Speaking at Westminster eForum on Web 2.0, Jim Cicconi, Vice President of Legislative Affairs for AT&T said “The surge in online content is at the center of the most dramatic changes affecting the Internet today. In three years time, 20 typical households will generate more traffic that the entire Internet today.” This is however an exaggeration as there is more than 600 petabytes of traffic over Internet per day. 20 households won’t even match the traffic that is processed by Google (20 Petabytes) per day even after 10 years. The average daily Internet usage by a household is around 1GB per day, Even if this raises 200 times in three years and reaches 200GB per day for each household, a total of 20 house holds will just reach 4TB per day and that is 80,000 times less than one day of traffic for Google alone. Jim Cicconi further added “We are going to be butting up against the physical capacity of the Internet by 2010.” He said that the traffic will increase 50 fold by 2015 and I totally agree with that. By 2015 every household will definitely use 50GB bandwidth per day. I don’t know whether we are going to reach the limit of Internet by 2010 or not. I do know that we will have to improve the infrastructure to meet the increasing demand for more bandwidth, as the bandwidth requirement will quadruple in next three years for sure. You can read more about what Jim Cicconi said on Cnet.

Samsung has patented a system to control cellphone and mobile device by gestures. The system looks very much like the gesture control patent by Apple but is actually bit different. Apple’s patent are based on interaction with a touchscreen where as Samsung uses front mounted camera that recognizes gesture in space around the camera and translates them into on-screen commands. The image submitted with the patent show many of the functions that can be performed by using your hand. For example flipping two fingers pointed towards the screen will result in object flip on screen. It will be kind of weird using gesture control in public places, imagine pointing and then twisting and turning you hand in front of your device to get something done. I think multitouch gesture on touchscreen is really cool and it doesn’t look weird also.
[Via PhoneMag]

T-mobile is the only major US carrier with no 3G services but now that is going to change T-mobile will start their 3G services for New York City in May. According to TmoNews the carrier is aiming to add 25 cities to its 3G-service list by the end of June. T-mobile will use UMTS standards for their 3G services. It is believed that t-Mobile will officially announce the service in about a Week. T-mobile already has few 3G capable handsets in its list of available handsets and it is expected to add few more soon.

Apple was criticized a lot for seeding Safari Web Browser as an update for users, who have never installed Safari before, through its Software Update utility for Windows. Apple has updated the user interface of the Apple Software Update and the new software that Apple is suggesting users to try is show in a separate column labeled as “New Software”. The new software is selected for download automatically, you have to uncheck it to not install and I am sure it will make many in the blogosphere angry. Another change that Apple has made is that unless the software is critical security update the Software Update won’t keep nagging you. Non-critical update will notify user only once and then wait until user manually invokes Software Update again.

TechRadar has posted their talk with Asus Representative Helen Ling. She has told them that Eee PC based on Atom processor will be released by end of June in UK, Ling added, “I think it should be after Computex”. Intel will start shipping the Atom processor in June. So like I said before if you are planning to buy an Eee PC wait till July, you will get a way better processor for the same cost.
[Via TechRadar]

Times Online is reporting that UK and German iPhone discounts are to clear room for the new 3G iPhone. Mobile operators with exclusive contracts with Apple might face losses on unsold stock as they overestimated the number of iPhones that would sell in Europe. According to Times Online, Apple has placed an order with its Asian suppliers to produce 200,000 3G iPhone by end of May, rising to 2 million per month in June. Times Online have be informed by their industrial source that the new iPhone will be radically different, having a 4.5” screen and slick aluminum backing, among the possibilities are flip version and a sliding model with a regular QWERTY keyboard. I don’t think Apple will change the look or design of the iPhone much just imagine a 4.5” screen flip phone, when you open it, it will be around 9” long. I don’t think Apple will design a phone that is this long. Apple will definitely release more then one model of iPhone in 2008 to address different market segments.
[Via Times Online]

