BostonPocketPC

Early pictures leaked on the web about this and we were told some tidbits at CES 2008, but couldn't disclose until now. The folks at Aliph working off a ton of feedback from users and designers have improved on the popular Jawbone headset making the New Jawbone smaller (less than half the size of the original), more comfortable to wear, charge faster, a new leather wrap for the piece that wraps around the ear, all while improving on the sound clarity. The best news is that it is available now exclusively at AT&T retail stores and Jawbone.com for $129. It like its predecessor comes in a variety of colors like gold(goldy lips), black(blah,blah black), and silver(silver tongue). I think I now know what I want for Father's Day.

Here is the official press release:

SAN FRANCISCO, CA – May 15, 2008 – Aliph, the established market leader in noise eliminating Bluetooth® headsets, today introduced the new Jawbone® Bluetooth headset. In the tradition of bringing together science and beauty, the new Jawbone design is 50% smaller than the original award-winning Jawbone, and features breakthrough noise elimination technology to provide even better voice quality than the original in a smaller and more ergonomic package. It is available today exclusively at AT&T retail stores and at www.jawbone.com or www.wireless.att.com.

Bluetooth headset shipments are predicted to top 120 million units worldwide in 2009. With over 60% of new phones in North America shipping with Bluetooth, and hands-free driving legislation in effect in five states and the District of Columbia by July 1st, the new Jawbone combines unparalleled form and function just in time to appeal to a broad and growing consumer audience.

The Best Just Got Better

The new Jawbone headset is the next step in the marriage of best in class noise elimination science with a personal design that is both humanistic and minimal. The new Jawbone features military-grade NoiseAssassin technology, which is unmatched in its ability to address real-world noise environments like busy streets, and cars and airports, and has ten times better voice clarity than competing headsets – meaning it transmits 90% less noise.

Jawbone’s NoiseAssassin technology literally feels your speech with its patented Voice Activity Sensor (VAS). The Jawbone headset uses the VAS to distinguish the sound of your voice from ambient noise with incredible accuracy and then uses proprietary Digital Signal Processing (DSP) algorithms to subtract the noise so only the sound of your voice comes through.

The NoiseAssassin technology was originally developed by Aliph for DARPA (The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency), which creates and delivers breakthrough technology for the U.S. military. It is tested and designed to work in the toughest, most inhospitable terrain, when clear communication is critical, which means for the average user it is designed to perform everywhere.

The new Jawbone headset is designed to be simple to use. Two streamlined buttons are operated by touching the outside shield, and they control all the functions of the headset, which is extremely lightweight at just 10 grams.

“In creating the new Jawbone we focused on improving our audio performance beyond the market-leading noise solution that we already had, and elevating the design to a point where it would appeal to a broad range of consumers who would love to wear it,” said Hosain Rahman, CEO and co-founder of Aliph. “Jawbone provides amazing audio quality in a form factor that is a true lifestyle accessory – it’s a new and complete departure from the typical gadgetry of the Bluetooth category.”

“When Aliph and AT&T launched the original Jawbone, a new standard was set for voice quality and design in Bluetooth headsets,” said Carlton Hill, vice president of Product Management, Voice Products and Affiliate Marketing for AT&T’s wireless unit. “Given the market response to the original Jawbone, we are thrilled to work with Aliph again to launch the new Jawbone – which once again promises to be one of the most innovative headsets in the marketplace.”

It’s Not a Headset – it’s Earwear

The new Jawbone is designed to look and feel like an accessory along the lines of jewelry and eyewear. “If it’s not beautiful, it doesn’t belong on your face,” said renowned industrial designer Yves Behar, chief designer of the Jawbone headset.

Made with premium materials, including medical grade plastic with better cosmetic and health performance, the expressive aesthetic confers a premium visual and ergonomic experience. The new Jawbone provides a more comfortable and customized fit with three sizes of earbuds and four earloops that can be worn on either ear – two sizes of soft, stitched leather earloops and two sizes of slim earloops, ideal for use with eyeglasses.

Availability and Pricing

The new Jawbone is available today for $129.99 at AT&T retail stores nationwide and online at www.jawbone.com and www.wireless.att.com. Available initially in matte black, it will be coming soon in silver and rose gold.

The New Jawbone

Compatible with all Bluetooth-enabled phones, the new Jawbone supports more than four hours of talk time and eight days of standby time. Featuring a new fast-charge battery that charges up to 80% of capacity in just over half an hour, the new Jawbone can be charged with the included USB cable on a computer, or with the wall-charger.

