Part of its new “Ovi” initiative of online mobile services, Nokia has announced its Music Store service today. Offering up a feature that seems like a perfect (if not obvious) use for HSDPA speeds on handsets, Music Store will offer seamless over-the-air music purchases and downloads directly from handsets combined with automatic two-way synchronization to the host PC. Other features include dynamic music recommendations and a “Mix Me” feature for creating playlists of recommended songs based on genre preferences. The192Kbps (DRM protected, only) WMA tracks will run €1 (about $1.36) with entire albums starting at €10 ($13.66); PC streaming will also be available for €10 a month. Look for it in Europe before the year’s out, expanding to other markets thereafter.
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Yesterday there was Monster Cable’s Speed-Rated HDMI cables and today, Honeywell’s CURxE self-healing cable. Sounds like someone in the marketing department decided that the error correcting built into the HDMI spec wasn’t good ‘nough and told the engineers to incorporate a little chip into the cable. Of course brightly colored LEDs were added to help potential suckers justify the extra expense. The last set of enhanced HDMI equipped with LEDs and “chips” didn’t help the picture at all; it made the picture worse. We don’t know how much these HDMI cables are going to retail for or when they are going to be available but honestly, even if we did, we highly doubt anyone would rush out and pick a set up. We have a bad feeling with CEDIA right around the corner, this is only the beginning of off the wall, greed-driven HDMI marketing.

UPDATE: Link now directs to the offical Honeywell PR - more info to come.

[Via Electronic House]

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The Sony CONNECT music service is closing down in the US and Canada, as Sony is moving to the open Windows Media platform for North America.

This means that pretty soon, you’ll no longer be able to purchase music from this service. The service is scheduled to shut down in March 2008, but Sony is still adding new music to be purchased for the time being. The exact timing of the shut down and the cessation of new music being added has not yet been determined. The ereader integration is still intact and will not be affected by the changes made for Sony Connect.

Unlike Google, Sony is reiterating to its customers that they can still enjoy their music after Sony Connect shuts down, and even tips on how to re-rip songs to convert them into mp3 files. However, any credits you have will need to be used by the time the service closes.

Yahoo Auctions is another service that has recently been shut down. See also: Online Radio Survives: 7 To Try Before It’s Too Late

[via forevergeek]

This might be the last time we report on a Sharp Blu-ray player launch as it will be the fifth announced model (BD-MPC70, BD-HD1000, BD-MPC10, BD-HP1 & BD-HP20S), but yet, where are they? We have yet to see a Sharp Blu-ray player on any shelf — virtual or physical for that matter. CEDIA is next week and an insider is reporting via AVS Forum that a $499 player should drop. Deets are somewhat sketchy, but the good money is on that the player is either going to be the BD-HP20S or something very close to it. This means the unit should be slim with supposedly quick load times, equipped with HDMI 1.3 support; still no word on profile 1.0 or 1.1 though. Hopefully all these details will be cleared up at CEDIA next week, or maybe sooner at IFA, but if this player launches and doesn’t hit the market — we’re done.

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Researchers at University College London look to have taken a slightly unconventional approach in their studies on fear, with the BBC reporting that they’ve crafted a “Pac-Man-like” game that boasts the added risk of electric shock. Apparently, volunteers play the game while an MRI scanner monitors them, moving a blue triangle through a 2D maze while trying to avoid a red dot “predator.” If that dot catches them, they receive an electric shock. As that danger neared , the researchers found that players stopped using their their prefrontal cortex in their forebrain and instead relied on their midbrain area, which controls “gut-level reflexes.” At least that’s what they’re saying. We have a sneaking suspicion it may all just be an elaborate trick the researchers play on freshman students.

[Via The Inquirer]

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

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