Wireless – Page 44 – Digital-Lifestyles

Evesham’s Light Book – World’s Lightest?

Evesham's Light Book - World's Lightest? UK PC vendors Evesham have rolled out what they’re claiming is the smallest and lightest notebook on the market to feature an optical drive.

Appropriately dubbed the ‘Light Book,’ the superlight lappie measures up at a slimline 283 x 238 x 35mm and weighs just 1.2kg.

Lurking inside its rather ordinary exterior is an Intel Core Solo low voltage processor, Intel GMA 950 video engine and a 12.1-inch XGA display (that’s 1024 x 768 pixels to you and me).

Evesham's Light Book - World's Lightest? What makes this wee laptop unusual is the fact that Evesham’s engineers have managed to wedge in a DVD/CDRW/Dual Layer DVD-RW drive, instead of offering the usual external optical drive bundled with most small laptops.

Users can fine-tune their own set-ups, but a typical £999 configuration comes with 512MB DDR 533 RAM, a reasonably capacious 60GB hard drive and a 4-in-1 card reader.

Connectivity options include built-in Wi-Fi, a CRT monitor output and three USB ports, with a Finger Print Identification system adding extra peace of mind.

Evesham's Light Book - World's Lightest? There’s also onboard audio and speakers and a battery life claimed at a healthy five hours, with an optional extended battery ramping uptime to a day-spanning ten hours.

Expected to start hitting the shelves in a few weeks, the laptops will come with Evesham’s three year warranty.

Evesham

ZoneAlarm Launches Wireless Router

ZoneAlarm Launches Wireless Router Check Point, the makers of the top-notch internet security software ZoneAlarm, have announced that they’ll be moving into the hardware market with the release of a new, high-spec, wireless router.

Due for a late November release, the Secure Wireless Z100G router uses WPA2 (802.11) and IPSec encryption, and comes with a firewall, antivirus protection, secure remote access, parental controls, Super-G connectivity and extended wireless range.

Targeted specifically at home users, Check Point say that their decision to break into the hardware market was prompted by growing concerns over security holes in home networks and more sophisticated attacks from hackers that managed to bypass gateway and PC-based security measure.

“A wireless network creates great convenience, but the technology that allows for that convenience also provides only the most rudimentary security features,” said Laura Yecies, general manager of Check Point’s consumer and small business division.

“By combining software like the ZoneAlarm Internet Security Suite with a secure gateway, consumers can actually have several layers of defence,” she added.

ZoneAlarm Launches Wireless Router The new router incorporates ZoneAlarm’s stateful packet inspection (SPI) firewall technology, and an intrusion detection and prevention system that actively monitors network traffic to block out hackers and worms.

The web-based management system will let users control peer-to-peer and instant-message communications and customise their interface with preset security rules.

The Z100G router is expected to start hitting the stores around the end of November, with an initial promotional price of $149.99 (£78, €117), rising to $199.99 (£105, €157).

Zone Alarm

Camera Phones Account For Nearly Half Of All Phones Sold

Camera Phones Account For Nearly Half Of All Phones Sold Global sales of camera phones are set to make up nearly half of the total of all mobile phone sales this year, with the figure expected to rise to 81 percent of all phones by 2010.

The figures, from research firm Gartner, show that 48 percent of phones sold so far in 2006 were equipped with a phone, and that worldwide sales of camera phones are on course to reach 460 million by the end of the year.

This amounts to a thumping 43 percent increase from 2005, with sales of camera phones expected to hit one billion by 2010.

Bumping up the pixels
Gartner anticipates that the ‘pixel race’ – as seen in recent years in the digital camera market – will have an impact, with punters being lured by higher resolution camera phones.

Carolina Milanesi, principal research analyst at Gartner, said, “Consumers’ perception that a higher pixel count translates into a higher quality device will encourage mobile phone manufacturers to continue to increase this.”

Since 2003, the camera phone market has been dominated by sales of phones with low resolution, one mega pixel snappers, which accounted for 51 percent of total mobile phone sales in 2006.

With phone manufacturers beefing up the resolution, Gartner predicts that more than half of the camera phones will have at least one or two mega pixels by this time next year.

