In its on going Intel Developer forum, Intel said it will launch “Santa Rosa Refresh,” in January 2008 an Update to its Centrino platform that includes the next generation 45nm Penryn processor and improved graphics capabilities. Intel also showed next generation Montevina processor technology, which will be released in mid 2008. The platform will have DDR3, WIMAX and integrated HD-DVD/Blu-ray support. The components will be 40% smaller and will be ideal for use in wide spectrum of notebook designs from sub 4-pound to full sized notebook. Intel is working with Cisco on interoperability testing of 802.11n draft 2.0 to ensure reliable performance and compatibility between Intel Centrino-based notebooks and Cisco wireless networks. Intel provided a glimpse of the entertainment power of the upcoming Penryn based Intel Centrino systems with video rendering and encoding. Intel’s Menlow platform, scheduled for launched in first half of 2008 will deliver great performance at low power and could fit in a 74mm X 143mm sized motherboard, thus enabling form factors that are small enough to fit in your pocket and powerful enough for Mobile Internet Devices (MID). Intel’s Moorestown Platform will consist of a System on Chip (SOC) and Communications Hub. The SOC integrates the CPU, graphics, video and memory controller to a single chip. The architecture allows for ultra low power operation in Mobile Internet Devices (MID). The idle power for a Moorestown based MID platform will be 10X lower compared to a Menlow based platform.

Zune Scene posted the configuration and release date of soon to be released Microsoft Zune 2. The flash based Zune will be available in four colors pink, red, black, and Army jeep green and it will come in 4GB and 8GB capacities. The hard drive based Zune (Scorpio) will come with a 80GB hard drive. Both the Zunes will have a new “squircle” shape button, which will function as a navigation button for the menus. The launch date for both the models is scheduled for October 16th. The prices for the different models are not yet known but they will be priced to compete with the new iPods.

Meizu in January posted mockups photos of their M8 phone, a copy of iPhone, which was to be released before iPhone and cost half the price of the iPhone. But that never happened and now they are at it again by copying the design of iPod Touch. They are not even changing the UI according to the photos posted on Meizublog. The Meizu M7 will cost $100, $110 and $150 for the 2Gb, 4GB and 8GB models respectively. The player will have a 2.8” LCD screen with 480 X 280 resolution and the player will measure 3.5” X 1.9” X 0.3” only. Let see whether they can develop a product or just show mockups like they did with M8 phone.

There is no question that we will be in need of more transfer speed as more and more HD content becomes available. Even the new flash memory standard called UFS (to be released in 2009) will have faster access speeds. To satisfy our need for speed, “SuperSpeed” USB Promotions Group was announced at the Intel Developer Forum. The group will finalize USB 3.0 spec by middle of 2008 and new devices based on the spec will be released in 2009. The two main goals of SuperSpeed USB are to increase transfer speed by 10X and dramatically lower power consumption. That means the transfer speed will increase from 480Mbits/s in USB 2.0 to 4.8Gbits/s in USB 3.0. The SuperSpeed devices will use the same connectors and the same programming and device models as existing devices. USB 3.0 will be backwards compatible with USB 2.0.

Hasselblad announced its update to the H3D series of digital SLR. The new H3D II series offer 3 models with 48 X 36mm sensors and 22, 31 or 39-megapixel resolutions. The camera has improved heat dissipation on the sensors for better signal-to-noise response, better raw-processing software and a GPS to record location data, which can be automatically uploaded to Google Earth. The H3D II will cost around $25,000 for 22-megapixel camera and around $37,000 for 39-megapixel camera.

Intel’s Paul Otellini provided an overview of the advantages of the upcoming 45nm based Penryn processors at the Intel Developer Forum. The processors use high-k metal gate and will ship in November. Penryn will have small size, low-power requirements and high-performance capabilities. Intel plans to introduce 15 new processors based on this technology by end of 2007 and another 20 new processors in 2008. Otellini said, “ We expect our Penryn processors to provide up to 20% performance increase while improving energy efficiency.” The new 45nm processors and 65nm chipsets would use halogen free packaging technology beginning next year, making them more environment friendly. Otellini also announced that a version of penryn dual-core processor operating at 25 watts would be available on the upcoming Montevina platform, which will include Intel’s mobile WiMAX. Notebooks based on this platform will be introduced in early 2008. Intel’s CEO also did the first public demonstration of Intel’s Nehalem processor and said that the company will deliver new processor based on Nehalem architecture in second half of 2008. Nehalem processor will be the first chip to utilize QuickPath Interconnect System Architecture that includes integrated memory controller technology and improved communication links between system components to significantly improve overall system performance.

