Secret Unveiled: LG Launches the Third Black Label Series Handset LG Secret

Read the original press release here

LG Electronics, a worldwide technology and design leader in mobile communications, launched the third LG Black Label Series handset LG Secret (Model: LG-KF750) worldwide on April 24th, 2008 in London, U.K.

Following the success of its predecessors, LG Chocolate and LG Shine, the third model from the LG Black Label Series resonates a highly stylish design and enriched technological features including the slimmest 5 megapixel camera and innovative materials. The phone was developed to satisfy the refined tastes of trendsetters who desire a sophisticated design with an enduring elegance.

"The huge success of the previous models of the Black Label Series validated our approach to provide the ultimate mobile experience for today’s discerning consumers, who seek to embody personal style with their handsets," says Skott Ahn, President & CEO of LG Electronics Mobile Communications Company. "These are the enriched features that will diversify the way users interact with their handsets but most of all, the LG Secret was designed to be a style that lasts."

From the top we can see a predominant keyword in the LG press release: timeless. And in my opinion, in this high-speed modern age of ours, it's one of the most necessary things to keep us all on track. Of course, saying that, LG defines the terms on which this word applies:

• Timeless style - LG Secret will always look new thanks to the materials incorporated into the phone
• Timeless memories - Equipped with an advanced 5.0 megapixel camera built into the slimmest profile of any camera handset on the market (at 11.8mm), LG Secret boasts 120 fps video and DivX® certified playback
• Timeless entertainment - Entertainment features include Touch Media that takes advantage of the touch screen to directly access five multimedia functions in a single button – music, photos, games, documents, and FM radio
• Timeless convenience - LG Secret makes life easier with Bluetooth auto-sync that automatically synchronizes with the PC and users do not have to be hassled by tangled USB cables. The Auto Rotating Display shifts the image on the screen for viewing in any position

These and many other features, which are described in more detail in the original press release, make this phone proud to be one of the Black Label Series. LG Secret begins its launch in Europe followed by launch events in Asia, South America, and on to the rest of the world. Please also visit LG Secret Global Microsite at http://secret.lgmobile.com.

From the Web - 24.04.2008

This is the start of a series that aims to provide you with information from multiple sources. There are no real areas of interest in this post, being a mash-up from several different publishers. I plan to make this kind of post as often as I can, in an attempt to create continuity when I don't have enough time to write or prepare a full post. This way you will be able so see the subjects that you have (or not) an interest in by going straight at the source.

And with that out of the way, let's get on with it:

• Samsung U900 Soul Available in UK: Samsung has added the Samsung Soul U900 to its available handsets in the UK.
• Yahoo to radically open its platforms: Yahoo will radically open its Web platforms to outside developers in order to improve its services to consumers.
• Ballmer: Microsoft could walk away from Yahoo deal: Microsoft gave its first hint that it may abandon its $44.6 billion bid for Yahoo.
• Apple's ultra-thin MacBook Air also slim on profits?: In its determination to deliver the world's thinnest notebook, Apple admitted to sacrificing some speed and versatility, but a new analysis suggests that it may have given up some early profits as well.
• Linux Still Top Embedded OS: "Linux was used by 18 percent of embedded engineers responding to a survey, making it tops overall among both free and commercial OSes..."(LinuxDevices)
• Ubisoft 2007-08 sales up 43%: Ubisoft has released Q4 and FY 07-08 financial information, and is targeting EUR 1 billion in sales for 2008-09
• Sony Ericsson Launches 2 New 3G HSDPA Mobile Phones: The Z780 expands the company’s range of devices for markets outside of Europe and the compact G502 brings the power of the web to a mainstream audience.
• China has world's largest Internet-using population: China has now surpassed the US as the country with the largest number of Internet users
• Bill Gates: "The GPL, which we disagree with": "At the Institute for Systems Biology in Seattle, Bill Gates gave his thoughts on where the pharmaceutical industry was going, and where it should be going. However, he also slipped up a bit and criticized the GNU General Public License..."(Ars Technica)
• Apple buys chip designer PA Semi for $278 million: An Apple spokesman confirmed Tuesday evening that the company has agreed purchase a boutique microprocessor design company known for sophisticated but low-power designs, Forbes is reporting.

Microsoft Office 2007 and OOXML

Source: CNET News

"Word documents generated by today's version of Microsoft Office 2007 do not conform to the Office Open XML standard under development by the International Organization for Standardization, according to tests run by a document standards specialist."

It comes to no surprise to many of us that the Microsoft giant follows it's own path, practically ignoring standards and regulations. Well, it's a giant, after all. But the ones that eventually suffer are the end users. After paying an enormous sum for the Microsoft Office 2007 software package, you have the unpleasant surprise that it doesn't work well with other similar software. The standards are in place for a reason. Just imagine what the world would be without them. The thing that really surprises me is that Microsoft, although they are under a lot of investigations from so many international or European organizations, they still do things their own way.

