Sun

1) CANON DIGITAL REBEL XTI SLR, $1,175 BODY ONLY, $1,350 WITH 18-55MM F/3.5-5.6 ZOOM LENS. ARRIVES MID-SEPTEMBER.

Canon is back this fall with yet another version of its hugely popular Digital Rebel. The XTi, with its 10.1-megapixel capability, will not replace the XT, which remains in Canon’s lineup. One of the XTi’s biggest selling points will likely be a state-of-the-art self-cleaning dust removal system (following on the heels of Olympus, which already offers its own version). As well, the XTi sports a redesigned CMOS censor, a larger, easier-to-read 2.5-inch display screen, and simplified menu navigation.

2) NIKON COOLPIX S10 DIGITAL CAMERA, $479.95.

Vibration reduction is the big word this year in digital cameras, and the new 10x zoom, 6.2-megapixel Coolpix s10 from Nikon is no exception in touting this technology, along with an easier-to-use interface. The 2.5-inch LCD screen features a 170-degree viewing angle that Nikon says lets users compose shots with greater accuracy. The one-touch portrait button allows instant access to face-priority auto-focus, in-camera red-eye fix, and special lighting for underexposed images and shots with too much backlight.

3) OLYMPUS STYLUS 750 DIGITAL CAMERA, $449.95.

If you’re looking to take a camera with you that fits easily in your pocket, sheds rain and beats off the elements and has solid image stabilization (a handy thing to have if you want to shoot action or your hands get the shakes), then the 7.1-megapixel Stylus 750 could be for you. Certainly, its intuitive menu and array of feature buttons is remarkably easy to figure out for the amateur who wants to take pictures without too much fuss and muss. Comes with the usual array of modes that allow for portrait shooting, fireworks and night shots.

4) GRIFFIN FIREWAVE 5.1 SURROUND SOUND BOX FOR THE MAC, $100 US.

If you’re a gamer on a Mac (which used to be an oxymoron) or just like to blast out music while you sit at the computer keyboard, then this new device from Griffin could keep your ears happy. With it between you and your speakers you can get a clear listen to Dolby Digital encoded DVDs in 5.1 surround, or use Dolby Pro Logic II to make any audio source jump to the jive, whether from iTunes, QuickTime, or streaming audio.

© The Vancouver Sun 2006

 

Device’s early reviews have been mostly positive, with a glowing review in the Wall Street Journal

Mark Evans
Sun

Research in Motion Ltd. unveiled Thursday the BlackBerry Pearl, a “sleek, sexy” multi-purpose device aimed at straddling the business market now dominated by the more banal-looking BlackBerry and the large consumer market.

With the Pearl, RIM is offering a smart phone featuring mobile e-mail, instant-messaging, a web browser, camera, and ways to play music and videos. The Pearl, which has been in development for two-and-a-half years, has as much to do with cool industrial design as the BlackBerry’s traditional, rock-solid functionality.

“People say it’s sleek, sexy and elegant,” said Jim Balsillie, RIM’s chairman and co-chief executive. “We have done a lot of good things with the BlackBerry, but it hasn’t been called sleek, sexy and elegant before.”

There has been considerable speculation about the Pearl’s launch for the past few months, which helped the stock rally over the summer. Pearl rumours reached a fevered pitch three weeks ago when photos and details about the device began to appear on a popular blog called Engadget.

The Pearl’s early reviews have been mostly positive. Walter Mossberg provided a glowing review in Thursday’s Wall Street Journal, describing it as a “beautiful piece of work, a very nice combination of hard-core e-mail capability and fun features.”

Balsillie said the Pearl is compelling because it offers the “magic trifecta of a 100-per-cent smart phone, 100-per-cent BlackBerry, and 100-per-cent sleek phone”.

“A lot of people have said, ‘I love the BlackBerry for work, but I want to do more with it. Can it be smaller and stylish so it’s a fashion statement too’?” he said. “With the Pearl, you please your existing market base more. Second, there is no question, there’s a growing smart phone/stylish phone market out there.”

