Sony Ericsson and SingTel introduce PlayNow plus

Sony Ericsson and SingTel todayannounced the exclusive launch of PlayNow plus, an all-you-can-download music service, on the new W705 Walkman phone.

Jack Tan, General Manager of Sony Ericsson Singapore;Lee-Hom Wang, American singer-songwriter and actor; and Shane Da Silva, Vice President, Consumer Sales for SingTel (above picture) were present to officiate the launch.

The PlayNow plus service is currently available only on the new W705 Walkman phone. Users who buy a W705, SingTel is offering an additional free 12-month data bundle as part of their SingTel Mobile voice plan, without having to sign up for a new plan. Customers can also enjoy unlimited downloads for the first month - as many songs as they like. (The free data bundle of 200MB is equivalent to about 200 songs download every month).

The W705 can store up to 3,900 songs (eAAC+ encoded),and there are already 1,000local and international songs preloaded on the phone. You can also download the songs via a PC client software bundled with the phone. But that does not mean you can do a direct transfer to and from the PC to the phone, at least not like that. For transfer, a download link will be sent to the phone instead, which can be a slight hassle.

PricePlan

Monthly Subscription

FREE monthly data bundlewith unlimited data for the 1st month

Price of W705

iOne Plus

SGD25.68

200MB

SGD298

iTwo Value

SGD48.15

200MB

SGD198

iTwo Plus

SGD82.93

200MB

SGD98

^Free data bundle for 12 months

You can check out playnowplus.sg for more information on the PlayNow plus service.

There are some thingsto note about the PlayNow plus though. After the one-year subscription period, users can only keep up to 200 songs on their W705 and these are the ones that are most frequently played on the phone. (No, you simply can'tchoose what you want).On top of that, the songs are DRM-protected.

Rumour AMD 28nm GPUs in December

According to Heise Online, AMD is preparing to release its first next-gen 28nm GPUs om December, with the dates of 6th December to 9th December being rumoured. Little else is known about this GPU - whether it is VLIW-4 or GCN, whether it is desktop or mobile, etc.

Initially announced by AMD for late-2011, reports point to problems at TSMCs 28nm process leading to delays. Even if AMD does manage to release its first 28nm GPUs in December, low supplies are expected.AMD has demonstrated 28nm GPUs running in notebooks several times now. At the recent Fusion 11 conference in Taipei, AMD showed off a mid-sized performance/mainstream die.

NVIDIAs first 28nm chip - GK107 - is set to release in Q1 2012 for notebooks, if all goes well, with desktop and performance GPUs following later in the year. At this time, it does look like general production for 28nm GPUs will only ramp up in 2012. However, AMD may yet be able to sneak in a GPU by the end of the year in limited quantities.

Source: Heise Online

Sapphire X1800 XT Performance Edition

Sapphire just announced a Performance Edition of the top of the range RADEONX1800XT - a pre-overclocked version which will deliver stunning performance withits 512MB DDR3 and raised clock speeds of 700MHz core and 800Mhz memory(=1600MHz data rate!). Not just Sapphire, ASUS too has their EAX1800XT Topversion overclocked to 695MHz core and 800MHz memory and here's a glimpse of theperformance.

NVIDIA G71 Sample Next Week

NVIDIA G71 should start sampling as soon as next week. The chip should workaround 700 MHz frequency and it should feature 32 pixel pipelines. NVIDIAscheduled its launch and world wide availability in stores for February 2006 butif all goes well it might actually launch at the same time as ATI, in the lastweek of January.

Ed's note : NVIDIA will be showing off the G71 performance to theirpartners in within a week and they promised an ATi R580 killer. We shall seeabout it.

Sony claims upcoming PSP2 is more powerful than PS3

Sony has been going around telling game developers that its upcoming second-generation handheld gaming console, the PlayStation Portable 2 (PSP2) will be more powerful than itsbest-selling gaming and entertainment console - the PlayStation 3 (PS3).
This is congruent against Kotaku's report, that the PSP2 may be able to rival consoles in gaming horsepower. Upon hearing of the possibility, EA's CEO John Ricitiello said that "having something as powerful as a PS3 in your pocket is a pretty compelling idea".
While digital downloads make up a large portion of the PSP2's game library, physical media will also be used, so that its games can be sold in retail stores. Good news for those who don't feel secure about buying online.
Justbear in mind though, whilst Sony are making such claims, the PSP2 cannot and won't be actually more powerful than a PS3, without needing to run off a mobile generator, or AC source, and doing away with forced air intake.
On a smaller scale it should actually be like the PS3; just like how the original PSP did perform quite like the PS2, although in the real world, its processing prowess were nowhere near the PS2's.

Source: Kotaku, Gizmodo

Toshiba Launches New Regza Z series in Japan

(Akihabara News) Toshiba launches new Regza Z series in Japan with a slew of features to attract the consumers.

Some of them had some interesting features that might catch your attention:

- ZX8000 Series available in 46 or 44” (Full HD), featuring an Full HDClear Panel with LED Backlight, USB and HDD LAN Video recording,Digital W (120Hz) with InstaPort,

- ZH800 Series available in 47 and 55” (Full HD) No LED Backlight butfeature an internal 300GB HDD, as well as USB and LAN HDD Videorecording, Digital W (120hz)

- Z8000 Series, available in 37, 42, and 47”, Full HD Clean Panel,Digital W (120Hz), InstaPort, USB and LAN HDD Video Recording.

- H8000 Series with 37 and 42” (Full HD) TVs and a HD Ready 32” model,no Digital W Panel, and just 300GB of Internal HDD and USB HDDRecording only.

PlanOn introduces world's first credit card-sized receipt scanner

The PlanOn SlimScan claims to be the world’s first credit card-sized portable full color scanner that lets you scan and organize receipts and business cards wherever you are. Measuring 1.96 x 3.06 x 0.08mm, SlimScan is a full-featured, high resolution color scanner that can easily fit in your wallet or credit card holder. If you are one of those who frequently misplace things including receipts, business cards or handwritten notes, then you probably would want the SlimScan that can capture full-color digital images of the items. Made of durable stainless steel, SlimScan features a convenient preview screen that lets you instantly view, zoom-in and pan scanned images on the fly. It connects directly to Windows PCs through USB and lets you upload and edit scanned items conveniently.

The SlimScan scanner with special software bundle (SS100-RMS) is available immediately from PlanOn and leading retailers, priced at US$139.99 MSRP.

SlimScan Features:

- Receipts: Organizes receipts and business expenses. Creates digital copies of receipts for returns, which you can re-print whenever you need them.

- Business Cards: Captures important contact information from business cards, even handwritten notes.

- Imports: Imports data to Outlook, Word, Excel and compatible databases.

- RMS Software: Includes Receipt Management System (RMS) Software that easily scans, edits, organizes, and imports.

- Warrantee & Insurance Information: Keeps warrantee and insurance info safe.

- Track Expenditures: Tracks expenditures however you want: by purchase type, expense category, month, or year.

- Bargain Hunting While Shopping: Scans the labels of items at the store so you can bargain hunt at other stores or online for the best deal -- or remember favorite products or gifts that you want to buy.

- Promotional Gifts: SlimScan can be given out as promotional gifts imprinted with a company logo.

- Dimensions: 1.96 x 3.06 x 0.08mm

- Resolution: 300 dpi, 24 bit color.

- Memory: Stores 600 images.