Mobile news
Sony targets iPod
Sony has confirmed that it will launch a hard disk-based music player to challenge the Apple iPod in 2004. At an event in New York last week, the company cited the network audio market as a key one for next year and promised a range of models including players that use its Memory Stick storage cards. Sony also gave delegates a first glimpse of its forthcoming handheld gaming platform the PSP. Scheduled for launch in Autumn 2004, the PSP is likely to come in a range of guises and may include video playback and mobile phone functionality. www.sony.co.uk
CNN on call
CNN has announced a new rolling news service for Nokia Series 60 handsets. The Nokia 6600, the company's new high-end business phone, will come loaded with CNNlive, a Java-based service that will be embedded in the phone's memory card. The new subscription-based service, built by German company Mediabricks, will feature the top 10 stories from CNN.com's international edition, along with colour images and a scrolling news ticker. The service will be updated every two minutes. Owners of other Nokia Series 60 handsets (like the 3660 and 7650) will be able to download and subscribe to the service via Nokia's website. The service, which will cost £3 per month, comes with a 14-day trial. www.nokia.com/shop
Camcorder phone
Samsung has unveiled the latest in its line of camcorder phones, the SCH-V410. Available only in South Korea, the feature-packed phone, which sports a clamshell design, is capable of storing up to two hours' worth of video clips. The device also features a 262,000 colour screen (far superior to the European standard of 65,000 colours), plays MP3 music files and includes an application that can change channels or adjust the volume on TVs, hi-fis or digital decoders. It is expected that a version of the handset will be available throughout the world in 2004. www.samsungelectronics.co.uk
Take heart
The first MP3 player to feature an integrated heart rate monitor has gone on sale in the UK at £200. The Dual Sports packs 256MB of internal storage (enough for four hours of MP3 music) into a small-ish device designed to be strapped to an arm. Accompanying the player is a monitor which, when attached to the chest, records a person's heartbeat. Information such as average heart beat and how many calories have been burnt during exercise can be viewed in chart form on a PC via the player's software. Other features include WMA (Windows Media Audio) music compatibility and an FM radio tuner. www.mp3-plus.net
Going wire free
Manufacturers intend to cut the cord on personal audio players in 2004 by introducing models with Bluetooth wireless headsets. Users will be able to listen to music even if their player is in their pocket or several feet away in a bag. Apple iPod owners could be first to benefit as iPod vendor, XtremeMac, is promising to deliver a Bluetooth add-on early next year that uses technology and circuit boards developed by a company called Infinite Range. Other manufacturers are expected to offer similar Bluetooth accessories, and while Philips will integrate Bluetooth into its next range of hard disk-based personal audio players, which will be launched in late summer 2004.
French company Naf Naf Electronique is also promising a Bluetooth CD player for early 2004.
www.xtrememac.com
www.Philips.co.uk
Hardware
Twin screens
US company DoubleSight has launched an innovative PC monitor that consists of a pair of 15in panels integrated together. By connecting separate video out ports from PCs or Macs to the DS1500's inputs, users can see a pair of applications simultaneously on the separate screens, ending the need for a second monitor or having to switch between windows. The screens have a resolution of 2048x768, boast 16m colours and have a response time of 25ms. The DS1500 is available in the US, retailing for $800 (£480). The company hopes to launch the product in the UK in 2004. www.doublesight.com
Connectivity
Exeter leads
Congratulations to the inhabitants of Exeter, for the city has been named by Intel as the capital of Britain's Wi-Fi revolution. Apparently Exeter has more public access Wi-Fi hot spots per person than anywhere else in the UK. Bangor in Wales finished second with Newcastle taking third place.
London may have ended well down the list in 33rd place because of its large population, yet residents of the nation's capital will be cheered to discover they have access to more Wi-Fi hot spots than any other city in the world, with the exception of New York.
Intel has also compiled a global Wi-Fi top 10 using the same hot spot per population criteria. New York topped the table with Taipei in second place, and, surprisingly, Vienna in third. London, again, didn't fare quite so well under this measure, finishing fifth.
www.intel.com/go/hotspots
Don't call us
BT has been told to stop ringing people. Specifically, telecoms regulator Oftel last week told the UK's dominant telco to stop calling customers who are moving their "carrier pre-selection" of phone calls to other companies, so BT can plead with them to change their minds. But it can still write to those spurning its services, to prevent scams where users are switched to another company without their knowledge or permission.
Unusually, BT is also having to open consultation to explain why it has just enabled an exchange for broadband, in a reverse of the normal procedure.
Power company Scottish and Southern says it intends to raise the issue of BT's ADSL-enabling of Stonehaven in Aberdeenshire: the firm is piloting broadband over power lines in the area. BT says the exchange had simply met its trigger level, and was enabled.
Stat of the week: Sales continue to soar
The dot.com boom might have come and gone, but these figures from Jupiter show online holiday season sales in the US have climbed steadily over the past three years. They are expected to total $16.8bn this year.
