Sound Isolation @ eCoustics

Well, I just got word from our Sys Admin that the server was fine and no other reports came in. Near as we can figure out the PHP script got fouled up in Internet Explorer. I was out of the office and remoted in to send the mail out. I think may have caused the script look that sent out 50+ copies of the email.

The good news is that I think its time to upgrade our entire system and I will be working on that over the next week or two. The new back end CMS will be for more robust and faster to accommodate our growing readership.

Thanks for reading and sorry again if you were eon of our readers who received multiple mailings.

Bill Landon
Founder More...

Email Server Issue	General PDA
I am still looking into the catastrophic email loop that happened on the server earlier. Our Server host is checking logs to see why it spit out 50+ copies. Damn PHP scripts. Again…sorry. More...

SOME BROKE ON THE MAIL SERVER	General PDA
Sorry...I just sent out our review notice and it appears it replicated about 30 times. I am looking into the issue. I apologize for any inconvenience. More...

Wed Mar 30, 2005

Answers.com Now Accessible on Mobile Phones and Wireless Handhelds

This is a very appropriate saying with regard to sound isolation. We are often asked questions like: "What can I do to this wall to stop the sound going through to the bedroom on the other side?" It's almost incomprehensible to people that the wall may not be (and probably isn't) the only part that is leaking sound to that bedroom. The other parts might well be the floor, the ceiling joists and other shared walls. You could make changes and increase the STC (Sound Transmission Coefficient) dramatically for that wall, but the result might be marginal because the majority of the sound is getting through elsewhere.

In order to deal with sound control one should understand how sound travels. In residential environments it will either be air borne or structure borne. Air borne sound is pretty simple - this is what we hear within the room. A combination of air borne and structure borne approaches need to be considered for sound isolation. One may ask, "But if the room is sealed, isn't all the air borne sound contained?" To a point the answer is yes, but a ½ inch layer of gypsum is not going to stop 50 Hz, just slow it down (i.e. attenuate) and it could become both an air borne wave and a structure borne vibration in the next room.

http://forum.ecoustics.com/bbs/messages/34579/128699.html More...

Run Many GPS Applications Using One GPS

GuruNet Corporation (AMEX: GRU), creators of the Answers.com reference-based search engine, announced the launch of a beta mobile version of its product, accessible at mobile.answers.com. This new version enables users to view Answers.com’s quick, concise facts on their mobile devices, including the TreoTM, the BlackBerryTM, Windows-CETM-based devices, and browser-based telephones.

"Were taking our goal of supplying ‘Answers at Your Fingertips’ pretty literally," explained Bob Rosenschein, Founder and CEO of GuruNet. “The rapidly increasing use of mobile phones has made the accessibility of reliable reference on the go a natural extension for us. If you communicate on the go and get your e-mail on the go, why not get instant facts on the go?”

This new edition includes all of the reliable reference sources available in the classic version of Answers.com, and has been specially formatted for the smaller screens found on wireless handheld devices. More...

Blue Cross Provides 500 Physicians With High-Tech Tool Capable of Reducing Medical Errors and Drug Costs

Franson Technology has released Franson GpsGate, a Windows and PocketPC utility that lets you run many GPS applications using a single GPS. You can create any number of virtual serial ports, simulate a GPS, and log and replay GPS data.

Serious GPS users often have several applications that they want to run simultaneously. Without Franson GpsGate, it's necessary to shut down one application before beginning another. With Franson GpsGate, you can share one GPS among several applications. Simply create additional virtual serial ports, and most NMEA-enabled GPS applications can connect to them.

With Franson GpsGate, powerboaters and sailors can access their navigation systems and, at the same time, use other GPS software. Car drivers will benefit by being able to switch between their route-planning software and driver's journal. Amateur pilots can simultaneously access their flight plans and weather data.

Franson GpsGate has a built-in simulator. Define a set of waypoints, and Franson GpsGate will simulate a GPS travelling between those waypoints. More...

Pocket Express(R) Weather Forecast: Near 100% Chance Of Perfection

A small handheld device may lead to big improvements in patient care when Blue Cross of Northeastern Pennsylvania begins distributing 250 handheld computers to physicians in an effort to improve patient safety and to reduce prescription drug costs.

The personal digital assistants (PDAs) are powered by the industry-leading Epocrates(R) Essentials mobile clinical reference suite. Blue Cross will provide an additional 250 subscriptions to physicians who already have PDAs, giving them instant access to the Essentials suite that includes all of the key decision support applications -- drugs, diseases, and diagnostics -- required for today's health care professional, seamlessly integrated at the point-of-care.

The Blue Cross list of covered drugs is available through the Epocrates hand-held drug references designed for the Palm OS and Pocket PC platforms and through the Epocrates Rx Online(TM) reference available for Internet-connected desktop computers. All Epocrates products are easily downloadable via the Internet and are currently used by over 28 percent of Pennsylvania physicians.

Using one feature of the Epocrates Essentials suite, providers can easily check formulary status, prior authorization requirements, alternatives, generic substitutes and quantity limits. Overall, Essentials includes over 3,500 drug monographs, along with adult and pediatric dosing, contraindications and cautions and adverse reactions, and the MultiCheck(R) function capable of checking up to 30 drugs simultaneously for interactions; an infectious disease treatment guide; 1,200 conditions and diagnoses described in extensive detail, with signs and symptoms, differential diagnoses, quick treatment reminders and more; and a lab reference covering hundreds of diagnostic tests and panels including information on collection, preparation and cautions, interpretation (disease, drug and spurious causes) and follow-up guidelines. More...

Infuzer Offers Free Schedule Downloads for the 2005 MLB Season

Handmark(R), the leading developer and publisher of software for smart mobile devices, today announced that its Pocket Express(R) news, sports, and information service for wireless mobile devices offers subscribers an amazing benefit in these uncertain times: near perfect weather forecasting.

