Orkut's new look: Coming Soon...

A new design is scheduled, and it looks very fresh. The Orkut design team hasn't stated when it will be completely rolled out, but they have said that randomly selected groups of users will start to see changes. Its about time things started moving at Orkut, Google has a potential (Facebook) goldmine with this, and they have really been letting it slide. Ok, so it's big in Latin America, but what about North America, Europe and the rest of the world?

Sky in Google Earth has launched!!!

Forget about going to a planetarium, Google Earth has expanded its view and is starting to focus on the stars.

Sky in Google Earth has launched. This new addition to Earth enables viewers to check out different areas in the universe, from distant galaxies light years away, to constellations and planets. You must download the new version of Google Earth to get the features, then you're on your way to checking out planets in motions and supernova explosions.
This data was partly built with Google's NASA partnership and through the Hubble Space Telescope Observations.

Canon 40D DSLR coming soon...?

We've already had a few indications that Canon would be releasing its still-unannounced EOS 40D DSLR sooner or later, but it looks like that day could now be fast approaching as the shots supposedly taken of a Best Buy computer showing the Canon EOS 40D DSLR in their database with an “in-stock date” of 09-02-2007. If this database entry is accurate and you’re after this new camera, there’s not much more of a wait ahead.
Price is indicated at $1599.99 USD and specifications look pretty desirable. Packing in a 10.2 megapixel sensor, 2.5-inch LCD, DIGIC III image processor, and an ISO range from 100 to 3200, the rumour looks pretty solid.

Canon 40D Detailed Specifications:

*10.2 Megapixel APS-C size CMOS sensor

* 5 fps and 30 large JPEG frame burst

* Integrated Cleaning System

* 2.5", 230K pixel, 170º wide viewing angle LCD screen

* Picture Style image processing parameters

* Spot metering and High Precision 9-point AF system

* DIGIC III image processor with 0.15 sec start-up time

* Digital Photo Professional RAW processing software

* 100,000 cycle shutter durability and rugged magnesium alloy body

* Simultaneous RAW and JPEG recording

* Wide 100-3200 ISO range

* E-TTL II Flash

* PictBridge compatibility

* Complete compatibility with all Canon EF and EF-S lenses and EX-series Speedlites

* USB 2.0 Hi-Speed and Video Out connectivity

Google Spending Hundreds of Millions of Dollars on Developing Google Phone

For a while, Google was outright denying that they were working on a cell phone. Now word has emerged that the development of the Google phone is costing the search engine giant hundreds of millions of dollars. They seem very interested in this project and have a fairly significant team working on it at a Boston facility. The handset must be able to display "all of Google's mobile applications at their best."

In reports released by Reuters and the Wall Street Journal, they say that there are several Google Phone prototypes kicking around, including hardware that has been produced with partners like LG Electronics. HTC of Taiwan is reportedly working on Linux-based handset (with Google apps) for launch in Q1 2008.

What's more, just as the iPhone has a special version of Safari, Google is "working on a sophisticated new Web browser for cellphones." This is conjecture on my part, but the mobile web browser could be based on Firefox, given the pre-existing relationship between Google and Mozilla. The report also mentions that T-Mobile and Orange in Europe are possible partners, but talks fell through with Verizon in the US "because they wanted to share ad revenue."

NVIDIA GeForce® 8800 Ultra: World's Fastest GPU

Really, it's hard for us to imagine sticking anything as loud and power hungry as the GeForce 8800 GTX into our precious desktop, no matter how great the latest games look on it, and we're having an even harder time envisioning NVIDIA's new 8800 Ultra anywhere near our motherboard. The new children-eating card starts at $829, and includes premium versions of the GTX's components, overclocked to fairly unreasonable degrees: a 612MHz core clock, 1500MHz shader clock and 1080MHz memory clock. Unfortunately, all that Ultra-ness only leads to a 10-15% performance increase, which isn't horrible, but hardly worth ditching your current 8800 GTX SLI setup for a couple of Ultras. But if that's not enough to dissuade you, or if you've been holding out for the best of the best from NVIDIA, you can pick one of these up.

Nokia Aeon Concept Mobile Phone - Full Surface Screen

Nokia's research and development team have kicked it up a gear with an attractive "aeon" concept phone showing up in the research & development section of the company's website. The most prominent design feature of aeon is a touchscreen that stretches over the full surface area of the phone.

