CNET has posted a preview of the upcoming LG Blu-ray player BD300 that will support access to Netflix’s online watch now library of streaming movies. CNET says that the Netflix functionality is identical to Roku Netflix Player and the load time for your Netflix queue and the movies is good. Any Netflix subscribers with $8.99 or higher per month plan can use the unlimited video streaming. The other features on the player include music/photo streaming over local network, USB 2.0, Blu-ray Profile 2.0 and Dolby TrueHD support. LG has said that the player will ship in September for less than $500. You can read the complete CNET preview here.

O2 today revealed their Q2 financial results with 46 percent year-over-year growth and 12.1 percent year-over-year growth in data revenue. The company said it added 137,596 new customers that were 80.8 percent more people than the same period last year. O2 credited iPhone for this success and said that the iPhone has become the network’s fastest selling mobile phone ever.
O2 dismissed the speculation that Orange will also gain access to the iPhone in UK by saying “We have an excellent relationship with Apple. In the UK, we have a multi-year exclusive partnership with Apple which we are only one ear into.” Carphone Warehouse, O2’s partner for selling iPhones in UK revealed that it has seen a sharp pick-up in subscription connections on the back of iPhone 3G launch.
Dominic Hulewicz, O2’s Head of Converged Services said, “ We’re seeing phenomenal demand. I was staggered. We have people who were early adopters of iPhone; now we also have demand from the corporate market”.
[Via Macworld]

Recently, news about Google’s Android platform has been bit negative. Developers have claimed that Google is favoring some developers by giving them the latest build of the OS. There have also been rumors that the development of the platform is lagging behind and introduction of devices based on Android will be delayed. But today, HTC’s CFO Hui-ming Cheng said that the company would begin shipping Android-based handsets to ODM (Original Developer Manufacturer) clients in the fourth quarter of this year as scheduled. By end of 2008 we will see Android based handset in the market. Cheng also said that the company has shipped Touch Diamond handsets to 50 telecom operators in more than 30 countries and will start shipping Xperia X1 handsets to Sony Ericsson in the third quarter. Cheng didn’t provide any information when HTC will start shipping its own Android based handset.

LG today unveiled the new LCD HDTV 47LG90 that has a dynamic contrast ratio of 1,000,000:1. The features on the 47-inch HDTV are full HD (1080p) resolution, 120Hz TruMotion, 24p Real Cinema, Clear Voice technology and LG SimpLink connectivity. The LCD TV uses local-dimming LED backlit system for superior picture quality, more natural color representation and faster response time. It also has intelligent sensor that automatically optimizes the image quality by adjusting brightness and color according to the surroundings. The ports on the TV include, three HDMI, one USB, composite, and headphone jack. The 47LG90 will ship in September for $3,599. It will compete directly with Samsung’s new 46-inch LN46A950, 9 Series LCD TV that is almost $500 cheaper than LG’s offering.
[Via Engadget]

Motorola today announced their second quarter financial results with $8 billion in total sales. The company’s net earning were break-even but it had positive cash flow of $204 million after multiple quarters of losses. The mobile devices group shipped 28.1 million phones to successfully hold on to its third position in cellphone market. Previous it was believed that LG would take away the third place from Motorola as it sold 27.7 million handsets in last quarter.  The total sales were down year-over-year from 8.7 billion to 8 billion, but the cellphone maker had a positive outlook for both the third and fourth quarter. The company plans to either break even or turn slight profit for the quarter ending in September and to turn a larger profit of as much as eight cents per share for year 2008.
[Via Macnn]

The IEEE approved the new standard for IEEE 1394 (FireWire) that will support faster data transfers, better compatibility and improved serial bus interface. The new IEEE 1394-2008 specification will introduce S1600 (1.6Gbps) and S3200 (3.2Gbps) standards. The new standards will be fully backward compatible with S400 and S800 standards. It is largely believed that the new S3200 standard will make FireWire competitive with upcoming USB 3.0 standard that will reach 4.8Gbps data transfer speed. The IEEE 1394-2008 specification will become available in October, where as the USB 3.0 specification is expected to be published by end of this year.