PayPal, the eBay owned company that runs online payment system said it plans to block the browsers that do not support EV SSL (Extended Validation Secure Socket Layer) certificates. The EV SSL certificates are meant to provide trust to Web-based transactions, in IE 7 the website that have EV SSL certificate are displayed in green color in the address bar. Browsers like Firefox, Opera and Safari don’t have EV SSL support and hence can be banned from accessing PayPal.com under the new plan. Firefox and Opera have announced that they will support EV SSL in upcoming release but Apple has announced no such plans for Safari. There is still a debating going on the effectiveness of EV SSL in protecting users against Phishing websites but PayPal’s Chief Information Security Officer Michael Barrett says that the green color in address bar makes it much easier for users to determine whether or not they’re on the site that they thought they were visiting.
[Via eWeek]

Sanyo added an underwater camcorder to its Xacti line of small camcorders. The camcorder is waterproof up to five feet and 60 minutes. The camera can shoot MPEG-4 video at 640 X 480 resolution and take pictures at 8-megapixels, but it can take only 2-megapixel images while filming. The on board memory is just 44MB, you can add more storage via SD memory card slot, it support up to 32GB SD card (future-proof) even though the maximum capacity available right now is 16GB. The camcorder’s underwater shooting mode sharpens the colors to counteract the muddy effect and it also has an Internet mode where movie is filmed in 320 X 240 resolution to directly upload to the Internet. The camcorder has 5x optical Zoom, image stabilization and face chaser (recognizing) features. The CA8 will be available in three colors orange, blue and white. It will be priced around $500 in Japan when it is released in May.

According to Business Standard that telecom operator Vodafone will release the 8GB iPhone in India. The release is planned for first week of September.  The 16GB version will be launched some time in 2009. According to Apple retail source the 8GB version will be priced between Rs 27,200 and Rs 28,000. An Apple source said, “The carrier deal for India is being worked out with Vodafone. Vodafone could also become the carrier for the Australian market once iPhone is launched there, though more than one carrier is likely for Australia.” It is estimated that with in next three years Indian mobile market will double to 500 million, as it is one of the fastest growing mobile market in the world. To get a big chunk of the growing market Apple should entry the market soon and it should offer varying iPhone models for different price segments.

Onkyo launched three new mid-range HD home theater receivers the TX-SR606, TX-SR576 and TX-SR506. All three units have 3 HDMI inputs, Dolby Digital EX, Dolby ProLogic IIx, DTS-ES, DTS 96/24, DTS Neo:6 and support 7.1 surround sound. The receivers are optimized for MP3 and AAC and include Audyssey Dynamic EQ loudness correction, for better reproduction of compressed audio. The top of the line TX-SR606 also supports Dolby TrueHD, DTS-HD Master audio, Dolby Digital Plus, DTS-HD Bi-Amping capabilities and video upscaling to 720p or 1080i. All three receivers will ship next month in black and silver color. The 506 will be priced $499, the 576 will be priced $599 and the top of the line 606 will cost $800.

I can understand fashion houses and electronic companies joining hand to design a mobile handset, but working together to design a TV! Anyway there will be two models, 46” and 52”, both the models will support 1080p, HDMI and 100MHz image technology. A premium LCD TV with just 100MHz image technology, Samsung should have used 120MHz technology. No other technical details about the TV have been released. Giorgio Armani said, “There was once a time when one would want to hide a television as it never failed to disturb the ambience of a living room. Now, through the incredible advance in technology, flat screen televisions can easily be incorporated into the design solution for a home.” Is he talking about 1990s or 2000s, actually I think some of the Sony and Samsung LCD TV models already look way better than the one designed by Armani. The 46” TV will be first launched in Europe, Korea and Russia in mid-summer and the 52” TV will be launched in late summer.

[Via Akihabara News]

Macrumors has posted images of the upcoming Macbook, Macbook Pro, 32GB iPhone and iTunes 8. The mock up images of both Macbook and Macbook Pro looks very similar to pervious description provided by sources familiar with the upcoming Macbooks. The new Macbook will have large multitouch trackpad and black keyboard like the Macbook Air. The Macbook Pro will take its design cues from iMac and share the same kind of display bezel as the current iMacs. The third image posted by Macrumors, show the 32GB iPhone, there is no other information about the iPhone in the images. The last image shows the release date of iTunes 8 and it is June 10th the same date when Steve jobs will give his Keynote for WWDC. Macrumors has now posted an update saying that the images resemble previous user submitted mockups, making these unlikely to be legitimate. It true we can’t know for sure whether the mockups are real or fake, but I can say one thing for sure that Apple will release completely redesigned Macbook and Macbook Pro before fall of 2008. Additionally reports out of Taiwan that Apple has placed a substantial order for new aluminum 13” Macbook casing with one of the larger Taiwanese case maker increases the confidence that we will very soon see new Macbooks.

