Gadgety News

This has been around for a while but required you to JailBreak your iPhone.

But Orb has just gone official, with its own app for the handset finally getting the thumbs up from Apple.

In an announcement CEO Joe Costello said:
 

“We released a version of OrbLive in May, but this was before the Apple SDK and App store.  You had to Jailbreak your iPhone to use it, but we still got 300,000 downloads,” he explained.

“Now it is ready for prime time — all the capability and blessed by Apple.”

All you have to do is install a small piece of software on your Mac or PC, and then tap into it from your iPhone wherever you are.

Simple!

Then all the media on your computer is instantly available, as well as live TV from any tuners you have installed.

Orb handles all the compression and file conversion on your home computer, so the iPhone doesn’t break a sweat trying to handle bulky files.

It gets even better…….

As well as dishing up live TV, radio and webcam feeds, it means the end of syncing your iPhone to tap into your media, since it’s all available over the network.

Best of all, Orb is free!

Download it direct from the App Store, and check out Orb’s website for more information.

Good ol’ Auntie Beeb!

After bringing us the joy of the iPlayer the Beeb is going to be showing content from BBC One and BBC live online.

From the 27th November web visitors will be able to watch shows including Never Mind The Buzzcocks (fab!), EastEnders (never mind eh?) and Heroes (Yatta!) as they are broadcast.

BBC Three, BBC Four, CBBC, CBeebies and BBC News are already broadcast on their channel websites.

Director of BBC vision Jana Bennett told BBC News that this move “completes our commitment” to make channels available online.

“From 27 November licence fee payers will be able to watch BBC programmes live wherever they are in the UK on their computers, mobile phones and other portable devices,” Bennett added.

Via - BBC News

This vid from Sony explains a new bit of gear that should make watching your telebox a lot nicer.

In the new BRAVIA Z4500 televisions there’s something called Motionflow 200hz (standard tele is 50hz).

So to cut to to the chase - the clever kit will insert some “transitional” images (3 in this case) in between each frame to make it even smoother.

Check out the vid as it explains it a lot better than I can

Looking for a true all-in-one media thingy?

Say Allo to the Allio HDTV with built-in PC and Blu-ray player!

No more will you need to multi-task from laptop to tele and back again - this 42-inch 1080p TV has cojoined with a high spec PC that holds an Intel Core 2 Duo processor, 4GB of memory, a massive 1TB of storage and Windows Vista Premium.

It’s no surprise really that it is also packing plenty of connectivity including wireless networking.

You can still multi-task (of course) with this big TV as the split screen/picture-in-picture options are a go-go!

To ensure that all boxes are ticked there’s that Blu-ray player - surly making this the first high-def all-in-one to hit the market.

Silicon Mountain is offering up six flavours of the TV, starting at $1,599.99 for the 32-inch model, jumping to $2,799 for the big boy.

No news of a UK launch as yet but don’t question about future upgrades or “what happens if this bit breaks?”………….

Silicon Mountain via Engadget

Yup, those know-it-alls at Wired are going to open their fourth annual store from November 21 until December 28 in New Yoik.

There will be more than 150 items including the latest electronics, toys and transportation, which can also be purchased online from November 20.

The Wired Store will also recognise four different charities, and is set to feature a brand new green section created by Adrian Grenier and Peter Glatzer of Reconcile Productions as well.

Is Christmas coming or something?

Wired

If you’re looking for something that’s like an iPod then you could do a lot worse than to check this little beauty out!

The Cowon O2 is coming to the UK and it is more than adequate to taunt the iPod and blow raspberries at the best of the rest.

Memory for all your media ranges from 16GB to a lovely 32GB of flash storage.

That’s not enough? Then whack in an SDHC card for up to 32GB more!

Video caresses those eyes of yours via the HD-friendly 4.3-inch TFT LCD screen and there’s compatibility for just about every audio and video format around - yes, even MP3’s!

If it wont play; well……you’ve probably made it up yourself!

Throw in video recording, photo viewing, a respectable battery life of 18 hours of music per charge and an open source operating system - the latter of which could bring forth some interesting downloads, stuff and things.

There’s no pricing details as yet, but as most of us know, Cowon players are generally very competitively priced

Cowon

A lot of emphasis has been put on getting the best pic from your google-box with high-definition but what about the audio people?

Well, French TV station - TNT is the world’s first to broadcast a Dolby Digital Plus track over a terrestrial signal.

