Mirror, mirror
Philips is launching a mirror screen that lets users check their email or watch TV while brushing their teeth. Unveiled at the company's home of the future (Home Lab) in Eindhoven last year, the Mirror TV will be launched to hotels next year with a version for homes available a year later. An LCD screen within a mirror that connects to a home entertainment system, the screen works using a polarised mirror technology, so when it is switched off it becomes invisible and the user sees their reflection.
Philips is also launching a range of products that can be integrated within a wireless network to stream audio and video from the PC to other rooms. The Streamium MX-i6000, which is expected to work using 802.11b or 11g Wi-Fi wireless formats, also features a DVD player and surround sound and will go on sale in January for around £500.
The SL300i Streamium Linx - a video and audio streaming device without the MX-i6000's cinema facilities - is slated for a November launch priced at around £350.
www.philips.co.uk
Mobile Phones
Nokia's 3G debut
After many months on the launchpad Nokia has announced that its first 3G phone, the 6650, will be available this month in both Austria, through the Mobilkom network and in Japan via J-Phone. There is no news yet of a UK launch.
The company claims to have solved the problems that delayed the phone - namely the difficulties it was having switching between 3G and 2.5G phone networks. The handset follows Nokia's traditional upright phone styling, features an integrated video camera capable of taking moving images at up to 10 frames per second, includes Bluetooth and has 7MB of memory.
www.nokia.co.uk
New-look SPV
Heading for the stores in the next few weeks is Orange's second crack at a Microsoft-powered smartphone - the SPV E100. The original SPV was criticised for its rather dated design and tricky user interface. Unsurprisingly, with the new SPV E100 Orange has attempted to tackle both issues. The phone now sports a contemporary silver finish and a slightly larger screen.
Navigating round the phone's many features, including cut-down versions of Microsoft's Outlook Express and Internet Explorer, is also easier, courtesy of a small joystick under the screen and larger, more prominent keys. For fast data input, Orange is offering a fold away Qwerty keyboard, which is expected to retail for around £30-40.
The phone also has a facility called Orange Backup, which lets users store personal data on the Orange network, so they can still access it even if they lose or damage the handset. The phone features MMS and is shipped with a snap-on camera. Initial retail price for the SPV E100 is expected to be in the region of £200.
www.orange.co.uk
Online music
Hard disk audio
The Apple iPod will soon be facing more competition in the personal hard disk MP3 market. Ministry, a brand linked to the London nightclub, which also has strong links to the Bush Radio group, is launching the MOS-MP028 - a hard disk-based jukebox - in July. The £200 model is larger than the iPod, but has 20GB of storage and batteries good for 10 hours continuous play.
Meanwhile, Philips is debuting its hard disk personal MP3 player in July as well. The £350 HDD100 is smaller than all of its rivals bar the new iPod, is finished in black and has 15GB of storage. Both the new players include a feature not found on the iPod - a line-in recording option that lets users directly record songs.
Legal music downloads in the UK also received a shot in the arm this week when Sony, one of the big five record labels, announced that tracks from its artists would be available online within the next two months. Music by J-LO, Oasis and countless others can be downloaded via websites that work with Sony's partner on the project OD2. These include ISPs Tiscali and MSN and music sites Dotmusic and Ministry. Sony may have been forced to make the move by the success of Apple's iTunes music store, which was launched several months ago in the US.
www.philips.co.uk
Gaming
Mobile games
Fancy a game of darts or a quick session on Tomb Raider? No need to go home or to the pub anymore. The mobile games explosion - tipped to be the next big growth area along with picture messaging - may at last be underway. That is the hope of Future Publishing, which has just launched a 100-page glossy magazine, Mobile Gamer, at £3.95p a copy. The first issue reviews 65 games and has information about so many phones and developers that you wonder what will be left for future issues.
It is clear from this one, however, that developers and operators are not making downloads an easy experience. On one level, Vodafone Live! makes it seductively easy to download from its website (at up to £5 a throw) but most smaller fry haven't cracked it. Some of the games in Mobile Gamer need three outward bound text messages and four separate steps after that to download - plus familiarity with the phone's settings. Room for improvement.
BT says Yahoo!
BT is forming an alliance with Yahoo. In autumn, the BT Openworld portal will be replaced by an intelligent BT Yahoo portal that will "learn" customer preferences and recommend content that may be of interest. Yahoo's instant messaging service will be added, as will the ability to set parental controls.
The service will also include a firewall, antivirus and spam protection, and software to suppress pop-up adverts. BT says customers will be forced to move to the new service but monthly rates will remain the same. Business customers will not be affected.
www.btopenworld.com/announcement
Safari wins?
Microsoft has conceded defeat and will cease development of the Apple Macintosh version of Internet Explorer. This follows the release of test versions of Apple Computer's web browser, Safari. The move is getting a mixed reception from Mac users who, though critical of the Microsoft browser, are concerned about compatibility. Many web pages are tailored to the features of Internet Explorer - Safari may be less compatible with these sites. When Safari appeared in January, Opera also said it might stop producing a Macbrowser.
www.microsoft.com/mac/products/ie/ie_default.asp
Wi-Fi
Standard set
After months of delays, a new wireless networking standard - 802.11g - has been agreed. The new format uses the same frequency as the most popular existing standard, 802.11b, and is backwards compatible with it. It offers faster data transfer speeds of 54mbp/sec as opposed to 11mbp/sec.
Firmware upgrades will now be available for existing 802.11g products from the likes of Apple and Linksys, which work using the format's draft specification.
Meanwhile, after the announcement of street-wide Wi-Fi systems in London and Paris, Milton Keynes is next on the list of places to offer its inhabitants fast net access via wireless systems.
A pilot scheme operated by Milton Keynes council begins in the Linford Wood area next month, with the connection offered to up to 200 homes. The town apparently has the highest percentage of internet users in the country, yet is poorly served by cable and ADSL broadband services.
