LG Decoy trackball phone launch, price leaked

Verizon's edition of the LG Decoy has been given more definite launch information courtesy of a leak today from Phone Arena. The slider is now set to launch on June 16th and will be priced at $230 under a typical two-year contract; opting against a contract boosts the price to $350. The launch is slightly delayed from earlier reports that would have had the phone available today.

ASUS: Celeron, Atom Eee PCs to co-exist

Claims that the Eee PC 901 will kill its older counterpart are false, ASUS' Italian manager Luca Rossi tellsNotebook Italia. The older, Celeron-based 900 model is still expected by the company to stay on the market as it fulfills a slightly different role than its Atom-using sequel; the 900 weighs less at under 2.2 pounds, while the 901 lasts longer for up to seven hours on battery, Rossi says.

Android demo at D shows UI, HTC Dream phone

Google's Android operating system has been demonstrated with new changes and on what appears to be a prototype of the HTC Dream, according to news from Android Community and others attending the company's I/O Conference. The latest version of the mobile operating system shows subtle but iPhone-like interface touches that haven't previously been seen in earlier builds, including multiple home screens and a tray of permanently visible icons for commonly used apps. A built-in mail client (primarily intended for Gmail) also shares cosmetic similarities to Apple's own application.

Samsung still calling L870 browser Safari

Samsung is still insisting that it can call the L870's web browser Safari, according to a Samsung spokesperson contacted by Phone Arena. While the cellphone is now believed to just have a standard version of the Nokia Mini Map browser, which shares much of Safari's WebKit rendering engine, a Samsung media official continues to refer to the phone's web app as a Symbian Series S60 version of the "Safari browser" and equates it to the Nokia software. Press materials also continue to mention Safari.

LaCie doubles speed of d2 Blu-ray drive to 4x

LaCie on Tuesday unveiled a new Blu-ray disc burner, capable of writing to single-layer media at 4x speeds across Firewire or USB 2.0. The drive retains LaCie's durable d2 aluminum casing and boasts whisper quiet operation while burning 25GB and 50GB BD-R and BD-RE media, in addition to all common CD and DVD formats. LaCie is offering the dual-interface Blu-ray burner for $650, available from LaCie directly and authorized retailers.

Samsung intros extra-thin Soulb media phone

Samsung today hoped to capitalize on the success of the Soul with the Soulb, its latest candybar phone. It drops the touchscreen keypad of the original slider but compensates with an ultra-thin design and media features: the handset is just 0.39in thick but still finds room for a 3-megapixel camera with an LED flash, 1GB of built-in flash memory, and a microSD slot for extra storage. The phone also brandishes a newly designed user interface and allows for basic on-device video editing.

MS plans "minimum" 50% growth in Win Mobile

Microsoft expects sales of phones with Windows Mobile to grow at least 50 percent per year for the company's next two fiscal years, according to statements made by the company's Asian OEM manager Eddie Wu on Tuesday. The company reiterated that it hopes to sell 20 million phones over its fiscal 2008 but also expects that number to grow by another 50 percent to 30 million for 2009. Such growth is considered the "minimum" and should ideally climb higher, Wu says.

Intel confirms delay, sees Centrino 2 in Aug.

Intel today confirmed the existence of a significant delay for its Centrino 2 notebook platform. While not providing the originally scheduled release date, company representative Bill Kircos now says that the mainboard chipsets and their matching processors will now be ready by the week of July 14th, or between two and three weeks after a widely reported late June introduction. The spokesman also confirms the twofold nature of the delay, which centers around both a technical flaw and legal obligations.

K-Touch shows 8MP phone with Canon image chip

Canon is finally getting into the mobile phone business, as the new K-Touch C280 spotted at by AVING at Chitec 2008 on Monday runs the photo company's DIGIC III imaging processor. The 8-megapixel camera also uses a Samsung CMOS sensor, and a 3x optical zoom thanks to its motorized lens. While these components attribute to the handset's bloated size, the phone features dedicated camera controls, placed where they would be on an actual point-and-shoot digital camera.

OmniVision preps tiny 8MP cellphone camera

Omnivision today said it has developed a new camera sensor that should radically improve the quality of photography from cellphones. A variant of the company's OmniBSI chip technology allows the company to fill each individual pixel on the sensor with much more light than previously possible by literally flipping the sensor upside down and lighting its back. In doing so, the company says it can pack a much more dense sensor into the same space as an equivalent model. An eight-megapixel sensor can already fit in the space occupied by a three-megapixel sensor today, the company says.