If the Pearl is successful in offering style, features and functionality in one package, it will have cracked a nut that many device makers have been unable to address. In an effort to be all things to all people, many smart phones such as Motorola Inc.’s Q have failed to do any one thing particularly well.

Rob Enderle, principal analyst with the Enderle Group, said there has been a trade-off between size and functionality. Many consumers, he said, want small, sleek phones such as Motorola’s popular Razr but must sacrifice some features. He said smart phones such as the Pearl are doing a good job of being thin and light while still offering multi-features such as MP3 players.

With Motorola, RIM and Nokia Oyj pushing the industrial design envelope, Enderle said there is growing pressure on Apple Computer Inc. to launch an iPod featuring a phone.

“There is no doubt in my mind we will get one eventually,” he said, dismissing the idea of an Apple-RIM partnership.

Mike Abramsky, an analyst with RBC Capital Markets, said the Pearl has a good chance of being successful because the smart-phone market is just beginning to emerge at a time when consumers and carriers want reliable, well-engineered devices with a variety of features.

“It is an evolving data point in the market,” he said. “RIM is stepping in because they can, and this market is four times the opportunity to where they are in the enterprise market. It is, frankly, something they have to do.”

In Canada, Rogers Wireless Inc. will begin to offer the Pearl next month. The Pearl will start to be sold on Tuesday in the U.S. through T-Mobile.

© The Vancouver Sun 2006

Craig Wong
Sun

Consumers may have become wise to e-mail scams designed to steal bank account numbers and other personal information, but fraudsters are now taking a new tack to get at their money over the phone, experts say.

“Our main concern there is these voice phishing guys were spoofing a method that legitimate institutions use very often in terms of getting a hold of their customers,” says John Kane, a spokesman for the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada, a federal watchdog for the financial services sector.

“Our concern was that consumers wouldn’t really have a way of telling the real from the false.”

The technique known in web lingo as “phishing” involves a scam artist posing as a bank or other official to convince their targets to give up sensitive information.

Older e-mail phishing scams prompt potential victims to click on a link on an official looking e-mail to confirm account details. Some refer to a recent security breach or an upgraded security system that requires verification, while others try to scare unsuspecting users with talk of recent repeated attempts to access their account from a foreign-based computer.

But while the newer scam may come in an e-mail, a more sinister version dubbed as “vishing” or “voice phishing” comes as an official-sounding telephone message asking the unsuspecting consumer to call the bank back and at a number to confirm account details.

The number is actually set up by the fraudster, who uses an automated service that prompts consumers to “log in” by providing account numbers and passwords using the telephone keypad then captures those numbers.

“We figured people were already sensitized somewhat to the e-mail sort, and even if it contained a phone number in it people were somewhat sensitized to that avenue,” Kane said.

“What these fraudsters were apparently doing was using machines to call people automatically and leave a voice message on their home phone saying there’s a problem, give us a call back at the bank, and here’s the phone number.”

According to Phonebusters, the national anti-fraud call centre operated by the RCMP and the Ontario Provincial Police, there were 11,231 reported identity theft complaints last year that swindled consumers out of a total of $8.6 million in Canada.

Up to the end of February this year, there have been 1,137 identity theft complaints for a total of $1.9 million.

Maura Drew-Lytle, spokeswoman for the Canadian Bankers Association, said it isn’t just bank account information the scams are trying to steal.

“Some of the phishing people have pretended they are the government trying to get your social insurance number. It is any sort of personal information that they can get to use to commit some sort of fraud,” she said.

Drew-Lytle said Canadian banks may call and leave a voice messaging saying they suspect fraudulent activity on your card, but they will never send an e-mail to a customer asking them to call them back at a specific telephone number. But even then, she suggested, someone concerned about a possible scam should call their bank back at the number listed on a recent statement from the bank or on the back of their bank card to confirm it is an legitimate inquiry.

© The Vancouver Sun 2006

Peter Wilson
Sun

Skype users now have nothing to lose, except their computer.

The popular and constantly growing free Internet phone service will soon be built right into home phones designed and manufactured by Richmond-based technology innovator, Ascalade Communications.

