Read + Write + Report
Home | Start a blog | About Orble | FAQ | Blogs | Writers | My Orble | Login

Technology View - October 2006

Feeling lost in EU, Get a Nokia's 330

Nokia announced its first dedicated personal navigation device to include Europe-wide maps, the Nokia 330 Auto Navigation, to take you across European borders effortlessly allowing you to enjoy the ride, while it does the navigating. The sophisticated Nokia 330 Auto Navigation provides seamless navigation from one European country to the next, with clear spoken and visual directions on the large 3.5 inch color touch screen. In press release they did mention some European countries are not 100% covered, though any specific countries were not mentioned. But you can assume that that would be some north eastern European countries, even general road maps are hard to find for those countries. But sooner or later those will be also come under the umbrella of navigation system.


The Nokia 330 Auto Navigation has an integrated GPS receiver to make sure
Nokia 330 Auto Navigation
Nokia 330 Auto Navigation

you will get the best possible satellite coverage on your journey. The device contains a 2GB memory card for the preinstalled Europe-wide map data and detailed travel information. Tailor the visual instructions to your preference with adjustable 2D/3D, day or night view, or alter the audio to your suitable language or volume, or simply request a repeat of the last instruction. As far as known the language feature will cover all major European languages, like-English, French, German, Russian, and Spanish etc. The Nokia 330 Auto Navigation includes advanced entertainment features too, so you can enjoy your music player, photo viewer and video player.


Nokia 330 Auto Navigation uses the ROUTE 66 Navigate 7 application and NAVTEQ map data.

Nokia 330 Auto Navigation Menu
Nokia 330 Auto Navigation Menu

The Nokia 330 Auto Navigation is announced to be available in selected countries in Europe before holiday season ends with an estimated retail price of EUR 360 without taxes.
Add CommentsAdd Comments
44
Vote
[ Link ]
October 31st 2006 @ 02:55

Posted By: Kams - Category: Tech News
   


Mobile Chocolate Treat from LG

Have you ever craved for chocolate? I bet you did and you still do. Well here is the chocolate treat from LG with KG800 mobile phone of chocolate collection series. This phone already has won the 2006 Redot design award, for its slick and chick design. I myself a user of Sony Erickson, previously Nokia, have to admit never seen so fantastic looking fashionable phone. Unique, Articulate, Exquisite – these are just a few words that will enter your mind when you first take a glance at the KG800’s luxurious look and feel. The KG800 is a mysterious thing concealing a screen and a touch sensitive pad that glows red to show you exactly where to gently press. Not only that but if you slide the phone open it will reveal even more; a keypad and 1.3 mega pixel camera with flash! With features like these it’s no wonder why it won the coveted 2006 IF Design Award in Germany, the Red Dot Design Award and the Mobile Choice Best Fashion Phone of 2006 award! The features that will get your attention:

LG KG800
LG KG800

Unique touch sensitive pad glows red when active. Sensitive to a warm touch you can be sure that the touch pad won't activate by items in your pocket or bag. Touch pad disappears when not in use, leaving a clean exterior finish on an already stunning phone.

The KG800 isn't just a beautiful handset, slide it open and it will reveal a 1.3 mega pixel camera with flash! Take photos up to an impressive 1280x960 in size or 4 X digital zoom to focus. You can use the LCD as camera’s view finder.
LG KG800 Sliding
LG KG800 Sliding
The luxurious design of the KG800 incorporates a hidden LCD (256,000 colors, 176x220 TFT screen.) screen beneath its sleek exterior. Sliding the phone open or pressing a button will reveal the screen in all its glory.

The KG800’s music player supports MP3, AAC, AAC , AAC and WMA file formats. You can use either MP3 or polyphonic tones as your ring tone or massage tone. It also has the capabilities to record 3GP video.

This one is my personal favorite. Connect the KG800 to a PC using the supplied USB cable and it will become a mass storage device. Drag and drop files such as music, photos, videos and more straight to the phone and you can carry them with you wherever you go. The KG800 has 128mb of internal memory and no software is required for the PC, simply plug and play.