Today at Intel Developer Forum in San Francisco, Intel’s CEO Paul Otellini showed world’s first 300mm wafer built using next-generation 32nm process technology. The 32nm test chips incorporate logic and memory to house more than 1.9 billion transistors. The 32nm process also uses second generation high-k and metal gate transistor technology. Paul Otellini said “ Chips based on its upcoming 32nm technology are due out in2009 and will include transistors so small that more than 4 million of them could fit on the period at the end of this sentence.” Using 32nm process will increase performance and decreases power requirement.

Apple today announced the first European Carrier for its iPhone. O2 will be launching iPhone in UK on 9th November and it will be priced at £296 with 18 months agreement. The Voice and Unlimited data plans that will come standard with iPhone will cost £35, £45 and £55 depending upon number of minutes in each plan. Carphone Warehouse will be carrying the phone in its 1300 retail stores. O2 has also made a deal with Cloud WiFi provider and any iPhone customer will get free WiFi in 7500 Cloud hotspots. The phone will have Visual Voicemail and will be EDGE only (no 3G). Apple had a Q&A session after the launch and the most interesting answer by Steve was “We're working on the next iPhone and the next one after that. That's what our customers expect." So are you all ready to for iPhone 2G.

Marc Heijligers has posted complete audio performance tests of the new iPod Classic. He says in the post “I noticed that the 6G sounds precise, crisp, but lacks 3D image and has an electronic haze to the sound. At first, this might sound like an improvement (crisp, detailed), but when listening more carefully and for longer times, it becomes fatiguing after a while. The 5G sounds less precise, but its timbre contains more harmonic information and sounds less electronic. For me, the 5G is closer to how I experience acoustic music in real life, and for me is the better sounding device overall. This is not to say that the 6G is a terribly bad sounding device! It's just less than the 5G, and sound electronic/acoustical as opposed to acoustical/musical.”
Marc did all his tests using Fuzzmeasure and concluded that it is obvious that the new audio circuit of iPod Classic is badly engineered compared to 5G iPod Video. The new iPod Classic uses a Cirrus audio chipset in place of Wolfson chipset and that can be a reason for change is sound quality. Does that mean you shouldn’t buy the new iPod Classic? It depend on two main factor one is what headphone are you using and do you have golden ear for music. If you are using the headphone that came with iPod or similar ones you won’t nothing any difference. You will notice a difference if you have a golden ear for music and you are using Shure SE530 two listen to your music.
You can read and see complete test results here: Marc Website

Microsoft today added two new features to Media Center. In the first feature Internet based content such as TV reruns and sporting events can be accessed just like any other TV show on Media center, its called Internet TV (ITV). The second one is a SlingBox like feature called WebGuide that lets user time-shift and place shift TV content. Additionally you can schedule TV recording, access music collection and in short do pretty much everything you can do with a Media Center, Via any Web browser. Microsoft’s Scott Evans said “ it’s a good example of how the media center platform keeps evolving, it adds value for people who bought Media Center.”
[Via CEDIA]

AT&T is going smartphone crazy and will be releasing an array of new smartphones in next 30 days. The first phone that AT&T will launch is Motorola’s Q9 Global, which is a Windows Mobile 6 based phone with quad-band GSM/EDGE, and UMTS/HSDPA. On the same day (25th September) they will also announce HTC Tilt. Again a Windows Mobile 6 Based that comes with 3-megapixel camera, GPS, GSM and HSDPA. On 4th October AT&T will release BlackBerry 8310 in titanium and red color. The phone will add GPS to the old BlackBerry Curve. Then it will be Pantech Duo’s turn on 9th October. The Dual Slider Phone support 3G and has 1.3-megapixel camera. The last one on the list is HP iPAQ 910c that has QWERTY keyboard, Tri-band HSDPA, WiFi, Bluetooth, GPS and 3-megapixel camera. Though no release date is decided for this Windows Mobile 6 based Smartphone but it is believed it will be released in October.

Apple has released iTunes 7.4.2 update for both Windows and Mac. The update addresses an issue with creating ringtones using iTunes Plus tracks and improves stability and performance. The update also addresses some unmentioned bug fixes, which apparently is removing ringtones created by using songs not bought from iTunes (ringtones made by using programs like MakeiPhoneRingtone). iToner still works with 7.4.2. It seems Apple is really fighting hard to make everyone pay iTunes ringtone’s fee ($0.99).

Apple has released bug-fix updates for its new iPod Nano and Classic. The update is available through iTunes and it’s said it resolves the speed issues with Coverflow and Menu items. The list of issues still remains long even after the update. Some of the know issues with iPod classic are clock timing issues, unchecked playlists being synced regardless of options, artwork issues, photo library issues and problem with calendar notes. It seems Apple will have to release another update to take care of these problems.