Researchers at Fraunhofer Institute for Silicate Research in Germany have developed lithium-ion batteries with no flammable materials in it. Dr. Kai-Christain Moller said, “ We have succeeded in replacing the inflammable organic electrolytes with a nonflammable polymer that retains its shape. This considerably enhances the safety of lithium-ion batteries. What’s more, because it is a solid substance, the electrolyte cannot leak out of the battery.” The polymer is derived from an inorganic compound that allows organic side chains to attach to it, its called Ormocer. Though the researches have developed prototype, they don’t expect mass production before 2011. When the batteries based on this new technology will be released it will have better storage capacity and more efficient power delivering, resulting in performance comparable to today’s lead batteries for cars.
[Via Ars Technica]

For past few months we have heard a lot and seen many demo videos online of Microsoft multitouch based Surface table and starting today we will be able to see the Surface table in action. Initially, Microsoft and AT&T will showcase the surface table in only five AT&T stores. The five stores that will have Surface tables are:
New York City: 381 Madison Ave and 350 Park Ave, New York, NY
Atlanta: 3429 Lenox Road NE, Atlanta, GA
San Antonio: 13127 San Pedro Ave, San Antonio, TX
San Francisco: 1206 El Camino Real, San Bruno, CA
If you are near one of these stores, don’t forget to checkout the Surface tables.

There was a rumor last week that the famous watchmaker TAG Heuer was working with Modelabs to develop a mobile phone. Now the rumor is official and TAG has developed an all-metal casing handset with Modelabs. The phone comes with a 1.9” QVGA screen with sapphire crystal glass, 2-megapixel camera, Bluetooth, 7-hours battery life and media player. Specifications-wise there is nothing to talk about in this phone, it’s the price that defines this phone, depending upon customizations it can range between €3,400 ($5425) to €3,900 (6225). The phone will be released in Q2.

Research firms Gartner and IDC have released their latest data for Worldwide PC shipments. Though the data provided by both the research firms differ a bit but the conclusions drawn from the data is same. Gartner says that overall 71.1 million PCs were sold in Q1 2008 where as IDC’s number is 69.5 million. The top five vendors in the world were HP, Dell, Acer, Lenovo and Toshiba. Apple took the 4th spot in US top five vendors and they were Dell, HP, Acer, Apple and Toshiba. Dell had the best quarter in past two years. HP extended its worldwide lead to 18.3 percent. All the top five vendors in US and worldwide had a growth rate more than the average PC growth rate. Based on the data by the two firms Apple’s shipment growth rate again outpaced all the top five vendors. The PC growth rate was lowest in Japan at just 0.6%. To read the complete reports by both firms click on the link below
Gartner
IDC

9 to 5 Mac has posted rumors that Apple might introduce three different iPhone models as early as June. It is know that Apple is working on a 3G iPhone but the rumor is Apple will offer an iPhone mini and a premium iPhone with 3G. The premium iPhone might be larger than the existing model and will offer three times the battery life of present model. Apple will continue selling the current EDGE based iPhone but with higher storage capacities. Apple is even planning an entry-level model of the iPhone (iPhone Mini) that is slimmer, smaller, has a large screen and offers 4GB storage. This model will cost $169.

The blogosphere is buzzing with the news that on 22nd April, Archos will announce new PMP with GPS, WiFi and might even support 3G. According to PMP Today “Archos’s plan is to direct you to your destination of choice in Europe, US and even China, and you can then pass the media player to the back of the car to let kids entertain themselves with hours of movies, music and internet.” This could be the generation 6 Archos media player even though Archos has yet not started shipping their Generation 5 players like Archos 606 and 706.

