New LG LCD HDTV - SL80 and SL90 Series

LG is launching the new SL80 series and the SL90 series LCD HDTVs to the US market. Both series have a single edge-to-edge panel of glass over an ultra-slim bezel and come with Invisible Speaker design. The LG SL80 is a line of LCD HDTVs with slim CCFL backlight technology. It features TruMotion 240Hz refresh rate and 150,000:1 dynamic contrast ratio. The SL80 is series is less than 1.8 inches thick at its slimmest point. SL80 HDTV in 42-inch, 47-inch and 55-inch screen sizes will be released and available in August for $1,599.95, $1,899.95 and $2,799.95 respectively. The top-of-the-line LG SL90 series Full HD 1080p LED HDTVs gets LED-backlight instead and is just 1.15-inch thick.

The SL90 features 3,000,000:1 LED Mega Contrast Ratio and TruMotion 120Hz. 42-inch and 47-inch screen sizes will be available. Some other common features include AV Mode II, Invisible Speaker System, Picture Wizard, and Clear Voice II.

We're Listening

Here at Google, user feedback helps us improve our products. While we love to hear praise on what's working well, the honest direct feedback on what's not working is just as valuable and motivating. We'd like to share a couple of stories about recent product changes that were shaped greatly based on the feedback you have provided in the Google Mobile Help Forum. Hopefully, you'll continue to raise your voice and help us build better and more useful products.

iGoogle for Android and iPhone

In January, the high-end version of iGoogle for Android was discontinued because we felt it was too slow, and users were, instead, redirected to the standard Mobile iGoogle site. At the time, we thought you'd welcome the improvements to speed and stability. We humbly found out that we were wrong. One thread in the user forum received over 350 replies and almost 18,000 page views! Here's what some folks had to say:

"Its not just that the standard mobile verision of iGoogle is weak, its vastly inferior to the optimized version for iPhone..." - mccarrabba


"The mobile version is not good enough. Why should I have to suffer because other mobile devices offer crappy browsers? This is a horribly short-sighted decision." - tewha

Well, we heard you loud and clear. Our team read each of the forum posts, and listened to why the standard version did not meet your needs. Last month, we brought back iGoogle for Android and iPhone and made it better than ever. The new version is faster and easier to use, and there's support for tabs and more of your favorite gadgets. We also now support the in-line display of articles for feed-based gadgets, so you can read article summaries without leaving the page.

We're glad that so many of you voiced your ideas. iGoogle is back and better, and it seems like folks are pretty stoked:

"Personally, I could have cried. And I mean that in a good way. OMG-about time!! I'm leaving on vacation and was for sure I was going to have to take my laptop. Tabs actually work! My gadgets work! Its back! Hip Hip Hooray!" - ktigger2

Google Maps for mobile
Soon after we launched Google Maps for mobile 3.0 and Google Latitude on four platforms (Android, BlackBerry, Windows Mobile, and Symbian S60), we received some helpful feedback on where improvements could be made and problems fixed.

Keeping in mind the input of many faithful Help Forum posters, we released two updated versions for Windows Mobile and Symbian S60 users in April (version 3.0.1) and July (version 3.2). These versions added new features, like Layers, and included some fixes and new ways to use Maps for mobile that were among the most requested by you. For example, the My Maps feature request received over 2,000 votes on our Mobile Product Ideas page. We also used specific Help Forum conversations to tweak behavior, such as the backlight timeout on Symbian phones, and to fix issues, like copy and paste for Windows Mobile phones.

In June, we also updated Maps in Android Market to Maps 3.1, introducing popular feature requests like Transit directions and Google Search by voice. We've received lots of positive feedback about pushing out these features:

"Not only is this an awesome update, but what an awesome way to distribute!" - matt

In addition to the iGoogle and Maps for mobile updates, your feedback also led to the development of other exciting new features -- for example, labels for Gmail and direct YouTube uploads on Android. Your ideas and requests help us to drive and prioritize new products and features, so please post your thoughts on the Help Forum. As you continue to show us what you care about, we'll continue to listen as we work on our mobile products.




Posted by Chris Nguyen & Gabe Garcia, Google Mobile Consumer Operations

Zero Ds Electro Dirt Bike

Most of us love motorcycles and we love things that's environment friendlly so it is no secret that we loved the Zero S electric supermoto when we got to take it for a spin through the urban wasteland.

That bike has now been set free from the world of asphalt given some knobbies, beefier wheels and brawnier suspension to make it just as good when the pavement ends. It also has a much brighter light which may put something of an additional drain on the battery (range is still rated at 50 miles) but will make it easier to find puddles to avoid -- or to aim for. This bike fills the void between the company's street and dirt offerings and while it might not be quite as good over the offroad-only Zero MX it has the distinct advantage of not requiring a truck or trailer to get there in the first place.