30-inch OLED TV from Toshiba in 2009

Toshiba has announced plans to ship an organic electroluminescence (EL) display in 2009. The target size will be 30 inches, which beats most manufacturers' prototypes currently under development, like Sony's 27-inch OLED plans. Toshiba had previously planned 2015 as the launch window for OEL (more commonly known as OLED) sets, a launch timeframe which put them in that magical future land along with SED and FED displays. While Toshiba doesn't expect to compete directly against the behemoth of LCD at first, they believe the technology's superiority -- which includes lower manufacturing costs, and better viewing angles and contrast -- will be recognized as volume goes up.

Gorgeous Sony OLED tv phone

This Sony Ericsson phone concept by Karsten Willmann has all the basics of “phone concepts 101″ down. You’ve got the high contrast OLED display. You’ve also got the really thin form factor. And then there’s the number key pad and soft keys sitting nearly flush with the surface.

Hitachi's DZ-BD70 and 30GB DZ-BD7H hybrid Blu-ray camcorders to go on sale in October

In case you didn't believe 'em the first time, Hitachi is back with more, much more, on the world's first Blu-ray Disc camcorder. First off, we're looking at an August 30th launch in Japan (rest of world, October) of two models: the DZ-BD70 and DZ-BD7H hybrid which packs both an 8-cm BD writer and 30GB disk are priced at ¥160,000 (about $1,347) and ¥190,000 (about $1,600), respectively. As we heard, each packs a 5.3 megapixel CMOS sensor delivering 2.07 megapixel videos or 4.32 megapixel stills. That translates to about an hour of 1,920 x 1,080 MPEG-4 AVC/H.264 video on a single-sided, single-layer 8-cm BD disc or 4 hours to disk -- more if you dial-back the resolution. Both feature HDMI and Firewire USB 2.0 jacks while the hybrid packs a convenient one-touch dubbing function to share your vids with all those gaming grannys with Blu-ray players of their own.

$599 80GB PlayStation 3 on sale online

Yep, it's August, that means the 80GB PlayStation 3 is due to go on sale. Sony didn't previously give us a date or anything, but it looks like GameStop / EB Games is stocking the $599 80GB console (bundled with MotorStorm), and claims shipment in 24 hours. Granted, we're now officially back to square one with a lower end PS3 priced at $499 and a higher end PS3 priced at $599 (and no option to compete directly with the Xbox 360 Premium's $399 $350 price tag), but if you're thinking about upgrading that PS2, at least your options are better than they were a couple months ago.

Dell XPS M1730 spotted in the wild?

It looks like Dell is finally readying a followup to its M1710 speedster with the XPS M1730. The 17-inch laptop will of course be packing some Santa Rosa muscle, but according to rumors Dell's also going to provide that new Core 2 Extreme X7800 chip for the real speed demons / big spenders out there. For graphics the base models will be getting an NVIDIA GeForce 8600 GS card with 256MB of memory, with a 512MB GeForce 8700M GT waiting in the wings. Other rumored specs include 4GB max of RAM and a 512MB or 1GB Intel Turbo Memory option, Bluetooth 2.0, Blu-ray and that welcome numeric keypad addition. The word is this one will go on sale August 27th, and while the paint job is bordering on "crime against humanity," hopefully Dell will have a few more acceptable options to decorate this gaming beast whenever it does hit the market.

Apple's new iMac

Who could've seen this one coming? Apple surprised no one this morning with brand new iMacs. Built from aluminum and glass, the new all-in-one desktops feature a complete redesign and will come in two sizes: 20-inch and 24-inch. There's the usual compliment of ports like USB 2.0, Firewire 400 / 800, a slot loading SuperDrive, iSight camera and so forth. The new look features a glossy display to match the majority of Apple's consumer lineup, and new keyboards are indeed coming along for the ride -- in an extended wired version as well as a mini wire free model, running the Bluetooth 2.0 spec. Under the hood Apple has up to a 2.4GHz Core 2 Extreme processor, ATI Radeon HD 2600 Pro graphics, up to 1TB of storage, 802.11n and Bluetooth 2.0, with 8x SuperDrives and 1GB of RAM standard across the board. Prices start at $1,199 for the 20-inch, $1,499 for a processor and graphics bump, and $1,799 for the 24-incher. The full rundown of Apple's stock models is after the break.

