Legislation is going to be drafted and considered in the first months of 2010 by the EU that would limit the volume levels on personal media players to 85dB (they now peak around 120). There are several things they should know.
First, they have better things to do. Second, it’s not their problem. And third, it’s not going to work. → Read More
You’ve got to admit, Microsoft is having a good month. First, they release Windows 7. Now, they hit a rather remarkable milestone of 10 million consoles shipped in Europe. → Read More
Believe it or not, but FIFA 10 isn’t the only soccer game around. In fact, Pro Evolution Soccer 2010 just came out in Europe, and was the top selling game there last week. Not the top selling sports game, but the top selling game overall. Yeah, it’s big. → Read More
So the PS3 Slim was an absolute monster at retail (look at us, using superlative adjectives on a Monday!), selling one million systems since its release. (Keep in mind that’s an old number by now.) How’s the PSP Go doing? It’s doing well, yes, but I don’t think we can call it a monster yet. Sales in the UK were up 120 percent in the week following its launch. We don’t have U.S. numbers yet. Sorry. → Read More
It’s expected that the European Commission will pass legislation that will require manufacturers to include a noise limiter on portable media players. This is being done, of course, because listening to said devices at extraordinarily loud volume levels is quite dangerous; up to 10 percent of users are in danger totally destroying their hearing by keeping the players on too loud. → Read More
Now this is the type of radio a fancy gentleman would use. It’s the latest PURE Sensia, a touchscreen European radio that supports FM, DAB (and DAB+), and Internet radio. There’s also Wi-Fi and “widgets,” I guess, for sites like Facebook and Twitter. → Read More
In a move that should have been done years ago, the top mobile phone suppliers of Europe have all signed an agreement that micro-USB will be the standard phone charging port. Soon consumers will not have to fret over charging cables as all the phones from Nokia, Sony Ericsson, LG, NEC, Qualcomm, Motorola, RIM, Samsung, Texas Instruments, and even Apple sold in Europe will all charge via micro-USB. → Read More
Don’t expect every country in Europe to follow France in implementing a “three strikes” anti-piracy laws. A report called Digital Britain, which assess the UK’s preparedness to enter the digital era, will be published next week, and inside are methods that the UK could use to combat Internet piracy. One such method: slowing down the Internet connection of file-sharers so as to prevent them… → Read More
Another day, another twist in that proposed French anti-piracy law. While the French upper house, the Senate, approved the bill as it was presented earlier today, the lower house, the National Assembly, rejected it. Oh don’t worry, since the Government said it will present a revised edition of the bill that would remove the main clause that upset the National Assembly. → Read More
Social networking site Bebo has made the leap into Europe, teaming with local media partners to gain a foothold in France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the Netherlands — markets in which Facebook, MySpace and Netlog are already active players. AOL’s People Networks division announced yesterday that the site will use IP-based geo-targetting to provide services in the user’s first… → Read More
With a ten-year shelf life the execs at Sony don’t seem too worried about the PS3’s poor showing last year compared to the Xbox 360 and Wii. SCEE head honcho David Reeves sat down with Eurogamer to rap about how well his little toy is doing and what’s next for Sony. Much of this is geared towards the European market but that doesn’t mean we can’t glean some tidbits about the overall… → Read More
Looks like there’s a “best of” Halo Xbox 360 bundle on the way, which coincides with the upcoming Halo Wars. Too bad that it looks to be Europe-only. (It was first found on a Swedish Web site.) That’s how it looks right now, that is. → Read More
Ha! The green-crazy European Union is looking to ban energy inefficient TVs, including large plasmas, in the interest of saving Mother Earth. Nope, not joking. → Read More
We all would have guessed it and now IIEE Spectrum Online has come up with some detailed and up-to-date statistics (from last month): Japan boasts the world’s highest density of robots. → Read More
Oh, Europe. It seems the European Commission is still trying to figure out if it wants to impose a customs duty of up to 14 percent (a tax, essentially) on imported multifunction devices, most notably cellphones. While such a move may be beneficial to European Taxmen, it’s not exactly something that consumers, or non-European manufacturers, want to hear. Reason being, obviously, that… → Read More
Apple is expected to start construction on its first French retail store later this week, to be located in a chic area of Paris. (“A chic area of Paris” is redundant, by the way.) Actually, it’s right by the Louvre, where thousands of plundered ancient treasures are stored for all to see. So that makes five European countries where Apple has at least one retail store: the UK, Germany… → Read More