CustomWeather, Inc., the supplier of weather services found in Pocket Express, has earned a near perfect record for precipitation forecasting for the 1-5 day forecasting period. The enviable score was amassed through a comprehensive study of Probability of Precipitation (POP) forecasts by ForecastWatch.com, a service of Intellovations, LLC. According to ForecastWatch.com, CustomWeather has beaten every major competitor in its study of 839 U.S. weather stations-including the National Weather Service.

ForecastWatch.com analyzed nearly 1.5 million forecasts made from February 2004 to February 2005. The study showed that the average error for the 105 day period between CustomWeather's forecasts and the actual recorded probability of precipitation was 3.51 percentage points. Error rates in CustomWeather's predictions dipped as low as 0.12 percentage points at 80% and never rose above an error of 5.53%. More...

Tue Mar 29, 2005

Orb Networks Groundbreaking Streaming Media Solution Now Free to All Consumers

Infuzer, a leading provider of web-to-calendar technology solutions, continues its history of providing the most convenient way for fans to track favorite sports teams with its launch of free schedule downloads for the 2005 Major League Baseball Season. Each free schedule can be added to a user's PC or PDA calendar to quickly and effortlessly keep up with their baseball teams of choice. Infuzer is compatible with the Microsoft Outlook, Palm Desktop and Lotus Notes calendar platforms. Users can select any team schedule to be imported to their PC or PDA calendar. Additionally, users may opt-in to Infuzer's Premium MLB Service, which will send previews, final scores and game recaps directly to the calendar entry.

Beyond the ease and convenience of this permission-based tool, an important feature is that the fan is in charge. "Users are able to specify the information they receive and modify their choices at any time," says John Jocke, Infuzer's Business Development Manager. "They do not have to scour the Internet or follow a link in an e-mail to find the specific information they want. All they have to do is refer to the updated event entry in their calendar."

With electronic calendar usage growing in popularity, Infuzer provides sports fans with a unique way to receive real-time stats and scores, delivered directly to their desktop or mobile calendars. To register for this service, simply visit http://www.infuzer.com/ . More...

Speaker Placement Guides @ eCoustics

Orb Networks, Inc., a developer of streaming media software and services, today announced the company's groundbreaking streaming media software, Orb Media, will now be FREE to all users. Orb's software and service gives consumers the ability to spontaneously access their live TV, music, photos, videos, and other digital content located on their home PC from virtually any Internet-enabled device, from anywhere in the world, and now provides that service without adding any new monthly fees for new and current customers. Additionally, Orb has added a new Photo Sharing service to its solution allowing customers to share all of their selected photos with friends and family at any time.

Orb's mission is to provide consumers with the easiest, most innovative way to access their digital home media files wherever they are. The Orb solution is available to the millions of Windows(R) XP operating system and Windows(R) XP Media Center Edition users in the United States and is now made even more convenient for users to access their digital worlds by providing Orb Media absolutely FREE.

Orb is aggressively forming strategic partnerships with content providers and consumer electronic companies. These partnerships will provide Orb with a sustained commerce stream through co-marketing relationships and transactions for music, video, audio and other services. More...

Good Technology Announces GoodLink Small Business Server Edition

The goal of all speaker placement for movie soundtrack playback and multichannel music reproduction -- even stereo -- is a smooth, consistent and unbroken soundstage across the front, coupled with a sense of envelopment in the ambient surround effects. In other words, you're after a sense of location, whether that is suggested by what's on-screen, by the recording venue or even the dry, intimate acoustic of many pop/rock studio recordings.

http://forum.ecoustics.com/bbs/messages/34579/129023.html More...

Sakar debuts 3 in 1 car kit for the iPod

Good Technology, Inc., the leader in wireless handheld computing software and service based on industry standards, today expanded its support for small and medium enterprises with GoodLink Small Business Server (SBS) Edition(TM), a cost effective and simple alternative for small to medium enterprises who want to maintain their own Microsoft Exchange infrastructure. Offered exclusively through Good Certified Value Added Resellers (VARs), GoodLink SBS Edition provides another simple alternative for buying and managing GoodLink.

"Our small and medium-sized customers are increasingly interested in Microsoft Small Business Server, and want the same rich functionality and device and carrier choice that's become a hallmark of GoodLink," said Sue Forbes, VP of marketing at Good Technology. "GoodLink SBS Edition rounds-out our support for Exchange environments of all sizes -- with GoodLink 4.0 for the larger enterprise, and GoodLink Hosted Edition and GoodLink SBS Edition for small to medium enterprises. Now all enterprises can enjoy the benefits and productivity gains offered by GoodLink regardless of their Exchange configuration."

GoodLink SBS Edition offers the same rich functionality of GoodLink 4.0 including Secure OTA(TM) management of smartphone applications, Global Connect(TM) for world-wide reach without roaming, and a powerful Outlook-like user interface. In addition, GoodLink SBS Edition can be deployed on the same server as Microsoft Exchange Small Business Server for simple, cost effective management. More...

Mon Mar 28, 2005

The Opie Project is pleased to announce the immediate availability of version 1.2 of the Open Palmtop Integrated Environment

Apple iPod users will go bananas over the new iConcepts 3 in 1 Car Kit from Sakar International. The iConcepts 3 in 1 Car Kit for the iPod features a wireless radio transmitter, cradle, and charging base, all in one convenient unit. Now iPod lovers can bring their music with them on the road without missing a single beat.

The wireless radio transmitter in the iConcepts 3 in 1 Car Kit for the iPod sends your music to your car sound system through your car’s FM dial. You can select up to four radio stations to tune into your iPod’s music ensuring the best sound quality. No batteries are required.

Heading out for a drive and your iPod battery is low? There’s no need to compromise with Sakar’s 3 in 1 Car Kit you can listen to your favorite tunes and charge your battery simultaneously. By the time you arrive at your destination you’ll have a completely charged iPod you can take with you anywhere for hours of listening enjoyment.

