Bowers & Wilkins introduces Liberty wireless speaker system
Monday, January 21st, 2008Posted Jan 21st 2008 7:49AM by Darren Murph
Filed under: Home Entertainment
Apparently, Bowers & Wilkins didn’t want the whole world talking at once about its forthcoming Liberty at CES, but regardless, the self-proclaimed “wireless entertainment system” is all out in the open now. Slated to land this fall for a currently undisclosed price, the setup will consist of two XTW 8 towers, a pair of XTW 2 bookshelf units, an XTW Center channel and a PVW 1 subwoofer. Additionally, you’ll find integrated class-D amplifiers and a rather sexy (albeit elusive) control unit, and if that wasn’t enough, it’s also the “first wireless system” capable of transmitting eight channels — 5.1 for one room and two extra channels for remote zones. This system even utilizes “dynamic channel selection,” which enables it to switch frequencies on the fly and choose the least trafficked frequency band to nix delay. Sadly, we’ve no price to share, but we wouldn’t expect it to come cheap by any stretch of the imagination. [Warning: PDF read link]
[Via AudioJunkies]
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If you were expecting anything new from the Apple I must fill you with joy. Finally, the iPhone’s family collection was joined by the new iTouch device. So what if your iPhone is filled with all sorts of great stuff? The iPod touch has more.
We already had a pretty good indication of the specs for HCL’s new low-cost MiLeap X and Y laptops, but those that still haven’t had their curiosity satisfied can now get their fix courtesy of PCLaunches, which has the complete rundown on both systems. As expected the lower-end MiLeap X is Classmate PC through and through, including a 900MHz Celeron M processor, 512MB of RAM, 2GB of flash memory, two USB ports, and the usual 7-inch 800 x 600 display. The more UMPC-like MiLeap Y, on the other hand, boasts an Intel A110 processor, 1GB of RAM, an 80GB hard drive, a 1.3 megapixel webcam and a higher resolution 1024×600 7-inch screen. Still no word on a release date, however, though they sure seem about ready to drop.
Being an HBO subscriber is about to get a lot more appealing, as the Time Warner-owned pay channel giant is set to roll out a new service that allows subscribers to both download select content as well as view live feeds on their PC. “HBO on Broadband,” as the feature is called, will give HBO on Demand customers on Time Warner’s Roadrunner network access to both the live east coast feed along with numerous TV episodes and Hollywood films, although downloads expire after 12 weeks or less, and you can’t natively transfer any of this video swag to a portable device. Mac support is also conspicuously absent here, but seeing how the offer is confined to Time Warner cable and broadband subscribers only in Wisconsin for now, anyway, it’s quite possible that an OS X client (and 64-bit Windows one) will become available as more regions get switched on. [Disclosure: Engadget is part of the Time Warner family]
As Hitachi continues to streamline operations, we get word that it is pulling out of the consumer electronics and whitegoods market in Australia. Announced over the weekend, Hitachi will no longer sell their appliances or flat-panel TVs, camcorders, and other CE-class goods in the land down under. ACs, industrial, and electronic goods will still be available. The move brings along 40 job cuts from its Sydney HQ. Hitachi claims that the Australian market is just too small and too competitive to warrant the effort. A sentiment backed by Sharp Australia’s deputy managing director, Denis Kerr, who claims that Australia is under, “a siege mentality that has forced pricing to ridiculous levels that cannot be sustained.” He surmises that if the trend continues, “Brand names are going to withdraw from the market place.” Of course, all this leaves us wondering… who’s next?
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Fujitsu Limited, which is known for many fine products from laptops to degaussers, is allegedly poised to spin off one business it is not so well known for, its semiconductor division. Both NHK and the Asahi Shimbun are reporting that the Japanese firm will cut loose the organization “in a few months and form a new company by consolidating its chip production bases in Japan.” According to Japan Today, while accounting for 10% of the multinational conglomerate’s sales, the division continues to see heavy losses due to steep development costs, and may eventually have to merge with one of its rivals in order to survive.
It may be exceptionally easy to use, but rolling out Apple’s iTunes movie rental service to Europe will be no easy task. This according to a piece just published by the The New York Times. Despite known collectively as Europe, the EU’s 27 member countries remain a patchwork of convoluted regulatory fragments related to digital media. For example, in The Netherlands, it remains uniquely and ambiguously legal to download, but not upload, copyrighted material. Release schedules also vary widely across Europe — sometimes releasing the same day as in the US or months later. Notably for Apple, a distributor of content must secure individual licenses to films in every country they wish to do business. No easy task given Apple’s rental agreements cover all the major and many smaller studios. This lack of coherence makes a pan-European iTunes rental agreement daunting, to say the least. Fortunately, commissioner Vivian Reding of the European Commission, plans to make a proposal mid-year that would streamline digital commerce efforts across European borders. Remember, Viv is the force responsible for stomping out the EU’s ridiculous roaming rates. In other words, we can expect more than just lip-service in the months ahead. Unfortunately, given Apple’s history of trouble with the EU over pan-European iTunes pricing and DRM, you can bet they’ll tread the EU waters carefully (read: slowly) as they attempt to go live in Europe.