Apart from these it poses all the features of modern smart phone like Tri band, SMS, MMS, internet browsing, email, WAP 2.0 browser, Bluetooth etc. You will be amaze to know that this super phone is just 83 gm weight and 95 x 48 x 15.2 (H x W x D) in dimension.
LG KG800 Choco Treat
LG KG800 Choco Treat
Add CommentsAdd Comments
47
Vote
[ Link ]
October 30th 2006 @ 07:12

Posted By: Kams - Category: Mobile Phone
   


DVD John vs. Apple

Well that's a long story and what keeping iPod fan busy this week. In case you missed it, a 22-year-old Norwegian named Jon Lech Johansen, who has a long history of tangling with copyright protection technologies and the companies that build them, has figured out a way to work around Fairplay, the digital encryption Apple uses to prevent songs purchased on iTunes from being played on non-iPod music players and multiple PCs. Apple also uses Fairplay to keep music from being shared iPod-to-iPod.

Johansen, you may remember, years ago cracked the copy-protection technology used on DVDs. The effort caught the attention of Norwegian prosecutors and landed Johansen in court. DVD Jon, as he came to be known, was ultimately acquitted.

This time around, Johansen plans to turn his know-how into a business. He's set up a company in Redwood Shores, Calif., called DoubleTwist Ventures. The aim: Show others how to make their content playable on an iPod by wrapping it in Fairplay. The company will also help companies that make rival devices play iTunes music and video on their own players. It's not clear exactly how this will sit with Apple and its always busy lawyers. The company so far is tight-lipped on DVD Jon's doings. But it's notable that Johansen's venture emerged during the week that Apple celebrated the fifth anniversary of the iPod, the linchpin of much of the company's financial and cultural success in recent years .

The iPod-iTunes combination is the very definition of a digital walled garden, at least so far as commercially downloadable music goes. Sure, you can rip music from your personal CD collection into unprotected formats like MP3, even legally make copies for personal use. But when it comes to iTunes, there's no digital equivalent of buying a CD and taking it home, knowing it will work with whatever brand of CD player you have.

Songs you buy from iTunes won't play on your MP3 player from Toshiba, Samsung, Sony, SanDisk, or anyone else. Well, they're not supposed to anyway. The fact is, you can burn the iTunes songs to an audio CD, then re-rip them as MP3s and make them freely available to any player you choose—not that I would advocate doing such a thing, of course. And there is one commercial download service that makes its songs available in unprotected MP3 files that work with all players: eMusic.com.

Others have been down this path with Apple before. RealNetworks brought a lot of attention to the inherent problems with Apple's approach with its Harmony initiative in 2004. The idea was to make songs downloaded from Real's music store playable on an iPod. Real and its CEO Rob Glaser took a lot of heat for the effort from irritated Mac and iPod fans, and Apple itself, which branded the move a "hacker tactic," but to this day, songs using the Harmony technology will still play on an iPod.

But in case of DVD john things are going different. Since Apple didn’t make any official or un-official statement on their reaction about DVD john’s innovations I am thinking maybe Apple wants to use this as iPod PR boost, rather then violation of copyright.
Add CommentsAdd Comments
43
Vote
[ Link ]
October 29th 2006 @ 02:43

Posted By: Kams - Category: Tech News
   


High tech security in Mobile phone

I was hoping to get some more information than this but hell none of the Japanese translating software gave me much, so until I got some inside infos this have to be the one to satisfy your thirst.

A new mobile phone in Japan locks automatically when its owner moves too far away and can be found via satellite navigation when it goes missing. The P903i from NTT DoCoMo, Japan's top mobile carrier, comes with a small black card about the size of a movie-ticket stub that works as a security key by connecting wirelessly with the cell phone. If owners keep the card in their bag or pocket, the phone recognizes when the card moves too far away and locks automatically to prevent use. The phone can be set to lock down when it is about eight meters, 20 meters or 40 meters from its owner. People who lose their security cards can punch in a password to undo the phone lock. But they will have to buy a new card to set the lock again


[ Click here to read more ]
Read MoreRead More Add CommentsAdd Comments
40
Vote
[ Link ]
October 28th 2006 @ 03:02

Posted By: Kams - Category: Tech News
   


SLR: Doorway to Digital photography

Well a lot of we would love to have a SLR camera. But what’s the secret of SLR cameras, why they are so expensive and adorable. Only way to find out is get to know SLR, I am sure you won’t regret it.

