‘Hybrid’ is the buzzword in cameras this month and JVC’s Everio GZ-𕭄 falls into this category, combining a Full HD camcorder with a 9MP camera. The party trick for the new camera is the ability to shoot Full HD video (1920 x 1080 pixels) and take 5MP photos at the same time. Photos can be shot at shutter speeds up to 1/4000 second without interrupting video recording. In terms of size, it’s small and light - like a chunky smartphone - weighing 0.66lbs (including battery and a memory card) and measuring 2.6 x 4.88 x 1.46in. JVC contends that unlike other cameras that do video badly and camcorders that do average photos, the GZ-𕭄 can do both very well. Well, it would now, wouldn’t it?Up to six 9MP stills can be shot at 15 images per second, which JVC claims is faster than what digital SLRs can achieve [we're sure there may be some comments about this]. The camera can shoot in various high-speed video recording modes [120 frames per second (fps), 300fps and 600fps ] allowing for different levels of slow-motion playback. Storage is via SDHC cards and the camera will cost $1,000 (£708) when it launches in June. Your guess is as good as mine as to what it will cost here by the time they convert it to Sterling and add on a dollop extra for good measure. Think £800+ to be safe.-Martin Lynch camera video HD

Recession aside, we have covered quite a few blinged iPods and iPhones in our time, many of which make Bernard Manning seem like the ambassador of good taste. This one though - possibly the most expensive one yet - takes gaudy to lows only accessible to the likes of Paris Hilton. Designed by luxury Austrian jeweller, Peter Aloisson, the ‘iPhone 3G Kings Button′ speaks for itself since it boasts a massive 6.6-carat diamond where the usual plastic button resides and costs a whopping £1.76 million. Yes, £1, 760,000 whole pounds. The iPhone itself is clad in 18-carat yellow, white and rose gold, while there’s a ring of 138 brilliant diamonds around the outside. Aloisson is no stranger to making outrageous phones, with his £600,000 Vertu, the blinged Motorola KRZRs and, most recently, the bargain bin Motorola V3i for just £5,000. Peasants. Still, I would not be adverse to smirking a bit if I heard that the eventual owner of this monstrosity lost his King’s Button diamond down the bog while evacuating all that Bolli and caviar.-Martin Lynch [All Techno Blog] iphone ipod diamond

Apple’s been having a fine time in recent years taking the mickey out of Windows-based PCs with its ‘Mac Vs. PC’ ads, but now the company is the butt of a new Blackberry Storm ad. The above ad pretty much speaks for itself, unlike the long warbly, existential ads from Microsoft’s Bill Gates and Jerry Seinfeld. It probably cost peanuts in comparison and didn’t even require the services of a cute Chinese kid. All you need is a gun, an Apple, and a steel-clad Blackberry and you have an ad that makes an impact. The odd thing though is that the ad was not even made by RIM, makers of the Blackberry, but by a New York ad agency called GUAVA which did it on spec to drum up some business. Considering how simple and effective it is, I hope RIM is calling them up right now.-Martin Lynch apple ads blackberry

Kids tend to get a bit of stick from grumpy old folks (like us) for using too much nonsensical jargon in their text messages, but this might actually be masking a higher intellect than previously thought. There’s nothing like a proper scientific study to quash ill-founded rumours and this area intrigued the British Psychological Society enough to run a test of their own to find out if ‘poor’ use of language in texts relates to poor reading and writing skills.The short answer is ‘no’. 88 children were asked to send a bunch of text messages to friends and the frequency of jargon was compared to tests of their reading, vocabulary and phonological awareness. Results showed that those who used the most text-speak also scored highest in terms of literary skills. This does make sense when you think about it, since a kid needs to know what word they are trying to type and have a sufficient vocabulary to decipher the nonsense that’s sent back, so perhaps it’s not the sort of thing we should be discouraging after all. - Paul Lester [IngentaConnect] mobile phones SMS BPS

Not content with ruling the mobile phone market, it seems Nokia has set its world-conquering eye on the cut-throat laptop arena. It certainly seems like a strange move but when you have Nokia’s clout, it’s no idle threat, especially when it’s the CEO, Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo talking. Speaking to Finnish national broadcaster YLE yesterday, Kallasvuo said: “We are looking very actively also at this opportunity. We don′t have to look even for five years from now to see that what we know as a mobile phone and what we know as a PC are in many ways converging. Today we have hundreds of millions of people who are having their first Internet experience on the phone. This is a good indication.” The photo above shows Nokia’s new concept mini computer device, codenamed Sparrow, due in 2011.His comments come just a few weeks after laptop maker Acer announced its first attack on the mobile phone sector with 8 new models. That said, the laptop arena might still be growing but it’s incredibly competitive and margins aren′t what they used to be. And, considering that most laptops are made by just a few contract suppliers in the Far East, just how different could a Nokia laptop be? So, Nokia laptops: good, bad or indifferent?-Martin Lynch [Reuters] laptops mobile phone nokia