Zdnet’s Mary Jo Foley is reporting that Microsoft is working on another Microsoft entertainment market place called Zune Video X (X for experience). Zune Video X is basically aiming for iTunes video services and will get its inspiration from Xbox Live Marketplace. It will be a unified media service that will sell music, video, TV shows, movies and other related entertainment content. This is not the first attempt by Microsoft to build a unified entertainment marketplace to compete with iTunes. Microsoft has failed in its previous direct and indirect attempts, like eLive marketplace. Some even think that Zune VideoX is a renamed and repackaged eLIve.

Microsoft needs to get its Ads department in order, first there were the images used in Zune Social ads that looked like orgy pics and not people listening to their music on Zune and now it’s the Vista SP1 promo video. The music video is “Rockin’ Our Sales” by Bruce ServicePack and the Vista Street Band, come on Microsoft if people in your ads department are this dumb, fire them instantly. The video is so bad that people planning to buy Vista will run away after seeing it.

Update: Microsoft’s representative says “This video was a spoof, they thought folks internally would get a kick out of not taking themselves so seriously all the time, but some people thought that’s exactly what they were being serious.” If a company’s representative has to announce that a video is spoof, just imagine how much damage it would have caused to the company’s image. Even as a spoof video this was really bad Microsoft.

The Taiwanese newspaper Economic Daily News is reporting that the United Microelectronics Corporation will be the foundry to produce Infineon Technologies PMB8878 3G baseband chip, which will be used in the new 3G iPhone. Previously it was reported that the beta firmware 2.0 for the iPhone mentions PMB8878 in the code. The 3G chips will be made using the more advanced 65nm process. The first generation iPhone used an Infineon baseband chip manufactured by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company. The newspaper doesn’t provide a date for when production will start but supports the discovery of PMB8878 in Firmware code as the 3G chips iPhone will use.
[Via Electronista]

Asus has officially released their new Eee PC 900 that comes with an 8.9” (1024 X 600 resolution), 1GB RAM and 4GB on board flash memory. Additionally Windows XP version will get 8GB SSD and Linux version will get 16GB SSD via PCIe slot. The laptop will use the same Intel Celeron M processors but will switch to faster and cooler Atom processors in June (we suggest wait till July before buying one). The Eee PC 900 is the first ASUS laptop with FIngerGlide technology that will support multitouch gestures on the trackpad. Asus follows Apple’s lead to offer multitouch on a laptop trackpad. The laptop will come with 1.3-megapixel webcam and WiFi support, a WiMAX version is expected later. The price will range from $500 to $650 based on configuration. Depending on the country, Asus will rollout the Eee-PC 900 between now and May end.

Roughly Drafted is reporting that IBM’s Research Information Services launched an internal pilot program to study the possibility of moving significant number of employees to Mac. The first phase of the pilot program was started in October 2007 and end in January 2008. During this phase IBM distributed 24 MacBook Pro to researchers at IBM. At the end of four month period… only three out of twenty four chose their old Windows based Thinkpad laptop over the Macbook Pro. 18 of the 24 participants said that Macbook Pro offered “better or best experience”. IBM will continue to work toward offering a true Open Client that may be Windows, Linux or a Mac, Research IP is focusing on providing an IBM application stack on multiple OSs, rather then be confined to one or the other. This is another evidence pointing at decline of Windows platform and the raising awareness about Macs. You can read the complete details about the pilot program at Roughly Drafted.

Samsung today officially launched the SGH-i900, the new Windows Mobile 6.1 based smartphone. The phone like almost all other smartphone released this year looks like an iPhone clone, a good clone actually. The phone comes with GSM, HSDPA/UMTS, WiFi b/g, Bluetooth 2.0, GPS and FM radio. The i900 will have a 3.5” touchscreen with 240 X 400 resolution and a 5-megapixel camera with autofocus. The phone will come with 8GB onboard memory and microSD card slot. Samsung has not yet announced the price of the phone but it will ship by fall of 2008.

Lenovo has not officially announced the release of IdeaPad U110 notebook in US. But J&R has added U110 to their online store. According to J&R the laptop will be available in Black and Red color for $1999. The website has not give any release date it just says coming soon. The IdeaPad U110 is a 2.3 pounds laptop with 11” screen and thickness ranging from 0.7” to 0.9” only. The lightweight notebook comes with Core 2 Duo L7500 1.6GHz processor, 3GB RAM, 120GB hard drive, WiFi and Bluetooth.

