Digital Tech News - Digital Technology & Consumer Electronics

New RAZR Phones, Moto Q Smartphone, MOTONOW Mobile Phone Highlights

Jon Gales from MobileTracker attended Motorola's MotoNow press event in Chicago, and has an on- location review and report on the latest line-up of Mobile Phones and devices on the way.

The RAZR was central to the event, with Motorola's CEO Ed Zander spending much of his opening remarks talking about the device. Motorola will be expanding the RAZR brand to several network standards, including UTMS and CDMA with EV-DO. A UTMS equipped RAZR was being shown off: it's slightly thicker than the GSM version, but it's still quite thin overall.

On the Moto Q Smartphone, Jon writes:

Motorola's biggest announcement at the MOTONOW event was most definitely the "Moto Q". The device houses a QWERTY keyboard (which is where the Q comes from) and looks similar to the Treo 650. The Q works with Windows Mobile 5.0 but, since existing push-email solutions are not yet available for the OS, there was no working demo of that functionality.

MobileTracker has a bunch of detailed photos of Motorola's "Wicked" phones, which will give you a good idea of style and size of the Moto Q Smartphone, the new Razr phones, the ROKR phone (pronounced Rocker) - Motorola's upcoming line of fashionable music phones, Motorola PEBL phone (pronounced pebble) - the next generation consumer level handset from Motorola, the SLVR cellphone (pronounced Sliver) - a thin candy bar handset styled like the RAZR, and Motorola's A910 - a Linux OS powered clamshell with WiFi.

Motorola News: Moto Q, Razrwire, Rokr, Wi4 Wimax, OJO at MotoNow.

At this years MotoNow Event, Motorola announced a new line-up of wireless gear including new Razr phones, Razrwire Sunglasses from Oakley, the new "Moto Q" QWERTY keyboard Smartphone, and Wi4 Wimax plans. These were big announcements by Motorola, done with a bit of humor at the press conference. You can catch the media event video and see how Motorola plans on making more big moves in wireless.

• Moto Q: A thin QWERTY mobile phone built on the Razr design, the Q features e-mail and voicemail running on the Windows Mobile 5.0 platform.
• Razrwire: Motorola and Oakley introduce eyewear that offers active users wireless, hands-free connections to Bluetooth-enabled devices. It will be available in early August.
•  Motorola WiMax: Designed to deliver wireless broadband, Motorola's new Wi4 products will use all-IP technology and peer-to-peer architecture to reduce hierarchical cellular network equipment.
•  Ojo: A personal video phone that allows video mail that offers high-quality video and synchronized audio. Users can record a video greeting for incoming calls, and callers can leave a video message.
•  Rokr: A family of music phones that offers dedicated music keys, music player interface, extensive memory and long battery life.

CNET News has a round-up of today's Motorola announcements | Cnet News

AlwaysOn Innovation Summit - Skype Wins Award

AlwaysOn - The Insider's Network wraped-up its Stanford Innovation Summit last week where Skype won an innovation award. You can now listen to some of the panel discussions at the website. This is good stuff, covering lots of topics with interesting guests.
For example:

• Fireside Chat: Tim Draper and Skype’s CEO

• Fireside Chat: Mark Cuban Dislocation of Media and Entertainment

• Open or Closed Web Future Disruptive Technologies: The Perspectives of MIT and Stanford

• Is Technology Making Us Safer?

• SmartPhone 2010

• Tapping into the Power of the Blogosphere

There's lots more, don't miss it. Go have a listen. And check out the other great content at AlwaysOn.

more Skype and voip news

Tag | skype

Tour de Wimax...in France

A big congratulations to Lance Armstrong on his 7th consecutive Tour de France win!  Behind the spectacle of the cycling race, there was something else going on. INTEL has been working with phone company France Telecom, also known as Orange, to test pre-WiMAX wireless broadband technology during the Tour de France. International journalists and other accredited persons enjoyed quick and easy Internet access via a WiFi-hotspot linked to a WiMAX backhaul.

