Bluetoothlounge.com

Polaroid has launched a PictBridge, Bluetooth and USB-enabled Digital Instant Mobile Photo Printer for both digital cameras and mobile phones.

With the size of a deck of cards, the Polaroid Digital Instant Mobile Photo Printer is described as the “simple way to instantly share photos trapped on mobile phones”. The device is made using ZINK’s Zero Ink Printing Technology - Polaroid is pitching the new device as “instant pictures, but for the digital age”.

With no ink involved, and therefore ink cartridges to replace, the image creation is done in the paper - a composite material that houses cyan, yellow and magenta dye crystals in a protective polymer overcoat.

Via CNN.com.

Before printing, the dye crystals are colorless, so the photo paper appears white but heat activation brings photos to life, developing in less time than a traditional Polaroid photo.

No pricing and availability was released for now.

The Philips The SHB9000 Bluetooth headphones announced at CES last week will stream sound from your mobile music-playing handsets as well as clear calls through a wireless Bluetooth connection. The SHB9000 Bluetooth headset features 40mm neodymium speakers and native MP3 decoding which according to Philips makes the sound quality the best ever.

The headphones also have SwitchStream letting you switch between incoming calls and music seamlessly, and also offer a subtle “side-tone” that lets you hear your own voice while talking on the phone as you would normally without wearing headphones. If you’ve ever talked on the phone while wearing over-the-ear headphones like these you will be very happy with this feature. They also will auto adjust the volume based on surrounding noise and filter out background noises and echoes.

The SHB9000 Bluetooth headset will be available for $129 later this year and also comes also in a corded model in case like them and don’t have Bluetooth, which will save you $30 with a $99 MSRP.

As a music and Philips enthusiast, I can wait to test this headphones.

Via gizmag.com.

From its member party celebrating the 10-year anniversary of Bluetooth technology, the Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG) announced the winners of its third annual Best of CES Contest, an event held each year during the International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) to highlight the hottest, most innovative and consumer friendly Bluetooth enabled products.

Forty-eight new Bluetooth products were submitted for the contest in categories focusing on what consumers can do with the technology – talk on a headset, input information, listen to music, transfer information, or use in an industrial or other vertical environment. The Bluetooth SIG carefully tested each product and judged them on a variety of criteria, including compliance with Bluetooth SIG qualification standards, ease-of-use, look and feel and overall usability of the product as expected by the average consumer.

Bonus points were given to products complying with Experience Icon requirements. The Experience Icons make it simple to understand what a Bluetooth enabled device can do and how it will work with other devices for file transfers, printing, listening to music, talking on a headset or inputting information. Manufacturers are encouraged to use the icons on packaging of certified Bluetooth enabled products. Consumers can simply match Experience Icons to ensure a seamless wireless experience.

Winners of the Bluetooth SIG Best of CES contest are (finalists indicated in parentheses):

- Overall – Samsung P2 Widescreen Music Player
- Headset – Plantronics Voyager 855 Bluetooth Stereo Headset [finalist: Motorola MotoPURE H12]
- Input – Logitech Cordless Desktop MX5500 Revolution Keyboard [finalist: Newton Peripherals MoGo Mouse X54 Pro]
- Music – Parrot DS1120 Bluetooth Speakers [finalist: Samsung P2 Widescreen Music Player; honorable mention Motorola RAZR2 V9]
- Transfer – Motorola T815 [finalist: Samsung SGH-i617 Blackjack II]
- Vertical – Ford SYNC, powered by Microsoft Auto [finalist: Baracoda ScanWear; honorable mention Motorola MotoROKR T505]

“As we celebrate the 10th year of Bluetooth technology at the 40th annual CES, we continue to see a growing number of new Bluetooth devices, particularly in the home entertainment as well as sports and fitness arenas,” said Michael Foley, Ph.D., executive director of the Bluetooth SIG. “Throughout this year and next, our organization will be hard at work providing the tools for manufacturers to continue to innovate in these and other areas with high speed and ultra low power Bluetooth specifications, making Bluetooth technology the only wireless technology consumers need.”

The winning products will be featured on The News Market, a site for media professionals to download, search and get information quickly for upcoming stories, sent on a broadcast tour where the devices will be shown in top markets across the country, and highlighted in the Q2 issue of the Bluetooth SIG magazine, SIGnature, The Bluetooth Quarterly. These products will also be highlighted on www.bluetooth.com throughout January.

I will be attending CES 2008 (Consumer Electronics Show) next week and covering all of the latest Bluetooth announcements LIVE during the show. I will be at the show this Monday Jan 7th until Wednesday Jan 9th. We will be covering the Bluetooth scene but expect also to see other products and announcements that I think are of interest. This year, BlueAnt, Parrot, Jabra and Plantronics will be announcing dozens of new devices that will make the 10th anniversary of the Bluetooth technology a real show.

CES is the largest consumer electronics conference and always makes a splash in the news. The show begins on Sunday and lasts until Wednesday. Everybody who is anybody in the consumer electronics field will be there to show off what they have planned for 2008. This year looks to be the biggest ever so stay tuned for some great announcements.

