Components – Page 6 – Digital-Lifestyles

GetMeThere: Pay As You Go Mobile GPS Launches in UK

Pay As You Go Mobile GPS Launches in UK GetMeThere.co.uk has launched what they are claiming is the first, free to install, Pay-as-you-go Mobile Satellite Navigation solution in the UK.

A joint venture between Toyota GB and IS Solutions, the TARA (Traffic Avoidance and Routing Application) Mobile SatNav is aimed at mobile and smart phone users in the UK.

Customers won’t have to buy expensive hardware or annual licences to use the Satellite Navigation system as the TARA Mobile SatNav works with any compatible mobile phone and a GPS receiver.

Instead, punters pay on a per-journey tariff, with TARA Mobile SatNav charging £1.50 ($2.70, €2.22) to the mobile phone bill for each destination, with users allowed to update their route to check traffic conditions, take an alternative route or to re-calculate the journey if they have the orienteering skills of an alcoholic amnesiac

Pay As You Go Mobile GPS Launches in UK The system offers a comprehensive suite of features, including full turn by turn navigation, voice commands, traffic avoidance, auto-zooming maps as a junction approaches, hands free use, European road network coverage with full address, house number, street and postcode search.

All route calculation and traffic avoidance is processed remotely, with the data automatically downloaded onto the mobile via GPRS.

Pay As You Go Mobile GPS Launches in UK Jon West, Director of GetMeThere.co.uk said “With over 4.5m navigationsystems expected to be sold this year across Europe, TARA Mobile SatNav has arrived just in time to provide a low cost, quality solution for the intelligent motorist. With GPS devices now available at around the £50 ($90, €74) mark, SatNav has become a must have for all motorists”.

TARA mobile SatNav is available as a free download from GetMeThere.co.uk and is compatible with a long list of mobiles including popular Nokia models such as 3650, 3660, 6260, 6600, 6670, and 7610,T-Mobile’s MDA II and Compact and O2’s XDA II range.

GetMeThere.co.uk

Samsung CEO: NAND Flash Will Replace Hard Drives

Samsung CEO Says NAND Flash Will Replace Hard Drives Hard drives are soon to go the way of 8 track cartridges and steam powered radios according to Samsung’s semi-conductor CEO Dr. Chang Gyu Hwang.

Coming hot on the heels of the launch of their 16Gb NAND flash chip using 50nm technology, Hwang reckoned that all the hep cats would soon be dumping their unfashionable hard drives and hanging out with the solid-state flash memory crew.

“NAND flash technology development continues to double density growth on an average of every 12 months,” Hwang observed, while quietly giving a nearby hard drive a few hard kicks.

A dimly-lit colleague stroking a white cat added, “This year, it appears clear that NAND will surpass NOR as the most popular flash memory.”

NAND flash memory is currently widely used in digital cameras, mobile phones, USB flash drives and portable music players such as Apple Computer’s groovy new iPod Nano.

Samsung CEO Says NAND Flash Will Replace Hard Drives With a cackle in his voice and a size nine sending a RAID array skywards, Hwang reckons that we’ll soon be seeing laptop memory cards with 32GB of memory, based on multiple 16Gb flash chips.

NAND flash uses a 50nm process which shrinks the flash memory to just 0.00625 square microns per bit, 25 per cent down on the previous 60nm process.

Forcing a rough screwdriver into a helpless hard drive, Hwang predicted that these mega-chips will appear late in 2006 or in 2007, based on mass production of the new Samsung chips in the second part of 2006.

If the HD-torturing Samsung head honcho is right, we can expect to see a 32Gb NAND chip this year, enabling hefty 64GB memory cards, followed by 128GB memory cards next year.

With this kind of NAND flash storage capacity, Samsung’s plans to ruthlessly wipe hard drives off the face off the earth could begin to take shape.

Samsung CEO Says NAND Flash Will Replace Hard Drives A big advantage of using flash memory in notebooks is that the technology is resistant to the sort of mechanical shocks that can often knacker a hard drive.

But the technology isn’t perfect, with flash chips having a finite life in read/write cycle terms and increased memory card costs and power consumption.