Apple and Starbucks have announced a program dubbed Pick of the Week, offering Starbucks customers free music and music videos downloadable from the iTunes Store. According to Starbucks, Pick of the Week will be available through download cards, provided at more than 7000 Starbucks locations in US. The cards will be good for 60 days from the date a song is named “Pick of The Week,” and allow customers to get a complimentary song or music video (pre-selected).
[Via Macnn]

As mentioned in my older post, Sony today released their latest PS3 firmware version 2.3 with support for DTS-HD audio. The latest firmware was released along with updated and redesigned PlayStation Store. With the redesign of the store it’s easier to find add-ons, games, video and other content. Gamers can also see the video preview and pictures before downloading content. Now the shopping bag (cart) will let users track the purchase history.  The upgrade is free for existing PS3 user and coincides with the launch of GT5 Prologue, which is available for download through online store.

There has been lot of talk lately about Amazon MP3 Download gaining market share at iTunes Expense as it has support for DRM free songs from all four major record labels. NPD in its latest report said that only 10% of Amazon MP3 customers surveyed in February had previously purchased music through iTunes. “The fact that Amazon’s early growth does not appear to be at the expense of Apple iTunes is a healthy indication that the digital music customers pool can expand into new consumer groups who have not yet joined the iTunes community,” said Russ Crupnick a Analyst with NPD. I think it is also an indication for the record labels that they should start DRM free support for iTunes also and supporting few other music services won’t bring down iTunes. You can read the complete NPD report at AppleInsider.

Engadget called Psystar’s president Rudy Pedraza and even though he refused to comment on questions about Apple’s EULA, copyrights or if Apple has talked with the company. Rudy told Engadget that his team is working on official response and the Open Computer and the new Open Pro are still for sales. Rudy further added that they have already shipped few orders that were placed before yesterday. He also mentioned that he had no idea how Information Week got a quote from someone named “Robert”.

The one Microsoft update I had been waiting for is Windows XP SP3, I am not a fan of Vista. Tech website Neowin is reporting that from 14th April support for release version of SP3 is available. Microsoft will release SP3 for Equipment Manufacturers, Volume license, Connect, MSDN and TechNet on 21st April. Starting from 29th April the Windows XP SP3 will be available for download via Microsoft Update, Windows Update and Download center. Sp3 will be available via automatic update from 10th June. The XP SP3 will contain all the previous updates released for Windows XP. SP3 will improve speed, stability and security of the system. SP3 will also add Network Access Protection, to help organizations that use Windows XP to take advantage of new feature in the Windows Server 2008 OS. So mark your calendar for SP3 Update on 29th April.

First it was T-mobile Germany and now it is O2 and Carphone in UK who will give discount on the iPhone till June 1st. These price cuts and low iPhone stock is a clear indication that Apple wants to clear the channels for 3G iPhone. The discount for both T-Mobile and O2 ends in June, which again suggests a launch date of around June for the 3G iPhone. O2 and Carphone will give £100 reduction on 8GB iPhone only, there is no reduction offered for 16GB iPhone. Carphone Warehouse will give a £100 voucher to those who bought an 8GB iPhone in the last 30 days.

Robert Love a Google developer gave a presentation at LugRadio Live, about the open source Android mobile OS and the SDK. He talked about platform architecture and the opportunities that Android could create for innovation in the mobile space. Love compared Google’s Android platform and Open Handset Alliance to FCC’s landmark 1968 Carterfone decision, which opened the telephone network to third-party devices and helped in telecommunication advancements. "The goal of Android is to be open to developers, open to the industry, and open to users," Love told the audience. "Users don't need permission to install applications. Devices from Open Handset Alliance partners will not restrict users." Basically Love was aiming his arrows towards the iPhone. He also added that Android development would not require any registration or certification. Love also talked about the underlying technologies that are used in Android. Even though Google is pointing its finger at iPhone’s closed OS and SDK, I think it is Microsoft that will lose the most if Android becomes successful. Most of the customers buying iPhone are choosing it because it’s a closed system and they don’t have to worry about whether an application will run or not. Additionally Apple makes the iPhone and they won’t leave their OS and switch to Android, but handset manufacturers like HTC and Samsung can switch from Windows Mobile OS to Google Android. To get more details about the presentation visit Ars Technica.