TDK hard at work on 8-layer 200GB Blu-ray Disc

Since Sony hammered out the Blu-ray Disc spec, there's been speculation, theorization, and discussion of an 8-layer 200GB disc. Sony even supposedly had some working 200GB BRD demos way back in 2004. Well, now those mammoth coasters are in the works over at TDK, who apparently hope to commercialize the first presumably quad-layered dual-sided discs (or possibly octo-layered single-sided discs -- yeah, right). They're not giving it up as to when these discs could come out or how much they'll cost, but right now we're more worried about just getting our hands on some players, you know?

Fedora 8 Test 1 Released

The Fedora Project is a Red-Hat-sponsored and community-supported open source project. It is also a proving ground for a new technology that may eventually make its way into Red Hat products. It is not a supported product of Red Hat, Inc.

The goal of The Fedora Project is to work with the Linux community in order to build a complete, general purpose operating system exclusively from free software. Development will be done in a public forum. The project will produce time-based releases of Fedora Core about 2-3 times a year with a public release schedule.

Fedora 8 is promising new features like:

• Optional replacement for GNOME panel that uses online services via mugshot;
• Enhanced Bluetooth support;
• Fedora 8 Bookmarks;
• Make core dumps self-identifying enough to find the exact correct versions of all relevant    binaries and debuginfo;
• Buddy Helper app promotes Free alternatives and guides users trying to play content under    restricted codecs;
• Fix the dictionary proliferation problem;
• Integrating KDE 4.0, a new major version of KDE;
• Improved support for using Fedora on Laptops;
• Support for Nepali Language;
• Nodoka, new default theme for GNOME;
• We need to remove pam_console and migrate all users to use the ACLs as set by HAL;
• Easy and painless administration;
• Using delta RPM updates by default. Saves heavy amount of bandwidth and time for updates;
• Feature rich sound server (Pulse Audio);
• Make rsyslog the new default syslog daemon. Rsyslog has an assorted set of new features that    make system administration easier;
• TeXLive 2007 inclusion;
• Make the default x86_64 kernel tickless;
• Secure remote mangement for Xen, KVM & QEMU virtualization;
• Powertop is included. Need to start tracking egregious offenders;
• Don't start XFS font server daemon by default and fix font packages. Savings on performance    and bootup time;
• Use and integrate XULRunner which is the Gecko browser engine separated from the user    interface.

Fedora 8 release schedule:

7 August 2007 - Fedora 8 Test1 release
28 August 2007 - Fedora 8 FEATURE freeze, Fedora 8 string freeze, Fedora 8 Test2 development freeze
6 September 2007 - Fedora 8 Test2 Release
25 September 2007 - Fedora 8 translation freeze, Fedora 8 Test3 development freeze
4 October 2007 - Fedora 8 Test3 Release
23 October 2007 - Final devel freeze
8 November 2007 - Fedora 8 General Availability

You can download Fedora 8 Test 1 now from Softpedia.

Toshiba Finally Unveils its Third-Generation HD DVD Players

Although the new HD DVD technology has been around for a relatively limited period of time, the technological developments and breakthroughs achieved since then have already pushed it towards its third iteration. And the moment we've all been expecting for quite some time now has finally arrived, as Toshiba, the very creator of the HD DVD format, has announced its third generation of HD DVD players, which provide
several important upgrades compared to the previous generation.

Thus, all the devices from this latest line provide an improvement in video performance with 1080p/24 frames per second (24p) support, which is actually extremely important, considering the fact that movies are traditionally captured at 24 frames per second. Moreover, the new Toshiba machines will provide "CE-Link" (HDMI-CEC) connectivity which offers the capability to communicate with and control another CE device in a very innovative manner, enhancing the level of control exerted by the user, while making things a lot easier.

The new line of HD DVD players includes three new models, namely the entry-level HD-A3, the mid-range HD-A30 and the high-end HD-A35. While the HD-A3 will support only the 1080i resolution, the HD-A30 and HD-A35 will output 1080p resolution (1920 x 1080p), the highest HD signal currently available.

Moreover, the HD-A35 also adds support for Deep Color via HDMI, thus allowing compatible display devices to provide very high quality images. Moreover, the high-end A35 offers 5.1 channel analog output and High Bit Rate Audio (up to 7.1 channel) via HDMI. With content encoded in 7.1ch, this advanced surround sound is achieved through the HDMI connection bypassing the player's internal audio processor and sending the signal to a 7.1 capable A/V receiver.

