Get real on mobile phones

Nokia and RealNetworks are developing a system that will allow mobile phones to play multimedia files on demand and over the Internet. The Web/Real-based services will be available to personal and car stereos by next year, according to RealNetwork's senior vice president Len Jordan. He forsees the convergence of mobile phones and MP3 players when Europe (and soon after, the US) upgrades its mobile networks from 14kbps to 40kbps. ...more

Adobe, HP and Kodak endorse new image format

Adobe, Hewlett-Packard and Kodak have announced their endorsement for the new Exif file format for digital images. Currently digital cameras capture images as compressed JPEG files. Exif (Exchangeable Image File Format) adds a series of tags to the standard JPEG header that encodes information such as exposure time, contrast, white balance and colour saturation. ...more

The PDA watch is three years late

Almost three years after it was first unveiled, the PDA watch has finally gone on sale in the UK, albeit in a somewhat improved form. The Abacus Wrist PDA runs the PalmOS accessed through a backlit 160x160 mono display with an interface that can be customised by the user. HotSync via InfraRed is supported for both Mac OS X and Windows. ...more

Skype signs up German mobile operator

Popular Net phone application maker Skype says it has signed a deal with a German mobile operator to offer a reduced rate data tariff across its network. Germany's third-largest mobile operator E-Plus is to offer 'all-you-can-eat' data tariffs for €39.95 (?27). ...more

IBM's TransNote blurs line between PCs and PDAs

The power of a laptop combined with the features of an electronic note pad for storing handwritten notes, that's the design behind the TransNote, IBM's latest addition to its ThinkPad series. With its combination of pen-based and keyboard-based input, copious note takers are the target users. Particularly those that need to keep hard copy versions of their notes. ...more