Price: $129.99

Weight: 10 grams

Talk Time: Over 4 hours

Standby Time: Over 8 days

Range: Up to 33 feet (10 meters)

Charge: 80% charge in 35 minutes, 100% charge in < 1 hour

Colors: Black ? Silver ? Rose Gold

Supports Bluetooth® 1.1, 1.2, and 2.0

Additional Information

o 50% smaller than the original Jawbone

o Military-grade noise elimination technology

o Ten times better voice clarity than competing headsets – meaning it transmits 90% less noise

o Faster processing eliminates unexpected noise bursts

o Unmatched intelligibility — voices sound human, not robotic

o Sophisticated dual microphone array reduces wind noise

o Invisible touch controls

o Three-dimensional texture on shield inspired by noise abatement surfaces

o Premium materials including medical-grade plastic and fine leather

o Magnetic USB cable & wall charger included

o Three (3) earbuds — small, medium, and large

o Two (2) fine leather earloops — medium and large

o Two (2) slim earloops ideal for use with eyewear — medium and large

o Fits either ear

Jake Ludington at www.mediablab.com  has posted up the details of his contest to win an HP HDX Dragon Entertainment Notebook in Day 14 of the 31 Days of the Dragon.

Here are the details of the contest:

"How can I get an HP HDX Dragon for free?"

I haven't actually received that question from any readers (yet), but I'm offering a preemptive answer here because I'm sure you'd love to find out how you could get one of these sweet machines. If you've been following along on my blog, I've posted updates on each of the participants in the 31 Days of the Dragon giveaway to date. Today's the day I'm going to share the rules for my giveaway.

I'm keeping it simple, you simply need to share your opinion on the best Windows freeware in a series of categories, as well as provide a valid name and email address. A random winner shall be picked from everyone who submits valid answers to the survey. Your pick in each of the categories must be a verifiable spyware-free no-cost software application, so be sure you spell the software's name correctly. The winner will be posted to my blog at approximately 11 pm Pacific on 2008 May 22. You are welcome to enter from any country HP is legally allowed to ship to. All fields in the survey are required.

To find out the next contest tomorrow head here or over to www.last100.com.

Remember There are 6 more chances to win one of these fabulous laptops from thedigitallifestyle.com, DigitalHomeThoughts.com, Windows-now.com,  WindowsConnected.com, Geekstop, and bink.nu 

Good Luck!

The folks at bink.nu  have posted up the details of their contest to win an HP HDX Dragon Entertainment Notebook in Day 13 of the 31 Days of the Dragon.

Here are the details of their contest:

Today is the day! The HP Dragon Competition has started on Bink.nu!

So what do you have to do to get a chance to win the HP Dragon?

First of all you have to be a member of Bink.nu, if you are not a member yet, sign-up here.

What product manager of Microsoft would you like Bink.nu to do an interview with?

Why this product manager?

Also include two realistic questions you would like asked?

No executives like Bill Gates, Ballmer, ext...

You can browse the categories/tags to get an idea of Microsoft products, because there are a lot!

Send your ideas/questions to bink@vista.aero before May 20th, signed with your bink.nu ID!!
On May 20th I'll post the best 3 and then Bink.nu visitors can vote for the best questions.
On May 21st 21:00 GMT+1 the votes will be counted.
Soon after that the winner will be announced!!

This is an international competition, so all countries can participate (it is not limited to the US or EU), customs and taxes will all be taken care of when this HP is shipped via FedEx to the winner.

Good Luck, may the best Bink.nu member win! Oh and of course I'll do my upper most best to get that interview and those questions answered!

To find out the next contest tomorrow head here or over to www.mediablab.com.

There are 6 more chances to win one of these fabulous laptops from The-Gadgeteer.com, thedigitallifestyle.com, DigitalHomeThoughts.com, Windows-now.com,  WindowsConnected.com, and Geekstop.

Well, we have a winner of the HP HDX Dragon Entertainment Notebook in the 31 Days of the HP Dragon Giveaway. It is Finalist #9 - Duane Laflotte who garnished the most votes in a very tight race between all 9 finalists.

Duane will be receiving the fully loaded HP HDX Dragon sent to him along with some pretty cool Software: Microsoft Office Professional 2007, Corel PaintShop Pro X2, Corel Painter Essentials, Corel Ulead Video Studio Plus  11.5, Symantec Norton Internet Security 2008; some cool Games for Windows: Viva Piñata, Microsoft Flight Sim, Microsoft Flight Sim Expansion Pack, and Gears of War; and BluRay movies -Pirates of the Caribbean - The Curse of the Black Pearl, Pirates of the Caribbean - Dead Man's Chest and Pirates of the Caribbean - At World's End.