With analysts predicting $1.7bn (£930m, €1.38m) in revenues for NAND memory this year, global NAND flash memory revenues are expected to reach $9.4bn (£5.15m, €7.65m) and Samsung is looking to cut themselves a large slice of that lucrative pie.

In another part of their south-Korean HQ, Samsung unveiled a new 7.2-megapixel CMOS image sensor for high-end digital pictures and fusion semiconductors for next-generation smartphones and PDAs.

Samsung

O2 Xda Exec Mobile PDA With 3G Launched

Xda Exec Mobile PDA With 3G Launched by O2 O2 has announced the launch of the o2 Xda Exec, the first PDA and mobile phone combo device to feature 3G.

Touted as a laptop replacement with a built-in 62-key QWERTY thumb keyboard, the handheld is also the first to incorporate the brand spanking new Windows Mobile 5.0 operating system.

Manufactured by the Taiwan based HTC, the phone is also sold as the HTC Universal, T-Mobile MDA IV, Vodafone VPA IV, Orange SPV M5000 and Q-Tek 4040.

Bedecked in a custom smart black finish, the o2 Xda Exec sports a large 3.6″ 640×480 65k transflective colour backlit LCD which can be swiveled around to let the device be used as tablet or as a mini laptop.

Xda Exec Mobile PDA With 3G Launched by O2 Reflecting its business focus, the phone comes with Pocket Outlook, Word, Excel, Powerpoint and PDF viewers pre-installed and offers Bluetooth, Wireless LAN, 3G and tri-band GPRS connectivity.

There’s a 1.3 megapixel camera (1280 x 960) with built in flash onboard and a second CIF camera for videocalls.

Russ Shaw, Marketing Director at O2 was ready to froth up the product: “The O2 Xda Exec takes the Xda range to the next level, giving busy professionals the ultimate mobile experience.

The laptop style keyboard combined with the responsive and intuitive operating environment make this device easy to use and an effective laptop replacement for when people are out and about.

Xda Exec Mobile PDA With 3G Launched by O2 Combined with our service bundle, we believe that the O2 Xda Exec will build on the success of the Xda range, extending our market share still further into 2006.”

Much as we’d love to enjoy the “ultimate mobile experience”, the o2 Xda Exec doesn’t quite do it for us.

Sure, it sports a mouth-watering feature list and looks way cool in its super-sleek black finish, but that trouser-bulging bulk means we’ll be sticking with our less capable iMate JAM for now (but, there again, we’re not the swivel-action execs that the phone is aimed at.)

The o2 Xda Exec is available from £399.99 (~$730, ~€593) for pay monthly contract customers and will be available in UK O2 stores and other leading distributors.

Xda Exec Mobile PDA With 3G Launched by O2 Technical stuff:

OS: Windows Mobile 5.0
Intel XScale PXA272 520MHz
128MB Flash ROM, 64MB RAM
3.6″ 640×480 65k transflective colour backlit LCD
up t8/4/15/250 GSM Talk/3G Talk/PDA/Standby time
GSM Tri-band (900/1800/1900), UMTS Single-band (2100)
GPRS class 10, UMTS 64/384
Bluetooth 1.2, Infrared and mini-USB connector
Wireless LAN 802.11b
SDIslot
3.5mm AudiConnector
StereSpeakers
Integrated camera (resolution 1280 x 960) with LED flash, 2nd CIF camera for videcalls
Integrated antenna
15 buttons (Answer, Hangup, Backlight on/off, OK, Start, Camera, Power, VoiceRecord, 5-way navigation pad
62-key QWERTY keyboard with light sensor tauto-adjust the screen and keyboard backlight
Removable battery (1620mah)
Weight: 285 grams

Atom Chip Corporation Reveal Ultra Fast 6.8GHz Laptop – Vapourware?

Atom Chip Corporation Reveal Ultra Fast 6.8GHz Laptop UPDATE – Thanks for the number of people who have written to us about this one, lead by Matt Lacey.

When originally checking the background for the story, we looked at the CES site finding AtomChip had a stand at CES _but_ that they were listed as a CES Innovations 2005 Awards Honorees.

