Microsoft’s Gates wants to control digital lifestyle through entertainment network

Microsoft Corp. chairman Bill Gates wants to control digital lifestyle, and at the Consumer Electronics Show Sunday night, Bill Gates announced one more project to help the company do it.A vision of a connected lifestyle, in which digital content can move across devices throughout the home and be taken on the go.
Windows Home Server software, available during the second half of 2007, will act as the center of a home’s computer network, from photo and video storage to television to accessing computers files at the office away from home, Gates said in the keynote at the conference.Building the underlying networks. Developing the technologies to get devices to communicate. Creating the hardware that can handle the digital data. Returning to the drawing board when there were flops. And finally, getting the backing of entertainment sources to embrace this new era of media consumption.
The announcement sets up a head-to-head battle with Apple Computer, which is expected to provide details of its iTV set-top box at MacWorld in San Francisco on Tuesday. Both companies are targeting the more than 40 percent of American homes with broadband that can deliver movies, TV, music and data from the Internet.
Gates, Microsoft’s co-founder, chairman and chief software architect, also highlighted deals that will bring video and online services from cable TV channels Fox Sports, Nicklodeon and Starz to its 6-year-old Windows Media Center, a less ambitious software system that will be integrated into the company’s Vista operating system coming to consumers at the end of January.
Robbie Bach, president of Microsoft’s Entertainment and Devices group and a fast-rising executive at the company, discussed the millions-strong community around Microsoft’s online gaming service Xbox live, and plans to replicate it among users of Microsoft’s Zune, an MP3 player released in November.
Bach said that the Xbox 360 gaming console would be acting as a set-top box for high-quality, interactive Internet protocol television (IPTV) by the end of the year.
In his 11th annual speech headlining the world’s largest tech convention, Gates highlighted how Microsoft’s latest creations and partnerships aim to make it easier for people to navigate, consume, share and manage different kinds of content, whether they are games, movies, family photos, sports or work.
The consumer launch of Windows Vista later this month is the company’s first major overhaul of its operating system since Windows XP was launched in 2001.

LG Electronics launches the only multi-format next-gen DVD player

South Korea’s LG Electronics has launched the so called Super Multi Blue Player at the 2007 International CES exhibition, that has just opened. The player, LG BH100, will be introduced in the he United States during the first quarter of 2007, and is the first player on the market with the capability to play both Blu ray and HD DVD disc formats, addressing the challenge of the current format war between the two new high-definition video-technologies.
The player will be available in the US from the first week of February for $1,199 (£619) that’s significantly more than the priciest HD DVD player, but only slightly more than the average Blu-ray player.
The player includes both red and blue laser diodes, which enables it to read all three disc formats. While users can take advantage of all the interactive features included on Blu-ray discs, however, it is currently limited to simply playing HD DVDs without their interactive functions.The player will play 1080p content, currently the highest possible video resolution available, and has an HDMI 1.2 output.
LG developed the Super Multi Blue Player to end the confusion caused by the current competition between Blu-ray Disc and HD DVD. Customers are no longer forced to choose between the two formats. As Full HD TV is already gaining ground, we are hoping that the Super Multi Blue Player will play the trigger role in expanding and advancing both Full HD TV and high-definition DVD market volume together.
In addition to offering Full HD 1080p picture quality from high-definition discs, the player incorporates interactive functions based on BD-Java, which allows advanced menus and functions to be displayed over the video of Blu-ray discs. And, while the same level of advanced menu interactivity is not available while playing HD DVD discs, the powerful combination of Blu-ray Disc and HD DVD audio-video playback technologies is like no other on the market, says LG.
The unit supports various A/V formats, including MPEG-2, VC-1, H.264 video, MPEG1/2 audio, Dolby Digital, Dolby Digital+, DTS and DTS-HD audio, and includes multiple inputs/outputs such as HDMI out, component/composite video outputs, and optical/coaxial/discrete 5.1 channel audio outputs, among others.
Many expected the format war to be decided by which format could offer the most compelling content, and in another sign that the two camps could be forced to call a truce, Warner Bros. is also expected to announce it will sell movies and TV shows as a hybrid disc called Total HD that will play in the Blu-ray and HD DVD formats.

Nokia Electronics launches the new Nokia N800-the internet tablet

The new Nokia N800, unveiled at CES in Las Vegas, is Nokia’s successor to the 770, Nokia’s first go at an Internet Tablet. The Linux powered N800 is aimed at users that are looking for connectivity from almost anywhere or anyplace.The Nokia N800 Internet Tablet already appeared in stores over the weekend.