From the hundreds that voted, these are the winners that were picked by Randomizer.org:

Pam Trader wins the Oakley Vertical Computer bag

Timothy Hays wins a copy of Gears of War for the Xbox 360.

Thomas Berney wins the Maxtor One Touch 4 Mini 2.5" 160GB portable hard drive

Mark “Sumocat” Sumimoto has won an Honorary mention award, that kept us laughing through the night as we looked over all the entries to the contest. Here is his entry, which would have made it to the finalists if had a picture of his gear:

My current gadget bag is the Monster 3000 backpack for extreme hiking. It’s loaded with an Alienware ALX Crossfire desktop (fully loaded with 3.0 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo Extreme processor, two 500GB 7200rpm SATA hard drives, 4 GB of ram, ATI Radeon graphics card, and HD-DVD drive), 42” Phillips LCD HDTV (1080p of course) with 5.1 surround sound speakers, Microsoft 8000 Bluetooth entertainment keyboard and mouse, and a stack of ten Electrovaya 130 Powerpads for mobile computing, plus all the requisite cords and cables. It’s been working out great, but I really need to upgrade now that Blu-Ray won the high-def war, hence I am interested in the Blu-Ray equipped Dragon. I believe it will provide a similar portable computing experience, and hopefully I will adjust to carrying the lighter load.

Actually, my previous gadget bag was quite light. It’s an Incase sling pack (first generation). Designed for Macbooks, but it fit my Toshiba R25 Tablet PC in the dedicated padded pocket quite nicely. Along with my tablet, I packed a spare stylus (Wacom eraser pen), Targus podium coolpad, my old battery as a spare, and of course, the AC adapter. In the interior zipper pocket, I kept a D-Link USB Bluetooth adapter, spare 1GB SD card, SDHC USB adapter (a 4GB Sandisk SDHC Extreme II card sits in my tablet’s memory card slot), USB adapter for a presentation remote control that fits and sits in the PC card slot, and my Cellink Bluetooth stereo headset and 3.5 audio adapter. It also holds a crappy little mobile phone in the zipper pocket at the bottom of the strap. I used to carry my Casio EX-S500 digital camera in my bag until it broke (Hence, I am unfortunately without a quality camera at the moment and unable to provide a photo of my “previous” gadget bag). Hope one or both bags make it into the running!

Mark for his hard work and his grand effort in making us laugh will be getting a Pantone Huey to help calibrate his displays. :)

All Winners will need to send an email to dragoncontest@bostonpocketpc.com with your current shipping address and phone number for you to receive your prizes! Duane since you live in the United States a 1099 form will also be sent to you and all taxes will be reimbursed by Buzz Corps and HP, who we would like to thank again for helping us put on this contest.

To all our winners, Congratulations!

Wow, TeleAtlas had TomTom (who also had their own large booth) as well as other partners (click the link its a pretty long list) in their huge booth at both CES and recently at CTIA and I am wondering what this effect will have on the whole GPS industry with the only other main provider of maps NAVTEQ (which is in the process of being bought out by Nokia) providing competition and as an alternative if TomTom buys out TeleAtlas. Hopefully we will be seeing some cool new 3D mapping on newer TomTom units as well, maybe it will be under www.tomtomsecrets.com and TeleAtlas will leverage some of the user updates that comes from TomTom MapShare. This could be a great win-win for the consumer.

Here are the details:

This is a joint announcement of TomTom N.V.("TomTom") and Tele Atlas N.V. ("Tele Atlas") which is required pursuant to the provisions of section 9b paragraph 1 of the Dutch Securities Markets Supervision Decree 1995 (Besluit toezicht effectenverkeer 1995) in connection with the recommended public offer by TomTom for all outstanding ordinary shares with a nominal value of EUR 0.10 each (the "Shares"; holders of such Shares being referred to as "Shareholders") in the share capital of Tele Atlas (the "Offer"). This announcement and related materials do not constitute an offer to purchase nor a solicitation of an offer to sell shares. Any offer will be made only by means of the Offer Memorandum as defined below. Not for release, distribution or publication, in whole or in part to Australia, Canada, Italy or Japan.

Amsterdam, 14 May 2008 - TomTom N.V. ("TomTom" or the "Offeror") and Tele Atlas N.V. ("Tele Atlas") hereby jointly announce that they have received unconditional clearance from the European Commission for the proposed acquisition by TomTom of Tele Atlas. The ruling of the EC is the best possible outcome for TomTom and Tele Atlas allowing the new combination to go ahead with the full execution of its strategy. Clearance from the US authorities was received in October 2007.

