“There are no opportunities to create a new line of business in the current financial climate.” Those are the words of UIQ CEO Johan Sandberg as he informed Reuters UK that UIQ Technology AB was filing for bankruptcy. UIQ, owned in majority by Sony Ericsson and Motorola, received a death blow from which it could not recover as a result of the formation of the Symbian Foundation, and with the introduction of Nokia’s touch-friendly mobile operating system, S60 5th Edition. UIQ first began cutting its workforce back in July as its majority holders moved to the Symbian platform. Both Sony Ericsson and Motorola joined the Open Handset Alliance as well, leaving little room for the UIQ OS which has struggled with adoption throughout its lifespan. Now that Symbian will be available to partners free of charge thanks to the Symbian Foundation, the world’s most popular smartphone OS proved to be too much for UIQ to compete with. UIQ currently employs approximately 200 people and it has yet to make a formal statement regarding its bankruptcy.

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Roku has just announced support for Amazon Unbox Video on Demand movie streaming with its diminutive Netlix set-top box. Up until today, the little box was capable of streaming Netflix content to your friendly living room television set. It’s a great step in the right direction, providing access to Amazon’s more than 40,000 title library, and greatly increasing the relative value of the $99 box. That being said, we’re still not entirely sold on the value of the system, given the generally limited reach of both the Netflix streaming and Amazon on Demand catalogs. Couple that fact with a somewhat awkward user interface and you have a good idea that’s still somewhat flawed in its execution. That said, it certainly looks like the company is committed to increasing content and providing more value down the road, so we’ll continue to keep our eyes open in the hopes that some of our gripes will be heard.

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Just about the only Apple rumor that hasn’t been touched upon in the blogopshere leading up to Tuesday’s Macworld keynote has been an iPhone tethering plan for AT&T. The lack of tethering has been an issue for many iPhone power-users since its launch back in 2007 and its addition would surely help boost the iPhone’s ARPU considering the plan has long been rumored to be somewhere in the region of $30/5GB (which is of course the same deal AT&T currently offers its BlackBerry users). Whether or not this rumor pans out is anyone’s guess but only one thing is certain: With this many rumors flying around, the Macword keynote is definitely going to let just about everyone down because there’s no way Apple will hit all of the bases that have been covered.

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As part of the CES onslaught from Lenovo this week, the company took the wraps off of its brand new all-in-one desktop PC dubbed IdeaCentre A600. First, let us state the obvious: gorgeous. As far as the design is concerned, Lenovo did a remarkable job putting this all-in-one together. Lenovo claims that the A600 will be the thinnest all-in-one on the market once it is released and while that may be true it’s of little consequence considering it sits on a desk. The wireless remote is also a huge highlight, boasting functionality such as an air mouse, VoIP handset capabilities and accelerometer-driven gaming control a la Wiimote. The A600’s form and execution are what draw us in and thankfully the guts don’t disappoint, provided you’re willing to shell out some cash however. The base price of $999 is more than attractive but if you’re looking to get all you can out of this sexy box, additions like 4GB of RAM, 1 TB of storage and a Blu-ray drive are going to push the price point up considerably. Lowlights include a comparably tiny 21.5-inch display, lack of an HDMI port and the fact that just about everything is an option. An all-in-one focused on media should at least include a TV tuner in the base price but no such luck here. Regardless, we’ll be looking forward to seeing this puppy on display at CES, and to finding out what a fully loaded box will go for.

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In a mammoth press release this morning, Lenovo announced three new Y series of notebooks and several new features for its S10 netbook. The new Y series notebooks are designed to be HD entertainment and multimedia powerhouses and include the 16″ Y650, the 15″ Y550 and the 14″ Y450. All three notebooks contain a 16:9 glossy display, the latest generation NVIDIA GFX graphics, a multi-touch trackpad, up to 500GB of hard drive storage space and up to 4GB of DDR3 RAM. The notebooks feature a soft black, hexagonal-patterned lid with copper accent, slim down to one-inch at their thinnest point and weigh in at a mere 5.6 pounds. The new IdeaPad Y-series notebooks will be available beginning in March with pricing expected to start at $1,199 for the IdeaPad Y650 and $829 for the IdeaPad Y550 and Y450. Now that you have got your fill of notebooks, hit the jump for some exciting netbook news from Lenovo.

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As is always the case, we can all expect plenty of home entertainment-related news to come this week as CES kicks off. New TVs, new Blu-ray players, new set top boxes and plenty of new technology will be showcased later this week and among the first to press release a big announcement is Intel. Alongside Adobe, Intel has announced plans to bring its new Media Processor CE 3100 to market along with a new optimized version of Adobe Flash. These efforts, according to Intel, will “provide consumers with richer and more seamless Web-based and video viewing experiences through advanced Intel-based cable set-top boxes, Blu-ray Disc players, digital TVs and retail connected AV devices.” Coincidentally, we want more seamless Web-based and video viewing experiences, so this new allegiance should work out perfectly. 2009 is looking to be the year of the multi-source set top box which is plenty interesting to say the least. Set top technology has hardly gone mainstream but manufacturers of all shapes and sizes are incredibly eager to make it happen. Of course they are, as set top boxes and video-on-demand services make spending money about as easy as buying insurance from Geico - even easier, perhaps.

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In an unusual and curiously-timed press release that leaves us scratching our heads, Steve Jobs has informed the Apple community that he is suffering from a hormone imbalance that caused his drastic weight loss. He is currently under treatment for the condition and will remain in place as Apple CEO without interruption. He also provides his reason for skipping Macworld this year. He wanted to spend more time with family instead of feverishly prepping for a Macworld keynote. Hit the jump for the entire press release and we wish Steve all the best for a speedy recovery.