Even if I'm not a big user of the documents, they are very often used in office activities across the world. The fact that there are free alternatives out there, like Open Office or even the online Google Docs, people prefer the commercial versions. I remember a few days ago a friend of mine bought a new computer and it had Windows Vista pre-installed. He was so happy that he had this beautiful operating system, but that soon ended as soon as he had to install his other software. The confirmation dialogs brought him to the edge of insanity. But that's another story. He then needed a good text editor and a spreadsheet editor. He opted for Microsoft Office 2007 although Open Office is completely free and more than capable of handling the job. His decision was based on the fact that he "heard more people talking about Microsoft Office that Open Office". I guess this kind of thinking is what keeps Microsoft going despite their continuous rules breaking actions.

That aside, we'll just have to wait and see how this issue will be resolved. After all, you can't claim to handle certain file types if you don't respect the standards internationally accepted.

Samsung T220 22" widescreen LCD Monitor

One thing that starts to appear maybe a little too often here: Samsung LCD monitors. But that's just because there's so great. Being one of the leaders in the industry, Samsung continues to provide us with even better gadgets each time. This is just one of them, part of the Samsung Premium Class LCDs.

The Samsung T220 22" LCD Widescreen Monitor is one beautiful display. Samsung has created a design unlike anything you’ve ever seen called Touch of Color™. Samsung Premium Class LCDs are top-of-the-line premium monitors offering superb picture quality, luxury features and the most striking, sophisticated designs. Premium Class monitors are ideal for executives, professional offices, advertising, public relations, gamers and developers.

The T220 monitor not only has beauty, it also has brains. An amazing 20,000:1 dynamic contrast ratio and 2ms response rate deliver sharp contrast and virtually no blurring when watching movies or playing video games. You’ll be inspired to create your best work with the T220. It looks more like a beautiful piece of art than a lcd monitor.

Here are some of the specifications for the Samsung T220 LCD Monitor:

• Screen Size : 22" wide
• Resolution : 1680 x 1050 (WSXGA+)
• Brightness: 300 cd/m²
• Response time: 2 ms(GTG)
• Contrast Ratio: DC 20,000:1 (1000:1) (Typ.)
• Viewing Angle (Horizontal / Vertical): 170º / 160º (CR>10)
• Power Consumption: 45 watts
• Video Signal: analog RGB, DVI

More detailed information about the Samsung T220 22 inch LCD monitor can be found on the official product page at www.samsung.com.

Ubuntu 8.04 LTS Desktop Edition

Source: Ubuntu Official Website

Canonical Ltd. released the latest version of the popular operating system Ubuntu, now at version 8.04. Along with the Desktop Edition, the Server Edition has also been released, and will be avasilable for download on Thursday 24 April.

Ubuntu 8.04 Long Term Support (LTS) provides a stable platform for software and hardware vendors, developers and users. With three years of support and maintenance on the desktop, 8.04 LTS is a great choice for large-scale deployment. A substantial and growing ecosystem of free and commercial software built for Ubuntu provides a rich set of choices for desktop users. This is the eighth desktop release of Ubuntu. Ubuntu's track record in delivering - on a precise schedule every six months - a commercial operating system that is free, stable, secure and fully supported, remains unique.

Ubuntu includes the latest, stable version of many core products, and in that spirit is the first distribution to bring Mozilla Firefox 3 (Beta 5) to millions of users. The combination of Linux and Firefox make Ubuntu 8.04 LTS a superb web desktop, with fast browsing and greatly reduced exposure to viruses, web forgery and spyware. The enhanced default photo manager, F-Spot, together with improved camera and phone recognition means users can upload, tag, manage, display, delete, print and share photos with friends and family more easily. Users can plug in a PSP, share playlists with friends, buy from the Magnatune online music store, stream live radio and plug in more devices than ever (with UpnP). The new default movie player now allows users to browse YouTube and other video sources across the web and to share their videos with others. It integrates with Myth TV, the open source TVR, so users can watch their favorite TV shows straight on the desktop. Brasero allows them to easily burn all content to CD or DVD. Clock and calendar integration is available to manage time across the globe with a single click to set, attend and receive alerts about appointments. Ubuntu 8.04 LTS combines the latest GNOME applications with desktop visual effects, giving users a smoother, better-looking and more intuitive experience.

And that's not all:

• Longer support: Ubuntu 8.04 LTS is supported with security updates and maintenance for three years so corporate and individual users have a longer upgrade planning cycle. Those who want the newest applications will be able to upgrade to Ubuntu 8.10, due in October 2008, those who prefer longer deployment cycles can stay with Ubuntu 8.04 for three years before moving to the next LTS release.
• More applications: More than 30 commercial ISVs plan to support and distribute their applications on the 8.04 LTS desktop platform, including Adobe, Google, Real Networks, Nero, Skype, Corel, Parallels and Fluendo.
• More accessibility: Gesture support allows users to navigate Ubuntu in a more natural fashion. Also available are increased language support for voice command, support for keyboard accessibility, slow keys, zoom and more.

Due to the fact that Ubuntu is so easy to install and use, I encourage people to give it a try. It's certainly worth it.

Panasonic's Stingray Workstation - the power to change

Full article (press release) here

Panasonic Information Systems, a division of Panasonic System Solutions Company and a world leader in point of sale and drive-thru communication solutions, will be showing their revolutionary Stingray Workstation (model JS-950) at FS/TEC 2008. With its flexible open architecture and versatile modular construction that provides lower total cost of ownership, this unique workstation is transforming the POS market with “the power to change."

“Stingray is so innovative in its approach to providing users what they need, it has changed the way POS workstations are selected and sold in the quick service and hospitality industries,” said Doyle Ledford, Director, Panasonic Information Systems. “The open platform design of our new Stingray applies both to software and hardware, as this workstation will run virtually any operating system, and software and can be configured with the selection of components and capabilities that best meet users’ specific needs. Most importantly, Stingray allows for change – both in terms of software upgrades and hardware changes – both easily and cost-efficiently. It’s the POS solution that offers lower total cost of ownership by evolving as your business needs change and by offering user replaceable components such as the LCD display and hard drive.”

Stingray’s open architecture runs virtually any operating system and software, allowing users to implement most off-the-shelf or custom POS applications to meet their specific needs. With a high speed processor and up to 2 GB of on-board RAM, Stingray is ideal for stand-alone applications and can also be integrated into a LAN network to run the most demanding back office operations. It can also run multiple software applications to further extend its functionality and overall efficiency. In addition, it's backwards compatible, allowing operators to replace one workstation at a time for maximum cost-efficiency.

Stingray’s unique all-in-one modular design allows convenient, cost-effective customization to meet specific application needs. Users can design it to fit their operations with the confidence of knowing they have the power to change the unit’s configuration at any time. Stingray allows users to easily increase RAM, swap or change hard drives, remove/replace the LCD display, switch the 15” LCD display from landscape to portrait, add a card reader in the position they want, or add security devices – all with no need for a technician. Stingray’s dual back lit LCD adjustable displays deliver high-resolution, high-contrast images and are available with resistive or capacitive touch screen technology for faster, more accurate order taking.

Apple iPhone prices - confirmed to be cut

Article from Macworld.com (visit original article)

O2 has officially confirmed its anticipated £100 (US$200) discount on the 8GB iPhone, offering the device for just £169 until 1 June 2008. The move matches a discount recently initiated by Apple’s German network partner, T-Mobile, but the discount isn’t being applied on sales of the 16GB iPhone, which continues to cost £329. The offer is available from April 16th on all O2 iPhone tariffs and is designed (according to O2) to add momentum to what it calls its “fastest-selling device”.

O2 notes that iPhone users are among its most satisfied customers and declared the aim of the deal is to “bring its benefits to an even greater number of customers”.

“The iPhone has also been hugely successful in attracting new high value customers to O2 who are also more likely to recommend O2 to their friends and family. Sixty percent of iPhone customers are new to O2 while iPhone customers spend on average 30 percent more than other Pay Monthly customers”, O2 explained.

The move - which occurs a little more than a week after O2 said it had no immediate plans to cut iPhone prices - also comes as expectation continues to build that Apple will introduce a second-generation iPhone that supports the fast 3G wireless standard, perhaps as soon as June. The move also seem designed to clear stock of the existing 8GB model, possibly indicating higher capacity models are on the road map. O2 explains its offer to be “subject to stock availability.”

Samsung Electronics and Giorgio Armani - Premium LCD Television

From the official Samsung website: Press release

With the occasion of the Milan International Furniture Fair Samsung Electronics and Giorgio Armani, one of the leading fashion and luxury goods groups in the world, unveil the new Armani/Samsung premium LCD television, designed for a discriminating consumer, who is seeking a prestige television that combines sophisticated design and leading flat screen technology.

The Armani/Samsung LCD Television is the second product (following the Giorgio Armani - Samsung mobile phone) designed by Giorgio Armani under a strategic marketing alliance announced by the two companies in September, 2007. The alliance foresees the development of a range of prestige portable and home consumer electronics products matching Giorgio Armani’s iconic design aesthetic with Samsung’s cutting-edge technology and leadership in consumer electronics.

Unique design elements include a stylish remote control and a special 4-mode lighted power switch that customizes the display of the two companies’ logos on the front of the television. At rest, the remote mirrors the simple elegance of the television itself. When handled, the unit immediately comes alive with radiant backlights to present a full range of convenient features. The television also comes with a smaller, pebble-shaped remote for basic functions that rests at the corner of the stand.

The unit is further accentuated by glass in the front and shows simple but solid natural lines that convey pure emotional expression. Both models, 46-inch and 52-inch, are to incorporate many of the features and cutting-edge technologically, such as 100Hz Full HD and HDMI connectors, that have made Samsung Televisions world renowned for their outstanding picture quality and high-end functionality.

The design of the Armani/Samsung LCD Television has been inspired by Giorgio Armani's new 2008/09 Armani/Casa home furnishings collection, which includes the Brahms tea table in pleated effect glossy black lacquered wood which has been specifically designed to host the new television.