The term digital SLR is short for digital single lens reflex, so named because these types of cameras use a mirror positioned behind the camera lens to direct light toward the viewfinder when you're composing a photo. When you release the shutter, the mirror swings quickly out of the way, letting light from the lens travel straight to the sensor and momentarily blacking out the viewfinder. The viewfinder in an SLR incorporates a prism--usually a pentaprism--that flips the incoming image around so that you can see it right side up and bounces it onto the focusing screen where you see it


[ Click here to read more ]
Read MoreRead More Add CommentsAdd Comments
46
Vote
[ Link ]
October 26th 2006 @ 23:04

Posted By: Kams - Category: Digital Photography
   


Bruit force of Alienware mALX

Don’t say you never dreamed of a Notebook to die for. A lot of critics say Alienware is expansive, retarded systems, they prefer Dell or Acer. But problem is yes may be a decade ago, when they started Alienware may be was like that but now its sheer with power and glamour. Expense, I would say fairly expansive but no way they can say now Alienware less powerful than any system on the planet. Alienware is known to be gamer’s passion, why? 2 things Power and Graphics (looks is additional gift). Alienware Aurora mALX is a powerhouse introduced lately. Adding a product touch that will undoubtedly make it stand out in a crowd, the Aurora mALX also features exotically stylish, airbrushed custom paint artwork that boldly implies power and strength, while shifting color through light refraction. I haven’t seen any laptop with this kind of chic looks, have you? Ok let’s say looks doesn’t matter, so how about other 19" desktop replacement notebooks cap out at 100GB. The Aurora mALX desktop replacement busts through this barrier with dual HD’s with 400GB capacities. Does that satisfy you? No! Than how about powered by latest AMD 64 bit processor, the most powerful processor on the planet and dual 512MB GeForce Go 7900 GTX, the FIRST notebook to deliver 1GB of dedicated graphics memory. I am sure you even already made the owo! Sound by now. Yes mates that are just a few weaponry of mALX large armory. I can bet my little sail boat (well that’s all I have) that this baby will make you tired without even slugging. Let’s take peak on the fact sheet of mALX---

Alienware Aurora mALX
Alienware Aurora mALX

[ Click here to read more ]
Read MoreRead More Add CommentsAdd Comments
43
Vote
[ Link ]
October 25th 2006 @ 21:17

Posted By: Kams - Category: Notebook/Laptop
   


Budget Laptop with performance: Lenovo 3000 V100

Well whole world’s media is focus towards ultra portable light Notebook/Laptop computer, but
Budget Laptops
does the entire consumer afford that? Since the high performance ultra portable pc’s cost no less than US $1.7k, if you want good performance with style. I have done a little survey on 100 net users around the world (off course I didn’t travel, the survey was limited to known people and contacts). 45 of them are full time student, 16 of them are part time student, 20 of them are full time professional, and 19 of them are either housewife or retired person. I was surprised that among all of them only 35% of them use laptops and only 11 of them have high end ultra portable high-performance notebooks. Do I even have to mention that none of them were student? One way or another all these 100 people are closely connected with IT industry, so you can’t say they don’t need high performance laptops. The reason they describe for not having Laptop is balance of cost and performance. Means high tech laptop cost a lot, but performance/power are not as high it can be in desktop at half price. They need power but, but like most of the general consumer have to budget their wallet. But since when we need mobility we really need laptop, that is the reason my quest for budget notebooks.

Lenovo 3000 V100 Silver
Lenovo 3000 V100 Silver

[ Click here to read more ]
Read MoreRead More Add CommentsAdd Comments
42
Vote
[ Link ]
October 25th 2006 @ 04:31

Posted By: Kams - Category: Notebook/Laptop
   


A phone that touches your senses-W830i

Within two weeks (more or less) Sony Ericsson will introduce its Walkman Smart phone W830i to Oceania, US and European consumers. Japanese client’s already have the opportunity, earlier than everyone to use it. The W830i Walkman phone takes you one step further in the mobile music evolution. Design is triple-faced - it's a mobile phone, it's a quality Walkman player and it's a camera. Still, it's sleek, elegant and compact. W830i - a phone that touches your senses. In addition to playing online & stored music I liked the Music recognition part. This option allows you to upload a portion of a song and send to SE’s unique TrackID system to let you know everything about that song in a flash.