The flexible cradle rotates a full 360 degrees so it is easy to adjust the position of the iPod while it is charging to suit your personal taste and your position in the driver’s seat. The cigarette plug folds completely flat, making the unit easy to store. The cradle itself is coated with a soft yet durable foam that protects your iPod from scratches. The iConcepts 3 in 1 Car Kit fits both mini and regular sized iPods with the dock connector.

The iConcepts 3 in 1 Car Kit is available in a variety of colors, including white, solid black, and wood grain so it matches your car’s own console colors perfectly. Weighing a mere 4 ounces and measuring just 8.5 x 5 x 1.75 inches, it’s small enough to tote around with you while you’re on the go or you can unobtrusively stash it under your car seat.

The iConcepts 3 in 1 Car Kit device will also soon be available for the Creative Zen, iRiver, Samsung and many portable music players. More...

Blu-Ray vs. HD-DVD @ eCoustics

The Opie Project is pleased to announce the immediate availability of version 1.2 of the Open Palmtop Integrated Environment, the second major release of the user environment and application suite for portable devices running Linux.

Version 1.2 builds upon the last stable version (1.0.3, released November 2003), and provides a rich graphical user environment and comprehensive selection of applications. Applications include personal information management (PIM), media players for many different audio and video formats, viewers for images and electronic documents, games and many utilities for file transfer, connectivity with other computers, etc. As with previous versions, Opie continues to provide binary compatibility with applications developed for TrollTech's Qtopia environment.

Opie supports synchronization with other computers using KDE's next generation synchronization framework known as KitchenSync, MultiSync and Qtopia Desktop.

Like most Linux software, Opie is able to run on a wide variety of platforms. Opie has direct hardware support for Hewlett Packard iPAQ, Sharp Zaurus, Yopy and Siemens SIMpad devices. Opie is provided in several Linux distributions including: Familiar, OpenZaurus and OpenSIMpad.

Summary of changes since version 1.0.3 More...

Simbsoft has released Volleyball for Symbian UIQ phones

Both Blu-Ray and HD-DVD discs enable HDTV reproduction because of their massive storage capacities. Using dual-layer techniques, HD-DVD can store as much as 30 gigabytes of data while a Blu-Ray disc can pack in a whopping 50 gigabytes. In the lab, techies already are working on several-layered discs that could allow more than 100 gigabytes of storage on one disc. That's enough for several HDTV movies, special features and compelling interactive content. Or a content provider could put more than 100 hours of standard-definition quality programming on one DVD. All 180 episodes of Seinfeld on one disc, anyone?

http://forum.ecoustics.com/bbs/messages/34579/129058.html More...

MobiForms To Revolutionise The Development Of Mobile Applications

The object of Volleyball is to win volleyball match with jelly boy. Control your jelly boy using stylus or buttons. You can define more convenient buttons for control. Jelly boy contacts the ball and his body follows it to target.

The object of the game is to send the ball over the net in order to ground it on the opponent's court, and to prevent the same effort by the opponent. The player has three hits for returning the ball. The ball is put in play with a service: hit by the server over the net to the opponent. The rally continues until the ball is grounded on the playing court or the player has more than 3 contacts with the ball.

Game modes

Classic: When the serving player wins a rally, he gains a point and continues to serve. When the receiving player wins a rally, he only gains the right to serve. The match continues up to 15 points.

Official: When either serving or receiving player wins a rally, he gains a point and the right to serve. The match continues up to 25 points. More...

Leonard Maltins 2005 Movie Guide for Palm Powered and Windows Mobile Pocket PC Handhelds and Smartphones Update Now Available

The team at MobiForms are proud to announce the release of MobiForms 1.0. MobiForms is a rapid application development tool for building database solutions for wireless PDAs. MobiForms revolutionises the development of mobile applications reducing development time from days to minutes with the intuitive MobiForms drag and drop interface.

MobiForms lets you develop professional applications for field service, inspection, market research and stock management. Inexpensive solutions can be built in minutes instead of days. MobiForms uses Java, but the Java layer is totally hidden from the developer leaving you to concentrate on high-level business logic and the application look and feel.

The full version of MobiForms can be downloaded from the MobiForms web site. The MobiForms Developer will run on any PC Windows version and includes a free runtime licence for running your MobiForms applications on any number of mobile devices, complete installation and development manual, and free email support 24 hours a day. MobiForms comes with runtime files to enable you to run your mobile applications on Windows CE, Pocket PC, EPOC and Palm. For more information see our web site at http://www.mobiforms.com More...

CableCARD Facts @ eCoustics

LandWare, a pioneering handheld and smartphone software developer, announced today the immediate availability of the latest update to their award winning Leonard Maltins 2005 Movie. Included in this update are over 100 new movies with full reviews, including all the 2004 Academy Award Winners, and a new "top list" of the most popular movies of the year 2000 as voted by over 100,000 regular movie-goers.

Key Features

- Complete details and capsule reviews for over 21,000 films
- Includes over 100+ new films
- More than 7,200 DVD, 7,000 Laserdisc and 14,000 Videocassette entries
- Easy-to-read symbols detailing MPAA rating, Widescreen formats awards, etc.
- Filmographies for over 35,000 Actors, Actresses and Directors
- Complete film library, rental and buying list management
- Online event calendar keeps you in touch with DVD releases, film premieres & festivals
- Movie reviews/details can now be updated wirelessly*
- Full support for removable expansion card media
- Sophisticated compression uses a third of the memory required by other guides

* requires Blazer and data enabled Palm Powered Smartphone (e.g. Treo 600/650)

Pricing and Availability

Registered owners of the 2005 Guide can upgrade free of charge by visiting:

http://www.landware.com/movieguide/upgradewizard/ Leonard Maltins 2005 Movie Guide is available for $19.95 and can be downloaded at www.landware.com/movieguide Owners of the 2004 Guide can upgrade for $8.00. More...