Most Bluetooth headsets are perfectly capable of the voice dial, assuming that the connected cellular phone can do it, but the BlueAnt V1 takes voice control to a new high. The incredibly compact Bluetooth headset is being marketed as the first ever with a true voice-based user interface. The BlueAnt V1, first voice-controlled Bluetooth headset will be unveiled based on Sensory Inc.’s Blue Genie Voice Interface.

Instead of clicking a physical button to answer your calls, you simply speak into the microphone and say “accept call”. Other basic voice commands could include “volume up”, “reject call”, or “do the laundry”. Handsfree experience like that offered by the BlueAnt V1 can be excellent for drivers and other people who need their hands to be used while talk on the phone.

The BlueAnt V1 is also incredibly small, measuring just 41mm x 17.5mm x 11.2mm (1.6″ x .7″ x .5″) and weighing only 11g (.4oz). This small headset comes with a charger with a flip-out car adapter, and can also be charged via a standard miniUSB port.

The BlueAnt V1 has an estimated 6 hours of talk time. Pricing and availability are currently unannounced.

Check the press release below that will be released on Monday, 07 at the CES 2008 show to find more details about the new Sensory Technology and the BlueAnt V1.

[Read the rest of this entry…]

We still cannot understand why Apple is taking so long to add the Bluetooth connectivity to their iPod line. Also, it is a shame to live with the iPhone supporting only mono connections. Well, if you cannot wait any longer here some instructions to make your iPod stream music with an internal Bluetooth connectivity, adding a Jabra A120S music adapter. Keep in mind that a good hand and decent soldering skills are required to get the job done. Also, you must be willing to live with the possibility that you will destroy your iPod.

To check the step by step instructions, just click here.

Via Gizmodo.com.

The Gear4’s StreetParty is the latest Bluetooth speakers that provides you an amazing audio for such a tiny unit with simply 8W speakers. It allows you to transfer music from any Bluetooth-enabled device directly to the speakers from a up to 10 meters from the unit. It is powered by four AA batteries to add more mobility to your party. You can pair the StreetParty with your cell phone (that must have the A2DP profile), laptop or Bluetooth-enabled MP3 player. It also can be receive streamed music from an iPod or iPhone if you have a A2DP Bluetooth dongle, or if you forget you adapter at home, you can use the line-in port for ease connection.

We wrote few weeks ago about the Nextlink Invisio G5, that claimed to be the smallest Bluetooth headset around. Adtec announced this week their new device - the AD-HSM10. This new Bluetooth headset is really small and weighs only five grams, so you forget that you have something hanging in your ear canal. Reportedly, it can live through three hours of of talk time or 100 hours in standby. The AD-HSM10 will be available in two colors: silver or titanium. The headset will be available in late January for about $78.

We don’t know much about the Adtec’s product, so we are anxiously waiting to grab one of those tiny headsets for some testing sessions.

Via Phonemag.com.

Nokia has announced the SU-27W, a digital Bluetooth enabled pen. The SU-27W will provide upward to three hours of writing, drawing or doodling with domestic 1. 3MB memory that will seize your job. The pen requires a “digital newspaper” that will seize the pens campaign and so read the campaign into a digital format. Once you have all your ideas downward on “newspaper” you will be capable to transport them to a Bluetooth equipped phone or to a PC using the USB link. After they are on your telephone or PC, they can be shared via email. The Nokia SU-27W will be available in Japan on December 20, 2007 and will retail for ¥28,140, around $250 US. No date for the US launch was released.

Via Wired.com.

The stereo Bluetooth headsets are becoming more and more popular than ever, that’s why we can find a few new devices every week, as we found the JayBird Stereo Bluetoth earbuds. The JayBird JB-100 headset is a compact stereo earbud set, that can be used with Bluetooth ready devices or with adapters for the iPod and other audio devices, that are sold separately. The JB-100 falls comfortably between two close competitors: the Etymotic Ety8 and the Plantronics Voyager 855. This headset has its downsides, but if you can get a comfortable fit, it’s a worthwhile consideration.
The JayBird JB-100 offers a nice, low-profile design, especially compared with another Bluetooth earbuds headsets.. The bulk of the earpieces is contained in the two crescent-moon-shaped units that curve behind the ear when worn. Passersby probably won’t even notice them, particularly if the user has long hair. To keep the bulk to a minimum, JayBird elected to not offer playback controls on the headset. Instead, you get a Call/Power button and volume up/down controls on the right ear piece. A thin cable, meant to be worn behind the head below the hair line, connects the right to the left ear piece. The left unit features a small battery contact panel, which connects to a corresponding section on the included charging dock.

The JB-100 is compatible with iPod’s, iPhones (it can take phone calls, too), MP3 players, Bluetooth mobile phones, PC, Mac and gaming devices, using the Bluetooth adapter sold separately.

You can find the JayBird JB-100 online for around $129.99 from the JayBird official website.