Microsoft’s portable media player Zune will be released tomorrow. November 14th 2006 to be exact.

The Zune is Microsoft’s attempt to compete with Apple in the portable player market. It’s an anti-iPod.

The player supports various media formats and comes with at least 30GB of storage space.

• Windows Media® Audio Standard (.wma): Up to 320 Kbps, CBR and VBR, up to 48-kHz sample rate
• MP3 (.mp3): Up to 320 Kbps, CBR and VBR, up to 48-kHz sample rate
• AAC (.mp4, .m4a, .m4b, .mov): Up to 320 Kbps, Low Complexity (LC), up to 48-kHz sample rate
• JPEG (.jpg): All resolutions (desktop software will automatically convert to 640×480 at sync time)
• Windows Media Video (.wmv): Main Profile, CBR or VBR, up to 1.5 Mbps peak video bitrate, 320 x 240 pixels, 30 frames per sec. - With Windows Media Audio up to 192 Kbps, 44.1 kHz, stereo audio; Simple Profile, CBR, up to 736 Kbps video bitrate, 320 x 240 pixels, 30 frames per sec.

The hardware is built form a solid plastic, and initially will come in three colors—black, brown and white. The case is compact, measuring 11.2 × 6.1 × 1.4 cm, with a 3-inch QVGA LCD screen.

Mio H610 is a compact gadget that combines a satellite navigation system with MP3 and video player, games and photo viewer. Mio tells that the device is designed especially for women but with the exception of the “flower-cover” shown above, we can’t see a special reason for this statement. “H610 takes GPS out of the car and into the handbag.” !? OK, guys we won’t buy it then. This is your stuff ladies.

Over 1.8 million points of interest provided by Tele Atlas. Detailed maps of the following 24 European countries are pre-installed on Mio H610:

Andorra, Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Gibraltar, Great Britain, Italy, Ireland, Lichtenstein, Luxemburg, Monaco, Norway, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, San Marino, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and Vatican City.

Available in Europe from October.

Time Magazine is accepting votes to choose “Gadget of the Year 2006¨. The list includes only 8 gadgets and that’s not fair enough to many other super-gadgets there.

Here are the contestants:

1. Logitech VX Revolution Mouse
2. Sanyo HD1 Digital Media Camera
3. Apple MacBook Pro
4. Nintendo DS Lite
5. Logitech Wireless DJ Music System
6. Nike + iPod Sport Kit
7. Garmin StreetPilot c550
8. Palm Treo 700w

Vote page

As we get more processing power, the digital music industry is getting more capable of providing incredibly feature rich tools. They’re really so great that we would like to see Ludwig van Beethoven trying these. Imagine what he could do…

…with more than 160 instruments played by virtuosos at his command at all times!

We searched for the best instrument soundbank. There are some powerful competitors but the one which appears to be the most complete package is EastWest Quantum Leap COLOSSUS. The VST (Virtual Studio Technology) sound archive has 32GB of 24-bit recordings of real instruments. Every note and practically all possible actions are recorded.

The sound archive is used with the KONTAKT 2 sampler. Colossus’ instruments are organised into 19 basic types containing sounds that cover all musical genres. So many intruments to choose from including Guitars, Pianos, Strings, Drums, Plucked & Strummed, Organs, Keyboards & Mallets, Orchestra & Choir, Pop Brass, Ethnic & New Age Ensembles, Synth Basses, Leads & Pads and more.

This is crazy!

When it comes to controlling all that instrumental insanity, you will need a nice MIDI controller. USB MIDI keyboards have built-in MIDI interface so you don’t need additional equipment for connection. Just plug & play-for real! A sound card with 24-bit support and low latency is clearly required. That’s no problem these days, just don’t get the cheapest one.

This is M-Audio Keystation 88es. M-Audio is a very well known brand in the digital music equipment market, recently acquired by Avid.

Anyway, Keystation 88es is an 88 key, semi-weighted USB MIDI controller and it’s about 135 cm long! Almost as wide as a Grand Piano. There are even 25 key controllers but hey, we’re talking about commanding a symphonic orchestra! As the name tells, 88es is a controller, so don’t expect any direct sound from it. It does one thing and does it good; sending velocity-sensitive MIDI signals to your PC. Then, the signals are processed by a VST host program such as Kompakt which comes with Colossus or Steinberg Cubase SX which is the ultimate composer’s tool around.

The keystation 88es is about $200 and one of the best value-for-money MIDI keyboards. The EastWest Colossus pack is about $500 after discount.  The total cost of this set up is only equal to a cheap guitar.

VST instruments are amazing and great fun to play with. A must for the serious composer and capable of turning anyone with some talent into a composer as well. If you’re into making music, try it!