Treo 650: Totally Localized with PiLoc

The FCC has adopted rules reached between the cable and consumer electronics industries that will help smooth the transition to DTV for millions of Americans. These "plug-and-play" rules will ensure that most cable systems are compatible with DTV receivers and related consumer electronics equipment. This is crucial toward building products, developing services and maintaining a market-friendly environment for HDTV. The cable plug-and-play rules are important to the DTV transition because they will facilitate the direct connection of digital navigation devices or customer premises equipment, such as television receivers, set-top boxes, and digital recorders that are purchased from retail outlets to cable television systems.

http://forum.ecoustics.com/bbs/messages/34579/128722.html More...

Multichannel Audio and HDTV @ eCoustics

Smart Handheld Devices Division of Paragon Software Group released new editions of PiLoc supporting up to 30 languages on Treo 650 by palmOne.

New version of PiLoc, the localization system for Palm OS based devices, provides complete support of about 30 languages (including Greek, Hebrew, Spain, French, German, Russian and other) on Treo 650. The functionality of PiLoc for Treo 650 includes:

The possibility of input, editing, saving, transferring to desktop PC or other PDAs and printing of texts containing national symbols;
The support of browsing of national languages web sites,
Support of SMS, containing national symbols,
and other necessary functions concerning usage of national languages on Treo 650.

Also the line of multilingual dictionaries SlovoEd (more than 150 dictioonaries for about 30 languages) by Paragon Software (SHDD) was also adapted to specification of Treo 650.
Worth of mentioning that development of Russian and Czech editions of PiLoc for Treo 650 (full versions, supporting the option of full interface translation) was ordered by local official distributors of palmOne immediately. The support of interface translation for other languages on Treo 650 is being developed for the moment.

More information on PiLoc for Treo 650 can be found on http://palm-software.penreader.com/ More...

Fermilab Reports Dark Energy Not Needed

It's interesting to walk onto a busy retail floor on a Saturday afternoon and eavesdrop on customers agonizing over their HDTV selection. Flat panel, CRT or projector? Front projection or rear? Plasma, LCD or DLP? Big (42-inches), bigger (60-inches) or behemoth?

Now you'd think, after putting all that time and effort into selecting the display device, they'd put equal effort into getting the sound right. Instead, if left on their own, they typically spend just a few minutes deciding between the $199 and the $249 pre-packaged home-theater-in-a-box (HTIB).

Somewhere along the line the importance of sound to the whole home theater/home concert hall experience has been lost.

Full article: http://forum.ecoustics.com/bbs/messages/34579/128454.html More...

Thu Mar 24, 2005

Science

Italian, US cosmologists present alternate explanation for accelerating expansion of the universe: Was Einstein right when he said he was wrong?

Why is the universe expanding at an accelerating rate, spreading its contents over ever greater dimensions of space? An original solution to this puzzle, certainly the most fascinating question in modern cosmology, was put forward by four theoretical physicists, Edward W. Kolb of the U.S. Department of Energy's Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, Chicago (USA): Sabino Matarrese of the University of Padova; Alessio Notari from McGill University (Canada); and Antonio Riotto of INFN (Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare) of Padova (Italy). Their study was submitted yesterday to the journal Physical Review Letters.

http://www.fnal.gov/pub/presspass/press_releases/darkenergy_3-16-05.html
Source: www.slashdot.org More...

Sony PSP North American Launch

palmOne to Open European Engineering Centre for Smartphone Development in Dublin

"Thursday March 24, 2005 to some seems like just another Thursday, but others realize that it marks an important day in the history of handheld gaming. Today, in the United States, Sony launched their first entry into the portable gaming industry with their Playstation Portable (PSP). It has been available in Japan since December of last year, but only the rich and famous have been able to experience it so far in the U.S. Today, everyone that planned ahead can experience one for themselves."

http://www.palmzone.net/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=424 More...

Real-time Wireless Video and Audio on Palm Powered(TM) Handhelds and Smartphones now available with Release of InfiniFile(TM) Software

palmOne, Inc. (NASDAQ:PLMO) , a leader in handheld-computing and communications solutions, today announced it will open an engineering centre in Dublin, Ireland, the company's first such facility in Europe.

The centre will focus on core, leading-edge mobile technology to help palmOne accelerate the delivery of next-generation smartphones to European carriers and their customers. This announcement illustrates the strength of palmOne's commitment to Europe, one of the world's premier markets in the deployment of next-generation wireless networks. More...

Motorola Turns Up the Volume in the Mobile Music Space

OnVerge Labs(TM) (http://www.onverge.com/ ) announced the immediate availability of its flagship product, InfiniFile(TM) for Palm OS(R) Platform, originally slated for a January release. InfiniFile(TM) transforms a wireless Palm Powered(TM) device into a true network media center.

"Although there has been a short delay in the release of InfiniFile(TM) we are excited with the product. There is no current network sharing technology for Palm Powered(TM) devices that streams media faster than InfiniFile(TM) today," said Ali Husain, President and CEO of OnVerge Labs. "As a big thanks to the Palm community, we are offering a 20% discount on the retail price of the software for the first 14 days."

InfiniFile(TM) for Palm OS(R) Platform provides access to virtually unlimited audio and video files, Palm OS(R) programs and related data stored on a PC, over a WiFi or Bluetooth network connection. To the Palm applications running on the handheld or smartphone, InfiniFile(TM) looks like an additional multi-gigabyte memory card. Thousands of existing Palm OS(R) applications already work with InfiniFile(TM). More...

Research and Markets: Handset Market Thunders, But Leaner Growth Ahead: Q4 2004

M3 Summit -- Motorola, Inc. (NYSE:MOT) today unveiled new handsets and music content, further solidifying the company's leadership in bringing new and innovative mobile music experiences to consumers around the world.

With Motorola's rapidly growing portfolio of converged music devices and relationships with industry leaders, the company is becoming the preferred source of innovative mobile music by providing technologies and experiences that tear down the barriers between music producer and music consumer. Motorola is committed to delivering cutting edge mobile music solutions for all music fans across a variety of technology platforms and at a number of different price points.

