Blogs

Samsung Releases Compact HD Camcorder HMX-T10

Submitted by lalit on September 2, 2010 - 5:35pm.

Samsung today unveiled HMX-T10 camcorder featuring an innovative 20-degree Slanted Lens that ensures that the user can truly enjoy their recording experience without any discomfort to their arm or wrist. The HMX-T10 shoots full HD (1080p) video and features a 2.7-inch touchscreen for easy operations.

“The HMX-T10 offers not only a stylish, compact design and fantastic recording quality at an affordable price, but also demonstrates the thoughtfulness and innovation Samsung brings to making movie and image capturing a truly enjoyable experience for everyone,” said Mr. SangJin Park, President of Samsung Digital Imaging Business, Samsung Electronics. “The HMX-T10’s convenient features, such as the 20-degree Slanted Lens, perfectly encapsulate the innovative and easy-to-use nature of our camcorder range, as well as our aim to remain at the cutting edge of innovation and design.”

Other features on the camcorder are Back Side Illuminated CMOS sensor, 10x optical zoom, 4.7-megapixel still capture, optical image stabilization and SDHC card slot. Samsung HMX-T10 will ship later this month priced $299 in white, black and red colors.

New Apple TV with Netflix Support for Just $99

Submitted by lalit on September 1, 2010 - 8:07pm.

Apple today announced the new Apple TV, which offers the simplest way to watch your favorite HD movies and TV shows on your HD TV for the breakthrough price of just $99. Apple TV users can choose from the largest online selection of HD movies to rent, including first run movies for just $4.99, and the largest online selection of HD TV show episodes to rent from ABC, ABC Family, Fox, Disney Channel and BBC America for just 99 cents.

Apple TV also streams content from Netflix, YouTube, Flickr and MobileMe, more than 200,000 podcasts, 4,000 Internet radio stations, as well as music, photos and videos from PCs and Macs to your HD TV. Enjoy gorgeous slideshows of your photos on your HD TV using Apple TV’s selection of built-in slideshows. Apple TV has built-in HDMI, Wi-Fi, Ethernet and an internal power supply for easy set-up, and features silent, cool, very low power operation in an enclosure that’s less than four inches square—80 percent smaller than the previous generation.

“The new Apple TV, paired with the largest selection of online HD movie and TV show rentals, lets users watch Hollywood content on their HD TV whenever they want,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “This tiny, silent box costing just $99 lets users watch thousands of HD movies and TV shows, and makes all of their music, photos and videos effortlessly available on their home entertainment system.”

Apple TV will be available late this month for a suggested retail price of $99. You can pre-order Apple TV on Amazon.

 

Apple iTunes 10 with Ping Music Oriented Social Network

Submitted by lalit on September 1, 2010 - 8:03pm.

Apple today introduced iTunes 10 with Ping, a new music-oriented social network for following your favorite artists and friends to discover what music they’re talking about, listening to and downloading. iTunes Ping lets you post your thoughts and opinions, your favorite albums and songs, the music you’ve downloaded from iTunes, plus view concert listings and tell your friends which concerts you plan to attend. iTunes 10 also features HD TV show rentals for just 99 cents an episode and AirPlay wireless music playback.

“iTunes is the number one music community in the world, with over 160 million iTunes users in 23 countries, and now we’re adding social networking with Ping,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “With Ping you can follow your favorite artists and friends and join a worldwide conversation with music’s most passionate fans.”

With iTunes 10, you can rent your favorite HD TV shows commercial free from ABC, ABC Family, Fox, Disney Channel and BBC America and watch them at home or on the go for just 99 cents an episode. Thousands of episodes are available, many the day after broadcast, to watch on your Mac or PC, iPhone, iPod touch and the all-new Apple TV, and you have 30 days from the moment you rent an episode to start watching it, and 48 hours after that to finish it.

iTunes 10 also features AirPlay wireless music playback to listen to your music on remote speakers using Apple’s AirPort Express base station. In addition, AirPlay now works without AirPort Express, using speakers, receivers and stereo systems from companies including Bowers & Wilkins, JBL, Denon and iHome, so you can enjoy your entire iTunes music library wirelessly from any room in the house with no extra gear required.

iTunes is available as free download on Apple’s website or via Software update feature.

