Friday, February 25, 2005

Sony planning another stab at the "iPod Killer"

A report on the Register suggests that Sony's set to try again with the grabbing of Apple's pie, plotting the launch of a portable music player to end all iPods. The company's president, Kunitake Ando, said that the new player, planned for the end of this year, will be "much more competitive than the iPod". Saddened by the loss of the top slot, Sony is hoping that an agressive plan will enough to win back its number one position. The key to Sony's success is simple: make a music player that's as easy to use as the iPod and it can beat Apple. This means developing new software that makes Sony's Walkman products more straightforward to use (preferably so that the app doesn't keep making my laptop cry, thanks Sony). The company has already gone some way to seeing the error of its ways by adding native MP3 support to its players on top of its own ATRAC format. Now it's planning on doing the same for its MiniDisc players, apparently. Speculation that Sony might one day buy up Apple has been one of life's constants over the years, but Ando attempted to put those rumours to bed, saying that Apple is now just too expensive to acquire.

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Thursday, Feb 24, 2005

TeenTech Portable DVD Player

Just like any sensible manufacturer, TeenTech has got its eye on the kids' consumer market, but the TeenTech Portable Colour DVD/CD player is for the adults as well - how else are you going to get your squalling offspring to stay quiet in the car? With a 3.5-inch colour screen, remote control, 2 headphone jacks to stop sibling rows, and an external speaker, the portable player can handle VCDs, CD, and MP3 Playback as well as DVD. It's a nice price, as well, at just $99 on Amazon. Only problem is, judging by those reviews, the plug is liable to blow up at any moment, leaving you with a scorched and disgruntled child. Still, if it keeps them quiet, who's complaining.

Wednesday, Feb 23, 2005

New Sober Worm Spreading Quickly

A new version of the Sober worm wriggled out of its hole early on Monday and set about quickly attacking computers in Europe and the U.S., a security services company says. The worm is a mass-mailer, meaning it spreads itself via e-mail using contacts listed in the address books of computers it infects.
he first instance of the worm, called W32.Sober-K-mm, was intercepted by U.K. security company MessageLabs. The company detected 663 instances of the worm in the first hour, and the figure climbed quickly to more than 2,200 instances over the next five to six hours, prompting MessageLabs to give it a high-risk rating, says Maksym Schipka, a senior antivirus researcher with the company.

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Monday, Feb 21, 2005

iPod

iPod

The holidays have come and gone, and if the snowballing searches are any indication, many music lovers received iPods (+36%) from ol' St. Nick. So now that you've had a couple of weeks to figure out where the earphones go, you're likely wondering what else you can you do with your new toy. You're not alone. Searches on iPod accessories (+139%) and modifications are jumping in the post-Christmas period, as proud owners seek ways to make their MP3 "playas" uniquely their own. Of course, all the usual suspects are spiking -- stuff like protective cases (+940%) and mini-speakers (+1,661%) -- but some less obvious iPod extras are busting out as well. Most notable are iPod tattoos (a cheap but effective way to spruce up the white box's outer shell) and iPod voice recorders (for recording your vocal ramblings for posterity). Interest in things you can buy is hot, but the hottest iPod search is "podcasting," a free and legal (for now) way to download Internet radio broadcasts to your iPod (or any MP3 player). Perfect for those who like to listen to something new every day instead of the same ol' Raffi tunes, this trend is expected to really take off in the coming months.