Camera Phones Account For Nearly Half Of All Phones Sold “In 2006, 1.3 and two mega pixel resolutions will become the minimum requirement for mid-tier to high-end phones and a 3.2 mega pixel resolution will be used for flagship products. This will increase to five mega pixels in 2007,” Milanesi said.

Western Europe remains the biggest market for camera phones with sales likely to surpass 122 million this year (up 28 percent from 2005), while the US should reach 106.8 million units in 2006 (up 41 percent from 2005).

In Japan, the punters are really sharing the love for camera phones, with sales expected to make up 95 percent of all sales in 2007.

Setting their shiny crystal ball to 2010, Gartner predicts that camera phone penetration in Western Europe will soon equal Japan’s, rising to 93.6 percent of the market, with North America a smidgen behind at 93.4 percent.

[From Tech 2]

Dis-Connexion By Boeing: Now Free WiFi

Disconnexion By Boeing Recently while travelling on an SAS flight, I had the pleasure of trying out the Connexion by Boeing service, which is an Internet service offered on long haul services.

Trials for the service started back in two carriers in June 2005.

The system provides a WiFi connection on the plane and connects back to Boeing using some kind of magic (a satellite service, somewhere on the plane a dish or dishes always stay in site of the satellite signal).

It’s all transparent to the user, just connect to the WiFi signal (and there really aren’t any others to connect to at 30,000 ft) and then go to the Boeing portal and sign-up.

It’s free
Although the sign-up page requires you to enter your credit card details the only price plan currently available is priced at $0.0, which means you aren’t charged (I’d imagine for security purposes, so any naughty activity can be traced back to someone). You then get a username and password and can sign-in to using the actual service – which then lets you out in to the wild world of the Internet.

It all worked rather well. Email was speedy and even logging into a remote system worked well, though there was a lag between what you typed and what appeared on the screem – it was usable though (much better than GPRS or some 3G connections have been). Updating MacOS X was doable with download rates of around 70KB/s. Lag was a good 600ms, but that’s what you get from sending data 30,000 miles up to a geostationary satellite and down again and back.

A business user could gainfully use the 10 hours or so in the air and be productive.

The end is nigh
Unfortunately the reason that it’s free is that Boeing are discontinuing the service and as they can’t guarantee any service levels – they’re giving it away until the service ends (Jan 2007). They argue that not enough airlines have signed-up and are cutting their losses.

It’s a real shame as the service worked well and the pricing was sensible for passengers even when they had to pay.

It’s not as though the airlines can keep it going either, as Boeing are physically removing all the equipment they installed in the planes.

Panasonic have said they will introduce a service to replace Boeing’s, but it could be a while, so in the meantime, passengers will have to make do with working off-line or catching up on movies they wouldn’t dream of watching normally.

Gmail Mobile Improved By Google

Browsing Gmail, Google’s email service, wasn’t particularly great when you did it from a mobile … until now. With the new release of gmail mobile that was launched today.

Gmail for Mobile Devices (GMD?), to give it its full official name, is a Java app that can be downloaded and run on any Java-enabled handset. The previous version was browser-based and pretty basic.

It’s an interesting change of approach for Google, who has near-exclusively focused on browser-based applications to access their services (except for Google Local).

GMD isn’t the only Java-driven email client. Flurry was pointed out to us by Cristian Streng. It’s had close to 1 million downloads from getjar.com alone and is used in over 200 countries.

Clearly not wanting it to get used too heavily, Google has officially only made the application downloadable in the US, where until recently people didn’t really use their phones for anything except making calls. While they’ve been doing that, the rest of the world have used their mobiles for everything from gaming to text messages.

Gmail Mobile app Mobile access Only
Flurry

Pure EVOKE-1XT Marshall Edition Released. Let’s Rock!

Pure EVOKE-1XT Marshall Edition Released. Let's Rock! DAB radio pioneers, Pure Technologies, have released information about a forthcoming DAB radio, styled as a Marshall Amp.

To rockers and heavy metal fans alike Marshall Amps rule, so this is likely to appeal to head banger who remember the days of AC/DC when an adult dressing up as a school boy was actively encouraged.