The HD-A3 and HD-A35 models will hit the shelves in October, for around $299.99 and $499.99, respectively, while the mid-range HD-A30 will be available in September, for $399.

Will We Be Extinct in 12 Million Years?

There are immediate dangers menacing the human civilization, like terrorism and climate change. We may struggle to fight these issues which are in the end caused by the human race. But what can we do against the Universe?

In May 2007, a team led by Mikhail Medvedev at the University of Kansas emitted a novel theory aimed to
explain the periodicity of mass extinctions on Earth, which occur about once every 62 million years. "The
motion of the solar system exposes Earth to an onslaught of cosmic rays on a schedule that is synchronized to the mass extinctions.", signaled Adrian Melott, professor of physics and astronomy at KU.

The Milky Way galaxy appears to have a good side and a bad side. The bad aspect of the Milky Way would be its dorsal side. The team says that the leading, dorsal side of the Milky Way emits a shock wave as the galaxy travels through the universe. When the solar system periodically reaches the proximities of the dorsal boundary of the galaxy, about once every 64 million years, it is exposed (and Earth with it) to a huge amount of high-energy radiation induced by the galactic shock wave.

In other words, this periodic irradiation at each 64 million years wipes out many life forms on Earth. The team also informed when we're due for another trip to the wrong side. "We've just passed the mid-plane of the galaxy. We're on the way up and we'll reach a peak in about 10 or 12 million years. That's when the radiation should start getting bad again -- if our idea is right. As for the next die-off, there is plenty of time to prepare," said Melott.

"From what I gathered, the cosmic radiation received at the northernmost point of our oscillation would not be outright deadly. Level of CR would only be a few times higher than normal. What he seems to indicate to me is that over millions of years this is a long term stress on the biosphere which may make other events like volcanic eruptions and asteroid impacts all the more catastrophic." said Medvedev.

"There are some hints that there were episodes of increased diversification following the extinction episodes. Maybe these can be attributed to "good" mutations (thus supporting the CR hypothesis), though other explanations are equally possible." he added.

Sony 1,000,000:1 OLED TV on sale in 2007

Sony is once again showing off their beautiful OLED TVs we first peeped at CES. No surprise there, after all, we love to gawk at that incredible 1,000,000:1 contrast ratio just as often as possible. The real news is that Sony is finally ready to move an OLED TV into production. Sorry, not that bad-azz 27-inch model capable of Full HD 1080p. Nope, instead they'll be pushing out the 11-inch pup sometime "within 2007." We're talking 1024 x 600 pixels slathered across that wee 1M:1 contrast panel capable of 8-bit RGB color and covering more than 100% of the NTSC color gamut. Oh, and the display itself measures just 3-mm thick. Hot-freakin'-tastic. Unfortunately, it will likely suffer from a high price tag and short display life. Still, you'll be tempted, especially after seeing the set's razor-thin display in a profile shot after the break -- yeah, dramatic viewing angles too.

Crysis release date announced

Ready your $500 GPU’s for November 16 because that’s when the oh-so-anticipated Crysis will hit store shelves in North America and Europe. It’s been a long time coming but now we have a concrete date to look forward to which I gotta say is anything but bad.

Here’s a few words from Cevat Yerli, CEO and President of Crytek, thanking the gaming community for their patience: “Crytek is constantly striving to push the boundaries of both game design and technology, while maintaining quality at the highest bar. We’re thankful to our fans for their support and patience, and we’re excited to bring them Crysis this year. It’s going to be worth the wait.”

I certainly hope so - Crysis is pretty much the only reason to own an absolutely top of the line gaming system at the moment.

Quake Wars to strike soon

So finally after a pretty long time, it looks like we are going to see Quake wars: Enemy territory striking stores. According to its publisher Activision’s financial report it looks like it will be out anytime between July and August. Activision so far has not revealed any details about this games release officially. Seems like they want to keep it a secret.

The game will be released for the following platforms, Xbox 360, PC and the PS3. The great news for all the PC Quake fans is that it will launched first for the PC platform. Ummm sounds great, lets wait and watch for the official details though.

