The third largest Korean mobile service provider LG Telecom has announced the release of a new phone CanU 502S made by Casio. According to LG, the CanU 502S is that country's first waterproof mobile handset. The clamshell phone has a compass with a built-in direction sensor; a stopwatch; an MP3 player; and a 1.3-megapixel camera. Looking a part of your scuba gear, the phone is all sealed up in rubber, including all the jacks. All of the external ports like the audio and batteries port can also be sealed up. For the less adventurous, you can at least feel better about chatting on your shiny green or orange phone while struggling your way through heavy rainfall. The only bad news is that it's still CDMA-only, I wish they would come up with a GSm version soon.

Priced at 550,000 won (around $545).

I'll be on vacation, sans my tech pets, for a week. I'll resume posting later next week. Till then, cya people.

Well, since its about iPod, its technically a gadget news. PodDater.com is a new service that brings video dating to iPod. The Web site, which launched last month, allows users to post online video profiles and search profiles to find potential matches who interest them. Once matches are found, you can click on the Play link to watch the video in your browser, or download the video to your iPod. The next time you connect your iPod and sync it, the video is copied to your iPod. The service is free and allows searching by tag, gender and zip code. Am sure video profiles are more engaging than the average online photo and profile text. I’ll be interested to see how PodDater fares over given that there are over 21 million iPods roaming around.

Video was the next obvious thing to add to Skype, so it's no surprise that the Internet telephony company has gone ahead and added it in Skype 2.0, launched today. Skype 2.0 beta is only available for Windows and, while it will work in audio mode on other windoews versions, needs XP to offer video chats (Skype is hinting that, as with previous versions of Skype, it will eventually be available on Mac and Linux). So far, video chats are only for two parties, and cannot be extended to conference calls - but if rumours are to be believed, this one is clearly on Skype's checklist for future.

In addition to video calling, Skype 2 also adds call management tools, including one-click access to key features and options; the ability to let your contacts see your mood, via emoticons; and the ability to see what time it is where your contact is, so that you don't call at an inappropriate time. Skype 2 also adds the ability to look up contacts in real-time by typing a name into the dialing field, and a Skype toolbar for Microsoft Outlook, which you can download here.

Skype 2 is available for download here.