EVOKE-1XT Marshall Edition is wrapped in black vinyl, just like a Marshall amp, with solid wood construction, brass-effect control panel and a black metallic speaker grille.

Pure tell us that it has a bass reflex port for enhanced bass performance alongside a custom designed 3″ drive unit and active-filters to provide a natural ‘direct-from-the-studio’ sound. Let’s Rock!

You to can fool yourself that you’ve turned your bathroom into the Monster of Rock playing Donnington by buying this beauty.

Pure clearly have a sense of humour as the volume goes up to 11 (tm Spinal Tap).

It’s going to sell for 1p under £100.

Pure

Virgin Mobile Lobster 770TV: Review

Virgin Mobile Lobster 770TV: Review The last 18 months have seen a growing crescendo of excitement in the content and mobile phone worlds about the possibilities of delivering TV to mobile phone. The ideas been around a lot longer than that, but it’s the smell of money that has heightened senses.

Virgin Mobile have been keen to show the pace in this area and BT Livetime).

The handsets are now in pre-production and are getting into the hands of a few people.

James Cridland, Head of New Media Strategy at Virgin Radio has had a pre-production Virgin Mobile Lobster 770TV in his hands for a while and has written up a review of it, complete with the four TV services and 49 radio stations.

Built by HTC, its guts are an Orange SPV C600 but the protrusion on its right hand side holds the DAB chippery. James reports that the headphones are better than SPV600, which the 770TV is based on. They also act as the aerial for the DAB receiver.

James goes into a lot more detail about the handset, but let’s get down to how it performs as a TV.

The content
The four TV channels he had were BBC One London, Channel 4 Shortcuts, E4, and ITV-1 (only available in London). It sounds like the programming on the commercial channels hits a few interruptions due to ‘rights.’

BBC One London is in full and free. E4 and ITV-1 generally shows a simulcast of the main channels, but at some times of the day you get a notice that the current programme is unavailable for ‘rights reasons’ – which, at the time of writing, includes all of E4’s daytime music programming, all advertising, all of GMTV, and quite a few other programmes too: it’s unusual to be able to get all four channels in full, in my experience. Channel 4 Shortcuts shows short clips of Channel 4 shows.

Using it
Starting to watch TV couldn’t be easier, just hitting the TV button, which brings up the TV Guide, which he describes as a fairly comprehensive EPG (electronic programme guide), interestingly updated over-the-air on DAB.

The quality of the service doesn’t sound amazing currently.

Clicking on a channel name opens a screen with a larger logo and a Windows Media ‘buffering’ sign, which disappears fairly quickly to be replaced with a passable picture. The framerate appears quite low – probably no more than 10 frames a second – and the picture quality does break up in fast movement; this isn’t picture quality to write home about, but conversely it is pretty good at coping with variable signal quality – on occasion, you can sometimes lose the picture but keep the sound. Watching live television in a moving taxi is an interesting experience, but works very well.

Radio service
James is significantly more impressed with this Lobster as a DAB radio, finding “the reception quality is rather better than I’ve experienced with an FM radio,” indeed, “it’s no exaggeration to say that this is the best hand-held DAB Digital Radio that I’ve ever had.”

Given his role at Virgin Radio, he’s a man who knows a thing or two about radio too.

Conclusion
Despite liking the other functions of the Lobster, it appears James won’t be chucking out his TV anytime soon, finding the current channels available not good enough.

I can’t see too many people sitting down for half an hour of Coronation Street on this thing; and it would seem to me that the television offering needs changing – to offer more grazing-friendly programming. Sky News or BBC News 24 would be a great addition. The absence of GMTV on the phone shows what disarray the commercial broadcasters are in – why cede peak commuting time to the BBC alone?

Clearly early days in this fledgling area.

Full details are over on James’ blog
Photo credit: James Cridland

Full GNER Train Fleet Goes WiFi

Full GNER Train Fleet Goes Wi-Fi UK rail operator GNER (Great North Eastern Railways) has now completed the installation of Wi-Fi on all is trains, with the company claiming that they now own the world’s largest Wi-Fi fleet.