Apple Introduces iPod nano with Multi-Touch Screen

Submitted by lalit on September 1, 2010 - 6:26pm.

Apple’s iPod nano saw the most radical redesign of all the iPods announced today. The revolutionary click wheel has been removed in favor of multitouch screen and it is half the size and weight of previous generation. The iPod nano is truly nano now. It features a polished aluminum and glass enclosure with a built-in clip, making it instantly wearable. The new iPod nano features Genius Mixes, the ability to create and edit playlists, a built-in FM radio with live pause and up to 24 hours of music playback on a single battery charge.

“This is the biggest reinvention of the iPod nano since its debut in 2005, and we think users are going to love it,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “Replacing the click wheel with our Multi-Touch interface has enabled us to shrink the iPod nano into an amazingly small design that is instantly wearable with its built-in clip.”

The new iPod nano with Apple’s Multi-Touch interface allows users to access their songs, artists, albums and playlists with a tap or swipe of their finger on the display. Holding down a finger returns the user to the Home screen, and users can easily use two fingers to rotate the screen if it is clipped onto their clothing upside down. Users can also customize their Home screen by simply dragging icons from other screens onto the Home screen.

iPod nano also features Shake to Shuffle, giving music lovers the ability to shake their iPod nano to shuffle to a new song in their music library. It also features a built-in pedometer that makes it easy to track your steps and also supports Nike + iPod, giving users the ability to track runs and workouts.

The new iPod nano will be available next week for a suggested price of $149 for the 8GB model and $179 for the 16GB model. Both models are available in silver, graphite, blue, green, orange and pink. You can pre-order the new iPod nano

Apple Unveils New iPod shuffle with Buttons

Submitted by lalit on September 1, 2010 - 6:21pm.

Apple today announced the new redesigned iPod shuffle, which features both clickable “ring” buttons and Apple’s innovative VoiceOver technology, enabling users to easily navigate their music and playlists without ever looking at their iPod shuffle. The new wearable iPod shuffle has an all-aluminum enclosure with a built-in clip and comes in five brilliant colors—silver, blue, green, orange and pink. With nearly 50 percent more battery life, the new iPod shuffle features over 15 hours of music playback on a single battery charge.

“We’re making the iPod shuffle even better by combining clickable buttons and VoiceOver technology, so users can find and enjoy their music without ever looking at their iPod shuffle,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “With its all-aluminum enclosure and built-in clip the new iPod shuffle is a great workout companion, and at just $49 it's a great entry-level iPod that almost everyone can afford.”

The new shuffle now has clickable buttons along with VoiceOver making it easier to use. It also supports Genius Mixes, the iTunes feature that automatically creates mixes from songs in a user’s music library that go great together.

The fourth generation iPod shuffle will be available next week for a suggested price of $49 (US) for a 2GB model in silver, blue, green, orange and pink. You can pre-order iPod shuffleon Amazon.

 

New iPod touch Brings Retina Display, FaceTime Video Calling, HD Video Recording and Game Center

Submitted by lalit on September 1, 2010 - 5:18pm.

Apple today announced the new iPod touch, packed with incredible new features including Apple’s stunning Retina display, FaceTime video calling, HD video recording, Apple’s A4 chip, 3-axis gyro, iOS 4.1 and Game Center—all combined in the thinnest and lightest iPod touch ever. The new iPod touch features up to 40 hours of music playback and seven hours of video playback on a single battery charge.

“We’ve put our most advanced technology inside the new iPod touch,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “Whether you’re listening to music, playing games, making FaceTime video calls, browsing the web, capturing HD video or watching TV shows and movies, the new iPod touch with its Retina display, A4 chip and 3-axis gyro is more fun than ever.”

The Retina display has 960 x 640 pixels—four times as many pixels than before. The resulting 326 pixels per inch is so dense that the human eye is unable to distinguish individual pixels when iPod touch is held at a normal distance, making text, images and video look sharper, smoother and more realistic.

