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Nokia joins the GPS rush hour

Nokia is the latest consumer-electronics firm to use GPS to follow the money. The Finnish cell-phone maker today announced its entrance into the red-hot car-navigation market with the unveiling of its Nokia 330 Auto Navigation system, which will rely on digital maps from US-based Navteq, rather than those from Tele Atlas found in the new Nokia N95 phone.

The Nokia 330 is expected to compete directly with higher-end GO devices from TomTom, but the list of potential rivals and devices in the GPS market, especially in Europe, is growing all the time. Last week, Dual Electronics, a company traditionally associated … Read more

Samsung's second try with Cingular

Samsung is taking the offensive in the battle for Cingular 3G supremacy with its new SGH-A707. Announced today in Korea and destined for America's wireless carrier, the A707 offers support for Cingular's HSDPA network, a 2-megapixel camera, a digital music player, and stereo Bluetooth. From what we can tell, it looks like Samsung is hoping to make a more respectable showing on the 3G front than it did with its recent Samsung SGH-ZX20.

Though the ZX20 was perfectly functional, its dull design didn't complement its high-end features. What's more, while the ZX20 was announced at this … Read more

Swarovski crystal meets the fridge

Here in the States, LG's latest buzzworthy item is the Shine phone, but the Korean electronics company is making waves overseas with...designer fridges. Luxury-gadget blog Born Rich has alerted us to LG's "Art Cool" line. The latest addition to this swanky collection is this fancy refrigerator, decorated with a floral design by Korean painter Seung-rim Ha and spiced up with embedded Swarovski crystals.

Not exactly the sort of place where you'd stash your leftover take-out food and six-packs of Bud Light.

The Art Cool fridge may never be sold stateside, but something tells me … Read more

Stainless-steel Chocolate successor

Chocolate, white chocolate, Black Label. You'd think we were talking about Godiva or Johnny Walker, not cell phones.

LG has released the Shine, a successor to the Chocolate line, on the Korean market today. As it tries to claw its way back up from its No. 4 spot in the industry, the company is hoping to extend the success of the initial Chocolate model.

Shine's slide-phone design features a super-thin stainless-steel body, a 2-megapixel camera, an MP3 player and a scroll-key function. Our take: At least it's not brown. (More photos, courtesy of our cousins across the … Read more