Posts for 'Lifestyle' Category

Nokia N79 Active £350 SIM frer-The N79 has had an upgrade. It'll soon come with a 4GB Micro SD card, Polar heart rate belt, armband, headphones and the latest version of Nokia's workout application, Sports Tracker.

The N79's onboard GPS combined with Sports Tracker means that you can record speed, distance and route of your workouts, as well as your heart rate. All this while you listen to some motivating Bounce and Donk tunes to keep you going.

Nearly half of fertility experts believe fertility treatment should be denied to people with unhealthy lifestyles, such as smokers or the obese, a survey has found.

More than 45% of the international experts polled, most of which work in the UK, disagreed that fertility treatment should be offered to everyone unconditionally.Just under 29% agreed that "access to in-vitro fertilisation (IVF) should be offered to all regardless of lifestyle", according to the British Fertility Society (BFS) poll.

Obesity and smoking have been linked to fertility problems, so doctors say it is fair to ask patients to change their habits before they are given care. Although most IVF experts work in the private sector, more than 70% of those surveyed thought fertility treatment should be paid for by the NHS.

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The Olympic games have historically been a big mover of home entertainment products, giving consumers that excuse to splash out on that new big screen TV, home theatre or recorder to enjoy the really soak up the two weeks of sporting highlights. Recognizing this Panasonic has announced that the DMR-BW500, the first stand alone Blu-Ray Disc Recorder to be launched outside Japan will be available just in time for the Games. The DMR-BW500i can record up to 72 hours of Full High Definition 1080p recording onto the built in 500GB Hard Disk Drive (HDD) or 6 hours 40 min on a 50GB double layer Blu-ray Disc. In addition to video, it can record 5.1-channel Dolby Digital surround sound broadcasts and Blu-ray movies are played in studio-master quality at a frame rate of 24 frames per second.

The DMR-BW500 offers a twin DVB-T High Definition (HD) tuner with 1 second quick start for recording and support for 7-day Electronic Program Guide. Panasonic's intelligent VIERA Link offers single-remote control of Panasonic AV devices via HDMI and streamlining operation with features such as Pause Live TV, Direct TV Record and Auto Preset Download. The unit also features HDMI V.1.3, Deep Colour, DVB-T adaptive noise reduction, silence technology, 1080p Up-Conversion with HDMI and 7.1-channel surround sound of BD movies. It also supports the 'Bonus View' (formerly Final Standard Profile) Blu-ray standard and bitstream output of Dolby TrueHD, DTS-HD, DTS-HD Master Audio and on-board decoding of Dolby Digital and DTS.

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Flip Video Mino is a new device which can send videos through email.

Flip Video Mino was designed as a follow-up to the tiny Flip camcorder. The first recorder changed the perception about video recording. It captures video in 640x480 resolution at 30 frames per second.

Pure Digital Technologies has released its Flip Video Mini device which allows videos to be sent through email. Mino was designed as a follow-up to the tiny Flip camcorder.

Flip Video Mino has a cleaner and more elegant look with a rechargeable Li-ion battery, sensitive buttons and a thinner appearance. The new device is about 40 percent slimmer than the Flip cam recorder.

The new camcorder is very easy for users to edit their videos. It has a lock button to avoid accidental delete of videos and a mute option for camera sounds useful for recording during speeches, wedding ceremonies or other events.

The video recording device enables publishing on MySpace, as the prior software only allowed video sharing with YouTube and AOL Video. The device makes it very easy for users to edit their videos in just a few minutes.

Flip Video Mini is priced at $180.

The Flip Video camera line was first introduced in September 2007. The Flip Ultra, the previous model, has been the best-selling camcorder on Amazon.com since the day of its debut, capturing about 13% of the camcorder market.

Flip Video Mino is a new device which can send videos through email.

The One Laptop per Child project is about to find out whether Microsoft Corp. a rival the nonprofit organization once derided is the solution to its problems in providing inexpensive computers to children in the developing world.

The laptop organization and Microsoft announced Thursday that the group's XO computers now can run Windows in addition to their homegrown interface, which is built on the Linux operating system.

Nicholas Negroponte, founder of the Cambridge, Mass., group, acknowledged that having Windows as an option could reassure education ministers who have hesitated to buy XOs with its interface, called Sugar. The organization aims to produce $100 laptops but is now selling them for $188.

Beginning with limited runs next month, XO buyers will have the option of laptops with or without Windows. Versions with Windows will cost $18 to $20 more; $3 of that is for Windows and the rest covers hardware adjustments.

Negroponte hopes to soon sell just one kind of machine with a "dual-boot" mode, meaning users would have Windows and Linux and choose which to run each time.

World: Say hello to the RIM BlackBerry Bold. *Cue dramatic music* You may know it as the RIM BlackBerry 9000, but today, Research in Motion officially took the wraps off the highly anticipated and much-rumored smartphone, complete with a new name. The "Bold" is in reference to the smartphone's gorgeous display, but it's also bold in that it represents a number of new moves for the company. Oh, BlackBerry Bold, how do we love thee? Let us count the ways.

The bold and the beautiful
As we just mentioned, the device gets its name from its screen. The BlackBerry Bold features a half-VGA (480x320 pixel resolution), 65,000-color display, and during some initial product testing, research group participants repeatedly called the screen "bold" and "brilliant." The Brilliant moniker didn't really jive with the company, thus the BlackBerry Bold was born.