Thirty thousand of the new phones — which connect directly through their wireless base station to high-speed cable or telephone company modems or to your home network router — will soon be flowing from Ascalade’s factory in China.

Bearing the Philips and Netgear brand names, with a third brand to be added later, the phones, which can be carried throughout the home, will be headed in the latter part of 2006 to the United States and European markets, said Raymond Chow, Ascalade’s director of business development.

Canadians may have to wait a while, or they can order them on the Internet, said Chow.

A third brand will soon be announced. Each of the phone brands will have a different external appearance, but will have the same Ascalade technology internally.

Users will also be able to set up a Skype account themselves, or use an old one, with the phones without the need for a computer.

Skype, which is owned by Google, is said by Forbes.com to have an amazing 113 million users worldwide, but these can come and go and use is often sporadic, with the less technically astute often turning to cable firms and various telcos, such as Vonage and Primus, for VoIP.

“For Skype to be used on a truly wide level, I think it really has to be detached from the PC,” said Chow. “Most people, if they’re talking on the phone, if they had a choice, wouldn’t be doing it from their computer room.”

Chow said he first began talking with Skype back in early 2004, when it had some 20 employees, and finally signed a deal in January this year for the phones, designed in Richmond.

The new Skype phones, with the software built in, have a personal resonance for Chow, who likes to keep in touch with his parents while he’s on the road.

“My father is pretty good with computers, but it would be a laborious job for him to set up a Skype account,” said Chow, whose company already makes a USB Skype phone that uses a computer connection.

“But to use that he has to go down and turn on the computer and it’s a bit of a hassle, so he says, aw, you can just call me at home and I’ll pay your long-distance bills.”

Now, with the advent of the new phones, all that a tech-savvy relative has to do is buy one, program it and send it off.

“You can ship it to your grandmother,” said Chow. “Sure, you still have to teach her how to hook it up, but that’s a lot easier than telling her how to set it up on her computer.”

Chow said this is another step in Ascalade’s moving towards phone devices that are a little more powerful and smarter than the average phone.

Chow wouldn’t predict where Ascalade would move next in phone technology, but it’s likely the most logical area would be into home phones that download music and videos.

“You’ll actually be able to start receiving some extended content,” said Chow.

© The Vancouver Sun 2006

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They’re almost identical to the real thing, experts warn

Peter Wilson
Sun

It looked like a genuine RBC Investment site on the Internet last week. All the logos were there. All the links worked — even the ones that led to warnings about supplying your password to digital crooks.

And if you clicked on the little security lock, a pop-up containing a certificate issued by Verisign would confirm that you were indeed securely connected to RBC Financial.

But — no surprise to more sophisticated Net users — the site was a fake, as confirmed by RBC Financial.

A group of digital crooks, apparently in Kyiv, Ukraine, was “phishing” — as the term puts it — for suckers. The unwary had been lured by an e-mail telling them “due to the recent update of the servers, you are requested to please update your account info at the following link.”

Security expert Ron O’Brien, senior analyst at Sophos, which operates a major spam lab in Vancouver, said phishers just seem to get better and better at what they do — to the point where they’re now creating almost completely convincing websites.

“It really has reached an incredible level of creative activity, an incredible level of graphic design, and so much so that these are almost identical versions of the associated websites,” said O’Brien, who added that the original e-mails also are becoming increasingly clever at luring phish into giving away their account numbers and passwords.

The RBC e-mail, for example, warned recipients that RBC had updated its servers because, well, bad people had been sending out e-mails that tried to draw customers to fake sites.

Also recently, an e-mail was circulating carrying the return address of the Quebec-based financial powerhouse Desjardins, attempting to draw unwary Visa card holders to another phishing site.

Despite all the warnings and the publicity saying that banks and other financial institutions never, ever, send out e-mail requests for information, people continue to visit and hand over their account numbers and passwords.

But, said O’Brien, it’s no wonder people get fooled these days.

“I almost got fooled myself recently.”

He had opened a new bank account for his son, who was headed off to college.

A couple of days later O’Brien got an e-mail from the bank telling him there was a problem with the online account.