Those crazy Europeans will be able to buy an XO Laptop, too. Amazon’s Euro stores will sell the little guy for £263 (or €313 or $390). That’s strange, considering the One Laptop Per Child program was initially billed as the $100 laptop. What are you gonna do? The Guardian, home of the Football Weekly podcast, calls the whole program a “flop,” noting that it has fallen well short… → Read More
The European Space Agency has been working on a new re-entry vehicle, but unlike NASA is not interested in a reusable shuttle-like approach. They’re planning on having an “expendable” re-entry vehicle, and although they probably could have chosen their words better, it makes a lot of sense to have parts that can be completely expended during the unbelievably dangerous re-entry… → Read More
This GPS device from Garmin, the Nuvi 510, isn’t intended for your fancy Ford Crown Victoria, but rather your fancy Vespa. (It seems to be Europe-only at the moment, and Barcelona was nothing if not filled with guys on scooters.) That explains the extra large icons, weatherproofing and 8-hour battery life. Like every other in-car (or in-bike, as it were) GPS device, it comes with the… → Read More
Gartner and IDC are reporting that netbooks, those ultralight PCs everyone loves, have taken Europe by storm, hitting about 10 percent of the PC market. These mini-PCs are essentially a brave new world for PC makers who have been facing falling prices, profits, and demand in standard laptops and desktops. Asus and Acer are winning the race and many of the sales come through cellphone suppliers who… → Read More
Not Portuguese children Looks like the Portuguese Ministry of Education kept its promise to deliver a whole bunch of Classmate PCs to students ’round the country. The laptops will only cost students €50, or around $73. Quite the deal, then. Apparently the laptops have been [nick]amed Magalhães. You might better recognize that name in its Anglicized form of Magellan, as in the explorer… → Read More
Time heals all wounds? Not if you’re the Packard Bell brand in America. At the Acer dog and pony show today, the company’s execs went on and on about how its goal of using its three brands—Acer, Gateway and Packard Bell (they said little about eMachines)—makes total sense. Acer for the more high-end computers, and Gateway and Packard Bell for the more entry-level computers. → Read More
I sure hope Nintendo is bringing out these Christmas bundles to clear the channels of remaining stock for the rumored dual touchscreen DS that’s coming out in 2009. Nevertheless, all DS Lite bundles will be available in Europe, but they’ll hit the UK on October 27th. → Read More
So it looks like Midway, the Chicago-based video game publisher, isn’t too pleased with Xbox 360 sales in Europe. Not that the company, by way of vice-president of International Martin Spiess, is ready to pull out of Europe or anything, but that lagging sales in some countries there are “concerning.” Mr. VP notes that Sony and Nintendo seem to have a better grasp of the European market… → Read More
Debuting this week is the Becker GPS unit, the Traffic Assist 100. It has been dubbed ‘Crocodile’, presumably due to its appearance and water resistant nature. Designed for motorcycles, it has maps for 42 countries pre-loaded in 2 GB of embedded flash memory. → Read More
Dammit. Finally the perfect HTC phone for a guy like me and it’s only going to be available in Europe. Who knows, maybe it’ll find its way over here someday. The S740 does NOT have a touchscreen (woo hoo!), has a full, tangible, real QWERTY keyboard (woo hoo!), and a real, big boy 12-key number pad (woo hoo!). Add to that 7.2 Mbps HSDPA data, GPS, 3.2-megapixel camera, microSD expansion (256MB… → Read More
Dammit. Finally the perfect HTC phone for a guy like me and it’s only going to be available in Europe. Who knows, maybe it’ll find its way over here someday. The S740 does NOT have a touchscreen (woo hoo!), has a full, tangible, real QWERTY keyboard (woo hoo!), and a real, big boy 12-key number pad (woo hoo!). Add to that 7.2 Mbps HSDPA data, GPS, 3.2-megapixel camera, microSD expansion (256MB… → Read More
Um, The Pirate Bay will be having a bus tour party this summer in Europe, where you can meet and greet other liked minded miscreants and trade mixtapes, or something. It all sounds very hippie, yes. There’s a tumblr you can follow, too. The party bus’ destination is Bolzano, Italy, where there’s some sort of art-thing. via TorrentFreak → Read More
The one-time darling of the cellphone industry, Motorola will roll out a movie download service in Europe in the coming weeks, launching first today in the UK. The service will have movies for around $12 to $18 a pop, and will have to be sideloaded—you download the movie first on your computer then transfer it to your phone. No over-the-air magic, in other words. So far, Paramount is the… → Read More
Austin, TX
Seattle, WA
San Diego, CA
Menlo Park, CA
Boston, MA
Disrupt Europe: Berlin Hackathon
Berlin, Germany