The AtomChip.com domain is registered to Shimon Gendlin, who filed a patent on November 29, 1996 for ‘Non-volatile record carrier with magnetic quantum-optical reading effect and method for its manufacture‘, which was granted on November 24, 1998.

It looks like we, like many other publications, could well have been had on this one. If we have, hats off to ‘Shimon Gendlin’ who’s done everything he could have done to make it look real.

So be it as you choose … here’s the original story.
Research and development company, Atom Chip Corporation, have unveiled a beast of a laptop – the competition-frying 6.8GHz AtomChip SG220-2 sporting a TeraByte of RAM and 2 TeraBytes of storage.

With enough firepower to make the latest high-end laptops look like backfiring peashooters, this monster achieves its breakneck speeds by dispensing with hard disk drives and thus increasing system stability by generating less heat and vibration from rattling disk operations.

The laptop uses new Quantum and Quantum-Optical devices for storing and processing information, with the machine being completely based on solid state AtomChip optoelectronics (whatever they are).

These non-volatile Quantum-Optical RAM wotsits increase the speed of the system, removing the need to refresh information after every cycle of reading of information, as with regular RAM.

Atom Chip Corporation Reveal Ultra Fast 6.8GHz Laptop The 6.8GHz behemoth is powered by AtomChip’s Quantum II processor (or four 1.7GHz Intel Pentium M processors) with a terabyte of Quantum-Optical non-volatile RAM (NvIOpSRAM-SODIMM 200-pin) onboard.

The new non-volatile Quantum-Optical RAM increases the speed of the system as the need to refresh information after every cycle of reading of information (like regular RAM) doesn’t exist any more.

Even the most obsessive MP3 file collector will have serious problems filling the colossal 2TB of non-volatile Quantum RAM storage space onboard (NvIOpRAM-ATA IDE).

Compared to these eye-watering specs, it’s a surprise to see that the screen’s a bit of a squinter, offering just a 12.1″ WXGA (1280 x 800) display.

The actual laptop looks a bit rubbish too, bedecked out in a ‘High Street’ bog standard silver finish with a design that won’t be troubling Sony and Apple execs.

Atom Chip Corporation Reveal Ultra Fast 6.8GHz Laptop Despite the nation-threatening amount of power on hand, Atom Chip are claiming an impressive battery life of approximately 8 hours for the AtomChip II processor and 3 hours for the 4 x Intel Pentium M processor version.

The company will be showcasing their Billy Whizz laptop at the Consumer Electronic Show (CES) held in Las Vegas in January 2006.

Pricing has yet to be announced, but I suspect we’re talking ‘re-mortgaging the house’ here.

Atom Chip

Names In Space; IR Transmission; Sporting Computer; Underwater CCTV?

Pluto Send Your Name To Pluto
No, that wasn’t a typo just then: It was actually true! This is the latest in space exploration efforts, and it’s destined for Pluto. With it, will be a list of names, and the space probe is destined to return to Earth in 50,000 years. What names, I hear you ask. Well, any that are submitted here. What a great idea! There’s even a searchable list of all the people who’ve already put their names down on the list. Go look for mine, ‘cos I’m going to Pluto!!

IRDA It’s fast, but why? Nice solution, but where’s the problem?
I personally had all but forgotten Infra-red as a data transmission means: It’s slow and line-of-sight only. Also, everything now has Bluetooth instead or as well as it. That’s why I was so surprised by the announcement by The Infrared Data Association that they have developed and adopted a new high-speed Infra-Red protocol promising speeds of up to 100Mbit/s. While faster is almost always better, it’s got no real-life use anymore in my opinion. Who still wants to precariously line up two devices on their lap in a bumpy train when they can leave one in their rucksack and instead connect to it over Bluetooth? This whole thing left poor little me very puzzled.

