NOKIA ANNOUNCES NEW MUSIC SUBSCRIPTION SERVICE

Nokia has announced Nokia Music+, a new subscription-based upgrade to its popular free-to-stream mobile music service, offering a range of additional features for a minimal monthly fee.
 

It will be rolling out as an optional update to the existing service in Q1 2013. The existing Nokia Music service will continue to be available free of charge, with no advertisements, registration or subscription to Nokia Lumia owners.

BEFORE YOU MIGRATE TO WINDOWS 8...

There always seems to be something new in the computing world. Is it a novelty that will make your life a little more convenient, or something that affects business overall? Let’s be honest this is not Windows 7.  The decision to migrate to Windows 8 requires significant consideration and evaluation.  What is Microsoft’s goal with Windows 8?  The adoption of one common operating system on the PC, tablet and personal data assistant.  Ambitious yes but the concept has great potential if your focus is simplification.  Yes, simplification something all business and IT departments greatly desire.  The question becomes what should your business consider before planning a migration to Windows 8. 

REVAMPED BLACKBERRY WORLD (BLACKBERRY APP WORLD) FOR BLACKBERRY 10

RIM said last week that it renamed its app store to BlackBerry World (from BlackBerry App World) as it intended to add music and video offerings to the service for BlackBerry 10. The Waterloo-based company has now given us details on what sort of selection the store will offer: it has released a full list of music labels and movie studios it has made deals with to distribute on the storefront. 

There's little information on pricing or payment options, but users will be able to rent or download shows and movies — though there won't be a subscription music option. The majority of movies, however, will be available on BlackBerry World the day they're released on DVD, and "many" current TV shows will be released the day after they air in the US, UK, and Canada. The company's music offerings will be available in 18 countries.

RIM has managed to line up an impressive list of partners for the re-launch of BlackBerry World as a media and app store: all the major movie studios are on board, as are the major music labels in addition to some independents. The TV show selection, however, is currently light on cable channels like those from A&E Networks and Discovery. While it's not made clear in the release, it's presumed that the service will launch day-and-date with BlackBerry 10. We're sure to find out more this Wednesday at RIM's press conference in New York.

IRAN FIRES MONKEY INTO SPACE (PHOTO)

Successful launch comes just weeks after Tehran announced plans to put a man on the moon by 2025

Media outlets in Tehran today are reporting that the Iranian government has successfully launched a monkey into space. According to the AFP, the monkey was launched inside a capsule to an altitude of 75 miles before returning back to earth unscathed.

"Iran successfully launched a capsule, codenamed Pishgam (Pioneer), containing a monkey and recovered the shipment on the ground intact," the defense ministry's aerospace department said in a statement. The department added that the animal came back "alive" after completing its sub-orbital flight.

Iran's monkey is alive and well.

Today's announcement comes two years after Iran successfully launched a ten-foot research rocket carrying a mouse, two turtles, and several worms. Officials announced plans to put a monkey in space earlier this month, as part of its ongoing mission to send a human to space by 2020, and to have an astronaut on the moon by 2025. Iran launched its first domestically built satellite into orbit in February 2009. See astronaut monkey photos after cut.

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 SAMSUNG UNVEILS GESTURE-CONTROL TVS

  

TARGUS TOUCH PEN ENABLES TOUCH INPUT ON NON-TOUCHSCREEN LAPTOPS

 

SENSUS BRINGS A TOUCH PANEL TO THE IPHONE’S BACKSIDE

 

LG UNVEILS 55-INCH ‘ULTRA-HD’ TV

 

LENOVO TO RELEASE GIANT 27-INCH ‘COFFEE TABLE PC’

 

IROKO PARTNERS OPENS SA OFFICE

 

PANASONIC UNVEILS BONE-CONDUCTION TV HEADPHONES

 

CES: SONY’S WATERPROOF WALKMAN SPORTS MP3 PLAYER MAKES SWIMMERS HAPPIER

 

ALCATEL UNVEILS THE WORLD’S THINNEST SMARTPHONE - THE 6.5MM-THIN IDOL ULTRA

1 TERABYTE FLASH DRIVE - KINGSTON’S DATA TRAVELER HYPERX PREDATOR

 

NVIDIA UNVEILS PORTABLE GAMING DEVICE, THE SHIELD!

SAMSUNG UNVEILS GESTURE-CONTROL TVS

New TVs from Samsung will recognize an expanded range of gestures so people can swipe through on-screen menus in a way that revolutionizes the old remote control.

The new lineup of smart TVs respond to more natural speech and motion, similar to the way the Kinect controller on an Xbox 360 game console allows users to swipe through menus by gesturing in the air. The camera is mounted on top of the screen and can be folded back for people concerned about privacy.

TARGUS TOUCH PEN ENABLES TOUCH INPUT ON NON-TOUCHSCREEN LAPTOPS

With the Touch Pen for Windows 8, Targus has found a way to welcome old laptops to the touchscreen party.

The pen enables touch input on Windows 8 laptops that don’t have touchscreens. Users must clip a small receiver to the side of the laptop, then perform a one-time calibration to tell the device where the edges of the screen are located. After that, the pen can be used like a finger for tapping, scrolling or drawing on the screen.

