Major TFT 2 Announcement Next Week!

There are tons of us who just can’t wait for Team Fortress 2 so it’s natural to get excited when you come across a message like this:

In other TF2 news, stay tuned for a pretty big announcement next week. You're going to want to hold off on planning any vacations until you hear what we've got to say on Tuesday.

So is this some sort of gameplay announcement or something regarding an open beta? Can’t say as of now but we’ll keep you updated as and when we come across anything ourselves.

Apple Now Offers Music Without DRM

Parts of Apple's online music catalog are now on sale without usage restrictions, according to the company's office in Munich.

Starting immediately, Apple's iTunes Plus will sell songs without digital rights management (DRM) controls. This means that the downloaded music can now be played on any music machine, not just the iPod.

But this freedom comes at a price: a song in AAC format at a data rate of 256 kilobits per second costs 1.29 euros ($1.75). People who are happy to stay with the old system will be able to get their songs for 99 cents at 128 kbit/s.

Apple says the first songs available in the new system will come from the EMI music catalog, which includes songs from Coldplay, Norah Jones and Paul McCartney.

Apple customers who have already bought songs from the EMI catalogue can get an upgrade to DRM-free songs for 30 cents a piece.

Kingfisher to Offer In-flight Internet Access

Kingfisher Airlines has selected OnAir’s services to offer passengers a full range of passenger communication services. Starting in 2008, Kingfisher Airlines’ long-haul passengers will be able to use Webmail OnAir and Webchat OnAir, followed in 2009 by Internet and Mobile OnAir to access the Internet during flights, as well as send and receive emails and make and receive phone calls.

OnAir's services will initially be installed on five new Airbus A330s and five new Airbus A340s, and plans to install the system across its entire long-range fleet. Kingfisher Airlines will use its A330s on routes to Europe and Asia, while the A340s will service longer nonstop flights, such as to the USA.

OnAir is owned by aircraft manufacturer Airbus and SITA, a provider of air transport focused applications, communications and IT infrastructure.

Hitesh Patel, Executive Vice President, Kingfisher Airlines, said, “We pride ourselves on our high levels of service, including state-of-the-art inflight entertainment and Live TV at every seat. Being the first, not just in India but also in the world, to offer our guests all of OnAir’s communications services, is truly a great opportunity.”

Benoit Debains, CEO of OnAir, said, “We are pleased to be selected by Kingfisher airlines, a leading airline in passenger service and comfort. This decision is setting a new standard for air travel in one of the most dynamic regions for air travel and telecommunications.”

The OnAir Internet services enable airlines to increase the value of the experience they offer to passengers. Business travelers can take advantage of flight time to stay in touch with their office, to catch up with email, and to work using their corporate network.

Leisure travelers also have the option of staying in touch by phone, and of checking personal email and chatting with friends and family through the inflight entertainment system.

The service is based on an onboard server, and is connected to the ground infrastructure through SwiftBroadband, Inmarsat’s broadband satellite infrastructure.

Fees will be based on data download for Internet usage, and per flight for webmail and instant messaging, and for Mobile OnAir the cost will be similar to international roaming rates, with passengers being billed by their operator on their regular bill.

Mobifusion Ties Up With Spice Telecom

Mobile content today is about creating content that is informative, referential and educational. This is exactly what Spice Telecom has done in collaboration with Mobifusion.

Mobile content publisher Mobifusion has announced a new partnership with Spice Telecom. Spice’s mobile subscribers will now have access to Mobifusion’s catalog of premium content, which includes titles such as Roget’s Thesaurus, London Guide, The Art of War by Sun Tzu, Sanjeev Kapoor’s Recipes and Everyday Wisdom.

"At Spice, we provide our customers with world-class innovative products and services that are designed for users who expect more from their mobile experience – not just wallpapers, ring tones and games," said Prakash Nanani, CEO of Spice Telecom.

"The Indian telecom industry is going through a boom right now and we wanted to create an experience that is both educational and affordable, and of course mobile," said Prashant Gupta, Managing Director of Mobifusion’s India centre.

Sony To Launch Vaio Laptop For Students

In news that will probably make quite a few students happy, Sony is planning to unveil a new Vaio laptop for them that will sport a new curvy design that makes "a mostly run-of-the-mill machine look a little more interesting".

