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Techradar |
- Ray Ozzie outlines his vision of a post-PC world
- Android hits 100,000 apps landmark
- Sony R&D boss says Kinect is 'cumbersome'
- BAFTA adds social networking game awards category
- Buying Guide: Best cheap netbook: which should you buy?
- Buying Guide: Best cheap netbook: which should you buy?
- Dell Venue Pro available for pre-order at £500
- New BBC iPlayer social features get thumbs up
- Patriot announces value Torqx TRB SSDs
- VLC Media Player finally arrives for the iPhone
- Buying Guide: 10 best Windows Phone 7 apps - paid apps
- Virgin Media's 100Mbps broadband arriving this week?
- Virgin Media's 100Mbps broadband arriving this week?
- Glasgow gets UK first 3G Underground coverage
- Glasgow gets UK first 3G Underground coverage
- BBC to change way it manages websites
- Updated: Windows 8 rumours: everything you need to know
- Review: G.Skill Phoenix Pro 40GB SSD
- Virgin Media seals on-demand deal with NBC Universal
- Virgin Media seals on-demand deal with NBC Universal
- Review: Gigabyte X58-USB3
- Review: Samsung PS50C6900
- Review: G.Skill Eco DDR3
- Review: Sennheiser PC 333D
- Review: Sharp LC-22DV200E
| Ray Ozzie outlines his vision of a post-PC world Posted: 26 Oct 2010 01:01 AM PDT  Departing Microsoft boss Ray Ozzie has outlined his vision of a 'post-PC' world in which most of us work in the cloud. Ozzie, who recently announced his plans to step down as Microsoft's chief software guru, envisions simple, web-connected devices as the future of computing. Fearlessly embracing change As Microsoft readies the launch of Windows Phone 7 next month, Ozzie told the company in a personal blog post: "Let's mark this 5-year milestone by once again fearlessly embracing that which is technologically inevitable. "The next five years will bring about yet another inflection point -- a transformation that will once again yield unprecedented opportunities for our company and our industry catalyzed by the huge and inevitable shift in apps and infrastructure that's truly now just begun." Ozzie sees a shift away from expensive desktops and laptop PCs to computing devices that are "instantly usable, interchangeable and trivially replaceable without loss." "Close our eyes and form a realistic picture of what a post-PC world might actually look like, if it were to ever truly occur," added Ozzie in the blog. "Those who can envision a plausible future that's brighter than today will earn the opportunity to lead." Wearable, always-on computing Speaking of competitors such as Google and Apple, the Microsoft boss noted that: "Their execution has surpassed our own in mobile experiences. "Today's PC's, phones and pads are just the very beginning. We'll see decades to come of incredible innovation from which will emerge all sorts of 'connected companions' that we'll wear, we'll carry, we'll use on our desks and walls and the environment all around us." 
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| Android hits 100,000 apps landmark Posted: 26 Oct 2010 12:42 AM PDT  Android has hit a major landmark, with the confirmation arriving that there are now more than 100,000 apps in the mobile OS' Android Market. The mobile operating system from Google has proven to be a massive hit, with major handset manufacturers flocking to use the free platform, and some of the most impressive iPhone competitors – including the Samsung Galaxy S and the HTC Desire – selling well. And the success is not likely to be limited to traditional smartphones, with a spate of tablets sporting Android beginning to hit the market. But, one of the key pillars to success is how many apps are available, as third party developers aim to push their wares to consumers – and the 100,000 mark is a significant one for Android. Tweet "One hundred thousand apps in Android Market," tweeted @androiddev – the official twitter feed for developers from the Android team. That figure is still, however, significantly behind the more mature iPhone App Store, which has been the trailblazer for the entire market. Apple's iOS 4 remains perhaps the most significant trendsetter in the market, although Android's surge means that Steve Jobs is beginning to be drawn into a war or words which suggest that he is worried. 
