We have been speculating that iPhone firmware 2.0 will be available to all iPhone users towards the end of June or early July as we were not aware of the exact release date. The speculations can be put to rest as the release date of the much awaited iPhone firmware 2.0 has been revealed thanks to a tip from TUAW reader. The source of the release date is none other than Apple's iPhone 3G press release which we seemed to have completely missed out. If you are confused whether to update to the latest iPhone firmware or not then I...

It appears that Verizon Communications chief executive Ivan Seidenberg is getting somewhat irritated at suggestions that perhaps one day Verizon could be swallowed up by the consolidation of the telecoms industry, and he gets right irked at the idea that the acquirer could possibly be Vodafone, we posted his views on Vodafone earlier (see here)

Seidenberg told the Financial Times: “We’re not for sale. And in case you didn’t get that the first time, we’re not for sale. OK?”

Seidenberg is full of self-assurance with Verizon Communications who with market capitalisation of $102 billion is the second largest telecom company in the US, and fifth in the world. He highlighted Verizon’s growth, stating revenue is up 8.5 percent on a pro-forma basis in 07, and says: “Investors always want more, but we are in a pretty good place.”

Seidenberg shrugs off any concerns that the wireless market growth within the US may be coming to an end simply because in excess of 80 percent now own a mobile phone, but instead highlights how consumers increasing use of mobile phones for data activities is providing Verizon with a new revenue stream, and states: “Machine to machine” technologies, such as heart monitors sending signals to the internet, will further increase demand for its network.”

Seidenberg is confidant Verizon is well placed to be a winner in the battle between companies for revenue from the mobile internet, and reserves his most acidic remarks for Apple and Steve Jobs.

“There goes the conspiracy again, you’re declaring them a winner before they’ve earned it on the field,” says Seidenberg.

Full article here

So, not getting enough music entertainment from your iTunes library? Maybe you want something extra as well? How about some seriously pumping satellite tunes for your Apple iPhone? If so Apple iPhone users can now enjoy the yummy goodness of live streaming satellite radio via Sirius by using an application aptly called uSirius.

The uSirius application works in much the same way as iRadio whereby you are connected to the Sirius satellites, and well as the Apple iPhone doesn’t actually support that functionality, instead the music is pumped through your Apple iPhone via WiFi or EDGE.

And when you get hold of the Apple iPhone 3G next month you can also get uSirius radio via HSDPA as well. The only real problem is that actually getting on the Sirius Satellite Radio is going to hit your pocket because it costs. However, there is apparently a free three day trial before you are required to register, so at least you are allowed a test drive, and if you happen to like it you can purchase it.

No having to wait around for the new Apple iPhone 3G with this application either, so music to your ears there then… if you’ll pardon the pun. So if you are a fan of Sirius Satellite Radio and have yourself an Apple iPhone go grab it from installer.apps.

Source – mobilemag

According to Marketing Week’s “sources in Japan and Korea” Sony is getting to launch a PlayStation branded mobile phone, which just may call into question its long standing partnership with Swedish mobile manufacturer Ericsson. Could this well be the end of Sony Ericsson?

Apparently the new mobile phone will incorporate “elements” of the PlayStation Portable, the PSP. Furthermore, it is understood that this PlayStation branded mobile phone could well hit the shelves in time for the big Christmas shop 2009.

At present Sony Ericsson uses the sub-brands Walkman and Cyber-Shot in its mobile handsets, and last week Sony Ericsson launched its F305 gaming mobile phone to a somewhat mixed reception, with one analyst saying “strange” that the model did not include the PlayStation branding.”

Apparently the sources in Korea and Japan say that Sony is currently working on converting their present PSP model into a phone, and analysts say this would be “relatively easy” because the PSP is already equipped with WiFi.

Rumour has it from industry sources that the relationship between Sony and Ericsson is at present “frosty” and says Sony has learned from its “strategic error” of giving its Walkman branding to Ericsson, while an insider confirms that Sony “never give its PlayStation branding” to the Sony Ericsson venture.

A Sony Ericsson spokesperson states that the mobile phone maker “never comments” on future product announcements. While Sony PlayStation simply declined to comment.

So I ask again…Could this be the end of the Sony Ericsson partnership? What do you think?

