Orange announced today that it intends to pioneer high definition voice calling in 2010.

Orange promises that HD phone calls will make callers feel as though they are in the same room as the person they are talking to.

To use this service, consumers will need to buy new handsets with the HD capability.

This move is the latest leg of the network battle that is emerging this year as consumers have become more critical of the quality of network being provided.

Explaining the story Orange said: “High definition voice doubles the spectrum devoted to the spoken voice, making it possible to transmit all the nuances of the human voice.”

The service will also be able to filter out background noise to make calling much clearer.

Link: Orange (via the Guardian)
 

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 was the best selling item on Amazon.co.uk this year, outselling the latest Harry Potter film.

This is the first time a video game has topped the list. This year has been something of a watershed moment for gaming, as Modern Warfare 2 became the biggest product release ever in history, confirming that the gaming generation had came of age.

- Read our review of Modern Warfare 2 here

Modern Warfare 2 inevitably claimed the Christmas number one spot, after selling 1.78 million copies in its first week in the UK.

It’s dominance of the charts since November has been helped by other games’ publishers’ reluctance to schedule any other game releases close to the release of Modern Warfare 2 – although this means that the start of next year will be packed full of game releases.

The only thing likely to rival Modern Warfare 2’s sales is possibly its sequel in two years time.

Link: (via the Telegraph)
 

The Google Nexus One (let’s hope they change the name) will cost $530 (£330) when it is released in the US, according to yet another leak.

According to Gizmodo, the Nexus One won’t be sold at cost by Google – as previously suggested – but will, in fact, be sold for $530 unlocked.

In the US, a two-year $40-a-month contract with T-Mobile will bring the price down to $180 (£130).

If rumours are to be believed the Nexus One should be hitting shops on January 5.

More detail suggests that five phones per Google account can be bought – although this seems a little irrelevant considering a new account is available for free.

The news, should it be accurate, will come as a blow to those who hoped that Google would offer the phone for cost and make money from people using its software and the Android mobile OS.

Google’s online services – such as Gmail and Google Calendar – are free to use, with the company favouring an ad-funded model.

But, it seems, to get the Google (and HTC) hardware consumers will have to fork out a fairly hefty chunk of their hard-earned wages.

We’ll no doubt find out more details when Google spills all at its January 5press briefing to discuss Android – and almost certainly the Nexus One.

Link: (via Gizmodo | TechRadar )

It’s no secret that the capacities of portable hard drives are on the up, but what about those portable flash drives? Fear not, as flash memory maker Power Quotient International (PQI) announced this Tuesday a new sizable addition to their Cool Drive range of USB flash drives. The new drives, dubbed the U366, will make use of the faster USB 3.0 specification and will be available in three spacious variants.

NASA today said its Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer spacecraft successfully popped the cover off its infrared telescope and began “celestial treasure hunt” mission of sending back what will be millions of images of space.

Online spending increased during this year’s holiday season in the U.S. with more people making online purchases, research firm ComScore said in a study released on Wednesday.

Despite concerns from some privacy groups and U.S. lawmakers about behavioral advertising, most large advertising networks generally comply with a set of privacy and data-handling standards adopted by the Network Advertising Initiative a year ago, the NAI said in a report released Wednesday.

Consumers were happier with their online shopping experience at Apple’s site this holiday season than at any other computer or electronics maker, a customer satisfaction measurement company said.

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