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| Sony R&D boss says Kinect is 'cumbersome' Posted: 26 Oct 2010 12:41 AM PDT  Sony Computer Entertainment R&D boss Dr. Richard Marks has said that he thinks Microsoft's Kinect gaming experience is 'pretty cumbersome'. Marks - who has spoken of his views on Kinect's limitations before - told a New York Times interviewer that he feels the magical feeling promised by Microsoft with Kinect "wears off pretty quickly." Can it be magic? "I totally agree that there is this magical feeling with using your hands to select something," Marks told the newspaper. "But that feeling wears off pretty quickly, and it becomes a pretty cumbersome way to do things," added the PS3 Move designer. For its part, Microsoft is pushing Kinect as the future of gaming control, whereas Sony is sticking closer to the tried-and-tested controller in the hand experience. "No one had tried to solve these problems in the consumer space and put all of this together," said Don Mattrick, the president of Microsoft's interactive entertainment business. Microsoft key development partners were also quick to talk up the possibilities opened up by the new tech, with Tracy Rosenthal-Newsom, a vice president at Harmonix (who have Dance Central scheduled for the system) noting: "We've been trying to find technology that would allow the player to use their whole body. We wanted to remove the technology and really allow people to dance." 
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| BAFTA adds social networking game awards category Posted: 25 Oct 2010 04:01 PM PDT  The British Academy of Film and Television Arts has announced that it is introducing a social network game category to its gaming awards. Never one to miss hitching a ride on a bandwagon, the rise and rise of the likes of Farmville and Mafia Wars has led to BAFTA introducing a whole new category. Ray Maguire, Chairman of BAFTA's Video Games Committee, said: "The rise in popularity and sophistication of social media gaming has been meteoric. Recognition "It is only right to recognise the hard work, fantastic creativity and great success being demonstrated in this new area of the industry. "As a result, BAFTA is very proud to announce the new category of Social Network Game as part of the upcoming Awards." Expect Zynga to feature heavily – the San Francisco-based developer is responsible for some of the most recognisable names in the genre. 
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| Buying Guide: Best cheap netbook: which should you buy? Posted: 25 Oct 2010 08:54 AM PDT  Finding the best value laptops is like trying to find a needle in a haystack, and there are so many options to consider that it's difficult to know what to buy. Fortunately manufacturers are always innovating to set their machines apart from the crowd, and you'll find a lot of great features on netbooks under £300. Also make sure you check out our feature on the 15 best netbooks in the world today. 1. Packard Bell Dot S2 - £230
Packard Bell's Dot S2 is a true return to form for Packard Bell. It's the added extras that really make a difference: we got 463 minutes from the battery (although this does add bulk and weight to the machine) while there's a USB cable supplied so you can sync it with your desktop. What's more is that Packard Bell has included Adobe's excellent Photoshop Elements with the netbook. It's a bargain given the price, too. Read our Packard Bell Dot S2 review 2. Asus Disney Netbook - £250
We were pleasantly surprised by Asus' Disney-branded netbook. Taking its cues from Asus' Seashell series, it's the perfect machine for kids - but adults will find it equally usable. It ships with both Windows XP and a custom Disney theme, and parents can easily setup the netbook to protect their kids from harmful content. As with Asus' other netbooks, it's well-built and extremely user-friendly, and the Disneyfied extras - such as a Mickey Mouse-shaped webcam and Disney decals - are sure to make it a hit with kids. Read our Asus Disney Netbook review 3. Samsung NC10 - £275
We described Samsung's NC10 as "clearly the best netbook so far" when we reviewed it in March of last year, and it's still fantastic. In fact, Samsung has updated it with the "Plus" moniker, and it now includes Windows 7 Starter, Bluetooth 3.0 and a 250GB hard drive. Even with the new additions, the basic specs still impress, such as an epic six-cell battery, and Samsung's own Battery Manager and Recovery Solution software. It's solidly built, too, and the screen and keyboard are among the best we've ever seen. 4. MSI Wind U100 - £291
It was the processor that really set the MSI Wind U100 apart from the competition, and it's a rock-solid netbook design that's still at the top of its class. Unlike other netbooks, it's not fiddly to use, and the keyboard feels more like one you'd find on a properly-proportioned laptop. The other main selling point is the "Turbo Boost" button, which temporarily overclocks the CPU for a slight performance gain - perfect if you find it's getting a bit sluggish. 5. Samsung N220 - £303
