The Demo Site

The Swedish manufacturer of carrying cases for portable electronics, Krusell, has released their "Top 10"-list for June 2007. The list is based upon the number of pieces of model specific mobile and smart phone cases that have been ordered from Krusell during June 2007. Krusell's list is unique due to the fact that it reflects the sales of phones on six continents and in more than 50 countries around the globe.

1. (2) Sony Ericsson K790i/K800i/K810i
2. (4) Nokia 6300
3. (2.) Nokia N95
4. (3) Nokia N73
5. (5) Blackberry Pearl 8100 C/G/V
6. (8) Sony Ericsson K750i/D750i/W800i
7. (6) Sony Ericsson W810/800
8. (9.) Sony Ericsson W880i
9. (-) Nokia 6233/6234
10. (7) Motorola Razr V3

() = Last month's position.

"Sony Ericsson's successor to the best-seller K800, the newly launched K810i has brought the case for K800-series back to the number one position at Krusell's Top-10 list for June. However Sony Ericsson is closely followed by several strong products from Nokia like N95 and 6300," says Ulf Sandberg CEO at Krusell International.

Source: cellular-news.com

LONDON (Reuters) - Flat-screen televisions, computers and other hi-tech gadgets will use nearly half of a typical British household's total electricity by 2020, an energy conservation body said in a report on Wednesday.

Britain's Energy Saving Trust (EST) said consumer electronics will overtake kitchen appliances and lighting as the biggest single drain on domestic power.

Its report, "The Ampere Strikes Back," said new devices are often more power-hungry than earlier models and many are left on standby rather than being switched off. Some don't even have an "off" button.

"Not only are there many more devices in the typical home, but many of them are in a permanent state of readiness to swing into action," the report says.

In 1982, only three percent of homes had a personal computer compared to 60 percent today. Similarly, printer ownership has shot up to 58 percent from 0.7 percent.

Houses often have more than one TV and people are buying more large screen sets that use more energy, the report says.

By 2020, televisions on standby will consume 1.4 percent of all domestic electricity, the report predicts.

Despite attempts by some manufacturers to make more energy-efficient products, some digital radios still use four times as much power as analogue sets, the report says.

The growth of single person households -- many with big TVs, set-top boxes, computers, games consoles, TV and music recorders and digital radios -- will add to the higher energy consumption.

The trust said households could save 37 pounds a year on their energy bill by switching devices off at the wall.

"Think about how you are using appliances and turn equipment off when not needed as well as rein in the impulse to hoard equipment that has already been replaced," said EST Chief Executive Philip Sellwood.

The EST was set up by the government in 1993 to promote energy conservation to help cut greenhouse gas emissions and tackle climate change.

By Peter Griffiths

July 03, 2007 (IDG News Service) -- Efforts to unlock Apple Inc.'s iPhone continued on Monday, with hackers claiming "very significant progress."

The locked iPhone works only with AT&T Inc.'s EDGE network, and cannot be used with cellular service from other providers. Locked phones are generally used to help operators recoup the cost of subsidizing handsets for their customers, but AT&T is not subsidizing the iPhone, which is priced at either $499 or $599, depending on the model. Instead, the phone is locked because AT&T has a five-year agreement with Apple to be the sole iPhone provider in the U.S.

Unlocking the iPhone would be a boon for users locked into a contract with another U.S. carrier, or for users outside the U.S. who want an iPhone. While initial signs indicate an unlocked iPhone is possible, hackers must first overcome several challenges. One of those involves circumventing the authentication process in iTunes that both lets users register for an AT&T service plan and turn on the phone's features, including its camera and music player.

By Monday evening, U.S. time, hackers had made headway toward circumventing the activation process. But the phone remained locked at the time of writing.

"We have been fairly successful in spoofing iTunes activation processes. This should allow us to activate the phone," poster gj wrote on the iPhone Dev Wiki, one of several Web sites tracking efforts to unlock the phone. "It may in fact also prevent the SIM locking from occurring in the first place ... though we haven't verified this yet."