“My antenna went up because I’m naturally skeptical. But I thought, well, it’s possible because I did just open an account and if there were a need to contact me, I had provided them with my e-mail address.”

There were no misspellings in the e-mail. The graphics were impeccable. And the message made it through O’Brien’s e-mail filters.

But O’Brien did the right thing and called the bank, and found out it was a fake.

“And I thought I had reached a certain level of not being able to be surprised any more.”

RBC manager of media relations Jackie Braden said that she couldn’t comment as to whether phishers were becoming increasingly clever.

“But what I can say is that whenever people do get an e-mail like this, they should know that it’s not coming from a bank,” said Braden. “We never ask for client information, personal identification or account information in an e-mail.

“If a client gets one like that, they should close it and delete it right away.”

One good reason for ditching the e-mail immediately, said O’Brien, is that it could also contain a trojan that would allow the senders to acquire your passwords by other means.

“It’s possible for a trojan to be downloaded on to your PC, and the next time you attempt to log on to your bank it would bring up a fictitious website and you would subsequently provide a third party with your log-in information without even knowing that would happen,” said O’Brien.

Braden said RBC has a number of safeguards built into its site — such as allowing users to set up a series of questions they have to answer before gaining access.

And, since April, HSBC Bank Canada has instituted a method that puts a number of major barriers in the way of phishers trying to get information.

At its online banking site, HSBC has users choose between five different questions that have to be answered each time they sign in, such as what was your first car?

“You come up with a memorable answer to that, which only you know,” said Shelley Maher, HSBC Canada vice-president, direct channels. “It would be very difficult for a phishing site to match the exact question you’ve asked.”

After that, users have to fill in three random characters, numbers and letters of their passwords, again making it difficult for phishers to gather complete password information.

In another move, the developers at Mozilla will be including phishing protection in their upcoming Firefox 2.0 browser that will — working from a constantly updated list of known phishing sites — warn users that they could be about to give away their financial information.

And, recently, techies at E-gold struck back at phishers — who link to images on the real E-gold site — by replacing the original images with ones that warned users that they were on a scam site.

O’Brien said he applauds all these moves, and especially encourages banks to issue constant warnings to customers that they will never send out information-gathering e-mails, but it’s a constant battle to stay ahead of the bad guys.

“The level of complexity [of phishing attacks and sites] is increasingly amazing,” said O’Brien. “And one of the things that it has done is that even those institutions and enterprises that feel as though they have their security solution settled are beginning to realize that there’s no end to it.

“Complacency in this instance will lead to danger, it’s not something that can be taken for granted.”

O’Brien added that the more obstacles that the security industry tries to put in front of virus writers and hackers the more creative they have to be in order to overcome those obstacles.

“And certainly there is a certain level of naivete required to fall victim. But, as I said, I came perilously close myself.

“And I’m sure if the e-mail had been addressed to my son or anyone else in my family I’m sure they would have clicked on the link.”

© The Vancouver Sun 2006

Gillian Shaw
Sun

Canada’s largest phone companies denounced a Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission decision early Friday to stand by an earlier ruling and continue to regulate the price the companies can charge for Internet-based phone calls.

Although the CRTC promised to review certain aspects of the regulatory framework regarding local phone service in the wake of expanding competition, the major phone companies were not appeased.

But the news was welcomed by smaller competitors in the Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) market, which argue that there was no reason for the CRTC to reverse a ruling made in May, 2005.

The CRTC has said that large telephone companies could not use their pricing power to undercut smaller businesses and such newcomers into the market as cable companies. However, the government has indicated it wants the CRTC to let market forces play a larger role, and the issue came under review after the federal Cabinet asked the CRTC to re-examine its earlier ruling.

“Obviously, we are certainly disappointed with the decision today,” said Janet Yale, executive vice president of corporate affairs for Telus. “The government clearly sent the [issue] back to the CRTC for consideration because they weren’t happy with the [2005] decision.”

While the CRTC won’t allow the large companies like Bell and Telus to offer VoIP service below cost, new companies entering the market aren’t bound by such regulations.

Also Friday, the CRTC said a rapid increase in competition for local residential phone lines is leading it to reconsider a rule that only allows large phone companies to get out of pricing regulations if they can demonstrate they have lost 25 per cent of their market share.