According to NotebookReview, the new machine, called the VGN-NR11SS, will feature a C2D T5250 processor, 2 GB of RAM, Intel X3100 graphical chipset, 200 GB HDD, 802.11 a/b/g/n Wi-Fi, 4 USB ports, FireWire, VGA out and will use Windows Vista.

B&W Speakers In The New Jaguar

It's the juxtaposition of two top class manufacturers in their own field. Now B&W speakers are going to be available in the new Jaguar XF.

Bowers & Wilkins speakers set out with the aim of providing the best ever audio experience in a car. The company’s audio engineers brought 40 years of experience in providing 'audio standard' systems for professional recording studios worldwide, including London's Abbey Road Studios, to the task.

Traditionally, car designers leave spaces in the car for audio systems to be installed. But Bowers & Wilkins’ audio specialists have worked in partnership with Jaguar’s designers from the early concept stages of the new, eagerly-awaited Jaguar XF to create an audio system which is truly 'designed in' to create the very best quality audio experience. BW_Jaguar_XF_3

Extensive computer analysis and prototype testing over three years provided the ideal layout and locations for the XF’s 14 specially-designed B&W loudspeakers.These speakers make use of the advanced Dolby Pro Logic II 7.1 system to deliver a surround sound experience from any stereo source.

The system’s four metal dome tweeters and high-powered rear-mounted subwoofer are complemented by nine individual Kevlar speakers carefully positioned in the car's interior.

Bang and Olufsen launch New Universal Remote

Bang and Olufsen, commonly known as B&O, can easily be considered one of the most innovative designers in the AV universe. This time they have come out with a remote control that looks wacked-out beyond imagination, called the Beo5.

The Beo5 sports a touchscreen on top and an array of buttons arranged in a circle below. What makes this thing special, besides the obvious design, is that it is fully programmable to your liking. Anything that can be remote controlled is, in theory, compatible with the Beo5.

But honestly, you might want one just to feel like you are conqueror of your domain. No word on release date or pricing yet, but you might want to start saving now.

Reliance to Offer BlackBerry Services in India

Reliance Communications (RCOM) and Research in Motion (RIM), today announced the launch of the innovative BlackBerry wireless solutions for the first time on CDMA network in India. Available across 10,000 towns and 3 lakh villages, this will make it the most widely connected BlackBerry service in the country.

Being the first to launch the BlackBerry 8830 World Edition smartphone in India, Reliance Communication will now be able to provide its customers with the more data-efficient CDMA and GSM network that will also deliver high Internet speed and offer international roaming, enhancing the productivity of both enterprise and professionals on the go. Reliance is well poised to extend business applications through BlackBerry as is.

The BlackBerry 8830 is equipped with a full QWERTY keypad and aside from providing users with high-speed email and messaging capabilities, it’s also equipped with a built-in GPS navigator and trackball (Pearl) navigation feature. It has 64MB of inbuilt memory and provisions for expansion through microSD cards. The 8830 also has a media player for video and audio files, and supports video streaming. Reliance intends to take the BlackBerry solution a step further and provide customers with other solutions such as Internet-based online trading and Bloomberg Anywhere.

On the occasion of the launch, Prakash Bajpai, President, RCOM, said, “As the first player to offer BlackBerry World Edition smartphone in India, we are confident that our network will offer a superior value proposition to professionals on the move. Reliance is committed to provide world class Solutions on BlackBerry Enterprise server and we will take BlackBerry 'BeyondEmail'. Now for the first time in India we are launching BlackBerry service with applications such as Internet-based online trading and Blackberry on prepaid . Many more such solutions will follow suit."

Norm Lo, Vice President, Asia-Pacific, RIM added, “BlackBerry smartphones are designed to provide people with the best integrated mobile experience for email, phone, web browsing and other corporate and personal applications. RIM is very pleased to be working with RCOM to further drive the adoption of BlackBerry smartphones and mobile applications in India.”


Models launched include: BlackBerry Pearl (Rs 24,990), BlackBerry 8703e (Rs 22,990), BlackBerry Curve (Rs 24,990) and BlackBerry 8830 World Edition (Rs 33,990).

The BlackBerry 8830 and 8703e handsets will be available in 16 cities to start with, and will be expanded to other cities in phase II. RCOM has launched BlackBerry Pearl on its GSM network in a phase-wise manner, starting with Indore.