Will Developers Turn the iPhone Into a Gaming Platform?

Is Apple finally getting serious about games? Could be. When Apple unveiled its platform for letting outside developers create software for the iPhone and iPod touch last week, some of the first programs shown were games from Electronic Arts and Sega. More game developers seem likely to hop on the Apple cart, since the iPhone and its cousin the iPod touch are both tremendously popular and fairly powerful mobile computers. What’s really cool is that the games won’t be sold on traditional cartridges or discs, but will be available solely as downloadable files.

Microsoft Adding Sony Blu-ray Support To Windows

CEO Steve Ballmer said his company is working on Windows device driver support for the Blu-ray high definition movie format. Microsoft is developing software that will add native support for devices that play Sony’s Blu-ray high definition movie format to the Windows operating system, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer said.

“We’ve already been working on, for example, in Windows, device driver support for Blu-ray drives and the like,” said Ballmer, speaking at the Microsoft’s Mix ‘08 conference. Ballmer also said that Microsoft is “going to support Blu-ray in ways that are important,” according to a transcript of his remarks posted on the company’s Web site. The Mix ‘08 conference was held last week in Las Vegas.

Microsoft until recently used Toshiba’s HD DVD format to add HD movie playback to its Xbox 360 gaming console. That practice abruptly ended last month when Toshiba announced its decision to kill HD DVD after virtually all major Hollywood studios threw their weight behind Blu-ray.

Source: Information Week

iPhone’s Future Has No Room for Small Minds

Now that the Apple iPhone has full enterprise support and an amazing business model that developers will flock to, those with feet of clay and small minds are dragging out every possible excuse to avoid one core idea: The iPhone is the best smartphone on the planet, and it’s going to become a major force in the mobile phone world. It’s like watching kids squirm when they don’t want to take a bath before bedtime. What’s being noticed now is that Apple is winning big and that the iPhone is poised to become the next major mobile computing platform.

Samsung’s latest SyncMaster LCD monitors look mighty fine

What’s that, you ask? No, it’s not a miniaturized version of Samsung’s LN40650T HDTV. Rather, it’s the firm’s 19-inch 953BW — the oh-so-sexy $239 addition to its SyncMaster lineup. Said monitor boasts a 1,440 x 900 resolution, 300 cd/m2 brightness and a 1,000:1 contrast ratio, and it’s joined by the 20-inch 2053BW ($299), 22-inch 2253LW ($319) and 22-inch 2253BW ($349), all of which feature a 1,680 x 1,050 resolution and two-millisecond response time. Each unit also possesses an HDCP-compliant DVI port, intelligent MagicColor controls and a piano-black glossy finish that you’ll likely have a hard time keeping free of dust and fingerprints. The best news, however, is that the whole lot is available right now.

Details on Archos 606, SFR 3G+ plan revealed

We’d already heard about Archos’ deal with France’s SFR to build 3G+ into upcoming players, but the folks at PC INPact have now turned up what appears to be some of the firmest details yet of those plans, and the first player to support ‘em. That player is supposedly the Archos 606, which is described as being the same size as the Archos 605, but with a screen 1-2 centimeters bigger and a casing that’s entirely black (it’s also said to boast a 30GB hard drive). Unfortunately, there’s no official pictures of the device just yet, but the folks at Archos Lounge have put together the mockup above to feed the speculation in the meantime. As for SFR’s plans, it’ll apparently offer three different subscription options coming in at €14.90, €19.90, and €29.90 a month ($22 to $46), each of which will let you purchase the device for €249, €199, or €149 ($380, $305, or $230), respectively, or you can simply the player without a plan for €290, or about $460.

Intel plots $100 “NetTop” market with Diamondville

Intel hasn’t convinced you yet that its upcoming Atom processors will be dirt cheap and pregnant with promise? Well the company has a new definition on the table to see if you’ll reconsider. Intel is talking up a new “NetTop” concept of desktop PCs ranging in price from $100 to $299 — the desktop counterpart to the Eee PC, if you will. Naturally, Intel plans for those desktops to be powered by its own Diamondville processor, but also has other plans like solid state storage, no system fans or CPU socket, optimized power supply unit and “cost optimized OS solutions.” The machines will run on Linux or Windows, and Intel projects 60 million of ‘em will be sold a year by 2011. Those crazy, cash-addled dreamers.

Warm up those thumbs, Logitech’s diNovo Mini is now shipping

Logitech’s diNovo Mini Bluetooth thumboard is finally ready to rock your living living room with its QWERTY keys, dashing looks, awkward translucent lid and unadulterated convenience. You can now pick it up from your favorite online retailer for about $150, and use it with your PC, PS3 or just for pretend.

Nortel to Widen the Pipeline With New Optical Tech

Nortel debuted a new optical network technology designed to provide four times the capacity of current systems and as much as 10 times the capacity in the future. The 40G/100G Adaptive Optical Engine boosts transmissions from 10 gigabits per second to 40 Gbps, and will go as high as 100 Gbps by the end of 2009, Nortel said, using the existing infrastructures of telecommunications companies. The technology is designed to solve carrier networks’ bandwidth dilemma as a growing number of Internet users turn to the Web to view bandwidth-hogging, high-definition video content.

YouTube Releases New API and YouTube on TiVO

Today, YouTube released some brand new APIs to the community. With the new APIs, your website can be just like a brand new YouTube. You can be on YouTube without leaving their sites. Here are some of the features the API supports:

• Upload videos and video responses to YouTube
• Add/Edit user and video metadata (titles, descriptions, ratings, comments, favorites, contacts, etc)
• Fetch localized standard feeds (most viewed, top rated, etc.) for 18 international locales
• Perform custom queries optimized for 18 international locales
• Customize player UI and control video playback (pause, play, stop, etc.) through software

To add onto that, TiVO also announced that they have set up a deal with YouTube that will allow people to play YouTube videos directly on their TV’s. Hey, no more getting off the couch!

Acer unveils the second-gen Gemstone

Acer’s never had an international press conference in New York before, but there’s a first time for everything, and the company used the occasion to launch the second generation Gemstone laptops. Coming in a special blue (”Gemstone Blue,” how wild), the new 16- and 18.4-inch machines feature 16:9 1080p screens, 1.5GHz Penryn processors, 512MB NVIDIA 9650m GS graphics, and those Blu-ray drives we heard about. The graphics chip is at the center of Acer’s new CineReal system, which offloads BD playback to the GPU and provides Dolby headphone output (and real 5.1 sound on the bigger model). Battery life is estimated at 2.5 hours on the 16-inch and three hours on the 18.4, but what’s really impressive here is the pricing: starting at $900 and up, with decently spec’d configs hitting around $1,700. Should be shipping in a month or so, according to Acer. Two more pics after the break.