Gadgety News

Play.com, the online store, has just bitten a chunk out of Apple.

Their range of DRM-free music now includes artists from Sony BMG, Warner and Universal joining EMI and a host of independent labels. 

At 65-pence-per-track, that’s 14p less than the iTunes variety and you don’t need an iPod to play them either.

Smugness abounds in the Play.com camp as they also beat HMV, Amazon and Tecso to signing with the big four.

PlayDigital head Wendy Snowdown says: “It’s great for us to get this service live before Amazon, HMV and Tesco and it’s showing in the sales results.”

They’re not the first, however, 7digital pipped them six weeks ago, but Play says the ability to purchase from DVDs, books and everything else, in the same shopping basket gives them the upper hand.

A bit of modesty please Play

PlayDigital

The Tube 5800 is part of the XPRESS range of handsets from Nokia, joining the 5310.

There’s a 3.2-megapixel dual flash camera with a Carl Zeiss lens, and 8GB of storage for your music that Nokia hopes you’ll be picking up from the new Comes With Music service.

The other musical bonus is that it’s packing some pretty potent speakers too!

One of the best bits is that you’re able to store your four favourite contacts, complete with photos, on the home screen storing your entire history with that person.

That means you can keep up-do-date with your fave 4 with all their texts, emails and calls exchanged as well as Facebook status updates through the RSS feed. That is pretty cool

The 5800 Tube is hooked up with Flash so you can browse “the whole internet”. I think that was a little attack on the iPhone………………

You’ll be able to grab this phone now for just 279 Euros on pay-as-you-go - another attack aimed squarely at the 3Gesus iPhone which will hurt your pocket for twice that.

T3 actually got their paws on one for a preview - here’s their thoughts:

• Design

The Tube 5800 is slim in thickness and in width, much smaller than the N96 which we were expecting it to be most similar to. It’s a candybar design, coated in a glossy piano black finish, with a bright red metallic strip around the edge. The front fascia is also glossy black, however the edges are encased in what looks like a transparent burgundy plastic.

• Touchscreen

There’s a slide-button on the right side of the phone, about three quarters down, which activates the screen. The screen itself is big - 3-inches, we’d say, so a tiny bit smaller than the iPhone’s screen. The touchscreen is fantastic though, hugely responsive, and the closest thing to the iPhone we’ve seen so far. It certainly eclipses the usability of recent touchscreens, like the Samsung Omnia and LG Renoir.

However, the downside of the touchscreen is that it’s still prone to fingerprint smears, even more so than the iPhone. The top right hand section of the phone has a touch-sensitive ‘XPRESS MEDIA’ written on it, and when pressed, launches the music player.

• Comes With Music

As aforementioned, Nokia’s first official touchscreen mobile phone will be compatible with their Comes With Music service, allowing users to download millions of tracks over a 12 month period, playable on the Tube.

• User Interface

It uses the Symbian S60 operating system, however the homepage looks different to other handsets, with an almost iPhone-esque array of icons. Sadly we didn’t get a proper chance to look through the entire menu, but it’s standard Nokia fare - so easy to use, even your granny will be wanting one.

T3

Alex Underwood wanted to produce some speakers that are meant to capture child-like memories and emotions.

I think his councilor should take him to one-side as all I’m getting from looking into that Kenny-styled hood is fear and “I’m sorry - I wont do that again.  I promise…..!”

But there are some interesting design points other that of the scared-child appearance.

These are still just a design and are constructed from Expanded Polystyrene - a good, cheap, light and largely undervalued material.

The speakers are meant to be used in pairs, and are actually fairly large.

Although shown here in white, manufacturing in EPS allows for a wide range of color options.

I wonder if the speakers just look like that because they know what you’ve just downloaded and about to do now there’s no-one else in the room…………………..

SlipperyBrick

According to Japan’s Nikkei newspaper (kind of Japans’ Wall Street Journal) they report that Nintendo will launch a new version of the DS later this year.

