UK 3G network 3 have announced four new video mobiles to be released in time for the traditional Christmas trading bonanza.
The top-of-the-range handsets will be supplied by LG, Motorola and Nokia with a pretty pink handset for the laydees and sexuality-unchallenged geezers.
Here’s the full listing:
LG U880
The super-thin triband LG U880 will be offered in black, silver and pink with its clamshell design incorporating a 1.3 megapixel camera and expandable internal memory of 80 MB.
The main display supports 262k colours (65k for sub display) with the large 2.0″ colour screen offering a simple user interface.
There’s a built in speaker phone, Bluetooth support and Windows Media (audio and video) playback.
Nokia 6280
The first mass-market 3G Nokia handset to go on sale in the UK, the 6280 has a sliding keyboard and built-in 2 megapixel camera with 8x digital zoom and integrated flash.
There’s a QVGA 262,144 colour display, video messaging, download video clips and Quickplay video streaming in widescreen
The quadband phone supports 3’s full range of communications and entertainment content and services.
Motorola RAZR V3x
A poseur’s delight, the Motorola RAZR V3x is the high-fashion phone for the “Look at me!” crowd, with its slinky, slim-line form supporting a full range of 3G services.
The 2.2″ main display supports 262k colours, and there’s a 1.0″ colour sub display for video calls.
The phone comes with a two megapixel camera on board, with the handset being available in cosmic blue and liquorice black.
Nokia N70
Destined to be 3’s first two megapixel phone when it becomes available at the end of October, the Nokia N70 is based on the hugely successful Nokia 6680 and offers video calling, integrated flash, a built-in FM tuner, Bluetooth and support for Visual Radio.
The 2 megapixel camera phone provides up to 20x digital ‘smooth’ zoom, viewable on a large 2.1″ 262k colour screen with the handset supporting video messaging, video clips downloads and Quickplay video streaming in widescreen.
The Quadband phone works in the USA, Europe and Asia and comes with Bluetooth.
Jones the Santa
Gareth Jones, COO, 3 UK put on his Santa hat and started the “Ho Ho Ho” stuff:
“3 understands the important part handsets play in the customer experience and with our Christmas range we’re offering the best video mobiles in the UK.
All of these handsets support 3’s full range of video mobile content and services. If you’re on 3 you can enjoy music, video, games, the internet and every kind of messaging, as well as great value voice tariffs, all on state of the art devices that look good and are easy to use. If you want the widest choice of high-quality video mobiles this Christmas, then 3 is the network to choose.”
According to the latest figures from the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in Geneva, Italy can now boast the highest mobile penetration rate in Europe, with mobile-mad Italians notching up 109.42 phones per 100 inhabitants.
With over four million UMTS users, Italians are also leading the way in 3G take up, with the ITU reporting that the country is the most prominent user of 3G services in Europe.
Mind you, it could be argued that Luxembourg’s high mobile ownership is equally skewed due to their nationals living in neighbouring countries needing a second handset for use within its borders.
Call us cynical if you like, but when we get a press announcement trumpeting some kind of ‘world first’ or another from someone we’ve never heard of, our eyebrows tend to arc skywards.
It is significant that content is breaking on mobiles before it’s in the shops and we’ve no doubt that mobiles will continue to play a greater part in the distribution of music and video, but we can’t really get excited about someone (even if they have got dazzling teeth) releasing a few snippets of a DVD for mobiles and then expecting the Guinness Book of Records to be calling them up.
In fact, we’re so unimpressed that we can’t even be bothered to give you the name of the video, but you can find it somewhere on Vodafone’s Dutch Live TV website, or just click around chirpy Frans’ website.
Did someone say fast?
Couch Potatoes Rejoice
Internet? Break? Yeah right…
Leo Kuvayev, the leader of the largest Spam gang, and six of his business partners have been handed a $37m (~E30m, ~£21m) fine by the courts in Massachusetts.
This was no small operation. Microsoft collected more than 45,000 spam messages believed to be from the Internet Spam Gang in just 22 days between 12 June and 4 July 2004. Not bad, with an average of 2,000 emails per day.
He appears very enterprising, does’t he? He’s also listed as the 2nd worst spammer on the 
There is a dilemma with the pursuit of mobile living that we’re all familiar with. The constant need for recharging.
Theirs is a contact-less charger, so there’s no worry about different connectors. It uses electromagnetic induction to pass electricity from a charging plate to any suitably equipped device that’s placed on it. Think cordless kettle or electric toothbrush.
Beyond that they have to persuade the device manufacturers to include their SplashModule in devices, but without the charging SplashPads out there, why would they? The same is true to the venues installing SplashPads, without a pool of equipped mobile devices.
They’ve expanded their range of pads to include one that charges two devices and a single unit too, which is a smaller, travel-friendly version. In the current trend for personalisation, decorated/pattered covers can be fitted to the front.
UK-based software developers Xara, have announced an update to their sophisticated vector graphics program Xara X, adding new functions and renaming it Xara Xtreme.
In this latest version, the Xara Picture Editor has been updated and a new Live Effects tool allows Photoshop and Xara plug-in effects to be applied to photos and vector graphics.
Linux, Mac and Open Source versions planned
Moir table-thumped “We’re going to a place that Microsoft and Adobe cannot go. The Open Source world is the acknowledged largest threat to established giants such as Microsoft. We felt it was necessary for us to shake up the graphics world a bit, and making one of the most powerful, easiest to use graphics applications Open Source should do the trick.”
BPI, the UK record label industry association has released its third-quarter report revealing that it’s boom time for the Brit digital music industry.
Digital is also claiming a bigger share of the Top 75 singles chart, growing from 15.9 percent when the combined chart launched in mid-April to 25.5 percent at the end of August.
Once again, the death of vinyl has been exaggerated with the 7-inch physical singles market registering 80 per cent growth with 800,000 sales.
“While the record label model of investing in the best new music talent remains the same, the emergence of innovative new digital services means that the record companies can offer consumers even greater choice as to how to access their music.” 
Like a big flashing sign above the listener’s head saying “Mug Me!” the distinctive white headphones of iPods continue to attract the unwanted attentions of ne’er-do-wells in the street.
Figures from the Metropolitan police revealed that the practice of purloining iPods increased more than fivefold since last November 2004, with incidents rising from ten a month to 52 in May this year.
A new study has revealed that one in five Americans is without home Internet access and have never been online, potentially hindering their access to crucial information and services. 
Not surprisingly, the study also found that people with lower incomes and less education also registered lower percentages of Internet adoption.
Broadband makes it easier for surfers to whiz around the Web and download music, view videos, enjoy free VoIP calls and access online services and important information on topics like health and finance.