Digital Trends
According to Edward Hill-Wood, executive director of Morgan Stanley’s European media team, it’s "one of the clearest and most thought-provoking insights we have seen – so we published it."
He’s speaking about a report by Matthew Robson, a 15-year-old intern at the investment bank on the media habits of his friends. So what makes this so important?
That’s an interesting question. Robson’s analysis, which was sent to Morgan Stanley’s clients as a research note last Friday, says, in part:
Every audiophile knows the ingredients for a killer custom speaker cabinet: a pile MDF, veneer, countless finishing supplies, and hundreds of man hours. While that’s fine if you want to devote your life to your next pair of towering piano-black loudspeakers, Axiom Audio has made the process a lot easier by custom-building speakers with 2,082 different finishes, truly making them one-of-a-kind (and you won’t even have to break out the wood glue or respirator.)
For those counting, that number comes from all the different speakers you can build with six different wood veneers, six stain options, three gloss finishes, three trim metals, and six grille colors, plus sixteen alternate vinyl finishes if you’re not a fan of wood.
Here at DT, Axiom Audio’s home theater speaker systems have long been favored by The Proprietor: I think the soundbite is “We felt like we were literally in the movie; the sound was astounding.”
Now, Axiom is reciprocating some of that affection, enabling customers to customize speakers with a choice of six real-wood veneers, plus a choice of stains and three different feet, enabling the systems to integrate into a wide variety of environments and decor. Because, after all, if you’re putting enough time, energy, and money into a home theater system with these sorts of components, you’ve probably thrown time, energy, and money into your home environment as well, and it would be nice if those investments didn’t clash in big awful ways.
A scratch on your digital camera’s LCD screen can be annoying and potentially make it more difficult to use. Delkin Devices, a company out of Poway, California, thinks they may have the answer to protecting the camera screen. Enter their eFilm Pop-Up Shades.
The eFilm Pop-Up Shades, which Delkin said currently cover 11 of the most popular digital SLR and point and shoot cameras, are made from hard impact plastic and snap shut over the camera’s LCD screen. Each of the current models, plus ones being introduced over the next eight weeks and in the near future, will be mated to specific models of cameras to provide what the company feels is an ideal fit as opposed to more universal LCD screen protectors from competitors.
Representing some of the top artists from EMI’s catalog as well as current releases, the new “DTS Signature Series” DVD-As include titles from N.E.R.D, Cassandra Wilson, David Bowie, SimpleMinds and The Thrills.
Bearing a new “DTS Signature Series” logo, each DVD-Audio disc is created by the DTS Entertainment production team, and offers exclusive 5.1 surround sound re-mixes plus a variety of bonus features, including videos, artist biographies, photo galleries, lyrics and more. The series will be distributed globally by EMI.
The new titles and street dates are:
Intended to compete with media servers from companies like Hewlett-Packard and Microsoft Corporation, the $500 box features four card slots for memory media, and connectivity for an Ethernet network. With the HD1000, users can play slideshows from digital photos, show video clips, and play music files. The device is “the first digital media player to be designed for high-definition televisions,” according to May Wong of the Associated Press.
Although other products, such as DVD players, feature some networking capabilities, the HD1000 is the first of what could be a huge new product category. “There’s no competition today,” Wood told Wong, saying his company is ” getting in early on a trend.” The name “Roku” means six in Japanese, and was chosen because the company is Wood’s sixth startup.
With the new company, Anthony Wood hopes to target a high-end market of big screen TV buyers that may also desire using the advanced visual quality of the screen to display more than just programming. At about $500, the HD1000 connects to any HDTV and offers a high-resolution canvas for digital media such as photos, art, music or other media applications.
“The TV can be used for more than just watching TV,” he told Reuters in an interview. “I think there is a tremendous opportunity for a company … that is focused on media players for the home.”
Quote from the review:
“I took the liberty of testing the woods durability by slamming my keys against it many times. The case suffered no visual damage at all. I asked the creator of this fine case if he could make a case that wood match the finish of a persons desk. I was informed that this could indeed be done.”
Our take: Ok this looks pretty dang cool, but it is a little old school if you ask me. Old timers and those that just like attention will probably find a computer case like this appealing. Heck if you want to add a computer to your lexus and want a wood finish to match your dashboard, this may be the case for you. Have fun.