The DS costs $9,950, the same as the Zero S, and is available for order now.

ZiiLabs Launches EGG StemCell Computer

ZiiLabs created the StemCell computer to be an open standards development platform capable of running a Linux OS or Android with equal ease. This ZiiLabs EGG is not a phone but it can be upgraded with the proper chipset to become one. This gadget is different from anything currently out on the market. In terms of specs this bad boy is easily the equal of the Zune HD or iPod Touch. It's got a:

• 3.5” true-color capacitive
• 10-point multitouch screen
• X-Fi audio
• 32 GB of internal NAND Flash
• 256 MB of RAM
• HDTV support through HD Cable
• Forward-facing VGA camera
• Rear facing HD camera
• Recording and video conferencing
• WiFi
• Bluetooth
• GPS receiver with antenna
• 3-axis accelerometer
• Ambient light sensor
• SDHC slot that supports up to a 32 GB card
• USB 2.0 Mini-B
• Docking connector
• Built-in speaker and microphone
• 1200mAH lithium-ion battery
• Support for Linux-based Plasma OS and Android

That's an exhausting spec list and it makes the Ziil EGG easily one of the most impressive devices ever seen. If you want one you are going to have to wait a while though. No release date has yet been giving. However ZiiLabs is taking pre-orders for the $399 developer kit. The kit comes with Plaszma OS, Plasxma SDK, and Zii Optimized Android OS. You also get a 32 GB Zii EGG as a bonus.

JVC Launches New Earphones

JVC has Launches its new in-ear earphones that come in a wide range of colors. The headphones include the HA-EBX85 sports clip headphones that feature ear hooks to keep them in place during heavy activity. JVC is also unveiled the HA-FX20 earphones as well. Both models use neodymium driver units and cords designed to reduce friction that are one meter long for the FX20 and 1.2 meters long for the EBX85 earphones. Both sets also come with three sizes of soft rubber ear cushions. The plug on the FX20 and EBX85 earphones is iPod compatible.

You might expect with the JVC name tied to the products that they would be expensive but they are not. The EBX85 earphones will sell for $19.95 and the FX20 will sell for $14.95.

LG's GD910 Watch Phone With Orange

LG is going to launch the LG GD910 3G watch mobile phone in August with orange. LG’s watch phone is able to do a two-way video conversation. Other features of the watch phone include:

• 1.43-inch touchscreen
• Built-in media player
• Bluetooth
• HSDPA 3.5H 7.2Mbps.

The metal casing and curved glass create a body just 13.9mm thick, and if you’re not keen on prodding at the display then you’ll be pleased to hear that the GD910 supports voice-dialling and speech recognition for TTS (Text To Speech) composition of text messages.

It’s also waterproof, has a speakerphone. The LG GD910 will go on sale in Europe sometime in 2009, price and precise date unknown.

Novatel Wireless MiFi 2372 Intelligent Mobile

Novatel Wireless introduces the MiFi 2372 Intelligent Mobile hotspot launched and it is optimized for North American HSPA network. The MiFi 2372 as a HSPA to WiFi router basically connects to HSPA network and then shares the internet connect to up to five devices via WiFi. The MiFi 2372 supports:

• HSPA
• UMTS 3G
• EDGE
• GPRS
• Data speeds 7.2 Mbps downlink and 5.76 Mbps uplink
• Built-in GPS receiver
• microSD card slot

Similar to the other models in the MiFi line of Intelligent Mobile Hotspots and the other such products available on the market (and quite a few such devices have been released lately) the MiFi 2372 creates a personal cloud of high-speed Internet connectivity that can be easily shared between multiple users and Wi-Fi devices such as laptops, cameras, gaming devices, smartphones and portable multimedia players.

Ferrari Italia Sportscar 485

Ferrari going to launch its new 458 Italia sportscar replacing the F430. The 458 Italia is powered by a direct-injected 4.5-liter V8 engine producing 562 horsepower and 398 lb-ft of torque. It has a seven-speed dual clutch gearbox. The sportscar can reach 0-100 km/h acceleration in under 3.4 seconds and offers a maximum speed over 325 km/h. The Ferrari 458 Italia is lightweight at 1380 kg, thanks to the aluminum structure.

Ferrari 458 Italia will be shown at the Frankfurt Motor Show in September.

