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.