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Navman has launched two GPS unit with digital cameras for the EU market. The new flagship models, the iCN720 and iCN750 include a 1.3 megapixel digital camera on the back allowing you to be able to take photographs of restaurants, friends, or whatever and store those locations in your GPS unit to search by image later.

The new models also feature a 4-inch wide touch-screen display, as well as coming with the new SIRF Star III GPS technology that allows you to pick up a signal (in most cases) indoors. The iCN750 includes a 4GB hard drive while the iCN720 includes a flash drive and both come with a selection of maps of Europe.

Both units come with the option of Navman’s vastly improved TMC enabled cradle that includes a built-in GPS antenna similar to Sony’s Nav-u offering and an easy release mechanism so you can remove it from the car quickly.

The iCN700 series models will cost £399 and £549 respectively. The TMC cradle will cost £100. All three models are expected to be in the shops in May...in Europe only.

Read [Pocket Lint]

It’s not like the company to roll things out without a Stevenote, but Apple has updated the specs of their 30 inch Cinema Display without a peep.  With the new specs, the display is now in-line with Dell’s previously superior UltraSharp 3007WFP.  Unfortunately for those of you living in the UK, Pocket-lint is reporting that Apple has yet to update it’s UK site.  The updates include raising the brightness from 270cd/m2 to 400 and the contrast ratio from 400:1 to 700:1.  The price is still the same at $2,499.

Via [Pocket-lint]

Make that 1,219,543 MVNOs and counting. If your wondering an MVNO is a wireless provider that customizes a handset and service offering for a specific target market but leases bandwidth from a major provider (Verizon, Cingular, Sprint)… and typically offer a limited number of handsets, such as Mobile ESPN and Rivo. Bango will enable readers to easily obtain and pay for popular ringtones, wallpapers and horoscopes - right from their mobile phone from magazines such as Cosmopolitan, CosmoGIRL! and Seventeen.

By using the Bango Service, Hearst is the first major publishing house in the United States to use the mobile internet to deliver the familiar ‘browse and buy’ shopping experience.

Readers of Cosmopolitan, for example, text “cosmo” to 26766, and using Bango’s technology receive back a link to the mobile site. From there, they can ‘browse and buy’ from a range of mobile consumables plus content such as fashion and beauty tips designed specifically for readers.

“The user experience is truly mobile because the entire process takes place on the handset - no PC is required,” said Anil Malhotra, Bango vice president of alliances. “Access is initiated by sending a text message, and once the site appears on the phone, it is optimized for the users’ device. Bango detects which network the user is on and presents the optimal one-click payment method to make paying for content as easy as possible.”

Looking for a sleek white (or colored mouse) to show your style and sense of simplicity? Elecom Japan has unveiled a series of small wireless mice that come in white, blue, red, and black. The series is called the M-MBDUR series and come with a coordinating case that also acts as your USB hookup (saving you a collection of mice without their wireless USB dongles). The resolution of the mouse is 800 dpi. Dimensions are 43.5×79.5×23.5mm and weighs 41.5 grams.

Via [Tech Ticker]
Product Page [Elecom Japan]

Here’s a little video sent in by Allen.  It’s fake, we know, but at the same time its so true.  If Microsoft redesigned the iPod packaging it’d have all of that certification and specs crap all over it.  Take a look at it and let us know what you think.

P.S. We still love you Microsoft.

Via [My-Coke.net]

What the future holds is a column written every Thursday by Adam Berger about the future of technology.

Here at Gadgetell we really are getting hooked on Web 2.0 software and platforms. TiVo must have been paying attention when designing their new KidZone parental control features. The service seems to be much more throughout and thorough than most current parental controls, but the coolest part maybe the third party filters that work in conjunction with the system.

TiVo announced deals with the Parents Television Council and Common Sense Media to provide third party filters/recommendations for television content. Go to the PTC section and you can view all the PTC-approved programs and schedule them for downloading. The choice of these two groups for the launch is not accidental, the PTC is very conservative and Common Sense is more progressive.

The customization of KidZone lets you pick the group you agree with and share their programming choices. There really is no limit to this. TiVo can eventually/hopefully turn into a collaborative learning device where you not only share you personal recommendation and approvals (like Trechie approved shows) but collaborate with friends and family to find a common ground whe searching for a program. People can also tag programs like del.icio.us and post their own content to servers and share it across the world like Flickr. Isn’t Web 2.0 so great…

Read [Gear Log]

We typically don’t think too much about our nice friends to the north because we assume they have basically everything we have, well that is not always true. Sling Media just announced that they will launch the Slingbox in Canada. It is currently available online and will be in retail stores in April for $299 CAD.

The Slingbox, if you don’t know, is a consumer electronics device that enables consumers to watch their living room TV programming from wherever they are by turning virtually any Internet-connected Windows-based laptop or desktop and any Windows Mobile-based handheld computer or smartphone into a personal TV. The Slingbox redirects, or “placeshifts,” a single live TV stream from a basic cable connection, cable box, satellite receiver or digital video recorder (DVR) to the viewer’s PC—located anywhere in the home or anywhere in the world, via the Internet.

Last week Sling Media announced a public beta program for its SlingPlayer Mobile software. This software is available for download from Sling Media’s web site and gives Slingbox customers the ability to watch and control their home TV from any handheld computer or smartphone based on Microsoft’s Windows Mobile operating system. SlingPlayer Mobile is also available as a free download for registered Canadian Slingbox customers. Starting April 26th the software will cost $29.99 USD and includes a free 30 day trial. However, all Slingbox owners who buy and register a Slingbox prior to April 26th receive a free license for the final production version of the SlingPlayer Mobile software.

In addition to the Slingbox announcement, Sling Media is introducing into Canada the SlingLink, a powerline Ethernet adapter solution that connects a Slingbox to a home network for customers whose TV and Internet connections are located in different rooms in the house. SlingLink uses the electrical circuitry in a home to connect the Slingbox to a home Internet connection. SlingLink will be available from Canadian retailers who offer the Slingbox, and will cost $129 CAD.

[Press Release]

We always like bringing you some really great Hi-Res wallpaper/images when we find them, well because we love them too. If you are someone who likes travel, nature or science pics, check out this page of featured desktop backgrounds on Wikipedia. No you don’t need to thank us.

Ooo Ooo let me see!

Sprint Nextel is reportedly planning a music subscription service as opposed to their current $2.50 per song model. They also have yet to settle for a price. I think that if you want people in mass to use the service and purchase songs it needs to be competitive in the marketplace, which is currently set at $.99 per download. Yeah I know that the Sprint store gives you a copy for your phone as well as your PC, but I can do that almost as easily from my PC and a miniSD card.

Sprint is also talking about a deal with Sirius. Sprint’s Chief Operating Officer Len Lauer referring to 20 channels from Sirius: “We’d like to have the capability later this year that the customer listens to a song and says, ‘I want to buy that song’.” That seems to be a different effort from the download subscription service, although if both were introduced it would be interesting to see whether they were hooked up or not, and the reasoning put forward.

Satellite radio on your cell phone, with download capabilities, and possible storage...now we’retalking jammin’.

Read [MocoNews]

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer told Fortune magazine that the company is interested in taking on the iPod, and hinted about combining the player with a cellphone. Ballmer said,

“In five years are people really going to carry two devices? One device that is their communication device, one device that is music? There’s going to be a lot of opportunities to get back in that game. We want to be in that game. Expect to see announcements from us in that area in the next 12 months.”

Any guesses/opinions of what it will be?

Via [Gizmodo]