Kwitz

BenQ corp has launched the first 22 inch or so to say 21.5 inch 1080p Full HD LCD monitor. The monitor is equipped with a 1920 x 1080 pixel resolution with 300 cd/m2 brightness. It comes with VGA and HDMI inputs with a headphone jack.

The LCD has a 16:9 aspect ratio and has a 10,000:1 contrast ratio.

The E2200HD comes with integrated speakers and can render content from STBs, camcorders and DVD players. The LCD Monitor will be available for only Rs. 13,500 which is a pretty neat price for what you are getting.

Source: technews.in

Is it really a surprise that, right after the rumors of AT&T and Verizon pairing off start hitting the news (again), suddenly Microsoft enters the picture? Out of the blue comes news of “Pink” a supposed Microsoft Zune-phone to be sold by Verizon. This doesn’t seem like a mere coincidence.

While it’s certainly possible Verizon will do both–selling iPhones and whatever “Pink” turns out to be, it seems just as likely that Verizon or its partisans may just be playing Apple and Microsoft off one another?

Is Verizon telling Apple that if it can’t sell iPhones it will throw its weight behind “Pink?” The danger, of course, is that Apple will simply respond, “Have a nice life.” It’s more likely that Apple is looking to a day when AT&T will have sold as many iPhones as it is able and will turn to Verizon as the next low-hanging fruit.

As for an actual Microsoft-built Zune-phone, I am not expecting it. Microsoft isn’t getting into the cellular hardware business, why should they?

They don’t need to manufacture the hardware to create the Zune (or Pink) handset, and it’s better if they don’t. Indeed, Microsoft’s non-denial denial makes be think a new Microsoft-inspired consumer handset is certainly on the way.

“Microsoft’s strategy has not changed,” an MS spokesperson told PC World. “It is and has always been to provide a software platform for the industry. We work closely with many mobile operators and device makers around the world because customers want different experiences on a variety [of] phones.”

However, Microsoft’s purchase of Danger, creator of the T-Mobile Sidekick phone, also gives Redmond the ability to design innovative hardware, too. The traditional (and small) Windows Mobile enterprise market would be a waste of Danger’s talent, so it’s easy to imagine a Zune-phone is out there someplace.

In evaluating the recent spate of rumors, it’s important to realize that everybody talks to everyone about everything. Well, almost. I’m sure AT&T and Verizon are in near constant contact, at some level. As are Microsoft and Verizon. Microsoft also talks to all the handset manufacturers, trying to persuade them to build Windows Mobile devices.

If Microsoft or Apple calls, everyone is at least willing to answer the phone and most would gladly make some sort of deal, if terms can be arranged. The question, then, isn’t whether companies talk to one another, but whether the incentives for making a deal has changed.

I understand why Microsoft wants Verizon, but not so much why Verizon wants Microsoft. Sure, it’s relatively easy for Verizon to add another Windows Mobile handset to the product line. Adding a supposed iPhone killer might be another matter entirely, potentially requiring a larger commitment on Verizon’s part.

My bet is that Verizon would much rather have the iPhone, but Apple may be driving a pretty tough bargain. Maybe the sudden prospect of Verizon spending a year or two selling a new Microsoft-designed iPhone killer will bring Cupertino’s demands more into line and the deal will be struck.

Source: pcworld.com

Nine months after Apple began selling apps for the iPhone and iPod Touch, 13-year-old Connor Mulcahey of Weston, Connecticut downloaded the billionth application from the iTunes store.

Poetically, it was a free app.

Mulcahey, barely old enough to have qualified for the contest, will win tens of thousands of dollars in Apple hardware and software for his fateful download of Bump, a free app that lets people exchange contact info by holding iPhones and bumping fists.

He’s not the only winner. Bump Technology also stands to gain from having its app mentioned in the first paragraph of an Apple announcement.