Game details:-

There are five unique classes in a battle which a player can choose, ie; either the Earth Defense Force which consists of humans or the barbaric alien Strogg armies.
Quad-bikes, tanks, alien walkers for epic ground assaults, helicopters and anti-gravity ships to lend firepower from the air are to be used in the game.
Bases, deploy defense structures, artillery, radar, & advanced forward-command systems are eshtablished in every battle.

Wi-Fi Helps in Bridge Rescues

A new Wi-Fi network in Minneapolis -- only partially completed and just two months old -- is nonetheless giving the city critical help in responding to this week's collapse of the I-35W bridge. The network helped the city with communications, moving large mapping files to the recovery site, and is supporting wireless cameras that are being installed to help with recovery operations.

The city is deploying the Wi-Fi network via a contract with US Internet Corp. throughout its 60 square miles. While only part of it is now up and running, one of those areas is in the downtown area near the scene of the bridge collapse Wednesday evening.

"Thank goodness we had it in and that this piece of the network was already up and operational," said Minneapolis City CIO Lynn Willenbring. "We could not have been as effective if it were not for that."

Willenbring was at a soccer game when she learned of the disaster. The IT department immediately went to work to provide basic support and desk-side services for the city's emergency operations command center. The city's GIS staff also worked through the night to prepare maps, both for public use and internally to assist with traffic and recovery efforts, she said.

One of things that quickly became important was wireless access. Minneapolis is the anchor tenant of the Wi-Fi system and has a certain portion reserved for its use. The network is open to subscribers who pay a monthly flat fee and there were 1,000 subscribers on the system the day of the collapse.

One of the arguments for building such networks is help in an emergency, and Willenbring said that's been the case in Minneapolis.

On the first night of the disaster, US Internet opened up the network so anyone could use it for free; the number of concurrent users quickly grew to 6,000, said Willenbring.

"We have been able to get information to the command center readily and we are talking heavy files, GIS-based mapping, ... that are just critical," said Willenbring. The Wi-Fi network is also now supporting webcams.

Joe Caldwell, the co-founder of Minneapolis-based US Internet and CEO of USI Wireless, the subsidiary providing the Wi-Fi service, said he immediately called the city to see what officials needed within 10 minutes of seeing reports of the disaster on the news. But Caldwell said he couldn't get through on his cell phone, prompting the company to open the Wi-Fi network to anyone, thus allowing people with Wi-Fi enabled telephones to make a voice call.

Doing so was not easy because back-end systems were configured for payment, he said. As a result, it took about 45 minutes to open the network to all users for free. It remained open for about 24 hours.

"I was trying to get the traffic off the cell network so the cell network could be used for first responders," said Caldwell. First responders often rely on cell phones, particularly if they are cross jurisdictional, he said.

The Wi-Fi network is operational in about a quarter of the city and covered the northern part of the collapsed bridge. The next day, the company worked to expand coverage to include the entire bridge area, said Caldwell.

The use of municipal Wi-Fi networks in emergencies has been talked about for years in scenario white-board planning, he said, but "it has never really been put into play. ...What we found out is that it is definitely viable and definitely makes a huge difference."

Google Plans YouTube Antipiracy Tool in September

Google Inc. aims to deliver in September a long-awaited and much-promised technology to combat piracy in its YouTube video sharing site.

During a hearing Friday in the copyright-infringement lawsuit that Viacom Inc. filed against Google, a Google attorney told the judge Google was working "very intensely" on a video recognition technology, the Associated Press (AP) reported.

The technology will be as sophisticated as fingerprint technology used by the FBI and Google plans to roll it out in the fall, "hopefully in September," attorney Philip S. Beck of Barlit Beck Herman Palenchar & Scott LLP told U.S. District Judge Louis L. Stanton, according to the AP. Fall runs from late September to late December.

Viacom sued Google in March in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, alleging copyright infringement from YouTube and seeking US$1 billion in damages.

The video recognition technology will allow copyright owners to provide a digital fingerprint that within a minute or two will trigger a block from YouTube whenever someone tries to upload a copyright video without permission, the AP reported.

However, contacted by IDG News Service, a YouTube spokesman put some caveats around the attorney's stated timeline for implementing the technology.

"We hope to have the testing completed and technology available by some time in the fall, but this is one of the most technologically complicated tasks that we have ever undertaken, and as always with cutting-edge technologies, it's difficult to forecast specific launch dates," he wrote.

