LG Electronics’ PR department clearly don’t believe in a day of rest because Sunday saw them busily announcing the impending release of their LG PM 80, a PDA capable of receiving T-DMB (terrestrial digital multimedia broadcasting).
The pocket-swelling, man-sized device sports a large 3.5inch QVGA LCD screen, with a claimed battery life of up to 2.5 hours of continuous viewing (fine for watching the match, but you might get unstuck if the final goes to extra time followed by penalties).
T-DMB has been described as a “promising cross between telecom and broadcasting, enabling people to enjoy crystal-clear video, CD-quality audio and data on the move via mobile handsets”, and LG is claiming that it’ll work just dandy on the move, saying that the PM 80 could provide stable reception at speeds over 100km/h.
The actual device, presented here in the traditional manner by near-ecstatic Korean ladies (if only we got so much unbridled joy from our gadgets) follows the traditional PDA form factor, with the addition of an old-school pull out aerial for TV reception.
Users can control the channels and volume via a “5 way key” and tune into DMB with a click of DMB/PDA key.
There’s 64mb RAM and 64mb ROM internal memory onboard with a SD slot for expansion.
Powered by an Intel Bulverde 312MHz processor running MS Pocket PC 2003 OS, the PM 80 can connect to a PC, allowing users to manage their e-mail lists, schedules or phone book.
As ever, the Koreans will get to play with this device for ages before we even get a peek at it – if they don’t decide to keep it to themselves for ever, of course.
And then there’s the usual compatibility problems, the lack of available spectrum in the UK, our ‘Luddite‘ approach to the technology…[moan]….[grumble]…
For techie-obsessives like the Digital Lifestyles crew, keeping connected when we’re away from home is right up there with finding a roof over our heads, so when we went off to New York, we made sure we packed our Sony laptop and Wi-Fi enabled smartphone – even on holiday.
One rather unfortunate side-effect of all this free connectivity was that once-bustling cafes turned into conversation-free libraries, with rows of transfixed surfers staring intently into their screens, with the silence only broken by intermittent bursts of keyboard activity.
On the street, one handset seemed to be stuck in almost every New Yorker’s hand: the Palm Treo 750. They love the phone!
The digital rights campaigning group, Open Rights Group, reports that the music industry is lobbying MEPs to co-opt the EU Data Retention legislation currently being debated by the European Parliament. 
Coupled with the upcoming IPRED2 legislation (which creates new, Europe-wide criminal offences for intellectual property infringement), campaigners fear that we could end up with a situation where the music industry would be able to pursue criminal court copyright prosecutions entirely at the cost of the taxpayer. 
Ian Brown, of the Open Rights Group (not the Stone Roses), said: “The British government claimed that Data Retention was essential in the fight against terrorism and serious crime, but it has now become clear that groups with commercial interests have their eye on the same data. Charles Clarke cannot continue to pretend that this legislation has been drafted purely for reasons of national security.” 
The Next Revolution Is Here… Or Is It?
P2P network, BitTorrent has signed an agreement with the Motion Picture Association of America to collaborate on stopping Internet piracy.
“BitTorrent Inc. discourages the use of its technology for distributing films without a license to do so. As such, we are pleased to work with the film industry to remove unauthorised content from BitTorrent.com’s search engine,” he added.
The MPAA claims that the film industry lost $3.5 billion to movie piracy last year, with a recent study predicting the figure to jump to $5.4 billion this year. The MPAA claim these losses are excluding revenue lost through online file-swapping, so the true figure could be even higher (although other will say the figures are already gloriously exaggerated).
Apple’s iTunes online store has been ranked the seventh-largest music retailer in the US in the third quarter, charging into the top 10 for the first time.
Already eating iTunes’ dust are big names like Tower Records and Borders, reflecting music fans’ growing passion for online music.
Combined revenue from the iPod, Apple’s fastest- selling product, and iTunes music accounted for a massive 40 percent of sales last quarter, up from 27 percent a year earlier.
Mydeo, the UK consumer video streaming company, has teamed up with UK ISP Tiscali to offer streaming video sharing services to broadband users of the UK Tiscali Website.
Members will be able to stream their cinematic masterpieces on a pay-as-you-go basis, and will only have to shell out when they choose to upload a video. Users can pay in Euros, UK Pounds or US Dollars.
“Mydeo is really easy to use and offers lots of help and support for our members who may be putting video on the Web for the first time,” Hole insisted.
Market analyst Gartner reports that mobile phone sales have soared 22 percent compared to the same period last year.
In the Latin American segment, sales were up 46 per cent compared to last year, totalling 26.1 million phones units, while in Western Europe, big sales of 40 million phones were driven by customers upgrading their handsets. 
For a long time, Cisco was only focused on high-end corporate sales. This started to change with its acquisition spree. Back In June 2003 it acquired Linksysin order to attack the home and small business markets. 
DSL is much cheaper to install as it uses existing phone cabling, ratherthan CATV which requires digging up the road, installing fibre tothe street and co-axial cable to the home (this may not be true forgreenfield sites, but in countries with existing infrastructure likethe UK it is).
Though Cisco have bought Scientific Atlanta, who manufacture the consumerpiece of the puzzle, by expanding the consumer take-up of IPTV they arealso expanding the core network business. Don’t forget, running IPTV servicesrequires a lot of investment in network infrastructure i.e. moreCisco kit.