USBcell rechargeable batteries can be used in normal battery applications and recharged simply by plugging into a USB port of a computer. It sounds great and seems to be very useful.

…But look at this photo to see what we actually lose: Battery life! Because of the space the USB connectors take, the battery cells are actually smaller than the standard size. This results in a capacity of only 1200mAh. There are AA sized rechargeable batteries with capacities of up to 2700 mAh or even 3000 mAh which you can recharge with an inexpensive, stand-alone USB battery charger.

We would definitely prefer carrying a small USB charger and high capacity batteries to using a cool-looking but inefficient USBcell. These can still be generously offered as gift to your “non-poweruser” colleagues.

Simple, functional and elegant. Samsung 205BW is there on your desk for one goal; to make you appreciate what you’re doing with your computer with a stunning image sharpness. Thin screen borders, 6ms response time and 1680 x 1050 resolution on this 20″ wide screen monitor are actually the reasons to keep you on your chair longer. Wide-screen is the way to go!

The high quality stainless steel body of the Casio Exilim EX-S770 digital compact camera is available in three colors. Premium silver, graphite blue and blazing red.

Casio Exilim can record 16:9 aspect ratio movies compatible with wide-screen TVs. The Casio S770 also features an electronic anti-shake function that delivers beautiful movies by minimizing blur.

The included Data transport software enables e-mail messages, business documents and Web pages to be easily converted to JPEG format and transferred to the camera.

Features packed into the thin (16.7 mm), credit-card-sized Casio Exilim S770:

• 7.2 Million effective pixels
• 3X Optical zoom
• Super Bright 2.8-inch wide-screen LCD
• Anti Shake DSP for reducing photo blur due to shaky hands or moving subjects
• Best Shot modes with 35 sample images to visually represent the current photo scene

Here is a stylish home-theatre-in-a-box from Philips. The real beauty of Philips HTS9800W home theatre system is it’s unique DVD unit. The box has three 125 Watt front speakers, three wireless rear speakers (two 85 Watt and one 105 Watt) and a 150 Watt subwoofer. The ultra slim flat panel speakers offer natural and crystal clear sound quality with Omni-directional Neodymium Ribbon Tweeters.

The nifty system offers HDMI (High-Definition Multi-media Interface) port and Video Upscaling up to 1080i to increase the resolution of Standard Definition video signals and is fully backward compatible with DVI.

One of the few 6.1-channel home cinema systems offering Dolby Digital EX decoding.

With a price tag of $349, Bose QC3 isn’t cheap but the sound quality, 20 hours of operational battery life and excellent noise cancelling features make it one of the best headphones available.

Bose Quiet-Comfort 3 is considerably smaller than the previous model, QC2. QC 3 is an “on-ear” headphone while Quiet Comfort 2 is an “around-ear” design. So, the main difference of QC3 is it’s small size. No compromises in sound quality.

Adidas has introduced the most advanced shoe ever. Called “adidas_1″, the shoe provides intelligent cushioning by automatically and continuously adjusting itself. It does so by sensing the cushioning level, using a sensor and a magnet. It then understands whether the cushioning level is too soft or too firm via a small (20Mhz) computer. It adapts with a motor-driven cable system to provide the correct cushioning throughout the run.

It works like a human reflex nerve. The nerve is a magnetic sensing system, where the sensor sits just below the runner’s heel and the magnet is placed at the bottom of the midsole. On each impact, this sensor measures the distance from top to bottom of the midsole (accurate to .1 mm) gauging the compression and therefore the amount of cushioning being used. About 1,000 readings per second are taken and relayed to the shoe’s brain.
Underneath the arch is the shoe’s brain, a microprocessor capable of making five million calculations per second. Software written specifically for the shoe compares the compression messages received from the sensor to a preset zone and understands if the shoe is too soft or too firm.

Once it has determined if the cushioning level is appropriate, it sends a command to the shoe’s muscle to make a change.

A motor-driven cable system is the shoe’s muscle. The motor, housed in the midfoot, receives the brain’s instructions and adapts by turning a screw, which lengthens or shortens a cable. This cable is secured to the walls of a plastic cushioning element. When the cable is shortened, the cushioning element is tensed and compresses very little. When the cable is longer, it allows the cushioning element to compress further, making the shoe’s ride softer. A small battery, which is replaceable and lasts for 100 hours of running (the normal life of a shoe), provides the motor’s power. The changes are gradual and happen automatically, so all the runner notices is that the shoe feels right during an entire run.

Adidas_1 comes in 5 different colors for men and women.

Finally, this is the basketball version.