OK, we all know the details now. Apple are releasing a phone – and it’s a looker. Hurrah.
For anyone who has the slightest interest in technology, this isn’t shocking given their track record.
What we found strange watching the video of the iPhone event, even disturbing, was the reaction of the audience.
For an English, or perhaps more widely, a non-American audience, the reaction of the crowd at the MacWorld event is odd – religious even.
As Ryan Block of Engadget said when covering the event live
10:29 – People are rapt, everyone is actually literally leaning forward and on the edge of their seat. We’ve never seen a presentation like this before.
There’s a huge imbalance here.
Let’s try and get some perspective on this – these are just products. Objects that you buy and use.
Yes the phone looks great; Yes rumours of it have been circulating for years and the anticipation was high; Yes the usage of the phone looks well thought out – but it it just a phone.
The reaction of the crowd is as if The Steve was announcing a significant medical break through, or the end of a war.
Strangely, the most enthusiastic reaction from the crowd was before any of the details of this were known, it was just after the mention that they would be releasing a phone.
Apple is a master at PR, so a lot of this excitement has been managed … and it’s been built up for a long time – all designed for a reaction like this. And judging by the recording of the event, it’s worked well.
In ye olde days, spammers just used to send out bucket loads of text-based emails, but these were proving progressively less effective against smarter anti-spam software employing tricks such as dictionary-based content filters.
All spam is annoying, but with its bundled images, this new technique adds a double whammy of gobbling up more precious bandwidth to deliver its spam-tastic cargo.
Sadly, the root of the problem with spam is the chumps who keep on responding and buying the dubious wares on offer (a bit like the mad fools who come down to Brixton to buy ‘drugs’).
Measuring up at a pocketable 78.5mm x 123mm x 16.9mm, the flash-based player comes with a large 4″ widescreen display and can display photos up to 16 megapixels, making it handy for photographers on the move.
External storage options come in the shape of a slot for SD and the new SD High Capacity (SDHC) cards.
Skinnier than an anorexic stick insect in need of a snack, Casio has unveiled what it claims is the “slimmest digital camera with a 7X optical zoom lens” in the known universe, the Exilim EX-V7.
This is backed up by some software wizardry which works out the speed and vector of a moving subject and then sets the most appropriate ISO sensitivity and shutter speed automatically.
The EX-V7 comes with a 2.5-inch, 230k LCD screen, a max sensitivity of ISO 1600 (in High Sensitivity mode) and can take around 240 shots on a single charge of its Li-ion battery.
The open source Mozilla Firefox browser enjoyed a whopping increase of nearly 50% during 2006, according to Web measurement firm, Net Applications
For every winner there has to be a loser or two, and in this case it was Microsoft, who saw their market share slump to 79.6% from 85.1% at the start of 2006, despite the release of an update to Internet Explorer last year. 
Elsewhere, Opera grew its share to match Netscape, up from 0.6% at the beginning of the year.
Samsung have gone new-camera bonkers, unleashing a veritable pack of seven new snappers, all set to be hitting the shelves this Spring. 
Rather a sleek and seductive number in an all black finish with a saucy blue trim, the S1050 delivers impressive video functionality, managing to record movies up to 800 x 600 at a baby’s-bum-smooth 30fps.
First seen in 
Making up the septet of new snappers is the curious-looking i70, a multimedia-packed little fella with a sliding cover offering a
Nokia has announced an update to their 
Naturally, the thing’s stuffed full of multimedia gadgetry with stereo audio, media support and the ability to enjoy streamed content as you amble around your 
Software wise, Nokia are claiming “Internet enhanced navigation” with Navicore, support for RealNetworks’ Rhapsody music service and a deal with Skype to let users make Internet calls from Nokia N800s. They added 
“The Nokia N800 takes our offering to the next level combining speed, performance and mobility into a stylish, compact design,” he added, nearly running out of superlatives.