So just how bold is it? Well, RIM stopped by our office late last week to show us the device, and let me just tell you, I was absolutely blown away. I can pretty much say I've never seen a better-looking display on a smartphone. Colors pop off the screen, and it's really amazing how sharp and crisp everything looks on the display. We watched a couple of videos, and for the first time, we didn't notice any of that pixelation or blurriness that you typically get with phones. In addition, the menu interface has been revamped with a much more modern look and icons.

Also, as you can see from the images, the BlackBerry Bold boasts a new design. It's more elegant than models past, with curvier edges and a silver trim that complements the black casing. If you turn it over, you'll also notice that the back has a leatherette texture. No more slick plastic and RIM will sell replaceable backplates in different colors, including blue, gray, and red, if you want to spruce up your phone a bit. Sizewise, the BlackBerry Bold measures 4.5 inches tall by 2.6 inches wide by 0.5 inch deep and weighs 4.7 ounces. Kevin Michaluk over at Crackberry.com took a gamble, bought one off eBay, and posted a hands-on review. He made a good comparison and likened the device to the Motorola Q9h.

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Dutch information technology company Tulip Computers (TULN.AS: Quote, Profile, Research) said on Monday it would list its German unit Devil AG on the Frankfurt stock exchange, using the proceeds to fund Devil's growth.

The company said in a statement it would list 2.85 million shares including 2.5 million new shares and that it would keep a controlling stake in Devil.

Tulip said it would announce the price range of the shares on May 7, while investors can subscribe from May 8 until May 14.

It expects Devil to have a listing as of May 20 on the German exchange.

Devil is one of Germany's leading IT distributors and had sales of about 322 million euros ($498 million) in the fiscal year 2006/07, of which 90 percent in Germany, and earnings before interest and taxes of 2 million euros.

After the listing Devil will have 7.5 million shares outstanding, with a free float of about 38 percent.

Tulip said it wanted to use the proceeds of the listing to increase the unit's product line and its client base.

Apple, maker of the iPod media player, said yesterday that it would start selling movies through its iTunes online store the same day they are released on DVD.

New releases from studios, including Paramount Pictures and Warner Bros., will cost $14.99, Apple said in a statement. Previously, customers had to wait several weeks after the DVDs debuted. The service will start with such movies as "American Gangster" and "Juno" this week.

Chief executive Steve Jobs is counting on movies to increase sales of iPods, Macintosh computers and Apple TV devices, which let users watch downloaded films on their widescreen televisions. In January, Jobs said customers had bought 7 million movies, which was below his expectations. Apple began selling movies and television shows on iTunes in October 2005.

"People want to watch a movie as soon as it comes out, and they don't want to have to wait," said Michael Gartenberg, an analyst at JupiterResearch in New York. "What Apple is doing is knocking down one more barrier for why you wouldn't want to buy a movie from them."

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Look sharp: the fashion police are on patrol. Rosemount Australian Fashion Week kicks off on April 28 and staggers on in a champagne-addled haze for five long days.

It's models, it's guest lists, it's general fabulousness, but with the achingly trendy rag-trade folk watching your every move, it pays to look a little snazzy.

The key to creating an outfit that screams "Ultra chic, but not in a try-hard way" is in the accessories. To this end, we're showcasing the finest tech accoutrements of recent times -- products that you'd be proud to pull out when sitting front row at the catwalk.

From designer mobile phones to sinfully strokable MP3 players, these gorgeous gadgets look the business, and should appeal to any fashion-focused tech lover. Well, for the next month at least: trends and technology change faster than the models backstage.

“This advanced digital camera makes it possible for users to share their photos with friends and family with unprecedented ease and without a computer,” said Alex Fried, National Marketing Manager, Imaging, Panasonic Consumer Electronics Company. “Active users will appreciate the TZ50’s Wi-Fi capabilitilies so they can share photos while on-the-go, but they will also benefit from HD video recording, a 10x optical zoom and a 28mm wide-angle lens, so capturing images, whether far or wide; moving or still – is all possible with this compact camera.”

Panasonic uses the T-Mobile HotSpot service and Picasa Web Albums’ APIs to create a new optimal online environment and community for sharing digital photos. After taking photos with the new Panasonic LUMIX TZ50, users will be able to wirelessly send one or multiple photos at a time, directly to Google’s Picasa Web Albums. Users can connect to standard wireless home networks, but furthermore, the TZ50 can also connect to the T-Mobile HotSpot Service, which provides fast and reliable Wi-Fi Internet acess at more than 8,800 public locations throughout the United States, including Borders Books & Music stores, Hyatt Hotels and many major airports. The LUMIX TZ50 comes with an offer for 12-months of complimentary T-Mobile HotSpot Wi-FI service.

Users can register one email account with their TZ50, so after uploading their photos to Picasa Web Albums, they can have the URL to that album sent to the registered account. Since many cell phones and smartphones receive emails, users can register their own email address and then forward that Picasa Web Albums URL to friends and family, all while away from home and without using a computer. In addition, users can browse their albums to confirm that photos have been successfully uploaded, and choose to delete uploaded photos directly on the digital camera.

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