Motorola to introduce more Android phones

In today's podcast: More Motorola Android phones; hands-free Xbox 360 controllers by Christmas; and Cisco takes telepresence home.

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Motorola plans to introduce more Android handsets targeting different market segments. Backflip, Motorola's latest Android handset, has a 3.1-in. touchscreen and a keyboard that can be folded back behind the screen. The design allowed Motorola to add a bigger keyboard than would otherwise be possible. Android helped revive Motorola's struggling handset business, thanks to the success of the Cliq and Droid handsets it introduced late last year. The company will add support for Adobe Flash 10.1 to its Android handsets with a future software update, offering users access to a wider array of Web content.

Intel CEO and President Paul Otellini will likely unveil a device that links computers with televisions over a wireless network during his keynote presentation on Thursday at the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. The upcoming device is a "digital convergence product" that was jointly developed by Intel and Netgear, according to a Netgear spokesman

Also in Las Vegas, Cisco CEO John Chambers demonstrated how the company's TelePresence videoconferencing technology could be developed into a consumer product. The home TelePresence system that Chambers demonstrated included a set-top box, remote control, high-definition camera and microphone. The system is designed to work with existing high-definition televisions, with the camera mounted above the screen. Cisco believes the system can be used for other applications, including health care or education.

Samsung Electronics entered the e-reader fray on Wednesday, showing off two new devices with touchscreens you can take notes on with a stylus. The writing capability sets Samsung's e-readers apart from other models on the market but the function comes with a steep price tag. While the most expensive mainstream 6-inch e-readers cost between 200 and 250 dollars, the Samsung E6 will cost around 400 dollars, and the larger E101 will cost almost 700 dollars. Samsung also signed on with Google to offer e-books from Google's library of over 1 million volumes. E-books can be downloaded via Wi-Fi.

Microsoft plans to launch its full-body game control system for Xbox 360, Project Natal, in time for the end-of-year holiday shopping season. Project Natal was first previewed at the E3 show last year. It's a gaming control system that uses a 3D camera to track body movements then translates them into on-screen actions.

And those are the top stories from the IDG Global IT News Update, brought to you by the IDG News Service. I'm Peter Sayer in Paris. Join us again later for more news from the world of technology.