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31/12/2004

Streamlined Cable TV in a Card

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/30/technology/circuits/30stat.html?ex=1262235600&en=0c9133c88d6aeea3&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland

Streamlined Cable TV in a Card
By DAVID POGUE
Published: December 30, 2004

"[...] the CableCard, a small metal card (a so-called PC card, actually, like the ones designed for laptops) that slides into a slot on the back of many new high-definition TV sets from nearly every manufacturer. The CableCard's simple mission is to eliminate your cable box. The card stores all the account information that used to be monitored by the box, like descramblers for your movie channels - a bit of circuitry miniaturization that's about 15 years overdue.

Life without a cable box is blissfully simple. The cable-TV cable from the wall plugs directly into the TV. You change channels using the TV's own remote control. (Both the box and its remote go back to the mother ship. Incidentally, getting rid of the box makes an especially big difference when it comes to smaller screens, like kitchen-counter TV's.)

Losing the box frees up one power outlet on your wall, one valuable input on the TV and one component's worth of space in your equipment rack or wall unit.

Furthermore, if you ever move, you won't have to learn how to use a new cable company's box. You'll operate the same TV using the same remote in the same way.

Eliminating a detour through the cable box also spares your video signal an analog-to-digital conversion or two. As a result, the picture may be noticeably clearer and sharper (depending on which box you had and how it was wired to your system)."

29/12/2004

The BitTorrent Effect

http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/13.01/bittorrent.html

By Clive Thompson
Wired Issue 13.01 - January 2005

""All hell's about to break loose," says Brad Burnham, a venture capitalist with Union Square Ventures in Manhattan, which studies the impact of new technology on traditional media. BitTorrent does not require the wires or airwaves that the cable and network giants have spent billions constructing and buying. And it pounds the final nail into the coffin of must-see, appointment television. BitTorrent transforms the Internet into the world's largest TiVo.

One example of how the world has already changed: Gary Lerhaupt, a graduate student in computer science at Stanford, became fascinated with Outfoxed, the documentary critical of Fox News, and thought more people should see it. So he convinced the film's producer to let him put a chunk of it on his Web site for free, as a 500-Mbyte torrent. Within two months, nearly 1,500 people downloaded it. That's almost 750 gigs of traffic, a heck of a wallop. But to get the ball rolling, Lerhaupt's site needed to serve up only 5 gigs. After that, the peers took over and hosted it themselves. His bill for that bandwidth? $4. There are drinks at Starbucks that cost more. "It's amazing - I'm a movie distributor," he says. "If I had my own content, I'd be a TV station.""

19/12/2004

Marantz PMD660 Hand-Held Field Recorder

http://www.musicgearreview.com/article-display/1345.html

Press Release

"The rugged PMD660 is a solid-state recorder with easy one-touch digital recording to cost-effective Compact Flash media cards. Uncompressed WAV files can be recorded at 44.1 or 48 kHz, and high quality MP3 files can be recorded in mono (at 64 kbps) or in stereo (at 128 kbps). Using a standard 1 GB Compact Flash card, the PMD660 can record over 1 hour stereo and 3 hours mono of uncompressed audio, over 17 hours of stereo MP3 and almost 36 hours of monaural MP3 audio."

17/12/2004

La télévision, le véritable impact du P2P

http://www.internetactu.net/index.php?p=5731

InternetActu
Par Cyril Fievet le 16/12/2004

"En France, la disponibilité depuis peu d’un utilitaire, eD2K History, destiné à suivre l’évolution des fichiers les plus demandés sur le réseau eDonkey, montre clairement un lien entre la diffusion d’un film à la télévision et la popularité du fichier correspondant sur le réseau P2P. Après un passage TV, les demandes du fichier augmentent significativement, parfois d’un facteur deux ou trois, comme le souligne Ratiatum, qui propose une interprétation du phénomène : “Internet devient un véritable substitut au magnétoscope” (d’autres interprétations sont néanmoins possibles)."

10/12/2004

The End of TV as We Know It

http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/12.12/start.html?pg=7

By Frank Rose
Wired
Issue 12.12 - December 2004

"Combine VoIP, truly high-speed broadband, and totally on-demand TV - and you've got such a compelling proposition that the Bell companies figure the only way to survive is to do likewise."

30/11/2004

Blog Torrent - Simplified bittorrent by Downhill Battle

http://www.blogtorrent.com/

'Blog Torrent is software that makes it much easier to share and download files using the bittorrent protocol. Blog Torrent is easy to install on your website: we don't use MySQL so installation is as easy as uploading a folder to your web host, and all administration happens in the web interface."

Hot television

http://www.macleans.ca/topstories/technology/article.jsp?content=20041129_93836_93836

Macleans.ca
MICHAEL SNIDER
November 29, 2004

"Why is a TV executive so agitated about online pirates? Because he, like most media honchos, has seen the scary numbers indicating that the next big craze in illegal file-sharing is not music, not movies, but television. High-quality digital copies of popular shows such as Desperate Housewives, The West Wing and, well, pretty much anything else on the tube are available online a few hours after they air, many in high definition. Pirates with HD-ready TV sets can enjoy these shows in widescreen format and in better picture quality than what regular cable provides -- no need to spring for satellite feeds or specialty channels. All they need is a high-speed Internet connection, a modicum of computer know-how, a little patience -- and a willingness to risk a lawsuit."

29/11/2004

Hush E2-MCE - Silent Media Center PC

http://www.trustedreviews.com/article.aspx?art=874

Fanless
2.8GHz Pentium 4
ATI Radeon 9600
512MB DDR
200GB SATA
DVD+-R/RW writer
WiFi

Front:
two USB 2.0 ports, two FireWire ports, headphone and speakers jacks, IR receiver

Back:
two PS/2 ports, two serial ports, a parallel port, four USB 2.0 ports, a network socket, line-in, line-out and microphone ports
optical and coaxial S/PDIF ports, two more audio outputs for 5.1
DVI, D-SUB, S-Video

Spare PCI slot

28/11/2004

Is 'Fair Use' in Peril?

Technology Review: Is 'Fair Use' in Peril?

Technology Review
By Eric Hellweg
November 19, 2004

"Do you like fast-forwarding through commercials on a television program you’ve recorded? How much do you like it? Enough to go to jail if you’re caught doing it? If a new copyright and intellectual property omnibus bill sitting on Congress’s desk passes, that may be the choice you'll face."

17/11/2004

Sigmatek X-Bay

http://www.sigmatekcomputer.com/products.php?p=xbay

"Caractéristiques générales :

• Disque Dur 2.5'' de 20, 40, 60 ou 80 GB
• Interface USB 2.0 compatible USB 1.1 (PC & MAC)
• Télécommande InfraRouge

• Formats Vidéo compatibles : MPEG 1, 2 & 4 : DivX 3.xx, 4.xx, 5.xx, Xvid
• Formats Audio compatibles : MP3 de 32 à 320Kbps CBR & VBR.
• Formats d'images compatibles : JPEG (jusqu'à 4 Mo)
• Compatible sous-titres de DivX

• Stockage de données sur Disque Dur USB (Compatible PC et Mac)
• Firmware évolutif, mises à jour téléchargeables sur ce site
• Affichage Multi langages
• Compatible fichiers SMI (Synchronized Multimedia Interface)"

"Connectique :
Sortie Stéréo Jack et SPDIF
Sortie Vidéo
Port USB 2.0"

16/11/2004

Music rebels seek to tame P2P

http://news.com.com/2100-1025_3-5453788.html

Published: November 16, 2004, 4:00 AM PST
By John Borland
CNET News.com

"[...] Napster creator Shawn Fanning, whose new company, Snocap, has spent the last year building technology designed to identify music on file-swapping networks and turn free song trades into purchases. The company plans to emerge from stealth mode by the end of the year and has already secured licenses to the song catalog of the Universal Music Group."

"Fanning's apparent conversion offers more than a hint of historical irony. As a young renegade, he was ordered by courts in 2000 to begin blocking trades of copyrighted songs on the original Napster service, which ultimately shut down a year later, after the company's filters proved unwieldy.

The Snocap system, which identifies songs in order to extract payment, carries at least the mark of that original court order--and might arguably be seen as its fruition."

Former Microsoft exec joins open-source project

"http://news.com.com/2100-1046_3-5453259.html?part=rss&tag=5453259&subj=news.1046.20

Published: November 15, 2004, 12:48 PM PST
By David Becker
CNET News.com

"CAC Media, a New York-based company that sells software and services for set-top boxes and other media devices, told CNET News.com that it has hired Nat Brown as its chief technical officer."

"The first device to run on the company's software, the MediaReady 4000 receiver from Video Without Boundaries, is set to ship early next year and combines video recording, music playback and other living-room functions."

15/11/2004

Dual Wi-Fi, 3G phone ships in Japan And DoCOMo's handset uses Linux

http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=19683

The Inquirer
By Tony Dennis: Monday 15 November 2004, 11:00

"Using its Passage Duple system N900iL users will be able to make VoIP calls over the corporate wireless network or switch over to 3G when they have left their offices. Since the N900iL's browser can be used both inside and outside the office, users always have access to Interent mail and documents saved on intranet servers. Instant messaging between N900iL handsets on a wireless LAN is also possible.

Thanks to the use of SIP, when calling internally across the wireless LAN, a caller can see status information (ie confirm if the called party is available, off-line, in a meeting, on a business trip, etc). The handset's battery last longer for VoIP calls – 160 minutes versus 140 minutes on 3G."

Review of Akimbo Internet Media Digital Video Recorder

http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0%2C1558%2C1725189%2C00.asp

"Now comes a new kid, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, with a new idea: deliver paid, premium video services over Internet broadband connections. Akimbo, a startup headquartered in San Mateo, California, wants to take advantage of the rapid increase in broadband households to deliver premium television content to the home. This isn't something you do with your PC--though the Akimbo is eyeing the PC as a future platform. Rather, it's in the form of a player that's connected to your home entertainment rack. Think of it as a DVR (digital video recorders) that's connected to the Internet, rather than to cable TV or a satellite service."

"Pros:
Content delivery over the Internet; easy offline control of your subscriptions; fascinating specialty content.

Cons:
Limited content overall, even when the currently advertised content comes on line; modest visual quality.
Summary:

Akimbo is cool, more for its promise than its current offerings. But it's a fine adjunct to your existing entertainment system, particularly if you want some of the specialty content.

Price:
$229; $9.95 basic subscription; some content pay-per-view."

12/11/2004

Photos: Pocket-size PCs

http://news.com.com/Photos%3A Sony%27s pocket-size PC/2009-1044_3-5446449.html?part=rss&tag=5446449&subj=news.1044.20

"The 1.2 pound Sony Vaio U is powered by a 1.1GHz Intel Pentium M 733 processor, 512MB of RAM, a 20GB, 1.8-inch hard drive, Wi-Fi and Microsoft's Windows XP Professional operating system."