SENSUS BRINGS A TOUCH PANEL TO THE IPHONE’S BACKSIDE

If you ever wished your fat fingers would stop getting in the way of your iPhone’s touch screen, a company called Canopy thinks it has an answer.

It’s come up with an iPhone case, called Sensus, that adds touch-sensitive panels to the rear and sides of the phone. To get a feel for it, a short demo of a space shooting game, where you must drag a small spaceship around while firing at incoming enemies. Controlling the ship through the rear touch panel instead of the iPhone’s touch screen prevents your fingers from obscuring the action. (This may sound familiar to owners of Sony’s PlayStation Vita, which has a rear touch panel built-in.)

LG UNVEILS 55-INCH ‘ULTRA-HD’ TV

LG unveiled a 55-inch TV that sports “ultrahigh-definition” resolution with four times the sharpness of regular HD television sets, kicking off what is likely to be a mini-obsession with the latest super-clear format at the annual International CES gadget show.

The model announced Monday is the smallest in a 2013 lineup that includes 65-inch and 84-inch versions. But the smaller size – and smaller price tag – begins the parade of TV makers that are seeking to bring ultrahigh definition to the masses.

LENOVO TO RELEASE GIANT 27-INCH ‘COFFEE TABLE PC’

Dismayed that family members are spread out over the house, each with a separate PC or tablet? Lenovo has something it believes will get them back together: a PC the size of a coffee table that works like a gigantic tablet and lets four people use it at once.

 

Lenovo Group Ltd., one of the world’s largest PC makers, is calling the IdeaCentre Horizon Table PC the first “interpersonal computer” – as opposed to a “personal computer.”

At first glance, it looks like a regular all-in-one machine in the vein of the iMac: It’s a 27-inch screen with the innards of a Windows 8 computer built into it, and it can stand up on a table.

IROKO PARTNERS OPENS SA OFFICE

iROKO Partners, an established online distributor of Nigerian movies and music, starts 2013 with news of further expansion, with the opening of a new office in Johannesburg, South Africa.

The office, located in Maboneng precinct, will house a team of up to 5 and will be a regional hub for iROKO Partners with specific focus on the development of new business partnerships, working closer with key South African media agencies and the sourcing of new content for its popular movie and music platforms, iROKOtv and iROKING.

PANASONIC UNVEILS BONE-CONDUCTION TV HEADPHONES

People who don’t want to disturb sleeping family members could use a new product from Panasonic that doesn’t need speakers or even your own ears: wireless bone-conduction headphones.

The headphones connect to a TV via the Bluetooth wireless standard and attach to your head like a normal set of headphones. But instead of using your ears, the headphones work like hearing aids by transmitting sound waves through your skull.

They are one of several innovations Panasonic unveiled at the International CES show in Las Vegas. It also showed off a new user interface for its “Smart Viera” TVs, featuring a TV-mounted camera that recognizes the user and sets viewing preferences accordingly.

CES: SONY’S WATERPROOF WALKMAN SPORTS MP3 PLAYER MAKES SWIMMERS HAPPIER

Sony is taking music outside homes, into the deeps. With their cool waterproof Walkman Sports MP3 Player, swimmers will soon be able to take their audio entertainment into the deep. 

This cool player combines a pair of earbuds with an MP3 player in a single unit, without requiring an external device to play tunes. What appear as earbuds, house the entire player within them and can also be used for terrestrial workout practices. The waterproof nature also means that it is sweatproof. 

ALCATEL UNVEILS THE WORLD’S THINNEST SMARTPHONE - THE 6.5MM-THIN IDOL ULTRA

Alcatel has sneaked up on the world’s biggest smartphone manufacturers including Samsung, Apple and HTC and has pulled the veil off the world’ thinnest smartphone. Called the Idol Ultra, this impeccably thin smartphone by Alcatel One Touch measures just 6.45 mm! But its slimness hasn’t kept technology at bay and the phone includes a 4.7-inch HD OLED display.

1 TERABYTE FLASH DRIVE - KINGSTON’S DATA TRAVELER HYPERX PREDATOR

We knew we would see no end to memory expansion and storage device size reduction, so the arriving of this Kingston 1TB flash drive isn’t really a shocker as it is aweinspiring. Called the DataTraveler HyperX Predator (for I don’t know what good reason), the USB 3.0 stick will pack all you need to carry along on a trip, and more! Currently, the same device ships in its 512GB variant, which is commendable enough. As soon as the 1TB version hits shelves, we expect to see more such wonders from the house of Transcend and Scandisk. 

NVIDIA UNVEILS PORTABLE GAMING DEVICE, THE SHIELD!

Well, it seems like the portable gaming world finally has a little more to look forward to than Sony and Nintendo products. Nvidia pulled the veil off its own perfect rendition of a portable gaming device called the Project Shield. Sporting a Tegra 4 processor, this portable system enables users to enjoy console-quality games on the go! The device sports a controller similar to that of the Xbox 360 and packs a 5-inch, 720p Retinal multitouch display with 294ppi pixel density.