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Just prior to its big unveiling at CES later this week, a few additional details have been leaked about Palm’s upcoming flagship phone. The new handset will supposedly be a slider with a full QWERTY keyboard and a portrait touchscreen. It will have full PIM support, email support and media playback capabilities. Production of the new Palm will most likely be outsourced to HTC and will launch with a full complement of applications. With the phone being described as “iPhone-like” and the new OS as being “amazing”, we cant help but start to get a little bit excited about Palm’s new offering. Maybe that $100 million equity investment by Bono and company may turn out to be money well spent and we sincerely hope we’re wowed on Thursday. Palm’s efforts leading up to and following the announcement this week will likely end up making or breaking the company as it simply can’t continue much longer on the same track.

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There are just a few days left until Macworld and Apple rumors are certainly not in limited stock. The latest word from the rumor mill is that Apple is going to be announcing the unibody Macbook Pro 17″ we’ve all been waiting for since the refresh of the 15″ version and the 13″ MacBook. It’s pretty obvious that that would have been the next move for Apple in its notebook line, but what’s a little shocking is that the rumor also says the battery will not be user-replaceable. Oy vey. If this is true a lot of people will definitely be upset, especially considering how abysmal the battery performace is in Apple’s latest laptops. When we buy expensive things, we always have longevity in mind - even if we’re the type that constantly buys the latest and greatest. While the rumored internal battery, like the iPod or iPhone, is said to be more powerful than previous MacBooks, there is still no excuse for it. What if there is some sort of failure? Do you have to go out of your way to have your lappy repaired at an Apple Store or go through the inconvenience of sending your computer in? Let’s hope that part of the rumor stays a rumor and that Apple doesn’t disappoint in this department.

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As WiMAX continues to dwell in Baltimore with a stunning lack of extended interest or supported devices, Sprint’s golden boy has failed to make an appearance as scheduled in Chicago. Sprint’s goal of launching WiMAX in Chicago by year-end 2008 seemed perfectly attainable; the network infrastructure was in place with time to spare and tech media is apparently still eager to give WiMAX, the next generation of wireless, plenty of coverage. Hitting a major metropolitan market like Chicago would have been a huge coup for Sprint and timing at the end of 2008 would have made big news as the carrier attempts to reverse recent business trends moving into 2009. Instead, Sprint is now expected to announce WiMAX availability in Portland, Oregon at CES this week. While Portland is certainly a sizable market in the Northwest region, it is hardly the bustling hub that is Chicago. Initially launching the service in Baltimore made sense as it was a perfect test market - urban setting, a diverse range of structures and plenty of need for high-speed wireless service. Sprint however, does not have the luxury of time. The company needs to see its massive WiMAX investment begin bear fruit today, not in five or 10 years. While Baltimore and Portland might be viewed as a good start by some, sizable businesses will be highly unlikely to make any kind of long-term commitment to WiMAX at this point - speeds and cost are hardly comparable with land-based options and for employees on the go, coverage in two US cities certainly doesn’t make for a sensible wireless data option at this point. As far as home usage is concerned, it’s still hard to sell an unproven wireless technology with a 4 or 5 megabit ceiling to regions where 12 to 15 megabit cable connections can be had for around $30 per month.

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If this rumor proves to be true, we’re going to be a little disappointed in AT&T. Word is big blue has been quietly reallocating its EDGE service to its weaker 1900MHz band, which translates into much weaker coverage. According to AT&T, this move is supposed to reinforce 3G strengthen its HSPA services. While 2G isn’t going to be phased out, this is essentially doing the same for many customers, especially people who are having difficulty with AT&T service already. The kicker in all this is that AT&T’s 3G network performance is still abysmal in many areas. Urban markets will likely but unaffected by this move but many customers in fringe coverage areas will likely be forced to move to a 3G device in order to retain data coverage. This brings us to a question: Is anyone here still relying on EDGE service (including the hoards of first-gen iPhone owners)? Remember, even if you have a 3G phone, 3G isn’t available in all areas and all you Bold and iPhone owners have undoubtedly seen your devices switch back to EDGE constantly. The bottom line is AT&T should be taking measures to strengthen its 3G service before it starts cutting the legs out from under its EDGE network.

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Ahhh, the good old FCC. Once again, our pals in Washington have treated us to a preview of an upcoming handset that had previously been under wraps. This time around we get a peak at the Samsung R470, a saucy CDMA clamshell destined for US Cellular. No, it’s not quite the Delve, but the R470 does have a bit of allure. Seemingly somewhat focused on multimedia, it looks like the handset has a nice big external display with a sizable control pad and (stereo?) speakers beneath it. When flipped open, the R470 becomes far less interesting and looks like any old clamshell of 10 years ago. Actually, this phone is kind of like a cellular mullet — business on the inside, party on the outside. While there is a big piece of the puzzle missing from the FCC documents, namely EV-DO, we’ll just hope those tests are covered in separate filings that will appear on the site down the line.

[Via Phone Scoop]

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Samsung is expected to unveil a new LED-backlit LCD TV at CES that is a mere 7mm thick at its greatest width. For perspective, take a gander at the 7mm drill bit in the image above. That is one crazy thin and presumably ultra-fragile TV. Keep this beauty away from children, flying Wiimotes and people that sneeze with force. Samsung claims that this is the thinnest LCD TV on display at the present time and at 7mm we doubt anything else will come close. No other details about the TV has been released so we will have to wait until Wednesday to see what goodies Samsung has packed into this ultra-thin frame.

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