Axiom Audio reveals real-wood PC Speakers

Axiom Audio's Audiobyte is actually the first luxury speaker system made for the PC, but it's pretty swank, regardless. The setup consists of a pair of ultra-compact speakers, a dedicated stereo amplifier and an optional (but totally necessary) subwoofer. Additionally, the firm offers 'em up in seven different finishes including lacquered, real-wood Burled Walnut, and the standalone amplifier pushes some 55-watts to each 6.5- x 5.5- x 4-inch speaker. The pair houses a 1-inch titanium dome tweeter and a 3-inch aluminum cone woofer, and the optional Audiobyte subbie packs an isobarically-loaded 6.5-inch driver, but is unfortunately passive in nature. Interestingly, the system's amplifier features an integrated USB plug, so DAPs can be plugged in directly for audio playback sans a running PC. As for pricing, the 2.0 setup will run you between $349 and $559 depending on finish, and the optional subwoofer will tack on another $179.

HTC releases WM6 upgrade for AT&T 8525

HTC has just given you one less reason to upgrade to the AT&T Tilt by finally posting an official Windows Mobile 6 update for the 8525 / Hermes. From today tomorrow through February of next year, 8525 owners can download their first non-cooked version of Redmond's latest mobile OS, giving them some much-needed conveniences like simplified tethering -- and a much-needed refresh for an operating system that's grown a little long in the tooth. So, plug in your Hermes and go nuts; just remember to backup all your info and applications, because they'll be gone daddy gone in less than five minutes.

Nokia N82 Series

Nokia has announced its latest addition to the multimedia-centric (and game-riffic) Nseries line, the N82 candybar. The phone clearly bears a striking resemblance to its recently announced cousin -- the N81 slider -- but the N82 ups the ante with a 5 megapixel Carl Zeiss lens paired with autofocus (naturally) and a xenon flash. Other features include microSD expansion, support for Nokia's own Ovi goodies, WiFi, assisted GPS, a 2.4 inch QVGA display front and center, and an honest-to-goodness 3.5mm headphone jack like the N95 before it. The GSM / EDGE radio does the quadband thing, but HSDPA's available only on the 2100MHz band -- so North Americans with an appetite for data need not apply. Others can buy the N82 starting today for about €450 ($657).

CradlePoint reveals PHS300 portable hotspot

CradlePoint has upped the ante with the even more portable PHS300. This bugger enables a selection of handsets and USB cellular modems to create a "personal WiFi hotspot," and unlike its sibling, this one sports a built-in Li-ion to keep the connection alive (for a few hours, anyway) where there's no AC outlet in sight. Furthermore, you'll find WEP / WPA security features, an integrated firewall and the ability to charge up your phone via USB if necessary. Sound like just the thing you need? If so, you can drop your pre-order in now for $179.99 and patiently await the December 20th ship date.

LG Voyager VX10000 Best LG Multimedia Cell Phone

The LG Voyager VX10000 has a cutting-edge design with a brilliant touch screen and a spacious keyboard. It offers a vibrant features set that includes EV-DO support, V Cast Mobile TV Bluetooth, a top-notch Web browser, and an integrated GPS application. Its call quality was excellent.

On the other hand, The LG Voyager VX10000's camera lacks such extra options as a flash and Wi-Fi. The touch screen can be clunky at times, and the streaming video quality and EV-DO connection speed were uneven.

As a whole, the Voyager's sleek design, vibrant feature set and excellent performance make it the best LG messaging and multimedia phone by far.

Phone Highlights:

* Cellular technology: CDMA2000 1X
* Band / mode: CDMA 800/1900
* Wireless Interface: Bluetooth (A2DP)
* Color: Black
* Additional Features: QWERTY keyboard layout, Built-in stereo speakers
* Camera highlights: 2 megapixels
* Display Type: LCD display
* Phone style: Folder type phone

Nokia's N-Gage hits the N81

N81 or N81 8GB user, since Nokia's got some pre-release versions of full N-Gage titles just for you as of next week. Nokia's hoping for some feedback with this "N-Gage First Access" setup, since the full service isn't quite ready to go yet. Of course, the N81 has game demos on it out of the box, but this time it'll have "exclusive access to the pre-release version of the N-Gage application and one or more N-Gage games!" They're certainly taking their own sweet time getting the relaunch of N-Gage ready, but given the failure of its first two iterations, perhaps we should be grateful Nokia's waiting to get it right this time.

BenQ's DC-X835 sneaky 8 megapixel anti shaker

BenQ is back with another digital snapper ready for action during the holidays. At least we think so -- no price or availability were announced. Nevertheless, the DC-X835 is an 8 megapixel version of their DC-X735 slimster. As such, you're looking at a 3x smc Pentax optical zoom, 2.5-inch LCD, and a "unique" Super Shake Free mode. So unique they can't tell us whether it's optical, mechanical, digital, or what. VGA video in MPEG-4 at 30fps in a 12.5~14.7-mm thin take anywhere camera with SDHC storage closes things out.