When Should You Buy Your Next Gadget? 
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Spotify Finally Makes Its Australian Debut 
Top 10 Pervasive Tech Myths That Are Only Wasting Your Time Here’s something to brighten up your day: Telstra has formally requested permission from the competition regulator to enable price increases on 5.2 million customer phone lines! Wow, way to spread the love. Seriously, just sharing this ‘news’ makes us feel a bit dirty…
Currently, the ACCC sets the prices Telstra charges for access to its network to ensure that Telstra can’t, for example, charge competitors more than it charges its own direct retail customers.
Telstra reckons these regulations are now completely unnecessary. “Redundant,” even. You know, like customer satisfaction. -Anna King
Exemption application to reduce regulation in competitive areas [Telstra]
Dexter is the next touchscreen soundboard released by JazzMutant, and pretty much every studio engineer’s wet dream. The new board features one sweet GUI with attractive menus and an entirely tactile surface. Once again the company is looking to knock out manual mixing boards entirely with a product that is impressive and, unfortunately, pricey.
The EyeClops is a handheld microscope that looks like a grotesque eyeball, but can help you see that strange world that’s teeming with life right there in front of you, right under your nose. It magnifies everything 200x , but its design is about 800x as goofy as a typical microscope.
You just plug the $50 EyeClops into a composite video input on any TV, point its bleary eye at your object of interest, and suddenly everything is in living color, up in your face in a super close-up on the TV screen.
Samsung’s follow ups to the highly regarded BD-P1200 are here, and they are upgraded with audio format support for Dolby TrueHD and DTS HD. Everyone else looks pretty much the same, including this magic list: 24 frame support, HDMI 1.3, and ethernet. Except the 1400 doesn’t have that mind-blowing HQV video processor at $549 while the 2400 has it at $599 ($599 is the same price as the 1200, btw.) This slight improvement is ok, considering how great the previous model’s reviews and features were. Don’t mess with a good thing, just tweak it. Due in Sept/Oct respectively. Not necessarily worth waiting for over the current model, IMHO, if you have to buy now.
This is kind of brilliant. This Microsoft patent allows for a user to receive a squirted song by Zune-to-Zune WiFi transfer, eventually paying for it when the 3-plays or 3-days are up. Even cooler, the squirter would get a commission from the squirtee’s purchase. A smart move if they could get it working in the wild. [Zune Scene via Nate]
Possible updated LG Prada in Europe late this year, featuring a YouTube-friendly 5-megapixel camera. [Electronista]
Harness the power of the technology that drives the iPhone’s multitouch display as well as Microsoft’s uber-expensive Surface for a few hundred bucks and some elbow grease. Using a projector, a modified webcam and what amounts to a homemade acrylic whiteboard along with some community-made software, you can reenact the iPhone commercial at home. Hit the jump for a sweet action vid and instructional link.
Nyko’s latest Wii’s accessory just sounds like a joke. An awesome joke. Behold: •Multiple LCD scoreboards •Built-in fan to cool off your steamy gamer hands •Chip & dip bowls •Four cup holders, complete with freezable sleeves to cool them •Wii remote storage •A drawer to store things like memory cards or manuals
This guitarless pick is for when you want to jam without your axe. There are four picks with two songs each to choose from. Bands include Aerosmith, Lenny Kravitz, and Green Day — $US15 per pick. Check for them at the end of August. [Himeya Shop via Technabob]
In a rough week for analysts, Microsoft shot down Michael Pachter’s claim today that predicted they would lower Xbox prices across the board in response to Sony’s PS3 price cut announcement this week.
Microsoft stated that they are comfortable with where the Xbox 360 is priced and that they have no future plans to cut prices. Currently, the Xbox Elite is priced at $US479, the Xbox Premium at $US399, and the Xbox Core at $US299. Pachter suggested that the prices would be cut to $US399, $US349, and $US249. We’re guessing Microsoft doesn’t want to tempt Nintendo into price cuts for the current console champion Wii. [Market Watch]