Epson unveils A4-sized electronic paper

Seiko Epson is making strides in its continued development of electronic paper, having unveiled a 13.4-inch (A4-size) prototype at SID 2008 on Wednesday, its biggest to date. The new e-paper nearly doubles the size and resolution of the company's last effort, unveiled last November, at 3104x4128 resolution, with 385ppi density. The company believes its latest represents the final stage in its efforts to replace traditional papers with electronic equivalents.

Eee desktop titled EBOX, given June intro

ASUS' E-DT desktop take on the Eee PC has been given a final name, launch date, and specs, according to a leak sent to the Inquirer. Now just called the EBOX, the system is due to be unveiled at the major Computex show on June 3rd and will buck the Eee PC's past use of flash memory for storage: the stock model will carry a 160GB hard drive that provides it six times as much capacity as the 20GB Eee PC 900. The EBOX will also hold 2GB of RAM, or twice as much as the newer Eee notebooks.

Alienware refreshes Area-51 ALX with 4GHz CPU

Dell's Alienware division has once again refreshed its top-of-the-line gaming PC, the Area-51 ALX. At the center is the option of a quad-core, 3.2GHz Core 2 Extreme processor, overclocked for even greater performance to 4GHz; to avoid corresponding overheating problems, Alienware has equipped all ALX computers with liquid cooling. Motherboards, meanwhile, can now be configured with up to 4GB of 1,600MHz Corsair DDR3 RAM.

VOD provider Akimbo shuts down

Internet video-on-demand provider Akimbo today has been confirmed by NewTeeVee as having shut its doors. The company says it has so far been unable to raise enough cash to remain profitable for its video delivery services and has decided to drop all but a bare minimum of staff while it seeks a mergers and acquisitions partner to buy up the company's assets. All video services run by the company at present, including Homezone and MavTV, are still running, according to checks.

HTC Shift UMPC official at Rogers

Rogers Wireless today became the first North American carrier to pick up the HTC Shift, the company's first crossover ultra-mobile PC. The 7-inch touchscreen system is a close match to its reference design and is notable for carrying Windows Vista but behaving more like a smartphone, including access to "push" e-mail as well as a 3G cellular connection over HSPA that supplies high-speed Internet when not within range of Wi-Fi. A front camera provides video chats (though not on Rogers' VISION service) while a 40GB hard drive handles storage.

EU closely watching MS open format move

European Union officials will be watching Microsoft's open format support to ensure the developer's move remains honest, the European Commission said on Thursday. The regulatory body says it will specifically monitor the newly added support for the universal Open Document Format (ODF) to determine if it delivers on Microsoft's promises of interoperability with other programs, many of which already support ODF but until now have been unable to send those files to users of Microsoft's software, forcing them to choose a more restrictive format such as Microsoft's DOC format for Word files.

Pentax unveils Optio W60 waterproof cam

Just ahead of Memorial Day weekend (in the US), Pentax tonight released the Optio W60. Where other cameras need special shells underwater, the W60 is explicitly designed to be waterproof from the outset and includes watertight joints that extend to the lens: as the optics never protrude from the body, no room exists for water to seep in, the company boasts. The resulting adjustments lead to a camera that not only operates at up to 13 feet deep but is also dustproof and survives freezing temperatures as low as 14 Fahrenheit.

MS Office to support outside open formats

Microsoft today broke from its tradition of primarily endorsing in-house formats by revealing that it will add support to Office for a number of universal standards outside of its own. Office 2007 Service Pack 2 will support the Open Document Format (ODF) touted by OpenOffice, Sun's StarOffice, and other third-party tools as well as similarly universal document types such as PDF 1.5 and PDF/A. The upgrade will let users both open and create files in the formats without requiring either a plugin or an outside utility to convert the formats.

Fujifilm intros Z200fd, A850 pocket cams

Fujifilm on Thursday launched a pair of compact point-and-shoots, including one that promises more intelligent shot-taking. The 10-megapixel FinePix Z200fd is pitched as the first camera to include a timer based on its face detection feature: the Couple Timer and Group Timer features watch the number of identifiable faces in a scene and will refuse to take a photo until as many as four people are in the shot. The Couple Timer can additionally recognize the proximity of couples' faces and can be switched to take photos when the faces are at arm's length or as close as cheek-to-cheek.