Nokia introduce a new 6212 Classic phone and the one thing interesting about this boring looking phone is Near Field Communication (NFC). In theory NFC should allow you to share information, service initiation, make payment and add ticketing capability using contactless data transfer. For security reasons, payment transactions can only be authorized after a user-identified passcode is entered. Nokia has also added NFC support to Bluetooth, Nokia calls it Touch to Connect. NFC allows devices to pair and transfer content just by bring the two devices near each other. So pairing and transferring content is as easy as touching the phone to a NFC-enabled picture frame, cellphone, printer or headset. The video below show what is NFS and how it works? The phone specifications are 3G, 2” screen with 240 x 320 resolution, 2-megapixel camera, microSD card slot and FM radio. The phone will ship in Q3 2008 for €200.
[Via Engadget]

Psystar announced yesterday that they would sell Mac Clone OpenMac with preinstalled Mac OS X Leopard. According to InformationWeek, the Miami based vendor said that Apple’s restrictive licensing terms run counter to antitrust laws and it’s vowing to fight. The company further added “what if Microsoft said you could only install Windows on Dell computers?” One of the employee identify himself as Robert said “They’re charging an 80% markup on hardware, What if Honda said that, after you buy their car, you could only drive it on the roads they said you could?” Psystar is trying to get all the attention it can, but each and every statement made by Psystar is wrong. Microsoft can license Windows to Dell and not to HP, they have the right to deny HP the Windows license. If Apple is charging 80% markup then so is Psystar. The configuration that Psystar is selling will cost $555 (with OS installed) and can be compared to Mac mini $599, as the computer doesn’t have a dedicated graphics card. The processor Core 2 Duo E4500 used by Psystar is half the price at just $119 compared to the processor used in Mac Mini Core 2 Duo T5600 at $249. We don’t even need to consider other components used and we can see who will or is charging more markup. Now for the Honda analogy, imagine a new automaker ‘Ponda’ they start selling car that uses Honda’s engine without an agreement with Honda, then Honda has every right to stop Ponda from doing that. Mac OS X is the engine of every Apple computer and Apple has every right to decide whether they want some other company to use their engine or not.

A Russian news site Cnews is reporting that the online music service iTunes Store would be available to the Russian users starting 21st April. According to Cnews it is a major step for iPhone sales in Russia. Cnews says the billboards with iPhone style ads have started to appear throughout Moscow since 4th April. The wordings on the billboard are “iSkoro 21.04.2008” meaning iSoon 21.04 2008. The billboard looks very similar to the iPhone package where iPhone is written on black background. Another sign of iTunes coming to Russia is that the homepage of two Apple owned website itunes-store.ru and imacintosh.ru have banner stating “iTunes Store Russia 21.04.2008”. To get more information visit Cnews website.

Ageia has finished their work of porting the PhysX technology to CUDA so it can work on Nvidia GeForce 8000 and up series cards. Both Nvidia and Ageia are working on quality assurance now but very soon your NVIDIA card will double as PhysX accelerator for more than 140 games. According to Ageia the PhysX accelerator will work perfectly on 8800 graphics cards but very soon support will be available for all 8000 and 9000 series cards. Ageia hopes that the porting of technology will increase its user base from 150K to more than 8 million. The other reason for Nvidia and Ageia for porting the PhysX accelerator is to show that processor of today are still 20 to 40X slower than graphics cards and prove Intel's statement that “graphics cards might not be necessary in the future” wrong.
[Via Slashgear]

The 4K Red Ray is a disc player that supports 4K, 2K, 1080p, 720p and SD playback for Red Disc and Red Express. It will also play RAW R3D files from compact flash. It will be available in early 2009 and no price was announced. All the Red lenses will be released in 2008 and will be digitally optimized PL mount cinema lenses. The first wave of lenses will have 18-85mm T2.9 zoom, 25mm T1.9, 35mm T1.9, 50mm T1.9, 85mm T1.9, 100mm T1.9 and 300mm T2.9. The second wave will have two more lenses the 15mm T2.8 and the 18mm T1.9. Red has not released any pricing details yet.
[Via Red]

