Apple bags EMI deal for cloud-based iTunes
EMI’s ink is still drying on Apple’s cloud music licensing agreement, nearly a month after Warner Music jotted on the dotted line. That’s two out of the big four and the remaining big dogs (Sony and Universal) should be whipping out their pens in the next few weeks. Apple will be coming in third place behind Google and Amazon in the cloud music game, but its ace-in-the-hole licensing agreements should allow users’ iTunes databases to be scanned instantly, with Apple providing the streamed tunes. Less hassle, more listening. Read more...
HP plans to boot up WebOS in laptop form
We’re not sure what kind of person you have to be to trawl through WebOS log files looking for clues about future HP products. But we’re glad those people exist. That’s how we can speculate with some confidence that HP is plotting to add to its WebOS line a laptop running the recently acquired Palm operating system. Stands to reason, since HP has had far more success with its PCs than it’s ever had with phones (or tablets, for that matter). We’re not expecting the laptop to only run WebOS – more likely it’ll be a secondary boot to Windows for instant-on browsing and messaging on the fly.
HTC’s first NFC phone due within a year
HTC Europe’s top honcho reckons we’ll be clutching a near field communication smartphone from his company within 12 months. Florian Seiche announced the company would put the contactless swipe-and-pay tech in its phones as he told a conference about HTC’s (entirely expected) plans to flood the tablet market with a gamut of devices to rival its smartphone range. Two questions remain: will it hit HTC’s Android phones first, or will the company debut NFC on a Windows Phone 7 blower? And how are we ever going to keep our spending under control in future?
Garmin outs rough and rugged Montana GPS
Are you a butter-fingered trekker? The Garmin Montana could be the answer to your prayers: this handheld GPS gizmo is virtually indestructible, capable of shrugging off tumbles and extreme weather as it leads you to your destination – whether you’re on foot, on a bike, in your motor or even aboard a boat. Read more...
Next Big Thing – Fijitsu Flexbook
Thanks to the Flexbook’s flexible structure, centred joint and foldable touch screen, it can be doubled up twice for maximum portability. The beauty of this concept is that it is just as flexible in function as it is in form. It’s a laptop one minute, a tablet the next, and a book the minute after that – the possibilities are endless. Although flexible screen tech has been around for a while we’re still a long way off fully-featured mainstream products. The Flexbook is the brainchild of designer Hao-Chun Huang for a Fujitsu organised design competition. View images...
Apple turns its back on SIM
In our gadget Utopia, everything gets along. Each gadget uses the same ports and power cables, identical storage formats are handed to each device as it leaves the factory and the air is filled with the flurry of wireless cross-compatibility. Yet in our far-from-perfect world, this is not the case. Even USB cable ends have fragmented. The only truly universal standard we’ve got is the humble SIM card. Okay, it’s had a shave and become Micro SIM, but apart from that, the format remains intact. Read more...
Is Microsoft buying Nokia?
Microsoft buys companies like most people buy phones. Stands to reason then that the Californian computer megacorp should want to buy a phone company. And who better than its latest phone partnership bedfellow Nokia? Just one week after splashing out a paltry US$8.5 billion in pocket change for Skype, rumours circulated by the Russian mobile wonder-spy Eldar Murtazin suggest that Microsoft and Nokia will enter talks in the coming weeks to negotiate the sale of the Finns’ mobile division.
How to expand your iPad storage to 500GB
Want to boost your iPad's meagre 64GB SSD to a man-sized 500GB hard drive? Seagate has just unveiled the world’s first wireless external hard drive. The 500GB GoFlex Satellite has a built-in battery and Wi-Fi that allows you to connect to up to three devices at once, be they tablets or smartphones. The battery lasts 25 hours in standby and five hours in use.
