Gizmodo: zing

Dell Ditching Zing-Based MP3 Player Plans, Says Rumor

Kit Eaton — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 05:00:18 EST

In July there were some strong rumors that Dell would be bringing out a Zing-based MP3 player that would be a "Zune killer": but now it looks like those plans have been canned. According to the Wall St Journal, Dell had been as close as this Autumn to making at least one Zing-device, but the prototypes are being "indefinitely" shelved. Instead Dell will turn its concentration to the software aspect of Zing, and busy itself incorporating that into its upcoming PCs as music and video management software. I'll leave it to you in the comments to work out if Dell's being sensible or not. [WSJ via Electronista]

120 Dell Engineers Aiming Guns at Apple and Recruiting World to Help

Mark Wilson — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 15:40:00 EDT

A few weeks ago we ran a rumor that Dell was working on a new PMP—no biggie, really. Are people really trying to top the iPod at this point? But Business Week has uncovered more of the story from "multiple sources." Apparently Dell's maneuvering isn't about hardware at all (or that much, at least). It's about their iTunes-like software from recently acquired company Zing.

And at this moment, Dell has 120 engineers completing an iTunes competitor that has one thing on its side: Everyone.

Because apparently, Dell intends to share their platform, allowing multiple services and devices to use it. So if you download music from Amazon, that's fine. And if you want to put that music on your cellphone, alright. DRM will still be an issue, of course, but otherwise their platform doesn't care—according to Business Week, Dell just wants an open market where everyone who's not named after a fruit can get a piece of the action.

Look for the Zing software to be on low-priced notebooks as early as September, with more devices to follow soon. The question that still seems unanswered, at least in our interpretation, is whether or not Dell will be distributing this "open" software to products beyond Dell PCs. And that's a key point if they even want to consider challenging the biggest music distribution system in the world today. [BusinessWeek]

Quotable: John Paczkowski on Dell's Upcoming MP3 Player

Brian Lam — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 11:57:40 EDT

Patches from All Things D headlined his Dell MP3 player post in a way that tickled me elmo:

Think of It as More of a “Zune-Killer”

Likely, he wrote this while raising a rich eyebrow to the heavens. [AllThingsD]

Dell to Release New MP3 Player with Zing Tech, Media Store, Says Rumor

Kit Eaton — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 04:23:00 EDT

Remember Dell's DJ Ditty MP3 player? Probably not, since Dell shut its PMP shop a while back. But over at the Wall St Journal, there's a rumor that Dell is planning on re-entering the PMP market with a new device that's been under development and testing. The device, name unknown, has a screen and simple navigation controls and would "connect to online music services via a Wi-Fi internet connection." This would tie in with a new online media service, allowing downloading of music and movies which could also be played on PC. Key in this is software developed by Zing (which Dell bought last year) which would come installed on PCs and PMPs, and manage the media movements. There's mention of a potential fall launch, and costs for the PMP of less than $100. [WSJ. Subscription warning.]

"iPhone 3G" FCC Application Hints at Potential Apple "Smartphone"

Jesus Diaz — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 07:10:00 EDT

Washington D.C. (Agencies) - Confidential FCC documents unearthed today by internet blog Intomobile point out at the possibility of Apple releasing a new secret device which some experts think could be a "smartphone." The new gadget—which was submitted for FCC approval in June 1, 2008—apparently has a big "touch" screen, as well as the ability to play music and communicate to other people using your own voice. According to Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster, this "iPhone 3G" machine can also access web portals at what he referred to as "really high speeds."

Asked about what that meant, Mr. Munster further clarified his statement as "a whole lot. You know, like, zing!" It is still unclear when this new Mac device will appear in the marketplace, but Mr. Munster is confident that it will be soon: "Timing of this is difficult to determine, but we would expect it sometime in 2008. Day up, day down, you know, but around there."

The documents discovered today indicate that Apple may use a radio transmitter that complies with a standard called HSDPA or "High-Speed Downlink Packet Access." According to Gizmodo's Editor-in-Chief Brian Lam "HSDPA could really give us high data transfers, potentially around 7.2mbps. Yeah, 7.2. That's a lot of zing!" Mr. Lam also indicated that he suspected the new Apple device may have other advanced features like email, a travel system designed to guide you to different destinations, and "possibly an alarm clock."