TiVo hacks flourish

http://news.com.com/TiVo hacks flourish/2100-1041_3-5447461.html?part=rss&tag=5447461&subj=news.1041.20

""TiVo is missing some tremendous opportunities," said Riley Cassel, a programmer who last year released a popular, unauthorized extension called MFS_FTP. "There's no technical reason you couldn't watch TV across the Net...Of course, the problem is that the same software can be used to broadcast HBO or Discovery HD, so Hollywood would go nuts.""

10/11/2004

Media Center 2005 initial impressions

"http://blog.giantchoad.com/blogtonia/2004/11/media_center_20.html

Sparktoblog!
Friday, November 05, 2004 at 11:02 PM

"The front has several fold down panels to hide the various ports and sockets (two USB 2.0, CF, SD, Memory Stick, RCA inputs, S-Video in, and a 1394 port)"

"The back of the unit is really the impressive part if you ask me. It's the first PC to offer the number of output options that the HP z545 Digital Entertainment Center offers. The z545 offers full 7.1 out (both RCA pre-amps as well as an optical port for hooking up to powered receivers), S/PDIF, composite video out, S-video out, Component video out, DVI video out, a VGA port, four USB 2.0 ports, and another FireWire port."

"One neat gimmick that HP added was the “Personal Media” drive. It's basically a USB 2.0 portable hard drive with a docking station inside the front of the z545. It lets me put 160gb of my data on a drive that's contained within the unit, but then take it out easily and bring it over to a friends house to show him my media."

09/11/2004

ZyXEL Prestige 2000W

http://www.zyxel.fr/products.cfm?action=detail&lang=f&area=6&art=ZY%2DP2000W

Téléphone mobile LAN sans fil 802.11b (11 Mbps)
Version SIP 2 (RFC 3261)

Will the Networks Promote TiVo "Permalinks"?

http://www.corante.com/importance/archives/2004/11/08/will_the_networks_promote_tivo_permalinks.php

Corante
The Importance of...
November 08, 2004

"Let's say I want to recommend that you watch Meet the Press tomorrow (which is what Rick Klau is doing). I can post a reference to the show and the time, but now I can also create a hyperlink that allows TIVO owners to click on the link and immediately be brought to a screen where they can program their TIVO (via the Internet) to record that show."

e-Lets Bare Bone Desktop PC Slated for mid-November Release

http://www.akibalive.com/archives/000576.html

AkibaLive
November 08, 2004

"e-Lets (Japan), will start sales of its new Be Silent Mt6600 bare bone desktop PC with Transmeta Efficeon TM8600 processor in mid-November. The size of this amazingly small desktop computer is 204x197x75mm with a weight of only 2.6kg. The memory is expandable to a maximum of 1GB, using a single 200 pin DDR-SO-DIMM slot. The computer has one slot for a standard 2.5 inch hard drive. The price is currently listed as open price, however most retail managers expect the computer to sell for around ¥92,400. The Be Silent Mt6600 comes with a built-in Gigabit Ethernet port, two USB 2.0 slots, a D-Sub 15 pin port, a serial port, a parallel port and two PS/2 ports."

08/11/2004

Grouper

http://www.grouper.com/

"Grouper is a new Windows based application that allows users to share their personal media within private groups. Grouper uses P2P technology connecting you directly to your friends’ hard drives where you can share large files in a safe, encrypted environment. Grouper is a simple install and requires no firewall reconfiguration."

29/10/2004

Review: BuffaloTech Fully Customizable NAS shell (Kuro Box)

http://www.tomsnetworking.com/Reviews-171-ProdID-KUROBOX.php

"The Kuro Box (KB) from Buffalo Technology (actually a new division called Revolution by Buffalo) is being marketed as a 100% open source based Network Storage Appliance that can be easily extended. The Kuro Box ("Kuro" is Japanese for "expert" or "specialist") is the the first in a line of products aimed at VARs, resellers and just plain folks who like to customize their own computer gear."

Web TV Start-Ups Show Programs Outside the Box

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/washpost/20041028/tc_washpost/a2165_2004oct27

"Akimbo has raised more than $12 million in venture capital for a service it hopes will do for Internet movies what Apple's iTunes did for digital music. Trouble is, the service requires you to buy a $230 box and doesn't offer much video yet -- only about 300 programs out of the more than 2,000 it plans to put online by the end of the year. It's not exactly on-demand, either; you have to download each show from the Internet to the Akimbo box before you can watch it.

The box contains an 80-gigabyte hard drive for storing up to 200 hours of programs. It plugs into your Internet broadband connection (via cable or DSL) and TV. Shows are copy-protected, so you can't move them to portable devices or share them online. Akimbo does make downloading painless, though, with a well-designed programming guide that appears on the TV screen and lets you select shows with a remote.

Akimbo has signed deals with 60 content providers so far. Not everything is included in its $10 monthly fee; some channels carry a premium and others are pay-per-view.

Many of Akimbo's content providers also are signing up with rivals, such as Dave Networks Inc., an Atlanta firm that plans to release a new service on Nov. 15. DaveTV is among several firms trying to use peer-to-peer technology to accelerate downloads and reduce transmission costs."

Come to Daddy

http://www.pbs.org/cringely/pulpit/pulpit20041028.html

October 28, 2004
Come to Daddy
How Ken Schaffer's ME2TV (or Something Just Like It, But Cheaper) Will Change Television Forever
By Robert X. Cringely

"But what blew me away this week when I saw a demo of TV2ME in Schaffer's cluttered New York apartment was the quality of the image. Sending live TV over the Internet is a very difficult thing to do, especially over distances like that from Moscow to New York. There are live TV feeds from Moscow available today, and they look terrible no matter how much bandwidth you have. But Schaffer's feed, running at an average of 384 kilobits-per-second, looks like TV. When you change channels to any of the 60 or so on the Moscow cable system, it takes about 10 seconds to rebuffer, and then you have TV. Amazing!

To put this achievement in perspective, I have running in my home in Charleston both Windows and Linux-based PVRs that play through Hauppauge Media MVP set top boxes. This is a Hauppauge WinTV250 PVR capture board running on a fast AMD system with half a gig of DDR RAM and a 125 gig 7200-rpm disk drive. All components are matched and from the same manufacturer, all video encoding and decoding is done in hardware, network connections are all Ethernet, AND I CAN'T WATCH LIVE TV OVER THIS NETWORK. I can easily access my vast collection of pre-recorded Dragon Tales, Caillou, and Arthur episodes, but live TV bombs out even though I'm capturing and sending at two megabits-per-second over a two-hop network no more than 60 feet long.

Ken Schaffer, on the other hand, is capturing at 384 kilobits-per-second using hardware encoding only on the sending end (the receiver is software-only) and he can watch perfectly viewable television that has run through 20+ hops from Moscow or Bangkok or any of a number of other cities where he has friends and customers.

Given that he has no way of guaranteeing Quality of Service, I think this performance is amazing. But given his track record, I can't discount the demonstration. Like his wireless mikes, Schaffer attributes the quality to how he preprocesses the video signal before it enters the MPEG-4 encoder chip. I don't know what he does, but it seems to work."

28/10/2004

BareBook 1556-G portable presque en kit

http://www.pcinpact.com/actu/news/Un_ordinateur_portable_vendu_presque_nu.htm

"Sa particularité est d'être vendu presque nu, celui-ci n'étant accompagné que d'une carte mère Intel 855GME. Les autres composants sont donc à rajouter, à savoir le processeur (Pentium M), la mémoire, le disque dur et le périphérique optique."

26/10/2004

SOYO Mini DRAGON 651 Review

http://www.hothardware.com/viewarticle.cfm?articleid=173&catid=3

"The memory controller supports a single channel of 64-bit DDR333 memory, making it more affordable to upgrade than a modern dual-channel DDR400 monster. Along the same lines, support for 400 and 533MHz front side bus Pentium 4 processors gives the Mini DRAGON a definite 3.06GHz ceiling.

The chipset's integrated graphics core is certainly nothing to write home about. It does provide acceptable 2D quality, but 3D performance is dismal at best. Fortunately, a combination of IEEE 1394, USB 2.0, and integrated 10/100 Ethernet give the platform comprehensive connectivity, adding appeal as an Internet appliance or vehicle for multimedia playback."

20/10/2004

Skype prepares video over internet service

http://www.vnunet.com/news/1158847

"Niklas Zennstörm, Skype chief executive and co-founder, said today that the company was currently testing a video-over-IP service.

"We can easily develop new services on top of Skype," he said. "One is video and we are expecting to deliver something next year.""

19/10/2004

Un forfait Ozone payant ? Oui mais quel forfait !

http://www.pcinpact.com/actu/news/Un_forfait_Ozone_payant_Oui_mais_quel_forfait_.htm

"Ozone, un FAI axé sur le Wifi, proposera début Janvier un forfait haut débit incluant les communications téléphoniques illimitées.

A condition bien sûr de disposer d'un récepteur Wifi, le forfait sera de 2Mb en download ET en upload, ainsi que des communications illimitées basées sur la Voix sur IP (VoIP), le tout pour 18€ par mois. "

BlackBerry 7270 first to feature VoIP and WLAN support

http://www.mobiletechnews.com/info/2004/10/18/114658.html

MobileTechNews
Posted: 18-Oct-2004 [Source: RIM]

"Research In Motion (RIM)is demonstrating a new BlackBerry Wireless Handheld(TM) today at the Gartner ITXPO Symposium that operates on 802.11b networks and incorporates both voice and data capabilities. The BlackBerry 7270(TM) will be the first BlackBerry(R) handheld to feature VoIP and WLAN support."

18/10/2004

Evesham e-box Media Center 2005 PC

Evesham e-box Media Center 2005 PC

"The single tuner meant that you couldn't record one TV programme while you watched another, seriously limiting the versatility. With twin TV tuners, this problem is negated and Evesham has gone the whole hog and installed twin DVB tuners from Black Gold."

Price £1056 inc. VAT

12/10/2004

ScanZOOM: Can I get a price check?

http://www.engadget.com/entry/8276386751773718/

"Scanbuy has just properly released ScanZOOM, a software app for cameraphones that let’s you comparison shop by snapping a picture of a product’s barcode and then automatically pull up price information from PriceGrabber and Amazon. Only 16 phones supported at the moment (the Treo 600, Nokia 6600, 6620, 7650, 3650, and 7610, and Sony Ericsson P800, P900, and P910 are on the list)."

Moore Medio - Media PC

http://www.trustedreviews.com/article.aspx?page=1659&head=3

£2,000

Lite-On 851S
Sapphire Radeon 9600 Ultimate.
2 160Gb SATA hard disks.
TV tuner
Netgear WiFi adapter
Creative Sound Blaster Audigy 2 sound card.

