Samsung's new NV series: Camera stylists

The Korean firm is all big on minimalist, if not uniform, design. Just look at its TVs, MP3 players, and yes, printers. To Samsung, there isn't a need to imagine when it comes to coloring its premium products--black is the new black.

So, few were surprised when Samsung announced that its new NV series of cameras--the NV20, NV15 and NV8--are available in the shade of midnight. And just like how Panasonic like to show off its Leica lens and Sony its Carl Zeiss lineage, Samsung's NV camera series derives part of its bragging rights from its German-made Schneider lens.
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Itsy-bitsy Sony DAV HTIB

Loudspeakers just simply can't get any smaller than this. Measuring 45 x 55 x 40mm and tipping the scale at only 0.07kg, the Sony DAV-IS10's satellite speakers are easily one of the tiniest in the market. You should have little problem installing these which blend effortlessly into any home décor and tight quarters. We reckon you could even conceal the entire kit from your "financial controller". Least he or she gets touchy with yet another of your home A/V purchases.

Though compact in size, this HTIB is built top-down with the latest technological wizardry. For starters, DVD 1080i upscaling and consumer electronics control (a.k.a. Bravia Threater Sync) are catered via onboard HDMI. Software setup is also well taken care of with Digital Cinema Auto Calibration. This guarantees customized configuration which takes into consideration, among others, room acoustics and varying speaker placements for optimized surround sound playback.

Wrapping it up is a proprietary Digital Media Port offering several upgrade options to suit different user needs. These include a Bluetooth adapter to stream music wirelessly from compatible devices such as a VAIO laptop and docking station to pipe audio directly from Sony's Walkman-series MP3 players. The Sony DAV-IS10 and USB dock are now available in Singapore at S$1,299 (US$955.15) and S$199 (US$146.32), respectively. Pricing and availability for the rest of Asia were not available at press time. More on the product here.

That last sprint to hell, ah, IFA

BERLIN, GERMANY--Finally, IFA begins tomorrow and it has certainly been an exciting start… Of The Amazing Race caliber. Only yours truly didn't have US$1 million waiting at the end of the race, unlike our blogger who'd won a free ride and pass to both IFA and the Pink concert taking place in Berlin August 30.

At the top of the list was the fact that this reporter almost didn't make it to the land of bratwurst and beer. All no thanks to the extremely tight connecting flight, delays to the first leg of the journey, and a horrendous queue snaking through the security checks at Frankfurt Airport. So what's a good fella supposed to do? Run, run like hell. Just like those poor sods seen scuttling through checkpoints and airports in The Amazing Race.

We'll spare you the unprintables here, but if this brave reporter had taken part in the reality TV show, not to be modest, but yours truly would have had a damn good chance of winning the prize pot. Yes, we made it to our connecting flight, within a 20-minute window, by the skin of our teeth. And, yes, we're finally here in Berlin for the world's largest consumer electronics trade show kicking off tomorrow.

So bookmark this page for the latest and hottest gadgets at IFA which we'll be bringing you, along with blog updates from our guest blogger Eunice Lim. For now, sorry, you'll get no tales of late-night brewskies and hangovers. We'll be popping Brand's Essence of Chicken cordyceps to prep for the crazy rounds at the fair tomorrow. Guten nacht, mein freunds!

New Nikons… finally

Right on the back of Casio's camera launch, Nikon bursts out with eight new cameras.

Most of the shooters are updates to existing products, including the wireless-enabled Coolpix S51c (successor to the S50c) which now incorporates a more advanced Internet photo upload service called "my Picturetown". A Nikon representative told CNET Asia that the new service can be configured to sync with a specific Flickr folder as well.

Besides the S51c and its unwired counterpart (the S51), there are also new budget models (L14 and L15) and a new category--the Coolpix S700. Nikon says this is upcoming stylish camera will be targeted at PMEBs (professionals, managers, executives and businessmen) above age 25.

See video of Coolpix P5100

               

Nokia shows us the door

Mobile phone giant Nokia has announced Ovi, a platform for its trio of Internet services. Ovi means door in Finnish, representing its purpose as a gateway to Nokia's new music store, maps and N-Gage services.

Ovi will go live during the fourth quarter of 2007 in English, and Nokia expects to launch it in other languages in the first half of 2008. Of the three services that will be available, the Nokia Music Store is the only completely new item. The other two, N-Gage and Nokia Maps, have existed in other forms within the company's portfolio previously, though they will now come with an online element.

According to Nokia, there will be tracks for sale at its music store from Universal Music Group which represents many popular artists like Def Leppard, Luciano Pavarotti and U2. Other yet unnamed labels have also signed on, and the company said there will be millions of tracks available for sale after its launch.

Currently, the dominant force in online music sales is Apple's iTunes Music Store. The iTunes application sells music, videos and games for iPods. Nokia's range of services with Ovi is very similar, though its N-Gage service seems to be a much more important part of Ovi than iPod games are to iTunes. An important aspect of Nokia's Music Store is that it can be accessed from a mobile phone. Tracks can be bought over the cellular network, which is still something that can't be done using Apple's iPhone for iTunes purchase.

The N-Gage was Nokia's range of gaming phones which discontinued in late 2005. The name is now used for its new gaming service which will serve up games for various Nokia Series 60 handsets. The N81, also announced today, is one such mobile phone designed to improve the gaming experience with its button orientation. More on the new N-Gage here.

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