The front facing camera allows iPod touch users to make FaceTime video calls over WiFi. And the rear-facing camera allows HD video recording. Apple’s A4 chip provides iPod touch users with exceptional processor and graphics performance along with long battery life. This remarkably fast and power-efficient chip, along with the Retina display and 3-axis gyro, makes games on iPod touch the best they’ve ever been on any mobile device.

According to Apple, iPod touch is the World’s most popular portable game player with sales higher than Nintendo DS and Sony PSP devices combined. And, now with Game Center, iPod touch users can challenge and play friends or be matched automatically with new opponents. Game Center lets iPod touch users showcase their scores and achievements and discover new games their friends are playing.

The new iPod touch will be available next week for a suggested price of $229 for the 8GB model, $299 for the 32GB model and $399 for the 64GB model. You can pre-order iPod touch on Amazon. Check out the iPod touch video posted by Apple below.

Live Analysis/Coverage of September 1 Apple Music Event Today at 10AM PST/1PM EST

Submitted by lalit on September 1, 2010 - 11:19am.

As Apple will be doing live video streaming of the music event, we will switch from live coverage to live analysis of Apple’s announcements at the event. We will post details about what Apple announces as well as our thoughts on the new products or services, as soon as Apple introduces them. Please join us for live analysis of Apple media event on live.techztalk.com on Wednesday, September 1st at 10 AM PST and 1 PM EST.

Till the event start you can read Rumor Roundup for September 1st Apple Event.

 

Palm Introduces webOS 2.0 for Developers

Submitted by lalit on August 31, 2010 - 10:57pm.

Palm today introduced webOS 2.0, the next generation of Palm’s mobile operating system. webOS 2.0 will be released later this year, and a beta version of the webOS 2.0 SDK is available now via the SDK Early Access Program. Few of the new features Palm has added to the new OS are as follows:

  • Stacks: Palm introduced card metaphor for multitasking with webOS 1.0 and with the new OS the cards will be grouped in stacks, reducing clutter and making it easier to move quickly between applications.
  • Just Type: Palm has renamed the Universal Search to Just Type as the new feature allows users to “start an email, create a message, update your status, search your favorite websites—all without having to launch an app.” According to Palm, with webOS 2.0, whenever you want to do something on your phone, whether it’s emailing, texting, search, or almost anything else, just type.
  • Exhibition: It is designed to be used with Palm Touchstone Charging Dock allowing users to run new apps specifically when the phone is on the dock. Set your phone on the dock and Exhibition launches automatically, showing you anything from today's agenda to a slideshow of your Facebook photos.
  • Synergy: In webOS 2.0, Palm will open up Synergy accessing and managing personal data technology to the developers. Third party apps will be able to pull more information from Contacts, Calendar, Messenger and social networking sites.
  • JavaScript Services: The popular Node.js runtime environment is built into webOS 2.0, which means that you can now develop not just webOS apps but also services in JavaScript.
  • PDK Plug-ins: webOS 2.0 will allow developers to incorporate PDK plug-ins. Using plug-ins, developers can more easily port app logic from other platforms while leveraging the Mojo Framework to give users a familiar interface and integrate seamlessly into webOS.
  • HTML5 Enhancements: webOS 2.0 will bring enhanced Canvas support, web storage, geolocation support and application cache.

 

Apple to Provide Live Video Streaming of September 1 Event

Submitted by lalit on August 31, 2010 - 7:42pm.

Apple will broadcast its September 1 event online using Apple’s industry-leading HTTP Live Streaming, which is based on open standards. Viewing requires either a Mac running Safari on Mac OS X version 10.6 Snow Leopard, an iPhone or iPod touch running iOS 3.0 or higher, or an iPad. The live broadcast will begin at 10:00 a.m. PDT on September 1, 2010 at www.apple.com.

As Apple will be doing live video streaming of the music event, we will switch from live coverage to live analysis of Apple’s announcements at the event. We will post details about what Apple announces as well as our thought on the new products or services, as soon as Apple introduces them. Please join us for live analysis of Apple media event on live.techztalk.com on Wednesday, September 1st at 10 AM PST and 1 PM EST.