"The digital TV tuner is good to see and means that you can watch all the Freeview digital channels as well as the standard five terrestrial ones. Reception proved to be very good, even in problem areas like the TrustedReviews offices in Bracknell. The Netgear WiFi card is also a very welcome inclusion, since it's vitally important for a media PC to have a wireless connection. Let's face it, you're not likely to have your broadband connection in your living room, so you need to be able to connect somehow, especially if you want to download EPG data."

11/10/2004

Un logiciel d'échanges "privés" met en émoi les studios de cinéma américains - Actualités - ZDNet.fr

http://rss.zdnet.fr/actualites/internet/0,39020774,39177191,00.htm

Par Philippe Astor
ZDNet France
Lundi 11 octobre 2004

"Un nouveau logiciel "peer-to-peer", dont une préversion a été rendue publique en début de semaine dernière, suscite quelque inquiétude du côté d'Hollywood. Grouper, c'est son nom, permet de constituer des communautés virtuelles de trente personnes, qui peuvent s'échanger des photos, des vidéos et de la musique. Un logiciel doté, par ailleurs, d'un module de messagerie instantanée.

Ses deux auteurs, Josh Felsher et David Samuel, ont pris garde de ménager la susceptibilité de l'industrie du disque américaine, en limitant les possibilités d'échange des fichiers audio à une écoute en "streaming": il s'agit donc d'une diffusion directe de la musique stockée sur l'ordinateur des autres membres de la communauté, en excluant toute forme de téléchargement. Ce n'est pas le cas, en revanche, en ce qui concerne les fichiers vidéo."

06/10/2004

K!TV | Logiciel TV - TV Software

K!TV | Logiciel TV - TV Software

"K!TV utilise la technologie EPG pour vous faciliter la vie. Grâce au logiciel NextView intégré, vous pouvez à tout moment vous renseigner sur l'heure de vos programmes, lire les résumés des films, etc... A chaque changement de chaîne ou quand vous le voulez, K!TV vous affiche le nom et les heures du programme en cours."

Sony VAIO Type X "Super TiVo" Launches

http://www.gizmodo.com/archives/sony-vaio-type-x-super-tivo-launches-022727.php

"A Pentium 4 at 3.60GHz comprises the heart of this beefy PVR, with 1GB DDR and 1TB (4x250GB RAID 0) of storage standard—welcome to the future, where you can simultaneously record up to seven programs at once and store so many of them that you'll likely deplete national bon-bon supplies."

05/10/2004

Time to RAID PVRs, says Silicon Image

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/10/04/si_steelvine_launch/

"Silicon Image is looking to make dumb consumer storage devices a little smarter with the introduction of a new processor that adds sophisticated technology for protecting data to systems like Tivo.

The company is using the fabled system-on-a-chip concept for its new SteelVine design. This basically lets a chip handle storage functions such as RAID, disk striping and making many disks look like one. Consumer device makers could plug the chip into their storage systems - media appliances or PVRs (Personal Video Recorders) - and give customers a bit more data protection.

"Once you put a disk drive in those devices, the reliability of the device goes down significantly," said Steve Tirado, president of the storage division at Silicon Image. "That's means consumers could face some of the things they don't like about PCs. So we're providing a way to add storage in a reliable manner.""

Homechoice wakes up and smells the coffee

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/09/28/homechoice_wakes_up/

"Tucked away in London, Homechoice can be considered the grandfather of television over a telco’s telephone line. Back in the early 1990s it created ideas like time shifted viewing, which it called “replay TV” long before anyone had ever heard the word TiVo. Even though after 8 years of offering VoD and IP TV services the company has managed to attract only just over 3,000 customers, by next year it believes it will blossom into a full triple play and begin the long journey out of its London roots to the rest of the UK, and probably a public quotation."

Start-up delivers movie downloads

http://news.zdnet.com/2110-9588_22-5395970.html

By Jim Hu CNET News.com October 4, 2004, 4:04 PM PT

"A start-up based in the Boston area is trying to use peer-to-peer technology to legally deliver movies onto consumers' hard drives. The company, called NetCableTV, is offering technology that lets people download movies off a network of other customers' computers instead of from a central server."

04/10/2004

PalmOne unveils 256MB Flash drive T5 PDA

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/10/04/palmone_tungsten_t5/

The Register
By Tony Smith
Published Monday 4th October 2004 08:42 GMT

"The unit incorporates 256MB of Flash, of which 215MB are available to the user, 55MB for on-board memory, the remaining 160MB configured as an internal storage card. The PDA now includes a new file browser application, PalmOne Files, which is pre-set to be activated from of the buttons on the case.

PalmOne is pitching the T5 not only as a PDA but as a highly portable external hard drive, allowing users to carry around important documents wherever they go. The USP over regular Flash drives is the ability to view, and in the case of Microsoft Office documents, edit those files as well as carry them.

It's a novel idea and one that crucially paves the way for the incorporation of hard drives into PDAs. That will better position the platform as the worlds of the mobile phone, PDA and portable entertainment device, from the iPod to the Microsoft Portable Media Center, continue to coalesce."

30/09/2004

Sanyo to Unveil Prototype Cellular Phone with Built-in Digital TV Tuner at CEATEC 2004

http://www.japancorp.net/Article.Asp?Art_ID=8410

By Dale Hug, JCNN
Sept 30, 2004

"The new TV phone supports H.264/MPEG-4 AVC QVGA (320x240)15fps decoding, twice the MPEG-4 video compression ratio, to improve coding efficiency and quality. The 150g handset measures 102x50x28mm, and comes with a 2.4-inch, 260,000 color TFT LCD and a 2-megapixel CCD."

28/09/2004

Phone Lines Deliver Next-Gen TV

http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,65105,00.html

Wired via Reuters
03:44 PM Sep. 27, 2004 PT

"Video on demand essentially works as a pre-loaded digital video recorder, like TiVo or Sky+, with the content stored on a central server. For example, HomeChoice's music channels function as a customized MTV or VH1, letting subscribers choose which videos they want to watch.

It seems incredible that the company could squeeze so many channels, plus a high-speed internet connection, through the same copper phone wire that has been used for decades. But unlike cable and satellite, which typically have to broadcast all of their channels at once, HomeChoice sends out only one channel of video at a time, customizing it for each subscriber.

Its network, which piggybacks onto the much larger network of BT Group, is within reach of about 1.25 million homes in London, and will be extended to other U.K. cities in 2005. The company recently signed a deal with Britain's dominant pay-TV firm, BSkyB, to offer the Sky Movies and Sky Sports channels.

HomeChoice and other TVIP operators face a number of obstacles, including limited availability -- TVIP requires an internet connection of at least 2 Mbps -- and the difficult task of describing their services to an audience of non-techies. But delivering TV over phone lines has the potential to transform staid telecommunications companies, and to give cable and satellite a run for their customers.

"The telcos' agenda with TV and video is different from the one they had 10 years ago," the analyst and consulting firm Ovum wrote in a research note this week. "Back then, the question was: 'Can we afford to do this?' Now, the question is: 'Can we afford not to do this?'" "

Concord DVx 6-in-1 Digital Video Camera.

http://www.livingroom.org.au/photolog/reviews/miscellaneous/concord_dvx_6in1_digital_video_camera.php

"Concord Press Release
COLOGNE, Germany--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 27, 2004 - “Swiss Army Knife of Digital Cameras” Offers Unsurpassed Functionality Including: Digital Video, Digital Still, Digital Voice Recorder, Stereo MP3 Player, SD Card Reader & Flashlight"

Virus-free, spam-free, secure email a step closer

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/09/27/secure_email/

By John Oates
The Register
Published Monday 27th September 2004 15:11 GMT

"The service uses Peer-to-Peer technology like Napster. The software allows users to create online communities which are ring-fenced to avoid hack and virus threats. Subscribers get secure access to their existing email addresses as well as a .safe address.

Robert Barr, head of development at Jeftel, told The Reg: "All the vulnerabilities in the SMTP email system are at the storage points. We send encrypted mail directly from machine to machine avoiding this problem." He believes that existing email encryption products are too complicated for many senior executives to use.

Both sender and recipient must have installed Jeftel software to use the service. Once set up emails can be sent directly from one machine to another, avoiding ISP servers."

27/09/2004

e2800+ Linux smartphone does video

http://www.infosyncworld.com/news/n/5357.html

"video recorder capable of recording up to 10 hours of video (space and battery permitting) in MPEG4, H.263, 3GP, or MP4 formats"

"Photo Direct Print offers PictBridge support to print directly to many photo printers. It also includes an audio player that supports MP3, Midi, and AMR audio formats, although surprisingly not Ogg Vorbis. A built-in voice recorder with 30 minute capacity rounds out the multimedia features.

To store all of that multimedia the phone includes an SD/MMC card slot, while to display it the e2800+ sports a 65 thousand color (dithered) QVGA 240 x 320 TFT display measuring 2.4 inches. Not surprisingly for such a smartphone, it also includes photo caller ID and offers Java MIDP 1.0 support. Other bundled software includes an HTML 3.2 and Javascript capable web browser, a WAP 2.0 browser, SMS/MMS/EMS client, and a POP3-capable e-mail client with support for up to four accounts. It also includes an e-book reader that supports the industry-backed but not widely used OEB format as well as the open and widely supported but basic PalmDoc format. There is also the usual assortment of PIM applications."


OQO présente son ultra portable

http://www.presence-pc.com/news/OQO-presente-son-ultra-portable-n5084.html

Rédigé à 16:28:54 par Jimmy R - Source : Présence PC

"[...] la bête embarque un processeur cadencé à 1GHz, couplé à 256Mo de mémoire vive, un disque dur 20Go, et un chipset graphique 3D 8Mo, le tout dans un boitier épais de 2.5 centimètres, long de 12 centimètres, et pesant 400 grammes seulement.

Le côté connectique n'est pas en reste, puisqu'en sus des habituels ports USB et Firewire, on trouve le support du Wifi et du Bluetooth. De plus, sa station d'accueil permettra, bien sûr, le rechargement de la batterie intégrée (d'une autonomie de 3 heures) ainsi que d'un port RJ45 pour le réseau filaire."

24/09/2004

Recordings Match the Show, With a Key Drawback (washingtonpost.com)

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A40782-2004Aug28.html

"The digital video recorders -- we tried models offered by Comcast, DirecTV and Dish Network -- have the advantage of including their own cable or satellite tuners, greatly simplifying setup and operation."

"All three recorders display upcoming shows on an onscreen grid that makes scheduling a recording or starting one a matter of pressing a few buttons on the remote. They all also allow you to pause, rewind and replay live TV and to fast-forward through commercials on recorded shows."