Samsung's made a name for itself in well-built netbooks with amazing battery life, and the N220 is no exception. It sports a six-cell battery capable of a staggering 575 minutes on the road. The N220 also feels durable and solid, and the branding isn't the usual in-your-face logo-plastering we've seen on other machines. Samsung's also included its HyperSpace interface, which bypasses the Windows 7 installation to allow for very quick internet browsing - perfect for checking the times on your 575-minute train journey. 6. Toshiba NB305-105 - £306
If you're after a well-built netbook, look no further than Toshiba's solid little machine. The lid only shows a slight degree of flex under pressure, and the hinges are reassuringly solid. Toshiba's also fitted it with a lovely, responsive keyboard, as well as a large, comfortable trackpad and battery life is way above a standard netbook's. Handily, you can also charge your USB gadgets while the computer is off with Toshiba's Sleep and Charge Functionality. It's not the most innovative of netbooks, but it is one of the sturdiest. Read our Toshiba NB305-105 review 7. Samsung N230 - £322
As the most recent netbook we've reviewed, we were keen to see what Samsung would bring to its N230. The answer is not a lot, but this isn't a bad thing at all; in fact, it's still a killer netbook. Samsung has obviously concentrated on the usability of the machine, and therefore you'll find a fantastic keyboard and screen, as well as an all-conquering 628 minute battery life. The performance is nothing to write home about, but this is a limitation of the form factor, not the machine. 8. Acer Aspire 1410-74G25n - £335
Acer's Aspire sports an 11.6-inch screen, which is a tad bigger than other netbooks' standard 10.1", and makes a big difference. In addition, it's got a consumer ultra low voltage (CULV) processor, which gives it an excellent 428 minutes of battery life - although this comes at the price of performance. 802.11n WiFi, an LED-backlit screen and HDMI-out make it stand apart from other netbooks, too, and it's slim, solid and well-made. Read our Acer Aspire 1410-74G25n review 9. MSI Wind U115 Hybrid - £344
The SSD/HDD combo is something we're more used to seeing on high-power desktop PCs, but MSI has integrated it to its Wind U115 netbook. The idea is to install your operating system onto the SSD, so it boots and runs quickly, and everything else onto the HDD. It's put to good use here, and you can even turn off the battery-draining HDD to boost the Wind U115 to an astonishing 780 minutes of battery life. It's every bit as good as the original Wind, too, with the added bonus of outstanding mobility. Read our MSI Wind U115 Hybrid review 10. Toshiba Satellite L450-136 - £350
Toshiba's Satellite L450 is the only portable PC in our round-up that can't be classed as a netbook, due to its whopping 15.6-inch screen. Being a cheap laptop, its performance is rather limited, but if you can live with that you'll find a comfortable, stylish machine. At 193 minutes, battery life is fairly decent for a laptop of this size and price, and the included HDMI-out port means you can output the PC to a high-definition television. Read our Toshiba Satellite L450 review 
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| Buying Guide: Best cheap netbook: which should you buy? Posted: 25 Oct 2010 08:54 AM PDT Finding the best value laptops is like trying to find a needle in a haystack, and there are so many options to consider that it's difficult to know what to buy. Fortunately manufacturers are always innovating to set their machines apart from the crowd, and you'll find a lot of great features on netbooks under £300. Also make sure you check out our feature on the 15 best netbooks in the world today. 1. Packard Bell Dot S2 - £230
Packard Bell's Dot S2 is a true return to form for Packard Bell. It's the added extras that really make a difference: we got 463 minutes from the battery (although this does add bulk and weight to the machine) while there's a USB cable supplied so you can sync it with your desktop. What's more is that Packard Bell has included Adobe's excellent Photoshop Elements with the netbook. It's a bargain given the price, too. Read our Packard Bell Dot S2 review 2. Asus Disney Netbook - £250
We were pleasantly surprised by Asus' Disney-branded netbook. Taking its cues from Asus' Seashell series, it's the perfect machine for kids - but adults will find it equally usable. It ships with both Windows XP and a custom Disney theme, and parents can easily setup the netbook to protect their kids from harmful content. As with Asus' other netbooks, it's well-built and extremely user-friendly, and the Disneyfied extras - such as a Mickey Mouse-shaped webcam and Disney decals - are sure to make it a hit with kids. Read our Asus Disney Netbook review 3. Samsung NC10 - £275
We described Samsung's NC10 as "clearly the best netbook so far" when we reviewed it in March of last year, and it's still fantastic. In fact, Samsung has updated it with the "Plus" moniker, and it now includes Windows 7 Starter, Bluetooth 3.0 and a 250GB hard drive. Even with the new additions, the basic specs still impress, such as an epic six-cell battery, and Samsung's own Battery Manager and Recovery Solution software. It's solidly built, too, and the screen and keyboard are among the best we've ever seen. 4. MSI Wind U100 - £291