The company’s free app (paid version soon) is simple but potentially useful. Enter your phone number, address, e-mail address, and photo, and you’ll be able to beam any or all of that information to another iPhone or iPod Touch user who also has the app installed with a simple fist-bump greeting gesture. Contact information gets swapped over an encrypted internet connection, not Bluetooth or an ad-hoc WiFi connection, but that could change this summer when Apple enables peer-to-peer connections on the devices.

Apple itself makes 30 cents on the dollar from the sale of paid apps — about the same rate it commands from recording artists and record labels. (If developers really are the new rock stars, it makes sense that iTunes pays them what it pays actual rock stars.)

Apple, predictably, is celebrating the latest in its long run of iPhone- and iPod-related successes.

“The revolutionary App Store has been a phenomenal hit with iPhone and iPod touch users around the world, and we’d like to thank our customers and developers for helping us achieve the astonishing milestone of one billion apps downloaded,” stated Apple senior vice president of worldwide product marketing Philip Schiller. “In nine months, the App Store has completely revolutionized the mobile industry and this is only the beginning.”

It’s true that the App Store revolutionized the mobile industry. Apple did this by letting developers hawk wares directly to consumers, rather than forcing them to deal with cellphone carriers, who forced them through lengthy approval processes, horded screen space, and generally formed a blockade between mobile developers and users. Now that Apple has broken that deadlock, other smartphone platforms are developing along similar lines.

And it’s impressive that iPhone and iPod Touch users have downloaded a billion apps from the store, since (as we confirmed today with Apple) its download tally does not include updates to previously-downloaded apps.

But the road to the billionth download hasn’t been entirely smooth.

In the early days of the App Store, developers seemed generally happy with the process of submitting apps (Pandora chief technology officer Tom Conrad, formerly of Apple, told us before the App Store launched that his team preferred developing for the iPhone to developing for the web).

But a flurry of headlines about youngsters making millions by selling apps ranging from the useful (HopStop, Credit Card Terminal) to the inane (flatulence simulators) has stimulated a gold rush that challenges Apple’s ability to keep up with the torrent of apps being submitted. The company has already approved over 35,000 apps for inclusion in the store, and as Schiller said, “this is only the beginning.”

Source: wired.com

Software engineers and device manufacturers continue to push up against the limits of human physiology in the search for the ultimate interface for mobile phones and other handheld mobile devices.

Thumb-operated mini-Qwerty keyboards, virtual keypads and  touch interfaces may all have their place, but perhaps the most logical interface for the mobile phone is voice?

While voice-activated dialling is already a fairly common handset feature, Tellme, the Microsoft subsidiary believes we have only just begun to exploit the power of voice as a complementary mobile phone technology interface, particularly in what Tellme executives called ‘’distracted situations’ like driving.

“Because it’s so intuitive, we believe there is a real opportunity for voice to materialise as the leading user interface for the phone,” said Dariusz Paczuski, senior director of consumer services at Tellme.

In an effort to address this opportunity (and boost Microsoft Mobile’s street cred and perhaps ultimately mobile search revenues) Tellme is announcing today what it describes as the first mobile voice service to combine content and communications designed to simplify how people interact with their phones every day.

In essence the new service, which will be made freely available to carriers and handset manufacturers using Microsoft’s Windows Mobile 6.5  mobile operating system when handsets based on 6.5 launch this autumn, combines voice activated dialing, control and mobile search.

Unlike existing voice-based services, Tellme claims the new speaker-independent voice service will enable mobile phone users to press one button, say what they want and get it, whether that is to send a text, make a call or search for information using Microsoft’s Live Search servers.

Many handsets apparently already have a side-mounted button that can be pressed to begin and end a string of voice commands. So for example, to send a text message the user would press the button. Say “text” to open a text box, then speak the text message and press the button once again to route the message to anyone in their contact list.

Tellme stopped by to show me the new service and, based on what I saw it looks promising although voice technology is notoriously difficult.

Read more @ blogs.ft.com