New devices to consumer digital media
If you’re fed up with the relentless blueness of the standard XP theme but can’t be arsed with all those fiddly downloadable theme programs, maybe you’ll warm to the Royale theme.
It’s apparently an unreleased Microsoft XP Media Centre theme that was leaked out to the web, and it looks rather purdy in a shiny but dark’n’moody Vista-esque sort of way.
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Billed as the “ultimate Mobile Workstation” for graphics pros, gamers, CAD/3D wizards and video content creators, Eurocom’s quad-core D900C Phantom-X looks something of a fearsome beast.
The shiny quad-core monster comes with an upgradeable processor, with the top of the range Intel Core 2 Quad option (Q6700, 2.66Ghz, FSB1066) packing 8MBof L2 cache and adding a whopping $755 (£370, €550) to the already wallet-frightening base configuration of $2,999 (£1,500, €2,200).
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Sony has announced a rather snazzy looking range of stick MP3 players that do away with the need to transfer tunes with their much-maligned SonicStage desktop software.
With the new ATRAC-free NWD-B100 Series players, users can simply drag and drop music straight from their desktop PCs to the pencil thin, 30-gram player.
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The world still can’t get enough of computers as second quarter sales figures reveal a mighty 12 percent hike from the same time last year.
The wriggling bag o’stats from research firm Gartner and IDC put Hewlett-Packard at the front of the sales pack, grabbing the biggest share of the world’s PC market with unit shipments soaring by 37 percent.
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Hoping to tempt the kids to start playing the vinyl they’ve bought is Ion Audio who have knocked out two new versions of its popular iTT USB turntable.
Although vinyl was supposed to have gone the way of clicky-clunky 8 track cartridges, Betamax and clackers, the format refuses to die, with new figures showing that sales of 7in singles actually rose in first half of this year.
As sales of CDs continue to plummet, the tenacious 45 keeps on rocking, with UK industry group BPI, revealing that 7in vinyl sales were up 13%, with the White Stripes’ Icky Thump scoring up the highest weekly sales for a 7in single for more than two decades.
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We’ve just found out about an amazing gadget – a handheld DJ mixer called Pacemaker by a new Swedish company called Tonium.
As soon as we heard about it, we were straight on the phone, as we’d been knocking around similar ideas at the Digital-Lifestyles offices.
Think of it as an iPod, with a built-in DJ mixing booth – and effects box attached.
It’s miles ahead of the clumsy iPod mixing which has been around since 2003 and, by the look of it, it will also fit into your pocket, being it’s 164mm/70mm/23mm (think PSP-sized) and 200g.
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If you’re needing Internet access for your laptop when you’re out and about and the Wi-Fi’s nowhere to be seen, – and you haven’t been lucky enough to have been using the version that Vodafone has been exclusively offering for nearly a year – you might be interested in the T-Mobile web’n’walk USB modem.
As its name suggests, this wee little fella made by Huawei plugs into a USB port on your laptop, with a once-only auto-installation program getting you up and running in minutes. Two USB cables are included.
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If you’re finding that your PowerPoint presentations are lacking a little bling and pizzazz, then you might want to consider investing in the gold plated X-pointer to dazzle your audience.
The (frankly hideous) piece of shiny tut functions as a remote control, a wireless mouse, a laser pointer and a portable storage device, and comes coated with an 18k gold finish.
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The champagne corks have been popping in the 4 digital group offices this morning, as they hear from Ofcom that they have been successful in their bid to gain 10 national DAB radio licences.
The group, lead by UK TV network Channel 4, has the ambition of providing a serious competitor to the dominant national BBC radio services, to provide a “distinctive and different experience of radio.”
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