Here's the video:

World's 1st Bluetooth Headset Can Be Used as a Ring "Orb"

Bluetooth headset can now rest on your ring finger and if your ear creeping headset annoys you then a perfect solution has come up for you in the form of Orb Bluetooth headset. Specially designed with NXT technology that provides bone conduction this headset is truly relaxing. Conversion from ring to Bluetooth headset takes place with a simple twista and the twisted ring takes the shape of wavy headset. There is also Flexible Organic Light Emitting Device screen on this ring that alerts you by displaying calendar, caller ID, voice to text info and more on your special high tech ring. Yet in the manufacturing stages and the final product is supposed to be available by 2010.

The standrad model standing at the approx price of $129 and the deluxe model $175 price. Orb Bluetooth headset the wonder gadget would see the summer time after January 2010. It is believed to be embellished with gem stones as well.

VTech LS6245 Cordless Bluetooth Phone

VTech announced its sleek and innovative LS6245 cordless phone that is capable of connecting landline and cellphone calls simultaneously, while also packing in a digital answering system, and Bluetooth wireless technology which allows you to pair it with up to 8 Bluetooth-enabled devices.

The phone is based on DECT 6.0 technology, and it sports a button-free design with modern touch-sensitive keypads on the handset and base unit. The LS6245 Working as a virtual two-line phone system the LS6245 allows users to be on a landline call on one handset or base unit speakerphone while using another handset for a cellular call at the same time. Users also can connect two cellular phones to the LS6245 simultaneously and the first cellular phone call to come in will be routed to the cordless phone. The LS6245 base unit also can be paired with up to eight separate Bluetooth devices giving users multiple options for making and answering calls from Bluetooth-enabled mobile devices.

For hands-free landline conversations LS6245 users can make and receive traditional landline calls on the LS6245 using a Bluetooth headset or the handset and base station speakerphones. The VTech LS6245 phone system ($79.95) can be easily expanded with up to 12 handsets (VTech LS6204 accessory handset - $39.95) with a single phone jack at the base station.

The Iterative Web App: Links Got Shorter and Smarter

On April 7th, we announced a new version of Gmail for mobile for iPhone and Android-powered devices. Among the improvements was a complete redesign of the web application's underlying code which allows us to more rapidly develop and release new features that users have been asking for, as explained in our first post. We'd like to introduce The Iterative Webapp, a series where we will continue to release features for Gmail for mobile. Today: Smart Links.

We all know that on a mobile device, screen space is scarce, so it's not very helpful when I get an email with a long link such as this Google Maps link:



Not only is the link taking up an unnecessarily large amount of space, but it's not easy to find the address that's hidden in the middle of the link. To solve this problem, we now shorten the link and automatically convert raw links into named links, which we call "Smart Links". So instead of seeing that long link to Google Maps, you're going to see the link renamed to the actual address:

Clicking on it still takes you to the same Google Maps page, but now the link is much shorter and the important information is more visible!

Here's a list of links we currently support:

• Google Maps address queries
• Google Maps directional queries (with one destination)
• Google Sites webpages
• YouTube videos
  

We're planning to roll out support for more link types, such as Google Docs, so watch for those in your emails. Please note that Smart Links work only in plaintext emails right now.

To try out Gmail for mobile, visit gmail.com in your mobile browser. This version of Gmail for mobile supports iPhone/iPod touch OS 2.2.1 or above, as well as all Android-powered devices, and is available for US English only. To make it easy to access your Gmail account, try creating a home screen link.

One more tip: Label management got easier for Android-powered devices with a physical keyboard. In the "Label as..." menu on the floaty bar, there is now a text box above the list of labels. You can type the name of a label you wish to select into the box rather than clicking on it. As you type, the list filters to show only labels that match what you've typed. We also added more keyboard shortcuts to bring it closer to the Gmail experience on your computer.


Posted by Casey Ho, Software Engineer, Google Mobile

Averatec N3400 Aluminum Clad Lightweight Notebook

RiGem launches in the US market the new Averatec N3400 lightweight aluminum clad Notebook which is basically the US version of the Star ES-301. Averatec powred by:

• Intel’s Pentium Dual Core T3400 2.16GHz processor
• 3GB RAM
• Integrated GMA X4500HD graphics
• 250GB hard drive
• 8X DVD SuperMulti burner
• less than 4 pounds weight
• Bluetooth
• Ethernet LAN
• WiFi 802.11n
• 13.3-inch LCD display
• 1.3 Megapixel webcam
• microphone
• 4-in-1 card reader
• Three USB ports

The Averatec N3400 is priced at $799.