Pushed forward from its original completion date of strong demand from passengers, the service uses a roof-mounted satellite connection and a 3G/GPRS uplink, supplied and fitted by Swedish company Icomera.

The Wi-Fi service was first trialled along the 580-mile Inverness to Kings Cross East Coast mainline service in July 2004, and a £3.2 million investment has seen its entire 41-strong fleet become wireless-enabled.

Full GNER Train Fleet Goes Wi-Fi GNER reckons it will recoup the cost of installing its Wi-Fi service through increased passenger numbers, with the company confident that they’ll be able to tempt car users onto the trains from major metropolitan areas like Leeds, Newcastle and Darlington.

The service is priced at £2.95 for a 30-minute internet session, £4.95 for an hour or £7.95 for three hours for ~~second class~~ standard class ~~passengers~~ customers, with access free for first class travellers.

Wi-Fi has been proving a hit with passengers, with a host of train operators getting in on the act: passengers travelling from Brighton to London have been able to connect wirelessly for some time, while Virgin Trains is set to add Wi-Fi to their West Coast mainline fleet in 2007.

“Wireless Internet has immense potential for both business and leisure users, and we’re very encouraged by the usage levels and positive feedback from passengers,” said Jonathan Metcalfe, GNER’s chief executive officer.

Full GNER Train Fleet Goes Wi-Fi One thing Metcalfe may not be so encouraged by is the rather parlous state of GNER’s parent company, the Caribbean-based Sea Containers.

The company filed for protection against bankruptcy in the USA a fortnight ago, although this shouldn’t – in theory – affect the UK company.

However, GNER warned the UK government last week that it needs to renegotiate its operating licence or it’ll throw all its toys out of the pram when it gets smacked down with a thumping great penalty clause for not meeting the year’s performance targets.

GNER Mobile Office

LG White Chocolate Phone Launches

LG's Chocolate Phone Goes White After the success of LG’s Chocolate slider phone (aka the LG KG800), the company have released a new White Chocolate version.

The super-slick snowy white version offers the same feature set as the original, which means that users get a slidy-out phone with GSM 900/1800/1900 network coverage, backed by Bluetooth (with A2DP), Infrared and Wi-Fi connectivity.

There’s also a 1.3 MP camera with 2X zoom and a sizeable 176×220 262K-colour LCD screen and the same funky heat sensitive touch control keys for controlling the main functions.

These keys glow red in a suitably high tech manner when active, and fade into the background colour when they’re not being used.

The new white look is apparently designed to appeal to the laydees and it looks like LG are trying to sprinkle some of that iPod fairy dust on the thing.

LG's Chocolate Phone Goes White Music playback support comes in the shape of WMA and MP3 support with micro-SD memory expansion up to 2GB.

Despite the hefty 128MB of memory onboard, function fans may be a little unchuffed to discover there’s no radio and speakerphone included – a curious omission if you ask us.

The phone also comes with a WAP 2.0 compliant browser, measures up at 95x48x15mm and weighs a pocket-untroubling 83 grams.

Battery life is listed as 3.5 hours talk / 8 days standby and is available on Amazon US for $375.

[From New Launches]

Mission Impossible 3: Parallel Mobile and DVD Release on Nokia N93

Mission Impossible 3: Parallel Mobile and DVD Release on Nokia N93 Nokia is to have Mission Impossible 3 released on memory cartridge in parallel with its releases on DVD – making it the world’s first mobile premiere.

The complete film will be on a 512Mb miniSD card, running at 25fps and be exclusively available with the N93. As of next week purchasers of the N93 will get the film included.

Given the gadget fest that M:i:III is, it’s pretty appropriatte.

It’s a European deal between Nokia and Paramout Pictures, making it available in the UK, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Portugal, Spain and Turkey. The content will be protected, so it cannot be watched on a PC or transfered to another memory card,

Mission Impossible 3: Parallel Mobile and DVD Release on Nokia N93 Nokia has been trying very hard to its launch, this is the first deal to link it with watching films.

Tuula Rytilä-Uotila, director of Multimedia at Nokia buzzed, “With this package, we want to highlight that the Nokia N93 is not only a fantastic movie-making device, but that it is also a portable video player, allowing users to enjoy movies wherever, whenever.”