There's been plenty of rumours around a new Internet table computer from Apple - described possibly as a larger form factor iPod Touch. Archos have just announced their own product in this space - the Archos 5 Internet Tablet, and being from Archos it supports just about every media option you could want: audio, video, photos, FM radio and games to name a few.

Advances in technology allow more to be packed in less, and this is the case with the new Archos product. There are two variants, one providing hard disk storage between 160 and 500GB, the other flash based with between 8 and 32GB - the hard-disk version being slightly thicker and at 286g slightly heavier. Front dimensions are about 14x8cm about the same size as my Casio scientific calculator and so easily held in one hand. The display is a 4.8" touch sensitive 800x480 pixel TFT LCD panel that takes most of the front space.

Behind the scenes this device is one of a growing number of products now powered by Googles Android software, which in turn is a derivative of the open source Unix lineage - much as Apples OSX. A flexible, efficient full feature operating system which can be seen from the wealth of software shipped with the product.

802.11 b/g/n provides Internet access where available and Bluetooth will connect you with wireless headphones or other suitable devices. A built in FM transmitter will allow this product to play-back through your cars stereo system.  For those situations where you don't have wireless access or want to provide bulk transfer you can connect via USB 2.0.

The system includes GPS and with the large display there's a good chance this could be an all-in-one solution for media and navigation in the car.

This Archos certainly looks impressive on paper - we'll bring you a full review when we manage to lay our hands on a sample!

Pricing from Amazon has a 30GB flash version for £244.77 and the 250GB hard-drive variant at £252.30, both including VAT and delivery. You can see other options here.

Full details are available on the Archos web-site.

Deutsche Telekom and France Telecom today announce that they have entered into exclusive negotiations to combine T-Mobile UK and Orange UK in a new 50:50 joint venture company.

The new joint venture will create the UK’s leading mobile operator. It will have a combined mobile customer base of around 28.4 million, representing approximately 37 percent of UK mobile subscribers*, based on figures at end December 2008. By integrating Orange’s broadband activities, the joint venture will also have the capabilities to offer convergent solutions to its customers in the future.

The companies claim that the combination of Orange and T-Mobile will bring substantial benefits to UK consumers resulting in expanded network coverage and enhanced indoor and outdoor network quality for 2G and 3G services. The combination will place the joint venture in a better position to invest in innovative new services and to exploit new technologies. The new enlarged business will also be able to compete more effectively with the other two large mobile operators in the market, Vodafone and O2.

What do you think? Good news for mobile customers in the UK - or will fewer larger operators simply result ultimately in less competition? Have your say below!

It's not often that a technology story surprises me, but this one from the BBC news website opened my eyes today.

It seems we are really on the way to seeing moving images in our newspapers.  Well at least, its happening in the US, so look out for it over here before we know it.   Video-in-print advertising is to appear in Entertainment Weekly.  A slimline screen around the size of a mobile phone display, that can contain as much as 40 minutes of video is being launched in the US magazine out on 18th September.

Check out the full BBC coverage here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/8211209.stm

Well - not your own personal celebrity guide, although that would of course be nice.

Sony Ericsson have however engaged the services of three up-and-coming young artists to share with you their own favourite, and less well known parts of our capital. Each took a shiny new Sony Ericsson W715 on a walk about London to collect their thoughts.

Eliza Doolittle explores some of Camden's coolest hidden hang outs and shares her memories of growing up in North London while Amy Studt takes us to her East End party hot spots, before heading west to slow down the pace. Finally there is Zarif who shows us what's hidden in London Bridge station before exploring her favourite spots in east, south and central London.

Each of these tours last between one and 3 hours.

Now as I said - you don't get the actual celebrity all to yourself - but you do get the audio tour in MP3 format. All you have to do is download the one that interests you the most and save it on your favourite audio player or phone and away you go.

This could be an excellent way to get otherwise uninterested kids motivated and eager to explore - or just take one yourself next time your in the city with some time to kill - great fun.

All the tours are free and can be downloaded from a special Inside Tracks web-site that Sony Ericsson have put together.

If you do decide to take one of the tours please do come back and tell us all how you got on!

A small note on this months Virgin Media bill has been brought to my attention. This friendly little note points out that Virgin Media are"...changing the cost of calls to UK landlines and the standard call connection fee on the 15th January.[...] For details go to virginmeda.com/callingcosts" - it points out that this does not affect calls made as part of a talk-plan (a scheme whereby you pay a monthly subscription in return for certain calls being free - generally only calls to UK landlines).

Curious about these changes (could they be *reducing* call charges to help out Joe Public during these uncertain times?) I duly followed the instructions and visited the web site. I think I can summarise the changes as an exorbitant price rise :

^* comparing against BT Unlimited Evening & Weekend Plan, because it's free (£0/month) on a 12 month contract

I also noticed that the day after these changes come into effect on the 15th of January 2008, BT will start to include 0870 and 0845 non-geographical calls in your call plan. As a Virgin Media 'Anytime' customer you'd pay 6.84p/min for 0845 numbers and 9.79p/min for 0870 numbers. Anytime costs £7.95/month as compared to the equivalent BT tariff at £4.85/month.

Good to see some companies aren't going to let a mere global recession and close to 0% inflation stand in the way of increasing margins! What do you think? Going to remain with Virgin?

Your DVD player works just fine and you have no intention of upgrading to a Blu-Ray player until both the prices come down and your current machine finally gives up the ghost. Before that happens you're still going to buy more videos and they have to be in DVD format. While that's not the end of the world when you finally do upgrade your equipment you'll have a frustrating collection of lower quality movies that just don't take full advantage of that fancy new technology.

