PMP Today

The first iPhone firmware update is now ready for download from Apple. The firmware update closes the breach in Safari discovered by analysts at Independent Security Evaluators. The vulnerability allows hackers administrative control of your iPhone, view logs and messages, copy email passwords and even listen in on meetings.

[read: engadget]

Apple has announced  3 billion songs sold on iTunes earlier today. The music store has surpassed Amazon last month to become the third largest music retailer with ten per cent share of the market beaten by land-based Walmart and Best Buy. Music sales on iTunes has been picking up speed. It took almost three years for iTunes to sell a billion songs; meanhwile, the 3Bn milestone came just six months after it announced it has sold 2Bn songs.

Dampening the 3billion milestone is a lawsuit from rap artist Eminem for copyright violations. The artist claims it has never authorized Apple to sell music on iTunes.

[via inquirer, engadget, washingtonpost]

We first met the Blizzard under the Neonumeric banner as the NPMP F1 (2.4″ QVGA 262K color TFT display; compatible with MP3, WMA, MTV, JPG, BMP, PNG, GIF format, 2 megapixel camera with optional DV, Fm radio, etc.), then as the Sweex Blizzard, and last we heard it was the Benss BM-861. If you could judge the soundness of the product’s design through how many times it gets recycled, then the NPMP F1-Blizzard-BM-861-LFV-478 is second only to the Apple iPhone. For some hands-on confirmation, check this video from GMP3 after the break. Greogori, the editor of GenerationMP3, pretty much swears the NPMP F1-Blizzard-BM-861-LFV-478 is quite on the awful side. Check out GMP3 once in a while for the upcoming review of this player.

Update: More identities of this Sweex player keeps popping up. We found another one from an old post. It’s the Rimax Vanilla. So now it’s the NPMP F1-Blizzard-BM-861-LFV-478-Vanilla.

[lavod] Read the rest »

Now here’s something to look forward to: LG Philips is trying to patent a new form of flexible OLED screen. This type uses a combination of oil and water to work.

The existing batch of flexible OLED screens is limited by the heat generated by these diodes, which is hotter than the plastic substrate. This makes manufacturing complicated and expensive (which in turn translates to higher prices for products with these screens). The new method, however, uses oil and water connected to plastic electrodes to generate pixels. The oil floats on the water (since it’s lighter) and covers a colored surface beneath. Applying an electric charge reveals the surface and changes the color of the pixel. Cheap and easy, and hopefully makes its way to wide array of gadgets in the near future. Imagine the possibilities.

[via engadget]

Chinavision seems pretty determined to make it in the competitive hi-tech market. First Chinavision product we posted was an MP4 watch. With 16:9 widescreen viewing, it wasn’t that bad. Now here’s a product that just crying for attention, a PMP for divers that resembles a trilobite more than its MP3 (audio-only) cousin. This player only has a 1.8-inch screen, which could get really blurry underwater. It plays MPEG, WMV, ASF formats at 128 x 128-pixels @ 25fps. It’s also compatible with WAV, WMA and MP3 with WAV recording. There’s 1GB onboard memory with USB 2.0 and comes with water-proof ear phnes. Tolerates up to 3 meters of water pressure.

[via gizmodo]

The little brother of the Archos 605 will accompany it in the market on August 16.Not only that, this Archos will be available in lavender. The 405 has 3.5-inch 320 x 240-pixel touchscreen with MPEG, WMV, SRT/SMI, MP3, WMA, WMA DRM, WAV (PCM/ADPCM), JPEG, BMP, png, pdf and plug-ins for Cinema and Podcast. In other words, the specs are similar to the 605 excepting dimensions, the 605’s WiFi connectivity and, of course, the new lavender shade.

Price: $233 USD

[archos, via generationmp3]

The Cybook is a gadget a bibliophile like myself would probably be suckered into buying if it didn’t cost a whopping $700.  It’s an eBook reading device with a 10-inch touch screen that comes with a Windows CE 3.0 software bundle and supports various eBook standards (PRC, PDB, DOC, HTML, RTF and TXT, but not PDF).   The downside?  It’s only got a 66MHz Motorola processor, 48MB total ram,  and other strange features like a built-in modem and a PCMCIA slot.  What would make this gadget more awesome - and worth the hefty price - is if it had cellphone capabilities.  Or even better–an mp3 player for those who prefer to make reading a multimedia experience.

[via gizmodo]

At least one Brazilian did something about his need to have an iPhone right now, even when Apple hasn’t announced it for his country yet. He developed an application that turned the orginal N800 virtual keys to look more iPhone-like, including individual keys going when you press them No predictive text of course.

The expanding keys is a nice, useful trick but I kind of prefer the N800’s black keys. A demo of the original N800 keyboard after the break.

[via jkontherun] Read the rest »

What happens when proud parents buy their co-ed daughter an N95 multimedia computer to play around with? Her Black Macbook gets red with jealousy. The footage (below), taken with the N95’s 5 megapixel camcorder is shocking to say the least. The horrendous case photo above was done (allegedly) by a PC keyboard, the attack apparently related to the woman getting a new Nokia N95. Hope that’s not permanent. More cases when you click the links.

[jealouscomputers, via gizmodo] Read the rest »

For all you point-and-shoot lovers with a lot of free time on your hands, Samsung just announced the VLUU i85 digital camera. This 8.1MP shooter has a 3-inch touchscreen display, and supports MP3 and video (unspecified type) files to keep you occupied while you wait for your next shot.

The VLUU i85 also has a Tour Guide function that provides travel information for 2,600 regions in 30 countries. It comes with Samsung’s ASR (Advanced Shake Reduction) system, Intelligent Face Recognition Technology, an ISO of 1600, and 450MB of internal memory.

This camera joins the 7.3MP VLUU i7 in filling out Samsung’s advanced point-and-shoot lineup. The official release date for the VLUU i85 is sometime in August. MSRP is £229, about $464.

[via techdigest]