JVC's NX -TC5 Built in iPod Dock & 1Seg Digital TV Tuner

JVC-Victor announces its new NX-TC5 mini HiFi system that comes with built-in iPod dock and 1Seg digital TV tuner. The NX-TC5 plays Audio CD MD as well as MP3/WMA CD. It can play also MP3, WMA, WAV audio files as well as WMV and JPEG from USB storage devices. JVC’s new HiFi does also CD to MP3 and MD to MP3 audio recording to USB drives. The system has a 4.3-inch LCD display for you to enjoy 1Seg TV and WMV videos and 15×2 built-in speakers. The display front panel can be slide up or down according to give you a best viewing position.

FM/AM tuner is also equipped. There’s also the JVC-Victor NX-TC3 that lack MD support and records audio to WMA format. Both models’ iPod dock works with iPod touch, iPod nano all gen, iPod mini. NX-TC5 will be released in late-August.

Phillips Xenium X650 Long Life Slider Phone

In our privious post we gives you the information about the Xenium X830 mobile that offers a 1.5 month standby time here comes another “long life” Xenium, the X650 that can standby for about a month. The Xenium X650 is a slider phone with:

• 2.4-inch 240×320 LCD display
• 3.2 Megapixel auto focus camera
• Bluetooth
• FM radio tuner
• 30MB internal memory
• microSD card slot
• Supports quad-band GSM/GPRS

Singel Touch 911 Dailer

You never quite know when you might need some one's help and since nobody seems to carry a magic lamp around these days the next best thing would be the One Touch 911 Dialer. This is the pendant that calls a 911 operator with one press of a button helping users sustain independence and mobility. Requiring no contracts or monthly fees and operating over your existing phone line a single push of the cordless pendant phone’s button immediately dials 911 letting you converse with emergency responders–not a distant third party.

The pendant comes with a lanyard and belt clip so it’s always close at hand and its 600′ range allows you to move freely around your home. A unique test function verbally informs you whether the system is within working range.

Smaller than most cell phones water resistant and weighing a mere 6 oz. the pendant is powered for one year by one AAA battery. The base unit will plug into the pone jack and AC and you can bring home the One Touch 911 Dialer for $199.95.

Affordable Home Security from SimpliSafe only at $15

If you are looking for extra safety within the home but can’t afford a full alarm system. This is a nice happy Source. It is not the bottom of the line stuff that just makes noise, but it’s not quite as good as the very expensive systems that have to be professionally installed. The little bit of extra security with this will cost you a monthly fee of $15 and you get the convenience of it being directly connected with emergency services. It comes with a base station which is the point that it will notify both you and the authorities of any trouble it detects. There will be a keypad at the main entrance of your home so that you or those living with you can deactivate it when it’s on. There is then also a keychain remote of which extras can be purchased. With that remote the alarm can be turned on or off.

Then there is both an entry and a motion sensor. The motion sensor won’t actually detect pets that weigh under 30 pounds. You can purchase the package for $225 and then the monthly fee is $15.

Compaq Presario CQ60-419WM from Walmart in just $298

Walmart has announced that it will offer the Compaq Presario CQ60-419WM notebook at very affordabel price. The Presario notebook is powered by an:

• AMD Sempron SI-41 2.1GHz processor
• 3GB RAM
• NVIDIA GeForce 8200M graphics
• 160GB hard drive
• 8X DVD SuperMulti burner
• 15.6-inch 1366×768 LCD display
• WiFi 802.11b/g
• Altec Lansing speakers

It’s really a bargain to get a 15.6-inch notebook for just $298 staring from 26 July. As expected, this is part of Walmart’s back-to-school promotion and limited stocks are available.

New MainGear eX-L 18 Gaming Notebook

MainGear launches the new eX-L gaming notebook that may be one of the best mobile gaming solution. The eX-L is boosted by:

• Intel’s Quad-core Core 2 Extreme X9300 2.53GHz processor
• 8GB RAM
• Dual 1GB NVIDIA GeForce GTX 280M graphics card For 3D gaming
• MainGear’s eX-L can get up to three 500GB hard drives in RAID 0 configuration, or you can get a 80GB SSD.
• WiFi 802.11a/b/g
• Bluetooth 2.1
• 18.4-inch 1920×0180 Full HD LCD
• 7-in-1 card reader
• HDMI port
• 4-pin IEEE1394 port
• ExpressCard slot
• eSATA port.

The base price of the MainGear eX-L 18 is $2,999.00.

iLuv iMM9400 Stereo System with iPod Dock & Alarm

A stereo system accompanied with remote and speakers and embodying an iPod docking station on its iLuv iMM9400 stereo system. With unique vertical style design the system looks novel in appearance. Boarding great features like Audio CD playback system and 4-MP3 CD system. You can charge your iPod or iPhone on the ipod dock placed on top of the system. The 2 channel speakers are great companions of the system and allow you to rock with fine music and iTunes. Supporting WMA and MP3 media files, it expands its memory with SD and MMC cards. There lies a USB port on it for streaming music from USB devices.