Qualcomm today announced that it has completed the world’s first data call using High-Speed Packet Access Plus (HSPA+) network technology. The call achieved a data transfer rate of more than 20 Mbps in 5MHz channel. HSPA+ deployment will allow network operators to double that data and triple the voice capacity of their current HSPA networks.
“Today’s call represents another milestone for Qualcomm in the evolution of the HSPA road amp,” said Alex Katouzian, vice president of product management, Qualcomm CDMA technologies. “End Users will enjoy quicker connections to the internet with HSPA+ while network operators will appreciate the opportunity to offer more services to their subscribers.”
The HSPA+ Release 7, will offer downlink data transfer rates of up to 28 Mbps and uplink rates of up to 11 Mbps. Future HSPA+ releases are expected to support downlink rates of 42-84 Mbps and uplink rates of 23 Mbps. HSPA+ is backward compatible with present HSPA networks. The operators can leverage their existing network and spectrum resources to offer next generation wireless bandwidth and performance with HSPA+ technology.
[Via PR Newswire]

Asustek today announced that it has started shipping the Eee Box nettop in Taiwan for NT$7,988 (US $260). Asus showed the Eee Box nettop (mini-desktop) at Computex along with other Eee family products. The company estimates that it will ship 100,000-200,000 units in 2008 and will reach the one million mark in 2009. Asus plans to launch a series of Eee family accessories including a mouse, keyboard and monitor in September. No word on when the Eee Box will be launched in US.
[Via Digi Times]

On the launch of their new range of business notebooks, HP revealed that business PC buyers are still overwhelmingly opting for XP. Microsoft had announced last month that Vista has sold tens of millions of copies – and is selling at a faster rate than XP ever did.
“From the 30th June, we have no longer been able to ship a PC with a XP license,” said Jane Bradburn market development manager HP. “However, what we have been able to do with Microsoft is ship PCs with a Vista Business license but with XP pre-loaded. That is still the majority of business computers we are selling today.”
In other words, Microsoft counts a sale for Vista, even though the computer is sold with XP. If you count two different OS sales as one, then definitely Vista will sell faster than XP. Poor XP didn’t have a second OS supporting its sales. According to HP’s group manager of commercial products, business will not see much value in upgrading to Vista until late next year. But Microsoft has told HP that it will have to stop pre-loading XP in January 2009 and HP was already in discussions with Microsoft about how it could push this deadline back.
It’s a good thing that Microsoft started their $300 million ad campaign to improve Vista’s image because it looks like businesses (biggest customers of Microsoft) are not planning to support Vista in near future. In fact, in a survey of 1.162 IT professionals done by King Research for KACE, 60 percent of the respondents said that they had no plans to deploy Vista at this time and 92 percent said Vista Service Pack 1 has not changed their plans for Vista deployment.
[Via APC Mag]

VMware today announced the availability of Fusion 2.0 Public Beta 2. The Key features added to the new update are Unity 2.0, multiple snapshots, AutoProtect, usability enhancements, video performance improvements and Tech-Pro features. The Fusion 2 beta 2 is available as free software on VMware’s website for testing. It will be a free update to V1.x customers when released for general public.

Apple has released the iTunes software update 7.7.1 that includes fixes to improve stability and performance. Apple had released the last iTunes update 7.7 when it launched the new iPhone 3G, App Store and iPhone firmware 2.0. There have been few complains about stability of the software and updating feature of the App store. It looks like this update will address those issues. Apple's official statement with the release says, “iTunes 7.7.1 includes fixes to improve stability and performance”. If you are a Mac user you can download the software by using Software Update (Apple menu > Software Update) and if you use iTunes on Windows you can use the Check for Update feature in iTunes software.

