Friday 04 July 2008
The velvet padded, Varimotioned K172HDs
AKG — not the Australian Knifemakers Guild, but the high-end audio manufacturer — has introduced a range of high-def headphones designed to please the pickiest of music appreciators.
There are four models in the line-up, with the design of each based on a model from the company's professional headphone range. Self-adjusting headbands and velvet ear pads ensure your noggin is cradled lovingly. Here are the essential details:
| Model name | RRP | Design |
| K142HD | AU$249 | On-ear, open back |
| K172HD | AU$299 | On-ear, closed back |
| K242HD | AU$299 | Over-ear, open back |
| K272HD | AU$399 | Over-ear, closed back |
The headphones certainly look like business, but AKG says they also sound amazing due to the "Varimotion diaphragm technology" packed into each model. Vari-what? The feature "enables the diaphragm perimeter to vibrate elastically but its centre to have a piston-like motion," says the press release. This "prevents any undesirable resonances, ensuring exceptionally clean sound reproduction and greater spatiality and transparency, even at high frequencies". Can't argue with that.
All products are available now; for info on where to find them, take a gander at distributor APG's website.
Telstra has start pushing out a software update to half a million customers that will allow users to point their phones at a barcode and be directed to a relevant Web page.
The software update loads a reader into the phone's main menu which, when opened, turns on the camera to read barcodes. Phones that will sport the software include the Nokia 6120 and N95.
"Going forward, nearly all the next-generation mobiles will have this," a Telstra spokesperson said.
The Telstra mobile barcodes are based on two international standards — quick response codes and Data Matrix.
Similar technologies can be found in Japan, France, Spain, China, USA, Hong Kong, UK and Russia where barcodes have been placed in magazines, on buses, business cards and other public spaces.
Barcodes could allow users to automatically transfer information from business cards to their address books, scan their travel itineraries to link to flight arrival and departure times on the Web, or find reviews and plot summaries for shows from television guides. The barcodes will likely be seen on posters, Web banners and newspapers, promoting special offers.
"It's a really quick way to go to mobile Web pages," the spokesperson said. "Normally, it takes multiple clicks to make the connection you are after."
Currently, users will not have to watch out for racking up extra costs on their mobile bill according to the spokesperson. "Initially, most of the content will be tariff free." In the future, warnings will be added when users may be charged for data.
Thursday 03 July 2008
An example of the tracking on Whereis maps
There may be something romantic about the notion of getting lost, but the uptake of location-based services suggests we are a society intent on knowing where we are. Telstra's betting we want to know where everyone else is too.
In a move that echoes an Orwellian future, Telstra has launched Whereis Everyone for Next G mobile customers. The basic concept is that mobile handsets are tracked using mobile tower triangulation and the report is sent to an associated mobile or email address at pre-determined intervals. The current location of a collection of users can be tracked on Whereis Maps.
Telstra envisage this service being useful beyond tracking family and friends, suggesting it can double as a location service for lost or stolen handsets.
Obviously the concept of personal tracking raises numerous security related questions. Telstra seem aware of these concerns, noting on its site that users can make themselves "invisible" to tracking from all other users, or can block tracking from selected users. Potential stalkers are also kept on a short leash, as per Telstra's FAQ;
Will the other person know when I am attempting to locate them?
Generally no. The only exception to this is in the extreme case where you perform an abnormally large number of Location Searches on one person, or configure an abnormally large number of Location Alerts on one person, Telstra reserves the right to inform this other person. Telstra will inform you via email, SMS and/or mail if it does this.
The service is free to sign-up with each look-up costing 50 cents, or AU$2.95 buys you unlimited access to the service.
Tuesday 01 July 2008
Have you reached the point of ultimate laziness and can't even be bothered to control iTunes from bed?
According to a report on MacRumors.com, Apple has a solution — use your iPod Touch or iPhone as a remote.
The application, aimed at letting people remotely control iTunes in the home, is described in information included with the iTunes 7.7 pre-release version that was made available to developers on Thursday.
According to the MacRumors report, the application will "presumably" allow people to play back their iTunes audio with the help of Wi-Fi.