That’s… Fast!
The Register has a nice story this week about a start-up company challenging the heavy weights like Dell. Apparently, Azul Systems have released a computer sporting 1,248 processor cores with 800GB of RAM that, when running, only draws 9.1KW of power. To put that in perspective, a typical hair dryer weighs in at about 1.5KW. This means that this computer with 1,248 processor cores has the same electricity requirements as six hair dryers. A comparable Dell machine with the same amount of cores on the other hand would require 37 times more electricity, which equates to 307KW o electricity or 204 hairdryers. This is a lot by the way. So the Dell one might be cheaper, but with a kWh (kiloWatt hour) of electricity currently costing around 7pence, the Dell would be costing over £20/hour (~$36 ~€29) to run, whereas the Azul Systems machine would only cost around 63pence/hour. Over the period of a year, the decreased electricity consumption of the Azul Systems machine would pay off.

Whether this challenging of the big players in a crowded economy is going to work or not will be decided in the future and is impossible to predict now, but I know one thing: When I have US$800,000 kicking around in my pocket, I would like one of these. Imagine the frame rate on Quake3!! (Sorry…)

Big Brother is Everywhere
Here’s an unusual one: An array of cameras in a swimming pool coupled with a state-of-the-art detection system. CCTV? No, this is a way of monitoring swimmers and alerting lifeguards when they’re drowning.

The company making the system are called Poseidon, and they have their systems installed in various pools world-wide. They have some cool images taken by their camera equipment documenting various rescues here.

Samsung Unleash A Monster 19″ Notebook

Thanks to Samsung’s PR for getting in touch with us to clarify facts on this story.

Samsung Unleash A Monster 19inch Notebook Samsung will be debuting the world’s first 19″ notebook, the Samsung M70, on 2 September at the IFA Consumer Electronics Show in Berlin.

Despite sporting a multiplex-threatening 1680 x 1050 TFT display, the 19″ monster is no slouch in the speed stakes, with Samsung claiming a 10m/s response time, 600:1 contrast ratio and a “brightness and depth of shade not known in previous notebooks of 280cd/m.”

Samsung insist that it’s not just about size though, and to prove it they’ve added a clever removable screen widget.

Samsung Unleash A Monster 19inch Notebook This lets users detach the laptop’s screen and place it in a dock to give the appearance of a conventional desktop.

Anyone who has spent hours slumped over a laptop screen should welcome this innovation as the screen dock affords a far more comfortable viewing position – and there’s also a handy DVI interface on the docking station for external appliances too.

Powering the monster screen will be a Nvidia chipset, with the laptop promising to have the “fastest mobile processor” onboard (most likely an Intel).

Samsung Unleash A Monster 19inch Notebook Despite the added complexity and enormous screen size, Samsung have claimed that the laptop will weigh no more than their current 17-inch notebook so it should be vaguely portable (if you work out at the gym).

The Notebook M70 will be available sometime in October 2005 although there’s been no announcement about price or availability.

Samsung

Happy Birthday Win95; PSP Software Upgrade; 12 Hr Batteries; Mobile Flight Mode – Teenage Tech News Review

It's Tin For Win95 It’s Tin For Win95
Yes, that’s right, Wednesday marked 10 years of vaguely intelligent computing. 10 years ago, Windows 95 was released. It’s weird, because it’s 10 year old technology, but it really doesn’t seem that old: I still remember using it at school on old computers. Makes you wonder why Microsoft are still using a ten year old interface (OK, it’s shiny and got a plasticky look now, but you know what I mean).

The Washington Post has an interesting read on the subject here, basically an announcement they wrote about it at the time. It’s funny to read how some things about marketing campaigns for high-profile software releases have changed nowadays, and what parts have stayed exactly the same. One thing everyone will likely recognise is the hype!

As granddad would say: “It was better in the old days!”

Browse the Web on PSP
Despite only officially being available in Europe from the 1st of September, the software updates for it have finally reached v.2.0. This latest update includes a host of exciting new features, including a Web browser and the ability to play AAC music tracks. These added features for a handheld gaming system that is already looking very promising, serve to make the gadget a must-have for every technology-conscious teen under the sun. Being able to browse the Web on the device, which incidentally has Wi-Fi technology, might even make it a laptop replacement of sorts. Beware though: The device has no keyboard, so typing long emails on it might become a little tiresome, as it uses a virtual on-screen keyboard for text input.