"For all their finer points, these three recorders leave out one must-have capability: a way to take recordings elsewhere or archive them for permanent storage at their original quality. Even newer DVD recorders will still have to convert an HD signal to a lower resolution."

23/09/2004

Hitachi TVs to pick up Gemstar technology

http://news.com.com/2100-1041_3-5378350.html?part=rss&tag=5378350&subj=news.1041.20

By Richard Shim
Staff Writer, CNET News.com

"The companies announced a multiyear licensing deal for North America. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, nor was a launch date. Gemstar will receive licensing fees based on the number of sets sold that include its technology. The guide allows television owners to view an electronic version of a show guide. Consumers won't have to subscribe to a service to view the guide.

The guide is meant to be used with cable card-ready digital televisions, which eliminate set top boxes. The inclusion of the guide in cable card-ready televisions is another carrot for consumers to encourage them to buy digital televisions."

22/09/2004

Icebox Flipscreen Review

http://www.digitalhomemag.com/reviews/default.asp?pagetypeid=2&articleid=27580&subsectionid=1305&subsubsectionid=949

Ashley Norris
Digital Home Magazine - Reviews

"Worst of all is the rubbish 64MB of flash memory. Icebox insists that this is plenty, but it’s sure to fill up pretty quickly. Besides, hard disks hardly cost a great deal these days.

So,would you want an Icebox in your kitchen? Well,the answer would have to be yes – provided you have the dosh. Its range of entertainment features is impressive. At the moment, though, it’s too expensive to appeal beyond the high-end custom installation market. Even then, you’d want to see a few additions – such as streaming audio and video – to convince you to consign your portable TV and CD player to the loft."

Beyond Connected Home: iCEBOX

http://www.beyondconnectedhome.com/products/icebox/index.html

"Television • Internet • DVD/CD • FM Radio • Home Video Monitoring • Touch Screen • Remote & Keyboard"

Countertop $1,799.99
Flipscreen $2,299.00

21/09/2004

TV aims for prime time in digital home

http://news.com.com/2100-1041_3-5374975.html?part=rss&tag=5374975&subj=news.1041.20

"The Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) trade group on Monday said it is publishing a user interface standard that uses Web browser-based communications to provide access to and control of networked components--such as a personal computer or digital video recorder--through the main TV screen from a single remote control.

The technology, dubbed CEA-2027, is unlike most previous home networking standards, CEA said, because it supports full control of any networked device, including all of its unique functions defined by the device manufacturer."

20/09/2004

The Almost HD-DVD

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1759,1645245,00.asp?kc=PCRSS02129TX1K0000530

"The V Bravo D2 DVD Player comes with a DVI output port and the circuitry to scale DVDs to HDTV resolutions. The DVI port keeps the DVD content entirely in the digital domain, avoiding the degradation that normally occurs during the digital-to-analog and analog-to-digital conversion (normally inherent in DVD watching)."

Philips DVDR80 - Test du Philips DVDR80 par ZDNet.fr

http://www.zdnet.fr/produits/materiels/hifi_et_video/test/0,39022150,39127984,00.htm

"Plus : Guide électronique de programmation Guide Plus; entrée vidéo; bonne qualité d'enregistrement; design; simple d'utilisation.

Moins : Un peu cher ; trop de boutons sur la télécommande ; il se peut que Guide Plus ne fonctionne pas avec tous les systèmes de câblage.

Verdict : Fort de sa multitude de fonctionnalités et de sa qualité vidéo exceptionnelle, ce Philips est l'enregistreur sur DVD à battre."

19/09/2004

Mobiles track down wi-fi hotspots

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/3665382.stm

"Users find out where a nearby wi-fi hotspot is simply by sending a text message to a short code. Users find out where a nearby wi-fi hotspot is simply by sending a text message to a short code."

18/09/2004

Témoignage sur le Sigmatek PVR-800 : premier lecteur DivX avec enregistreur sur disque dur

http://www.planete-numerique.com/article.php3?id_article=166

"Après plus de 6 mois d’attente de sa livraison, Jean-Pierre Aigron nous livre ses premières impression sur le Sigmatek PVR-800, un appareil hybride lecteur DivX et enregistreur vidéo disque dur."

17/09/2004

SIPShare: P2P SIP-based filesharing from Earthlink

http://www.corante.com/many/archives/2004/09/15/sipshare_p2p_sipbased_filesharing_from_earthlink.php

"Earthlink has released SIPShare, a proof-of-concept P2P filesharing network that uses Session Initiation Protocol (SIP), a tool originally designed for voice and video communications, to set up file sharing networks."

Building a Linux PVR, Part 2: Microsoft's MCE 2004

http://anandtech.com/linux/showdoc.aspx?i=2208

"A few weeks ago, we introduced the first of a series of articles on building a home made PVR, "Building a Linux PVR Part I - MythTV Setup and Install". Today, we bring you the second part of the series, which focuses on Microsoft's Windows XP Media Center Edition 2004 and how it compares to the Linux-based MythTV."

15/09/2004

RIM BlackBerry 7100t review by PC Magazine

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1759,1643776,00.asp?kc=PCRSS02129TX1K0000530

"Price:
$199 list

Spec Data:
4MB SRAM, 32 MB user-accessible flash memory; 2.1-inch (240 x 260) 65,000-color screen, Bluetooth, 9-day estimated standby time, 4-hour estimated talk time, speakerphone, GSM 850/900/1800/1900."

12/09/2004

Démodulateur satellite NEOTION BOX 3000

http://www.planete-numerique.com/article.php3?id_article=159

"La NEOTION Box est un récepteur satellite de télévision numérique intégrant la technologie NEOTION Video Link. Commercialisée au prix de 249 € TTC, la NEOTION Box 3000 se positionne comme un récepteur satellite haut de gamme, intégrant des fonctionnalités d’enregistrements et de lecture inégalées dans le monde de la télévision numérique."


10/09/2004

So Your Roomba Vacuums ... Does It Also Take Pictures?

http://online.wsj.com/article_email/0,,SB109450637020310492-IFjg4NklaB3m5upa3mGaqyAm4,00.html

"Phillip Torrone and his wife share their Seattle house with five Sony Aibo dog robots, two Segway motorized scooters, a suitcase-size robot whose brain is a laptop computer, and dozens of other gadgets. With the help of small digital video cameras, Mr. Torrone is modifying the Segway to automatically follow a pink ball. The laptop robot is trained to follow the Segway. When the robot gets close enough, it chirps out "ma-ma." Mr. Torrone has also modified his Roomba robotic vacuum cleaner to putter around the house and take pictures, periodically sending a Web log snapshots of electrical outlets and a dog bed."

Vodafone launches Wi-Fi Pocket PC

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/09/10/vodafone_vpa_iii/

By Tony Smith
Published Friday 10th September 2004 08:43 GMT
The Register

"Sporting a 2.5in 65,000-colour 240 x 320 display, the [...] VPA III also features a VGA digicam. Powered by a 400MHz Intel XScale PXA263 processor, the device contains 128MB of RAM and 64MB of Flash ROM - on which is stored Windows Mobile 2003 Phone Edition. An MMC/SD IO card slot is provided for expansion."

Opera browsing, as seen on TV | CNET News.com

http://news.com.com/2110-1032_3-5360639.html?part=rss&tag=5360639&subj=news.1032.20

"Opera Software released a new version of its browser technology Thursday, aimed at surfing Web pages on television sets. The software is designed primarily for use with advanced set-top boxes that facilitate interactive TV services. That market is still in its infancy, with cable companies in the United States and Europe moving more slowly toward interactive services than once expected."

Skype releases Pocket PC software

http://news.com.com/2100-7352_3-5360918.html?part=rss&tag=5360918&subj=news.7352.20

"Free Net phone provider Skype released its first software for personal digital assistants on Thursday, making good on an earlier promise to expand the range of devices that can use its service."

07/09/2004

TiVo and Netflix join forces for broadband movies

http://arstechnica.com/news/posts/20040906-4159.html

"TiVo and Netflix are expected to announce a new partnership later this month that will bring the power of NetFlix to the convenience of TiVo. While there are as of yet no official details, insiders say that TiVo subscribers who sign up with NetFlix will have the option of receiving their NetFlix rentals over broadband as opposed to snail mail. NetFlix currently mails DVD rentals to its customers, who then watch and return their rentals via mail as well. The service is lauded by many, but some find the wait time between mailing and receiving their rentals to be cumbersome."

06/09/2004

Samsung shows 'world's first' hard drive phone

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/09/06/samsung_hdd_handset/

The Register
By Tony Smith
Published Monday 6th September 2004 11:42 GMT

"The SPH-V5400, unveiled today in Japan, includes 1.5GB of hard disk storage. That's barely more than you can get from a SD or CompactFlash card, but it's a start, presaging the day when handsets are as much iPods as phones."

"When the SPH-V5400 goes on sale in South Korea later this month, it will retail for around $800, IDG reports."

"The Samsung handset also features an FM radio, 64-voice polyphonic ringtone support, a 240 x 320 display and TV output - again, preparing the way for the day when mobiles incorporate Microsoft Portable Media Center-style functionality.

Ditto the phone's radio, which like the Neuros II 'digital audio computer' and the Griffin iTrip can broadcast audio content to nearby FM receivers. ®"

TiVo, Cable or Satellite? Choose That Smart TV Wisely

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/05/business/yourmoney/05dvr.html?ex=1252209600&en=e60e1d3735bcf08d&38;ei=5090&38;partner=rssuserland


"Like many other consumers, Otter and Katy Monahan Huntley had an inkling of how DVR's worked before they got their first machine four years ago. At the time, players like TiVo cost several hundred dollars, not including the $12.95 monthly fee to download the programming guide. But the couple, who live with their two sons in Burbank, Calif., pulled the plug on their Charter Communications cable service when they saw an advertisement from the satellite provider Dish Network, which was offering free DVR's - they would pay only a $4.98 monthly service fee. That lower fee and free installation provided the tipping point."

"At the moment, the satellite providers, Dish Network and its main rival, DirecTV, are the biggest competitors in the DVR rental market. Dish's machines use proprietary technology and offer nine-day program guides, while DirecTV uses TiVo technology that includes two-week guides. DirecTV charges $4.99 a month for its machines - a penny more than Dish."

"Some consumers also complain that TiVo does not provide enough customer service, particularly when they are hooking up the machine for the first time. Marisa Strafaci, a New Yorker who was given a TiVo as a gift, spent two weeks sorting out how to have her player communicate with the cable company's set-top box. She also had problems with the device when she switched phone companies. Still, she said, "once it runs, it's easy to navigate.""