W830-i
Sony Ericsson W830i

[ Click here to read more ]
Read MoreRead More Add CommentsAdd Comments
47
Vote
[ Link ]
October 22nd 2006 @ 16:02

Posted By: Kams - Category: Mobile Phone
   


Shakespeare to invade Virtual world

Ever thought of Literacy and Technology together, most unlikely mixer ever to be imagined. Castronova, an associate professor of telecommunications at Indiana University and the leading expert on the economies of virtual worlds, is doing and his team to build "Arden: The World of Shakespeare," a massively multiplayer online game, or MMO, built entirely around the plays of the Bard. That means players can expect to trot around in 17th century regalia, buying ale in Elizabethan taverns and joining guilds aimed at toppling dukes and earls, simply fascinating. The Synthetic Worlds (the team of Castronova) Initiative is constructing a synthetic world, Arden, based on the works of William Shakespeare. When launched, Arden will provide users with a fun experience that also immerses them in the narrative, language, and culture of the world's greatest writer. It will also serve as a laboratory for research on macro-level social phenomena, and the impact of the technology on those who use it.

"Arden" will be an unusual entry to the growing field of MMOs, which is already dominated by games and virtual worlds like "World of Warcraft," "EverQuest," "Ultima Online." But while those games are published by for-profit corporations, "Arden" is entirely an academic project. The timeline set during the War of the Roses, offers historical context, as well as enough political intrigue, secret conniving, deal-making and war to delight any gamer


[ Click here to read more ]
Read MoreRead More Add CommentsAdd Comments
51
Vote
[ Link ]
October 19th 2006 @ 19:34

Posted By: Kams - Category: Tech News
   


Knock! Knock! Google just introduced Website Optimizer

Oh! what a great day first IE7.0 comes to life now Google showing off with it's new tool. Google just started to offer AdWords advertisers a new tool to experiment with a variety of different landing page layouts in order determine which one gains the most conversions from site visitors. Google unveiled the tool, called Google Website Optimizer, this morning.

Website Optimizer
Website Optimizer Code

[ Click here to read more ]
Read MoreRead More Add CommentsAdd Comments
50
Vote
[ Link ]
October 19th 2006 @ 17:58

Posted By: Kams - Category: Goggle/Search Engine
   


Microsoft giving away Internet Explorer 7.0 free

Microsoft just lunched its Internet Explorer 7, the first major upgrade of IE, in five years period. The release late Wednesday brings Microsoft's browser more in line with competing products such as Opera Software ASA's Opera and Mozilla Corp.'s Firefox. Internet Explorer 7 adds features such as tabbed browsing, which lets people open several Web pages without cluttering their desktop with multiple open browser windows.

IE7.0 with killer looks
IE7.0 with killer looks & Aero interfaces

[ Click here to read more ]
Read MoreRead More Add CommentsAdd Comments
51
Vote
[ Link ]
October 19th 2006 @ 03:14

Posted By: Kams - Category: Tech News
   


Say goodbye to your harddisk!

Well the one we all have been waiting for, the hard drive less laptop. But didn’t came from Sony, came from the maker of NAND flash drive Samsung. Earlier this year Samsung announced in Korea they are planning to release their first NAND powered computer, and it’s already published in Korean Samsung site. The model is named Q30 SSD (Solid state disks), in few days the ultra portable model will Q1SSD will be also available to Korean consumers. The price for Q30SSD was posted KRW3.5 million (around $3.7K). No word or press release about lunching these models outside Korea.
Q-30SSD's Hard Drive
Solid State Disk (SSD) Drive

Solid state disks are NAND flash-based memory drives. This concept isn't entirely new. Digital cameras use flash memory to store pictures, as do many MP3 players to store songs. The main problem with flash-based drives is larger capacities are very expensive and they have limited write cycles. These issues are being overcome though and flash memory has several advantages over hard disk drives like lower power consumption, more durability, more compact size, less heat dissipation, quieter operation and faster speed. The SSD reads 300 percent faster (53MB/s) and writes 150 percent quicker (28MB/s) than normal hard drives. As a result, multiple application programs can operate simultaneously and large volumes of data can be edited and reproduced more efficiently. Microsoft Windows XP will boot up 25-50% faster on the SSD than on other drives. Moreover, the typical 1.8-inch hard disk drive weighs around 50 grams; whereas the SSD is 20 to 30 grams lighter, depending on the package type


[ Click here to read more ]
Read MoreRead More Comments (20)Comments (20) Add CommentsAdd Comments
84
Vote
[ Link ]
October 16th 2006 @ 20:07

Posted By: Kams - Category: Notebook/Laptop
   


Weblo-Creating virtual economy

Until now Secondlife was the only virtual game that gives a feeling of living in virtual land. But Weblo is introduced, not only with the virtual life but also virtual economy, can be turned into real life cash. Weblo is an interesting online game that mirrors a few financial aspects of the real world. You can buy virtual real estate (like cities, parks, villas, landmarks etc.) and collect taxes on developments on your land. Virtual copies of the real world exist and are available for sale on Weblo. You can set yourself up as the agent of the virtual version of a real-world celebrity. And you can buy domain names inside Weblo's universe.
Weblo virtual banners
Weblo Virtual Reality