I have briefly played around with a PSP, as a friend of mine was in Japan and brought one back with him. The graphics look awesome, despite the text being Japanese, and I can’t wait to get my hands on one!

Laptop Battery Low Warning
The Register is running a story on how Panasonic and Intel are working together to make a 12-hour laptop battery. Can’t wait for this technology to filter down to phones and other small consumer electronics, as battery technology is the one thing the vast majority of gadgets still seem way behind on. It’s all fine and dandy having a million and one functions in one device, but if the battery only lasts two hours, then to me, it’s no use.

Apparently, the technology works by adding a small amount of Nickel to the standard ingredients of a battery pack.

Remains to be seen how long this will take to mature, but in the meantime, I can always hope for cold fusion to arrive!

Upgrades To Flight Mode
With all the new gismos appearing on phones nowadays, it seems a shame to be unable to use them on a plane, ofcourse with all the wireless features switched off. This is why phone companies started introducing a concept called flight mode.

The theory behind this simple setting on a handset is to allow users to utilize all the features on their phones, when they’re not allowed to have anything that transmits radio signals. What, then, is the use of this if you’re not allowed to use it? I recently came back from holiday, was sitting there in the plane, minding my own business, trying to reply to some mail on my Blackberry, when a member of the flight-crew and asked me to switch it off. I tried to explain that a) it was in flight mode, and so wasn’t going to harm anyone, and b) that I had some work to do, so could he please leave me alone.

The flight attendant then stated that it was company policy to make people turn their phones totally off at all times, adding that I could use my laptop instead if I so wished. Now bear in mind the stupidity of this statement: My laptop has GPRS, 3G, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi connections, and would likely broadcast the hell out of anywhere, and the flight attendant would rather I use it than my phone which is innocently sitting in there flight mode, not bothering anyone. Trying to explain this resulted in a rapid degrading of his ability to speak English and ended with him just pointing to my laptop and sticking his thumbs in the air. The airline, which shall remain nameless for now as I don’t want to stir up any trouble, will not be receiving my custom again. When will airlines realise that they have to be nice to people and move with the times a bit more to receive their custom? In these days of cut price travel, it’s all about value-added services, and this certainly is one of them.

I was interested then because of this, about what I read regarding the Consumer Electronics association trying to make it possible to easily determine whether a phone is in flight mode or not. Can’t wait to see some results, but I fear it may then still be a case of training flight crew to know what it means.

Unified DVD Format On Rocks

Sony, Toshiba Throw In Towel On Unified DVD Format Sony and Toshiba have failed to agree on a unified format for next-generation DVDs, according to a Japanese newspaper report today.

For three years, pressure groups led by Sony and Toshiba have jostled to have their respective technologies adopted as standard for next-gen DVD players, PC drives and optical discs.

Both formats are based around blue lasers, which have a shorter wavelength than red lasers used in current DVD equipment.

This allows discs to store data at higher densities, providing enough storage capacity for high-definition movies and television.

Toshiba teamed up with NEC and Sanyo to promote the HD DVD standard, while Sony and Matsushita (makers of Panasonic products) have been pushing a rival Blu-ray technology.

Sony, Toshiba Throw In Towel On Unified DVD Format Japan’s Yomiuri newspaper has reported that the two companies have now abandoned their efforts to develop a unified format, with negotiations falling through after both sides refused to budge.

It was hoped that the Japanese technology giants may have worked together to develop a new format before the launch of new products, but time appears to have run out.

Sony, Toshiba Throw In Towel On Unified DVD Format The newspaper report hasn’t been verified by either firm, although both have said that they have not ruled out the possibility of further talks at some point.

In the meantime, both companies will continue the development of products utilising the rival DVD formats.

Sony has announced that it intends to put a Blu-ray disc drive in its new PlayStation game console next year. Their Blu-ray technology is also backed by industry big boys Dell and Samsung.

Although pundits are predicting that producers of next-generation optical discs would eventually use one format, it looks like products based on the two competing standards will be around for a short while, potentially punishing earlier adopters and holding back consumer growth.