03/09/2004

Linux Open Media Box :: aka LOMB

http://lomb.abeille.com/index.phpLinux

"Le but du projet OpenMediaBox est de créer une console de salon améliorée et basée sur des logiciels libres.
L'OpenMediaBox est un lecteur multimedia qui se branche sur une télé et peut lire tous les contenus audio et video (DVD, CD audio, DivX, mp3, ...).
L'OpenMediaBox est une console de jeux et un set-top-box: elle peut exécuter des jeux Linux, et toutes les autres applications disponibles sur cette platforme.
Sont hébergés sur Tuxfamily les différents logiciels développés pour le projet: l'interface que verra l'utilisateur, le systeme de reconnaissance des CD, les fichiers permettant de générer le système d'exploitation, etc...."

Sony VGN-U70/U50 :: Tech Specs (U101 Replacement!)

http://www.kemplar.com/sonyu101_mb.htm

"Model Number: VGN-U70 [U50 in brackets, if different]
CPU: Mobil Intel® Pentium-M® 1GHz low-voltage processor [U50 uses Celeron-M 900MHz]
System Bus/Chipset: 400Mhz/Intel 855 PM
L1/L2 Cache: 64K/1MB Integrated [U50: 64K/512K]
RAM/Memory Bus: 256 MB Micro-DIMM DDR (512MB maximum)/266MHz
Hard Drive: 20GB Ultra-ATA100
Video Card/RAM: 64MB Shared System Memory
Display/Resolution: 5" SVGA TFT Display
800x600 pixels, 16 million colors (1600x1280 pixels, external)
Audio: PCM 16-Bit Audio with One (1) Headphone Jack
Inputs/Outputs: One (1) USB 2.0 Port
One (1) Compact Flash Card Slot
One (1) Memory Stick® Slot
External I/O Ports (when connected to dock):
Four (4) USB 2.0 Ports
One (1) RJ-45 Ethernet Port
One (1) iLink Port
One (1) VGA Out Port
Wireless Connections: 802.11b/g Wireless LAN (Speeds up to 54Mbps)
Keyboard: (Attachable) QWERTY 87 Keys, 17mm pitch, 2mm keystroke
Battery: Standard 2.5 Hour Battery (Optional 5.5 Hour Battery)
AC Adaptor: 24 Watt, 100-240 Volt, 50-60 Hz Adaptor
Dimensions: 6.57" x 4.25" x 1.03" (167 x 108 x 26.4 mm)
Weight: 1.21 lbs (550 kg)
Operating System: Windows XP Home Edition (U50)
Windows XP Professional (Comes standard with U70, Optional with U50) "

02/09/2004

Le P2P saura t-il rester attractif ?

http://www.ratiatum.com/p2p.php?article=1661

posté le Mardi 24 août 2004 à 09h18 par Guillaume Champeau
source : Ratiatum

"Lors que nous avons reçu l'invitation, nous refusions de croire ce qui nous était proposé de tester. Un visionnage de vidéo en qualité DivX en steaming, avec une simple ligne ADSL, un lecteur ultra-léger, sans spyware, portable sur différentes plateformes, et la possibilité d'uploader ses propres vidéo gratuitement, jusqu'à 800Mo et une compression de 800Kpbs. Très sceptiques et méfiants, nous avons accepté l'offre et c'est à notre grande surprise que nous avons effectivement assisté à la "projection" en temps réel, sans aucun temps de chargement, de la bande annonce du film Matrix dans une qualité tout à fait honnête."

Nintendo DS invites free voice-over-IP chat

http://www.gamespot.com/news/2004/08/31/news_6106106.html

By Chris Kohler -- GameSpot
POSTED: 08/31/04 09:46 AM PST

"In its Electronic Entertainment Industry Update released today, TNI Securities reports that the recently revealed headset port on the Nintendo DS will be used in conjunction with the built-in wireless 802.11b networking capabilities to offer voice-over-IP chat--in effect, allowing gamers to use the DS to make free phone calls at wireless network hotspots."

29/08/2004

27/08/2004

Mobile hard drive carries Linux

http://news.com.com/2100-1003_3-5325181.html?part=rss&tag=5325181&subj=news.1003.20

"The GlobeTrotter device, with Mandrakelinux 10.0, can be plugged into the USB port of any PC to turn it into a Linux desktop, without any modifications to the host PC. GlobeTrotter can store up to 40GB of data, including applications and personal settings. The software includes productivity suite OpenOffice.org and the integrated personal information management suites KDE Kontact and Novell Evolution."

26/08/2004

Japan's NTT DoCoMo, Motorola Strike Deal to Develop Next-Generation Mobile Phone

http://www.technologyreview.com/articles/04/08/ap_2082504.asp?trk=nl

"Subscribers will be able to browse the Internet or make phone calls over high-speed wireless LAN networks, the companies said. They can also link to laptops or personal handheld devices using Bluetooth technology and view a wide range of Microsoft software files."

24/08/2004

312 LeanOnMe

http://www.312inc.com/3_sol_prod_LOM.html

"Using innovative Peer-to-Peer technology, LeanOnMe allows you to backup your files to your friends, family, or colleague's computer. This is all done quickly, easily, and safely, using encryption standards similar to that used by banks and the military. LeanOnMe is platform independent! (Windows, UNIX, Linux, Macintosh)"

Nokia 6820 - Test du Nokia 6820 par ZDNet.fr

http://www.zdnet.fr/produits/materiels/telephones_mobiles/test/0,39022262,39145505,00.htm

Par Damien Prat
Mercredi 24 mars 2004

"Le clavier numérique, en tout point semblable à celui de n'importe quel téléphone, se soulève comme la couverture d'un calepin. Le 6820 se tient alors à deux mains, comme une console de jeu portable. L'écran se trouve au milieu avec le clavier réparti à droite et à gauche. La saisie s'effectue avec les pouces sans trop de difficulté, les touches offrent entre 7 et 10 mm de hauteur et de largeur, largement assez pour éviter les erreurs. On s'y fait assez vite même si le clavier n'offre pas le même confort que celui d'un Treo ou d'un RIM Blackberry. S'il se révèle parfait pour rédiger des SMS ou de courts e-mails, il paraît difficile de l'utiliser pour un texte plus long: écrire l'équivalent d'une page Word relève plus du défi que du passe-temps. Les adolescents habitués à écrire en langage "texto" n'y verront d'ailleurs qu'un intérêt limité. En revanche, tous ceux qui utilisent les SMS dans un cadre professionnel, et donc tiennent à soigner leur communication, seront ravis de bénéficier d'un clavier intégral. Ce dernier permet d'écrire en français rapidement, ce qui est plus aisément déchiffrable que le langage des "texto"!"

Sigmatek PVR-800 Unofficial FAQ

http://pvr800.sigmatek-players.com/index.php?page=home

"Lecteur CD/DVD/Disque dur: oui
Lecteur DivX/XviD: oui (à partir du disque ou du lecteur CD/DVD)
Enregistreur TV/Sources Externes sur disque dur: oui (disque dur optionnel)
Tuner TV PAL/NTSC SECAM: oui (avec logiciel intégré)
Tuner Nicam Stéréo: non (mono - à reconfirmer)
Copieur DVD sur disque dur: oui (sauf avec Macrovision)
Rack extractible pour disque dur: oui"

LOOX at Fujitsu-Siemens's new high end 700 series

LOOX 700

PDA WiFi + Bluetooth, Compact Flash + Secure Digital

"They offer four different connectivity options, include both Compact Flash and SDIO-capable Secure Digital card slots as well as dual-wireless support for both 802.11b Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 1.2, which is backward compatible with the Bluetooth 1.1 found on the majority of modern Bluetooth devices."

23/08/2004

Push Siemens CX70 to talk

http://www.infosyncworld.com/news/n/5246.html

By Larry Garfield, Friday 20 August 2004

"Push To Talk is slowly gaining momentum, and now Siemens has joined the
game with the release of the Push Talking Siemens CX70."

"On the software side, the CX70 offers a unified inbox supporting SMS
and MMS, as well as e-mail via POP3 or IMAP and WAP 2.0 support. "

20/08/2004

A disposable digital camera enters the market at $19.99

A disposable digital camera enters the market at $19.99

"Pure Digital is a $19.99 digital camera, with a color preview screen and the ability to delete pictures. After you bring it in for processing, you get a free picture CD along with your prints."

17/08/2004

Sending Money Through Cell Phone Numbers

http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200408/200408160049.html

"A mobile banking remittance service will be introduced to the public starting November, which will allow users to send money by entering the receiver's cell phone number, even if one does not know the receiver's bank account number."

Mobile mini-note PC

http://www.japantoday.com/e/?content=product&id=741

August 17, 2004

"JVC has launched what it claims is the world's lightest DVD multidrive laptop PC, Interlink MP-XV831PX. Within a 235mm x 31.5mm x 177mm, 1,135-gram box, there is a Pentium M 1 GHz CPU, a 40 GB HDD, a wireless LAN, and 8.9-inch TFT screen. It can run for up to 6.7 hours with a battery pack.

Interlink MP-XV831PX, JVC
173,000 yen
http://www.jvc-victor.co.jp/interlink/xp/mp-xv831/"

16/08/2004

Device Profile: Interact-TV Telly MC1200 digital media center

http://linuxdevices.com/articles/AT4917820524.html

"The Telly MC1200 is housed in an aluminum case measuring 16.5 x 4.6 x 12.2 inches. It comes with an infrared trackball remote control and infrared keyboard (pictured at right).

The device is based on a 1.2GHz VIA C3 processor, a low-powered X86 compatible chip that uses a quiet "fan-sink" for low-noise operation in living rooms. The system bus speed is 533MHz. The device includes 256MB of PC2100 DDR SDRAM, expandable to 1GB.

The MC1200 has a 2-channel UltraDMA/133/100/66 IDE controller, and comes stock with a single 80GB, 7200 RPM hard drive (larger drives optionally available). Three drive bays and a robust power supply provide capacity for up to 750GB of internal storage. The device also offers a FireWire interface supporting the addition of "unlimited" amounts of external storage.

The MC1200 comes with a slimline (laptop-style) DVD player, with a DVD/CDRW drive optionally available. It also includes an NTSC standard TV tuner, with video resolution of 640x480.

The latest Telly includes 6-channel AC97 stereo analog outputs, as well as 5.1 (five satellite speakers and one subwoofer) audio outputs. It includes S-video, composite, and coaxial (RF) video inputs, as well as S-video out."

"[...] the MC1200 runs Interact-TV's internally developed Linux implementation, which it calls EOS, or "Entertainment Operating System." The OS includes a 2.4.18 Linux kernel, standard Linux software components such as an X Window server, and libraries supporting APIs for GUIs, XUL (XML user-interface language) and application management."


"The Telly MC1200 is available now direct from Interact-TV, starting at about $800."