A timer display with alarm clock and timer plus snooze functionalities also available in this system. It proves to be a complete combo of speaker system, iPod dock and alarm clock and thus, a multipurpose system. This one costs $250 which is affordable one!!

Icap MP3 Music Player With In-Built Speakers

This time the innovative minds have come up with a cap that carries a MP3 player and speakers on it. iCap mp3 music player, this mini mobile speaker system has an internal memory of 1 GB, voice recorder, a micro SD card slot to feed in more tunes, FM radio and rechargeable battery. This cap can be the best choice of company while travels or sports events.

All you boys and girls out there, this is a complete head turning gadget that you would crave as a permanent companion in sunshine. Retailing at $120.

Toshiba's 19LV612U Kitchen TV

A great idea for all you people who watchs TV while they are in kitchen so that you can have some relief while cooking and cleaning. Toshiba has launched one of its kind kitchen gadget Toshiba 19LV612U TV. The 18.5” stainless steel coated TV has in-build DVD player slot, tuner for ATSC/QAM and NTSC and boasts of 1366 x 768 resolution display. Resembling one of the kitchen appliances, it can be given input through HDMI cable or fed with VGA inputs as well.

There also lies a headphone jack, VESA aid, 1000:1 contrast ratio and 500 mili seconds response time. With all these urgent features, this TV has the calibre to be favourite kitchen accessory for all. This one would start retailing in September at a cost of $350.

Google Latitude. Now for iPhone.

I'm a big fan of the iPhone. I'm also a big fan of the web. So, naturally, I'm excited that today we're finally releasing Google Latitude for iPhone and iPod touch as a web application running in Safari.

Our Latitude web app provides all the core functionality you might expect: you can see the location of your friends on a map and modify your privacy settings so that you control how your location is shared and with whom. In fact, if my friends and colleagues back in London haven't yet noticed my absence, they'll see in Latitude that I'm currently vacationing on the beach in Australia. Hi guys, remember me!?

You'll also find basic Search and Directions functionality to help you get around the world. And just like our Google Maps for mobile client apps (and more recently on desktop Google Maps), you can press the "blue dot" to be taken to your approximate current location on the map with My Location, thanks to Safari now supporting the W3C Geolocation API.

To try Google Latitude, type google.com/latitude into your iPhone's browser. And if you miss the experience of launching the app directly from your home screen, you can add a bookmark to the home screen by opening Latitude in Safari and tapping the + icon > Add to Home Screen > Add.



We worked closely with Apple to bring Latitude to the iPhone in a way Apple thought would be best for iPhone users. After we developed a Latitude application for the iPhone, Apple requested we release Latitude as a web application in order to avoid confusion with Maps on the iPhone, which uses Google to serve maps tiles.

Google, like Apple, continues to push for improvements in web browser functionality. Now that iPhone 3.0 allows Safari to access location, building the Latitude web app was a natural next step. In the future, we will continue to work closely with Apple to deliver useful applications -- some of which will be native apps on the iPhone, such as Earth and YouTube, and some of which will be web apps, like Gmail and Latitude.

Unfortunately, since there is no mechanism for applications to run in the background on iPhone (which applies to browser-based web apps as well), we're not able to provide continuous background location updates in the same way that we can for Latitude users on Android, Blackberry, Symbian and Windows Mobile. Nevertheless, your location is updated every time you fire up the app and then continuously updated while the app is running in the foreground. And, of course, you can check in on where your friends are, so we think there's plenty of fun to be had with Latitude. Learn more about updating and sharing your location from your iPhone.

The Google Latitude web app currently supports iPhone/iPod Touch OS 3.0 or above. For now, it's available in the US, UK, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, and we hope to bring it to more countries soon.

Posted by Mat Balez, Product Manager, Google Mobile Team

Acer's Packard Bell Butterfly S FC Notebook

Acer is going to release the Packard Bell Butterfly S FC notebook. which is powered by:

• Intel’s CULV Core 2 Duo SU3500 processor
• 13.3-inch Disply
• 4GB RAM
• 500GB hard drive
• Radeon HD4330 graphics card
• weight 1.8kg
• 8 hours of battery life
• HDMI port

The price is about Euro 650.

