Sony has introduced a new Reader, the PRS-700 with has a built-in LED “reading” light and a 6 inch touch-screen display along with expandable built in memory whilst retaining its Memory Stick Duo slot, although unfortunately there is no wireless capabilities.

The Sony PRS-700 is faster as well as when you turn a page the elink on the screen refreshes a lot quicker. Like the iPhone and other next generation touch-screen mobile phones that have been appearing, the Reader also incorporates some gesture-based commands.

Sony’s PRS-700 Reader does command a hefty price though at $400.00 and becomes available in November.

Source – Cnet

The home of VNC remote control software, RealVNC, has now extended their flagship VNC Enterprise Edition product to mobile phones, and so now supports a wide range of mobile handsets and PDAs including Symbian, Apple iPhone, Linux, Windows Mobile and BlackBerry.

CEO at RealVNC, Dr Andy Harter, says: “As mobile devices become more sophisticated and IP connectivity to them improves, they are increasingly being used to perform core business functions. Remotely accessing a PC desktop from a mobile device has obvious benefits for individual users, and is now possible through our full range of VNC viewers for mobiles.”

RealVNC will be previewing VNC for mobile platforms at the Symbian Smartphone Show from 21-22 October in London, and a beta program will follow and products are due early 2009.

Source – techwhack

Seems like Nokia is going to be facing a bit of a problem with their new music service when it gets its global launch in the UK, and the reason for this problem is that the four largest UK mobile operators have no plans on carrying Nokia’s Comes With Music service.

The word is that Orange, T-Mobile, O2, and Vodafone are not expecting to offer Nokia handsets featuring Nokia’s Comes With Music service in their high-street stores in the run up to Christmas.

The UK is the only major market where Nokia’s Comes With Music service will be available this year, so it is of course quite a setback for Nokia, and highlights the tensions between Nokia and the operators.

Source – FT

Over the last couple of years Apple have been somewhat lax in meeting any of their self-imposed deadlines such as the Apple iPhone SDK, Leopard, and similar stuff, and yet Apple does it again by missing another of its targets by failing to release the promised push notification for the Apple iPhone.

Scott Forstall, SVP of iPhone software back at the June WDC keynote presented a different solution to the concerns of developers about the restrictions of certain apps. The different solution would be Apple would roll out a push notification system for the iPhone.

This push notification for the iPhone was supposedly promised by the end of September, yet here we are at the beginning of October, and guess what, no push notification for the Apple iPhone.
Simply not good enough Apple, don’t make promises you can’t keep.

Source – macworld

Well some good news as it is looking like the iTunes Store won’t be forced to close its virtual doors after all; as per my colleague’s previous post found (here) because the Associated Press has reported that the federal Copyright Royalty Board has frozen the royalty fees for songwriters on sales of digital downloads and CD’s.

Songwriter’s currently receive a royalty of 9.1cents per song and it well remain at this level for the next five years; this decision by the federal Copyright Royalty Board definitely comes as a relief for companies such as Apple that sell music.

The federal Copyright Royalty Board was asked by the National Music Publishers’ Association to increase the royalty rate to 15 cents per song and such a raise in royalties could have meant the Apple iTunes Store making a loss and being forced to close.

Source – macworld

It has taken more than a year for Nokia to launch their challenge to the Apple iPhone with their new Nokia 5800 XpressMusic, which is Nokia’s first touch-screen mobile phone and is priced at €279 without plan as of mid October in the UK.

The Nokia 5800 XpressMusic comes bundled with a 12-month free subscription to Comes with Music, Nokia’s music service that gives access to “millions of songs” from partners such as Warner Music, Universal Music and Sony BMG.

The Nokia XpressMusic 5800 is Symbian OS with Adobe Flash which should allow the auto-loading of any website with flash elements, and also supports Nokia Ovi service. The 5800 measures 111 x 51.7 x 15.5 mm and weighs 109 grams.

Source – NBR

Vodafone confirms that Research In Motion’s BlackBerry Storm is storming into the UK by announcing on the Vodafone website the opportunity to win one of the latest smartphones Research In Motion has to offer.

The Vodafone website states: “Get the incredible power of the BlackBerry Storm smartphone in your hands. Simply register your interest in this new BlackBerry phone and we’ll keep you up to date with launch news as it breaks. Plus, by signing up, you’ll automatically be entered into our prize draw to win your very own BlackBerry Storm smartphone”.

So all one is required to do is register their details and who knows, maybe it will be you receiving a brand new BlackBerry Storm for free.

Source – pocket-lint

Most retailers are awaiting the anticipated arrival of Nokia’s latest flagship the Nokia N96, while O2, who just happens not to carry the Nokia N96, is focusing on broadband deals.

Phones 4u though are looking towards the student area, and probably hoping to cash in on the wide range of students who may be looking for a new mobile phone.

Phones 4u are currently offering £100 off free music on any price plan, and also £100 back on the Samsung U900; which is the same amount back from the Carphone Warehouse on the Samsung Soul.

T-Mobile on the other hand has introduced another new pre-pay offer, a free SIM card if they top up £5.00 immediately.

Source – mobiletoday

Soon be time to grab hold of the Sony Ericsson XPERIA X1 smartphone, and just to make sure everyone in the UK is aware of that fact Phones 4u and dial-a-phone have both gone live with their Sony Ericsson XPERIA X1 web pages up.

As you would expect, both websites give an abundance of information about the Sony Ericsson XPERIA X1 with release dates as early October.

There is also a wealth of images for the Sony Ericsson XPERIA X1 potential owner to drool over, just to keep them happy until that much anticipated UK release is upon us.

Source – intomobile

If you have a load of contacts on your Apple iPhone you may find locating one particular contact time consuming and often boring having to scroll though your contacts list.

This is where Vocalia speech recognition for the Apple iPhone comes into play. Vocalia helps the iPhoner quickly locate a person or contact they wish to contact via voice or email, and no network connection is required.

So how does Vocalia work? You simply Vocalia’s icon to make “Vocalia’s Eye” appear, and then speak the name of your contact. Vocalia selects in your address book the contact names close to what you pronounced then click the contact you want to call or to write to.

Vocalia speech recognition for the Apple iPhone costs $3.99 until October 18th and then $7.99 thereafter and is available at the Apple iTunes App Store.

Source – creaceed