Playing the convergence game

http://news.com.com/2100-1043_3-5309636.html?part=rss&tag=5309636&subj=news.1043.20

CNET News.com
Published: August 16, 2004, 4:00 AM PDT
By David Becker
Staff Writer, CNET News.com

"Several left-field contenders are also hoping to make convergence stick. Consumer electronics manufacturer Apex Digital plans to enter the market late this year with the first device based on the Discover platform, which reads standard PC game discs and configures the games for display on a TV set. The ApeXtreme plays Window games, dishes up digital music and photos and plays DVD movies. Infinium Labs hasn't discussed nongaming functions for its upcoming Phantom console, but the unit's broadband connection could be used to deliver streaming media as well as Windows games."

Vazu Contacts - Add Contacts to Your Mobile Phone the Easy Way

https://www.vazu.com/

"Send contacts from our website or Outlook
No software to download
No cables to buy
Safe, secure, and private"

"What is the Vazu Contacts service?

Vazu Contacts provides a simple and easy to use service for users to upload contact information from Outlook, Outlook Express, Apple Mail, or Ximian Evolution to their mobile phones. It eliminates the distress of entering names and numbers into your phone when you buy, replace or change phones. This way you have the most current information with you."

12/08/2004

'Push to talk' meets Wi-Fi

http://news.com.com/2100-1039_3-5305894.html?part=rss&tag=5305894&subj=news.1039.20

Published: August 11, 2004, 12:29 PM PDT
By Ben Charny
Staff Writer, CNET News.com

"Cellular carriers are creating "push to talk" services that travel over Wi-Fi networks, federal regulators say--a move that could expand the one-push cell phone calls to VoIP systems."

10/08/2004

waysmall 200ax-bt 83mm x 36mm x 15mm

http://www.gumstix.com/oscommerce-2.2ms2/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=26&products_id=86

"processor Intel XScale® PXA255 - 200MHz
memory 64MB SDRAM standard (100 MHz bus)
4 MB Strataflash standard
(1) MMC slot for up to 256MB

operating environments: u-boot-1.0.0 bootloader in flash Linux kernel 2.6.0 in flash busybox with webserver and remote login
communications USB: (1) client
serial ports: (2)
dimensions: 83mm x 36mm x 15mm
wireless: Yes, Infineon Bluetooth™ Module on btuart ROK104001"

Linux computer squishes into CompactFlash card

http://www.linuxdevices.com/news/NS2844504302.html

"C Data Solutions has shoehorned a complete Linux-based computer system into a Type II CompactFlash (CF) card. The "Compact Flash Computer" (CFC) can be mixed and matched with third-party CF-card peripherals to instantly create miniscule Linux systems based entirely on CompactFlash cards, without requiring hardware or software design or debug."

08/08/2004

Mini-Box M-100

http://www.mini-box.com/m100.htm

Le M-100 est un tout petit PC

"Size: 20 cm (W) x4.4 cm (H) x22 (D) cm"

Qui fait tourner un Media Center

"MediaBoxOS™ Embedded Linux

What is the MediaBoxOS? The MediaBoxOS linux distribution is a small embedded Linux distribution designed for Compact Flash operation.

The MediaBoxOS is a simple Linux distribution has been battle hardened for more than 2 years running as a specialized media operating system, where response time and stability are very important factors.
The MediaBoxOS distribution is around 8Mb. When tools and other applications are included the total size is well below 16Mb. The I-Media distribution comes in an 64Mb or 128Mb Compact Flash as well as on a CD. When booted from the CD, an menu-driven installation program will walk you through all necessary steps."

Specs:

"Processor
- VIA Eden™ 800Mhz processor (533 versions also avail)
- 100/133MHz Front Side Bus
- low power consumption
- Optional Fanless
- VIA C3™ E-Series processor (EBGA package)
- 100/133MHz Front Side Bus
- 128K L1 and 64K L2 cache

TV-Out
- Integrated Macro Vision 7.01
- High quality scaling and filtering
- S-Video or Composite video output
- Supports NTSC/PAL TV formats

Main Memory
- Two 168-pin DIMM memory sockets
- PC100/133 SDRAM support

LAN
- VIA 10/100 Ethernet LAN onboard

Graphics
- Integrated AGP2X with 2D/3D Graphics Acceleration
- Motion Compensation for DVD playback
- VIP port for video overlay function

Audio
- VIA VT1612A AC'97 onboard
- 3 Audio Jacks - Line-Out, Line-In and Microphone-In
- Sound Blaster, Sound Blaster Pro Compatible
- Digital I/O compatible with consumer mode S/PDIF

Expansion Slots
- ATA/100/66/33 Support
- 1 PCI slots

Front I/O ports
- 2 USB jacks
- RCA line in
- Front loading, bootable Compact Flash (any size)

Back I/O Ports
- 3 Audio Jacks - Line-out, Mic-in and Line-in
- Four USB ports (two USB ports located at rear side)
- 1 EPP/ECP parallel port
- 1 16C550 compatible serial port
- 2 External PS/2 Compatible Keyboard /Mouse ports
- 2 TV output ports (S-Video or optional RCA TV out)
- 1 S/PDIF out (optional and multiplex with RCA TV out)
- 1 RJ-45 LAN port
- 1 PCI slot (Note: support for two PCI devices)
- 4 GPIO, software controllable

Power Supply
- 60 watt DC-DC converter"

03/08/2004

New Siemens phone connects to BlackBerry

http://news.com.com/2100-1041_3-5293090.html?part=rss&tag=5293090&subj=news.1041.20

CNET News.com
Published: August 2, 2004, 8:22 AM PDT
By Dinesh C. Sharma

"The triband SK65 phone will offer e-mail management through a licensing deal with Research In Motion, which makes the popular BlackBerry e-mail device. SK65 customers will be able to manage e-mail with Microsoft Outlook or Lotus Notes."

02/08/2004

Internet Radio, Without Drudgery

http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,64402,00.html

Wired News
By Daniel Terdiman
02:00 AM Aug. 02, 2004 PT

"Last.fm is an online radio site -- but with a twist. It works hand-in-hand with Audioscrobbler, a small software plug-in that works with popular software music players like Winamp and iTunes. The plug-in scrutinizes the music files on users' computers and sends the information to a server. From that, Last.fm creates a personalized Internet radio station based on each user's taste."

29/07/2004

Solar powered charger for your phone

Solar powered charger for your phone

TechJapan :: English news on technology from Japan
Posted on Jul 19, 2004 - 04:26 PM by zmcnulty

"The "Pocket Energy," a simple mobile device charger that uses solar energy, has been introduced. This solar-powered recharger, with a postcard sized 23mm thick body, is opened up much like a laptop; if it is placed in the sun for 4 to 5 hours, it can recharge two cellular phones."

26/07/2004

HP to Dick Tracy: Bet your phone can't do this

http://news.com.com/2100-1041_3-5282083.html?part=rss&tag=5282083&subj=news.1041.20

Last modified: July 25, 2004, 6:05 PM PDT
By Ina Fried and Ben Charny

"The h6315, which was co-developed with T-Mobile, operates on a traditional cellular network but can automatically hop over onto a faster Wi-Fi connection when one is available. The device also has a built-in camera and a detachable keyboard and can also act as a cell phone using the GSM cellular network.

"This is the ultimate device," said Scott Ballantyne, vice president of business services marketing for T-Mobile USA. "This will play and store MP3s. It takes pictures.""

22/07/2004

Daisy Multimedia GEMPIX DM 425 Z

Camera, MP3 player, voice recorder, MMC/SD card slot, USB Removable Drive, optional Bluetooth.

Jackito Tactile Personal Assistant

http://www.jackito-pda.com/what_is_jackito/overview.php

Optional FM radio, MP3 player, Bluetooth, SD or MMC card reader.

"1) The first PDA screen that is 100% Fingertouch-sensitive.
Designed for all fingertips (leading-edge technology and user interface).
The most reliable touchscreen technology: no need for recalibration.

2) The first screen to support two simultaneous touch points.
While holding Jackito in your hands, you can easily move both your thumbs, either
separately or together. This lets you operate the Touchscreen as fast as your brain thinks
(you can touch two points simultaneously).

3) The first screen featuring three multimedia layers.
Touchscreen (top) + Display (center) + Sound (bottom)."

20/07/2004

CALLING UP RECORDS: Data hungry? Tap into your cell

http://www.asahi.com/english/business/TKY200407170168.html

The Asahi Shimbun
(IHT/Asahi: July 17,2004) (07/17)

"Produce grower and exporter Dole has introduced a new technology service that allows a cellphone user to check vegetable information while at the store.

Consumers can learn where the produce came from and how it arrived on the shelf, along with cooking tips.

The service only works on produce packaged with a ``QR'' barcode, a matrix-type super-code capable of storing lots of information. The shopper needs a cellphone equipped with a camera and scanner equipment that can read the codes.

For now, only Dole's broccoli has the QR code, but the company plans to expand the service to other vegetables."

19/07/2004

P2P Company Not Going Anywhere

http://www.wired.com/news/digiwood/0,1412,64233-2,00.html?tw=wn_story_page_next1

Wired News
By Michelle Delio
02:00 AM Jul. 17, 2004 PT

"McCaleb is currently in the process of developing a new application called 'kdrive,' which will provide a way to securely share files and chat with friends and colleagues. McCaleb said it's an attempt to make a 'secure virtual global hard drive,' and though kdrive is still in early beta form, he's very excited about its potential."

The New Miniature Computers (They Also Make Phone Calls)

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/19/technology/19phone.html?ex=1247889600&

The New York Times > Technology
By JOHN MARKOFF
Published: July 19, 2004

"The cellular industry's long pursuit of ever-more minuscule phones has shifted into reverse, giving rise to bulkier wireless handsets with larger color screens and small versions of standard qwerty-style computer keyboards to send e-mail and instant messages."

01/07/2004

Apple updates Rendezvous for Windows, Linux

http://news.com.com/Apple+updates+Rendezvous+for+Windows,+Linux/2100-1046_3-5253786.html?tag=nefd.hed

"While Apple open-sourced the code to Rendezvous for the Mac OS X and the underlying Unix-like Darwin operating system almost two years ago, the latest development release adds new tools for users and expanded functionality.

"By supporting an open standards process and providing open-source software that is available today, Apple is encouraging the rapid adoption of Rendezvous technology," Philip Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing, said in a statement marking the original release of the code.

The current release includes full support for linking to other devices using standard Internet protocols and allows Windows machines to advertise and discover Web servers and file servers on a local network using Internet Explorer. A printer setup wizard allows Windows networks to use Rendezvous compliant printers."