Now I’ve already talked about this but this is where the Nikkei article gets interesting:  They say that this new DS is coming loaded with a built-in camera, music playback and a more powerful wireless to boot!

The camera will be used for new types of games - given what they’ve created with the Wii there’s no telling what this could lead to - though I’m sure it would involve taking pictures of yourself at some point…….

Of course, it’ll reportedly launch in Japan before it hits overseas, where it’ll sell for under 20,000 yen (Kotaku notes the current DS is 16,800 yen).

If true, it looks to be another iteration of the current DS, not the dual widescreen jobby I mentioned before - expect it in April or May 2009.

Nikkei via Kotaku

This is a totally cool bit of kit.

Songreference has a free download for the Windows version of iTunes (Mac to follow I guess) and Winamp called MiniTube.

MiniTube will sniff out the music video of whichever MP3 you are playing at the time.

That’s cool enough but it then plays it all synced up to the song.

The syncing part is the trickiest bit and, quite frankly, makes all the difference.

The plug-in also has links to Wikipedia information on each song.

See a demo video here.

Why?

That’s my first question on discovering the latest venture by the large labels to convince us that we need another physical media to carry our tunes.

Personally CD’s are still my main alternative to MP3, etc.

I still have my vinyl but that weighs a ton. I loved the ease of tapes and I even tried MiniDisks. In fact I  still record my rehearsal jams on MD but that’s about it.

These Sandisk slotMusic cards are not much more than tweaked 1GB microSD cards with a logo and a special USB-compatible sled: and the fact that they’ll carry albums from BMI Music, Sony BMG, Universal Music Group, and Warner Music Group fails to pique my interest.

They’ll be DRM free which, to be honest, is a pleasant surprise.

It’s an attempt to change the way some people buy MP3s, the cynical amongst you might think this is a way to attract people back into real stores.  I worked for FOPP and I can tell you that when the chain of stores went into receivership noone was particularly shocked.

Anyhooooo…you’ll get a card you can slot into your cellphone or PC with high-quality MP3s (up to 320kbps), artwork, videos and such, which you can also reuse as a 1GB memory card later, and that’s kinda handy I spose.

If I want, and I generally do, a physical, tangible version of a bought album I’d go for the one with pictures and sleeve notes I can read, touch and yes; perhaps even smell!

I am prepared to be proved wrong - we can only judge after crimbo has come and gone I guess.

SlotMusic

I’ve been waiting for my favourite Hi-Fi brand to kick out a Pod Dock and they certainly haven’t disappointed at the Milan Top Audio Show.

Cambridge Audio have also dished out a 2 piece set as well as an all-in-one - the Sonata and the Fusion respectively.

Let’s start with The Sonata.

Pointed towards the more picky listener it comes as a two-part separates system.

The pictured AR30 (£299) is the FM receiver where as the 2.1 DAB receiver is the DR30 (also £299) and both boast 40 watts per channel and has that brushed aluminium finish which is so de rigeur.

You also get a choice of what to buddy up with the AV receiver.

Do you go for of an upscaling 1080p HDMI DVD player (DV30 - £179) or Wolfson-DAC-loaded CD unit (CD30 - £179)? OOoooo………the decisions!!

Next up is the all-in-one Fusion which scampers in for under £300.

It will rock out at 30w per channel and features an integrated CD player, DAB/FM tuner, USB port and SD card sockets and MP3/WMA playback compatibility from CD.

Both the Sonata and the Fusion sports that bespoke iPod dock that charges the player while tethered.

Now, Cambridge Audio’s brand new and specially built iPod dock uses bespoke technology - similar to that in noise cancelling headphones - to eliminate unwanted signal noise and improve MP3 sound clarity.

Matthew Bramble, technical director at Cambridge Audio told those fab people over at T3:

“The move to enter this market is to show people that integrated iPod docks aren’t always the best choice for iPod sound quality. We see the Sonata and Fusion as stepping stones for people to get into decent hifi and really improve the sound of their digital music collection.”

