Archive for July, 2008
Digital Signature has released the US$179 Mint 220, a music station that features an iPod dock, wireless connectivity to stream any audio from your Mac or PC, and takes a standard eigthth-inch stereo head set connector.
It allows wireless streaming from a Mac or PC, as well. The Mint 220 features Texas Instrument’s PurePath Digital audio technology, with wireless transmission via Digital Signature’s proprietary 2.4 GHz USB transmitter, which is completely lossless over ranges of up to 45 feet, according to Joyce Ahn of Digital Signature.
A remote control is included. The Mint 220 is available at Best Buys and from the Digital Signature web site.
In a surprising move BIC, well-known for making disposable shavers and pens, has decided to release a mobile phone.
This isn’t your typical fully-featured, buy on a contract mobile phone though. This is a disposable device you buy off-the-shelf at most retail outlets.
The BIC phone will cost 49 Euros (US$78) and is capable of just making phone calls and sending text messages. It comes with a SIM card, 60 minutes of free calls, a phone number included in the packaging and a fully-charged battery. Extra minutes can be bought through the use of a mobicarte and works the same way as most pay-as-you-go schemes. The phone will initially only be available to buy in France.
BIC is marketing the phone as a second line, something for your kids to use or for situations where you need to give out a phone number publicly for a short period of time e.g. selling your car.
The phone itself is made by TCL, better known through its Alcatel brand, and the service provider is Orange France. Each phone guarantees the number included for at least 12 months and the 60 minutes of free calls are valid for 2 months after you activate the phone.
Read more at BIC, found via Register Hardware
SEATTLE (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O) cut on Sunday the price of its best-selling Xbox 360 Pro model game console with a 20 gigabyte hard drive to $299 from $349.
The company also introduced a new Xbox 360 model with a 60 gigabyte hard drive, which will go on sale in stores in the U.S. and Canada for $349 in early August.
Microsoft announced the price cut and a new model before the start of this week’s E3 video game industry trade show in Los Angeles. The price cut was widely reported in game industry blogs since last week.
The company last cut the price of the Xbox Pro in August, from $399 to $349, prior to the release of blockbuster title, “Halo 3,” the following month.
A cut to $299 makes the Xbox 360 Pro $100 less than Sony Corp’s (6758.T) PlayStation 3 with a 40 gigabyte hard drive. Microsoft is locked in a three-way competition with Nintendo Co Ltd’s (7974.OS) Wii and the PlayStation 3, which comes with a high-definition Blu-ray video player.
Price cuts from Nintendo and Sony seem unlikely. Nintendo’s $249 Wii is still in short supply at many retailers, while Sony has said it aims to turn its video game business profitable this year, making a cut hard to swallow.
(Reporting by Daisuke Wakabayashi; Editing by Louise Heavens)
New foreign language phrasebook application for iPhone-toting travelers provides “talking translations” on digital flashcards, available through Apple’s new iTunes App Store
 We set out to offer global travelers a fun and useful tool to communicate abroad  |
Princeton, NJ, (PRWEB) July 11, 2008 — Among the first iPhone and iPod Touch software applications available on Apple’s highly anticipated iTunes Apps Store this week is Lingolook, the clever new foreign language phrasebook application that offers travelers indispensable words and phrases through “talking translations” and enticing graphic design. Lingolook for iPhone and iTouch will launch in four editions — China, France, Italy and Japan — and will cost $4.99 per download. All Lingolook applications are featured in the Travel and Education categories of the new iTunes App Store.
Each edition of Lingolook Flashcards for Foreign Travel includes over 500 translations; 300 are audio translations recorded by native speakers to help users perfect pronunciation and communicate abroad with ease. All words and phrases are showcased on 75 illustrated, digital flashcards and helpfully organized by travel category and searchable through a comprehensive index. The Reference section includes all-important menu readers, numbers, travel tips and more.