Ultra-wide notebooks at Dell, Apple, more?

Notebooks with a 16:9 movie aspect ratio will be introduced by several major PC makers this year and should become increasingly common by the end of the year in smaller systems, says a report detailing their reported expansion. Although Acer is currently the only PC maker selling notebooks in the ultra-wide format with its large Gemstone Blue 16- and 18.4-inch notebooks, both Acer and several other PC makers are all said to be introducing extra-wide notebooks based on newer and generally smaller screen sizes than for Acer's desktop replacement models.

All MacBooks to use LEDs in 2009: supplier

Every MacBook released in 2009 will use an LED backlight, says the Taiwan-area newspaper Economic Daily News. Backlight manufacturer Kenmos Technology was Apple's chief supplier of the more color-accurate, efficient screen hardware for 2007 and is expected to have an even more dominant role next year as Apple switches its consumer models to LED lights. Kenmos is said to be shipping as many as five times more LEDs this year, at 1.5 million, though it's not known what number of these are destined for Apple or other customers.

Napster intros MP3 store with 6m songs

Napster today launched what it says is the world's largest MP3-based music store. Effectively turning away from its reliance on protected Windows Media files, the company is offering about 6 million unguarded MP3 songs through a web-based store accessible from any computer and playable through virtually any device -- including the iPhone and iPod, Napster is keen to note. Users with iTunes can auto-sync their Napster downloads to the jukebox software. Prices for tracks remain unchanged at 99 cents each, with most full albums selling for $10.

LG and Universal Display show flexible OLED display

LG Display and Universal Display on Tuesday unveiled an updated prototype of a flexible AMOLED (Active Matrix Organic Light-Emitting Diode) display at the 2008 SID Conference. The companies' jointly developed prototypes feature brighter colors with better saturation and gamut, as well as a one-sided electrical connection that allows for more flexibility in the four-inch display.

iRiver debuts touch-driven P10 player

iRiver today expanded its media player lineup and launched the P.ple P10. The device is one of iRiver's rare touchscreen devices and uses its 4.3-inch, 800x480 display as both a home for photo and video playback as well as for editing. For entertainment, owners can watch Flash, MPEG 1/2/4, WMV, and XviD videos stored on the 33GB of free hard drive space as well as watch live digital TV broadcasts in Korea through an optional version with a DMB tuner. Workers can use a stylus to edit and navigate both Excel and Word files as well as PDFs and common e-books.

Movistar gets semi-exclusive iPhone launch in Spain

Telefonica Movistar will carry the iPhone in Spain through a temporary exclusivity arrangement that will last several months without interference from competitors such as Vodafone. Sevenclickreports that although neither Apple nor Telefonica would say which device it would introduce into the country – between the current and potential third generation iPhone – it would hold on to the device for three to six months before competitors would be allowed to sell it.

VIA to ship 45nm and dual-core processors next year

Mobile processor manufacturer VIA on Thursday announced it would commence shipments of 45nm processor fabrications in 2009, as well as the company's first dual-core chips. DigiTimeswrites that insiders have brought to light some of the specs, with the Isaiah-based dual-core processor allegedly featuring a 2GHz core frequency. The chip will sit on an 800 to 1333MHz bus, and will feature two pairs of 64KB L1 cache, and 1MB L2 cache.

NHK develops haptic display capable of Braille

Friday reports have the Japan Broadcasting Corporation (NHK) coming out with a prototype of a haptic display with a touch panel function that would allow the visually impaired to control a device or browse the Internet using Braille. Unlike haptic interfaces in mobile devices, which simply mimic the feel of pressing a button with a vibration or other tactile method, the display would produce a series of protrusions and recesses formed by small pins integrated into the display.

RIAA hit with legal fees in P2P case

The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) will have to pay $107,834 in legal fees as a result of a failed lawsuit, a US federal judge has ruled. For two years, running until June 2007, the RIAA pursued a case against Tanya Andersen, accusing her of illegal file sharing; that case was dismissed with prejudice however, and Andersen and one of her lawyers were allowed to seek compensation for their defense. At points in the case, as many as six attorneys for Andersen were present in court.