Advance Video Communications LiveLine Internet Home Surveillance System

Advanced Video Communications (AVC) announced the LiveLine internet home surveillance system a user-friendly home security solution. The system combines the LiveLine IP camera and LiveLine’s software. The LiveLine IP camera connect to your home’s wireless network and you can then see the live feed and control the camera tilt, pan & zoom from anywhere you can access the internet. The LiveLine camera does motion detection. It's priced approx $299.99.

With an easy registration process, subscribers can login to LiveLine from any browser on any computer to set up and view the camera. The system features live monitoring day and night, motion detection with email or mobile phone alerts, 2-way audio, image capture, time lapse recording and mobile phone viewing capabilities.

Panasonic Launches Viera SV-MC55 Portable 1Seg TV

Panasonic announced in Japan the new Viera SV-MC55 portable 1Seg TV. The portable TV has a 4.3-inch LCD display and 4GB internal memory. Other than watching 1Seg digital TV program, the Viera does also video recording to internal memory, SD/SDHC or microSD/SDHC memory cards. The Viera SV-MC55 serves also as a photo frame and music player supporing JPEG image files and AAC, MP3, WMA audio formats. It offers a 3.5mm headphone jack and a USB 2.0 port.

The Viera SV-MC55 is currently available in black, purple, and white. No info on pricing at this time. Panasonic will release the device on 21 August.

Layers of fun in Google Maps for mobile 3.2

Just as the world itself can be viewed through many lenses, the latest version of Google Maps for mobile allows you to view many layers of information on your map at the same time. Layers make it easier and more useful to find and interact with geographic content, like public transit, traffic (with incidents!), local search results, Latitude friend locations, Wikipedia and more. You can also see your own My Maps content as a layer on Google Maps for mobile. And finally, multiple layers can be combined at the same time to give you a content-rich view of what's around you.

Layers on the Map: Latitude locations + My Map

Since my wife and I love participating in cycle touring events on our tandem bike, we thought our challenge for this year -- 1500 KM of riding in Audax UK's Super Randonneur Series -- would make for a great environment to test the Layers functionality while on the go.

The first thing we wanted to try was My Maps. This feature on Google Maps on desktop becomes even more useful with the ability to access them from my phone. We're not alone in wanting this -- it's the fifth most requested feature on the Google Mobile Product Ideas page. It was great to trace bike routes and add places to stop on the computer, add the My Maps layer in Maps for mobile with a few clicks, and see them up on my Nokia S60 handset from our bike.

Next was discovering new places. When frequently (and literally) rolling into new villages and towns, it was really handy to be able to turn on the Wikipedia layer and quickly learn about interesting stuff in the area. We could click on any of the 'W' icons on the map to read more.

And search is improved too! Maps now displays a lot more search results -- shown as small red dots -- making it easy to find the nearest refreshment stop or plan way ahead.

Not only are search results more useful but it's now easier to search in the new version as well. Under Search, you'll find a link to browse popular categories, which helped us avoid the pain of typing on a mobile whilst out on the road (only available in the US and China for the time being).

Completing an Audax ride within time is no use if you don't get to the start on time. Traffic has been available on Google Maps for mobile for some time, but this new release includes traffic incident information for certain cities, giving more insight into the nature of the delay. Around London (and other cities where supported) we might use public transport, so having a map of transit lines with departure times is great. Now I just wish more transit services carried tandems!

To get started with Layers on Google Maps for mobile 3.2, hit the "2" key or select Layers in the menu. You can toggle various layers on and off, and you can mash up combinations like friends' Latitude locations against a planned route. Google Maps for mobile Layers is available now on Symbian S60 and Windows Mobile phones, and will come soon to other platforms. The upgrade is available for all countries where Google Maps for mobile is currently available. To get it on your phone, go to m.google.com/maps. You can read more about this over in the Help Center or check out the release notes for this version.

Posted by by Jonathan Dixon, Mobile Software Engineer and Randonneur

Hands on with Japan's Fujifilm's 3D Digital Camera

The famous Japanese company Fujifilm recently Launchs its handy 3D digital camera that one can use to make 3D pictures and movie clips and watch them without wearing any special glasses. The Japanese company called its device FinePix REAL 3D W1. It includes a evolutionary system that features two lenses. According to Fujifilm, the images from the two lenses mix to create a 3D image of video. The images and movies can be viewed on the back screen of the camera or on a large monitor. Fujifilm plans to launch a 3D photo printing service.

In early August Fujifilm's 3D digital camera will hit Japanese stores and will be available for 60,000 yen which is near about $ 640. The digital camera will be marketed overseas later in August.

