Treo !

Today Palm, Microsoft and Verizon
Wireless unveiled the latest version of
Palm's Treo (touted around the web as
the Treo 700w) at a news conference in
San Francisco. This forthcoming Treo
smart phone runs Microsoft Corp.'s
Windows Mobile 5.0 operating system and
will have Outlook Mobile, Office Mobile
and Internet Explorer Mobile built into the
smartphone as standard. It will be
available in the US early next year. The
Treos combine the functionality of a PDA
with the ability to make phone calls and
browse the Internet.

Verizon Wireless, the No. 2 U.S. mobile
service, will be the first to sell the new
Treo phone. Verizon's growing Evolution-
Data Only (EV-DO) network based on
Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA)
technology allows download speeds
between 400Kbit/sec. and 700Kbit/sec. in
some parts of the US.

It was an open secret that the three
companies were working together. And
that meant there were few surprises in
Monday's announcement, delivered by Palm Chief Executive Ed Colligan,
Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates and Verizon Wireless CEO Denny Strigl. No
plans were revealed for additional mobile operators however, Palm
indicated that a GSM Treo smartphone using Windows Mobile would be
available in the second half of 2006.

Mobile Calls at 30000ft

Using a mobile phone on board a plane is banned by airlines because of
fears that the signal from a handset will interfere with the aircraft's
systems as it attempts to connect with phone masts on the ground. New
technology developed by Geneva-based OnAir [a joint venture between
Airbus and Netherlands-based technology company SITA], however,
uses a small transmitter placed within the aircraft to send and receive
calls and then connects them to the terrestrial phone network via satellite.

Two airlines are seriously considering introduction of this technology into
their aeroplanes that allows passengers to make in-flight calls. BMI and
TAP Portugal are planning to trial the service on short-haul European
routes next year, enabling business travellers to stay in touch at 30,000
feet.

Although regulatory approval is required for the technology, OnAir
believes that because mobile phones will connect with a transmitter on
board the plane, they will operate at a lower signal strength than they
would if trying to find a far away mast. As a result, OnAir believes its
technology will not interfere with the aircraft's systems, although phones
will still have to be switched off during takeoff and landing.

OnAir estimates that the market for in-flight mobile telephony will be
over 700m passengers by 2009 and the value of onboard communications
could be $1.6bn for voice and $400m for data such as texts and e-mail.
A rival system is being developed by US-Norwegian combine Telenor Arinc.

Sprint's New PC Phone

Today Sprint announced the launch of
the first Pocket PC phone in the U.S.
to run Microsoft's new Windows Mobile
5.0 software platform. Sprint PCS
Vision Smart Device (PPC-6700), the
first PDA/phone-combination handset
in the country sports a 416 MHz Intel
processor, a 1.3-megapixel camera
with built-in flash, digital zoom and
camcorder functionality, a sliding
QWERTY keyboard (that opens from
the side and automatically changes
orientation from portrait to landscape
viewing mode) , and Bluetooth and Wi
-Fi data capabilities. This CMDA device
also has EV-DO (Evolution Data
Optimized) high-speed wireless
data protocol with claimed average
download speeds of 400 to 700K
bps and peak rates up to 2.0Mbps,
ready to support Sprint Wireless
High Speed Data capabilities where available. In areas that don't yet have
EV-DO service, the handset falls back to 1XRTT throughput rates.

Samsung's Flash Memory

Samsung Electronics Co. introduced a high-capacity flash memory chip on
Monday that could let Apple Computer Inc. and other makers of portable
electronic devices pack more data into less failure-prone gadgets. The 16
-gigabit NAND flash memory chip, equivalent to 2 gigabytes of storage,
doubles a chip Samsung introduced last September.

The new chip will allow memory-card makers to design cards with a
capacity of 32GB by putting 16 of these chips into a single card. To put it
into perspective, a 32GB memory card would be able to store 8000 MP3
audio files or 20 DVD-quality movies in a handheld device such as a
mobile phone.

