Nokia's new N96 provides a 5-megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss optics, turn-by-turn voice navigation, up to 24GB of memory, sound and music, pre-loaded N-Gage gaming access and a big 2.8-inch display.

Available from December 1st, the N96 has a recommended retail price of $1599.

Nokia claims the N96 redefines mobile entertainment. This includes everything from taking a picture, location-tagging it to a specific place, to accessing YouTube videos using the fast internet browser and even watching live TV in countries where DVB-H is available.

Its 2.8-inch display, built-in 3D stereo speakers and integrated kick-stand make the N96 great for watching handsfree video, and there is also a TV-out cable to allow for media consumption on larger screens.

New Zealand consumers who purchase the Nokia N96 can download any one of four full series of leading BBC TV shows including Walking with Dinosaurs, Little Britain (series 1), The Catherine Tate Show (series 1) and Yes Minister (series 1) from www.nokia.co.nz/video/bbc.

The Nokia N96 has the ability to store up to 40 hours of video content either transferred from your computer or found online at the Nokia Video Centre via USB 2.0 connection with WLAN and HSDPA support. The video Centre offers access to video content ranging from movie trailers and comedy to news from content providers such as YouTube, Reuters, and Sony Pictures. The Nokia N96 supports common video formats including MPEG-4, Windows Media Video and Flash.

Posted by Ted Gibbons at 10:09 AM | Permalink | Comments ( 7 )

Launching today, Gmail voice and video chat lets Kiwis have free, high-quality voice and video chats with friends and family anywhere in the world. And it all takes place without leaving the browser - no more switching to another window or running another program.

All that's needed is a webcam and small browser plug-in. If you don't have a webcam, you can simply chat by voice.

”Sometimes there's no substitute for speaking to and seeing someone, and in tighter economic times, an online video or voice chat is a cost-effective option,„ says Alan Noble, Google's Head of Engineering for Australia and New Zealand. ”If a smiley face and a 'lol' aren't getting your message across, with a simple click you can now share your real meaning face-to-face over a video connection.„

Using Gmail voice and video chat:

To get started, open a Gmail chat window, click on the ”Options„ menu at the bottom, and choose ”Add voice/video chat,„ which will walk you through a one-time installation of a free plugin (a quick 2 MB download). When you re-open Gmail you'll notice your ”Options„ link in your chat window has changed to ”Video & more„. Open this menu and click ”Start video chat„ to see and hear your conversation partner in high-quality video. You can pop out the video and change its size and position, or switch to full screen. If you don't have a webcam, you can simply chat by voice.

Gmail voice and video chat is being rolled out globally over the next day or so in all 50 languages supported by Gmail, on PCs and on Macs. Google Apps customers get this service as well, at no extra charge, and can video chat with any other Gmail or Apps users.

To use voice and video chat, your PC must have Windows XP or a more recent version, or an Intel-Based Mac with Mac OS X v10.4 or later. It works in all browsers that support the latest version of Gmail (Google Chrome, Firefox 2.0+, Internet Explorer 7.0, and Safari 3.0).

To get started, visit http://mail.google.com/videochat.

Posted by Ted Gibbons at 10:09 AM | Permalink | Comments ( 2 )