The combination will create new technologies for interactive map creation, enrichment and maintenance. TomTom Map Share(TM) enables TomTom's installed base of nearly 20 million to contribute to digital map creation and maintenance. TomTom IQ Routes(TM) adds to the map routing information based on the actual speeds driven on roads, which may differ for the time of the day, day of the week, or season in the year. TomTom HD Traffic(TM) real time information can be overlaid on map data to further enhance the quality of routing and traffic information.

Additional incremental data from TomTom will allow Tele Atlas to introduce new features such as more frequent map updates. Superior, cost efficiently created content will enable Tele Atlas to further strengthen its market position in the rapidly growing worldwide market for digital maps and to grow its addressable market by investing cost synergies in increasing global coverage.

The end result - better maps produced more efficiently and updated more frequently - will benefit all current and future customers of Tele Atlas. Tele Atlas customers' relationship with the company will remain exactly the same. All Tele Atlas customers, including TomTom, will have access to the same higher quality maps, at the same time and will pay a comparable price. Customers' confidentiality will be safeguarded and will never be at risk.

Acceptance Period

The acceptance period under the Offer which began at 9:00 hours, Amsterdam time (3:00 hours, New York time), on 19 November 2007 will end at 15:00 hours, Amsterdam time (9:00 hours, New York time), on 30 May 2008 (the "Current Acceptance Closing Date").

Garmin also a partner tried in the past to purchase TeleAtlas for a much lower price, so we will see what happens with the partners since partner licensing is a great revenue stream, but I think it will move forward.

VITO Technology just  released a new version of ZoomBoard with a new skin. New ZoomBoard supports 2 skins: black HTC Touch style and bright skin with grey and blue colors.

New ZoomBoard allows for quick and accurate typing and can satisfy even very squeamish users' demands with 3 different types of zooming: full zoom, lens zoom, float zoom. Now even more freedom for our users. You can change the color of your keyboard to suit your mood. Use either black stylish interface or bright-colored blue skin. The new black skin looks great on HTC Touch devices.

ZoomBoard is available for $14.95 at http://iwindowsmobile.com. 

To download a tria lof Zoom board head here.

Otter Products, LLC.  has come out with a new protective case for UMPC's with the OtterBox 1990 a sleek, stylish, semi-rugged case designed specifically to protect the Samsung Q1 Ultra and Q1 Ultra Premium UMPCs from Samsung Electronics America, Inc. As part of the Defender™ Series line, the 1990 safeguards from drops, bumps and scratches while still allowing complete interaction with all navigation keys, I/O ports, camera and webcam right through the case. Ultra-mobile enthusiasts and businesses employing ultra-mobile product solutions now have even more mobility!

The OtterBox 1990 maintains the small form factor of the UMPC while still providing three durable layers of protection:

• Layer 1: Thermal formed protective clear membrane slides on to safeguard screen and keys from scratches, dirt and dust* (layer optional depending on the level of ruggedization desired)
• Layer 2: Hi-impact polycarbonate shell snaps together over the device
• Layer 3: Silicone skin wraps over the case to provide additional protection from bump and shock

“Mobility without compromising device ruggedness is everything and the OtterBox 1990 allows Q1 Ultra and Q1 Ultra Premium users even more convenience on the go,” said Curt Richardson CEO of Otter Products, LLC. “The case provides protection from drops and scratches and offers a sense of security so people can truly work anywhere like on the airplane, in a cab, while waiting in line or rushing to a big presentation.”

“Additionally, the OtterBox 1990 is ideal for those vertical market applications that require additional protection. These applications include healthcare, repair and maintenance workers, hospitality, inventory management, sales automation, education, construction, field research, real estate, insurance adjusters and others.”

Engineered with convenience in mind, the OtterBox 1990 case offers an interchangeable hand strap on the back that can be switched to the right or left side depending on the user. Additional carrying options consist of the Samsung wrist lanyard (included with Q1 Ultra and Q1 Ultra Premium UMPCs) or OtterBox offers an optional shoulder strap kit.

Colors:

• Layer 2: black and yellow
• Layer 3: black
• Belt Clip: black

• 9.5 x 5.4 x1.9

• 11.5oz

Suggested MSRP is $79.99.

For more information head to Otterbox here.

Hey its time to stop over to Geekstop, they had posted up the details of their contest a week ago, but today their contest to win an HP HDX Dragon Entertainment Notebook in Day 12 of the 31 Days of the Dragon is now live.

