Product Pipeline
Music for Cubists: At 1 inch square, the MobiBlu DAH-1500 is among the smallest, most innovatively designed digital music players we've seen to date. Due in March from Korea-based Hyun Won America, the flash memory MobiBlu DAH-1500 is expected to cost less than $100 for a model offering 256MB of storage, and up to $150 for a cube with 1GB of space. The DAH-1500 comes equipped with a tiny OLED display, a 15-hour lithium ion rechargeable battery, and a necklace for wearing it as you listen.
Browser Battle: With Internet Explorer's market share slipping ever so slightly in the face of determined challenges from Firefox, Opera, and other alternative browsers, Microsoft has announced a new version of IE. A beta version of Internet Explorer 7, with tools designed to offer users better protection from phishing scams and other malicious code, should arrive this summer. The company had earlier said that it wouldn't release a new version of IE until it launched the next version of Windows, code-named Longhorn, next year.
Canon Digital Rebel XT: Serious shutterbugs now have another toy to play with: the Canon Digital Rebel XT. Though a minor upgrade (with enhancements such as USB 2.0 support), it promises to be faster than its predecessor, with a startup time that Canon pegs at 0.2 seconds and with a burst-mode speed of 3 frames per second for up to 12 consecutive shots. The XT, announced in February, is smaller than the old version, too, thanks to Canon's proprietary NB2LH lithium ion battery. The price is tempting: For $999 you get the body (in either black or silver) and an 18-to-55-millimeter zoom lens (without the lens, it costs $899).
Tidbytes
MSN Search Debuts: The battle to topple search king Google heats up with the arrival of Microsoft's MSN Search. Announced in February, MSN Search delivers answers to specific questions rather than the links that Google and other rivals provide. For example, MSN Search might use Microsoft Encarta or MSN Music content to respond to a search query. Web results are also culled from an index of 5 billion Web documents.
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