Source – marketingweek

This news goes out to all you music lovers, Vodafone has teamed up with MySpace to show off the all new “Vodafone Music Reporter”, which is user-generated content of the company’s musical events, oh yes MySpace and Vodafone has announced the all new launch of an online global interactive platform.

The name is pretty nifty in itself and “”Vodafone Music Reporter” which is an interactive profile which is hosted on MySpace, will indeed be used to share the operator’s music, initiatives, including summer festivals such as Music Unlimited Cologne in Germany and Vodafone TBAs in the UK. Vodafone Music Reporter profile will also feature other things such as user-generated content which will help create communities for many music fans initially in UK, Germany, Italy and Spain. Music fans in the above countries will be able to click on

Music fans in the four countries can click on www.myspace.com/vodafonemusicreporter_uk where you will be able to share music experiences, upload and download content including pictures and videos related to Vodafone Music Unlimited events and you will also be able to enter a stunning competition to demonstrate your reporting skills across the Vodafone Music Unlimited events this summer and win the chance to become part of an MTV show episode online and on mobile. Pretty cool ah, for more information please do visit Vodafone MySpace profile here.

All you people who have been waiting patiently for the release of Opera Mobile 9.5 to come out can begin jumping up and down with joy, because the long awaited Opera Mobile 9.5 is very nearly ready! Yes, at last the people over at Opera have announced that an initial beta test is earmarked for the 15th of July at www.opera.com, when all you Opera greedy people will be able to get your grubby paws on it.

Furthermore, Opera must have been feeling a tad guilty about keeping everyone waiting so long , as they addressed the reason: Some versions of Opera Mobile 9.5 are already shipping on great phones like the HTC Touch Diamond, and some of you have asked why we wouldn’t be able to release it publically yet. As you probably know, releasing a version that works on a large variety of phones is more complex than making it work on one specific phone. You should also expect a few differences between the versions that are pre-installed on phones and the public version of Opera Mobile 9.5.

“Opera Mobile is the fastest, most secure browser available for S60 and Windows mobile handsets.”

So there it is in black and white from Opera themselves, and it’s not that long till the 15th July is it, I can almost hear Opera fans cheering!

Source – wmexperts

A new video has been released over on the official PS3 blog which gives us all a detailed look at the long awaited in-game XMB that is due to be released in the upcoming 2.40 firmware.

Eric Lempel who is the director for the PSN, shows us how he is able to navigate the XMB whilst having GT5:P paused in the background. It all looks very slick as he browses through all of the menus in the XMB, while taking time to surf through his messages. It seems to be the update all PS3 fans have been waiting for, as a PS3 owner myself, I had often found it very frustrating to have to go out of game to read a message whilst playing COD4 online, this update looks to have solved that problem completely, which will please a lot of you I’m sure.

He also demonstrates the ability to play your own music from the hard-drive whilst in game, another feature that has been on the top of some of your wish-lists. He did not go into detail on ‘trophies’ which is another new feature due to be on the 2.40 firmware, but as you can see in the video, there is already an icon for it, and another video is due to be released with more information on this.

This new firmware is looking very impressive indeed,check out the full video below.. hopefully it isn’t too long before we get our hands on the new firmware ourselves, stay tuned to hear more information.

Source: Read

Written by Alan for Product Reviews
In Sections: Gaming, Sony Playstation 3
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An announcement comes from Nokia that it is to begin shipping the much awaited Nokia 6220 Classic in the United Kingdom, and also announced it has already shipped in excess of two million GPS enabled mobile phones to date; Nokia says that this proves that fact that navigation is quickly becoming a very important feature of the mobile phone.

Managing Director of Nokia UK, Simon Ainslie said: “Navigation is becoming an integral part of your mobile device. When consumers are looking to purchase a mobile device the key features they are looking for are a great camera, great music capabilities and now navigation. The 6220 classic includes all of these features and by selling over 2 million GPS enabled devices this is proof that navigation is becoming more accessible to everyone.”

The Nokia 6220 Classic is of a candy-bar design offers a GPS location finder, Nokia Maps, and built-in compass along with AGPS functionality which allow the user to geo-tag photos. Other superb features of the Nokia 6220 Classic are, a 5 megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss optics and Xenon flash, HSDPA connectivity, Bluetooth, integrated TV-out which means images can be viewed on the users TV screen.