It was the processor that really set the MSI Wind U100 apart from the competition, and it's a rock-solid netbook design that's still at the top of its class. Unlike other netbooks, it's not fiddly to use, and the keyboard feels more like one you'd find on a properly-proportioned laptop. The other main selling point is the "Turbo Boost" button, which temporarily overclocks the CPU for a slight performance gain - perfect if you find it's getting a bit sluggish. 5. Samsung N220 - £303
Samsung's made a name for itself in well-built netbooks with amazing battery life, and the N220 is no exception. It sports a six-cell battery capable of a staggering 575 minutes on the road. The N220 also feels durable and solid, and the branding isn't the usual in-your-face logo-plastering we've seen on other machines. Samsung's also included its HyperSpace interface, which bypasses the Windows 7 installation to allow for very quick internet browsing - perfect for checking the times on your 575-minute train journey. 6. Toshiba NB305-105 - £306
If you're after a well-built netbook, look no further than Toshiba's solid little machine. The lid only shows a slight degree of flex under pressure, and the hinges are reassuringly solid. Toshiba's also fitted it with a lovely, responsive keyboard, as well as a large, comfortable trackpad and battery life is way above a standard netbook's. Handily, you can also charge your USB gadgets while the computer is off with Toshiba's Sleep and Charge Functionality. It's not the most innovative of netbooks, but it is one of the sturdiest. Read our Toshiba NB305-105 review 7. Samsung N230 - £322
As the most recent netbook we've reviewed, we were keen to see what Samsung would bring to its N230. The answer is not a lot, but this isn't a bad thing at all; in fact, it's still a killer netbook. Samsung has obviously concentrated on the usability of the machine, and therefore you'll find a fantastic keyboard and screen, as well as an all-conquering 628 minute battery life. The performance is nothing to write home about, but this is a limitation of the form factor, not the machine. 8. Acer Aspire 1410-74G25n - £335
Acer's Aspire sports an 11.6-inch screen, which is a tad bigger than other netbooks' standard 10.1", and makes a big difference. In addition, it's got a consumer ultra low voltage (CULV) processor, which gives it an excellent 428 minutes of battery life - although this comes at the price of performance. 802.11n WiFi, an LED-backlit screen and HDMI-out make it stand apart from other netbooks, too, and it's slim, solid and well-made. Read our Acer Aspire 1410-74G25n review 9. MSI Wind U115 Hybrid - £344
The SSD/HDD combo is something we're more used to seeing on high-power desktop PCs, but MSI has integrated it to its Wind U115 netbook. The idea is to install your operating system onto the SSD, so it boots and runs quickly, and everything else onto the HDD. It's put to good use here, and you can even turn off the battery-draining HDD to boost the Wind U115 to an astonishing 780 minutes of battery life. It's every bit as good as the original Wind, too, with the added bonus of outstanding mobility. Read our MSI Wind U115 Hybrid review 10. Toshiba Satellite L450-136 - £350
Toshiba's Satellite L450 is the only portable PC in our round-up that can't be classed as a netbook, due to its whopping 15.6-inch screen. Being a cheap laptop, its performance is rather limited, but if you can live with that you'll find a comfortable, stylish machine. At 193 minutes, battery life is fairly decent for a laptop of this size and price, and the included HDMI-out port means you can output the PC to a high-definition television. Read our Toshiba Satellite L450 review 
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| Dell Venue Pro available for pre-order at £500 Posted: 25 Oct 2010 08:21 AM PDT  The eagerly-awaited Dell Venue Pro Windows 7 smartphone has appeared for pre-order on the Expansys website – outlining the final specs for the QWERTY-toting handset and a £500 price tag. With five handsets already on the market, Dell's offering was always slated to appear sooner rather than later, although we'll be surprised if it does indeed hit the UK release date of 8 November that Expansys suggests. The Dell Venue Pro brings all the glitz of Microsoft's latest Windows Phone 7 OS with the addition of a keyboard. Specs appeal The specs are fairly familiar, with a Qualcomm 8250 SnapDragon 1Ghz processor, 800x400 4.1 inch capacitive screen (we're sure even if Expansys appears less sure) and a 5MP camera with digital zoom, geo-tagging and touch-focus. For that £500 price tag you will also get 1GB of internal memory expandable through the microSDHC slot. There is also AGPS, accelerometer, digital compass, proximity sensor and apparently you can use it as a phone as well. We'll keep you informed if we hear a more definitive UK release date, but we're expecting the Venue Pro from Dell to land a bit closer to Christmas at the moment - but who knows, perhaps it could come early for some Dell-lovers? 
