Gadgetell | Tech News, Reviews, and Interesting Things

The boys at BGR announced they are hearing word that Wal-Mart will have a 4GB version of the iPhone and sell it at a Wal-Mart-y low low price of $99.  A couple of commenters suggested they’d heard the same thing inside Wal-Mart.  If this is true, we are about to see some major changes.

Certainly there are those that suggest the data is fee is too high for Jonny Consumer, and that may be for some, but not most.  Here are the facts: the iPhone currently bests the Razr in volume; the iPhone is outselling Windows Mobile phones; 10,000 apps in the app store is a big draw all on its own.  Now, drop the entry fee to play and this party gets rolling.

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Let’s say for whatever reason, you need some cash and have some iPods you are hoarding in case the economy crashes and they are used as currency.  As an economist (in my free time) I can tell you that day isn’t coming - at least the part about using iPods as currency - and it is time to get rid of them.  One easy way: NextWorth.

Find out how by clicking to follow the story.

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Sections: Audio, Portable Audio, Web, Websites

Look out Apple, there could be a company in town with a player to kill the iPod.  In all seriousness, MySpace might enter the MP3 player department, a place where Apple’s iPod has dominated for quite a while now. 

At the Web 2.0 Summit meeting on Thursday, MySpace co-founder and Chief Executive, Chris DeWolfe, shed some light on the fact that MySpace could develop a music player, but nothing is set in stone. 

MySpace has used music a lot to make their site bigger and bigger.  Many small (and large) bands use MySpace as a way to share their music.  They even launched a new service, called MySpace Music, which works with popular music labels including Sony BMG Music, Universal Music Group, and Warner Music Group.  More after the break.

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Sections: Apple, Audio, Portable Audio, Video, Portable Video, Web, Downloads, Websites, Online Music/Video

You may know of Dane-Elec has one of the main distributors of Meizu’s M6, which is a phone similar to the iPhone.  Now, they have decided to venture into the PMP market themselves and they recently introduced 4 of their first PMP’s - the Music Mediatouch, the Music Touch, Music Pix and the Music.  Definitely some interesting names for PMP’s, in my opinion.

First, let’s talk about the Music Mediatouch.  It comes with a 4.3-inch touch screen with 480 x 272 resolution, TV out, FM Tuner, and support for many audio and video formats including AVI, WAV, and MP3.  It also comes with support of WMA, WAV, APE, FLAC, JPG, GIF, and BMP.  The Music Mediatouch will be available in 2 models, a 4GB and an 8GB.  The 8GB will sell for 150 Euros, or $202.  I imagine the 4GB to sell a bit less than that.

Plenty more details after the break.

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Looking to get an Eee PC for less than an iPod?  Sounds like a good idea, doesn’t it?  Well, in its quarterly investors earnings call, Asustek announced a great number of things, including the fact that the baseline Eee PCs will be lowered to $200 by the end of 2009.  It seems 1.7 million Eee PCs were shipped last quarter, and Asus is expecting 1.8 million to be shipped this coming quarter.  There is some bad news for some, though.

Along with the price announcement, Asus announced that the 7” and 8.9” models will soon be phased out in favor of the 10-inch models.  That’s somewhat sad to me at least.  The 8.9” is the perfect size I think, especially if the screens on the 8.9” and 10” are the same resolution.

More after the break.

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Sanjay Jha, Motorola’s co-Chief executive and chief executive of mobile devices says we’ll see a Windows Mobile 6.5 device by the 2nd half of 2009.  This is the first mention of 6.5 that I am aware of and points to a half step before WinMo 7 which we’ve been waiting for to at least stay competitive with the likes of Apple and RIM.

“Windows Mobile 6 has not delivered the experience that I think Apple has been able to deliver, but as you look at the plan that is Windows Mobile 7 and even 6.5, I think there are significant new added features which will help the platform,“ Jha said.

Significant new added features in 6.5 huh?  Hmmmm.  Keep reading to find out our best guess at what that means.

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Last month, I asked whether Google would start to pay favorites with respect to designing and upgrading their products now that the Android phone was out.  Today, I learn that Google Earth for iPhone became available yesterday as a free application from the App Store.  There is no Android version, yet.

The Google team seems very excited about putting the world in your pocket via the iPhone.  A quick tour of the application shows it augments the native Google Maps application that comes with every iPhone and iPod touch.  An accelerometer based trick allows you to tilt the phone to get a 3D view, panning up or down as you tilt.  It’s quite a neat trick.  A bare bones search function is also available, though in my test the very same results were brought up in Maps. 

Keep reading to see a video of the app in action and more.

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Sections: Apple, Communications, Cellphones, Smartphones, Mobile, Gadgets / Other, GPS/Navigation, Web, Google

This is where we call out by names the actions and companies that seem odd, out of touch or just plain straight up smokin’ crack.  Technology is an odd realm where PR speak doesn’t hold a lot of water if the 1s and 0s don’t line up.  This week sees posturing, positioning and flat out insanity.  Here is what caught my eye this week:

Follow to see my rant on:
• The not so Bold.
• Windows XP or bust.
• Google’s got waaay too much free time.
• Verizon thinks they know a smartphone when they see one.

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Firefox Mobile Concept Video from Aza Raskin on Vimeo.

Rumored to be “soon” or even next week, Firefox Mobile Alpha will be released onto the Nokia N810 internet tablet.  Sure to be the first of many releases, the new web browser designed for mobile devices is sure to mix things up a bit.

One major difference is controls.  Unlike the minimalist Safari for the iPhone and iPod touch, Firefox for Mobile uses the extreme edges for access to special menus.  Just a swipe of the finger off the page to port or starboard brings up controls that were previously hidden.  It is a neat way to get at controls.  Just my opinion?  No, Mozilla calls this the “awesome bar” which I thought existed only in Times Square, NY.

See more interesting features in the alpha version.  Click more to follow.

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Sections: Communications, Smartphones, Mobile, Computers, Software / Applications, Wireless, Gadgets / Other, Web, Downloads, Web Browsers

The crushing economic pressure here in the USA is feeling its weight around the world and is going to impact us all.  Tech companies often feel their products are luxuries and could be the first thing consumers avoid, potentially making their big time of year: the holidays, a bust.  So what is a tech gadget maker to do?

Find out what iLuv did.  Hit the jump for more.

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