You buy, of course, so you can sell later, hopefully at a nice multiple to what you paid. Why would somebody want to buy your properties at the first place? So he or she can sell it to the next person, of course. Weblo is a trading game, with a currency of real U.S. dollars. Fortunately prices for Weblo analogs of real-world items are not equivalent. For example, I created a virtual Twin Tower building and bought it for about $3.50 (the price included a few cents of tax, paid to the owner of NY City). As I mentioned it’s a virtual game, but others would consider it a market, and certainly you can make real cash here. Some people actually have bought virtual properties at Weblo's startup prices and flipped them for thousands of dollars. You can cash out of Weblo whenever you want, and transfer your earnings into your PayPal account


[ Click here to read more ]
Read MoreRead More Add CommentsAdd Comments
52
Vote
[ Link ]
October 15th 2006 @ 18:06

Posted By: Kams - Category: Gaming
   


Toyota’s Hybrid behemoth

I am a very big fan of Hybrid and Concept cars, reason-that gives me opportunity to look at the future. Yes I agree out of 100 concepts, only handful of them make out to reality. You can blame economics more than technology for that. Most of the concept car designer and makers never look into the economical aspects since that might prevent further exploration. Same goes with hybrid cars, some hybrid car though role out in the market but cost are too high for general consumers. But in last 2 year more and more concept and hybrid car is coming into reality than it used to do 10 years ago. People realize fuel efficiency & preservation of environment both are serious important for surviving. Anyway enough preaching, lets get down to Toyota’s Highlander Hybrid a concept became reality and a hybrid that will save fuel cost & environment as well.
Highlander 2007 Hybrid
Toyota's Highlander 2007 Hybrid


The 2007 Highlander is as sophisticated as it is versatile, designed to match our lifestyle. With its generous cargo space, 60/40 reclining, split, fold-flat second-row seat with slide-forward capability and available third-row seat with 4-step recline fold-flat-into-floor capability, this SUV will go wherever your favorite activities take you


[ Click here to read more ]
Read MoreRead More Comments (1)Comments (1) Add CommentsAdd Comments
59
Vote
[ Link ]
October 14th 2006 @ 19:59

Posted By: Kams - Category: Automobile
   


Rebirth of Sony's Walkman

Sony never dominated electronics world like the way they did in 80’s with their walkman®. Once again Sony is targeting to rule the world of sound with its new “ept=audio" target="_blank">Noise Cancelling Walkman® MP3 Player”. This Swiss pocket knife sized device is simply the amazing technological innovation so far in audio technology. Is Sony planning to compete iPod trends with its legendary tag name “Walkman” with some twist of excellent features?
Sony Noise Canceling Walkman
Three colors of Sony's new Walkman

Sony “Noise Canceling Walkman” comes in three vibrant color variations. Though all have almost same features except for the black version, additional 1GB built in memory included in that. All of them contain Active noise cancellation that reduces ambient noise through a special phase canceling process. The clear stereo and Bass features refine every note you hear by reducing audio leakage from one channel to another. Boasting a unique shape and 13.5mm drivers, you'll experience exceptional sound quality and comfortable fit from the noise canceling headphones. A high sensitivity microphone is built into the buds of the headphones enabling a wide-range frequency, dynamic range playback and powerful bass sound


[ Click here to read more ]
Read MoreRead More Add CommentsAdd Comments
51
Vote
[ Link ]
October 13th 2006 @ 20:42

Posted By: Kams - Category: Tech News
   


More Posts
February 2010
1 Posts
January 2010
1 Posts
November 2009
3 Posts
Older Posts
251 Posts dating from October 2006
Email Subscription
Receive e-mail notifications of new posts on this blog:
[ View Blog Summary ] [ Create A New Post ]

geek's Blogs

4936 Vote(s)
70 Comment(s)
90 Post(s)
Moderated by geek
Copyright © 2006 2007 2008 On Topic Media PTY LTD. All Rights Reserved. Design by Vimu.com.
On Topic Media ZPages: Sydney |  Melbourne |  Brisbane |  London |  Birmingham |  Leeds     [ Advertise ] [ Contact Us ] [ Privacy Policy ]