IT Masala

SanDisk's Wi-Fi-enabled Sansa Connect is the first significant rethinking of the portable media player.It comes with a capacity of 4GB.

The Sansa Connect connects directly to Yahoo's internet-based music and image services. If you subscribe to Yahoo! Music Unlimited, you can find and download individual tracks and albums. You can also view photos stored on Yahoo's Flickr service. And we enjoyed listening to streaming internet radio offered by Yahoo's Launchcast radio, which offers roughly 150 streaming stations, making SanDisk's omission of an FM radio pardonable. 

PROS: Uses Wi-Fi to download music. Wirelessly stream photos via Flickr. Plays MP3s. Plays tracks from Rhapsody and other Windows-based services. Easily connects to secure and unsecured Wi-Fi networks. Sleek design. Bright screen. Plays while recharging.

CONS: No way to search for artists wirelessly. Requires Yahoo! Music Unlimited To Go subscription ($12 monthly) for Wi-Fi downloading. Can't recommend some non-Yahoo! tracks to "friends."

BOTTOM LINE: If you can pay the $12 monthly charge for Yahoo! Music Unlimited To Go, the Sansa Connect is a fantastic device. Once you subscribe to the service, you can wirelessly download content onto the flash player, which also provides access to your Flickr account and Internet radio.

Price : The player is available for less than $250 at major electronics outlet.

via [ wired news  ] 

At Palm's analyst and investor conference in New York Tuesday, CEO Ed Colligan announced that the company was investing in a new Linux-based platform for its line of Treo smart phones.

Colligan said the Linux platform "will build a new foundation for Palm" and give the company, users and developers more flexibility.

The platform has been in development for "a number of years", he said, but emphasized repeatedly that Palm is still committed to the Palm OS and will continue to ship products based on that platform.

Those were the only details provided.

Access purchased PalmSource, developer of the Palm OS in 2005, and last year licensed Palm OS back to Palm. Access then rebranded its version of the platform as Garnet OS and is developing its own Linux version of the platform 

PN:

Other news sources have reported that Palm will introduce products based on its Linux platform later this year. When contacted, Palm was unable to comment on whether these products would be available in the Asia-Pacific region.

via [ cnet ] 

The Russian security company Kaspersky Lab claims to have created the world's first "proof of concept" iPod virus. They provide exceptionally few details about the "virus" itself, but what they do provide tells us that the virus that they created doesn't really exploit that much. They named the virus "Podloso," which is—again—a proof-of-concept program and "does not pose a real threat," writes the company.

Security vendor Kaspersky Labs announced it has detected the first virus designed to infect iPod portable media players. Photo by Kaspersky Labs

Condition to be Affected :

Kaspersky says the iPod must have Linux installed. The company says that the user must put the virus' file onto the iPod's disk first . ( this is too much limitation..who the hell would do that..)

Virus Activity :

Once there, the virus installs itself into a folder that contains program demos on the iPod. It then allegedly scans the disk of the iPod in order to infect all .elf files, and if the user tries to launch any of these files, a mocking message will be displayed on the iPod's screen: "You are infected with Oslo the first iPodLinux Virus."

"Podloso has no malicious payload, and does not present a real threat; it simply demonstrates that it is, theoretically possible to create malicious programs for such devices," writes the company.

Note : But still Ipod users are not away from the threat of being affected severely by malicious programmers . So be careful when you install any third party softwares or any hacks to your little music player .

via [ novinite ] 

Batteries powered by anything sugary - even flat lemonade - could run gadgets up to four times longer than conventional lithium ion batteries.

Fuel cell technology that is currently in development boasts the ability of extracting energy from virtually any sugar source to power portable electronics like cellular phones, laptops, and sensors. The new technology is expected to be biodegradable, environmentally friendly and more energy efficient than current options, providing a green alternative to current Lithium-ion batteries.

About the cell :

The cell operates at room temperature and uses enzymes to oxidize sugars, hence generating electricity. So far, researchers have run the batteries on glucose, flat soft drinks, sweetened drink mixes and tree sap.

Efficiency :

Despite only attaining a maximum of 20 percent efficiency in the conversion of sugar to electricity, researchers say the new batteries will operate three to four times longer on a single charge than current battery technology.

"This study shows that renewable fuels can be directly employed in batteries at room temperature to lead to more energy-efficient battery technology than metal-based approaches," said study leader Shelley Minteer, an electrochemist at Saint Louis University in the U.S.

Still a loong way to go..  

The technology has been licensed to a small company for commercialisation, and is expected to reach the market in three to five years.

via [ idg ] 

eShare lets you do 24/7 non-stop sharing while freeing up your computer for other purposes. You can utilize the latest P2P technology “Bit-Torrent” to download and share your favourite multimedia files.