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| New BBC iPlayer social features get thumbs up Posted: 25 Oct 2010 07:52 AM PDT  The social networking features in the latest iteration of the BBC iPlayer have been a success, with 14 million people tagging their favourite programmes in just one month. According to a blog by the BBC's new General Manager for Programmes and On Demand Daniel Danker - recently hired from Microsoft - the changes in iPlayer have worked well, with people finding programmes in less clicks and use of the service increasing steadily. "As we iron out the post-launch issues, there's plenty of good news to share," blogged Danker. Usage up "Usage is up and radio consumption is growing particularly fast. Audiences are finding programmes with 20% fewer clicks than before, which is a really great result," he added. "The new personalisation features are also proving very popular, with 14 million of you tagging 'favourite' programmes in just one month." The BBC iPlayer has been a massive hit since its arrival, and the new features appear to have gone down well with the general public. 114 million plays "BBC iPlayer had a total of 114 million programme plays for the month, but the real success story was the week-by-week increase," added Danker. "The last week in September saw 24 million programmes played across TV and radio - the most in a single week since May. "The growth has continued in October, where each week has been stronger than the last." 
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| Patriot announces value Torqx TRB SSDs Posted: 25 Oct 2010 07:22 AM PDT  Patriot has launched 'value' Torqx TRB solid state drives, insisting that its latest releases offer performance without breaking the bank. The rise of the SSD has been held back somewhat by the drives' relatively high price-tag, but as they become more common the cost is coming down. Now, Patriot is hoping that its latest offering can tempt people to move from traditional hard drives to SSDs. Affordable "As solid-state drive technology advances, we are able to develop SSD solutions that provide the performance users want while reaching the affordable price points they demand," states Les Henry, Vice President of Engineering at Patriot. "Patriot's objective is to offer the latest technology while providing the best performance and price options. "Our Torqx TRB family of SSDs meet these goals. Users upgrading with a Torqx TRB SSD will benefit from improved transfer rates, quicker boot times and the reliability of solid-state storage in their boot drive option. "Including a Torqx SSD in your desktop or notebook upgrade plans provides one of the best bang-for-the buck improvements you can make to your system." The drives come in 32 and 64GB capacities offer speeds of up to 260MB/s Read and up to 115MB/s write. For all the affordability talk – we haven't actually been supplied with any pricings or a UK release date, but we will update you when we find out. 
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| VLC Media Player finally arrives for the iPhone Posted: 25 Oct 2010 05:34 AM PDT  VLC Media Player, the platform that's designed to play back virtually any media file, has landed on the iPhone and iPod touch platform. The new Version 1.1.0 brings about a few new improvements on top of making its way from the iPad only to the smaller screen. You can now edit (well, delete) files from within the application rather than having to go through iTunes to clean things up, and more extensions are now being recognised. Faster, better, slicker More importantly VLC promises faster decoding, meaning it's likely that the dreaded MKV incompatibility (due to 'too slow' iPads) could be a thing of the past. The faster decoding is due to assembly optimisations, so we assume that means it can put the video together quickly enough to run smoothly. We also want to see MPG and WMV supported on our iPhone 4 to make this a compelling product. We're currently testing out the new VLC Media Player on the iPhone, so we'll let you know our findings as soon as we can. 