ARM today revealed multiyear architectural license deal with a leading handset OEM, developing its roadmap for mobile computing devices. The company noted that the tie up is for future technologies and the revenue will be recognized over several years. Though the company didn’t disclose handset maker’s name, but a statement by ARM’s CEO Warren East gives a hint that the handset maker in question might be Apple. Warren East said “Some handset manufacturers want to have more control over the design of their handset, including the components within it, than others. And it’s as simple as that. And the ARM business model offers one that level of control, if that’s what one wants to do and one has the technical resources available to do it.”
That sounds like Apple, the company bought P.A. Semi, a chipmaker known for its low power chips in April. Additionally, Steve Jobs has stated that the reason for buying the chipmaker was to design their own chips for upcoming iPhones and iPods. It looks like Apple want to maintain its lead over other cellphone makers by designing their on chips for better performance control.
[Via EE Times]

Reuters is reporting that in recent months Dell has been testing a digital music player that could go on sale in September. The upcoming music player features a small navigation screen and basic button controls to scroll through music. The player will support WiFi and will connect to online music store over WiFi for downloading music. Dell is planning to keep the price point of the new player below $100 to give it an edge against the competition. The previous attempt by Dell in MP3 market failed to make major inroads and the company withdrew its DJ Ditty player from market in 2006. Michael Tatelman, Dell’s vice president of consumer sales said this time, if the company goes ahead with the music player, the strategy will be different. Instead of simply selling a piece of hardware tied to someone else’s music service, as Dell did in 2003, it is working on software for a range of portable PCs that will let users download and organize music and movies from various online sources.
If Dell is developing its own software that basically means it will not use Microsoft’s software for its portable media player. In an interview with Om Malik, Dell’s CEO Michael Dell said that the company is working on smartphone, but it is too early to announce what platform they will support. Now if we consider today’s music player news and Michael Dell’s interview together, it gives a impression that Dell is developing its own software for portable devices that will work on both its upcoming music player and smartphone.

In a bulletin supposedly sent by Apple to its retail partners, the company is warning that some of its products will be in short supply in near future. It is suspected that Apple is ramping down the production of 13-inch MacBooks and 15-inch and17-inch MacBook Pros.  The company has suggested that the resellers buy about four weeks of iPods and three weeks of MacBook supply. Apple had already said at its financial conference on 21st July that they will have product transitions and will introduce new product this quarter. It is rumored that Apple will introduce redesigned Macbook with glass trackpad, new iPod Nano and revised iPod touch. The company has also introduced iPod updates every year around September. All in all, it looks like this quarter Apple will introduce more than one product in the market.
[Via Macnn]

Sanyo today announced that it would add a new 720p capable model to its Xacti line of camcorders. The new Xacti DMX-HD800 will be launched on August 22 in Japan and will come with SD/SDHC card support of up to 32GB. The camcorder is capable of shooting video in 1280 x 720 resolution and photos at 8-megapixel resolution. The DHX-HD800 uses a high-speed CMOS sensor in combination of a new image-processing engine “Platinum Engine” for superior image and video quality. The other features on the new Xacti include face recognition for up to 12 people, optical zoom, headphone port and USB 2.0 support. The optional cradle adds HDMI, S-video, composite output and stereo audio output. The small camcorder measures only 2.9” x 1.4” x 4.29” and weighs 7.7 ounce. The battery on the DMX-HD800 would last for about one hour in real world usage. The Xacti DMX-HD800 will be priced 50,000 yen (US $450).
[Via AV Watch]

Garmin today announced a record second quarter with total revenue of $912 million. The company also said that the Nuvifone would not be available in fourth quarter as previously announced. Garmin blamed the delay on carrier specific requirements that are taking longer to comply. The company added that they were pleased by carrier interest in the device and are working toward making necessary design changes to meet their requirements. Garmin anticipates launching the Nuvifone in first half of 2009. Along with Nokia’s Tube and BlackBerry Thunder, the Nuvifone was also considered an iPhone competitor as it had full navigation support and many other features matching the iPhone. But a delay of almost one year might be too late for Garmin because by then Apple will be releasing the third generation of the iPhone and other cellphone makers would have perfected the navigation software which was the main feature of the Nuvifone.

Electronista is reporting that BlackBerry Thunder now has a launch date based on leaked information. On October 8th, Verizon will launch the first touchscreen phone by RIM that has been in rumors for almost a year. The phone will have Verizon’s Rhapsody service that will allow over the air music downloads, a feature that iPhone 3G is missing unless you are using a WiFi connection. The phone will also have higher megapixel camera, a 3.2-megapixel camera on Thunder compared to 2-megapixel on iPhone 3G. The Thunder will support both 3G GSM and EVDO networks, which would allow Vodafone to offer the device in Europe and will enable world roaming for Verizon customers. The Thunder launch is very important for RIM because the iPhone 3G is gaining momentum very fast. Hardware-wise BlackBerry is trying to position the new Thunder above iPhone. But software and user interface were the main reason why iPhone is such a big hit and that will be difficult for BlackBerry to match.

