If you want to publish an article on this blog pls send me your proposal to this email: info@gigaset-blog.com

I am looking forward to read your input!

Here now Jon's review:
The short version, to save you reading the rest: the S685IP seems to work quite well. The S68H is.. less impressive.

The long version: I've had an S685IP (which comes with an S68H handset) and two additional S68H handsets for a week now. I'd realised that my fixed-line phone/DSL provider (Vodafone Germany, which on a technical level is run by Arcor) was actually using SIP for everything. The box that they provided me with is an integrated DSL modem, firewall and WLAN router - and also has analog and ISDN ports. It converts calls made over these ports into SIP calls. Since everything's using SIP anyway and since they make no secret of the address of their SIP gateway, a SIP phone seems like the best way forward.

Read the full story: Siemens S685IP DECT IP Phone, S68H Handset

Now the VoIP provider announced a new CEO: former Cingular Wireless executive Marc Lefar. At the same time Vonage gets a $215 million cash infusion from Silver Point Finance LLC. Let's see if those measures might rescue the company...

Sources:
Vonage Names Marketer Lefar as CEO
Vonage to Name New CEO, Nears Refinancing Deal

Until now, people who wear a hearing aid have had to hold a telephone handset in a certain way to avoid interference when signals are transmitted from the phone’s loudspeaker to the hearing aid’s microphone. Thanks to Pure hearing aids used in conjunction with a special wireless transmission unit called the Tek Set, and Siemens Gigaset Bluetooth phones, making calls is now much more comfortable.

Setting up the connection to a Pure hearing aid is just as easy as registering any common Bluetooth headset. Once the devices have been linked, incoming calls are indicated acoustically by the hearing aid. The call can then be answered with the aid of the Tek Set, a remote control unit with an integrated microphone, and the call is conducted directly via the hearing aid, without the user having to hold a handset to his or her ear.

The Siemens Gigaset SL370, SL560 and S680 phones as well as their answering machine and IP versions are suitable for connection to the Pure hearing aids.

All the information services can be set-up on the portal http://www.gigaset.net. Users obtain their personal account data for logging onto Gigaset.net via the Siemens Gigaset IP phone’s user interface. This allows them to choose a service and display it as the screensaver on the phone. To follow the current status of an eBay auction, users enter the respective article number in Gigaset.net and the latest bid is automatically shown on the display until the auction is ended.

But: If you are interested in those new features please check this "Field report" first:
New Gigaset.net feature: Bid-Watcher for eBay

The handset’s standard batteries let users call family and friends for up to 25 hours and can go up to 240 hours without being recharged. The phonebook has room for 150 entries for people with a lot of friends, and handsfree calling is a snap: The user just plugs a standard headset into the 2.5 millimeter jack on the handset. The Siemens Gigaset C385, with an answering machine that can record up to 25 minutes of messages, ensures that no call is lost.

Thanks to the ECO DECT technology, the Siemens Gigaset C380 and C385 cut power consumption by up to 60 percent compared with conventional Siemens Gigaset phones. They slash the transmitting power needed by nearly 100 percent when the handset is idle or being charged.

More information can be found here:
Siemens Gigaset AL280

Let's go on now with the storyline:
The Siemens Gigaset C450 IP, the first hybrid phone to permit cordless telephony over the fixed-line network and the Internet without the need for a PC, was launched in the year 2006. In addition, the first additional services were now offered, including klicktel’s online phone directory, which could be easily accessed from the phone.

One has to admit: This is creative recycling: In Thiruneermalai (India) the street lights are run on human waste. National Geographic reports, that trash from an area housing complex is collected in a sump, where the methane gas produced by the "sludge" is used to run a generator. The obtained biogas provides 3,000 watts of electricity each day, which is enough to keep the city lighted during the night. So let's go: Come on baby light my Siemens Gigaset ECO DECT phones.

Looking for a place to park your new Siemens Gigaset? Brando suggests pulling up The Chair, a $6 gadget stand. To me it looks like one of those chairs you used to sit on at the times one went to the lido kiosk eating French Fries. Definitely big style! If you do not have a Siemens Gigaset phone, at least Barbie will have a nice 15 cm high chair to sit on.
(via brando)

And this is how the Bid-Watcher for eBay works:
Open www.gigaset.net in your Browser. After you are logged in scroll down to the "Bid-Watcher for eBay section" and enter your selected article number. Save your options and you are done. From now on the auction for your article number will be displayed on the screensaver and will show the current bid, the bidder and the minutes to go until the auction ends.

Field report:
Of course I tried the feature myself :-) So there are a couple of things you have to consider: First if you use the keys of the handset the eBay information is of course not visible. When you stop using the keys it while take a couple of moment until you see the Bid-Watcher. If the Handset is not placed in the charging station, the screensaver will disappear after a couple of seconds because the display will turn black in order to save energy. So a constant "Bid-Watching" is only possible if you either push a key from time to time or you put the handset in the charging station, because then the screensaver will be displayed constantly on the handset once activated.
If the handset is in the charging station the information of the Bid-Watcher updates every 15 minutes. In the last 30 minutes of the auction all information will be updated every minute. But bear in mind: As it is not possible to place a bid this feature is generally only additional to your regular bidding via computer.

Here you find all details of the firmware:
Siemens Gigaset C470 IP / C475 IP / S675 IP / S685 IP Firmware update 07/2008

How to update the firmware

You don't need to download files. The firmware is updated directly online by the Siemens Gigaset C470 IP, C475 IP, S675 IP or S685 IP. You can easily initiate the update by three steps:

1. Menu » Settings » Base » Firmware Update
2. Enter base station system PIN (default setting: 0000)
3. Press the display key "Yes" to start the download

If your firmware is already up to date, the handset informs you. No action is needed then.

And this is what you get:

New Features

* Compatibility with A58H and C38H Handsets (including Infoscreensaver as Liveticker)
* New languages: Brazilian Portuguese, Russian (country and handset dependent)
* BEL, NLD: Autoconfigurationcode-enquiry added in the Handset's connection assistant