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| Buying Guide: 10 best Windows Phone 7 apps - paid apps Posted: 25 Oct 2010 05:00 AM PDT  Sure, Windows Phone 7 has a fast and fluid user experience, and maybe the best smartphone camera interface we've seen. But does it have the kind of apps you buy the iPhone for? Not quite yet. We haven't yet seen a killer app for Windows Phone 7 apart from the built-in OneNote with SkyDrive sync and it will be a while before we see GPS navigation apps (we know of at least one in development) but even in the first week there's plenty in the Marketplace beyond the obligatory flashlights and fart apps. Here are the Windows Phone 7 apps we'd pay for. 1. Pictures Lab Tilt-shift effects, crop and rotate... Pictures Lab combines the fun effects of an iPhone photo app like Hipstamatic with the useful fixes you're mostly likely to need (sharpen and - in the imminent update - crop) in a beautifully designed app that crosses the power of Silverlight with the tools of the Windows Phone 7 interface. Pick a photo, see all the possible effects as thumbnails or swipe up and down to try them one at a time.
2. Newsroom If you live in RSS feeds, you may want both of these newsreaders for Windows Phone 7. Newsroom saves you time by grabbing full stories and pictures, even from truncated RSS feeds, and battery by compressing them first, so you can go from the headline to the full story far more quickly than clicking through to a browser window - but it doesn't handle Google Reader.
3. gReadie gReadie - as you'd expect from the name - specifically handles Google Reader, and does a great job of keeping the details of what you've read elsewhere in Google Reader in sync so you only get new items (and ones you've starred). You can star posts to remember, send them to Instapaper and share them in plenty of ways - including Twitter.
4. DoodleDoodle There are several drawing apps in the marketplace but this simple one is our favourite so far; pick a colour and a pen thickness and draw with your fingertip. Good for amusing kids, a quick game of hangman, drawing a map or a basic diagram.
5. Password Padlock If you're trying to make your passwords more secure, they get more complicated and harder to remember. Microsoft doesn't let tools like this handy password utility integrate with the browser but it does encrypt all your passwords using AES and a master password of your choice (that's never stored on the phone, so write yourself a good hint); now you can safely get reminders when you need to log in.
6. Virtual Remote: Media Control Connecting a remote to a PC in your living room usually means a tangle of wires and infrared repeaters; not the look you want. Run the companion PC software and Virtual Remote turns the phone you have in your pocket into a remote control with media buttons; it works with ITunes and several DVD software players as well as Windows Media Player and Windows Media Centre - it even has the green button to start Media Center.
7. Twozaic Why pay for a Twitter client when there's Seesmic and the official client, both free? Because the cloud view that arranges user pics and excerpts around the screen is just such a nice way of reading tweets - although you get all the usual views like timelines as well.
8. PCconnector The setup could be easier - and the instructions and interface could be a lot clearer, especially for setting up the client you have to run on your PC - but once you get it working you can connect to your PC from anywhere to download files or send them by email. Not everyone needs this but it's the kind of powerful app we weren't sure Windows Phone 7 would allow.
9. BluesBox Who needs Guitar Hero? You can play your own blues solo (or any other style) on screen; pick a song to play along with from your music collection, pick bass or guitar and strut your stuff. This makes great use of the multitouch screen for chords and fast play.
10. XKCD If you don't love XKCD… no, we don't think there's anyone who doesn't love this mix of philosophy and stick figures. The app does little more than start with the most recent comic and read backwards (you can also jump to a specific numbered strip); it doesn't even zoom because then you couldn't read the text. But it's XKCD!
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| Virgin Media's 100Mbps broadband arriving this week? Posted: 25 Oct 2010 04:59 AM PDT  Virgin Media's 100Mbps internet service is expected to arrive this week with Prime Minister David Cameron teasing the arrival of the next generation super-fast service from the cable giant. Cameron's speech on a 'new economic dynamism' to the CBI included a nugget of information, that was presumably cleared by Virgin Media, talking about a new service. With Virgin Media continuing to hint that its 100Mbps service is arriving this year, the writing is very much on the wall for a launch this week. New service "…we'll work with utility companies to get more investment in our energy, with construction companies on our roads, with the telecommunications industry on broadband," said Cameron. "This collaboration is already working. Virgin Media is rolling out a new superfast broadband service this week." Virgin Media is not ready to confirm the news just yet, with a spokesman keeping the 'coming soon' line for now. "Virgin Media currently provides the fastest broadband service in the UK, with our 50Mbps service, and we're excited that we will soon be revealing the details of our new ultrafast 100Mbps service," he said. The arrival of 100Mbps is a significant landmark in the UK, which is struggling to keep up with some other nations in terms of its communications infrastructure. With BT now investing in more fibre optic network, and Virgin Media reaping the benefit of its cable purchases in the past superfast broadband is, at least, becoming a common term in the UK. 
