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Some might say that modern pop music started with the Beatles. Yes, before the Beatles there was this singer, Elvis Presley, and the other guy, Chuck Berry, pretty much invented rock and roll, but the Beatles were in another league. Jonathan Gould's new Beatles biography, "Can't Buy Me Love" (Harmony Books, $27.50) provides an insightful overview of the Fab Four's career.

As Gould recounts the Beatles changed pretty much everything. Pop and rock music in the early 1960s was released mostly on 45 RPM singles, but the Beatles' producer George Martin was onto something … Read more

T-Mobile and Samsung today announced the new Samsung SGH-T539. Also called the Beat, the SGH-T539 is a middle-of-the road flip phone with a relatively ordinary design and a feature set that pushes music to the forefront. On the exterior you'll find music controls and a green ring-shaped speaker while inside are a music player, Bluetooth, and voice dialing. Call quality was fine but the music player was unremarkable, particularly for a phone called the Beat, and the controls weren't terribly user-friendly. It's no Nokia 5300 Xpress Music to be sure, but it's still a decent phone … Read more

Hey everyone. I just wanted to write up a quick little something to let you know that I'll be on TWiT this week with Leo Laporte, Roger Chang, Steve Gibson and Patrick Norton. You'll be able to hear it in all its glory Monday right here.

Across the board, it's been a great week in music. With the fall releases pouring out, we just added new songs from James Blunt, Dashboard Confessional, T.I., Interpol, and more. One notable release is our full album stream of Herbie Hancock's latest "River: The Joni Letters," which is a tribute to Joni Mitchell (who conveniently enough just released an album as well). Check out the song "Court and Spark" featuring Norah Jones. Since there's some much to swallow this week, we made it simple for you by compiling this free playlist. Now … Read more

It seems like there's a new company hopping on the GPS bandwagon every week, trying to loosen the grip that big boys Garmin, TomTom, and Magellan have on the market. Truth be told, these three companies have been in the industry for a while, and they know what they're doing, so these newcomers have a tough task ahead of them. However, we've been pretty impressed with one company in particular: Mio Technology. With the exception of the Mio C220, which had a horrible screen, it has consistently churned out some solid portable navigation systems and always packs … Read more

We've seen T-Mobile Sidekicks adorned with Swarovski crystals, but now the celebrity-favored messaging phone has undergone several makeovers courtesy of top fashion designers. As part of a benefit for Fashion Targets Breast Cancer, a charitable organization benefiting breast cancer research, T-Mobile invited 11 designers to customize a Sidekick 3.

Fashion luminaries like Betsey Johnson, Diane von Furstenberg, and Tommy Hilfiger all participated and the results ranged from the oh-la-la to the ugh. And as Engadget said, there's a lot going on with the Duckie Brown entry. All of the phones were sold in eBay auctions that ended yesterday. … Read more

Creative has announced the new MuVo T100, a screen-less device with an attached USB connector. The design of this MP3 player looks like a Zen Stone which has undergone rack torture. It shares the same set of buttons laid out in a circular format but is longer and doesn't require a separate mini-USB cable.

This basic player comes in 2GB and 4GB versions and will cost S$89 and S$149, respectively. The colors available are black, pink, white and blue. Expect to see it in stores at the end of October worldwide.

(Source: Crave Asia)

OK, kids--hope you've been nice this year, because here's something you might want to add to your holiday wish lists. Today, T-Mobile announced not one, but two new Sidekicks to be added to its lineup: the T-Mobile Sidekick LX and the T-Mobile Sidekick Slide.

Let's start with the latter since it brings something new to the mobile messaging device: a slide-up screen (all together now: oooohhh, ahhhh). Unlike previous models, which have been manufactured by Sharp/Danger, the Sidekick Slide is made by Motorola and features a smaller design. It measures 4.6 inches wide by 2.… Read more