Google is collaborating with "some of the major media companies" in experiments with video-identification tools and is "excited" about the progress so far, the YouTube spokesman wrote.

Google officials have acknowledged that the company is working on a system to deal with copyright videos uploaded to YouTube without permission, a nagging problem that has earned Google many enemies among TV and movie companies.

In April of this year, during Google's first-quarter earnings conference call, CEO Eric Schmidt said the system in development wasn't being designed to filter out and block pirated videos.

Instead, he said Google's upcoming "Claim your Content" tool would help to "somewhat automate" the process through which content owners flag illegally copied videos so Google can take them down from the site, he said.

"It's not a filtering system. The technology doesn't block uploads," Schmidt said in April. "It makes it much more effective and quicker to get us to remove inappropriately uploaded content. It's very much compliant with the DMCA."

It's not clear whether Google changed the design of the tool at some point after Schmidt made those comments, since the attorney's description on Friday seems to indicate that the system would indeed block offending videos automatically without content owners notifying Google. The YouTube spokesman didn't immediately respond to a request for clarification of this point.

Friday's hearing was a procedural one intended to set the schedule for the case, such as when the discovery period will begin and end and when the actual trial will begin, Viacom spokesman Jeremy Zweig told IDG News Service.

The comment from Google's attorney came at the start of the hearing, when the judge gave attorneys on both sides a few minutes to present a short outline of what the case is about, to set the stage and put things in context, Zweig said.

The scheduling wasn't completed, so another conference was set for Aug. 6, although that hearing could be canceled if the companies resolve the scheduling issues and notify the judge of their agreements, he said.

Google acquired YouTube in November of last year in a $1.65 billion deal.

'Doom' Creator Unveils 'Rage'

The creator of classic computer game "Doom," id Software, unveiled on Friday its eagerly anticipated next game, "Rage," in which players fight an oppressive government in a post-apocalyptic world.

The new game will be released for computers running either Microsoft Corp's Windows or Apple Inc's Macintosh operating system, as well as Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Sony Corp's PlayStation 3 video game consoles.

"It's a bit of a classic story and you are the outsider who comes in and tries to turn the tide in favor of good," id Chief Executive Todd Hollenshead said in an interview.

"Rage" is being built with all-new graphics technology designed by id co-founder John Carmack, who showed off the game at id's annual "QuakeCon" event in Dallas, Texas.

Privately held id did not give a release date for "Rage" or the name of the publisher. Activision Inc, the second-biggest U.S. video game publisher, handles other id games such as "Doom 3" and the upcoming "Enemy Territories: Quake Wars."

Since the breakaway success of "Doom" in 1993 established the "first-person shooter" as a major gaming genre, id's games have been characterized by fast-and-furious gunplay and claustrophobic environments.

"Rage" will represent somewhat of a stylistic break by letting players roam expansive outdoor areas.

"In addition to the shooting elements and killing bad guys with cool guns -- everyone knows we can do that well -- we wanted to show off some stuff that would surprise people," Hollenshead said.

The graphics technology, or engine, underpinning "Rage" is also important since id makes one of a handful of such software packages that are licensed by other game makers.

Hollenshead said the new "tech5" engine would make it easier for developers to design games that are better looking and can be easily modified to run on different gaming systems, a process that normally takes months and pushes up costs.

"It allows a single studio team to make four versions of our game without outside help," Hollenshead said. "You can have massive outdoor environments and make them look glorious down to pixel level without any performance issues."

LG Prada Is Apple iPhone Killer?

One clear indicator of the fact the iPhone is going to do very well is the fact that Apple’s rivals are already starting to push ‘iPhone killers.’ Much like in the case of the iPod, which five years later and countless devices down the line has not been bested, these iPhone killers are nothing of the sort. The LG Prada is considered an iPone killer, mainly because it also features a full side touch sensitive display, but the similarities are only
skin deep.

Reviews comparing the two products, such as the recent one written by Brian Lam for Gizmodo, finds the iPhone competitor sub par. Not only is the touch screen interface not used to its full potential, but the menu system is not made to take advantage of it, being very similar to those on the other high end LG phones. Furthermore, the Prada’s sync is rudimentary, only allowing you to transfer contacts and calendar appointments, and it lacks many of the useful features of the iPhone such as coverflow, weather and stocks widgets, as well as iTunes integration. Even in terms of internal memory and screen size, the iPhone is the clear winner, although it is slightly larger.