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| Virgin Media's 100Mbps broadband arriving this week? Posted: 25 Oct 2010 04:59 AM PDT Virgin Media's 100Mbps internet service is expected to arrive this week with Prime Minister David Cameron teasing the arrival of the next generation super-fast service from the cable giant. Cameron's speech on a 'new economic dynamism' to the CBI included a nugget of information, that was presumably cleared by Virgin Media, talking about a new service. With Virgin Media continuing to hint that its 100Mbps service is arriving this year, the writing is very much on the wall for a launch this week. New service "…we'll work with utility companies to get more investment in our energy, with construction companies on our roads, with the telecommunications industry on broadband," said Cameron. "This collaboration is already working. Virgin Media is rolling out a new superfast broadband service this week." Virgin Media is not ready to confirm the news just yet, with a spokesman keeping the 'coming soon' line for now. "Virgin Media currently provides the fastest broadband service in the UK, with our 50Mbps service, and we're excited that we will soon be revealing the details of our new ultrafast 100Mbps service," he said. The arrival of 100Mbps is a significant landmark in the UK, which is struggling to keep up with some other nations in terms of its communications infrastructure. With BT now investing in more fibre optic network, and Virgin Media reaping the benefit of its cable purchases in the past superfast broadband is, at least, becoming a common term in the UK. 
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| Glasgow gets UK first 3G Underground coverage Posted: 25 Oct 2010 04:56 AM PDT  The UK's first 3G and Wi-Fi network on an underground transport network has arrived for Glasgow Subway – with The Cloud and Arqiva partnering to bring connectivity to the commute. Although the wait remains for London's Tube to be given network coverage, Glasgow's Subway has now been connected up – with the first service of its kind in the UK. "There are around 14 million passenger journeys on the Glasgow Subway each year," explained Andy Norris, Services Director for Arqiva's Government, Mobile & Enterprise business unit. Widespread adoption "The widespread adoption of smartphones and other cellular hand held devices means that more and more consumers want an 'always on' experience from these devices," he added. "The addition of Wi-Fi to the existing 3G network demonstrates our ability to design and deploy communications infrastructure that can be used for more than one purpose. "It also demonstrates our expertise in deploying communication networks in some challenging environments. "From the onset of the project, we were aware that Wi-Fi was necessary to allow commuters to enjoy seamless connectivity at rush hour as well as quiet periods and The Cloud was the clear choice to help us achieve this goal." All 15 stations and subway platforms are covered by the partnership's effort, but although The Cloud is offering the first 15 minutes of Wi-Fi free to all – further minutes will need to be bought on PAYG. 
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| Glasgow gets UK first 3G Underground coverage Posted: 25 Oct 2010 04:56 AM PDT The UK's first 3G and Wi-Fi network on an underground transport network has arrived for Glasgow Subway – with The Cloud and Arqiva partnering to bring connectivity to the commute. Although the wait remains for London's Tube to be given network coverage, Glasgow's Subway has now been connected up – with the first service of its kind in the UK. "There are around 14 million passenger journeys on the Glasgow Subway each year," explained Andy Norris, Services Director for Arqiva's Government, Mobile & Enterprise business unit. Widespread adoption "The widespread adoption of smartphones and other cellular hand held devices means that more and more consumers want an 'always on' experience from these devices," he added. "The addition of Wi-Fi to the existing 3G network demonstrates our ability to design and deploy communications infrastructure that can be used for more than one purpose. "It also demonstrates our expertise in deploying communication networks in some challenging environments. "From the onset of the project, we were aware that Wi-Fi was necessary to allow commuters to enjoy seamless connectivity at rush hour as well as quiet periods and The Cloud was the clear choice to help us achieve this goal." All 15 stations and subway platforms are covered by the partnership's effort, but although The Cloud is offering the first 15 minutes of Wi-Fi free to all – further minutes will need to be bought on PAYG. 
