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Brits may face fines for watching TV on cellphones
If you're living in the UK and want to watch live TV on your cellphone, your TV license fees had better be paid up. If not, you could end up being slapped with a fine of as much as £1,000. While this may be a non-issue for most Britons, who already pay the fee for their home TVs, it could be a problem for anyone who doesn't have a TV at home, and plans on watching solely on a cellphone. While reports put some students into this category, we're a little dubious. Come on, lads, pay the fee. Auntie Beeb needs it, and besides, you're going to go blind if you really are doing all of your viewing on your cellie.
Motorola using Windows Media for new musicphones
Nah, they're not abandoning iTunes or their deal with Apple -- at least not yet -- but Motorola announced today that they've just cut a deal to build a new line of musicphones sporting Microsoft's Windows Media software (they already release phones running Windows Mobile). They're promising between one and three Windows Media-powered handsets in the second half of this year, and though they don't come right out and say it, we're guessing that the phones will offer support for PlaysForSure and won't have any lame 100 song caps. Either way, they do make it clear that the phones will support over-the-air song downloads and allow transfers directly from a PC.
HTC launching new DMB cellphone
Ok, we're expecting to be very sick of hearing about how mobile TV is the next big thing by the end of 3GSM, but since it's only the first day we're still relatively unjaded by the news that tomorrow Microsoft honcho Steve Ballmer is going to show off a new Windows Mobile-powered phone from HTC that comes with a built-in DMB receiver for watching digital TV broadcasts. We don't have a model name for the phone -- at least not yet -- but we do know that the phone'll be capable of receiving broadcasts from that new digital television BT and Virgin Mobile are rolling out in the UK later this year.
Motorola V3i reviewed
MobileBurn just posted an extensive review of the RAZR V3i -- the quad-band GSM variant of the mad-popular RAZR V3 original which also features a 1.2 megapixel shooter, microSD, and gunmetal finish. Their version of the V3i did feature iTunes (with 100 song cap) which managed to pump-out "pretty good" audio over the included headphones although "a lot of people will wish for more volume." Otherwise, the list of included applications, while functionally fine, were found to be "a bit paltry" compared to "most other phones these days." Overall though, they lay-down a "highly recommended" rating calling it a "great device" for both practical and aesthetic reasons.
Nokia Bluetooth audio adapter coming?
So, while the FCC was busy approving Nokia's N91 musicphone, it looks like the Feds also gave their blessing to the company's AD-42W Wireless Audio Gateway, which allows the phone (and, presumably, any other Bluetooth device with A2DP support) to transmit audio over Bluetooth to a stereo system or powered speakers. Nothing too exciting here; just a box with RCA jacks. Still, we'd like to give it a try, especially with other Bluetooth audio products that might be coming down the pike.
Samsung's SGH-P900 T-DMB handset for Europe
Samsung just announced the SGH-P900 T-DMB handset. Yeah, it may just be a tweaked SCH-B250, but this pup represents their inaugural push into what is expected to be a booming handheld digital TV market in Europe. This tri-band GSM / GPRS / EDGE handset throws down a swivelling, 2.2-inch 240x330 262K color LCD display and features a 2 megapixel shooter, Bluetooth, and MPEG-4 video and MP3/AAC audio player. And not only can you view that sweet, sweet digital teevee son, but you can also look up programs on an included EPG and then record to the 128MB of internal memory or microSD expansion for later playback via that TV-out jack. Expect the SGH-P900 to start shipping Q2 nought-six just in time for the World Cup of what the rest-of-the-world-calls “football.”[Via Akihabara News]
Nokia N91, E70 approved by FCC
Nokia's long-awaited hard drive-equipped N91 just got a step closer to a US release, with FCC approval. Among the confirmed features revealed in the phones manual are the abilities to use PlaysForSure DRM, function in mass storage mode, use songs as ringtones and download music directly from online music stores. The phone has a 4GB hard drive, a 2 megapixel camera, Bluetooth, WiFi, UPnP support and runs on Symbian 9.1. The FCC also approved the E70, a business-oriented phone with a QWERTY keyboard. No word, of course, on when/if these will actually be released in the US.