read | Unstrung  -  Intel, Orange Trial WiMax

"Vive Le Tour" - Tour de France 2005 blog

See more great Tour de France photos by Graham Watson

Do you know about the LiveStrong L2000 Laptop PC ?

other WiMax News

Tags | Tour de France Lance Armstrong Wimax

Numark iDJ Mixing Console for iPod

For DJs looking for music mixers, Numark has been a "go to" company for a long time. They are well known for vinyl and CD mixers, and now they are the first to offer a dedicated iPod mixer console: the iDJ Mixing Console for iPod

iDJ Mixing Console for iPod The iDJ is a 2-channel mixer that enables mobile DJs and iPod enthusiasts to seamlessly integrate their portable music libraries with other music and sound reinforcement systems transforming the iPod from a personal music player into a source playback device. With its compact form factor, comprehensive feature set, and a blue on white aesthetic appeal that blends perfectly with the iPod, the iDJ makes the music more accessible and the party better than ever.

There are mixed feelings about the iDJ, but it will surely usher in the next generation of wannabee DJs. Suggested retail price is $399, but you'll also need two iPods to connect to the console.

more details | Numark website

iTunes 4.9 with Podcasting Review

PC Mag has an iTunes 4.9 with Podcasting review and give it a "very good" Editor Rating.

Bottom Line:
Discovering and enjoying podcasts is now as simple as shopping for music. If you're already using iTunes to manage your music, you can go online immediately and browse for interesting shows. If you're using a different music organizer, this might tempt you to switch.

Read full Apple iTunes 4.9 with Podcasting review | PC Mag

Tags | Podcasting iTunes Apple

London Bombing Suspects - Help Find These Guys

Scotland Yard urges anyone who knows where the suspects are to call 999, or if they could identify any of the men to call the anti-terrorist hotline on 0800 789 321. Metropolitan Police Service

Click on photos to enlarge.

Phishing, Adware, Spyware, Cookies? What's the Deal?

Tech savvy people understand most of these terms, but I've said it time after time, many people (kids, seniors) who use the Internet have no idea what some of these terms mean. I think it should be up to the major tech companies (Microsoft, Apple, Google, AOL,Yahoo, etc) to take users by the hand and explain the new security risks that are becoming a big part of everyday life. 

I'm sick and tired of reading about people buying their first computer, and having MAJOR problems because these companies assume their customers will understand everything on day 1 !   Something is wrong here. And it will only get worse if nothing is done.    example

Hey, I have an idea.  A new computer buyer or customer automatically gets an email explaining clearly some of the malicious tactics of hackers, spammers, and spyware, and what they can do to avoid problems. (like identity theft)

It seems so obvious.

Sharp Ferrari Phone from Vodafone

You've read about the Acer Ferrari 4000 laptop here already, and now there's news of a new Ferrari mobile phone! The Sharp GX25 and Sharp V302SH Ferrari Edition are "Ferrari Red" in color, and have the well known Ferrari logo on the outside of the flip-phone. A black, and a white version have been seen as well. Vodafone will be the first to offer this slick phone in September. The Ferrari mobile phones are limited editions, so get one while you can!

Features:
Bluetooth™
310k VGA CMOS Digital Camera
Tri-Band
262k colour QVGA TFT LCD

Dimensions: 23.5 x 46 x 92 mm
Weight: 90g
Battery Life: talktime 3.5 hrs standbytime 240 hrs

Vodafone

Windows Vista

Today Microsoft unveiled Windows Vista, the official name for “Longhorn”, and set August 3rd 2005 date for first Beta release targeted at Developers and IT Professionals. 

Introducing Windows Vista™
It enables a new level of confidence in your PC and in your ability to get the most out of it. It introduces clear ways to organize and use information the way you want to use it. It seamlessly connects you to information, people, and devices that help you get the most out of life.

On Microsoft's Windows Vista website you can get the latest on WindowsVista plans and watch the video presentation they just made available. Vista will be released in 2006.

Tags | Windows Vista Microsoft