The Dolby system is said to be just the thing for limited bandwidth applications like terrestrial broadcasts, as the original Dolby Digital bitstreams are maintained and can still be decoded.

Not sure when this will travel across the Channel though.

Marketwatch via CrunchGear

Happy birthday to this gadget blog. Happy birthday to this tech blog. Happy birthday dear Jay’s Gadget News.  Happy birthday to yooooooooooooooooou!

Blog! Blog! Blog! Blog! Blog! Blog! Blog! Blog! Blog! Blog! Blog! Blog! Blog! Blog!

Well, what started off as a test to see if there was room for another gadget and tech blog site a year ago has slowly gained enough of you lovely readers for me to carry on writing about things that have caught my eye and that you (hopefully) find interesting.

My first posts (ie not ones dragged over from my temporary test site) were posted this very day 12 months ago - I know, how Goth to choose Samhain/Halloween to start a blog

I would like to take this moment and space to thank all of you for coming here and making this place feel loved - whether you were here from the very start or have only just found this place.

If there are anythings that you would rather see more/less of now is your chance. Either email me or just leave a comment here and I’ll do my best to please - the new look was prompted by a comment a lo, it was done.

So, thanks once more and here’s hopefully to another year of gadget grooviness and tech tremendousness

Much gadgety love

Jay

Softbank has just come up with this rather interesting mobile TV add-on for Japanese iPhone and iPod owners.

it’s a separate unit with tuner and aerial that retransmits the signal over Wi-fi to the phone.

The rechargeable device will give about three hours of TV eye-candy and connects to a special iPhone app that’ll be distributed free when the device hits the streets in mid December!

It’ll cost somewhere around the $100 mark but also doubles as an iPhone battery top-up when you link it via the dock connector.

Just gotta wait for it to be adapted and shipped over here.

AVWatch

What you’re seeing is Sanyo’s newest digital phone frame, the ALBO.

it looks remarkably like a retro-futuristic telebox and wouldn’t look out of place with a JVC Videosphere - perhaps partner it with the RR226?

Personally I rate this as one of the coolest digital picture frames that I have ever seen - and there’s no shortage of frames is there?

As you can see from the photo, it is possible to turn the screen on a swivel for landscape/portrait formats.

It can also display RSS feeds via Wi-Fi and it can receive photos from a phone through an infrared port.

The ALBO comes with 256 megabytes of memory and is pencilled in for release on November 14, for a price of about $422 and probably only in Japan.

DVice

There are many of us that don’t like/are in fear of the ‘Big Brother’ state that Britain is becoming - especially if you live in this glorious capital called London.

IR.ASC by URA / FILOART is an infrared lighting device to protect you from the infrared surveillance cameras.

The device emits infrared light thus messing with infrared images from surveillance cameras thus giving the wearer/user a ball of light as a head!

The IR ASC falls within the non-visible spectrum (at frequencies between 780nm and 1mm) so the watchers behind the camera wont be able to make out your face.

The IR ASC was demonstrated at an exhibition showcasing spy technologies in Berlin, Germany.

This may sound cool now, but what if burglars or other ne’er-do-wells get their gloved mits on this technology.

BoingBoing via NewLaunches

The Mir:ror tag is a little misleading as it’s not reflective (as far as I can see) and you’ll need to connect it via USB to a puter so hanging it on your hallway wall maybe a little tricky.

Instead of checking yourself out before you leave home you’ll be waving your various possessions over its USB-connected sensor.

Why? Well by the magic of small RFID stickers, enhanced-reality style info will be displayed on your computer.

What?

Put simply: Wave your brolly handle over it and get a weather forecast, your TV remote to get tele listings and so on.

An oddly cool concept yeah?

It’s made by Violet who are also to blame for bringing us the animated internet “buddy” bunny Nabaztag.

The RFID bit is in the little ‘Ztamps’ you stick to your gear, and the magic all happens through Violet’s new website.

The mir:ror can recognise quite a few things straight off however with dedicated stamps, but through the site you can configure more of your stuff to work with it.

$70 buys you the sensor, a skin for the sensor “puck”, 2 nanotagz rabbits (those little Nabaztaglets) and 3 ztamps.

You can buy more RFID stickers for the rest of your portable gear.

I’m strangely tempted

Dynamism via Technabob

I am still lovin my 3Gesus iPhone.

But, it still aint quite the perfect machine - not yet.

Fullsix has launched a site dedicated to the more vociferous moaning-mini’s out there called “Please Fix the iPhone.”