29/06/2004

01net. - Un SI mis en place grace au libre

http://www.01net.com/article/246316.html

Renaud Bonnet, Décision Informatique, le 21/06/2004 à 00h00

"Après un gros chantier de mise en réseau des différents bâtiments de l'administration municipale, il met en place un back office basé sur des logiciels libres : intranet, annuaire LDAP, messagerie. Les cinquante postes de travail de la mairie déjà en place, et les cinquante nouveaux postes alors déployés, sont équipés de StarOffice 5.2, ce qui résout les problèmes d'incompatibilité entre formats, dus aux différentes versions de Microsoft Office, qui devaient jusque-là cohabiter. Un portail web de travail de groupe est déployé, qui fournit agendas partagés, carnets d'adresses, accès à la messagerie et gestion électronique des documents. Le logiciel utilisé, Xinotis, est propriétaire, mais installé sur une plate-forme libre Lamp."

Samsung place Linux au coeur de sa prochaine génération de mobiles

http://www.neteconomie.com/perl/navig.pl/neteconomie/infos/article/20040629083704

neteconomie.com
Jérôme Bouteiller

"La solution dévoilée par Samsung Electronic s'appuie sur la mémoire Flash "NAND" et permet également, grâce à Linux, l'exécution de programmes. Cette nouvelle architecture qui fait l'économie de la mémoire NOR et de la mémoire RAM devrait augmenter les performances des téléphones mobiles tout en réduisant sensiblement leur consommation et leur encombrement.

Le système de fichiers Linux mis en œuvre par Samsung est quand à lui appelé RFS (Robust File System) et assure une préservation plus efficace des données en cas d’interruption de l’alimentation, ainsi qu’une meilleure répartition de l’usure pour davantage de fiabilité. Pour résoudre les problèmes de perte de données consécutives à l’altération des tables d’allocation des fichiers (FAT), Samsung a développé une solution mémoire Flash NAND bâtie sur Linux qui prend également en charge les tables " Transactional FAT " pour les cartes mémoire externes. Par rapport aux systèmes de fichiers ouverts JFFS2 et YAFFS conventionnels, le système de fichiers Linux de Samsung accélère - respectivement jusqu’à quatre et dix fois - la vitesse d’écriture en mémoire Flash NAND."

28/06/2004

The Best (and Worst) Video Feeds Online

http://ojr.org/ojr/technology/1087947933.php

Online Journalism Review
Mark Glaser
Posted: 2004-06-22

Reviewed: CNN.com, Washingtonpost.com, RealOne SuperPass, FoxNews.com, ABCNews.com, ABCNews.com, FeedRoom, ESPN.com, NYTimes.com, MSNBC.com, MSNBC.com.

24/06/2004

simsi moblog - your mobile photo weblog

http://www.rowlff.de/simsi/

"simsi is a free, simple piece of weblog-software I have written as a means of posting my thoughts while I am on the road, away from my trusty computer - a moblog, to use current nomenclature. All you need is a cellphone to send a message, either an SMS (for all you Americans out there: a textmessage), an MMS or a regular eMail to your address. Or you can use any internet-cafe you come across. Whenever then somebody looks at the weblog, the script queries the mail-address for messages to be posted and adds their date, author and content to the weblog. Any photos (.jpg) sent with your message (e.g. from your new shiny camera phone) are displayed as well."

Language: PHP

Uses: IMAP

23/06/2004

Téléphonie IP P2P : Skype disponible sur linux

http://www.neteconomie.com/perl/navig.pl/neteconomie/infos/article/20040623005750

Le 23/06/2004 à 00:57
Jérôme Bouteiller

"Après les systèmes d'exploitation Windows et Windows Mobile, Skype Technologies S.A. annonce le portage de son célèbre logiciel de téléphonie IP sur la plate-forme linux. Skype est disponible pour de nombreuses distributions telles que SuSE 8 et 9, Fedora Core 1 et 2, Mandrake 9 ou encore Java Desktop System Release 2."

08/06/2004

mercora

http://www.mercora.com/

"Mercora is a person-to-person network that enables you to find, communicate and share interests with friends and family. Mercora has built a framework for sharing digital content using peer-to-peer technologies to directly connect you with your friends on the network. You do all these things through the simple interface of the Mercora applications."

04/06/2004

Hotmail incinerates customer files

http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1104_2-5226090.html

By Evan Hansen
CNET News.com
June 3, 2004, 2:03 PM PT
News - ZDNet

"Legal experts said there is generally little recourse for consumers in the event of data loss on services such as Hotmail, which are typically covered by terms-of-service agreements that provide broad liability exemptions.

"In general, consumers are out of luck," said Ira Rothken, an attorney based in San Rafael, Calif., who has litigated such cases in the past. "Frankly, it's understandable. There are always going to be glitches that lead to data loss."

He said consumers can protect themselves by ensuring that valuable files are adequately backed up. Some Web-based e-mail services, such as Yahoo Mail, allow customers to download e-mail to their desktops and retrieve them using a PC-based e-mail client such as Microsoft's Outlook. Online storage services such as IBackup, Xdrive and Connected also provide file backup services for a monthly fee.

Raghu Kulkarni, a spokesman for IBackup, said demand for online storage services is growing. The privately held company serves thousands of customers who subscribe to service packages that run from $3 to $800 a month. The most popular plan costs $14.95 a month for a 4GB backup plan.

But he offers a sobering note: Online storage companies don't guarantee customers a fail-safe backup system.

"We do not provide a 100 percent guarantee that the backup will take place," he said. "That cannot be guaranteed by anyone. That's just because of the nature of the Internet--it's very difficult to provide a 100 percent guarantee.""

In the virtual stacks, pirated books find readers

http://news.com.com/2100-1030_3-5226077.html?tag=nefd.hed

In the virtual stacks, pirated books find readers
Last modified: June 3, 2004, 1:43 PM PDT
By Sandeep Junnarkar
The New York Times

"Early in his undergraduate years at Indiana University, Joseph Ruesewald said, he had trouble finding the required titles for a couple of his classes at the local bookstores.

When he tried ordering the books online, he learned it would take too long for delivery. Having come of age in the era of Napster, Kazaa and other file-sharing networks infamous as bazaars for pirated music, he knew exactly how to obtain the books--if not in his hands, at least for his computer's hard drive.

Over the semesters, downloading books free and reading them on his monitor became routine, he said. He learned to adjust the screen color to off-white to help reduce eye strain and depleted his university printing allotment by running off hundreds of pages at a time."

02/06/2004

Du peer-to-peer pour les radios en ligne

Du peer-to-peer pour les radios en ligne

Eric Larcher, L'Ordinateur Individuel, le 01/06/2004 à 15h00

"Avec la technique du peer-to-peer, une simple liaison ADSL offrant un débit de 128 kbit/s en émission peut suffire pour alimenter des milliers d'internautes, l'ordinateur de chaque personne connectée au réseau servant de relais vers une dizaine d'autres."

"Avec Peercast, nous avons pu écouter, malgré quelques coupures du son, la petite Webradio d'une école nancéienne."

01/06/2004

Les smartphones pour gérer les e-mails via le mobile

http://www.lentreprise.com/dossier/489.html

La vie des nomades de l'entreprise va changer. Bouygues, Orange et SFR proposent des appareils qui gèrent les e-mails et font même PC de poche. Que valent-ils à l'usage ?

Antoine Maurel - L'entreprise.com - Dossier du 12/05/2004

Tableau comparatif

28/05/2004

Blackberry, la 'machine à mails'

http://www.iptsos.com/services/news/news.php?id=2332

"Blackberry est donc une véritable 'machine à mails' qui permet de rester connecté partout tout le temps. D'abord réservé aux professionnels pour se connecter à leur messagerie d'entreprise, ce produit s'ouvre aujourd'hui à un public plus large car SFR vient de commercialiser une version qui permet d'accéder aux messageries hébergées (c'est-à-dire si vous avez une adresse e-mail chez Yahoo, Hotmail, Wanadoo, Tiscali, ou n'importe quel fournisseur d'accès). Dommage qu'il n'existe pas de version sachant faire les deux à la fois !"

26/05/2004

Aiptek Pocket DV5 Camcorder

http://www.firebox.com/index.html?dir=firebox&action=product&pid=723

firebox.com

Caméra numérique MPEG4 sur carte mémoire SD ou MMC, qui sait jouer du MP3.

Vers une baisse de prix de mémoire Flash

http://www.clubic.com/n/n12761.html

Publié le 24/05/2004 par Vincent

"Samsung précise que suite à cette baisse, le prix de la mémoire Flash aurait été divisé par deux depuis le mois d'octobre. Le prix moyen du chip mémoire Flash 64 Mo est pass� de 21.5$ au mois d'octobre à 9$ aujourd'hui selon le site dramexchange.com."

Muro MR100: lecteur/enregistreur MP3... et émetteur radio

http://www.muro-france.com/

Dans la série, lecteurs/enregistreurs MP3 qui font des choses en plus, le Muro MR100 qui fait émetteur radio.

Extrait du test de kennymuro:

"Mais surtout, il possède une fonction qu'il est le seul à intégrer: l'émission FM.

A quoi ça sert? Tout simplement à émettre sur la bande FM (de 88 à 107 MHz, fréquence qu l'on peut choisir manuellement ou automatiquement) toute la musique qu'il contient. Par exemple, vous êtes en voiture et vous voulez écouter la musique de votre Muro. Il est déconseillé de mettre les écouteurs en conduisant. C'est pourquoi il est meilleur et plus pratique d'utiliser cette fonction. Vous mettez le Muro en lecture et vous activez l'émission FM. Vous choisissez une fréquence radio libre (ou vous laissez le Muro le faire à votre place), puis vous réglez votre autoradio sur la même fréquence….et là….magie !!! vous entendez la musique du Muro sur les hauts parleurs de votre voiture. Et cela marche avec n'importe quel récepteur FM."

19/05/2004

Freevo

http://freevo.sourceforge.net/

"Freevo is an open-source home theatre PC platform based on Linux and a number of open-source audio/video tools. MPlayer and/or Xine can be used to play audio and video files in most popular formats. Freevo can be used both for a standalone PVR computer with a TV+remote, as well as on a regular desktop computer using the monitor and keyboard."

Palm demos Blackberry client

By Tony Dennis: Tuesday 18 May 2004, 23:26

"Works well on Samsung smartphone

[...]

The icing on the cake was a live demo of the Blackberry email client working on a Palm smartphone, an SGH-i500 GSM handset from Samsung. The demo was indeed very impressive."

17/05/2004

Microsoft Portrait

http://research.microsoft.com/~jiangli/portrait/

"Microsoft Portrait is a research prototype for mobile video communication. It supports .NET Messenger Service, Session Initiation Protocol and Internet Locator Service on PCs, Pocket PCs, Handheld PCs and Smartphone. It runs on local area networks, dialup networks and even wireless networks with bandwidths as low as 9.6 kilobits/second. Microsoft Portrait delivers portrait-like video if users are in low bandwidths and displays full-color video if users are in broadband. In low bandwidths, portrait video possesses clearer shape, smoother motion, shorter latency and much cheaper computational cost than do conventional video technologies. Microsoft Portrait pursues providing presence notification, chat/voice/video functions anytime, anywhere, on any device."