 

Rumor Roundup for September 1st Apple Music Event

Submitted by lalit on August 31, 2010 - 5:44pm.

Apple sent out invitations for September 1st press event last week. The invitation had a picture of guitar with Apple logo on it, indicating that Apple will follow the September tradition and introduce new music related products including new iPods at the event.  We are very sure that Apple will update the iPod lineup and iTunes software, and there are rumors that we might see new products like iTV, iTunes streaming and even a smaller 7-inch iPad. We have made a list of rumored products that Apple will announce at the event, starting with most likely and ending with least likely:

  1. iPod touch: The new touch will get a design refresh as well as hardware upgrade. Like the iPhone 4, iPod touch will get Retina display, front facing camera for FaceTime, 3-megpaixel camera on the back, mic and Apple’s A4 processor. Design-wise it will be slightly thicker to accommodate the two cameras and the steel back will be replaced with more scratch resistant material. The updated iPod touch should come in 32GB and 64GB models priced $299 and $399 respectively. Apple might also introduce a 16GB model without camera for $199.
  2. iPod nano: The new nano will see a drastic redesign. Apple will remove the revolutionary click wheel and use just a 1.7-inch touchscreen bring down the size of the iPod nano. It will look like second-generation iPod shuffle with 60-70 percent decrease in size from current generation iPod nano. According to Appleinsider, new nano will maintain existing pricing tier and storage capacity. It will be announced on Wednesday, but will not be immediately available for sale. Our sources that informed us about the $499 price tag for iPad before its launch say that Apple will lower the price of iPod nano by at least $20.
  3. iPod classic and shuffle: Not much will change for classic and shuffle. The iPod classic might get a bigger hard drive with 240GB capacity and the shuffle might see a $10 price drop to bring it below $50 mark. One of our not so reliable source says that iPod classic might also get nano’s treatment with a 2.5-inch touchscreen replacing the click wheel. Though we don’t believe the information, but it will be nice to see an update to iPod classic.
  4. iTunes: Apple will upgrade the desktop iTunes software by adding more sharing and social networking features. Rumors are Apple is working on streaming iTunes service, but it’s very doubtful that we will see it on Wednesday. iTunes will get 60-second previews and 99-cent TV show rental for some TV networks.
  5. Apple TV: Rumors are that Apple will not only update Apple TV but also rename it ‘iTV’. The new iTV will be smaller and it will be based on iOS with support for Apps. The biggest news related to iTV is that it will be priced only $99 compared to $229 price tag of current Apple TV. Also Bloomberg reported today that iTV would offer Netflix streaming for movies and TV Shows in high definition.
  6. iLife ’11: It has been rumored for past six months that Apple will update the iLife suit and add a new application to it. MacRumors reported that the new application would “actually be a way for end users to create simple apps and deploy them directly (not through the App Store) to their iOS devices.”
  7. Smaller iPod touch: It was reported few days back that Apple might add a iPod touch with 2.8-inch screen to the iPod lineup to bring a more affordable iPod touch to the market. The smaller screen will have same resolution as current iPod touch models, but will come with just 8GB storage. We don’t think Apple will introduce such a device because it will harder to use iOS features on a screen smaller than 3-inch.
  8. iPad with 7-inch screen: Our sources say that Apple is planning to release a smaller iPad by end of this year. The smaller iPad will have same hardware as the 9.7-inch model, but for slightly lower price tag. We don’t think Apple will use the September 1st music event to introduce new iPad model.

There are other rumors also like Apple will update MacBook Air and introduce iPhone for Verizon, but we believe that Apple will use the music event for just multimedia related products, as they have done historically during previous September events. Apple will be providing live video streaming of the event and we will be doing live analysis/coverage of the Apple Music Event tomorrow at 10 AM PST and 1 PM EST on live.techztalk.com. Join us for complete details about the new products that Apple will announce. Check out the video below showing the new iPod nano and touch displays.