Researchers investigated the effects of MP3 player headphones, most of which contain the magnetic substance neodymium, on the operation of implanted cardiac devices (abstract P662).

SanDisk's new MP3 player, the Sansa Clip, is already luring holiday shoppers and likely giving Apple something to worry about, offering an array of new features and selling for nearly half the price of the Shuffle.

Sony Corp. presents its new digital music player which swivels, flaps its ends and flashes colorful lights in time to music. The 40,000 yen (US$354; EUR 258), 300 gram (11 ounce) Rolly, set to go on sale in Japan Sept. 29, comes with stereo speakers, 1 Gigabyte of internal flash memory and a battery good for about five hours of music. Overseas sales are still undecided.

Online shopping is big business. Websites selling everything from mp3 players and music to books and budget flights continue to thrive. Now, an international research team have devised a simple method for assessing the success of internet shops and e-commerce sites.

Future Waves and SunplusMM plan to launch a MP3 player which supports DAB, FM and plug-in mobile TV (T-DMB) this summer.

Microsoft sold one million Zune MP3 players in nine months. They expected to reach this result at the end of June, but they are faster than they expected.

The new FAN5336 high-frequency integrated boost converter from Fairchild Semiconductor allows designers to achieve a remarkable 87 percent system efficiency, low EMI and board space savings in a wide range of small LCD bias supply and white LED backlight designs.