If you don’t have an iThingy then you have the blessing of a front-mounted line-in for attaching those other players.

The Fusion will be here in November whilst the Sonata will be saying “hello” in Feb 2009.

The name Marantz usually makes most people’s wallet or purse hide unless you’re serious about your audio.

But now they are trying to get the MP3 generation back to listening to music via those shiny discs and offer up the CD5003 CD player and PM5003 amp.
 

The CD5003 brings an audiophile-friendly reinforced chassis to cut out vibration, HDAM SA-2 modules for better audio reproduction and a digital-to-analogue converter that guarantees perfect symmetry between left and right channels.

It will also play CD-R and CD-RW, MP3 and WMA-enabled discs.

The PM5003 packs independent pre-amplifier, power amplifier and tone control sections, pumping out 80 watts of tuneage throughout your party pad.

There’s also the same HDAM SA-2 modules for sound quality, five line inputs, balance control and two sets of speaker terminals.

£230 will get you the amp and add £200 for the CD player.
 

Marantz

Now, as far as I’m aware, Sony still make their own brand of MP3 player.

But they’ve decided that they need to build a dock for that relative ‘Johnny-come-lately’ Apple.

Sony’s newest Dream Machine, the ICF-CD3iP, has been sprung by Sony Insider.

The iPhone/iPod Clock/Radio Dock isn’t ugly and will probably be of decent quality (unless Sony want to make the Apple products sound bad) and will be priced at a reasonable $100.

With any audio product it’s difficult to review until I’ve actually heard it but I’m thinking it isn’t gonna be fantastic but sound like a half-decent clock-radio-mp3 player.

SI mentions the that it has an iPod/iPhone remote, and that its alarm can co-exist with iPhone/iPod alarms - so that’s handy.

To me it looks like the iDock bit might slide out so if you haven’t got an iThingy you can keep the dock tucked away

It’s also packing an MP3 playing CD player and it has a line in to boot!

Sony Insider

As well as the new iPod Touch the Nano has had a revamp.

Finally after all the speculation and ’spy pics’ we can see the new design all offical like.

As well as the New Nano there’s an upgrade to the 80GB Classic.

“As of today we’re upgrading the 80GB iPod”, with 120GB of storage, but for the same price. “30,000 songs for your pocket”, 120GB is apparently.

Steve announced, “We shipped the first Nano in 2005, it’s only been three years” and then unveiled the new Nano - which is pretty much like the spy shots that cluttered the interblogwebsphere for the last 2 or 3 weeks.

“It’s the thinnest iPod we’ve ever made”, it has an oval shape, and comes in a chrome-look exterior. The screen is high-res says Jobsy with the new lanky body.

You can create Genius playslists on the iPod Nano, without it being connected to a PC, plus features an accelerometer, so when you turn it sideways, you can watch video and check out your photos in landscape mode.

I’m particularly diggin the “shake to shuffle” feature, which does exactly what it says on the tin.

There was also the small matter of  ”these iPods are the cleanest and least-toxic iPods we’ve ever created”.

The Nano will blast out in eight new colours (just click the pic for the full range!) and the 8GB will be $149, 16GB will be $199, and both models will ship in next few days.

New Apple headphones are also launching, with a little control located on the headphone wires, so you can play/pause, rewind, forward and turn the music up as well.

New in-ear headphones are also launching, they have two drivers each in them, a woofer and a tweeter, they will sell for $79

Stevey J got stuck straight in with the new iTunes offerings by announcing HD TV show downloads, from $2.99.

As well as that he added, “NBC is coming back to iTunes, and they’re bringing all their great shows with them”.  Nice

The new iTunes 8 package will launch, with HD TV downloads, new browsing features and that “Genius” feature I’ve mentioned before.

Browsing will change, with the ability to look at albums just by their covers.

