Gadgetell | Tech News, Reviews, and Interesting Things

You may or may not have noticed that along with the previously mentioned “Blu,“ the letter “i” has become prefixed to every product known to man.  Obviously, Apple has all the right in the world to do that (as they really popularized it) but Phillips is making a name for themselves with this “prefix-stealing,“ after the goLITE Blu.  Get ready for the iPill (the intelligent pill). 
Most of us already know what camera pills are (pill sized cameras that you swallow), and this is really a development from that idea further into the world of medicine. The pill can essentially do three things: it can monitor acidity levels, it can release medicine, and it can record temperatures.  All of which contribute towards its main aim of analyzing problems and acting upon them. 

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After plenty of rumors, hope and speculation, the official details for the BlackBerry Storm have been announced.  The Storm will be priced at $199.99 after a $50 mail-in-rebate and along with a two-year agreement.  As for availability, November 21 will be the day when it will be both online and in stores.

The Storm, as noted in the short and to the point, press release will be the “first touch screen BlackBerry smartphone with the world’s first “‘clickable’ touch screen.“  Which despite the price not coming in quite as low as we would have hoped for, (lower than the iPhone 3G) should still be low enough to sell more than a few.

A few interesting tidbits from the Verizon Wireless announcement show that the Storm will be running software version 4.7, that it will be shipping with an 8GB microSD card and also that it will be able to function as a wireless modem for your notebook.  Of course, Verizon does not specify the extra cost for the tethering, simply stating that the Storm has “3G modem support.“

Keep reading to check out the full (and short) press release below…

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Anybody who is fed up with new formats of media and still has only vinyl switch off your monitor now.  Boosted by their success in the High Definition DVD war with Blu-ray they have decided to expand the Blu franchise with Blu-spec CD.

Details are sketchy regarding the actual advantages due to a poorly translated Japanese press release, but what we do know is that it aims to overthrow the CD.  Unsurprisingly, they are burned using the Blu Laser Diode (hence the Blu) and even more unsurprisingly they will cost around the $20-$35 mark.  Obviously, we don’t know what you are paying for but the general consensus is that it will be significantly better sound quality. 

There’s a strange twist to the Blu-spec CD—find out after the break.

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A specific release date still has not been announced, but based on confirmation from none other than Dell and Box.net we should be seeing the Inspiron 910 within just a few days.

To begin with, Dell has confirmed that they would be unveiling their Inspiron 910 netbook this week, with an announcement possibly coming as early as Thursday September 4. Of course the spokeswoman from Dell has also stated that the current leaked specs are “pretty much rumor and speculation.“ While that may be accurate statement, it seems to me like a last ditch effort to keep something special and perhaps try to make the official announcement a little more exciting.

Those rumored specs include an 8.9-inch display, a 1.6GHz Intel Atom processor, 1GB of RAM and also SSD based drives with storage options up to 16GB in size.

Of course that storage option seems to make a little more sense when you hear that Dell has partnered with Box.net to provide online storage, and that their services will “come pre-installed on the Dell Mini.“

Further evidence of the launch comes from the WSJ, who are reporting that the September 4 launch date has been confirmed by an email that was received from Box.net. The good news is that the announcement should be coming within a few days now, not to mention that a “person familiar with the matter” is calling for a price tag of “less than $400.“ Of course we all know that means $399, but it still sounds like a good price point.

Read [Information Week] Read [Wall Street Journal]

• Asus Eee PC 1002HA now available with US retailers
• Dell Inspiron Mini 9—now with optional 3G
• Dell adds 32GB SSD option on the Inspiron Mini 9

Net giant Google just revealed their plans to release their version of living in a virtual world with the online 3D social arena “Lively.“  Unlike the program “Second Life”, Lively allows users to enter “their world” via IE or Firefox after the initial download and installation of the program. You can make use of integrating the Internet in several ways, bring in your photos or videos that you have hosted online, email your friends inviting them to join, or use the special pre-written widgets to embed your Lively area on your blog. Currently it doesn’t work with MySpace, they are still working on that one.

“It’s integrated with the Internet. It’s not an alternate destination,“ said Niniane Wang, Google’s engineering manager for the project. “Our intention is to add to your existing life.“

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Sections: Computers, Software / Applications, Gaming, Games, Miscellaneous, Web, Downloads, Web Apps, Websites, Online Music/Video, Google

The BlackBerry Bold is having it’s trouble with a US release date, AT&T has been rumored to have pushed it’s launch into August, but it is right on track with our Canadian neighbors. Rogers has announced that the Bold will be available on July 25.

It looks like those “by-invitation-only” launch parties were indeed the path that was needed to see the official release. However, before we get excited, Rogers has not yet announced any pricing, lets just hope it is fair and we do not see another revolt.

Via [CrackBerry]

• Rogers now offering the Nokia E71 for $49
• RIM announces re-launch of Mobile BlackBerry website
• Can a Hail Mary save Palm?  Warning issued

It looks like the full spec list for the upcoming Palm Treo 800w has been revealed. The 800w will be headed to Sprint in mid-July (rumored to be July 13) and then later coming to Verizon Wireless in Q3. While the list seems complete it does have at least one interesting item missing, notably a standard 3.5mm headphone jack. However with a slightly more updated look, this should make for a nice addition to the Treo lineup. Keep reading for the complete specs:

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We had already expected the release to come in mid-June and it looks like Mozilla has held that date true, they have officially announced that Firefox 3 will be available on June 17.

In addition, they have also, as we mentioned early yesterday, released an additional release candidate as RC3 that took care of a few last minute bugs found in the Mac version.

Otherwise start getting ready to download and install Firefox 3 on June 17, and don’t forget to help all of your not-so-computer literate friends and family members do the same.

In addition to the release, June 17 will also be the day that Mozilla is attempting to set the world record for the most software downloaded during a single day.

Read [Mozilla]

• Mozilla wants you to Fashion Your Firefox
• Browser Battles: Safari still increasing in market share, IE continues to drop
• Sony’s Home beta temporarily shuts down for maintenance

Sections: Web, Web Browsers

While we were all set and waiting for the final release of Firefox to drop at anytime now, CNET is reporting that some of us may indeed be given an RC 3 sometime today. The latest release, which will come officially as RC 3 will only be for Mac users as the Windows and Linux versions are already considered stable. The changes are also reported to be “internal” so assuming you are a Mac user and do choose to update, its more than likely you will not see any difference. Still no word of any delay with the final release, so as of now Firefox 3 is still on track for a “mid-June” release.

Read [CNET]

• Mozilla wants you to Fashion Your Firefox
• Browser Battles: Safari still increasing in market share, IE continues to drop
• Sony’s Home beta temporarily shuts down for maintenance

Sections: Web, Web Browsers

The European release of the Touch Diamond from HTC has been pushed back a few weeks. Originally scheduled for a June 9 release, it is now being shown as a “worse case scenario delivery date” of June 23. HTC has not made any official announcement regarding the delay other than stating it was “due to circumstances beyond our control,“ of course others on the web have been reporting other details. Mobility Today has claimed that the delay was caused by a ROM update and that HTC needed to update the firmware. As of now its just a small delay, lets just hope it does not see any further delays.

Via [Gizmodo]

• Palm watches wistfully as HTC buys other design firm
• T-Mobile G1 now in White and why it will sell like hotcakes
• HTC to buy Palm?