Along side Studio Hybrid mini-desktop, Dell also launched a new 13-inch Inspiron notebook that would compete with other similar 13-inch notebooks on lower price point. The new notebook will weigh 4.5 pounds and use Intel’s processor. The starting price of the new notebook is $699 and it will come with DVD drive, 8-in-1-card reader, WiFi, Webcam and optional Bluetooth. The model is tailored for Wal-Mart and should be available at various Wal-Mart stores from August 3rd.  You will be able to configure higher specification system on Dell’s website.

I had never been a fan of Dell’s product designs, but that has changed a bit today when Dell introduced the new Studio Hybrid mini desktop and the new S2409W LCD display. Apple’s Mac mini has been the king of mini desktops for past two year and this is the first desktop that can seriously challenge Mac mini’s position. The new Studio Hybrid is an eco-friendly PC that uses notebook components to reduce both size and power requirement. The Hybrid use just 65 watts power and is 80 percent smaller than any Dell’s desktop. It measures 7.75” x 2.8” x 8.35” and weighs 4.8 pounds. Though it is bigger and heavier than the Mac mini, specification-wise it’s cheaper than mini. A Studio Hybrid system with 2.0GHz Core 2 Duo processor and 1GB RAM is priced at $619 after $180 savings compared to $799 for a comparable Mac mini.
The desktop can be personalized with various available acrylic shell colors or a bamboo finish shell. The starting price for the system is $499 that will get you a 1.73GHz Pentium dual-core processor, 2GB memory, DVD writer and 160GB hard drive. You can customize your system by scaling the processor up to 2.6GHz Core 2 Duo, adding WiFi, more RAM (up to 4GB) and bigger hard drive (320GB). The Studio Hybrid is available now on Dell’s website and should be available through other channels during fall. You can check out Dell Studio Hybrid reviews below.
CNET Review
PC Mag Review

Dell today launched a new 24-inch widescreen LCD display S2409W. Normally the widescreen displays for computers have an aseptic ratio of 16:10, the new Dell’s display feature a wider 16:9 aseptic ratio. The new display has 1920 x 1080 resolution that perfectly matches with 1080p output of high definition videos. The S2409W has 1,000:1 contrast ratio, 5ms response time and 85 percent NTSC color range. The video inputs on the display include HDMI, DVI and VGA. The HDMI input will allow direct video inputs from movie players (DVD player and Blu-ray player) and gaming consoles (Xbox 360 and PS3). The S2409W is available now for just $379 on Dell’s website.

It has been rumored for more than five years that Dell is working on a smartphone. Since Dell stopped selling its MP3 player and Axim PDAs the rumors died a bit. Last year when Apple launched the iPhone many questioned whether Dell would follow suit. In a recent interview with Om Malik, Dell’s CEO Michael Dell said “we are certainly looking at the whole smartphone category, but I wouldn’t expect anything anytime soon.” When Om asked about emergence of various smartphone platforms, Dell said “the industry standard platforms upon which applications are being built and ecosystems are being created, and that kind of building-block architecture gives us all sorts of opportunities.” When Om pressed about what platform Dell would use for its smartphone, Michael said “We’re not ready to publicly disclose our plans there…we’re kind of working on that.”
Well now everyone can be sure that Dell is working on a smartphone but what platform the phone will use is still a mystery. Based on Dell’s strong relationship with Microsoft, we can guess that Dell might use upcoming Windows Mobile 7 for its smartphone.

