GADGETS

Wednesday, February 22, 2006

Apple Expands iTunes Podcast Service










In its latest move to broaden its iPod and iTunes franchises, Apple Computer Inc. has introduced “iTunes U,” a nationwide expansion of a service that makes course lectures and other educational materials accessible via Apple’s iTunes software. The company behind the iPod portable players, the iTunes online music store and Macintosh computers had been working with six universities on the pilot project for more than a year and expanded the educational program this week, inviting other universities to sign up.


Internet access to college lectures is nothing new, but listening to them on portable gadgets is a more recent phenomenon of the digital age, spurred in part by the popularity of podcasts, or downloadable audio files.

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Pioneer’s AS-PS55 waterproof speakers











You may have to buy a diving case for your MP3 player if you want to rock out while you rub a dub dub, but at least Pioneer’s got you covered on the portable speaker part. We’re not sure exactly how waterproof their AS-PS55 speakers really are, but anything that facilitates complete aqueous submersion while listening to a 10 minute Neu! sesh is fine by us.

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Xbox 360’s ‘99 Nights’ to launch in April











Microsoft Corp. said on Wednesday it will launch “Ninety-Nine Nights,” one of the highly anticipated games for its Xbox 360 console, on April 20 in Japan for 6,800 yen ($58). Microsoft is counting on the game to drive sales of Xbox 360s in Japan after sales of consoles in the first month fell short of those in the failed launch of the original Xbox four years ago.

The company has been struggling to gain ground in Japan against local rivals Nintendo Co. Ltd. and Sony Corp., whose PlayStation 2 console is the global best seller. While Xbox 360 has the advantage of being the only next-generation game console in the market — Sony and Nintendo both plan to launch next-generation game machines this year — Microsoft had sold 112,657 units as of January 29 in Japan, according to a survey by Enterbrain, the publisher of leading Japanese game magazine Famitsu.

“Ninety-Nine Nights” is a big-scale battle game produced by Japanese game designer Tetsuya Mizuguchi’s Q Entertainment in partnership with South Korean developer Phantagram. Mizuguchi, one of Japan’s top game developers behind titles such as “Lumines” for Sony’s Playstation Portable, was tapped in the hopes of attracting Japanese game fans. Microsoft said it does not yet have specific plans to launch “Ninety-Nine Nights” outside of Japan.

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Tuesday, February 21, 2006

Apple cuts iPod Shuffle price










Apple Computer Inc. on Tuesday cut the price of its cheapest digital music player, the iPod Shuffle, and launched a smaller-capacity version of its mid-priced iPod Nano.

The move by Apple, which has 70 percent of the U.S. digital music player market, is aimed at further consolidating a market that it leads, Apple executives said. The company also said it has now sold 12 million videos on its iTunes online store.

Cupertino, California,-based Apple said the 512-megabyte Shuffle will now sell for $69, down from $99 previously. The 1-gigabyte model will sell for $99, down from $129.

The 512-megabyte version holds about 120 songs. The new 1-gigabyte Nano, the sleek iPod model that won rave reviews from critics and consumers when it was introduced last September, was priced at $149.

The 2-gigabyte Nano sells for $199 and holds about 500 songs; a 4-gigabyte model sells for $249.

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Nintendo unveils TV,browser features for DS












Japanese fans of Nintendo Co. Ltd.’s dual-screen DS portable game machine may soon be able to surf the Web and watch high-definition television programs on their devices in addition to playing games.


Taking another step in its strategy to develop features that will appeal to more than just hardcore game fans, the Japanese company said on Wednesday it plans to begin selling a Web browser in June and launch a card with a digital television receiver by the end of the year.

“These products propose a different use for the DS in entirely new fields,” Nintendo President Satoru Iwata told a news conference.

The Web browser, developed with Norway’s Opera Software, will be sold as a DS card in June for 3,800 yen ($32). Users will be able to insert the card into the DS, which has Wi-Fi wireless networking capability, to browse the Internet in areas with connectivity.

The company said last month it planned to launch a thinner, lighter version of the DS device, called “Nintendo DS Lite,” in Japan on March 2 for 16,800 yen ($143), compared with the current model’s retail price of 15,000 yen ($128).

Nintendo is widely expected by analysts to raise its earnings forecast for the full year to March 31 after its third-quarter results in late January showed it has already nearly achieved its current annual estimate.

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