Giorgio Armani said, "There was once a time when one would want to hide a television as it never failed to disturb the ambience of a living room. Now, through the incredible advance in technology, flat screen televisions can easily be incorporated into the design solution for a home."

Bookeun Yoon, Executive Vice President of Visual Display Division of Samsung Electronics said, “There are more and more consumers today who are increasingly style conscious in their selection of home electronics products. They are looking for products that unite the best contemporary design with technological performance and functionality. This partnership therefore affords us the chance to offer those consumers unique products matching Giorgio Armani's sophisticated, iconic style with Samsung's leading technology."

The 46-inch Armani/Samsung Television, will be launched initially in Europe, Korea and Russia in mid summer . The 52-inch model will be launched in late-summer in the same market.

Samsung SCH-u706 Muse

Samsung SCH-u706 Muse(Alltel) is described by the good people in the Samsung marketing department as "the phone with music in its soul". So let's see what's so special about it. There are so many mobile phones out there that can playback almost any of the popular audio formats. It's practically a "must have" these days. Why does this one has it "in its soul"?

The SCH-u706 Muse has a built-in MP3 player, naturally. And support for microSD cards. Nothing new there. But it also features a graphic equalizer, playlist management and support for album art. It also supports Bluetooth Wireless Technology so it can connect to a wireless headsets, hands-free car kits, printers and computers and has a high quality 2.0 megapixel camera phone, with an equally high quality camcorder.

No WAP or WiFi, but it has a touchscreen. No JAVA embedded games or JAVA download, but it has Mobile TV and a built in FM Radio. All of those "awesome" features and the "stylish" plastic look, make it no more than a cheap MP3 player that you can also use to take pictures and make phone calls.

Now, this was a waste or my time. I don't even know why I made a post about it. More info on the Samsung SCH-u706 Muse can be found here.

Sony and Microsoft talk about a Blu-Ray XBox

After Toshiba announced that they will drop the HD DVD format, a lot of changes took place in the industry. And all of them are in favor of Sony and the Blu-Ray format. One of the new changes that might happen soon influences the fans of Microsoft's Xbox console.

Microsoft used to sell an external HD DVD player as an add-on for theyr console, but since that is no longer a viable solution, they need to change to a different format. Hence the negotiations with Sony's representatives for the use of a Blu-Ray device. Since the demand for high definition is so ... well, high, Microsoft needs to provide a solution to this problem fast. The PlayStation 3 has a built in Blu-Ray player already, so it's possible that Sony's terms might not be to pleasant, seeing as the two companies are rivals in this industry.

As an alternative, Microsoft could focus instead on offering high-definition downloads through its Xbox Live online content service, which already has around 10 million members. But as they already said, and many of us agree, it's the games that make the consoles a success, not the movies. That would be just a small bonus. That the PlayStation already has.

I guess Microsoft and Sony have been a little busy the last month or so, seeing the amount of news that pops up about them. And now it turns out that they are on different sides of the barricade in at least one area. But we all know by now that competition brings out the best in companies (oh, and people too).

Adidas and Samsung - miCoach

Every day we see more and more technologies blended with one another, things that you would never thought that they would mix. I remember a few years ago some company released a refrigerator with an Internet connection. I still don't know what it was good for, but maybe others found some uses for that.

One of the things I never thought possible was the use of electronic technology in psychical training. Usually when someone works out, they try to lose as much as possible the extra accessories so nothing can slow them down. But these days almost no one is jogging without an MP3 or radio player. And when I think about it, it's not that much weight to carry around. So why not have something extra?

Adidas teemed up with Samsung and created a phone that acts as a personal trainer, monitoring you while you work out. The concept is nothing new but the innovation comes in the following: "miCoach is the only system that turns that data into a personal training plan based on your fitness level and goals. miCoach is designed to help all types of runners, from beginners to veterans, perform at their highest level, stay motivated and achieve their goals". So it also processes the data it gathers. That's useful, as there aren't many that now what their heart rate should be or other medical informations for that matter. I'm one of them.

The phone itself is also pretty good and within the current standards: MP3 player and Stereo FM Radio, WAP 2.0, USB 2.0 ant Bluetooth 2.0 ERD, 1GB internal memory, 176x220 TFT 262K display, 2.0MP camera (I guess this one is for when you take that well deserved break). On top of that it has a built-in pedometer, real-time coach narration during workouts (for the motivation), workout planning, managing, and tracking on miCoach.com. Since we mentioned Adidas was one of the master minds behind this project, you can imagine that the phone is compatible with Adidas adiStar sports apparel and it synchronizes with Adidas miCoach system: foot pod, heart rate monitor.

So that's another good gadget from Samsung. If you're interested in buying one Associated Press states that "miCoach hits retail stores in Europe this month and will roll out in the United States in 2009. It will cost $304 to $608 in Europe, depending on the service plan users select. U.S. pricing has not been set".