The report offers these details from the developers pre-release version, based on the "Read Me" area of the iTunes installer:
Use iTunes 7.7 to sync music, video and more with iPhone 3G, and download applications from the iTunes Store exclusively designed for iPhone and iPod Touch with software version 2.0 or later. Also use the new Remote application for iPhone or iPod Touch to control iTunes playback from anywhere in your home — a free download from the App Store.
Monday 30 June 2008
Nokia Supernova: 7610, 7510, 7310 and 7210
Have you ever finished dressing for a night out and realised that your piano-black Nokia phone, which looks great with your business suit, looked drab against your fluoro rainbow-coloured parachute pants?
Budding M.C. Hammers rejoice: Nokia's Supernova series is ready to accessorise any outfit with a collection of Xpress-on phone covers. The series features four new handsets — the 7610, 7510, 7310 and 7210 — and each handset will come with at least three to seven covers. That's like 20 new phones!
The four new handsets come in a range of shapes and sizes including a slider, a clamshell and two candybars. Each handset has 2G GSM which will equate to slow Web browsing, and at least a 2-megapixel camera — with the 7610 sporting a 3.2-megapixel shooter.
Nokia intends to roll out the new range over the coming months with the 7310 looking to be the first cab off the rank. Prices for this range will begin at 120 Euros (AU$195) but we'll be sure to update you with more specific info as each of these lovelies rolls into stores.
Friday 27 June 2008
The High School Musical USBracelet.
With K-Rudd talking up the "digital schools" thing, USB drives are being chucked into backpacks alongside lunchboxes, textbooks and loose change for the tuckshop.
As with all other schoolyard accoutrements, having a cool-looking memory stick aids in the prevention of social ostracism. Never one to miss out on a tween marketing opportunity, Disney has gotten into the data storage action, teaming with Lexar to release a range of High School Musical, Hannah Montana and Pirates of the Caribbean-branded USB products.
Items in the range include a bracelet with an embedded USB key, available in 512MB (AU$31.55) and 1GB (AU$46.88) capacities. If the prices seem steep, consider this: the High School Musical version we received comes preloaded with digital goodies including Zac Efron desktop wallpaper. For kiddies who haven't yet discovered Google Image Search, this is truly OMG-worthy.
To see the whole line-up of Disney USB thingies, visit Lexar's website.
Thursday 26 June 2008
Sony has unveiled its latest "Bonus PlayStation 3 with a Full HD Bravia TV" promotion with a new "armaggedon clock" gimmick, and the announcement that all HD Bravias are included.
Sony has set up a webpage with a countdown clock — available here — which starts counting next week, and tells you how many of the 35,000 PS3s are still left.
The promotion will run from July 1st until all the PlayStations are redeemed — which could be a while given that the last promotion dragged on for longer than everyone expected. However, it's obviously designed to capitalise on people upgrading their TVs for the Olympics.
Considering there were 28,000 PS3s given away last time — and during the Christmas rush — this new offer could backfire on the company if there is a lack of buyer interest.
Yesterday, we reported that the promotion would only cover the new V series, but Sony have expanded this to include all of the 1080p TVs announced for release in July.
Will the world explode when it gets to zero?.
The TVs which qualify for the promotion include:
- V4000 Series
- W3100
- W4000 Series
- X3100 Series
- XBR Series
Come on, Apple! I'll be your friend...
With the iPhone 3G being the most hotly anticipated handset of the year, you can't blame the mobile carriers for wanting a piece of the lucrative action. But telco 3 has gone to extreme measures, creating a website where customers can beg Apple to make the phone available on the network.
The site, located at www.three.com.au/iphone, will go live tomorrow, and is accompanied by a mobile version — SMS the word iPhone to 333000 and you'll receive a digital form to submit your iPhone pleas.
Though less kind commentators might call the move a little desperate, Noel Hamill, director of Sales, Marketing & Product at 3, says it's all about satisfying the customers.
"Ever since Apple's announcement that a 3G iPhone is coming, we've had lots of calls and emails — the main flavour is people wanting to get the value that 3 offers with the iPhone," said Hamill in a statement released today.
