PCs
Wall unit
Designed for a role in connected homes and office receptions, the Howie hang-on-the-wall PC from Redten goes on sale this month. Based around a 15in LCD screen, the Howie is a fully specified, 8.3cm-thick PC, controlled via a touch screen and a cordless keyboard. Buyers can choose from a basic 1.8GHz Intel Celeron, 20 gigabyte hard drive model to a 2.66 GHz Pentium 4, 30GB hard drive top-end PC. All the units sport Ethernet connections so they can be incorporated into a wired/wireless network. The PCs are available in a variety of different coloured cases. Prices range from £1,000 to 1,500. www.redten.com
Card sharp
Sony Ericsson has become the first company to offer mobile professionals a PC card that features both Wi-Fi (802.11b) and GPRS (general packet radio service) compatibility. After placing the GC79 card in their laptop, Sony Ericsson claims users can access the internet at speeds of up to 11Mbps at Wi-Fi hot spots and at up to 53.6Kbps using GPRS networks. The card is triple band, enables users to send and receive text messages and manage the contacts on their SIM card via its own software. It is compatible with all GPRS networks and is on sale now for £250 from the company's website. www.freeofficeworkers.com
Audio players
Personal player
Samsung's Napster hard disk personal audio player, the YP-910GS, which recently went on sale in the US, is coming to the UK in March. The player has been designed to integrate seamlessly with the legitimate music download version of Napster (2.0) and its secure Windows Media Audio (WMA) audio files. The YP-910GS plays MP3s, features an FM radio, transfers music through a USB 2.0 connection and has a battery life of 10 hours. The US version also features an FM transmitter for wirelessly connecting the unit to a car radio - although for legal reasons this might not appear on the UK unit. It features 20 gigabytes of storage (5,000 WMA songs) and is expected to retail for between £300-400. www.samsungelectronics.co.uk
Rio returns
US personal audio manufacturer Rio will return to the UK market next year with a range of MP3 players including the Rio Karma - its challenger to the Apple iPod. The Karma is a cigarette packet-sized player that features a 20 gigabyte hard disk and plays MP3, Windows Media Audio (WMA) and Ogg Vorbis (an open source-based format) audio files. Its most innovative facility is a docking cradle that features an Ethernet connection, enabling the device to be integrated into a home network. Other Rio players include the tiny 1 gigabyte hard disk unit the Rio Nitrus and a 256MB model the Chiba, which, unusually for MP3 players, is compatible with Apple Macs running OS X.
www.rioaudio.com
Legal change
Electronic journals
Electronic publications, including selected web-based content and material on CD-ROM, will now be preserved systematically following a change in the law. Legal Deposit legislation - which requires UK publishers to deposit copies of all printed items with the British Library - is being extended to cover e-publications for the first time. The move was prompted by the spectacular growth in non-print publications - 52,000 electronic journal issues were published in the UK last year. That figure is expected to grow almost fourfold by 2005. Lynne Brindley, chief executive of the British Library said: "This is an historic piece of legislation and puts the UK among the first countries which will be collecting, by law, their electronic published output."
Camcorder
Pocket video
Logitech has become the latest company to deliver inexpensive tapeless camcorders that record using MPeg 4 rather than the traditional higher quality DV (Digital Video) format. The Pocket Video 550 (£150) and 750 (£200) are both small devices capable of archiving images at a resolution of 320x480 pixels at up to 20 frames per second.
Both feature 16MB of internal storage supplemented by a 32MB removable secure digital card. Apart from in the styling, the main difference between the two is that the more expensive 750 comes with rechargeable batteries and features a 1.5inch LCD monitor and a 2x digital zoom. Compatible with Windows, Macs and Linux based PCs, the pair are on sale now via Logitech's website.
www.logitech.com
Email
Spam attack
Webmail providers are increasing protection against spam - at least for Americans. Microsoft will this month introduce "white-listing" for US users of Hotmail, under which email which has been sent only from people in a user's contact book will appear on the initial Today page. Other email will be shown only when clicking on Mail. The firm was unable to say if or when this service might be extended to the UK.
Meanwhile, paying US customers of Yahoo's webmail service will be able to set up a secondary address for their account, for insecure use, such as on websites. If this address is captured by spammers, users can delete it without blocking the rest of their email. Unfortunately, Yahoo has no current plans to offer this service in the UK.
Stat of the week Look who's talking
English is the most-used language on the net, according to stats from Global Reach (glreach.com). But most net users (64.4%) speak a non-English language, with 34.9% speaking a European language other than English.