The site gets owners to vote on the most pressing issues that’s ‘bugging’ them and their iPhones - hopefully Jobs and friends will get to work on them faster.

There’s even a version of the site specifically made for the Apple handest’s browser, so that you can complain about your iPhone via your iPhone.

Here’s the link: Please Fix the iPhone via Josh Spear via Gizmodo

Playboy is to shut down its iconic DVD business in a bid to stop spiralling losses.

This is a part of the restructuring plan that was announced 2 months ago and which is hoped to save the company $12 million a year.

It is going to cost Playboy $2 million in restructuring charges and a loss of 80 jobs.

Playboy, like many other enterprises, is instead going to concentrate on getting content online.

Over the last 6 months Playboy Enterprises has reported losses - most recently a $2.1 million loss in Q2.

But, said Christie Hefner, the company’s chairman and chief executive, the company was hoping to return to profitability in 2009.

The ‘glamour’/'adult’ arena is generally a precursour to what happens later to the more general market.  It’s mainly due to this area that things like camcorders and home-video was brought to the mass market.

So could we see the end of DVDs/Blu-Ray in the not-so-distant future?

What do you think?

With the next Apple Ketnote a matter of days away Jason Calacanis apparently has it on good authority that Apple’s next big thing might be networked high-definition television sets.

Basically it’s a tele with all the Apple TV stuff already built into it.

When you take into consideration that Apple’s been pretty good at the whole digital content thing. It’s got iTunes onto most people’s computers (mine included now) and has made steady progress in hooking up with TV and movie studios, so why not expand more into hardware?

After all, getting stuff from your computer to your TV set hasn’t exactly been an easy task for non-techies. And Apple made it relatively easy for “regular” people to get music from their computers to their portable audio devices, so it’s not totally out of the realm of possibility that the company could do the same with television sets.

Let’s see on the 14th

The average British household will work its way through more than 250 electrical devices over a period of 60 years, according to a new survey.

The poll of 3,000 households by Reevoo.com shows that electrical items rarely last longer than six years - and the kettle is the item Brits use and replace the most.

Over sixty years, each household will get through 20 kettles and spend approximately £1,000, which works out as a new kettle every three years.

The most expensive item is a home PC, replaced around 4 years at a cost of around £500 while the average oven costs more at £545, but lasts around 6 years.

In total, Reevoo.com reckons Brits will fork out £48,940 on electrical devices over their lifetime.

I for one am linked to way too many social networking time leeching sites and find myself jumping from app to app throughout the day just to check what’s going on or who is online.

Well, good ol’ Century Japan have just introduced something that could increase my productivity.

Namely the LCD-4300U USB mini screen.

So why would you want a tiny second screen?

Simple my friends - if you’re working on something important, let’s say that overdue report, you can concentrate on your main screen, with your ’social’ stuff on the second screen - no more screen flicking.

All you need is to have a USB socket spare and this 4.3-inch screen will plug right in.

It offers WVGA resolution with LED backlighting but it’s also asking £120 (plus shipping from the far east).

Is it worth it?

GeekStuff4U via Akihabara News

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

You gotta love a ‘world’s first’!

And, my dear readers - dare I say, friends, is perxactly what I have here for you.

This unassuming camcorder is none other than the world’s first Geo-Tagging camcorder!

The result of a collaboration between Geotate and DXG - Geotagging specialist and vid-cam maker respectively.

So as your capturing all those travelling moments you wont get confused when watching the pics back at home because all of those flicks will automatically contain that location metadata.

The camera itself is a Geotate software pimped version of DXG’s DVH586.

No price, etc, blah, blah yet

LetsGoDigital

Sony is feeling pretty smug right now as it celebrates the 85,000 PlayTV units sent to retailers over the two weeks since the PS3 Freeview recorder accessory started shipping to the shops.

Not to dampen their touchpaper but units shipped doesn’t equate to units sold.  What this might show is that they’re expecting the Sony faithful to be all over the £70 device this Xmas.

To add some more perspective to Sony’s smugfest:  Freesat, the UK’s relatively new free-to-air satellite service featuring high definition programming as well as most of the same channels that Freeview offers - is celebrating its own milestone this morning.

Freesat has now reached 100,000 unit sales - it has taken them five months to get to this stage!

PlayTV does seem to be an excellent add-on for any PS3 console so watch this space for news about actual sales (eh? Sony?)

GamesIndustry.biz