As we’ve all witnessed, Apple’s Nano is a beauty to both behold and hold. The whole industry has been gunning for Apple, ever since they realised that Apple had shifted the market. We’ve seen many attempts to put out devices to match or catch them, only to watch them fall by the wayside..
Today we saw the Philips GoGear Flash player and very sweet the thing is too. The same thickness of the Nano, it’s just 9cm long and weighs in at a nearly unnoticeable 48g.
What’s it like?
It looks like they’ve done a great job on the interface, which displays rich icons. Controlling it uses their touch sensitive SuperScoll, so tapping, dragging or swiping a finger on the smooth surface is possible.
The ‘buttons’ themselves glow an attractive blue, complementing, rather than distracting the eye away from the 1.7″(4cm) colour screen, that is also able to display photos.
They reckon there’s up to 14 hours of continuous play in the battery. Unclear if that’s playing mp3s or the Windows Media DRM10 files which we suspect will need additional power to service the DRM fucntion. PlayForSure is supported, which we’re not sure is the biggest selling point.
There’s going to be an optional docking station that works with the newly-upgraded Streamium, WiFi HiFi. Once the GoGear (a nifty name, the more you say it) is docked, its track list appears on the streamium and tunes can be played through it.
There will be two versions available; 1Gb (SA9100) and the 2Gb (SA9200), ‘at the end of summer’ (when ever that is) and will sell for €149 and €199.
Year on year, Philips really do look like they’re pulling themselves out of the old rut they had – great R&D, but terrible looking products.
Last week was the annual get together of TV ‘luvvies’ in Edinburgh and this year, as for the last few years, the current moguls felt it necessary to behave like Scrooge, reflect on their previous misdemeanours and take a bit of a look at TV to come.
The spectre of Banquo’s ghost in the shape of everyone’s (now) favourite caterer, Mr Charles Allen, was there and delivered the keynote address, he of course blamed all and sundry for the mess ITV is in – ‘nothing to do with me guv’ should have been the title.
Prices for Microsoft’s much-anticipated update to their Windows operating system, Vista, have leaked out onto various Websites, including an official Microsoft site.
Vista on Amazon
As we reported 
If – like us – you’ve been using digital cameras and electronics gizmos for years on end you might now be the proud owner of a huge pile of memory cards in a host of different formats, with a ton of cables scattered around the office.
The USB 2.0 reader also conveniently doubles up as a Bluetooth hub, allowing you to wirelessly transfer data between Bluetooth devices such as mobile phones and PDAs.
Compatible with Windows 98/98SE/ME/2000/XP, the 63x63x15mm reader weighs in at 76g and is powered by the host computer’s USB slot.
Vivendi Universal, the biggest music group on the planet have signed a deal with Spiralfrog to let surfers download the contents of its man-sized music catalogue for free.
Making it pay
AOL has got out its digital scrubbing brush and polish and revamped its Web-based music download service, serving up a redesigned product that adds music videos, streaming radio and user community features.
Another new feature sees more than 200 AOL radio stations and XM Satellite Radio being offered to subscribers, with the ability to browse the playlists of other subscribers.
“It’s available to anyone to come to the service and search for songs,” said Amit Shafrir, president of AOL Music Now.
BT Media and Broadcast the business to business outfit within BT’s Global services division has announced an alliance with Entriq.
Headquartered in San Diego, California, Entriq have offices dotted around the world and have a host of existing big name broadcast customers that includes MTV Networks, NBC Universal and the UK’s Channel 4 television.
We’ve all known for years that PVR’s have been eating TV advertising. Murdoch has been on top of this for ages too, which makes it all the more interesting to hear that his Fox network is using 2-second Blinks, adverts. 
Overall, Clear Channel Radio has experienced mixed results following Less Is More, though recent quarters have shown positive revenue increases. Clear Channel executives have credited those jumps to the shortened advertising slots, which address a major source of radio listener irritation.
It’s been a cult movie staple for over 15 years but, from Friday, you’ll be able to interact with Mr Pink, Mr White, Nice Guy Eddie and the rest of Quentin Tarantino’s be-suited robbers as Eidos launches Reservoir Dogs, the game.
We said the graphics were realistic but so is the dialogue and each level is accompanied by excerpts, with each character having over 200 lines.
This approach includes the music. Eidos licensed all the original music from the film but more was required to fit the length of the game. Some was written in-house and additional tracks were licensed including some stupendously funky 70’s driving music to accompany the car chase.
If you haven’t already seen the fabulous Make: technology magazine, we suggest you toddle over to their Website to get a flavour of what’s on offer.
The projects require varying levels of technical know-how and competence, but the down to earth writing style and clear illustrations should get you reaching for your tool kit in double quick time – or provide an engrossing read at the very least.
We like Make: a lot. It’s fun, informative, wittily written and although it’s primarily aimed at adults, it’s a great way to get teenagers interested in science – even if some of the projects are more about having fun than pushing the envelope of science!