Apple didn't return calls for comment.

[FCC via Into Mobile]

Zing Lunch Launchers: The Latest in Food Fight Technology

Sean Fallon — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 19:00:24 EST

Man, I love the guys at Worldwide Fred—but parents and janitors probably feel differently thanks to this ZING! spring-loaded spoon launcher. The way I see it, if you are going to go into battle, you had better have the right equipment. Loading up a round of vegetables in this thing will surely give you an edge over your enemy. Peas will rain down like hellfire. Pricing not yet available. [Product Page]

Dell Prepping Zingspot Content Portal?

Jason Chen — Mon, 26 Nov 2007 20:15:36 EST

Whatever Dell's planning with the zingspot.com website, it's got something to do with being an "online consumer portal for digital entertainment content acquisition and distribution," which was the description for Zingspot in the recently filed trademark papers. It all stems from Dell's acquisition of Zing, the people that power Wi-Fi music players. What that above sentence actually means is anyone's guess, but our money's on it being some kind of "portal" for "digital entertainment content" where you can acquire or distribute said content. Call it a hunch. [Trademork]

Dell Goes After Some Zing

Matt Buchanan — Tue, 07 Aug 2007 01:00:30 EDT

Dell announced today that it's acquiring Zing in order "to continue improving the entertainment experiences it provides its customers." The short, vague announcement (check it post-jump) is a bit surprising because Zing's bread and butter is Wi-Fi music players (Sansa Connect, Sirius Stiletto, Pandora's Wi-Fi player), and Dell hasn't really had much luck with portable music devices. Does this mean Dell's getting back into the game? Not to stoke the fire too much, but it would be sort of a pointless acquisition if they weren't, wouldn't it?

DELL PLANS TO ACQUIRE ZING SYSTEMS INC. ROUND ROCK, Texas, August 6, 2007 — Dell announced today it has entered into an agreement to acquire privately-held ZING Systems Inc., a consumer technology and services company that focuses on always-connected audio and entertainment devices. In a move that reflects the renewed interest and energy being directed at its Consumer business, Dell plans to use ZING and its capabilities to continue improving the entertainment experiences it provides its customers.
Terms were not disclosed, and the purchase will not be final until all closing conditions are met.

Zing Player Gets Renamed, Gets a Home: SanDisk Sansa Connect

Travis Hudson — Mon, 08 Jan 2007 15:37:36 EST

We gave you a hands-on with the Zing player back in September, and Zing was still looking for a home for its device. The home has been found. Introducing the SanDisk Sansa Connect. It is the same as the Zing player we have talked about, but it has a new name. It will be available in late march for $250. – Travis Hudson

Exclusive Zing WiFi Music Player Photos, Smaller than Stiletto

Brian Lam — Tue, 26 Sep 2006 18:19:48 EDT

DEMO is a bust for hardware geeks, but we did catch a live Zing music player—you know that one that uses WiFi to download internet radio and Sirius. The nice lady showing it off told me that they weren't announcing anything right now, but gave us a little tour of the player, as well as a chance to see how it stacks up to the Sirius Stiletto, which looked just hulking next to the cute little Zing. Granted, Zing has no Sat receiver, but it did have...

a really cool menu system that didn't take you out of your song playback screen. Come to think of it, it reminded me of OS X's dock. And the wheel wasn't touch based, but it seemed to work ok for a not-iPod.–Brian Lam

Zing Wi-Fi Portable Media Player

Travis Hudson — Sat, 03 Jun 2006 14:17:11 EDT

Zing—the company, not the sound effect—is developing a portable media player that functions mostly off of a Wi-Fi connection. Zing is partnering with Yahoo! and Sirius for their new player. The initial prototype includes 8GB of storage space that can be filled wtih music via a Wi-Fi, Bluetooth or direct connection. Zing is trying to eliminate the need for a computer with portable media players by allowing for album downloads to come directly to the player via the Wi-Fi connection. Also the Zing player will have the ability to stream Sirius satellite music from the Wi-Fi connection—what? The first model of the Zing player should ship later this year with Sirius branding. – Travis Hudson

Coming soon: the Wi-Fi MP3 player [Via I4U]