Taking these people in their sights, Disney have decided to test out the concept of shipping both standard and Blu-Ray DVDs in a 'combi-pack'. Use the DVD now put the Blu-Ray version away safely for later.

The first release will be High School Musical 3: Senior Year, on Febuary 16th. This will be followed by the 70th Anniversary Platinum Edition of Pinocchio (hard to believe that was made so long ago - I'm feeling old!). Further titles will then be released throughout the year with a platinum edition of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in October.

The standard DVD included in the pack will also give customers a format playable in standard DVD players around the house, so if you do upgrade you can pop your old player in the kids playroom.

No prices at the moment, but it would defeat the object if the combo-pack were to be priced at anything other than a marginal premium over the Blu-Ray only product.

Valves. Remember those? If you're under 40 quite possible you've never seen one. For many years though the valve, or Vacuum Tube, was the transistor of it's age - a key electrical component that enabled everything from your TV to your radio to your Hi-Fi.

It may seem a little odd then to talk about these tokens of a bigone age in the same sentence as the ultra-high tech Apple iPod. Not so however, as Logic 3 show with the latest addition to their range of iPod sound systems - the Valve80.  Hi-Fi buffs have long promoted the superior sound quality of valve technology - all but eliminating distortion and noise from the sound being amplified delivering it in unadulterated form to your ears.

The Valve80 can deliver 80W of power to two separate piano black speakers. It also looks completely different to your average black featureless iPod dock. This cool technology does come at a price though - £299, but for those that don't want to compromise on the quality of their sound this could be just the product.

We hope to have a full review shortly!

Kids of course have an excellent imagination when it comes to turning even the most mundane implement into a toy deserving hours of fun. Even a cardboard box can become an inter-galactic spaceship or a stage for a desirable residence for Barbi.

Argos want to tap into this wealth of young tallent and have launched a "Toy of the Future" competition. Open to anyone between the ages of 5 to 15 all they have to do is draw up their ideal new toy idea along with an explanation to what it is and why it's the best thing since sliced bread (or in this case the aforementioned cardboard box). Send the idea in to a special Argos competition site and they could win!

The winner will receive £500 worth of Argos vouchers and 10 runners up will receive a choice of toy, up to the value of £50 from the Argos catalogue.

Oh - and Argos will put the winning toy into production to be sold in their stores for Christmas 2009! Assuming the judges do a good job the winning design could be as popular as Barbi. If so then profits will be going to charity.

With a few days of half term still to go, and snow still on the ground what better way to keep the kids entertained?

Full details on the "Toy of the Future" web-site

Here at Gadgetspeak we are great fans of good technology and the Orbit MP3 speaker is definately one of our favourites from last year. So we're really pleased to see that Altec Lansing have announced the European launch of the New Orbit™ iMT237 MP3 Ultra Portable Music Speaker today.

The new Orbit iMT237 MP3 speaker has been updated with a rugged new design and improved functionality. It's new design is built for mobile lifestyles being light weight and shock resistant. And if it's anything like it's previous sibling, the sound quality, powered by Altec Lansing's award winning acoustic technology, will be stunning for such a small and portable speaker.

We're looking forward to receiving our review unit so we can test it out thoroughly and give you the detailed lowdown. We're sure it will make a great stocking filler this Christmas for iPod users everywhere!

The Orbit iMT237 has a recommended price of £29.99. The best price I've found for this very new product is £27 from Amazon.

There's been a definite trend in television to bigger and bigger displays. Various technologies have been used including rear-projection, plasma and more recently LCD. Each has benefits - each disadvantages.

What you're really after though with these devices is a true cinema experience - and at the moment at least the screens are bot not big enough and very heavy. Couple that with the fact you don't want them for all T.V. (Teletubies on the big screen anyone? Enough to frighten any child!).

A great alternative is to use, just like the real cinema, a projector. There are plenty on the market, driven originally for the purposes of generating corporate slide shows. They're bulky though.

This is where Optoma fit in with their new Pico Pocket Projector. Optoma are by no means new to the projector market - indeed the range of projectors on their site is quite bewildering. The Pico is a little different though. You can't really get a feel for the size from the image it weighs a mere 115g and measures only 2" x 4" x 0.5" - it really is pocket size. This tiny little device though is capable of producing a 60" projected image and, when powered by battery, keep that image up there for around 2 hours.

Impressed?

The Optoma achieves this specification through the use of DLP® technology developed by Texas Instruments way back in 1987 (some things take a while to make it to market!). The technology is absolutely fascinating comprising a silicon chip covered in tiny mirrors - up to 2 million. Each of these mirrors is on an even smaller hinge and each can be moved independently of all the others.

An image is created by shining light at the array of mirrors. Each mirror can be turned into or away from the light thousands of times a second. When in the light, the beam is reflected to the lens and hence to your screen. When away no light passes. You can vary the amount of light reflected by the number of times the mirror faces the light. By shining separate red, green and blue lights you can create as many colours as you want. An advantage of this system over other technologies is that the combination of mirrors and light mean each generated pixel can be very close together, rendering a much better quality image for the viewer.

I'm not sure how clear that description is, so for those of you I've managed to lose Optoma have provided a video (originally from Texas I believe) that illustrates the system much more clearly than I'm capable of covering in a few words.

The Pico Pocket Projector is one of the first consumer applications of a technology that scales all the way to full cinema digital projectors. I'm sure it won't be the last. The price will be around £249 when the Pico makes it to the shops from early November. Right now it's so new it's only on the Optoma site as a news item.