“The real losers are consumers,” said Yale. “If we can’t make our best offers to customers because we are regulated and constrained as to what we can offer, our competitors don’t have to be sharp and nimble, and consumers don’t get the benefit of full competition.

“It’s very frustrating for us.”

The frustration was echoed by Lawson Hunter, executive vice president and chief corporate officer for Bell Canada. He said he was surprised that the CRTC made no change to its earlier VoIP decision in light of the Cabinet’s review.

“The decision in my opinion is just more of the same,” he said. “It doesn’t substantially change anything. It tries to give the impression they are seeing the market is moving quickly, but they are not moving quickly. And in the meantime consumers don’t have the benefit of vigorous competition from the telephone companies.”

In a statement issued with the decision, CRTC chairman Charles Dalfen said the commission’s “objective of a fully competitive local service market is well on its way to being met.”

“Our objective is to reduce the scope of regulation where market forces are sufficiently strong to protect consumer interests,” Dalfen said in a press release.

Bill Rainey, president and chief executive officer of VoIP provider Vonage Canada, welcomed the decision

“We’re quite pleased and encouraged,” he said. “By reaffirming the original VoIP ruling we felt that it was saying, ‘Yes, the CRTC got that right the first time’.

“For us, it is a very good decision. It is recognition that it is the small companies that are bringing innovation and choice to the country, not the telephone companies.”

The Coalition for Competitive Telecommunications added its voice to criticism of the CRTC.

“Today’s reconsideration report clearly ignores the government’s director and fails to reflect the spirit of the Telecommunications Policy Review Panel report,” Ian Russell, chair of the coalition which represents more than 12,000 companies, through various associations and agencies, including the Canadian Bankers Association, Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters, the Canadian Newspaper Association and others, said in a release.

© The Vancouver Sun 2006

GADGETS I Nintendo and Sony should deliver by Christmas, and there’ll be a new BlackBerry, too

Gillian Shaw
Sun

Every year at this time the back-to-school frenzy barely gives way before it is replaced by another kind of frenzy, the fall parade of the latest in techno-gadgets and electronics.

This year is proving no exception and electronics aficionados can look forward to a lineup stretching over the coming months that will cover everything from gaming consoles to do-everything cellphones and communications devices, the latest in HD TVs and finally, even Microsoft’s long-awaited new Vista operating system, although it’s not expected until late January, along with Microsoft’s new Office 2007.

“This time period basically from September to December is the hot time in the consumer electronics market,” said John Challinor, general manager of advertising and corporate communications at Sony Canada. “It is a great time for seeing new things.”

Uncertainty over the eventual release date of Microsoft’s new operating system could put a wrinkle in computer sales, but with Amazon.com now taking orders for the end of January and the expectation that there will be some kind of discounted upgrades made available, buyers may decide it’s safe to buy a new computer ahead of the Vista release.

“In terms of preparation for the Christmas season, there is a lot coming down the pipe in the next two or three months,” said Cedric Tetzel, merchandising manager of computers for London Drugs. “The unusual part this year is because of the computer side, because of Vista’s infamous delay, certain things are held back on the computer side.”

However, Tetzel said, the new operating system (which he rates as the most significant upgrade since Windows 95), combined with Microsoft’s release of Office 2007 expected at the same time, offers a real advance for computer users.

“There is quite a lot, especially if you combine Vista with Office,” he said. “There are some huge advances, it’s mind-boggling.”

Mike Bulmer, senior product manager Microsoft Office System for Microsoft Canada, said that in Canada 100,000 computer users have tried the beta version of Office 2007, about two-and-a-half times the number of people who have done that for earlier upgrades.

“People are very excited about it,” he said. “It’s fun — not like go to the patio and drink beer kind of fun, but fun.”

On the entertainment side among the most eagerly awaited new items will be Sony and Nintendo’s next-generation video game consoles with Sony’s PlayStation 3 debuting in Canada Nov. 17 in time to compete with Nintendo’s Wii for a spot on Christmas lists.