Why waste your computer resource when a dedicated box can do the work for you. Use this Procare e|Share ES-8068, a dedicated BitTorrent client that you can be set up using a Web browser. Without using your PC at all, it will connect directly to the Internet using Ethernet, storing files in a USB 2.0 hard drive. isn't this a cool feature..

Very light, this box can be bought for $85 plus shipping.

Note : Its Patent Pending.

Product page [Procare via PC Watch]

No link of where to buy. But interested people could contact them at their office here. 

It would be good if it had some features like , a small lcd screen, and bad thing is it supports only fat 32 file system. 

Apple has announced that it has now begun shipping Apple TV, a wireless device that allows you to play music, movies, photos and more on a widescreen TV.

According tp Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing, “Apple TV is like a DVD player for the Internet age- providing an easy and fun way to play all your favorite iTunes content from your PC or Mac on your widescreen TV.” 

In the technology world, conventional wisdom says that we’ll soon be saying R.I.P. for the DVD. Internet downloads are the future, baby. No driving, no postpaid envelopes. Any movie, any TV show, any time.

Features: 

Apple TV has a 40GB hard drive, which can store up to 50 hours of video, 9000 songs, 25,000 photos or a combination of each. It is capable of delivering high-definition 720p output.

Apple TV iTunes 7.1 or later, running on a Mac with Mac OS X version 10.3.9 or later, or a Windows PC with Windows XP Home/Professional.

Apple ships with HDMI, component video, analog and optical audio ports. The Apple Remote ships with Apple TV at no extra cost. Apple TV can also auto-sync content from one computer or stream content from up to five additional computers directly on to the TV without any wires. It can do so using high-speed AirPort 802.11 wireless networking.

Pricing: Apple TV, which includes the Apple Remote will be available for a price of $299.

Pretec claims i-Disk RFID as smallest flash drive in world.The world's smallest flash drive has arrived, measuring in at 45.7 x 12.2 x 2.2mm. The Pretec i-Disk flash drive uses RFID tech for a waterproof casing with 1 GB worth of storage.

No idea how much it costs , but its really cool.it looks almost like a keychain.

Via Gizmodo

Here’s what a $1,490 keyboard looks like.Well, it's been years in development but Art Lebedev has finally finished development work on the 114-key color OLED (organic LED) Optimus Maximus keyboard. 

Press shots have been released at CeBIT .No keyboard prototypes are present at CeBIT, just the photos.

Each display is 32×32 pixels full-color OLED (organic LED). Each key is user-replaceable. Each key incorporates a display. Change your keyboard layout at will.

I wonder if the keyboard is really worth $1,490. I still love my $12 Logitech keyboard.

Well, what do you think? Is it worth $1,490? time will tell….

[ For more screenshots ] and for more details :[ Optimus keyboard ] 

If companies like Apple Inc. or even Italian fashion designer Prada SpA can design a mobile phone, why not Google Inc.?

A recent job opening posted on the Google Web site appears to confirm the company may now be tinkering with more than just an idea but with some real hardware in its engineering labs.

Today the head of Google in Spain and Portugal has confirmed that Google is working on a mobile phone. "Some of the time the engineers are dedicated to developing a mobile phone," Isabel Aguilera is quoted as saying on the Spanish news Web site Noticias.com.

Plus, Google has on its payroll. Andy Rubin, the founder of handheld device maker Danger who later started Android, a mobile-software maker that Google bought in 2005. Google also acquired mobile-applications company Reqwireless and Google secretly acquired a company called Skia, whose first product is a portable graphics engine that renders 2D graphics on handhelds. 

"Some of the time the engineers are dedicated to developing a mobile phone," This could be the 20% free time development but publicizing that would be stupid. Obviously this phone could link in with Google Earth/Maps… it is a marketers dream for targeted advertising."

via [ cnet ] 

Today, Sony Ericsson announced the launch of the W660 Walkman phone…

The Sony Ericsson W660 Walkman phone can store up to 470 full-length songs on the 512MB Memory Stick Micro that comes with the phone. It has an expandable memory option upto 1GB.

The Sony Ericsson W660 Walkman phone features TRackID, a feature that enables the user to identify a piece of music that cannot be recognized. All the user has to do is record a few seconds of the track; via the microphone or by tagging a clip directly from the phone’s FM Radio. TrackID will then send the clip to the Gracenote Mobile MusicID database, after which the track information is sent back to the users’ phone.

According to Steve Walker, Head of Product Marketing,Sony:

“The W660 has a finish that stands out among its peers. Although the W660 places the emphasis firmly on design, it is also a full member of our Walkman phone family, able to store several hundred full-length songs. That’s important because our research indicates users are listening to more music than ever before – an average of 4.4 hours a day, according to the latest Sony Ericsson Music Monitor.”

Specifications of the Sony Ericsson W660 Walkman phone: