The PlayStation Portable (PSP) will be able to support Wi-Fi telefony. The news says that British Telecommunications PLC (BT) is developing a software-based Internet telephony for PSP. In addition, PSP’s users will enjoy the internet voice and video calls from their devices.

The service will be provided for Europe and possibly Middle East, Africa and Oceania. BT will get the full support of Sony Computer Entertainment Europe Ltd. However, the service could not be functional in Americas or in Asia, because BT and not Sony supports the development.

To perform the voice and video calls, the PSP will need a camera. It already comes with built-in Wi-Fi adapter. PSP doesn’t meet the sales expectations for this year. Thus, Sony is trying to make it more attractive for the markets.

[via Yahoo]

With the new ZEN Wav you can share your music with your friends. It features built-in mini-speakers and comes along with a dock station. Thus, Zen Wav is the perfect mate for a barbecue or when you go to a picnic.

The portable media player has 2GB memory, 1.5″ display and connects via USB cable. Zen Wav has many other utilities. For instance, it can be used as a clock alarm. You stay informed with the preset radio stations. Zen Wav is perfect to carry your favorite ebooks. When you get bored you just need to look for an interesting story. The player supports MP3, WMA, WAV, AVI, JPG media files formats.

The battery life will be more than satisfying because Creative announces around 30 hours of continuous functioning. Zen Wav will be available in Singapore starting from May 25th for $114.

[Credits: Electronista]

Gigabyte Technologies has announced they develop an UMPC which will be launched the next week. There are not too many information about the new device. The U60 model will be powered by a VIA C7-M processor. Gigabyte Technologies is working with the Chunghwa Telecom to offer 3G/3.5G services for the UMPC.

The U60 UMPC is expected in Taiwan on May 22nd. It will be available to the rest of the world in the second half of 2007. Gigabyte will release another UMPC model in the second half of the year, according to SlashGear.

It was time for Memorex to get out of bed and take a look in the market to see that their monochrome displays are not even for our grandparents. Of course not many of our grandparents may not listen to media players while walking in the park but the youngster would need colors. Memorex MMP8640 sounds like a good deal if we think that it has a 1.8-inch QCIF screen display and 4GB capacity that plays MPEG4, MP3, WMA-DRM protected files and displays JPEGs.

MMP8640 has an FM tuner, comes with 100 preloaded songs and has a battery life of 20 hours while playing audio and 2 hours for playing video. Though you may think 4GB is not enough, rest assured because it has a mini-SD slot. Not bad right? No price yet. - ALEX ION
[via ChipChick]

Creative has launched a good competitor for the iPod. It is called Zen Stone. If you take a look, the Stone seems like a replica of the 2G Shuffle iPod. It weights 18.3 grams and is a little heavier than iPod. The 1GB model retails for $40 only.

Zen Stone is available in six colors: black, blue, red, pink, green (they say, because I see it yellow) and white. Creative did a good job. The little gadget could be a serious competitor for the iPod Shuffle. The Stone player supports MP3, WMA, WAV and Audible music formats. The battery goes up to 10 hours of continuous playing. Pre-orders are available at Creative’s website. - MIHNEA BOIANGIU

Reigncom is launching the iRiver B20 for overseas countries. Announced at CES this year, a mix of Clix and DMB, they are ready to provide the best iRiver so far, to the world. It has a 2.4-inch QVGA TFT LCD display for you to watch your MPEG-4 and WMV9 videos at 30 fps or watch your pictures in slideshow. It also has a small internal antenna, FM radio and DAB/DMB.

The weather/traffic information is quite useful if you need them under control and as a plus it has ‘Visual Radio’. They are expecting it in England, France, Swiss, Sweden, Japan, China, Hong-Kong, and Australia in May. Expect to pay US$215 for the 2GB model and US$270 for the 4GB version. Get to take a look at the gallery pictures below. Thanks to AVING USA. - ALEX ION

The gadget was presented at CES, but the manufacturer has recently launched the product in Korea. iRiver T60 is a music player. It supports MP3,OGG, WMA and ASF files formats. Furthermore it features a Radio FM and voice recording options. The tiny screen is only 1.01 inch wide.