The two cover a wide range in the market, with the Wii an Internet-connected game machine featuring 512 MB of internal flash memory, wireless controllers, a slot for SD (Secure Digital) memory expansion, built-in Wi-Fi and a fairly modest price tag not yet set but expected at under $250 US.

At $499 Cdn for the 20 GB version and $659 for 60 GB, Sony’s PlayStation 3 is definitely the console for gamers with deeper pockets. It delivers high-definition, powered by the Blu-Ray disc media format, which can hold six times as much data as traditional DVDs, and that combined with its powerful processor and graphics card delivers a gaming experience of virtual real-life action.

While consumers want to play, they’re also keen on communications, and the range of devices they have to choose from is only growing. Most recently, an anonymous blogger released photos and specifications for Research in Motion’s soon-to-be released new BlackBerry multimedia smart phone, a device with music and photo-taking capabilities and the usual offerings of e-mail, phone, Web browsing, text messaging and other functions.

Engadget.com posted information from the anonymous Boy Genius who delivered what purported to be an embargoed press release from T-Mobile USA. RIM has declined to comment on speculation about the device, which is said to be launching on the T-Mobile network with a price tag of $199 US.

Canadians can’t always count on getting their hands on the new gadgets as quickly as their U.S. neighbours. Among cell phones you won’t see here probably until next year are Nokia’s N series Internet phones. In its latest offering, Nokia is releasing the N80 Internet Edition cell phone in September with WLAN, a Web browser and VoIP-based calling support along with a three-megapixel camera.

VoIP phones are gaining popularity as users turn to Voice over Internet Protocol to save money on their long distance chats. The Vancouver-based Ascalade Communications Inc. is showing off its newest Skype-certified VoIP phone at the upcoming VoIP gathering, the fall VON conference and expo in Boston, Mass.

The phone enables Skype users to make and receive both Skype calls over the Internet and traditional landline calls without a computer.

Apple still dominates the MP3 player market by a huge margin but talk of a new device incorporating a phone has not gone beyond that — simply talk. Apple is expected to make an announcement on Sept. 12 when Apple Expo 2006 opens in Paris. That could be anything from computer upgrades to a computer download service, so while analysts say it’s not too late for Apple to make a product announcement in time to reach store shelves for Christmas, for now consumers are left guessing.

Televisions no doubt will be on a lot of holiday wish lists and the choice is only getting richer, with Sharp and Sony this week announcing new LCD TVs, including 52-inch models, set to launch in October.

Sharp Corp. announced Thursday a lineup of full-spec high-definition Aquos LCD TVs ranging from 42 to 52 inches.

Sharp’s announcement came shortly after Sony announced the launch of nine new LCD TV models to be introduced in Japan in October, including a 52-inch high-definition model, with the company promising that most of the new models will be available in overseas markets in time for Christmas shopping.

© The Vancouver Sun 2006

 

Alliance aims to satisfy shoppers’ demand for service in a hurry

Lisa Leff
Sun

SAN FRANCISCO – In a deal between two of the Internet’s most prominent properties, Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) will begin selling advertising for Web auctioneer eBay (NASDAQ:EBAY) outside the United States and help buyers quickly ring an online merchant to do business.

The arrangement announced Monday promises to introduce “click-to-call” website technology to a broader audience and potentially speed its adoption as a means of more quickly connecting online consumers with advertisers. It will allow potential buyers to call eBay merchants or Google advertisers by clicking a link on a Web page.

“We have a chance to create a whole new way for buyers and sellers to connect online and to create what we hope will be a significant revenue stream for both eBay and Google,” eBay Inc. chief executive Meg Whitman said in an interview Sunday night.

Google Inc. CEO Eric Schmidt said the agreement with eBay is “likely to go on for many years,” but he would not disclose the terms of the deal or what it might mean for the Mountain View-based search engine’s bottom line. Whitman said eBay does not expect the partnership to affect its financial performance this year or next.

Under the partnership, Google will become the exclusive provider of text advertising on eBay outside the United States. In May, eBay announced a deal with the No. 2 Internet search engine, Yahoo Inc., to serve all its domestic advertising.