“We set out to offer global travelers a fun and useful tool to communicate abroad,” says Lingolook co-founder Dominique Godefroy. “Our goal is to give travelers practical content in an easy-to-use, well-designed format, and the iPhone’s Multi-Touch technology certainly helps accomplish that. Users can master pronunciation of essential phrases with instant replay of audio translations, whether it’s ‘airport’ to a taxi driver, ‘wine’ at a restaurant, or ‘check-in’ at a hotel. We hope travelers will get by in a flash — with a tap of their touch-screens!”
Lingolook’s iPhone and iTouch versions are based on the company’s print editions, launched in late 2007 and available at www.amazon.com and www.Lingolook.net for $11.95 each.
About Lingolook Flashcards for Foreign Travel
Lingolook Flashcards for Foreign Travel are designed to help English-speaking travelers get by abroad in a flash. These clever, new language guides feature basic keywords travelers need — helpfully organized on “75+” electronic flashcards. These fully illustrated cards feature translations in extra large type, audio recordings by native speakers, and easy phonetics. Travelers just flash their iPhones or repeat the pronunciation to get a point across fast. Lingolook guides also contain destination-specific travel tips, menu readers and more. Print editions for China, France and Japan are also available at Amazon.com and www.lingolook.net. The print versions of Lingolook Flashcards for Foreign Travel come encased in a soft, clear PVC box and retail for $11.95 each.
Pioneer’s Blu-ray technology can hold 400GB of data, or 48 hours of movies, on a single disc with 16 layers. Currently the technology is read-only, but Pioneer has indicated that a writable version is being developed. Pioneer also indicated that its technology is compatible with current Blu-ray players, although some modifications may be needed. |
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 Get ready to never leave your home. Pioneer announced this week a read-only Blu-ray technology that could put up to 48 hours, or 400GB, of movies on a single disc.By comparison, the current Blu-ray Disc format stores 25GB on a single-layer disc and 50GB on a dual-layer version. A 50GB Blu-ray disc can hold up to about six hours of high-definition video.
16 Layers The new Pioneer technology has 16 layers on a conventional 12-centimeter optical disc, and is currently a play-only version. The company has indicated that a writable version is being developed. Pioneer’s announcement said “it is possible to maintain compatibility” between the new, very high-density Blu-ray format and existing players. However, the company indicated that some kind of modification may be necessary, either in the production of the discs or in the players. The key to making such storage possible, Pioneer said, is reducing interference between adjacent layers, as its prototype does. A formal announcement of the 400GB technology is expected at the International Symposium on Optical Memory and Optical Data Storage, which begins Sunday in Hawaii. Industry observers anticipate that Pioneer will not commercially produce the discs, but will work with manufacturers. TDK has also announced a high-capacity disc, with six layers and a 150GB capacity. In a separate announcement, Pioneer said it will start selling Blu-ray recorders in Japan before next March. The recorders, to be sold under the Pioneer brand, will be made with Sharp Electronics. Sharp, Sony and Matsushita control virtually the entire Blu-ray market in Japan. Matsushita makes Panasonic products. No plans for sales of the recorder in the U.S. or elsewhere were announced. ‘Not Earth-Shattering’ Josh Martin, an analyst with industry research firm Yankee Group, said the new, high-capacity disc is “interesting, but not earth-shattering.” He said the last time he checked, it was not much cheaper to produce a Blu-ray disc with, say, three times the capacity of a single disc, than to produce three discs. And then there’s the matter of value for the average consumer. Martin said “there is value to a consumer in having multiple discs for, say, a $100 set.” He added that a single disc with the same amount of movies, at the same price, doesn’t have the same perceived value. But, Martin noted, a high-capacity recordable Blu-ray disc might have value in some businesses. In general, he said Blu-ray player and disc sales appear to be picking up momentum, but there probably won’t be any significant sales until closer to the holiday season. Martin noted that some retailers, such as Amazon and Wal-Mart, have reduced the price of some titles to $15 from about $25 or $30, and this could spur sales. |
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