Hardware
Feeling groovy
Philippe Starck, a big cheese in the industrial design world, has created what Microsoft calls a "thoroughly modern mouse", which features two buttons separated by a blue or orange lighted strip. Starck says users can choose a special edition mouse that "makes a statement about [their] taste and personality", ranging from Groovy (£34.99) to Crimson Fire (£49.99). If you want eyes and whiskers, you have to add them yourself.
Screen saver
Elonex has unveiled what it is billing as the world's first multimedia PC completely housed in an LCD screen/monitor, below. On sale for £1,615, the eXentia Gold features the MediaCenter version of Microsoft's Windows XP operating system. It includes a secondary interface that enables users to access music and video content via a supplied remote control. The PC, which is housed in a 17in screen, also features an integrated TV tuner with digital video recording facilities, a 3GHz Intel Pentium 4 processor, 512MB Ram and a 200GB hard disk. It is accompanied by a wireless keyboard and mouse. www.elonex.co.uk
Mobile phones
Sony Ericsson's 3G
Carphone Warehouse may have unwittingly given away the timing of Vodafone's 3G launch for consumers. The retailer has confirmed it is to begin selling Sony Ericsson's first 3G phone, the Z1010, next month on either Orange or Vodafone. Yet with Orange announcing that its consumer 3G launch details won't be before September, Vodafone appears the only choice. The Z1010, which features person-to-person video calling, video download and playback, an MP3 player and Bluetooth, is likely to partner Samsung's Z105 as the net work's launch 3G phone in the UK. www.carphonewarehouse.com<./A>
www.vodafone.co.uk
Music players
Mini delay ends
After a four-month delay, Apple's iPod mini digital music player reaches UK stores on July 24. The player, available in pink, blue, silver, gold and green, will retail for £179.99 - at least £20 lower than Apple had predicted. Similar to the original iPod, the mini is compatible with both MP3 and AAC files, including AAC music tracks downloaded via Apple's iTunes music store. Each player boasts 4GB of storage - enough for around 1,000 tunes. Battery life is rated at around eight hours and the iPod mini is accompanied by Mac and Windows-compatible iTunes software, earbud headphones, a belt clip, and FireWire and USB 2.0 cables. www.apple.com/uk
Stat of the week: Spam creeps up
A quarter of all spam in May was promoting products, up from 22% in April. Adult material was down from 16% to 15%. Scams - like the notorious Nigerian begging letters - stayed at 9%. Political spam was only 2% - but the US election will change that.