Like the iPod, when it first came out, the price of the iPhone is the most common complaint about it, and the main reason people are not adding it to their shopping lists. Amusingly enough, the LG Prada actually costs more than the iPhone, and significantly so. But even if the Prada shaved off nearly a quarter of its price to cost as much as the 8GB iPhone, it wouldn’t matter, because the iPhone is simply a better device.

If the old iPod killers were any indication, the new iPhone killers will crash and burn, simply because they cannot compete with the iPhone as a whole, not only in terms of features, but also in terms of user experience.

Is Google Phone coming?

Is Google entering the crowded cell phone market? That's what the rumors say, and this might just be what it's going to look like. Supposedly, the "GPhone" will be manufactured by Samsung with Google branding (much like Helio's phones). It's said to come loaded with all of Google's services, such as Gmail, Google Maps, Blogger, et cetera. In addition, it will supposedly have a QWERTY keyboard, a 2-megapixel camera, WiFi, and 3G web connectivity.

What's especially exciting about the potential of a Google phone is that reports state that the big G will shy away from forcing users to choose one wireless carrier, instead allowing for people to buy the phone and then use it with the carrier of their choice. This is the route we wished Apple had taken with their iPhone, and it has the potential to do wonders for the domestic cellular industry.

New Spy Shot of Sony Ericsson M610i Lizy Phone

Sony Ericsson Lizy phone model has been seen on very few occasions up to this point. From this reason, the new image that has been going by for the past few days has naturally opened the door for speculations and discussions on the phone's features.

Unfortunately, there is little information available on the Sony Ericsson Lizy phone. Among the few sure things known about it is that it supports Bluetooth and Wi-Fi connectivity. This places it among the cellular models that offer a large amount of information to its users at fast and reliable transfer rates. Moreover, it is a tri-
band phone, which supports GSM900/1800/1900 networks. The cell phone follows the path line set by the
Sony M600i model when it comes to design. Instead of plastic, it now has a metal case. Even more, it shares the same keypad with the M600 phone model, as to provide QWERTY keyboard on the number buttons. Considering its simple design, this promises to be a considerably practical phone model, that will come as great help for information transfer. Moreover, the Wi-Fi connectivity means that it can easily handle media, by downloading music, images and videos to be later listened or viewed.

Sony Ericsson M610i Lizy also comes equipped with a camera and a series of features that are expected to at least match those of the M600 model. For this reason, the Lizy phone will most probably be 3G enabled and also run on Symbian OS. Media support, such as MP3, video rendering and email are also expected to be provided at high quality. Even more, it is left to see if the TFT touchscreen will also be capable of recognizing handwriting, as it was the case with the other phone model.

Sony Ericsson M610i has just finished FCC testing and has been approved. A date for its release has not been revealed so far.

A Better 'Second Life' - Windlight Atmospheric Rendering

Linden Lab's Second Life is getting the atmospheric rendering tech Windlight and the 3D cloud simulator Nimble from Windward Mark Interactive. Realism is the first thing the developer has to think about when a life sim such as Second Life is their main title. Here's why, as NextGeneration reports.

Although Linden has also acquired "all associated intellectual IP and interests" of Windward Mark, as the same site says, Alliance: The Silent War, Windward Mark's title in development, will not be part of the deal and will
continue to be developed separately by Windward Mark. So what will The Windlight technology do for Linden's
Second Life? Mainly, it will add realism to environments, while Nimble's job will be "simply" rendering more convincing clouds. And it sure needs it as Second Life is a 100% life simulator – some countries even use it as a voting platform. Just think how some nice clouds could influence your judgment when electing your president... Kidding of course.

Linden Lab CTO Cory Ondrejka also proposed the open source model: "Our core development team is tightly focused on improving the Second Life experience in terms of stability and scalability, but open sourcing has enabled external developers to integrate additional enhancements that are also hugely valuable; WindLight is one of these."

Man, Epic must be quite upset for Linden not to choose their Unreal Engine 3, huh? Not really actually, you see, although UE3 can do so much more than just make shooters look good, it's mainly used for action, not just strolling in the park or on the streets like in Second Life. Linden Lab hasn't acquired more powerful technology than that, but the most appropriate for what Second Life is all about.