"With a mobile music portfolio that features a variety of different solutions, Motorola is delivering premium, innovative products and technologies that help people bring their own personal lifebeat with them all over the world," says Alberto Moriondo, Worldwide Director of Entertainment Solutions, Mobile Devices Business for Motorola, Inc. "This isn't technology for technology's sake; this is technology for music's sake." More...

Receiver Setup @ eCoustics

The cell phone industry continued to soar in Q4 04, as manufacturers churned out a record 194.5 million units, according to this new In-Stat report.

Total shipments grew 17.8% sequentially in the quarter, according to "Handset Market Thunders, But Leaner Growth Ahead: Q4 2004." Full-year volume reached 679 million phones, the third straight record year.

This new report also points out the following:
- Booming demand in emerging markets such as India, Latin America and Russia
- Strong replacement demand for cell phones in mature markets like the US
- Booming camera phone shipments

Also featured in this report:
- Shipment data by regions
- Revenue estimates
- Manufacturer market share data
- New handset models arriving in the market
- Smartphone shipment trends

If you focus on the burgeoning cell phone market and want to stay ahead, then you need this report. It's the market intelligence weapon you'll like having in your arsenal.

For more information visit http://www.researchandmarkets.com/reports/c14571 More...

Celebrate the Launch of pdabeat.com

Receivers and preamp/processors typically have two settings for your speakers: "small" and "large." You need to get past what these words actually mean in English, as they are a very poor choice for this feature of a processor. This setting actually has nothing to do with the size of the speakers, and everything to do with the range of the speakers. This setting determines when low frequencies are diverted from your front speakers and into your subwoofer (the crossover frequency). In other words, it has a tremendous effect on the bass you'll hear in movie soundtracks.

Very few speakers should actually use the "large" setting. Even most of the big, powered towers should not be used with the "large" setting because they can't produce these low frequencies (or they produce them without power and depth). What you should be thinking is that "large" means you have a truly full-range speaker; use "small" for everything else. If your speaker can't put out more than 100dB at 20 Hz, set it to "small."

http://forum.ecoustics.com/bbs/messages/34579/128214.html More...

Wed Mar 23, 2005

Targus Announces Universal USB Docking Station With Built-in Audio and Video

Matthew Carlson from PDABeat are pleased to announce the launch of pdabeat.com. After months of development, pdabeat.com has been officially launched and is ready to play an active and vital role in the PDA community.

pda beat’s mission is to provide the largest, most complete and accurate database of PDAs on the Web. Our database includes detailed specifications- from the operating system to the display size down to the jog dial.

“I recognized a need in the PDA community for a website who’s primary focus was creating and maintaining a database of all PDAs - including Pocket PCs, Palm OS, BlackBerry, Linux, and Symbian,” said Matthew Carlson, pda beat founder and administrator. “I’ve participated in the PDA community for a long time behind the scenes as a user and poster in many forums and boards across the web. I’m excited to be able to give something back to that community and help others who are just getting started with PDAs, by offering pdabeat.com as a valuable resource in their research.” More...

New Palm Sized GPS Navigation System from Mio Is an Affordable Aftermarket Solution for Automobile Owners without Costly GPS Systems

Targus Inc., maker of the world’s best-selling notebook cases and accessories, has announced today its Universal Notebook Docking Station with Video for notebooks or Tablet PCs. Targus’ latest mobile computing docking innovation is the first USB-based docking station with true video output capabilities, stereo audio out, and two “always on” USB ports, allowing users to power peripheral devices such as phones and MP3 players while the laptop is in standby or shut-down mode. More...

MapInfo Delivers New Version of MapX® Mobile for the Creation of Customised Mapping Applications for Handheld Devices

Mio Technology Ltd., a leading worldwide vender of GPS Pocket PC’s, today introduced the Mio136 GPS navigation system to North America as part of a worldwide launch. The new device is a straightforward, easy-to-use GPS navigation system combined with an extensive street atlas of the North American continent and Hawaii in a sleek silver palm-sized chassis. Incurring no setup fees or monthly charges and reasonably priced, the Mio136 is a perfect aftermarket option for automobile owners without today’s expensive built-in GPS systems, yet is ideal for those who are on-the-go or on foot as well.

Straight out of the box and no installation, the Mio136 GPS navigation system is easy to use and is a practical solution for today’s owners of automobiles without a built-in GPS navigation system. The unit is “instant on” powered by an Intel 300Mhz CPU and provides both visual and verbal directions to the user’s destination with over a million points of interest (POI) using an extra sensitive GPS receiver and maps stored on the included 256 MB SD/MMC storage card. Simply selecting the user’s preprogrammed destinations, such as the office, home or customer, the user can get directions from any location to that destination in a simple click. More...

Research and Markets: PDA Market Faces Steep Decline

MapInfo Corporation (Nasdaq: MAPS), the leading global provider of location intelligence solutions, today announced the latest release of MapInfo MapX® Mobile, its premier mapping application for Microsoft® Windows® Pocket PC software developers. With new functionality and support for the latest handheld devices and standard development languages, MapX Mobile v5.0 software enables an organisation to receive, view and analyse data wherever critical decisions are made—in the field and across the enterprise.

According to the research firm Gartner Group, worldwide sales of handheld devices will increase by as much as 350 percent over the next three years. Companies in all industries rely on mobile devices today. For instance, insurers can use MapX Mobile v5.0 software for on site risk assessment. In retail, mobile sales staff can access information about customers. Telecommunications service engineers can identify where underground equipment is located for “call before you dig” analysis.

The MapInfo MapX Mobile v5.0 software can be customised via standard development languages such as Embedded C++ and Microsoft .NET. Data created using MapX Mobile v5.0 software can be displayed with the MapXtreme® 2004 application, the MapInfo® location-based development environment built on Microsoft .NET. MapX Mobile v5.0 software provides an unprecedented level of new capabilities, including support for Enhanced Compressed Wavelet (ECW) imagery format, thematic mapping, object creation and processing. More...