Samsung Launches World's Slimmest Watch Phone

The South Korean tech giant Samsung, recently presented a gadget that the company claims is the slimmest watch phone on the planet. The device is just 0.48 inches thick. The initial price of the new phone is expected to be around 450 euros ($ 639). Samsung will launch the watch phone in France first and afterward will head towards other European markets.
Here are some of this gadget's features:

• 1.76-inch touch screen
• MP3
• Bluetooth
• Voice recognition

According to the South Korean company its product will hit the stores in August.

HTC Leostone/Firestone Specs Leaked

A smartphone comes a Snapdragon processor, That's the Leo, HTC's newest Windows 6.5 smartphone, has gotten people talking. It's got Qualcomm's 1 GHz snapdragon processor, 512 MB of flash memory, 320 MB of RAM, a 4.3” monster of a screen, GPS, aGPS, an Accelerometer, a 5 MP camera, Dual Band HSDPA/Quad Band GSM/Edge, WiFi, light, proximity sensors & with 4”+ touchscreen. Remember, these specs are not confirmed, although nothing about them seems particularly fishy. The phone pictured (and specced) here is either the HTC Leo or the HTC Firestone. No one is quite certain which, or whether the two names refer to different phones at all.

We're probably a good few weeks away from release, but expect info on this new beast from HTC to continue filtering in over the next few days.

Futuristic GO Concept Cell Phone

The Taiwanese company Tryi Yeh that designed the Go concept cell phone. The phone really looks incredible with flexible OLED touch display. Plus the phone has a sliding body, featuring mode keys and a camera. You can use it as an antenna for watching TV. One more very interesting feature of the phone, though probably made only for the sake of a good design, is the color-changing back.
If the phone is red and flashing than the gadget will soon shut down & if it's green, then the phone is 100% and if it's white then you know that someone's calling.

Creative Sound Blaster Wireless

Creative has announced its latest Sound Blaster offering called the Sound Blaster Wireless. The device is designed to wirelessly play music form iTunes, MP3, and all other PC audio sources over powered speakers up to 100 feet away. The wireless USB dongle also ships with a wireless receiver and sells for $149.99.

The system uses 2.4GHz technology for connectivity and the technology eliminates dropouts and interference common with Bluetooth and Wi-Fi systems. The device is compatible with PC and Mac computers.

(Solar Sound) Solar Powered Wireless Bluetooth Speakers

Today the worlds first solar powered wireless Bluetooth speaker was launched by UK Company Devotec Industries. The new solar powered speakers is named “Solar Sound” and is the first to combine integrated Bluetooth technology with solar powered battery support. The Solar Sound boast a compact size measuring only 16.5 x 5.5 x 5.5 cm with a weight of just 0.5lbs or 260g. The Device is compatible with most phone models including BlackBerry, Nokia and even the iPhone, yes it also work with the ones who using the iPhone 3.0 software. Apart from being such a travel-friendly green gadget, the Solar Sound comes with a included retractable headphone, an integrated 150mA solar panel with a illuminated logo which turns yellow when charging the built in Lithium-Ion 1500mAh battery via sunlight.

The Solar Sound will give up to 8 hours continuous play at medium volume or four hours at maximum volume from a single charge.

Wearable All In One Videogame Communicator

Obesity is increasing nowadays, keeping this in mind Designers Hugo Kretz & Marc Haldemann have come up on wearing the animate videogame, communicator. They have come up with the camera, watch band, MP3 player, video games and communication device all in one. This gadget will give a good shape to you, while you’re playing. They appear to be an ultra portable device. This gadget is useful for those lazy gamers who want to improve their appearance while playing.

So you can now just click photos, chat with your friends and listen to your favourite music by wearing the animate and Yeah there are points and avatars to be won in this game.

Asus NUVIFONE G60 Mobile Phone With GPS Navigation

Garmin-Asus presents its new mobile phone to be released in Malaysia by next month. The high light of Garmin-Asus NUVIFONE G60 mobile phone is GPS navigation that it supports along with the customary features. This phone comes with:

• GPS navigation
• 3.5” touchscreen
• WQVGA resolution
• Mp3 player
• 3 Meg camera
• 3G
• WiFi
• Bluetooth
• Quad band GSM
• Linux OS
• Supports micro SD, SDHC
• Memory 16 GB external
• 4 GB in-built memory
• 2.5 mm jack for headphone
• 1100 mAh Lithium battery

This Battery provides 4 hours of unaltered service and more. Regarding the GPS navigation module, this one sports voice enabled directions guidance, innumerable Points of interest and detailed maps. The phone will soon hit Malaysian sub continent and if you are looking out for something smashing in looks and efficient in tasks, this phone can be your answer!!