Blu-raydisc.info
HD DVD
Sony, Toshiba May Create Universal Blu-Ray/HD DVD Standard (April 2005)

O2 Readies XDA Exec 3G/WI-FI Windows Mobile device

O2 Readies XDA Exec 3G WI-FI Windows Mobile device O2 is set to introduce the new Windows Xda Exec, touted as the most feature-packed smartphone ever released.

The pocket-bulging device offers a feast of connectivity options, with support for tri-band GSM/GPRS, 3G, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 1.2, all running on Microsoft’s spanking new Windows Mobile 5.0 mobile operating system.

The Sidekick-inspired smartphone comes in a bloke-satisfying matt black finish dominated by a large 640 x 480 pixel 3.6inch touchscreen.

What really catches the eye however is the nifty 180 degree swivelling design that lets user flip up the screen to reveal a 62-key QWERTY thumb keyboard underneath.

The clever-clogs hinge design also allows the screen to be twisted around on itself and folded down to face the keyboard for protection.

Manufactured by the Taiwan based HTC, the XDA Exec regales under more names than a devious triple-agent, being known elsewhere as the HTC Universal, T-Mobile MDA IV, Vodafone VPA IV, Orange SPV M5000 and Q-Tek 4040.

O2 Readies XDA Exec 3G WI-FI Windows Mobile device Powering the smartphone is an Intel PXA270 520MHz processor supported by 128MB ROM and 64MB RAM onboard, with expansion taken care of via a MMC/SD Card slot (supporting SDIO).

Video calling is made possible thanks to the two built in cameras, with a teensy-weensy VGA lens on the front of the device and a 1.3 megapixel camera (with flash) on the back of the phone.

With Windows Media Player 10 installed, users can take advantage of multimedia downloading, streaming and digital audio playback, with high-speed access to the internet available through the trusty Internet Explorer software.

Other bundled software includes email and organiser apps, ActiveSync 4.0, Pocket MSN, Pocket Word and Excel.

Wrapping up the package is a pair of stereo headphones, a 3.5mm jack connector, USB charging cable and case.

The whole caboodle weighs in at 285g including the removable battery. Pricing is yet to be confirmed.

PC Sales Soars, Apple Hits 4.7% US Market Share

PC Sales Soars, Apple Hits 4.7% US Market Share The doomsayers were predicting a slow year for PC shipments, but a continuing shift to notebooks and falling PC prices have made it a bumper second quarter for the worldwide PC market, according to research companies IDC and Gartner.

IDC’s figures reveal that PC vendors have shifted 46.6 million units in the second quarter, up from 39.9 million units last year, while Gartner claims that 48.9 million PCs were shipped during the quarter, up from 42.6 million units last year.

The disparity in the figures is due to the different ways in which the companies record “white-box” shipments (lesser brand PCs sold by local distributors or resellers).

Both analysts have confirmed Apple’s zippy growth in the US market, where it has risen to become the fourth biggest PC manufacturer in the land of Budweiser.

Dell still sits proud as King Of The PC Hill in the US, with shipments growing 23.7 per cent from last year, while the company now holds 19.3 per cent of the worldwide market according to IDC.

Gartner’s figures differ again, showing Dell with 17.9 per cent of the global market.

HP remained in second place with 15.6 per cent of the market (IDC) – 14.6 per cent according to Gartner.

PC Sales Soars, Apple Hits 4.7% US Market Share The company enjoyed big sales outside the US and remains the market share leader in many countries throughout Europe.

The new Lenovo-owned IBM business ranked third in worldwide shipments with 7.6 per cent of the market, while Acer impressed with a shipment growth of 62 per cent compared to last year.

Gateway and Apple grew much faster than Dell or HP in the States, coming in at third and fourth place respectively in the US market.

Boosted by their success with iPod and iTunes, Apple’s US market share reached 4.5 per cent, up from 3.7 per cent at the same time last year.

Overall, Apple’s shipments grew 37 per cent year-on-year quarter, against a worldwide industry growth of 16.6 per cent, according to IDC (14.8 per cent by Gartner’s figures).

Laptops Out Sell Desktops In US
MacWorld