We saw the first slinky Sony Walkman with a touchscreen OLED display at CES last month and it was indeed impressive. Now, it’s been priced for the UK but, before you think this latest wannabe ‘iPod Touch killer’ will save you a bit of cash, forget it. This is Sony, after all, and the pricing is on a level with the Touch at £216 for a 16GB model and £283 for the 32GB model. Still, it is pretty enough and that 3in OLED display is very sweet, despite losing 0.5in to the Touch’s touch LCD display. Formats supported include AAC and H.264 and the music player boasts noise cancellation technology and an S-Master digital amplifier. You can expect audio playback to be solid as a rock too thanks to the Walkman’s pedigree and, unlike the Touch, there’s in-built FM radio. There’s Wi-Fi for keeping tabs on your social networking status, watching YouTube vids, tuning into BBC′s iPlayer and checking emails. There are those anti-Apple shoppers who will no doubt take an interest in these players but we can’t help thinking that if Sony tried, just once, to offer the X series at a price even £10-20 lower than the iPod Touch it would interest a lot more people. Delivery is slated ‘loosely’ for next month.-Martin Lynch [Play.com] iPod Touch Sony MP3 player

German inventor Dieter Grote has come up with an interesting energy saving idea that involves switching off street lights to save power until they are actually needed. He’s not plunging the German village of Durington into darkness however, since the system, called DiaмLight, allows pedestrians to switch the lights on using their mobile phone.A phone needs to be registered with the service before it′ll work but then the user can dial a central number and pick an access code for the street they want illuminated, with codes stored in a browsable database on or the lamps themselves. There are no charges involved aside from the phone call itself, and trials have shown savings of 25% on consumption. Obviously there’s plenty to do before such a system can be effectively integrated on a wider scale, but finding a way not to waste power on lighting that isn’t needed when there’s nobody around does seem like a positive step forwards. Check out the BBC report from the link below for more details.- Paul Lester [BBC] mobile phone green energy

Oh dear. Remember the very cool LG Phone Watch, the recently unveiled G𐴮? Well, according to industry sources, Orange is planning to charge up to £1,000 for the sexy touchscreen device as part of a pan-European rollout. And you thought the iPhone was expensive? The price is broken down to around £500 for the phone and a 12-month contract priced at around £40 a month. That’s shocking news for all of us James Bond wannabes, especially those of us not working for MI6 with a government expense account for super-cool gadgets built by Q. The G𐴮 is not the first watch-style phone device but it certainly is the best looking and the first to go into large scale production by a major phone manufacturer. It’s 13.9mm thick and features most of the features you’d expect on a 3G phone. It has a small 1.43in touchscreen display and is capable of making voice and video calls. There’s text-to-speech functionality via a small speaker but owners will mostly have to use the watch phone with the bundled headset - except for those times when then want people to think they are a spy and talk into their wrist. You can watch a video of the LG 𑣦 up close below but, if that price tag gets confirmed, that’s about as close as many of us will get.-Martin Lynch [Mobile Today] phone mobile

A lack of users is being blamed by Sony for its decision to shut down its Go! Messenger service for the PSP in Europe. Launched just 9 months ago with BT, Go! Messenger allowed owners of the PSP and the optional Go! Cam videocam to send texts, chat and make video calls to other PSP users via Wi-Fi hotspots. It was touted as a big step forward in making the PSP a functional communications device as well as a handheld gaming and entertainment console. According to a note posted on Sony′s European PlayStation site [now removed]:”Although Go! Messenger brought innovative communications features to the PSP community, the service has not developed the base of users that we were hoping for. Although it proved a popular concept, achieving a significant number of registrations, it didn’t gain the number of regular users that BT and SCEE were aiming for. We’d like to thank all fans of Go!Messenger and are sorry to have to make this announcement.” It’s another blow for the PSP console which has already failed as a portable movie platform thanks to Sony′s overpriced and proprietary UMD movie disc format. Sales of the handheld and its games also took a big tumble in 2008. The Go! Messenger Service will end on March 31st.-Martin Lynch psp sony

We’re all for green products and utilising renewable energy sources to power our gadgets, but we think Solio may have gone a little too far with this one. The purveyor of all things solar powered added another gadget to its collection at the MWC in the form of the Solio Communicator. This rather large looking accessory is a hands-free phone kit for a car that attaches to your windscreen with a sucker-mount and drags its energy from the sun, connecting wirelessly via Bluetooth to compatible phones. What’s wrong with it? Well it’s unnecessarily cumbersome in our view, though to an extent this is necessary to allow enough space for a decent sized solar panel. It also claims that you′ll ‘never need to think about a battery again′ yet provides you with a cigarette lighter port charger for when there’s not enough sunlight. Oh, and it’s also about £70, which is a lot to pay considering the drawbacks. Far better we think are alternatives like Parrot’s car-kit range and though these can be quite pricey, make for a much tidier and more adaptable solution. If you are interested in seeing how many devices you can stick to your windscreen without crashing, the Solio Communicator will be available towards the middle of this year. - Paul Lester [TechDigest] Solio solar power car kit