The Nokia 6220 Classic offers up a 2.2 inch display, internet browser, music player, email, FM radio with RDS and up to 8GB of memory. Nokia has placed an estimated price tag on the Nokia 6220 Classic mobile phone at £257.00 pre-tax and subsidies, although a carrier has yet to be named.

Source – pocket-lint

This is the Mvix MX-780HD Wireless HD Media Center and it’s a good choice if you’re looking for an alternative to HTPC. If you are looking for a way to get your digital media collection to play easily and with no issues on your big TV set, then you would want the MX-780HD.

With the ability to play most video formats natively and compatibility with both wired and wireless networks, it is a dream come true. Tweak Town have covered a six-page review of this gadget and in their final thoughts they said, “When it comes to displaying your digital media content, there are several ways to get the job done. Unfortunately, unless you go out and purchase a software package that is designed for converting this content to a DVD disk, most of your choices will end up with the watching of movies on your computer. Granted, many modern displays for the PC are getting larger and have better quality, but if you are like most folks, your PC is not in the immediate vicinity of your primary television.

Enter Mvix USA with a product that not only plays your content and natively supports a vast majority of the conversion methods currently in use, it also gives you enough power and flexibility to actually take the place of an HTPC system. All this plus the ability to connect to your home network to stream media is a very nice package rolled into one convenient box.

Additionally, the 780HD has its own operating system installed and is compatible with home PC systems using Windows XP/Vista, Linux and Mac OSX. This means that even if you don’t happen to be a Windows person, you’re not being left out in the dark. Also of note is that the OS in question is based on the Linux kernel, which means you can be assured of a reliable medium for your media center.

Major improvements made from the older 760 series include the support of SATA drives (but still keeping support for PATA drives) and the inclusion of the HDMI output method. While the support of newer drives is a nice addition, I truly looked forward to seeing the HDMI output in action. It goes without saying that I was pleased with it. Upconverting movies worked flawlessly on the fly and without any stuttering of the video or audio streams.

As far as cost is concerned, the MSRP is listed at $349US, but the 780HD can be found at online stores for closer to the $320 mark. While not a cheap addition to your entertainment center, it is still a lot cheaper than building your own HTPC to handle the same tasks. An added HDMI cable would have been nice, but you can pick them up online for just a few bucks”.

Read the six page review.

Written by Daniel for Product Reviews
In Sections: Audio & Video Gadgets, Gadgets & Technology
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Espoo in Finland has recognized that not everyone likes the same style in mobile phones, thus Nokia has unveiled their Nokia Supernova range of mobile phones, which features a mixture of bold bright colour with “of-the-moment designs” and aimed at style conscious males and females who wish to stay connected; this new range delivers “exceptional mobile functionality alongside a variety of music and internet experiences.”

Vice president, LIVE category, Nokia, Jo Harlow says: “As we rely more heavily on mobile phones to stay connected, they increasingly know everything about us and have become a window into our worlds. With the Supernova range, we set out to give people the ability to set themselves apart in the same way that they would with a traditional statement accessory.”

The Nokia 7610 Supernova is a smooth curve slider which offers the user Xpress-On covers in ‘steel blue’ and ‘red’ which are offset with a muted grey or ‘bright lilac’ front surface. Features include, 3.2 megapixel camera with dual LED flash and 8x digital zoom, FM radio, MP3 player with access to Nokia Music Store, instant messaging, TV-out, and is available in Q3 08 with a price tag of 225EUR.

The Nokia 7510 Supernova is of the iconic fold design with a pus open keypad and also has Xpress-On covers in ’storm blue’, ‘red’, ‘emerald green’ and ‘espresso brown’ and features magic light effect, 2 megapixel camera with NIPs, 4x digittal zoom and LED flash, 2.2 inch QVGA display, Nokia Search Share on Ovi and Flickr, 512MB microSD card, FM radio, enhanced MP3 player with access to Nokia Music Store and Nokia MusicPC Client, YouTube link, Nokia Maps 1.2 and Nokia WidSets service. The Nokia 7510 Supernova is available in Q4 08 with estimated price of 180 EUR.

For Nokia 7310 and 7210 Supernovas see here