These advances allowed hackers to set and read data on the iPhone, including the ability to query whether a phone has been activated. "The rest of our work is legwork really, in understanding how certain functions operate with the rest of the phone," the site said, adding hackers are close to the ability to browse system files on the iPhone, a key step toward unlocking the handset.

Once the activation problem has been overcome, hackers will be faced with other questions. For instance, does iTunes have the ability to recognize a phone that was not activated for use with the AT&T network? If so, how will iTunes react?

After these questions are resolved, hackers can focus on unlocking the handset itself. That task is made easier by the iPhone's use of a removable SIM (Subscriber Identity Module), a smart card that contains a user's phone number as well as storage space for contacts and messages, instead of one that was hardwired into the phone. The use of a removable SIM card means the iPhone is locked using its firmware, which can likely be cracked.

While hackers race ahead to unlock the iPhone as quickly as possible, iPhone Dev Wiki poster gj criticized those hackers competing against each other to unlock the phone, saying the lack of cooperation had slowed progress.

"I can't emphasize enough how much this s*** stinks. Trust me, your ego is not as important as you think it is. If everyone worked together we would have been done by now, but instead we have a******* all over the world trying to 'beat us to the punch,'" the poster wrote.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Apple Inc. (AAPL.O: Quote, Profile, Research) sold about 525,000 iPhones at Apple and AT&T Inc. (T.N: Quote, Profile, Research) stores in the first weekend since its June 29 launch, the Los Angeles Times reported on Monday, citing an analyst.

Half of the Apple stores on the U.S. West Coast sold out of the devices on the first day, the report said, citing analyst Trip Chowdhry of Global Equities Research in San Francisco.

Chowdhry could not immediately be reached for comment. Apple and AT&T were not immediately available.

Piper Jaffray also estimated first-weekend sales of the iPhone at about 500,000, according to cnet.com.

The iPhone, which combines a phone, Web browser and a music player, went on sale on Friday. About 2 percent of buyers have experienced delays in activating their service, a source said on Sunday.

© Reuters 2007. All rights reserved.

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Many people who lined up to be the first buyers of Apple Inc.'s iPhone made good on promises to try to flip the gadgets online at inflated prices, but a quick buck appeared out of reach for many.

Auction Web site eBay had more than 400 listings for iPhones just two hours after the combination cell phone, Web browser and music and video player went on sale on the U.S. East Coast.

But the vast majority of offers failed to attract even a single bid, and many of those that had were not yet above the list prices.

A handful of offers did draw enthusiastic bidding. One eBay auction had attracted 35 bids and a leading offer of $1,520. Another was up to $960 with 25 bids.

The iPhone is available at Apple and AT&T stores in two models costing $500 and $600 depending on whether it has 4 or 8 gigabytes of memory. It requires a service contract from AT&T Inc. that runs at least $1,400 over two years.

Online classifieds site Craigslist had 404 iPhone listings for New York City, with most seeking about $1,000 and one optimist wanting $10,000 from "collectors only".

© Reuters 2007. All rights reserved.

You may have already heard about the new Apple iPhone but do you know all the important and interesting features that are sure to make you want to be the first in line to purchase one. In fact the iPhone has been in development for the past two years. The complete version comes with a combination of a wide screen iPod, Internet communications device with desktop capabilities, as well as a mobile phone with texting.

When it is released on June 29th, the iPhone will be offered exclusively through AT&T Wireless. You can only purchase the iPhone with a two year service agreement, and it will run you $499 for a 4GB version, and $599 for the 8GB version. Sounds expensive at first but when you think about the costs of a video iPod which is around $350 then the price doesn't seem unreasonable. Look online for more iPhone features, specs, and photos.

