How big are Portable Media Centers going to be? Not very, says The Diffusion Group, a Dallas-based research consultancy. In a report it says both Microsoft-based and non-MS-based media players with video, audio and photo capabilities will “face stiff competition from less-expensive application-specific alternatives such as MP3 players, portable DVD players, and new portable photo… Read More »
I’m told that Korean MP3 manufacturer iRiver and waterproof audio specialist H20 will later this month launch what they’re calling the “First Personal MP3 Player for Action Sports. Enthusiasts can for the first time enhance their experience with music while participating in sports such as wakeboarding, surfing, snowboarding and waterskiing.” I don’t have any pictures… Read More »
Is Bluetooth finally moving out of the world of mobile phones? The Gadgeteer feels so, highlighting some new toys including two pairs of Bluetooth headphones and a Bluetooth mouse. Here is their review of Bluetake’s i-PHONO BT420EX stereo headphones and BT500 Bluetooth Mouse, and here is Sonorix’s Bluetooth audio player What’s interesting, too, is that some of… Read More »
This week’s Loose Wire column is about Flash drives: I LEFT YOU last week in the capable hands of Ethel Girdle, the fictitious octogenarian who took her accusations of built-in obsolescence to the technology giants. One of her beefs was about so-called flash drives–small devices that store data, for example as memory cards for MP3… Read More »
Small is beautiful. The Guinness World Records has certified Toshiba’s 0.85-inch hard disk drive as the smallest HDD in the world (it’s not actually out yet; expect to see it in September). Toshiba say it’s the first hard disk drive “to deliver multi-gigabyte data storage in a sub-one-inch form factor”. (The 0.85-inch measurement refers to… Read More »