Internet Explorer 8 - First Impression

Following the previous post, I installed Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1. The first thing that was absolutely clear is that it is indeed a beta. Actually I would classify it more as an Alpha release. Here are the first things that it spat in my face. Soon after this post I will remove it and wait for a more decent release.

After a restart I was ready to try it out. First off I was surprised that it detected the other browsers I had installed on my system, Firefox and Safari for Windows. I didn't expect that, but as they stated, they aim for interoperability. That is definitely a step forward for Microsoft. After that it offered to import the bookmarks and feed subscriptions from these browsers. OK so far.

One huge surprise was that it detected the Firefox extensions I had installed and asked if I would like them imported as well. That almost made me faint. I said "Sure, go ahead". Afterwards I was asked if I want to enable the anti-phishing filter and a few other things and I was ready to go. After it started, I remembered that it's a beta version. One of those pesky notification bars kept popping up every time I accessed a page, telling me that my current security settings put my computer at risk. No matter what I did, it just didn't go away. It disappeared eventually after I restarted the browser. The overall look is similar, if not identical to IE7. Maybe there will be certain design changes in the final release. But that's not really important now.

I then went on to configure the browser to my own preferences. First thing I checked out was to see if the bookmarks were imported correctly and they were. They even handle favicon (favorites icon), although I think this was implemented in Internet Explorer 7. Then let's set the homepage. I use iGoogle because I like using one service for as many things as possible, like search engine, email, RSS reader and so Google works best for me. The developers said that this version of IE would be CSS standards compliant. I sure doesn't look like it when I access my homepage. From three columns I end up with two and an empty space where the third should be. I later found it under the first column. The widgets refuse to move around and the buttons just don't want to work. The Google Reader doesn't load the feeds and the tags (or folders). It too is placed as a widget on the front page. When I try adding a new tab, instead of the semi transparent layer and the centered dialog box, it get to see a blank page with a black sidebar where the dialog is placed.

I tried to write this post using Internet Explorer, but the buttons were "clickable" only in certain places and the post title input box wasn't visible. At first I thought that there is something wrong with Google, so I decided to try a different portal. Same thing: Netvibes.com shows a blank blue page and Pageflakes.com asks me to confirm my location by clicking a button. Which I can't. I eventually managed to enter the web site by hitting Enter to submit the location form. And things weren't any different here either. At least the widgets can be moved around to some extend, but it's terribly slow and it seems they have a mind of their own. Resizing the browser window threw everything around and the widgets started to overlap each other.

Seeing that I can't get anywhere I though about the Firefox extensions it offered to import. Maybe at least those would work properly. And I would have loved giving them a try and share my experience with you, but I didn't manage to find them. Oh well. At least one thing works properly. On the toolbar, there is one button that gives this release a rating of "not so useless". It's the "Emulate IE7" button. From what I've seen, it works perfectly. Well, you now what I mean, as perfect as IE7 can work. Of course I had to restart the browser, but at least now I could click buttons and move things around. This is the life!

Seeing that it's a Beta release, I didn't expect much from it. But it looks like Microsoft is heading the right way. Yet they're a long way from getting there. What more can I say, I eagerly await your next release. Let's just hope it will be working at least at 50% capability. This one just left a bitter taste in my mouth.

First release of Internet Explorer 8

As I said yesterday, if there will be any other useful information, I will get back to you. So here it is. Microsoft offered it's first public demonstration of it's famous (but not loved) browser, Internet Explorer 8, now in beta 1 version.

Some great features have been added, according to the developers anyway. Things that should have been implemented a long time ago and that others have been using for ages, are now made into sensational by their marketing department. But I guess Microsoft likes to do things at their own speed. I just remember how long they took to implement tabs in Internet Explorer.

If you're asking yourself what this new version of the browser brings, here's short list:

• WebSlices - users can subscribe to parts of a web page. I'm not sure about this, since I'm not a Mac user (can't afford one), but I've read somewhere that Apple has its own Web-clipping subscription method that is part of Mac OS X.
• Cascading style sheets 2.1 compliance - no, I'm not kidding. They really said that it would finally be in compliance with standards (at least a few of them)
• HTML Improvements - like the HTML is the problem. I guess they mean the way the browser treats the HTML files
• Improved namespace support
• Platform performance improvements
• Enhanced protection from deceptive websites - an anti-phishing method that I've seen a lot in Mozilla Firefox and other browsers. Never in Internet Explorer.
  
• Domain Highlighting - "highlights the top level domain in the address bar, allowing users to quickly confirm that the website they are visiting is the site they intended to visit". Also on the anti-phishing problem I guess.

And there might be other interesting changes. We might even enjoy using Internet Explorer from time to time. I you would like to give it a try, you can find the Beta 1 here. I already downloaded it and I'm giving it a try. But I'm pretty certain that I won't give up on Firefox for it.