"We want Apple to see just how much our customers want the iPhone."
Regardless of what convincing messages get posted on the site, the iPhone will not be available on 3 on 11 July. That date is reserved for Optus and Vodafone, but the 3 statement said the company "hopes it will come to 3 stores soon".
Telstra is yet to employ similar tactics, but we're betting the company would love to stock the iPhone in their shiny new T[Life] stores.
Coming in at a mammoth AU$4,299, the 24-inch, 1920x1200 LP2480zx is nicknamed the "DreamColor", being born out of HP's collaboration with DreamWorks and subsequent feedback from its employees about what a professional, colour-critical artist requires.
A two-year venture, the DreamColor initiative was an attempt to once again ease the pain of transitioning between colour spaces regardless of application, device or medium, and to date has seen printers using HP's "DreamColor Engine" hit the market.
The next part of the puzzle has now arrived in the form of HP's latest monitor. NEC and Eizo have typically held the reigns on the professional LCD market in Australia, and at least on paper, the new contender from HP stacks up well against the competing LCD2490WUXi and ColorEdge CG241W. While HP wouldn't be drawn on whether it would release larger panels in the 26- and 30-inch spaces, the company has indicated that should the market show interest it would certainly investigate it.
The LP2480zx is an LED backlit, 30-bit S-IPS panel, which means it can display 1.07 billion colours, and supports Wide gamut, sRGB, AdobeRGB, Rec. 709, Rec. 601, DCI-P3 emulation (97 per cent) and user colour profiles. Rather than a brief moment where all colours seem to spasmodically shift, the DreamColor smoothly fades in and out when switching between colour profiles. Blacks were reasonably impressive when compared to a consumer grade HP LP2465 monitor during the demonstration we attended, and brightness seemed quite flexible, being able to be set between 40cd/m2 and 250cd/m2 — while we didn't get our hands on either demonstration unit to play with, an LP2480zx should be landing in CNET.com.au's labs shortly.
HP claims 100 per cent AdobeRGB gamut capability, which apparently stacks up to 133 per cent NTSC, depending on which measuring stick you're using. Nonetheless, from our short exposure, it presented a significantly more realistic interpretation of images; the usual red and green blow-outs were absent and skin tones appeared more natural.
Inputs are quite varied for the market too, featuring HDMI 1.3, DisplayPort 1.1, two DVI-I ports, S-Video, composite, component, and four USB ports.
HP's menu structure is a context sensitive one, similar in concept to what is found on the Dell 2709w, with options being assigned to buttons depending on what menu you are in, rather than each button having a fixed function. It looks nice, but our first impressions were that Dell has the lead on its consumer level monitors.
While it will still select colours from the 30-bit palette even if you have a 24-bit input, those who will use this monitor to its best capability are definitely in the professional market, where the costly FireGLs, Quadros, applications and operating systems will support it.
Wednesday 25 June 2008
The cast of Sex and the City has a particular affinity for promoting mobile phones; six months after Kristin Davis spruiked Motorola's RAZR2 handset in Shanghai, LG has picked Chris "Mr. Big" Noth as the brand ambassador for its Secret phone.
The man best known for ripping out Carrie Bradshaw's heart and throwing it into oncoming Manhattan traffic was introduced at the phone's launch party, held on the stage of Sydney's State Theatre. Though not a gadget-savvy kind of guy, Noth said the Secret is the kind of phone Mr. Big would carry in his tailored trouser pocket. Presumably so he could send Carrie frequent texts that alternately seduce and repel.
Though the link between Sex and the City's Mr. Big and mobile electronics may seem tenuous, a phone played an important part in the series finale: the character's real name was finally revealed by way of the caller ID on Carrie's mobile.
As for Noth's ongoing relationship with LG, look out for a campaign in the next few months which, according to Carli Wilson, LG's marketing manager for mobile communications, "will tap into fashion-conscious and discerning Australians".
Check out some scenes from the party, as well as what Mr. Big has to say about the LG Secret, in our video.