The Nokia N800 promises faster performance, full screen finger QWERTY keyboard, easier continuous connections through Wi Fi or via Bluetooth phone, integrated web camera as well as a new elegant design. Like its predecessor, the Nokia N800 Internet Tablet is based on Nokia’s desktop Linux based Operating System. Nokia also announced a partnership with Skype for the N800. Skype for the N800 is expected to be available in the first half of 2007.

The screen has a nice large and bright widescreen display (800×480 resolution) and offers a full width on-screen QWERTY finger keyboard for quick and easy text input. Other features include 128MB RAM, 2 card slots, stereo speakers, UPnP architecture, media player, Opera 8 browser and Flash 7 support.The Nokia N800 measures 75×144x13 (/18) mm and weighs 206g.
The new device allows users to connect to the Internet through a home WiFi network (802.11b/e/g), or use Bluetooth v2.0 to connect via a mobile phone. The N800 Tablet is capable of VoIP calls with video over the Internet thanks to its built-in webcam. The N800 also supports instant messaging and email as well as offers full stereo media support. N800 with the video streaming and GPS capabilities uses a wireless router and is able to play video streamed from a PC and act as a remote control to control video played on another device.

The N800 which weighs 206g (7.3oz), is a tad more than the 770’s 189g (6.7oz), and measures 144mm x 75mm x 13mm (5.7″ x 3.0″ x 0.5″). The device’s battery should provide up to 10 days of standby or 3 hours of Internet browsing according to Nokia. Nokia state that the Nokia N800 Internet Tablet should be available right away in the US and select markets throughout Europe. It will retail for US$399/399EUR. “As the Internet becomes an ever more integral part of daily life, Nokia N800 has been designed to offer quick and convenient access to your favorite Internet services regardless of location,” said Ari Virtanen, Vice President, Convergence Products, Multimedia, Nokia. “The Nokia N800 takes our offering to the next level combining speed, performance and mobility into a stylish, compact design.” In addition to adding Skype functionality, Nokia also will partner with RealNetworks to support the company’s Rhapsody music service.

Sony ships one million PS3 consoles to North America

Sony Computer Entertainment, the Japanese game giant, has finally met its goal of shipping one million PlayStation 3 video game consoles to North America by the end of 2006. In an announcement made by the company, it had stated goal of 2 million Play-Station 3s globally by the the end of 2006. Thus, the North American shipments contributed to about half of the total number, inspite of the production problems.
Sony corp. has a $30 billion share in the video game industry. The PS3s video game console can be acquired at a retail price costing $600 in the United States. Nintendo’s Wii retails for $250; and Microsoft’s Xbox 360 retails for $400. Sony had been the leader, with 70 percent of the global market, in the last generation of the console wars and done pretty good with the PlayStation 1 and 2, but its still a puzzle who will grab the market this time.
Microsoft Corp.’s Xbox 360 and Nintendo Co. Ltd.’s Wii are the main rivals of PS3. Microsoft sold 511,000 units of its Xbox 360 , while Nintendo sold 476,000 units of its new Wii video game console in the United States in November, last year. Microsoft, which gets most of its sales from North America, has made 10 million shipments of Xbox 360 by year end.
Jack Tretton, chief executive of Sony Computer Entertainment America, which handles Sony’s PlayStation business says, “Within a week, at the most, a million units will be in (North American) consumers’ hands,” He further said that,”We are planning to ship 6 million PS3 consoles worldwide by the end of March 2007.We’re equally strong in all three markets Europe, North America, Japan. We can’t afford to sacrifice any one of them.”
Sony has ruled the video game console market with its two previous PlayStation models, PS1 and PS2, and has sold 200 million of them globally till date, but its launch of the PS3 was delayed due to limited supply to manufacturing glitches with blue laser diodes, the technological heart of the system’s high-capacity, high-definition Blu ray disk drive.

Bugatti Veyron the fastest car on the planet

The Bugatti Veyron, a car laden with superlatives including fastest, most luxurious and most expensive, has made its debut as the fastest car in the world.

THE widely respected German weekly car magazine Auto Motor und Sport recently took on a survey to determine which car among a variety of exotic sports models was the fastest of them all. It must have been an interesting experience for those charged with the task of evaluating the cars and of course, it takes a driver with serious racing experience to point a supercar down a long track straightaway and drive it to the limit.