“Genius will automatically let you create playslists from songs in your iTunes library with just one click”.

All it will take is one click of the button in the bottom left-hand corner  to create a full playlist.

Information and algorithms about your iTunes library, like number of plays on one song, will be sent to Apple, basically so they can collect data on their users, to “combine your information with the knowledge of other iTunes users too”.

This will apparently allow Genius to “get smarter and smarter and smarter”, and Apple will send the results back to their users.

Before the freaking out begins, all this takes place anonymously of course.

Apple

Well, as we’ve all survived the Large Hadron Collider being started let’s have a look at the new iPod Touch.

Jobsy says that it still ”has the same gorgeous 3.5-inch display”, but is even thinner, has built-in speakers, better artwork on albums and videos and an inbuilt app store are all being added.

But the killer thing is that it will feature Nike+ support, which has the receiver built in, meaning the user just needs a transmitter for their shoe, and off you’re go - measuring all those pies ‘n’ pastries that you’re burning off.

You’ll obviously get the new Genius support.

“You could make a pretty good argument that the iPod Touch is the best device to play games on”, Jobs goes on to say………………..MMmmmmmmmmmmmmmmk.

A new software update will be launching this week, “2.1 software update is a big update” according to Jobs.

It does sound pretty fab. The battery life is improved, iPhones won’t crash, backing up to iTunes is “dramatically faster”, all available this Friday, for free for iPhone owners.

iPod Touch users however, have to pay $9.99.

The new iPod Touch will cost £169 for the 8GB model, £219 for the 16GB model and £289 for the 32GB model. They’re available now.

Shame that they forgot to put in GPS though :(  Now, would that have hurt so much Mr Jobs?
Apple

These natty new Bluetooth headphones from Sony are pretty clever.

Not because they’re Bluetooth (c’mon people - how long has that been around?) but because they’ll sync up with your music player and your phone at the same time!

We heart convergence.

The three new cordless headphones for the sporty, or sporty at heart are the DR-BT160AS, DR-BT160IK, and DR-BT14Q Bluetooth.

They all have control features built in to the headset, which means that now instead of having to rummage in your pockets (Oooooer missus!) to change tracks on the treadmill, you only have to fiddle with your ear - much more acceptable in company methinks.

The ‘phones are released out into the populous next month, and they’ve even made them iPod compatible.

Gawd bless ya Sony!

Sony

If you’re looking for a little more Zen with your listening and would like the choonz  to enable you to “transcend to a different plane” how about ”a fully wireless speaker whose rotund shape defines its independence”?

Say “Hajimemashite” to the Kenwood Hibachi.

This round planter shaped cordleses speaker is designed to be at the heart of your living space.

With strong references to the Japanese foyer as the “warmest place at home” (Hibachi is also a warming plate in Japanese cooking), the speaker comes with a transmitter that hooks onto your audio source and has a 30-meter range.

It features an ambient light that can be set to glow at an intensity suiting your mood and is customisable.

This light is also a charging indicator, that lets you know when the speaker is fully recharged - then it’ll play for a full day.

You can even take it outside to help you meditate or play Parilament Funkadelic at your BBQ party!

Designlaunches

Every now and then there’s a beautifully simple design that is so intuative it beggers belief as to why no-one else had thought of it.

But, John Van Den Nieuwenhuizen’s has done just that with his ”Hidden Radio” concept design.

Volume is controlled by lifting or pushing down the top part to reveal more, or less, of the speaker.

There are no dials for tuning - listeners rely on the brightness of the LED to signify the strength of signal as they twist the top.

As I said, it’s simply genius thinking!

Hidden Radio, Via - LikeCool, Via Pocket Lint

Ars Technica has changed its mind after saying that iTunes 8 won’t be on stage at Apple’s Let’s Rock September 9 event.

So I’m taking it that iTunes 8 will be available then.

Not only that but they’re saying Apple will also release the iPhone 2.1 update that in theory will fix the apparently large password security flaw.

There are also hints that 2.1 will have secret powers features that are absent from the beta.

Copy and paste anyone? 

Ars Technica

There’s so many ‘Hello Kitty’ products out there from car tyres to AK47’s, yup, really!

So I tend to let them all drift by and let other sites mention them.

This, however, is pretty noteworthy in a twisted, still a heap of junk, but fun kinda way.

It will cost you $25 and that buys you a Hello Kitty Action DJ Speaker.

DJ Kitty will move around in her booth to the rhythm of the music played on your digital audio player like the vinyl crazed feline that she is.

I want one just to see what she’ll do to ‘Black Seeds of Vengance’ by Nile……….

So if you’re in the market for an MP3 speaker featuring a bow wearing pussy cat on the one’s n two’s this is for you.

Belkin are still pushing to make our lives cable free.

The largest glut of wires must be lurking behind your home cinema rig.

Enter Flywire!  Belkins new wireless transmitter and receiver that can send 1080p video over a 5GHz band with a little help from Amimon. This probably means it’s WHDI.

They promise little to no interference and no latency even for gamers.  A recent viewing of a Blu-Ray movie showed pretty much no hint that there wasn’t physical connection.

As for connections you’ll get three HDMI ins, two component ins, one composite, and one HDMI out.

Remote control is done via IR, which should be welcome news to those of you with universal remotes.

FlyWire will come in two flavours:

The FlyWire AV69003 will come somewhere between $999.99-$1,499.99 and is meant for a whole-home solution with an IR backchannel for multi-room control.

While the FlyWire R1 AV69000 at the $699.99 ballpark is meant for a single room without the IR backchannel.

Nope, not cheap but a lot less hassle than channeling your walls to ‘plumb’ everything in or to buy a custom wireless solution.

FlyWire should be in the shops next month.

The quickest way to make anything look hi performance, modern and cutting edge is to construct it from carbon fibre.

This even works with a pair of studio grade cans!

These are Phiaton’s latest model weighing in at a mere 6.5oz.

To keep the weight down Phiaton have made the MS-400 from carbon graphite fibre encased in a double-shell high polymer enclosure.

They also say that they have worked on the airflow, optimizing it to deliver “concert hall sound quality”.

The MS 400 features flexible joints that fold in two steps making it perfect for mobile studio engineers (kinda like the PortaPro’s that rock with my iPhone).

Light doesn’t mean cheap at $249 but if they perform like top-level studio headphones then it’s not that expensive really when you compare them with other top end monitor cans on the market.

I’d love to test them in a studio environment so…….if I could try a pair……

Other specs include:

• Weight: 6.5oz
• Drivers: 40mm electrodynamic
• Sensitivity: 98dB
• Impedance: 32 Ohm
• Input power: 1000 mW

The press release, issued today says:

“…The carbon fiber housing helps deliver crystal clear sound and eliminates any sound leakage. To ensure better resonance values, deep rich bass, a full-bodied midrange, and sparkling high notes, the carbon is encased in a high polymer enclosure with a double-shell structure

Machines That Go Bing!

Digg founder Kevin Rose seems to have a finger/pulse interface with Apple.

After unveiling shots of the rumoured next generation iPod nano he’s following up with knowledge of new iTunes features too.

iTunes 8 is widely expected to launch at Apple’s event next week as well as the new iPods.

According to Rose a new source has come forward to tell him iTunes 8 will include a new function called ”Genius”, which builds intelligent playlists of songs that fit well together.

The Genius feature is also reported to recommend music from the iTunes store that isn’t currently in your library.

Rose also says iTunes 8 will let you browse albums and artists visually, presenting cover art in a grid, building on Apple’s cover flow technology. That should look nice and pretty and also goes beyond a ’simple’ recommendation thingy.

He also claims the next-generation iTunes will include TV shows in HD quality.

Anything else Mr Rose?