Microsoft announced free software to help researchers for publishing and sharing data. The tools Microsoft released include:

Tony Hey, corporate vice president of Microsoft’s External Research Division said “collecting and analyzing data, authoring, publishing and preserving information are all essential components of the everyday work of researchers – with collaboration and search and discovery at the heart of the entire process.”  Microsoft also announced it will provide $1.5 million grant to seven academic research projects as part of the Safe and Scalable Multicore Computing Program.
[Via Ars Technica]

When a company starts giving almost daily status update about a troubled service, you know that there are bigger issues with the service. Apple’s CEO Steve Jobs has asked an employee (David G.) to write a posting every other day or so to let everyone know what’s happening with MobileMe. The online service had a very rough start with online pages not loading, data getting lost and then email service going down. Walt Mossberg in his video review had a long list of issues he faced while reviewing the service. Apple has started posting Updates on it website about the current state of the MobileMe service. The latest update about the service says:

If you are one of the MobileMe users facing problems with the service you can check the latest information about the service on MobileMe Status Page.

AU Optronics, one of the largest LCD panel makers said that it is planning to launch a 10-inch LCD panel for netbooks (mini-notebooks) in third quarter this year. Paul Peng VP and General Manager of IT display business said that since 8.9-inch panels are most suitable for Internet browsing, it is only logical for 8.9-inch panels to replace 7-inch ones. However, since 10-inch panels have the same resolution as 8.9-inch, replacement will not be as fast.
AUO expects demand of LCD panels for netbooks will be high, as both Asus and Acer have said that they would ship 5 million units by end of 2008. Dell and HP will also launch new product in the category for third quarter. AUO has already landed orders from Asus, Acer, Dell and HP for second half of 2008. It is estimated that the company will hold more than 50% market share for netbooks LCD panels in 2008.
[Via Digi Times]

Many analysts consider the upcoming BlackBerry phones Bold and Thunder most important RIM products as the iPhone 3G launch has been huge success. RIM has previously said that the company is aiming for a summer launch for Bold, but according to some reports, the launch has been delayed because of overheating problems. Macnn is reporting that the release dates of RIM’s BlackBerry Bold have been leaked and the Canadian version of the phone will ship on 29th July followed by Vodafone UK edition that will ship on 1st August. T-mobile Germany will be next inline for 4th August launch and O2 will get it in September. It is believed that AT&T will release the Bold in US on September 1st or possibly later. There is no word on when the touchscreen Thunder will be launch.

According to Seth Weintraub, Apple’s upcoming MacBooks models will be thinner than current Macbook and the MacBook Pro will have slightly more rounded design like the MacBook Air. The biggest change will be that the new MacBooks will use “glass trackpad” that will support multi-touch and gesture controls. The body of the MacBooks will be made out of one piece of aluminum make it more sturdy and eco-friendly. He adds that the new laptops lineup will be released in September.
We know that Apple will very soon update both MacBook and MacBook Pro models. But we don’t know what design changes Apple will do; it is very likely that all of the above information might come true. Intel’s next generation P-series Core 2 Duo processors have 25 watts TDP that would allow thinner notebook design. Apple is moving fast in multi-touch and gesture control direction and it is logical that they would implement the technology in their upcoming portable products. It has been rumored for quite sometime that Apple will move away from it present plastic casing to a more eco-friendly aluminum casing. And the September launch, before holiday season starts will be ideal for Apple.

Verizon announced last week that it added 1.5 million new wireless customers and has more customers using Verizon Wireless (68.7 million) than any other wireless carrier in US. Verizon’s claim of number one wireless company fell short by more than four million, when AT&T announced its second quarter financial results and said that the company has 72.9 million wireless users. Today, Verizon posted it second quarter revenue results; the company saw a year-over-year increase of 11.8% bring their total revenue to $12.1 billion. Verizon said that data revenue were up 45.3% from the same quarter last year at $2.6 billion. According to Verizon 70 billion text messages and 1.4 billion picture/video messages were send over its network last quarter. That’s over 780 million messages per day, or a bit over 9,000 messages per second on average. The company also addressed the iPhone 3G’s affect on Verizon’s sales since it was launched on 11th July by saying that the new AT&T phone has affected sales in a small way. The company said the iPhone had a “minimally short-term impact” on Verizon since the launch and added that the handset’s influence was “disproportionately less” than could be expected. We don’t know how iPhone 3G release affected Verizon on launch. But if you consider the lines that are forming to buy an iPhone two weeks after release, the mind share that iPhone has captured is enormous and it will definitely affect Verizon in future.