Red announced the 5K Epic camera with full frame S35mm Mysterium X sensor, 1 to 100fps, up to 100MB/sec recording, full size dual-link HD-SDI, 2-XLR audio, HDMI, Firewire 800, USB 2.0 and WiFi controls. The 5K-resolution camera has fully upgradable sensor, body, boards and mount. The Epic will have 6 pound fully machined aluminum body with hybrid stainless PL mount and would be compatible with most Red One accessories. It will be available in early 2009.
[Via Red]

Sharp showed today the best UMPC yet. Sharp’s Willcom D4 comes with 1.33GHz Centrino Atom Z520 processor, 1GB RAM, 5” touchscreen with 1024 X 600 resolution, LED backlit LCD, QWERTY slide-out keyboard, 2-megapixel camera, WiFi, and Bluetooth 2.0 EDR. This Windows Vista Home Premium UMPC measures 3.3” x 7.4” x 1.01” and weighs 1 pound. The UMPC will come pre-installed with Microsoft Office Personal 2007, NAVITIME and anti-virus software. No word about price and release date.
[Via Akihabara News]

Panasonic introduced two new P2HD VariCam cameras, the VariCam 3700 and VariCam 2700. It also showcased successors to the DVX 100 DV camcorder and a handheld P2 camera, the AG-HMC 150 and AG-HPX170 respectively. The VariCam 2700 will have 2/3” three CCDs, Full HD resolution, 10-bit 4:2:2 AVC-Intra 100 recording, variable frame rate in 1 frame increments, two HD-SDI output, 5 P2 card slot and advanced Gamma setting. The VariCam 3700 will have all the features of VariCam 2700 and add 4:4:4 RGB dual-link live output. Both the cameras will be released in fall of 2008. Panasonic also showed the AG-HMC 150 an AVCHD based handheld camcorder that supports 1080p/i and 720p resolutions.  The camera has 1/3” three CCDs, 13X Leica Dicomar zoom lens, two channel XLR audio and SD/SDHC memory card slot. The camera will ship for $4500. The last camera shown by Panasonic was a P2 based handheld camera AG-HPX170 that will ship in fall 2008. The camera has 1/3” three CCDs and can shoot in full 1080p resolution. The camera will have 13x Leica Dicomar zoom lens, HD/SD-SDI output, Firewire, USB 2.0, two channel XLR audio, 3.5” LCD screen and remote camera function. Panasonic has not announced the price yet.
[Via Broadcast Newsroom]

Sony will be updating their XBR series LCD TVs starting May of 2008. BGR has posted product roadmap and spec sheets of the upcoming XBR6, XBR7 and XBR8 models. Both the XBR6 and XBR7 will get enhancement like DLNA compliant, TV guide IPG, Enhanced user interface and Bravia Sync. But it is the XBR8 that will get your pulse racing with new features like TRILUMINOS RGB LED backlight, Advanced Contrast Enhancer PRO local dimming technology and BRAVIA Engine 2PRO with 1080p HD Video Processor. There will be 9 new XBR models and according to the leaked road map the first one to hit the shelf in May is the 32” KDL-32XBR6. The 37” KDL-37XBR6 will follow in July. In August it will be XBR8 based 46” KDL-46XBR8. September will see the release of KDL-40XBR6, KDL-52XBR6 and KDL-55XBR8. The last three models for this year KDL-46XBR6, KDL-40XBR7 and KDL70XBR7 will be launched in October. You can get more details at BGR’s website.

Sony showed its PMW-EX3 at NAB in Las Vegas. The supports interchangeable lenses and has three 0.5” CCDs.  The camera will have Full HD resolution, 24p support, XDCAM HD EX recording on dual SxS cards, HD-SDI, USB 2.0, 4-pin Firewire and an optional 60GB disk recorder that plugs in SxS slot. The camera will be priced $13,000 and the shipping date is yet not known.