"PPC version 2.21 has been released. It supports HP Photosmart Mobile Camera and Hitachi G1000 Pocket PC Phone Built-In Camera."

14/05/2004

XBMC - Xbox Media Center

http://www.xboxmediacenter.com/

"XboxMediaCenter is a free open source (GPL) multimedia player for the Xbox™ from Microsoft. Currently XboxMediaCenter can be used to play/view most popular video/audio/picture formats such as MPEG-1/2/4, DivX, XviD, MP3, AAC, JPG, GIF plus many more less known formats directly from a CD/DVD in Xbox DVD-ROM drive or of the Xbox harddrive, XBMC can also play files from a PC over a local network and even stream media streams directly from the internet. XBMC has playlist and slideshow functions, a weather forecast and many audio visualizations. All these features enable the Xbox™ running XboxMediaCenter to fully function as a multimedia jukebox. XBMC is easy to use, it's convenient, flexible and offers great price/performance ratio. (This, The XboxMediaCenter Project is also known as "Xbox Media Center" or simply "XBMC"). Note! XBMC is a hobby project that is only developed by volunteers in their spare-time for free. (Remember that XboxMediaCenter does require a modded Xbox to run on or it will not function)."

11/05/2004

Cutting calling costs with Wi-Fi phones

http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/ptech/05/10/wi.fi.phones.ap/index.html

CNN
Monday, May 10, 2004 Posted: 10:11 AM EDT (1411 GMT)

"NEW YORK (AP) -- Now that some Wi-Fi "hot spots" have grown into broader neighborhood "hot zones," the next wave is waiting: Phones and gear that send conversations over wireless Internet networks -- for free or at a fraction of the cost of traditional calls."

07/05/2004

FlipStart, PC de poche

http://www.flipstartpc.com/default.asp

"Microsoft® Windows® XP Home/Professional operating system
Dimensions: 5.8" x 4" x 1" (148mm x 101mm x 26mm)
Weighs 1lb (450g)
1 GHz processor
256MB system RAM
30GB internal hard drive
3D graphics w/ 8MB video RAM
Full-function, QWERTY thumb keyboard w/ hotkeys for commonly used commands
5.6" HDTV-quality display (1024 x 600)
Lithium-ion Polymer battery (2-6 hours battery life*)
Integrated 802.11b (11 Mbps) /g (54 Mbps) Wi-Fi
USB 2.0 port
Internal microphone/speaker with headphones and ear bud jacks
Integrated 1.3MP digital camera"

19/04/2004

OpenBrick Community

http://www.openbrick.org/

"OpenBrick is a small, light and silent open platform optimized for Open Source / Free Software solutions (firewall, micro-server, PABX, thin client, multimedia...). It is available for 300 to 400 EUR. It is distributed by a network of Open Source / Free Software companies who are joining through the OpenBrick Foundation to optimize it for GNU/Linux and FreeBSD, adapt it to new applications and improve its specifications."

07/04/2004

Bhutan tests 'Simputer' for remote e-mail use

http://www.computerweekly.com/Article127668.htm

Monday 19 January 2004
John Ribeiro (IDG News Service)

"Bhutan tests 'Simputer' for remote e-mail use

The Simputer, a Linux-based handheld computer designed by Indian engineers, is being deployed in a pilot project in Bhutan to provide e-mail to people living in remote locations, said an executive of the Geneva-based International Telecommunication Union."

06/04/2004

Un maxi PDA sous Linux pour NEC...

http://www.topmobile.org/infos_suite.php?id_news=852

TopMobile.org - L'univers d'un monde mobile - Les infos
le 02-04-2004 à 07:26

"Un maxi PDA sous Linux pour NEC...

NEC Personal Products vient d'annoncer le "LookPal", un maxi PDA ou un Tablet PC tournant sous Linux"

24/03/2004

This is why we call our products "PizzaBox"

http://www.kyzo.com/

This is why we call our products "PizzaBox"

Internet Gateway and Firewall
IPSec & PPTP VPN Gateway
Secure Access Point
File, Print & CD Server
Web Cache

21/03/2004

NetEconomie :: Rafi Haladjian, Ozone : "c'est aux internautes de déployer le Réseau"

http://www.neteconomie.com/perl/navig.pl/neteconomie/infos/article/20040129235239

Entretien de Rafi Haladjian par Jérôme Bouteiller

"... Ma vision est la suivante : Quand la puissance de calcul coûtait cher, l'industrie a fabriqué des mainframes. Quand cette puissance s'est démocratisée, on a vu arriver les PC qui équipent désormais chaque bureau, chaque foyer. Le mouvement de démocratisation se poursuit et les puces s'attaquent désormais à tous les objets du quotidien : agendas, montres, téléphones, téléviseurs, automobiles, appareils photos, etc…

Face à ces archipels d'objets disposant de capacité mémoire ou de capacités de calcul, l'utilisateur peut utiliser des synchronisations, des cartes mémoire, des prises multiples USB et passer son temps à recopier et à dupliquer les fichiers. Mais on comprend très vite que cela ne va pas dans le sens de l'histoire et que l'avenir passe par une intercommunication fluide entre tous ces objets, entre tous ces fichiers, en utilisant des technologies comme XML, les web services ou le grid.

Or pour rendre la communication possible et simple entre tous ces objets communicants, dont un grand nombre seront d'ailleurs mobiles, il faut un réseau agnostique vis-à-vis des terminaux, disponible partout, tout le temps, large bande et bon marché : c'est le réseau pervasif.

En partant de ce cahier des charges, on a regardé les technologies disponibles et on a identifié le WiFi comme étant un bon candidat. Mais nous regardons également d'autres technologies comme le CPL. Le réseau pervasif est pragmatique et technologiquement agnostique.

Nous ne sommes donc pas une boite "WiFi". Le développement de cette technologie s'est fait sur un malentendu. Tout le monde a fantasmé dessus alors que cette norme était très loin de répondre aux attentes. Mais l'engouement a été tel qu'aujourd'hui tout le monde s'y met et qu'on trouve des puces WiFi à 50 centimes d'euros ! ..."

19/03/2004

Wi-fi : Urban Technology va proposer de la voix sur IP sur ses hotspots

http://www.journaldunet.com/0403/040319urban.shtml

Philippe GUERRIER, JDN

"En complément de l'accès Wi-Fi, Urban Technology compte élaborer des services sans fil dans le domaine de la voix sur IP et la géolocalisation. Pour le premier volet, la start-up s'est associée à Digicall. Pour le second, elle développe une offre de portail mobile personnalisé avec la collaboration du service d'itinéraire en ligne ViaMichelin."

18/03/2004

PC multimédia de loisirs numériques

http://france.asus.com/products/desktop/digimatrix/overview.htm

"PC multimédia de loisirs numériques"

"Supporte la lecture des CD/CD-R/VCD/DVD/MP3/Karaoke/Picture-CD
Sortie TV haute qualité (Support sortie HDTV)
Enregistrement TV/Video sur disque dur
Ecoutez et enregistrez la radio FM (mode "Power Off" disponible)
LEcteur CD audio ou MP3 (mode "Power Off" disponible)
Capture, édition, authoring et gravure des vidéos et photos
Lecteur de cartes mémoires 7 en 1
3 connections réseau: 10/100Mbps+ 1Gbps+802.11b
Point d'accès logiciel
Affichage par LED en façade
Télécommande fournie
Logiciel ASUS HOME THEATER
Connectivité extrême USB(8 ports), IEEE1394, S/PDIF, S-Video, TV-out, VGA, DVI, RJ45 (2 ports), Wireless LAN, sortie son 6 canaux, Line-in/out, MIC/casque, etc."

15/03/2004

Wired News: Speed Meets Feed in Download Tool

http://www.wired.com/news/infostructure/0,1377,62651,00.html?tw=wn_techhead_3

"Is there a way to publish videos, games and other enormous files online without breaking the bank on bandwidth fees or driving downloaders mad with delays?

A demo publishing system launched Friday by a popular programmer and blogger merges two of this season's hottest tech fads -- RSS news syndication and BitTorrent file sharing -- to create a cheap publishing system for what its author calls "big media objects." The hybrid system is meant to eliminate both the publisher's need for fat bandwidth, and the consumer's need to wait through a grueling download.

Andrew Grumet, a freelance Web consultant, posted instructions for his demo system on his weblog. Grumet's demo consists of one small piece of software: an upgrade for the Radio RSS reader that enables it to use BitTorrent to automatically download enormous files -- in the case of Grumet's demo, a set of public-domain music recordings listed on the LegalTorrents website."

10/03/2004

Napster and IBM unveil new music delivery system

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/040310/80/eo4om.html

"Napster, owned by digital media company Roxio, said its new "Super Peer" application uses International Business Machine's eServer BladeCenter systems to store popular songs from Napster in on-site servers rather than from the Internet.

The most popular tracks in the Napster system are stored locally, enabling customers like The University of Rochester and Penn State University, to reduce their computing infrastructure's vulnerability to overuse."

09/03/2004

Le talkie-walkie nouvelle génération, dernière killer app' aux Etats-Unis

http://www.journaldunet.com/0401/040108ptt.shtml

[Raphaële Karayan, JDNet]

"Le Push-to-talk est une solution de voix sur IP utilisant le réseau de données des opérateurs et fonctionnant sur une sélection de téléphones compatibles GPRS. En souscrivant à une offre de services PTT, les utilisateurs ont la possibilité d'envoyer des messages vocaux à un ou plusieurs destinataires, de manière simultanée. Concrètement, un bouton spécifique sur le téléphone permet de sélectionner dans une liste un contact ou groupes de contacts PTT, puis de communiquer son message, qui est envoyé dès que l'utilisateur relâche le bouton. Les destinataires connectés sont avertis par un bip et entendent immédiatement après le message (il est donc recommandé d'activer la fonction haut parleur du téléphone). Le premier destinataire à appuyer sur son bouton PTT peut répondre. Les listes de contacts s'établissent en ligne, à l'image des buddy lists des messageries instantanées."

"En Europe, aucun grand opérateur ne propose de service PTT. Les services de données sont certes considérés comme le principal vecteur de croissance du marché mais c'est le MMS qui est vu comme moteur de croissance, sans doute parce que le SMS (concurrent du PTT) est plus populaire en Europe qu'aux Etats-Unis. La seule celle initiée par Fastmobile outre-Manche. Baptisée Fastchat, l'application est téléchargeable et fonctionne pour l'instant sur trois terminaux GPRS. Elle est accessible notamment aux abonnés Orange en Grande-Bretagne. Selon Ericsson, les premières offres commerciales de PTT en France pourraient être lancées à l'automne."