Nokia plans to make Silverlight available on Symbian OS

For those that still don't know what Silverlight is, here's the short version. It's "a cross-browser, cross-platform plug-in for delivering the next generation of .NET based media experiences and rich interactive applications for the Web. Silverlight offers a flexible programming model that supports AJAX, VB, C#, Python, and Ruby, and integrates with existing Web applications. Silverlight supports fast, cost-effective delivery of high-quality video to all major browsers running on the Mac OS or Windows". This is taken from the official web site. Still not clear what it is? Well it's basically Microsoft's response to Abobe's Flash technology and their attempt to take over their market. And it's a pretty good attempt if you ask me. The Silverlight plug-in brings a lot of great features that allow programmers to incorporate more and more ideas into their applications. Although it's still relatively young technology, it has set a decent foundation and has gathered quite a lot of admirers. But enough about that.

Nokia announced in in a press release on March 04, 2008 their "plans to make Microsoft Silverlight available for S60 on Symbian OS, the world's leading smartphone software, as well as for Series 40 devices and Nokia Internet tablets. That sound pretty good, considering the fact that everyone loves rich media applications and eye-candy effects. If you can have them on your mobile phone or other portable device and they can run smoothly then it's perfect. I personally am a great supporter of JAVA applications on mobile devices, but from a graphics point of view, it just doesn't have what it takes. Another solution would be Adobe's Flash, but even Steve Jobs, CEO at Apple stated, talking about the iPhone: "don't expect support for Adobe's Flash technology anytime soon". That's because it doesn't have the speed required to work on devices limited to such a low processing power.

But apart from that, even if I'm not a huge fan of anything that Microsoft launches, it looks like their Silverlight technology is heading in the right direction. We'll just have to wait how everything works out. Microsoft will demonstrate Silverlight on S60 during the opening keyote at Microsoft's MIX08 conference on March 5 in Las Vegas, so if there will be anything else that needs to be added, I'll get back to you.

New LCD Desktop Monitors from Samsung

Samsung has released five new desktop monitors designed for the mainstream market, but with performances that may appeal to a small percentage of the gaming market. The monitors are part of the SyncMaster series and some of the features are the 5ms response times and the high contrast ratio that reaches 8000:1 on some models. With these new displays, Samsung aims to provide a good quality at a low price.

The BMX models feature a 16:10 aspect ratio, all models having rounded edges, a slim 15mm bezel, a gloss finish, and of course controls for setting brightness, contrast, and other settings, along with support for DVI with HDCP. On top of that, they all have stands with adjustable height, rotation, and swivel features, and come with a three-year warranty.

With sizes ranging from 17 to 22 inches, I'm sure you can find one that will meet your demands. Prices, as I've said earlier, are not high. Have a look at these:

• SyncMaster 743BX, 17-inch - $239
• SyncMaster 943BX, 19-inch - $279
• SyncMaster 943BWX, widescreen, 19-inch - $269
• SyncMaster 2043BWX, widescreen, 20-inch - $309
• SyncMaster 2243BWX, widescreen, 22-inch - $359

More details can be found if you follow the links to the official Samsung website.

Samsung SGH-F250: Stylish and cheap

The market for electronics and gadgets has known an increased desire for style for a few years now. And the manufacturers of such products are trying to come forward with better looking devices every time. The glossy or shiny "toys" are a trend that doesn't seem to go away. Not like I'm complaining. I personally love them.

It seems like more and more people are discarding their old dull looking devices for the new eye-candy ones. One problem with these is that they're a little on the expensive side. Well, it seems good news are on the way, as Samsung prepares to release a new model in their mobile phone collection. The new SGH-F250 is intended to be a relatively cheap model, with nice looks and good functionality. According to Idealo News, it "should cost under £150 and be geared towards mobile phone users with average demands. Anyone who doesn’t want to pay too much, but still places a high value on a chic design as well as modern technology, will appreciate this model . Both the high value workmanship with shining chrome edges and the mirrored surface design have been imported from pricier models".

That sound pretty good I think. It's about time the average people could afford a nice mobile phone, that both works and is in trend. And as we are already used to, the new things are always the most expensive when they are released. So after a while this mobile phone will become even cheaper. And of course, others will release their own cheap and stylish models. It's the kind of trend I'm looking for. Nothing brings out the best of companies as the fear of competition.

Google AdSense updates Terms and Conditions

On the official Google AdSense blog it has been announced, for those that are interested, that the "Terms and Conditions" that govern over the program, have been updated.

The blog post states that the changes are there to anticipate future products, blah, blah. The things that seemed a little more interesting were the following two statements:

1. "... we've re-worded some portions of the terms to make them applicable across a broader array of media and formats ..."
2. "... According to this policy, publishers must notify their users of the use of cookies and/or web beacons to collect data in the ad serving process."

Although the first one sounds pretty good to me, the second one, even if it is morally correct, seems almost useless. These days, almost every website you visit collects data about you. It's not something new and the data collected is mostly useless. But then again, who am I to judge one's privacy limits.

The full post can be read on the Inside AdSense blog here.

Nokia Morph - mobile phone concept

I've seen it on Gizmodo and then I went over to Unwired View for the original article, and I simply had to write about it. Nokia proves again that they are one of the greatest names in the industry. I, personally, am a huge fan of Nokia's mobile phones. Any of them. Since the standby time is one of the key factors I take into consideration when I see a phone, Nokia beats the competition by the mile. That's my little narrow point of view.