All the developer had to worry about until now, was rendering the big city, and now it's not even the developer's worry, but Windward Mark Interactive's.

Rear View Mirror For Your Monitor

For those of you who MSNs, surfs HipTechBlog, or ogles at questionable pictures at work, a rear view mirror is a must-have. Regular mirrors just don’t cut it, you need this one for its convex mirror that gives you a wide-angle view of what’s going on behind you.

Measuring 3″ in diameter, comes in clear or assorted colors, and attaches to your monitor with Velcro. Everyone should have one!

Oh, unless you are fortunate enough to have your own office.

YouTube On iPhone And Apple TV

It’s official, YouTube will be available on iPhone and Apple TV. This makes iPhone the very first mobile phone capable of playing back YouTube videos.

Some of you might be thinking, “does that mean iPhone can run Flash?” Well the answer is no. YouTube is currently converting its videos to H.264. By June 29, which is iPhone’s launch date, over 10,000 of YouTube’s videos will be available in H.264 format, ready to be watched on your spanking new iPhone. And by fall, most, if not all, of YouTube’s videos will be H.264-ready.

As for Apple TV users, a free software update is already available now using Apple TV’s built-in software update feature.

Panasonic HDC-SD5: World’s Smallest Full HD Camcorder

Consumer-grade High Definition videography just shrank in size. Panasonic’s latest HDC-SD5 HD Camcorder that was announced today is the world’s smallest 3CCD Full HD camcorder.

Measuring at 2.6 x 2.6 x 5.3in and weighing in at just 0.75lb, it is perfect for non-professionals who wants something lightweight and HD-capable. With its 1,920 x 1080 30fps recording, revamped image stabilization system, and Leica Dicomar lens, the HDC-SD5 is definitely a performer.

Price: US$999.99
Availability: September 15, 2007

Technical Specifications:

Signal system 1080 lines, 60 fields Weight (w/o Battery) 0.75 lb Dimensions (W x H x D) 2.6 x 2.6 x 5.3 inch

Image sensor
1/6-inch CCD image sensor
Total pixels: 560 k x 3

Effective pixels
Motion Picture: 520 k x 3(16:9)
Still Picture: 520 k x 3 (16:9)

Lens
Auto iris, 10x power zoom
F 1.8 to 2.8 (f = 3.0 to 30.0mm)
35mm equivalent
Motion picture: 42.9 to 429 mm (16:9)
Still picture: 42.9 to 429 mm (16:9)
Filter diameter 37 mm
Zoom 10x optical zoom, 25/700x digital zoom

Monitor 2.7′’ wide LCD monitor (approx. 300 k pixels)
Microphone Stereo Zoom Microphone
Speaker Dynamic type
White balance adjustment Auto / White Set / Outdoor / Indoor (with IR sensor)
Standard illumination 1,400 lux

Minimum required illumination 5 lux (1/30 low light mode) (1 lux in Magic pix mode)

High-speed shutter 1/30 - 1/8000 (Motion Picture), 1/30-1/8000 (Still Picture)

Recording media SD Memory Card, SDHC Memory Card

USB Card reader / writer function ( No copyright protection support)
High-Speed USB (USB2.0) (miniAB)
Pict Bridge-compliant
Flash Available flash range: approx. 1m to 2.5m
Standard accessories AC Adaptor, Battery Pack, IR Remote Controller, USB Cable,
component Cable, AV-Cable, CD-ROM (HD Writer Ver 2.0)

Motion pictures
Compression MPEG4-AVC/H.264 (AVCHD standard compliant)
Transfer rate HG: approx. 13 Mbps (CBR)/ HN: approx. 9 Mbps (VBR)/
HE: approx. 6 Mbps (VBR)
Picture size HG: 1920 x 1080, HN/HE: 1440 x 1080
Audio compression Dolby Digital (Dolby AC3)/ 2ch

Still pictures
Compression JPEG (DCF/Exif2.2 compliant)
Picture size 1920 x 1080 / 2.1MEGA (16:9)
HE: approx. 6

Sony PSP Slim Coming In September

It may look like the good old PSP, but the new PSP Slim slated to launch in September this year is 30% lighter and 19% slimmer.

Other improvements include faster game-loading and a TV-out feature to output your favorite games, photos, and movies to your big bad HDTV.

It comes in three different colors: Piano Black, Ceramic White, and Ice Silver.

Price: US$199