Motorola SLVR L7 review roundup
Cingular began selling Motorola's SLVR L7 just three days ago, but critics have wasted little time checking it out, and the net is already being flooding with reviews. Not surprisingly, a lot of the reviews reach similar conclusions: stylish phone, so-so music player. After all, the SLVR L7's iTunes implementation is basically the same as the one on the much-beloved ROKR E1, meaning it's limited to just 100 songs. That hasn't stopped Cingular from promoting iTunes as the main feature behind the SLVR; promotional materials and the phone's retail box proclaim "iTunes Cingular" in big letters, with the phone's model name in almost invisble text. However, we suspect that most buyers will know what they're looking for. This isn't the ROKR, and people will be buying this as a SLVR first, and a musicphone second, no matter what Cingular says or does. Here are the reviews we've found so far. Be sure to add any others that you've found in the comments so we can keep the list up to date! Chicago Tribune The New York Times iLounge PC Magazine CNet Wireless NewsFactor
iTheater RC1 is available
As promised, iTheater RC1 was released today. I only played with it briefly this morning, but I can see where they're going with it. At first launch, iTheater takes over the screen as does FrontRow. You use the arrow keys to navigate through the menus, and other key combinations manage video playback (these are included in the Read Me file). I had no problem finding and playing the videos I was after. Navigating my music library worked as well, though I had a hard time getting tracks to play. I don't have a Mac with a remote, so I was unable to try that out.The weather feature is a nice idea, a feature similar to MythTV (as of RC1 you can't specify your location, but it's still pretty cool). It's a good early release and I look forward to RC2. iTheater is an open source project released under the GPL.Try it out and send them some feedback.
Verizon launches CDM 8945, third VCast musicphone
Verizon released its third V Cast musicphone today, the CDM 8945 by UTStarcom- tunes go on a microSD card, and EV-DO provides the bandwidth for those overpriced impulse purchases. You also get a VGA camera (yawn), but a pretty solid 176 x 220 screen for all those TV clips you'll be watching. Being part of the exclusive V Cast music club (along with owners of the LG VX8100 and Samsung a950) will cost $130 with a two-year contract, along with another $30 for the "music essentials" kit, which includes PC software, sync cable and headphones, but no memory card it seems.
threePay's Ministry of Sound-branded MOS-1 3G mobile
We haven't been to Ministry of of Sound since the late 90's, when it was still considered fairly hip, but we don't know how much weight the brand will carry for moving cellphones in 2006. Nevertheless, the Ministry and UK carrier 3 have teamed up on the MOS-1 3G mobile, a 1.3 megapixel cameraphone with music downloading capabilities as well as video playback and the usual broadband fare. Because you pretty much have to throw in some obligatory themed-swag to justify the branding, the MOS-1 also comes with a couple tracks of Ibiza club faves along with a dedicated button for music shopping and a pair of free headphones. Available now as a pay-as-you-go model for 50 pounds.[Via Tech Digest]
Apple releases iLife 06, Photocasting, iWeb addition
Apple today unveiled iLife 06, a major update to their award-winning suite of multimedia applications. The largest updates came to iPhoto, which can now handle 250,000 photos and features better, full-screen editing options. A major new feature is called Photocasting, which will allow an iPhoto user to publish their photos to the web using RSS technology, allowing anyone to subscribe to a feed of their images and the ability to be notified of updates. You can also subscribe through your own copy of iPhoto 06, which will allow you to actually download the images and use them as if they were your own, enabling editing as well as ordering prints, cards and now calendars.GarageBand 3 now features a "Podcast Recording Studio," along with professional podcast sounds, a Podcast Radio Engineer, iChat Interview Recording and iMovie Scoring.iMovie HD 6 adds Apple-designed iMovie themes, real-time effects, cinematic real-time titling, enhanced audio tools and effects, multiple open projects and video podcast/blogging abilities.iDVD 6 brings Magic DVD, widescreen DVD abilities, an enhanced map view and the much-requested compatibility with 3rd-party DVD burners to the table.A new addition to the iLife family is iWeb, a much rumored new app that does what everyone had assumed: it will allow .Mac members to easily publish content from other iLife apps such as podcasts, imovies, photos, blogs and more to their .Mac space. It features Apple-designed templates, easy flexible site creation, and iLife media browser and one-click .Mac publishing. I guess there was a reason behind that 1 TB bandwidth upgrade back in Dec.Even with all these great new features, iLife 06 still sells a single license for only $79, with a 5-license pack for $99, and is available today at the online store. I'm sure local stores will have it in soon, as well.
Convert DivX to WMV for the 360
If you've got a collection of DivX, Quicktime or any other form of video, and want to play them on the 360 (using Windows Media Extender), you've probably been disappointed so far. Fortunately, help is at hand in the form of a plethora of video conversion tools. From open-source to professional level, there's conversion software out there that will tackle almost any codec and turn your video into the 360-happy WMV, MPEG-1 and MPEG-2 formats. HD Beat has discovered Videora Xbox360 Converter, a free piece of software designed to optimise any video for viewing on the 360.Here's hoping other ways of getting video on the 360 will be discovered for those of us without Media Center Edition PCs.[Via HDBeat; thanks, iData]