The iRiver T60 comes in three colors Black, Light Blue and White. The model has two storage versions: 1GB and 2GB. The prices range from $105 the 1GB model to $140 the 2GB model. - MIHNEA BOIANGIU

[via Akihabaranews]

Clarion Japan has recently launched a new GPS system called Clarion MAX9700DT. The device is special because it offers GPS navigation and entertainment in the same unit. The Clarion MAX9700DT navigator will be available from June at the price of ¥341,250, nearly $2850.

The price would be too much just for a GPS system, but MAX9700DT packs many entertainment features. It has a built-in TV tuner, 40GB HDD and DVD drive. The 1-seg TV tuner broadcasts TV stations for mobile devices. This one is available for all models, but the top ones have a digital tuner to pick up all the free stations in your area.

What could you do with all that entertainment features without a good screen? Clarion MAX9700DT has a 7″widescreen touch LCD display so you won’t have any trouble. In addition the device has a good audio system (5.1) and AM/FM radio.

The GPS module offers the regular 3D street details, but the software can search for shops and stores based on data transmitted on digital TV channels. - MIHNEA BOIANGIU

[via Ubergizmo]

Data Evolution Corporation, a mobile solutions developer, launched an UMPC exclusively for North American market. The Cathena CX UMPC is their new product. The device has a starting price of $800 and it is perfect for business as well as for individual use.

The Cathena CX is powered by an AMD Geode LX800 processor and pre-loaded with Microsoft Windows XP. The notebook uses 512MB SDRAM supporting ram memory up to 1GB. You have three choices for the HDD:40, 80 or 100GB storage. The 7” TFT touch-screen LCD offers 800×480 resolution. Regarding the connectivity, the Cathena CX features 802.11 b/g Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 2.0+ with EDR. A near full size QWERTY keyboard will help you to use easily the office utilities. The Cathena CX UMPC weights approximately two pounds and the dimensions are 8.6×6.4×1 inches. - MIHNEA BOIANGIU

[Product page via Digital Trends]

As a teacher controlling the kids during the exam is a pretty hard thing to do. They are very creative in finding new ways of hiding their notes, that school teachers may not be aware of. Remember banning the baseball caps, because the answers where written under the brim, it looks like the new phenomenon includes media players like iPods or Zunes as a cheating method. If you are familiar with them you will understand that it’s very easy to slip it into your pants and hide the wire under your shirt, the only thing that could give you in being the earbud.

Cheating the exams will NEVER stop, trust me, because even naked the students will find a way to hide their valuable informations. However media players are easy to cheat with. You record your lesson and name it like a popular song on your PMP and then you go to school where you need only a few minutes to start writing from the audio file. Too bad that when I did school we only had to find places to hide our crib notes. Not easy at all.

Mountain View High School was the first to ban the media players in school, when the school’s officials realized students were putting formulas onto their devices. If you think that many teachers from the older generations have a problem with technology (they don’t think of it as useful) it looks like a great way for them to protect the test’s accuracy. The Mountain View HS will not be the only one to take this kind of measures. Schools in Seattle, Wash also have a problem with media players. Similar cases can be found outside the United States, like Canada’s St. Mary’s College where cellphones and PMPs were banned this year or Australia’s University of Tasmania where iPods, electronic dictionary, CD players and spell-checking devices are all prohibited.

Cases at the Duke University in North Carolina that offered free iPods three years ago, part of an experiment to enhance learning, might be reasons for people not trying to cheat, with cheating incidents declining the last 10 years. “As teachers are thinking about how technology has corrupted, they’re also thinking about ways it can be used productively” said Tim Dodd, executive director of The Center for Academic Integrity at Duke University. - ALEX ION