Red the maker of high performance digital cameras has announced their mini camcorder 3K Scarlet. The camcorder that is a monster by specifications will have 2/3” Mysterium X Sensor, recording speeds of 1 to 120 FPS, 100 MB/Sec recording to dual compact flash, up to 3K recording resolution, 4.8” LCD and 8X T2.8 Red Zoom Lens. The camera will come with a set of Full auto or Full manual shooting modes and will support still mode also. The ports on the camera are Firewire 800, USB 2.0, HDMI and HD-SDI. The camera can be controlled using WiFi for remote recordings and will be released in early 2009.
[Via Red]

eMusic is the world’s largest retailer of independent music, offering more than 3.5 million tracks. Today eMusic announced that it has reached the 200 million mark. It took eMusic more than four years since its launch in November 2003. eMusic reached this mark even though major labels do not support their DRM-free subscription service. eMusic subscription service allows consumers to own their music not rent it. For example if you pay $9.99/month you can download 30 tracks every month and the tracks are yours to keep. Even though eMusic has made only a fraction of sales when compared to iTunes sales of more then 4 billion, it is a remarkable achievement for a company without any support from big four music labels.

Sony had stated its intention for US release of touchscreen G700 in Q2 2008. FCC has cleared the G700 for release in US. According to Sony the device will introduce non-business users to benefits of a touchscreen interface, which iPhone has already done almost a year back anyway welcome to the touchscreen party. The thing that makes the G700 interesting is unlike almost all the Cellphone manufacturers, Sony has not copied the iPhone form factor. G700 is a candybar phone that has a touchscreen, it can take input from hardware buttons, stylus and finger. The phone has a 2.4” screen, 3.2-megapixel camera, front camera for video calls, Memory Stick Micro (M2) slot and support for tri-band GSM. The formats supported by the phone are MPEG-4, H.263, H.264, WMV9, Real Video, MP3, WMA, WAV, AAC, AAC+ and eAAC+. Sony has yet not announced the launch date and price for the G700 handset.

Toshiba’s European website has posted the updated specs of Protégé R500 and the big change is a 128GB SSD. The other specs of the laptop are 12.1” LED backlit LCD, 1.33GHz Core 2 Duo ULV, 2GB RAM and Dual-layer DVD burner. The update brings first decent size SSD drive in ultra-portables, previously most ultra-portable’s came with tiny 64 GB SSD or a HDD option. I am very sure that by the end of 2008 we will see 256GB SSD drives in ultra-portable laptops.

Intel has launched a demo video to educate you about Mobile Internet Devices (MID). The video hypes the MID as having performance capabilities of a laptop and mobility of a cellphone. Intel talks about the performance of MIDs, great battery life of the devices, wireless connectivity (WiFi and WiMAX), multimedia capabilities and productivity. If you are still confused about the MIDs after watching the video you probably don’t need it.

Psystar as small manufacturer of VoIP, security and networking equipment announced today that they would start selling a Mac compatible computer for $399.  The computer would come with 2.2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo E4500, 2GB DDR2 RAM, integrated Intel GMA 950 graphics, 20X DVD writer, 250GB hard drive and 4 USB ports. If you pay $155 more for a Leopard copy they will preinstall it on your new machine. The problem is in second part of the deal, anyone can sells computer hardware but preinstalled Mac OS X is a problem. Apple stopped licensing their OS for past 10 years and since the launch of Mac OS X Steve Jobs has been very vocal about not licensing Mac OS X to anyone. Leopard’s End User License Agreement states “This License allows you to install, use and run one (1) copy of the Apple Software on a single Apple-labeled computer at a time.” The part Apple-labeled computer is the reason that no one except Apple can sell a computer preinstalled with Mac OS X. Unless Psystar has got in an agreement with Apple, which is very unlikely, they will very soon get a Cease and Desist order.

LG has launched their latest PMP T80 in Europe. The player comes with a 3” 420 x 240-resolution touchscreen that has 260k colors.  The T80 comes with a DVB-T TV tuner, FM Tuner and MIC to record live. The formats supported by LG T80 are MPEG-4, MP3, WMA, OGG, WAV, ASF, JPEG and Text. The player is 0.5” thick almost double the thickness of iPod touch. It will come with 4GB storage and be priced €299 ($470) that is just too much for a 4GB device.
[Via PMP Today]