The iPhone is truly unique because it runs on the MAC OS X operating system which makes it easy for users to seamlessly sync data from a MAC or PC. The Apple iPhone will also have complete iTunes integration giving you the ability to retrieve videos, music, and movies. The iPhone also uses Wi-Fi and EDGE to connect you to the Internet. An iPhone user will also have the ability to search and view standard web sites, view HTML Emails, and even get directions with Google Maps. No more getting lost as long as you have your phone on you.

The iPhone is operating by using the multi-touch technology where the user controls the device by sliding their finger across the touch sensitive screen that is a nice 3.5 inches. The iPhone has an amazing quality display that has a resolution of 320 by 480 pixels at 160 pixels-per-inch. The iPhone is only a mere 11.6 mm thick and weighs only 4.8 ounces.

Another neat and extremely useful feature is the iPhone's visual voice mail which shows your voice mail as if they were Emails. This means you have the ability to scroll through a list of voice mails to find the one you want, rather than being forced to listen to every message. You can also use the helpful conference call feature which lets the user connect to two calls at once with one easy to use control. With the iPhone text messaging is made easier with the helpful touch screen key board. This keyboard is advanced enough to predict commonly used word which helps the user avoid commonly misspelled words. There is also a spell check if you want to be sure you haven't misspelled anything.

The iPhone also has three advanced sensors including the proximity sensor which automatically switches from the display and touch screen when the phone is being placed near an ear. The accelerometer sensor has the amazing ability to detect when the user rotates their iPhone from portrait to landscape, and automatically changes the contents of the display as needed. This sensor also allows the users to see the entire width of a web page or photo.

Author: Michael Ferrerya

Having an international cell phone with you while traveling abroad can make things much easier — you can be instantly contactable, either with the folks back home, or to deal with your trip plans and reservations as you travel.

However, if you research on the Internet it can be a little overwhelming with the different options available.

In truth you really only have 3 main options with international cell phones, and the major factor that will affect your decision is whether you want the easiest and most convenient option, or the option that has the cheapest call rates, because you can only have one or the other.

1. Check if you can use your own cell phone

If you have the right type of cell phone, you may be able to use it when you travel abroad. If you are unsure then your carrier should be able to tell you. The advantage of taking your own cell phone is that you will keep your own number so it will be easy for friends to call you. However, using your own cell phone can be more expensive due to roaming charges (the extra charge added for routing the call abroad).

Conclusion — potentially this offers the greatest convenience but be prepared that your calls will cost you more. The most likely outcome will be that your carrier does not offer an international service, or if they do, you do not own the right type of handset.

2. Rent an international cell phone

If you cannot use your own cell phone abroad then you can rent an international cell phone that will work, just for the period of your trip. The cost of the calls will vary, depending on what type of SIM card the rental phone uses. If it uses a global SIM card then your calls will be higher priced, but if you are traveling to a number of countries you will keep the same number. If it uses a local SIM card your calls will be cheaper, but you will need a different local SIM card for each country you plan to visit.

Conclusion — rental sounds like a good idea, but you can now buy your own second cell phone, just for traveling, for the same price as one or two weeks' rental charges, so that might be a more cost efficient option for you.

3. Buy your own international cell phone

The cost to buy your own second cell phone, just for international travel, has now come within the reach of all travelers. As with renting an international cell phone, the cost of your calls will depend on what type of SIM card your phone uses. If you use a global SIM card, you will keep the same number in every country but your call charges will be a little higher. If you use local SIM cards you will get cheaper calls but have to buy a different one for each country you visit in the future — this can start to get expensive if you are a frequent traveler.

Conclusion — If you cannot use your own cell phone, buying a second one is generally more cost effective than renting every time. If you want a system that is easy to use then a global SIM card will be the best for you. If you bottom line is cheaper calls, and you are happy to put in a bit of effort to get them, then buy and phone and use local SIM cards (but don't overlook the cost to buy each individual SIM card when you do your price analysis).

Author: Michael Furniss