Few tracks anywhere in the world have a straight long enough to explore an ultra high-performance car’s outer limits, but the team at the magazine settled on Volkswagen’s huge Ehra-Lessien test track near its headquarters in Wolfsburg.

This track, has two nine-kilometre-long straights with banked turns at each end. It’s a huge track and makes the Indianapolis Motor Speedway look like a quarter-mile oval.
According to the report on this test, nine models were evaluated using a computerized speed recording system and not the cars’ instruments. They comprised some the most desirable sports cars on the planet — a true cross-section of automotive aristocracy. Taken to the track were the Aston Martin Vanquish S, Bugatti Veyron, Chevrolet Corvette Z06, Dodge Viper SRT-10, Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano, Ford GT, Lamborghini Murcielago LP640, Mercedes SLR McLaren, and Porsche 911 Turbo.

When this exercise in “pushing the envelope” concluded, the Bugatti Veyron came out on top with an almost unbelievable 402 kilometres an hour. Second fastest was the Lamborghini at 340 km/h and third came the Ferrari, recording 335 km/h. The Veyron’s zero to 100 km/h time was under three seconds, which was just as amazing as the car’s top speed. For the record, the fastest ever been on a (long) test track was 305 km/h in a Porsche 911 Turbo.

But what does all this mean to the average car buyer? Is the availability of cars with this kind of performance a profitable ploy to attract wealthy buyers who have the funds not only to buy the car, but to take it to a test track or racing circuit now and again? Certainly the kinds of speeds these supercars can achieve are almost of no value at all in today’s traffic conditions.
For many automakers, top-of-the-line sports cars are a way of packing in every ounce of technology to evaluate what kinds of safety margins vehicles might benefit from lower down the model ranges. For example, if an automaker can build a car capable of 300 km/h and a zero to 100 km/h time in the four-second range, just imagine how safe it can build a family sedan posting half those performance figures.

In a sense, these supercars pioneer technology that eventually finds its way to everyday vehicles — and the same can be said about auto racing, too. The same dictum can be applied to the aerospace industry. Could Boeing have designed its 777 airliner to fly us across the world at more than 900 km/h if it hadn’t been able to develop, at an earlier stage, technology for military aircraft capable of twice that speed and more? Probably not.

Bugatti is part of the big VW/Audi group (as is Lamborghini) and it’s easy to believe that the kind of technology used to develop the Veyron is looked at carefully by the people who design and engineer.

Palm Launches the Treo 750 with Cingular Wireless

Palm, Inc. and Cingular Wireless launched the first smart device running on Cingular’s 3G/UMTS network, Palm Treo. It is providing mobile professionals with an amazing-fast download speeds in and an exceptional phone experience.

The highly anticipated Treo 750 five-band world phone which uses Windows Mobile 5.0 with Direct Push Technology shows Palm’s exclusive usability improvements with powerful business features, including email, security, and web access on the go. It combines a world GSM phone, email, broadband wireless, and Windows Mobile. The Palm Treo 750 is aimed at executives, sales people and other “mobile professionals” who travel worldwide and need to use e-mail,the Web and their cell phone.

With the web becoming part and parcel of the modern office, email and web access from cell phones have become a necessity. Executives on travel need to access and share data every now and then. But more than ever, a reliable wireless connection has become utmost necessity. Video too is becoming a necessary application for cell phones and so most new phones are coming in equipped with these features. Treo too is in the list.

The Palm treo will be available at Cingular Wireless retail stores and online at a retail price of $400 along with a two-year contract and mail-in rebate. In internal specifications, the Treo runs Windows Mobile5.0, and has an internel antenna, alphabetic keyboard. It has a 1.3-megapixel camera, an Touch screen of 240-240mm and Bluetooth support for headsets.The Phone has a 60MB on internal memory.

The Palm Treo 750 initially will be enabled for UMTS with a free upgrade, scheduled to be available later in 2007, to Cingular’s supercharged HSDPA technology. UMTS/HSDPA is a global standard and natural 3G evolutionary path for GSM providers with 142 UMTS networks in 61 countries currently available.

The Palm launched the Treo in September 2006.The delay was mainly due to certification issueswith carriers, some of which were not in Palm’s control. Palm Chief Executive mentioned that the rival companies got the benefit of the Palm Treo’s delay and they introduced a number of new smart phones during the same period.

Thus the Palm Treo 750 phone helps to stay connected by true means. It sports a more compact design and comes with integrated Bluetooth, a 1.3-megapixel camera, and world phone capabilities with all features like phone, email, messaging, web, and Windows Mobile with Palm enhancements.