Treo 800w image leaked online?

An early photo of Palm's upcoming Treo 800w smartphone has leaked online, accounts say. Posted by a Palm OS hacker, the image appears to resemble both renderings and Sprint's own press image, depicting a device which takes styling queues from its cheaper cousin the Centro. Unexpected however is the color, as the photo model is blue, and previous indications have pointed to a "charcoal" exterior. The hacker adds that the phone uses a micro-USB connector.

Acer ships Gemstone Blue 16:9-ratio notebooks

Acer on Thursday morning said it has started shipping its Gemstone Blue notebooks first announced in March. The systems are Acer's first real visual overhaul of its notebooks since the original Gemstone a year ago but draw the most attention for their unique displays: both the 16-inch Aspire 6920 and the 18.4-inch Aspire 8920 use a 16:9 wide aspect ratio that lets them display 1080p content without black bars, including HD movies played back from the Aspires' optional Blu-ray drives.

Radeon HD 4800 series launch info leaked

AMD's upcoming ATI Radeon HD 4800 series cards will see a staggered launch over the late spring and summer that sees a number of significant improvements to the company's feature set, TG Daily says in a new leak. Besides expanding the amount of pixel and geometry effects each card can handle at once, the update is now said to build AMD's GPGPU physics processing into mainstream cards, letting supporting games and professional apps offload some of their work to the video card when not in use.

Yahoo rebuffs Icahn, says MS refused talks

Yahoo tonight responded to Carl Icahn's attempt to nominate a takeover board at the company by accusing the investor of "misunderstanding" the basis of Yahoo's decisions and being unaware of Microsoft's true behavior during its failed attempts to negotiate a takeover of the search firm. Yahoo Board Chairman Roy Bostock argues in an open letter to Icahn that Yahoo was "clear" on its unanimous rejection of the original Microsoft offer as undervaluing the firm and that it had repeatedly declared its openness to a higher-priced deal, which Microsoft had allegedly refused to consider until very late in negotiations. The finality of Microsoft's rejection should be as sign, according to Bostock.

AP: Cox also guilty of blocking BitTorrent traffic

Comcast is not the only company guilty of sabotaging BitTorrent traffic, the Associated Press reports. While that company has taken the brunt of criticism for potentially violating the FCC's net neutrality policy, the AP says it has obtained the results of a worldwide study of 8,175 Internet users, which found that only three companies were all but certainly blocking connections: Comcast, Singapore's StarHub, and Cox Communications. In the case of the last, 82 out of 151 subscribers had their transfers blocked.

Telefonica: 3G iPhone in "coming weeks"

Telefonica Europe chief Matthew Key today said that his company would make a joint announcement with Apple regarding the iPhone within weeks, hinting at a near term launch for an anticipated 3G upgrade to the cellphone. Key, whose telecoms group operates O2 in Ireland, the UK, and other countries, hasn't directly confirmed the device when asked about its existence but alludes to both its release and a possible expansion of service beyond just the O2 brand.

Ericsson, Dell to build HSPA modems into notebooks

Swedish telecom company Ericsson is collaborating with Dell, in a bid to put HSPA modems into the latter's notebooks, the companies have announced. HSPA is one of the most widely-used forms of 3G cellular broadband, and typically supports download speeds of up to 3.6 or 7.2Mbps; in the United States, AT&T runs a national 3.6Mbps network, and T-Mobile is expected to offer a rival service of some sort later this year. In buying a notebook with HSPA built in, users can connect to the Internet without using Wi-Fi or an add-on external modem.

Aliph launches Jawbone 2 headset

Following a last-minute leak, Aliph tonight unveiled the Jawbone 2 Bluetooth headset. The company promises it has learned lessons from the original while keeping its namesake voice detection system, which measures voice activity from the jaw to provide extremely accurate noise cancellation. The earpiece is more discreet than the earlier version at half the size but is said to be even more effective at blocking outside sound. The ear hook itself is also more comfortable and detaches entirely for users whose ears are already a good fit.

FoxTrot Professional Search roots through data

FoxTrot Professional Search roots through data
CTM has released FoxTrot Professional Search, a tool for running deeper searches into Mac file systems. The app extends past filenames to search for content within metadata, as well as the text inside of PDF, HTML, e-mail and word processing files. Search results are categorized and ranked on relevance, and users can maintain multiple indexed collections and timed updates, without having to launch the program.