Philips Xenium X830 Phone With 1.5Month Standby Time

Philips Xenium X830 Mobile does look fab, a nice three inch TFT touchscreen display with five megapixel camera and autofocus to start off with. It's main feature is of course a battery that will last you 1.5 months until your next charge if you just leave it on standby but what it lacks is often unrealised until we take a look at its full specs. The full specs of the X830 are listed below, you will notice that it won’t have 3G, WiFi or GPS, these are features that you would expect for a phone of its class. Its Features:-

• Quad-band GSM connectivity with GPRS and EDGE
• 3 inch TFT touchscreen display with 320 x 240 pixels and 262k colors
• Stereo Bluetooth
• Music and video players
• FM-radio with RDS
• 5MP camera with autofocus
• 47MB of internal memory
• MicroSDHC card support, up to 8 GB
• MiniUSB
• 105 x 53 x 15.5 millimeters
• 120 grams

Toshiba's Blu Ray Dvd Player

Toshiba is expected to finally admit defeat and enter the dark, devious world of Blu-ray later this year. For those keeping tabs, we've heard both confirmations and denials about the outfit finally caving and supporting the format it once battled so valiantly, but this seems to solidify it. If machine translation is to be believed, the company's first DVD / Blu-ray deck is slated for release somewhere in the world by the year's end.

In some news article mentions that Toshiba is strongly considering a Blu-ray recorder for the Japanese market, though no further details on that are available.

Intel's High Speed HDD

In fact, Intel hearing whispers that a capacious 320GB solid state drive was in the works since January, and now those whispers have been upgraded to library. Intel's so-called Postville SSD family is well on its way to reality, and with them should come much needed price drops. The new series should top out at 320GB, with an 80GB and 160GB version falling underneath. Word on the street has it that both of the smaller two will be around $100 cheaper than the same-sized X25-M drives, though there's been no leaks on the 320GB model's MSRP.

Still, Intel has a golden opportunity here if it'll just get these things to market -- a cheap(er) SSD with a brand name like Intel could blow the solid state market wide open.

Hot Nokia N86 With 8 Mega Pix Camera

Nokia's just announced the upcoming release of its first smartphone with a awesome camera. The N86 has an impressive 8 MP shooter with a wide angle lens. It's loaded with a 2.6” AMOLED screen, 8 GB of internal space, quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE plus tri-band UMTS, WiFi, and aGPS.

We don't have an exact date yet, but it's safe to say we'll see this new smartphone hit Nokia flagship stores between the end of July and the end of August. If the N86 looks like the mobile for you, I suggest you start saving your pennies now.

An unlocked brand new N86 is going to run you about $558 stateside.

LG XF1 Multimedia Hard Drive

What we have here is LG's first mobile multimedia hard drive - XF1. Measuring a 20.8mm in thickness, the XF1 features a gorgeous gloss-black finish with smooth curves, and internally, it has a 500GB and a codec decoder that only reads exclusively FAT32 and NTFS.

It's not as Mac-friendly as we would have hoped.

• HDMI connector
• power plug
• composite AV output
• mini-USB jack
• WD TV HD
• Video and sound codec compatibility (OGG Vobis)
• AC3 for audio
• Can playback MPEG-2, DivX and MPEG-4
• HD resolutions up to 1080i

New Twilight Watch - Interesting Gadget

Twilight watch is meant to remind you of the miracle that is the sunrise. The face of the watch will slowly fade to black throughout the day and keep brightening back up again, it changes about every 20 seconds. It has two polarized disks that rotate to show this effect. Plus it’s made to be a little extra durable, for those that have the tendency to drop their watch in water or just forget to take it off before jumping into a pool. The watch can stay water resistant up to 100 feet under the water.

It’s not entirely waterproof so you will have to be a little extra careful. At least it does have some protection though. You can purchase it for $119.99 from Think Geek.

Venturi Mini in-car sound system

Venturi Mini in-car sound system is for music lovers. Befitting the car cigarette lighter slot, it requires no installation. Just plug it and it’s ready to operate. Sporting OLED display coupled with mic, availing it is as easy as a pie. Storing and retrieving contact details through phonebook on display. It captures music through FM radio transmitter or from mobile phone or laptop via Bluetooth A2DP. With this music gadget, you can connect any audio device to the audio-in and audio-out slots. Self sufficing, it comes with a built-in charger. Charging other gadgets like your phone battery is done with USB charger that lies within Venturi Mini.

Considering the looks, with an ergonomic design that suits any car design. Onboard are buttons for calls, music control and roller for FM transmission. All in all, a perfect piece for all you music lovers on the go.