Sunbeam 20 in 1 Superior Panel Review @ Madshrimps	Personal Computer News
Quote: "Want to access everything from an arm´s reach without bumping year head trying to reach the rear panel? Two many flash memory cards and not enough card readers? Sunbeam comes to the rescue once again." Direct Link: http://www.madshrimps.be/gotoartik.php?articID=309 More...

Storcase's DE50 Backup solution @ PyroPort

The traditional PDA is heading for significant declines in sales, and in fact is nearing the end of its life as a major product segment. Shipments reached only 8.7 million units in 2004, down from 10 million in 2003, the high-tech market research firm says. The outlook for upcoming years is not good, as the PDA market will have a negative Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of -21.5% during the 2004-2009 period.

By 2009, it is expected that this segment will be composed of devices designed for specific vertical markets and low-end products. The market decline will occur as users switch to other products, such as smartphones and portable media players, a natural evolution of the category.

This report, The PDA Market: 2004 Review and Outlook for 2005, compiles research and analyses on the worldwide PDA market, and offers profiles of major vendors and their most recent products. It also discusses market trends, opportunities and challenges facing this mature market. It forecasts unit shipments and revenues for the period 2003 to 2009 and depicts processor market shares and revenue. In addition, it provides a review of the market in 2004, in terms of unit shipments, vendor and operating system market shares and trends. More...

Personal Computer News

Today at PyroPort they have taken a look at Storcase's DE50 Backup
solution.

Here's a snip:

"When was the last time you backed up your work? Many studies show that
hardly any companies are able to recover lost files within 30 minutes,
and it is not unreasonable to assume that SoHo and "enthusiast" markets
are even less likely to have implemented decent backup solutions for
their important data."

URL: http://www.pyroport.com/reviews/50.asp More...

Speaker Calibration @ eCoustics

Small Speakers @ eCoustics

"With a calibration DVD and sound meter in hand, you can play a test pattern and set levels for your speakers.

Although the on-screen instructions on calibration DVDs [Hack #62] are clearly written, sometimes questions arise as to how to calibrate the audio portion of the system using the test patterns included on these discs. This hack deals with that process in detail, adding additional detail that is left off of many discs' instructions."

http://forum.ecoustics.com/bbs/messages/34579/128211.html More...

Tue Mar 22, 2005

Unbound Medicine Announces New Wireless Resource for Medical Professionals

Speaker manufacturers are enticing more and more consumers to go with small, mini-, or micro-speakers for even the front and center channels. Although these speakers might look great, they just can't do what the large speakers can do.

These days, many home theater speaker systems feature very small speakers for the front, center, and surround channels. This has the advantage of allowing you to fit a home theater into a closet, if you should happen to use one as your viewing room. Such small speakers also are very unobtrusive and can be more acceptable to other family members. However, if you check carefully into the specifications for what is actually tucked inside those small speaker enclosures, you might find only one small (like two inches!) speaker.

http://forum.ecoustics.com/bbs/messages/34579/128203.html More...

Continues to Enjoy Customer Growth in Online Wireless Shopping

Unbound Medicine, a leader in knowledge management solutions for healthcare, today introduced a wireless medical resource for physicians and other healthcare professionals. In partnership with Merck & Co., Inc., Unbound Medicine now gives clinicians 24- hour access to select medical information from the MerckMedicus internet site using their wireless Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), Blackberry, or smartphone.

"We are pleased to extend our partnership with Merck to deliver trusted medical information to the point of need," said William Detmer, MD, president and CEO of Unbound Medicine. "As physicians are constantly on the go during the average day, the new wireless MerckMedicus will help them find answers when questions arise and stay abreast of the latest advances in medicine."

Using Unbound Medicine's powerful mobile platform, current medical resources can be accessed using a wireless internet connection to http://www.merckmedicus.com/, including: The Merck Manual of Diagnosis and Therapy, MEDLINE Journal abstracts, Pocket Guide to Diagnostic Tests, and Reuters Medical News. The Personal Search Assistant allows clinicians to query more than 11 million medical articles in the MEDLINE database from their handheld or wireless device in real-time without access fees or advertising content.

The wireless option is compatible with cellular phones with web-browsing capabilities, smartphones, and other wireless devices that use Pocket PC, Blackberry, or Palm OS operating systems. It follows the launch of Mobile MerckMedicus, which was designed for non-wireless PDAs and introduced by Unbound Medicine and Merck in 2004. For more information on wireless MerckMedicus, or to register, visit http://www.merckmedicus.com/ More...

Notify Announces Enhanced Enterprise Mobility Solution For Novell GroupWise Users

InPhonic's Wirefly ( http://www.wirefly.com/ ), an online leader in one-stop comparison shopping for mobile phones and wireless service plans, today released its monthly Top Five List of the hottest-selling wireless phones on the Internet. Wirefly has become one of the most recognized and trusted brands online for wireless shoppers by continuously surveying the hottest-selling devices from the more than 300 different wireless products it sells and activates everyday over the Internet for all the leading wireless carriers in America. Visited by millions of online shoppers each month, Wirefly continues to grow its monthly customer levels and now represents one of InPhonic's largest, most cost- effective distribution vehicles. Today, the hottest-selling mobile devices from Wirefly are: More...

palmOne Treo 650 Launch Report Posted

Notify Technology Corporation today announced at Novell's BrainShare Conference 2005 that it has enhanced its current NotifyLink Enterprise Edition for GroupWise product to support both wired and wireless mobile devices. For the past two years, Notify has released products focused on providing the best "wireless" synchronization of email, calendar, contact, and task information aspect of GroupWise mobility. At the same time, Notify recognized that there are numerous users who have Palm and Windows Mobile devices with no wireless connection that represent a large segment of the GroupWise mobility market as they continue to use a "wired" Palm or Windows Mobile device. The term "wired" implies that a non-wireless Palm or Windows Mobile device is utilizing a cradle or some form of cable connection to synchronize email, calendar, contact, and task information in conjunction with the user's desktop PC. Novell GroupWise organizations have been faced with using two separate solutions for synchronizing email, calendar, contacts, and task information for wireless devices and for wired devices. With today's announcement, Notify can now provide Novell GroupWise organizations with a single enterprise mobility solution for both wired and wireless devices for email, calendar, contact, and task synchronization thus eliminating the need for multiple solutions.

