the browser.In addition, Google has added touchscreen buttons and expandable maps for local business results.
Nokia released their Symbian-optimised email service. Now available to download, Nokia Messaging is still a trial service but the app is a far cry from its beta predecessor. Alongside improved navigation and better syncing performance - it now actually works. New features include the ability to sync multiple folders for the same IMAP account, flagged Gmail messages automatically become starred messages on your Gmail account and you can now have up to 10 email accounts.
They included plenty of highlights for the release but excluded HTML support. read more…
Unlike in other countries where Apple has an exclusive deal with one of the phone operators to sell and provide service for the iPhone 3G, in France the regulators said “Non!”. Then, Apple must immediately cease its exclusive relationship with France Telecom’s Orange and allow other local carriers to offer the iPhone to its subscribers, the French competition counsel ruled Wednesday.The French competition counsel said Apple’s exclusive arrangement with Orange poses a serious and immediate threat to competition in the wireless sector and causes consumers to incur hefty and unjust fees should they attempt to switch providers.
The Council’s ruling is reportedly temporary, precautionary and “pending a decision on the merits” of the issue. Meanwhile, the Council will continue to investigate the situation. The measure not only requires Apple to open the iPhone to other French mobile phone operators, but also bars Apple and France Telecom to enter any other exclusive agreements for future iPhone models. Since the deal with Apple began in 2007, Orange has sold 450,000 iPhone 3G handsets and 150,000 original iPhones. read more…