And with this new phone, they're going to set new limits that others can't reach. From what I understand, the phone is not yet planned for mass production so we can't expect it to be available in retail stores any time soon. But then again, even if it would be, I don't believe there will be many people so eager to purchase it. Seeing as the Apple iPhone made such a big hype around it, another ground breaking mobile phone might not be properly appreciated so soon. It's not like we're made of money. Well, most of us aren't anyway. And speaking of costs, if it will reach the masses that is, let's take a little look at the technology it involves. According to Unwired View, the concept phone is made possible with the help of nanotechnology based flexible materials, transparent electronics and self-cleaning surfaces. That makes the phone flexible, stretchy and thus the user might be able to give it different shapes. I can just imagine future implications of this technology. The commercials might sound a little like:

Tired of the mobile phone giving you an uncomfortable feeling when you sit down? Tired of that pain in your thigh? Well rest assured, the new Nokia Morph will bend to your every desire!

OK, so that was corny. I guess that's why I don't work in marketing or advertisement. But you probably got the general idea.

In the end, let's take a look at that beautiful green piece of ... something. Look at the shapes, look at the infinite possibilities, just look.

Civilization: Revolutions for consoles

Ahh, I can still remember the good old days when I first saw and played Civilization. That was the first game that managed to keep me up all night in the continuous attempt to conquer the world. The real strategy game in my opinion. Don't get me wrong, I love StarCraft and WarCraft as much as any other guy, but the idea of crashing a nuclear powered and defended city and the possibility of causing the end of the world through a rain of nuclear missiles has something special to it. And let's not forget that you could defeat all sort of tanks with a large number of spearmen or swordsmen by shear number itself. Those were the good old days.


Civilization 4 has brought a lot of improvements in my opinion, but I can't help being a little bit disappointed that it didn't run well on my PC. And now I still can't enjoy the new release 2K Games bring to the gaming environment. The main reason for that is that it's for consoles and I'm not really into all that stuff. I'm a PC kind of guy all the way. Or at least until I can put some money aside to purchase a console.

The concept of the game stays the same: start from the beginning of human civilization as we know it and advance into the future, defeating all the enemies on the way. Take control of the world and become the strongest civilization the world has ever seen. But several things have been changed. Unlike the PC version, it is not the leaders that have various attributes. Rather the civilizations themselves have superpowers, one for each age and another overall one. And they all seem like game winners, which makes choosing a civilization a hard thing to do. Also each tile produces only one of the resources (food, commerce or production) so players will need to manage cities closely. Ruin structures have been introduced on the strategic map, and they are designed to grant bonuses to the civilization that discovers them, if they can overcome the barbarian defenders. The first civilization to discover each technology also gets a nice bonus. The victory conditions have also been modified a bit and there are now more incentives to go for research, diplomatic and economic victories, rather than stamp your enemies relying on sheer military power.

The game seems to stand by its heritage and will prove once again what a real strategy game should be like. Developed by Firaxis, the release date is announced to be June 3rd, 2008 and the platforms will be Xbox 360, Nintendo DS and PlayStation 3. I hope all you console guys out there enjoy it.

Official Homepage: CivilizationRevolution.com
Screenshots of Civilization:Revolutions at IGN

Sony launches the Bravia F series

It appears that today will be a "display day", since I already posted about LCDs replacing CRTs. And on top of that, it seems like the giant Japanese company, Sony, doesn't take not even a brake. After they have defeated the HD-DVD format and winning supremacy in the high definition world through the Blu-Ray format, Sony launches a jaw dropping series of LCD TVs. Since consumers are pretty picky these days, the new Bravia F series has no intentions of disappointing. And let's face it, they look great. But how do they perform and what do they have that others don't? Well, you can judge that for yourself.

The TV comes in 3 different sizes: 46 (Full HD), 40 (Full HD) and 32 (WXGA) inches, slim frame and glossy look. All of them have a 3000:1 contrast ratio. Apparently there is also an Ethernet port to access the "Application cast" TV specific content ranging from weather to traffic to shopping information. The speakers deliver an output of 10W x 2Ch, the 46 inch model comes with a sub woofer delivering 20 watts. The remote control is rather powerful and works on the 2.4 Ghz band so it does not require line of sight and can be operated from almost any angle even in a large room.

And now the not so good news: the Bravia F series goes on sale in Japan from March 25 with the KDL-32F1 - 32 inch selling for 200,000 Yen ($1850), KDL-40F1 - 42 inch selling for 290,000 Yen ($2680) and KDL-46F1 - 46 inch selling for 460,000 Yen ($4257). So it anyone is interested, you'll have to wait just a little longer.

Sony is sure starting to dominate the media market. Products like the Playstation and the Blu-Ray technology are starting to find their place in more and more houses. We may be witnessing the birth of the next monopolistic corporation. Like we don't have enough of those. Well, at least this one comes through media and entertainment. You can't beat that.