By enhancing its NotifyLink Enterprise Edition for GroupWise to handle both wireless and wired devices, the new product will provide organizations with a seamless migration path from wired to wireless devices. Users who start with a "wired" device will have a simplified migration path as they convert to using a wireless device. The NotifyLink Enterprise Edition for GroupWise will provide Palm and Windows Mobile wired device users with the ability to synchronize their "wired" devices anywhere where a cradle or connection is available to access their network. More...

Mon Mar 21, 2005

Sonos Introduces the Sonos(TM) Loudspeaker SP100

Adrian's Rojak Pot ( http://www.rojakpot.com/ ) has just posted the palmOne Treo 650 Launch Report!

Quote - "ARP was recently invited to the launch of the palmOne Treo 650 smartphone. Our rookie reporter, phr3ak, immediately signed up to the task and checked it out.

The Treo was quite successful when it was still a Handspring. In this report, phr3ak explores if palmOne still have what it takes to keep up with the Treo's legacy."

Direct URL - http://www.rojakpot.com/showarticle.aspx?artno=197&pgno=0 More...

The Burn-In Myth @ eCoustics

Sonos, Inc. today announced the immediate availability of a compact, high-performance bookshelf speaker. The company is now offering the Sonos(TM) Loudspeaker SP100 as an optional purchase with the award-winning Sonos(TM) Digital Music System. The sleek and contemporary speaker is engineered to deliver great sound in a compact form factor, all while providing digital music lovers with a complete home solution.

The style of the Sonos Loudspeaker SP100 complements the cosmetic design of the Sonos Digital Music System. The speaker features a matte dark-gray cabinet finish with a removable charcoal colored grille. The SP100 includes high-quality drivers, a 1" magnetically shielded Teteron dome tweeter, and a silver 5.5" magnetically shielded polypropylene copolymer core woofer. The speakers are designed with metal spring-binding posts and come with a pair of 14-gauge speaker wires. More...

The TiVo 30-Second Commercial Skip Hack @ eCoustics.com

"With even simple home theater systems now needing universal remotes [Hack #84] and calibration to perform well, a lot of well-meaning folks have passed around some home theater myths, or at best, misunderstandings. One of these is that you need to burn-in your equipment. Burn-in is a term used to refer to running your gear for some arbitrary length of time, usually several hours, to help it perform properly. You'll most commonly hear about burnin when talking about speakers, which often can benefit from this sort of treatment. "

http://forum.ecoustics.com/bbs/messages/34579/127865.html More...

Jabra(R) BT800 Bluetooth(R) Headset Receives the 5th Annual MobileFocus Award for Best Mobile Accessory

"One of the religious differences between TiVo and ReplayTV owners is how they fast forward through commercials. While TiVo's Fast Forward button will get you through those intrusive breaks soon enough, it requires some trained skill to manipulate those Fast Forward and Play buttons while keeping a keen eye and trusting your instincts to anticipate the end of the commercials. ReplayTV, on the other hand, has a "30-second skip" button, timed specifically for skipping through commercials. Since television commercials are traditionally a multiple of 30 seconds long, ReplayTV owners just hit the "30-second skip" button three to five times to render commercials only a minor annoyance. "

http://forum.ecoustics.com/bbs/messages/34579/127787.html More...

You still can get your free Fast Swapper St. Patrick edition

Jabra, a leading brand of hands-free communication products for the mobile consumer market, today announced that the Jabra BT800 Bluetooth headset -- the industry's most advanced Bluetooth headset -- has received the 2005 MobileFocus Award in the "Mobile Accessories" category. The Jabra BT800 was chosen over other entries including Logitech and Plantronics.

The Annual MobileFocus awards are among the most respected awards in the field of mobile technology. The awards annually honour the top mobile and wireless products in eleven different categories. The winners for the 5th Annual MobileFocus Awards were announced at Pepcom's MobileFocus event during the first night of the CTIA Wireless trade show in New Orleans. More...

Fri Mar 18, 2005

Red Sector 2112 - New game from 4Pockets

From Ballshooter games:

"This March, starting from 17th and till 27th any of Ballshooter's game you like is for $9.95 only. Volume Discounts are still valid as well!

Ballshooter Games provide a special St. Patrick's gift to their customers: everyone who will purchase anything in this period also receive one game for free!

Moreover, you can get our freeware game Fast Swapper St. Patrick edition absolutely for free till 27th of March."

http://ballshooter.com/ More...

muvee’s Instant Personal Video Technology Enhances Nikon’s PictureProject Digital Imaging Software

Red Sector is a true first person perspective shoot-em-up written exclusively for the Pocket PC. The game utilizes our custom realtime ray-casting engine to deliver a realistic 3D playing environment. To find our more and try the demo please visit www.4pockets.com

Game Senario:

The year is 2112. Decades of neglect had reaped havoc upon the inhabitants of planet Earth. Global climate changes resulted in the accelerated melting of polar ice caps which in turn had swallowed large areas of previously populated land mass. Combined with the rebirth of nuclear power and the numerous disasters which followed large parts of our planet were rendered un-inhabitable. Earth's resources are at an all time low and can no longer sustain the uncontrollable population growth.

Born out of this turmoil came mans desire to start again, and create a new Eden in which all races and religions could live together in harmony. United with this common goal, man began a massive collaborative construction program on neighbouring planet Mars. Within 25 years of stepping foot on the planet over 10% of Earth's inhabitants were relocated with promises of a better life for their friends, families and children. The future looked bright for those that had risked everything to make the journey. More...