Whitman said eBay decided to give Google’s advertisers access to its international auction sites after choosing Yahoo for its domestic advertising because of the competing Internet search engines’ respective strengths and how they mesh with eBay’s assets.

The deal represents the latest advertising win for Google. Earlier this month, News Corp. agreed to make Google the exclusive search partner for most of its sites, including the popular online hangout MySpace.com. Late last year, Time Warner Inc.’s AOL agreed to sell a five-per-cent stake to Google in a $1-billion-US deal that extends and deepens the ties between the two.

The click-to-call component of the new alliance calls for the two Silicon Valley companies to work together on developing a service that lets Web surfers place telephone calls through their computers or handheld devices when they click on a link in an Internet ad.

Its advocates, including some merchants who have tried it, say customers who call are ready to buy and aren’t just browsing the Internet; thus, search engines can charge more — $2 to $10 or even more per call, compared with less than $1 per click with traditional search ads.

Google already has been testing a program in which users click on a phone icon and type their number into a box. Google then dials the user, who hears ringing until the merchant answers.

Schmidt and Whitman said they would begin testing some of their joint services early next year.

Last year, eBay bought the Internet phone service Skype. Google has its own messaging and Internet-based telephone service, Google Talk. Both services will be used in the partnership, though details were not disclosed. EBay does plan to rely on Google’s international presence to build a worldwide market for Skype.

Promoting “click-to-call” advertising was also part of the deal eBay announced with Yahoo in May. Yahoo also has been testing the concept.

San Jose-based eBay also owns PayPal, an online payment service, and when the company joined advertising forces with Yahoo, PayPal became the preferred payment provider for purchases made on Yahoo.

Although eBay already was one of Google’s biggest advertisers, the search engine launched a rival online payment service to PayPal in June. Schmidt said the overlapping services and partnerships are all part of industry’s effort to respond to tech-savvy shoppers who want service in a hurry.

Google shares jumped $7.69 to $380.95 at close of trading on Monday, while eBay rose $0.49 to $25.79.

© The Vancouver Sun 2006

 

Sun

1) APPLE WIRELESS MIGHTY MOUSE, $79.

We’ve always found the freedom provided by a wireless mouse was the freedom to accidentally drop it in our wastepaper basket, but that’s just us. Others have been hankering after a wireless version the multi-button Mighty Mouse for some time now, wondering what has been taking Apple so long to cough it up. This Bluetooth 2.0- based mouse comes with four independently programmable buttons so that users can do all sorts of neat things like call up Dashboard or Spotlight instantly. It automatically switches to low power mode during inactivity.

2) SONY TAV-L1 ALL-IN-ONE HOME THEATRE SYSTEM, $4,000 US.

The Sony TAV-L1 might seen a touch pricey for what is essentially a 32-inch LCD flat panel HDTV in a motorized housing, but heck, it does look kind of neat and it has everything you’ll need for great sound. The components of the audio system, including an individual slot-loading DVD player, are housed in the motorized unit that, when you push smartly on that remote, lowers itself to reveal the 1366×768 resolution screen. Other elements of the audio system include two vibration cancelling sub-woofers and a digital amplifier.

3) PENTAX OPTIO S7, ABOUT $300 U.S., AVAILABLE IN SEPTEMBER.

Another one of those ideal trip cameras, although priced less than most in this category, the new Optio S7 comes with face recognition technology (it knows a face when it sees one) and ISOs automatically adjusted as high as 1600 so you can shoot in lower light or catch the action at sporting events. Comes with a 3x optical zoom, a 2.5-inch LCD monitor and 23 megs of internal memory just in case you run out of space on your digital card and absolutely have to have that final photo of the day.

4) STANLEY FATMAX TRULASER DISTANCE MEASURER TLM100, $160.

It’s one thing to sort of know how far away something is and quite another to know the distance for sure. This new device from Stanley has an accuracy at 100 feet of plus or minus 1/4 of an inch. It’s range is two to 100 feet. Now, if you have bigger places to measure then you might want to go to the TLM200 and TLM300 models ($400 and $550.00 respectively).

© The Vancouver Sun 2006