CRT displays are replaced by LCD

This shouldn't surprise us at all, and it's in no form a news flash, but it appears that finally the LCD displays are reaching affordable prices for a great quality. We can only look back on the days when LCD displays had a small visibility angle or a lousy refresh rate or a crappy resolution and contract. Although the last do make for a great argument in choosing what type of display to purchase, I've always considered the angle factor something somewhat useless. I'm not used to watch my monitor from a 60 degrees angle, so I don't care. I, and probably many others, like to stare at the monitor straight on. I guess It's only necessary when you gather around with the family and look at holiday photos or who knows what else, just like the Windows setup shows up. And probably for presentations.

Anyway, following this article from Extremetech.com we can conclude that the LCD displays have achieved what they were meant to do: replace the CRT displays. Sales on LCD displays and plasma TV's have grown to such an extent that they have overtaken the classic CRT. We can only assume that from now on, things will go on this way and very soon, the old desktop "space takers" will eventually disappear.

Until the next big thing in display technology is discovered/invented we have the sleek looking LCD to glare at. Although I'm a great fan of the old CRT's and still haven't purchased a LCD, it seems like I will be forced to do so. My eyes are starting to impose it on me. It's a good thing they lasted for this long.

Blu-Ray wins over HD-DVD

Toshiba has fought hard to promote their HD-DVD products and the war with Blu-Ray has been one with a highly awaited result. As with the previous battles between media formats, like the one between the VHS and Betamax format, this too has been one that had a real impact on the consumers. Whenever two large companies clash, they tend to create better and cheaper products and we can only rejoice at that though.

What really happened?

On February 19, 2008, after major content manufacturers and key retailers began to withdraw their support of the format, Toshiba made an official announcement to no longer develop, manufacture and market HD-DVD players and recorders, effectively ending the high definition optical disc format war.

This move leaves the high-definition market to its main rival: Sony's Blu-ray format. The two formats had been fighting for dominance in the high-definition home video market. But in recent weeks, HD-DVD had been abandoned on both the retail and content sides.

Toshiba's announcement is going to be a relief to consumers who have had a tough time over the past couple of years choosing between the two formats. If someone needed to upgrade from the now old DVD format, the decition between Blu-Ray and HD-DVD would have been a tough one.

There are also good news. If you made the bad call and chose HD-DVD, don't worry. There are methods for you to keep your videos in the markets leading high-definition format. One good "How To" can be found on Wired.com but I'm sure we'll be seeing a lot of them popping up all over the Internet now.

Mind controlled games are almost here

It's not the first time we see things that we thought impossible to achieve become reality over night. Some of them have even become obsolete. I remember those old movies in which the characters in spandex would connect to a huge computer and perform different activities within the "cyberspace". For a while, those looked like stupid ideas to many people. But as technology advances, new things become available to the masses and this is just the next big thing.

According to Engadget, Emotiv Systems is planning to launch the first mind-controlled gaming platform by this Christmas. The Emotiv EPOC uses a set of sensors to tune into electric signals naturally produced by the brain to detect player thoughts, feelings and expression. It connects wirelessly with all game platforms from consoles to PCs. The Emotiv neuroheadset makes it possible for games to be controlled and influenced by the player's mind. Based on the latest developments in neuro-technology, Emotiv has developed a new personal interface for human-computer interaction.

Now let's just wait and see what will happen. The first games available for this headset might not be leading edge and they will have a lot to improve on it. But we have to take into account that this is the creation of new technology. Or at least the application of it in gaming entertainment.

About Fresh IT News

This is "Fresh IT News", a project that I have delayed for a pretty long time. I have planned on starting it, but never got the chance to do so, either because of lack of time or lack of self motivation. But now, I have put my mind on it, and I will begin to construct what I hope to become at least a source of information for a few people

Who am I?

Well my name is Stelian Andrei and that will just have to do. I'm from Iasi, Romania and I get bored very fast. That's probably one of the reasons I don't manage to finish what I begin. I'll just hope that this will not be one of those cases. Oh yeah, I also have another blog, The Yoboo, my first blog ever. I still don't know what it's about so I'll just refer to it as a place of "pointless ramblings". Being my first born, I don't plan on abandoning it.

So what is this?

This is a new project I want to develop. As the title already says, it's a blog for news. IT news, technological news, gadgets and who knows what else I'll try to fit in here. Although I'll try to always find the hottest information available, that might not be the case in many situations. Most of the info will probably be gathered from official companies blogs or forums, news aggregators and various other sources. The posts here are aimed to cover any domain that is somewhat related with IT or technology. Anything that seems to be impossible or Sci-Fi will most likely find a nice home in the pages of this blog. And what else can I say? Let the Fresh IT News roll in.

That's it?

Well, what did you expect. I don't have neither the financial potential of the large news companies, neither the time people that earn a living online have. I'll try to be as fast as I can with the information, but I'm sure that more than once, it will seem like I'm the last to know about it. I'll just have to deal with it and try better next time.