ACCESS' NetFront Browser Now Powers 18 SANYO Handsets Worldwide

muvee Technologies, the pioneer and leader in automatic video production, is proud to announce that a version of its award-winning1 muvee autoProducer PC application will be incorporated into Nikon’s updated PictureProject 1.5 digital media software, which is shipped globally with all of Nikon’s digital cameras. This licensing deal will bring muvee’s Instant Personal Video technology to over 7 million Nikon users worldwide starting from April this year.

Terence Swee, muvee’s co-founder and Chief Opportunities Officer, said, “Digital cameras are increasingly able to shoot very decent quality video at low cost, and flash memory prices have also been tumbling. Consumers now have the means to shoot more videos and take more pictures than ever before, and often end up with a plethora of digital media that needs to be put together in a compelling way in order for it to be properly enjoyed and shared. muvee provides the answer by enabling users to automatically produce emotionally-engaging music videos – or muvees – quickly and easily. Integrating our technology into Nikon’s PictureProject software brings Instant Personal Video to Nikon camera users globally, and we’re excited at being able to empower more people to share their digital media in a fun and meaningful way.” More...

Thu Mar 17, 2005

Digital Techniques Is Announcing an Innovative Home Audio Digital Music Player With 80,000 Song Storage, PDA Control Capability, and High-Fidelity Sound

Demonstrating increased penetration in the advanced mobile handset market, ACCESS Co., Ltd., (Tokyo Stock Exchange: 4813), a global provider of mobile content delivery and Internet access technologies, announced that its NetFront(R) browser is now available in 18 advanced SANYO handset models in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, and New Zealand. SANYO handsets with NetFront browser represent some of the top-selling devices available through SANYO's mobile operator partners.

NetFront has been selected as the browser technology for 18 SANYO handsets, which include the SCP-4900, SCP-6400, SCP-5300, SCP8100, SCP-7200, SCP-5400, SCP-5500, SCP-7300, SCP-8200, SCP-4920, SCP-7400, SCP-8100NZ, SCP- 4920/NZ, SCP-7400/NZ, SCP-8100/CA, SCP-7300/CA, SCP-7300MX, and SCP-4920MX models. These SANYO handsets are among the most technologically advanced in their markets and showcase powerful features, such as digital cameras, speakerphones, exceptional battery performance, color LCD displays, digital voice memo recorders and walkie-talkie style communication capabilities. Combined with ACCESS' NetFront browser technology, SANYO handset users benefit from a fast and rich mobile Internet browsing experience. More...

Smart breakout on your smartphones

Digital Techniques is announcing the Blackbird Digital Music Player exclusively for the home audio system, that allows complete access to a music fan's entire music collection like never before. Featuring:

- Control from any web browser in the home, including a wireless PDA.
- 20,000 - 80,000 song storage capacity with four Blackbird models.
- Audiophile and Soundblaster high-fidelity sound quality options.
- Organized music, unlimited playlists and preset Internet radio
stations.
- Music collector's investment consolidated and safe with their audio
components.

Blackbird offers consumers the ability to control their music from any web browser, multiple computers, anywhere their home network extends. This capability includes desktop computers, wireless laptops, wireless PDA's, or any device with a web browser. While entertaining guests or relaxing alone, consumers can now simply take out their pocket PDA, and play any song in their entire music collection on their home audio system.

A companion to the home audio system, Blackbird's four models can store up to 80,000 songs. Blackbird offers audio enthusiasts two high performance sound quality options: professional quality M-Audio Audiophile 2496 or Creative Technology SoundBlaster sound cards. More...

Wed Mar 16, 2005

GPS orientation tool and accessible PDA for blind people - Trekker and Maestro now in one integrated package

Mobile stream released Meteor breakout game - Symbian Edition. Symbian Series 60 devices are supported. You have to destroy bricks, saving your meteor from enemy missiles and getting as much power-ups as possible. 90 various levels with attractive space environment make much fun for players of all ages.

Game features

90 levels
over 60 types of bricks
many power-ups and several power-downs
several types of balls and weapons
hostile spaceships and enemy robots work against you
some bricks are running away from your meteors
smart graphics on your smartphone
cool fx and animations
attractive space environment
free updates

Versions for Palm OS 5, MS Smartphone, Pocket PC 2002/2003, WM 2003, WM 2003 SE are available

Supported Series 60 devices
Nokia 6630;
Nokia 6600;
Nokia 3230/6260/6620/6670/7610;
Nokia 3650/3600, Nokia 3660/3620, Nokia 7650;
Nokia N-Gage/QD, Samsung SGH-D710, Siemens SX1

Free trial download is available at Mobile Stream. http://www.mobile-stream.com/demos/s60_meteor_demo.cab More...

Nokia Announces New Price Point For N-Gage QD and Games

Today at the CSUN Conference on Technology and Persons with Disabilities, HumanWare, the new company created through the recent merger of VisuAide and Pulse Data is pleased to announce the release of the first integration of Trekker and Maestro. Trekker is the leading standalone GPS orientation solution for the blind, and has been available since April 2003. Maestro is the first off-the-shelf accessible PDA. Now both solutions are available in one integrated package providing a complete solution for mobile and active blind users.

Trekker, the GPS localization tool for the visually impaired, can now take advantage of the extended popular features offered by mainstream accessible PDAs. Trekker is a standalone product offering pedestrian and vehicle navigation features as well as routing capability.

Now the visually impaired can enjoy the essential information-access functionality of Maestro: text and vocal note taking, agenda, contact directory and others, combined with their Trekker orientation tool, all in the same ultra-compact size as a true PDA. With its open environment, the system also integrates applications such as Victor Reader, a digital talking-book player. Additional functionalities and accessories such as the Braille Bluetooth keyboard will be also available in 2005. More...