Developed at Nokia’s Product Creation Centre in Beijing, the stylishly compact and feature-rich Nokia 6108 has tri-band (GSM 900/1800/1900) functionality, a high resolution colour display, MMS*(Multimedia Messaging Service), Java(TM), a built-in email client, an XHTML browser, a “Chinese-English-Chinese” dictionary and enhanced features for Chinese language users in the region. TheNokia 6108 will be commercially available in Asia Pacific markets during the third quarter of 2003. Developed for Chinese language users in Asia Pacific, the unique form factor of the Nokia6108 was created by designers in Nokia’s Product Creation Centre in Beijing. One of Nokia’s global R&D sites, the Nokia Product Creation Centre in Beijing has played a key role in the design andcreation of this new pen-based Nokia 6108 to cater to the local needs in China and other markets in the Asia Pacific region. “As one of Nokia’s largest market worldwide, China is of greatimportance to us for our global success. The Product Creation Centre in Beijing bears testimony to Nokia’s commitment in this market. We believe that localisation is key for markets in this region,which have unique consumer needs and preferences. As we are now witnessing the mass market uptake of SMS in China, the introduction of an intuitive pen-based mobile phone will be ideal inmeeting consumers’ needs,” said Robert Andersson, Senior Vice President, Nokia Mobile Phones, Asia Pacific. ”Nokia’s understanding of the China market and consumer needs is reflected inthe strong Chinese-motivated design and features incorporated in the Nokia 6108. The design of the Nokia 6108 with a stylus attached to the back of the phone was inspired by the historicTerracotta warriors, depicting a Chinese warrior carrying a sword on his back. In view of the growing popularity of messaging in China, we believe that the Nokia 6108 will present a veryattractive offering to the broader consumer segment in China and this region with its intuitive pen input capability to enhance messaging and other features such as the “Chinese-English-Chinese”dictionary, an extensive set of Chinese characters and the Lunar Calendar,” said Colin Giles, Vice President & General Manager, Nokia Mobile Phones China. Designed with a stylish built-intouch padand an easy-grip, non-slip stylus, the Nokia 6108 enabled by its intuitive pen input capability recognises the handwriting of both Chinese and Latin characters for convenient message sendingand note taking. The phone supports both handwriting and keymat input. To utilise the handwriting recognition feature, lifting the keymat will reveal a built-in touch padwhich allows the easy entryof both Chinese and Latin characters. Another new and attractive feature, which will appeal to Chinese language users is the “Chinese-English-Chinese” dictionary offered in the Nokia 6108. Thedictionary provides a direct translation of Chinese words to English and vice versa. Other enhanced features for Chinese language users include an extensive Chinese characters set, the Lunar Calendarand an attractive range of themed wallpapers depicting the five Chinese elements - Metal, Wood, Water, Earth and Fire. With support for 4096 colours, the Nokia 6108’s high-resolutioncolour display (128 x 128 pixels) enhances the XHTML browsing, calendar entry and phonebook features as well as enriches the use of Java applications, MMS and games. The phone also supports ahost of new animated graphics, polyphonic ringtones and an integrated handsfree speaker. For enhanced personal management, the Nokia 6108 is equipped with a personal organizer, which supportsthe Note feature, mobile email feature, advanced calendar and a phonebook with a large memory. With SyncML, personal data such as calendars and contact information can be synchronised remotelyover the network, accessible and up-to-date. Local synchronisation of personal data can also be done via the Nokia PC Suite. The PC Suite enables users to synchronise phone information with acompatible PC, install software, configure phone settings and make back-ups of phone files. The wallet application in the Nokia 6108 allows easy, reliable and convenient service access and mobilepayment. Via its Pop-Port(TM) interface, the Nokia 6108 supports the Nokia Camera Headset** which enables users to take digital images to send as MMS. This means that the Nokia 6108 can send,receive and forward MMS with text and image content to other compatible MMS-enabled phones. The Nokia 6108 weighs 98 grams and has a talktime of 3 to 7 hours hours and a standby time of 170 to410 hours. The phone is available in three attractive colour options - Silver Blue, Silver Yellow and Silver Rose - in the standard sales package. Developers interested increating software applications for the Nokia 6108 can source product specifications, obtain technical assistance and download tools from Forum Nokia, Nokia’s global developer programme, atwww.forum.nokia.com
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