Here are the rules to the contest:

Contest Overview

Simply print the Geeks to Go logo. Take a picture or video of it. Reply in the contest submission forum topic (free registration required) with your picture or video. From the pool of contestants who properly enter the logo competition, a random entry will be chosen as the Grand Prize, HP “Dragon” notebook winner… In addition, the entries judged as the Most Creative Photo and Most Creative Video will be awarded Windows Vista Ultimate (full retail), courtesy of Geeks to Go. Have some fun with it! Take the logo somewhere interesting, exciting, or strange. Submit only a photo OR a video, not both. One entry per person.

Have fun creating your submissions, and enjoy viewing other entries. You can view contest rules, find logo downloads, and instructions for submitting your photos and videos in this topic: http://www.geekstogo.com/forum/31-Days-Dragon-Contest-Submission-Topic-t196838.html

To find out the next contest tomorrow head here or over to bink.nu.

There are 6 more chances to win one of these fabulous laptops from  here, The-Gadgeteer.com, thedigitallifestyle.com, DigitalHomeThoughts.com, Windows-now.com and WindowsConnected.com

Josh announced his contest at WindowsConnected.com  on how to win an HP HDX Dragon Entertainment Notebook in Day 10 of the 31 Days of the Dragon.

Here are the rules to the contest:

Show Windows Connected Some Love!

This is an extraordinary prize package and so rather than just a random drawing we are going to make you work a little bit. Here is the deal. We are looking for you to help us promote WindowsConnected.com.  This can be in any form that you deem worthy in the physical or the digital world.  Examples, It could be a sidebar gadget, Windows theme, Sky writing over a major city, viral YouTube video, use your imagination. The more creative and extensive the better your chances of winning. 

The winner will be selected by the team here based on overall visibility, creativity, time & effort, long term value, traffic generated, and any other relevant metrics we can think of.

Deadline for entry is Noon (Pacific Standard Time) on Monday May 19th.  Winner will be announced by the end of day the same day.

The Fine Print:

1.) You are ineligible if you have already won in a previous HP HDX Give-a-way, sorry but if you have won I don't think you will mind.

2.) If you choose to do a physical promotion you will need to submit photographic proof. No vandalism and no Photoshop'd pictures please.

3.) Entries must be submitted either via email to enterthedragon@windowsconnected.com or the Contest forum.

4.) Please include contact info with your submission.

5.) Our sites bloggers are ineligible, sorry guys and gals we need to be impartial judges.

To find out the next contest tomorrow head here or over to www.geekstogo.com.

There are 6 more chances to win one of these fabulous laptops from JKontherun, here, The-Gadgeteer.com, thedigitallifestyle.com and DigitalHomeThoughts.com, Windows-now.com

Robert McLaws announced his contest at Windows-now.com on how to win an HP HDX Dragon Entertainment Notebook in Day 10 of the 31 Days of the Dragon.

Here are the rules of the contest:

The Contest:
Here's how our contest is going to work. Lately, there have been a lot of people in the press talking about how horrible Windows Vista is. It's driving me completely mad. So I have to give this notebook away, and I want you to help fight the negative press about Vista.

So I want to see what people are doing with Windows Vista. If you want this notebook, you need to send me a video, no longer than 5 minutes, showing off the cool things you're doing with Windows Vista. Maybe you use Windows Vista to edit together your old home movies and turn them into DVDs with Windows Movie Maker and Windows DVD Maker. Maybe you use Photoshop on Windows Vista to illustrate digital comic books. I don't know. But I want to see how creative you can be, and how Vista makes your computer life better.

But I don't just want a monologue in front of your computer. Make it creative. You could do a skit. You could animate it. You could involve your whole family. You could use puppets. Whatever. Just make it funny.

Rules:

• Winner must sign an agreement stating that the laptop will not be sold for one year from date of receipt. If you plan to win it just to sell it, this contest is not for you.
• HDX winners from other sites in the promotion cannot win this contest.
• No nudity or profanity. I don't care what gender you are, it won't get you anywhere. Keep it PG, folks.

What I'm Looking For:

• Innovative Use of Windows Vista: Don't just show yourself playing Solitaire, show us something interesting or unusual.
• Presentation Creativity: I want to see something that totally blows my mind. An example would be Derek Hunter's winning entry from the AbsoluteVista.com contest. BTW, I LOVE special effects, so show me what you're got!
• Effort: It should go without saying, but the more effort you put into it, the more likely you are to win.
• Making a Difference: Special consideration will be given to people who use Vista to make the world a better place.

How To Enter:

• Subscribe to the WindowsNow channel on YouTube
• Upload your video and leave a link in the comments

To find out the next contest tomorrow head here or over to WindowsConnected.com .

There are 6 more chances to win one of these fabulous laptops from digitalmediaphile, JKontherun, here, The-Gadgeteer.com, thedigitallifestyle.com and DigitalHomeThoughts.com.