Dispatch
Stinger in beta; thinner Visor; Kyocera's Finecam S3; video rental over broadband; and more.Product Pipeline
Stinger Gets Closer: Microsoft's smart-phone operating system, code-named Stinger, puts Pocket PCA-like features on a mobile phone. Microsoft has demonstrated a beta version of the OS on a prototype phone by Sendo; that company, along with Samsung and Mitsubishi, is expected to ship Stinger phones later this year. Individual carriers will determine pricing.
Visor Gets Thinner: Handspring's latest salvo in the battle of the Palm OSA-based PDAs is a Visor about the size of a Palm V that accommodates Springboard expansion modules via a slide-on sled. The $399 Visor Edge will compete with the new Palm M500.
Tiny Camera, Big Picture: Kyocera's Finecam S3 challenges Canon's Digital Elph for the title of smallest and lightest--yet powerful--digital still camera. Due in April, the $699 Finecam S3 is just slightly larger than the credit card-size Elph, and both have 2X optical zoom lenses. But the Finecam is 20 percent lighter and packs a 3.3-megapixel CCD, versus the Elph's 2-megapixel unit.
Tidbytes
Video Rentals Over Broadband: Blockbuster wants to rent you videos without making you drive to the store. A service currently in trials in Portland, Oregon, and Seattle lets customers watch movies streamed to their TVs via a special Motorola set-top box. Blockbuster's video-on-demand service not only eliminates the wait for a pay-per-view film to start, it also offers full playback control--pause, fast-forward, rewind, and stop--for the 24-hour rental period.
Final pricing for the service has not been determined, but Blockbuster gave trial participants two free movies a week and charged $5 per movie thereafter--about $1 more than renting a movie from the store.
Wireless Access for Your PDA: PDA users on the move can now access Web information such as stock quotes or download e-mail using Get2Net's new Infrared NetStations. Get2Net, the provider of airport NetStation Internet PC terminals, has already launched several wireless PDA NetStations in New York airports.
Within six months, Get2Net hopes to have 100 Infrared NetStations running in such cities as Chicago; Denver; Hartford, Connecticut; New Orleans; and San Jose, California.
Swap CDs Instead of MP3s: With Napster's future up in the air, sharing MP3s over the Internet will likely become more difficult. Here's another option: Trade CDs via CD Swapper, a new service from SwapIt and MP3.com. Once you register and print out a mailing label, you can send in CDs or games you don't want, in exchange for credits toward the purchase of other titles.
Future View
Web Surfing in a Limo: Luxury carmaker BMW has a limousine equipped with a mobile multimedia office. The prototype, a BMW L7, includes a computer with an Intel Celeron processor, an infrared keyboard, a wireless Internet connection, and a retractable 15-inch flat screen on which you can watch DVDs, TV shows, and video conferences. Not slated for regular production, the prototype car is valued by BMW at about $220,000.
E-Reading Like Paper: Although e-books may sound like a good idea, screens on the first devices just aren't as readable as paper. But researchers may change that. Philips Electronics and E Ink are developing a display technology for handhelds to make text and images look like ink on paper. If successful, the technology could boost acceptance of electronic books. Philips would build screens that use E Ink's "electronic ink sheets."
Connecting with Bluetooth BLIPs: Ericsson envisions people relying on Bluetooth Local Infotainment Points (BLIPs) to exchange information when using low-power wireless technology. BLIPs are connection hubs for Bluetooth-enabled devices such as mobile phones and PDAs. Device owners who pass by a BLIP--at a mall, for example--could receive information on stores or download discount coupons. BLIPs run on the Linux operating system and support Bluetooth transfer speeds up to 720 kbps. Ericsson plans to launch BLIP this year in shopping centers and train stations. Accessing BLIP content will be free to end users.
Site to See
Police auctions are great places to find deals on seized or unclaimed goods, but you have to show up at odd times, and selection is spotty. Now, at Property Bureau's PropertyRoom.com, local authorities can sell recovered merchandise--such as jewelry, stereos, TVs, cameras, computers, and collectibles--at a single virtual location. Property Bureau inspects and cleans all items before auctioning them.
And if you've had something stolen, register your missing property at the StealitBack section so that the item can be returned if it is recovered. Already, several law enforcement agencies in California have begun using the auctions.
Top PC World Downloads
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