Samsung hopes to see flash memory become more widely used as a
storage medium, including as a replacement for hard disk drives in some
notebook computers. To this end, it announced plans earlier this year to
introduce a flash-based replacement for hard drives named solid-state
disks (SSDs). These hard drive replacements will initially be available in
capacities up to 16GB, according to the company.

Sun's Galaxy

Sun Microsystems Inc. introduced new
industry-standard servers that it said
will more than triple the amount of the
computer server market it can address
as the computer maker seeks to rebuild
momentum lost to rivals since the dot
-com bust nearly five years ago.

The servers, named X2100, X4100 and
X4200, use Opteron micro -processors
from Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD).
The new servers, which can house up to two dual-core Opteron chips, are
in addition to two-processor and four-processor Opteron servers that Sun
already sells. The company said that the new servers are cheaper, faster,
use less power and take up less space than comparable servers made by
rival companies, such as Dell and Hewlett-Packard Co.

The servers run Sun's Solaris operating system, which the company
recently open-sourced to the software developer community, as well as
commercially available versions of Linux, among other operating systems.

The X2100 server starts at $745, the X4100 starts at $2,195, and the
X4200 $2,595, Sun said. The X4100 and X4200 had been code-named
Galaxy.

iPod Phone, iPod Nano

Apple Computer Inc. CEO Steve Jobs
introduced a music-playing phone
Wednesday that is capable of storing
about 100 songs. The iPhone, made by
Motorola Inc. and loaded with iTunes
software, can store podcasts as well as
music. Users can transfer songs to the
device from their PC or Macintosh
computers and make calls through
Cingular Wireless.

"It's an iPod shuffle right on your
phone," said Jobs and noted that both
the iPhone and iPod shuffle both
randomly sort music, hold about the
same songs and have display screens.

Apple struck a deal with Cingular for
the new phone, called the Motorola
ROKR E1 Phone, which retails for
$249.99 with a two-year commitment to Cingular. Cingular will not earn
any money from actual music downloads; its only source of revenue will
be from additional contracts it manages to sell. Mobile phones have been
equipped to hold music files for some time now, but Cingular is the first
carrier to strike a deal that allows users to download music directly to
their phones from their computers.

Jobs also introduced a pencil-thin iPod, the iPod Nano which will replace
the iPod Mini. It is one-third the size of the Mini and holds 1,000 songs.
"It's impossibly small," Jobs said at the Moscone Convention Center. "It's
thinner than a No. 2 pencil." The Nano can store music, games, photos
and a calendar. It also has a "screen lock" feature that allows no one
except the user to access content. A 4-gigabyte Nano will retail for $249,
and a 2-gigabyte model will sell for $199. Both versions will be available
in stores this weekend.

Wi-Fi Enabled Cameras

Nikon is redefining the digital camera shooting experience with the
announcement of two new revolutionary Wi-Fi enabled models. The
Coolpix P1 and P2 are the world's first built-in Wi-Fi-enabled
(IEEE802.11b/g) digital cameras to hit the marketplace.

Eastman Kodak Company also plans to commercially introduce its
EasyShare-One zoom digital camera in October. The camera will
incorporate basic Wi-Fi functionality, which will enable e-mail to be sent
directly from the gadget, Kodak says.The Coolpix P1 and P2 have
built-in Wi-Fi features that let you transmit images wirelessly directly
to a computer or to any PictBridge-enabled printer equipped with the
optional Nikon Wireless Printer Adapter (PD-10), for wireless printing.
The Coolpix 8-megapixel P1 and the 5-megapixel P2 transmit images via
802.11b and 802.11g-compatible wireless networks and adapters, with a
range of up to 100 feet.

Both companies are touting the capabilities of their respective cameras
to enable users to easily share photos immediately after they are
snapped. Photos can also be transmitted directly to printers where they
can likewise be printed immediately.

Nikon said the Coolpix P1 will carry a suggested retail price of $549.95
and the Coolpix P2 will have a MSRP of $399.95. Nikon said the Wireless
Print Adaptor for use with the cameras will be available for $49.95 in
October.