Autodesk ships SketchBook Pro 2009

Autodesk ships SketchBook Pro 2009
Autodesk has released the 2009 edition of SketchBook Pro, its painting and illustration program, designed for users of tablets and tablet PCs. The new application is compatible with Mac OS X Leopard, and boasts new support for Adobe Photoshop, allowing users to import PSD files for detailed drawing. Appropriately, SketchBook layers now support general locking and transparency locking, and the active layer is highlighted with an orange outline, which also sports interface controls such as a thumbnail view.

Keynote Jam offers 56 icons for Keynote

Keynote Jam offers 56 icons for Keynote
Jumsoft on Thursday unveiled Keynote Jam, a collection of 56 high quality 3D rendered images ideal for use in Apple's Keynote presentation software. The collection includes a number of colorful icons, such as checkmarks, a globe, several Apple-inspired designs, as well as a plethora of other symbols, tools, and shapes. Jumsoft also claims the icons work with Microsoft Powerpoint and graphics applications, and are available for free from the company's website.

Apple updates Shuffle reset tool for Windows

Apple updates Shuffle reset tool for Windows
Apple has released a new Windows version of its iPod Reset Utility, bringing it to v1.0.4. The tool is specifically intended to restore first- and second-generation iPod shuffles to their factory settings, when the procedure does not work through iTunes; for instance, a Shuffle may become invisible to iTunes, but still show up in My Computer or Device Manager.

Key Apple executives sell off stocks

Key Apple executives sell off stocks
Two high-level Apple executives have sold off considerable numbers of stock, according to US regulatory documents. The senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing, Phil Schiller, is reported to have sold 136,341 shares of Apple stock, at prices ranging between $170.75 and $173.76; this has returned approximately $23,485,000 to the executive. Meanwhile Bertrand Serlet, the company's senior vice president of Software Engineering, has sold 10,000 shares at roughly the same price, for a return of $1,706,000.

Sans Digital ships five-drive HDDRACK5

Sans Digital ships five-drive HDDRACK5
Sans Digital has released a new storage rack for hard drives, the HDDRACK5. The tower holds up to five 3.5-inch SATA hard drives, locked into place with turnbuckle screws; when attached to a 20- or 24-pin ATX supply, an on/off switch controls the power of all drives simultaneously. For dissipating heat the tower uses a 4.7-inch fan, and a hollow aluminum frame.

ooVoo offers free cross-platform video chat for Macs

ooVoo offers free cross-platform video chat for Macs
ooVoo has launched a Mac version of its cross-platform video chat solution that allows people to connect for free with both Mac and PC users across the internet. ooVoo 1.2.0.88 features the ability to send and receive video messages, exchange files and text chat messages as well as import contacts from other programs. The company says that ooVoo was developed with video at its core for a richer communication experience with high quality video and reduced video delay, clear audio and better lip synchronization. ooVoo’s multi-party video chat offers resolution of 320x240 at up to 30 frames per second using a standard broadband internet connection; it requires only 128 Kbps (up and down) of throughput, which it claims is "less than half required by competitors for a one to one video chat."

iLuv dips into HD Radio with iPod dock, more

iLuv dips into HD Radio with iPod dock, more
iLuv today branched out of its comfortable field of iPod-focused stereos with its first HD Radio-capable systems. The i169 represents the flagship and includes both a top-mounted iPod dock as well as the newer digital radio feature, which improves on the quality of AM and FM stations, adds multiple stations to the same frequency, and allows for basic data such as weather. The i169 also serves as a dual alarm clock and will wake up either to an attached iPod, a radio station, or a simple buzzer. An aux-in jack for non-iPod devices will also be standard when iLuv ships the radio at the start of May for $170.

Sony Ericsson aims to merge Java, Flash

Sony Ericsson aims to merge Java, Flash
Swedish cellphone maker Sony Ericsson is hoping to encourage new kinds of applications through a new set of APIs, writes IDG News. The company has announced that it intends to allow developers to merge Flash Lite and Java ME into a single Java application, bypassing technical shortcomings. Specifically this refers to an absence of Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and secure payment hooks in Flash, and conversely, a lack of interface capabilities in Java. A game, for example, could be written mostly in Java, but use a Flash-based menu.