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| BBC to change way it manages websites Posted: 25 Oct 2010 04:32 AM PDT  The BBC is making a significant change to the way in which it manages its websites, with the corporation adopting a project management system that will see each site allocated a life-cycle. The BBC is keen to improve the way in which it deals with its websites, and Erik Huggers has explained how a move to a project management system will help. "By 2012 it's estimated that around 90% of UK homes will have access to our services via the web so it's important that we get this right," he blogged. "Product management will enable us to think more strategically about developing our online presence, and deliver a better quality and more innovative service for audiences." Damp squib Huggers insists that there will be no poorly judged launches with no continuation, and that failures will be canned quickly. "We'll no longer build websites which are published and which sit unattended and slowly degrade; products will be managed within a life cycle," he stated. "This could mean gradual addition of new features, new content, new releases, but also includes the ultimate decommissioning of a product." The BBC has also published a survey on why it is adopting product management. 
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| Updated: Windows 8 rumours: everything you need to know Posted: 25 Oct 2010 04:00 AM PDT  What we know about Windows 8 is still incomplete and unofficial - garnered from job postings, rumours and the slides allegedly leaked by a software engineer at HP responsible for OEM relations (available through the Italian Windows Ette site). The slides include plenty of marketing ideas rather than technical details, they show that Microsoft has its eye on what Apple is doing to make its operating systems so popular and they declare themselves a work in progress. Not only is every page marked 'this is not a plan of record' but the opening discussion includes the line "reality: there are currently more ideas than there is time to implement them". That's especially true if Windows 8 release date is as soon as we think it might be. Windows 8 release date Windows 8, say the slides, will be available "for the holiday" - but not which one. There's a timeline that doesn't have many dates; the one suggesting that the coding would begin in June is suspect when some sources say the M1 (milestone 1 build) is already done and there's what we assume is a typo that we'd correct to say the third Forum (rather than the second) would be in July (there are several points where the slides are incomplete or confusing; for instance a pointed reference to "creating great Dell + Windows Experiences" in a deck that otherwise tips the hat - and appears to have been intended for - HP). It puts the first beta of IE9 in August, along with the shipping date for Windows Live wave 4 which fits other rumours and positions them just after the third Forum. That makes the forums three-to five months apart; assuming an average of four months - and assuming the chart is to scale and that the dates don't slip - that puts Windows 8 beta release date a little before March 2011 and Windows 8 RTM shortly after July 2011 (a date suggested on the blog of a now-ex Microsoft employee which you can find preserved, with the boxed version following in the autumn - for the holiday). We've said before that we expect Windows 8 in late 2011 or early 2012 and we don't expect Microsoft to talk about a date until the Milestone 3 build, which would be around November 2010 by these calculations. The fact that Microsoft hasn't announced whether the Professional Developers conference (usually held in November and used to preview new versions of the OS) will happen this year makes this a little less likely and it could all be some months later. There are several statistics (typical RAM, network connected TVs, mobile broadband penetration and 4G deployment) that talk about the specs that will be common - in 2012. Interestingly, the timeline shows Windows Live Wave 5 with a short development cycle that finishes before Windows 8; that matches suggestions that Live will offer more cloud services for Windows 8. UPDATE: On 25 October 2010, Microsoft Netherlands said "it will take about two years before 'Windows 8' [is] on the market." Windows 8 tablets are coming The leaked slides are aimed at PC manufacturers who are interested in new form factors - and in getting a share of the iPad market - so it's no surprise one of the key PC form factors is a 9" slate (which Microsoft, having obviously got the point of all those iPad ads, is calling a Lap PC), optimised for web and media, casual gaming, reading and sorting email, IM and social networking.
LAP PC: Is that the HP slate? Using the Lap PC to read a magazine and play a driving game Microsoft promises big improvements to the on-screen keyboard: it will be "easily launched, text prediction is more accurate, the UI is more usable, and throughput is increased for everyone". There's also the workhorse PC (which is also referred to as a laptop, because Microsoft is only talking about consumers and not business users) and the family hub (an all-in-one touchscreen system that can go in the kitchen or the living room as a media centre) which is for casual gaming, web and media as well as more demanding apps like organising and manipulating media. Key to making a successful Windows tablet is apps with user interfaces that change depending on the form factor (touch and gestures instead of keyboard and mouse), but Microsoft is also looking at stereoscopic 3D and high colour displays and natural input that uses touch, voice, 3D gestures ("on the horizon"), and facial recognition.
3D SUPPORT: Windows 8 will play 3D movies and games, but don't ask Microsoft to pick its favourite format yet Optimising "for smaller screens" will help netbook users as well; Windows 7 gets key dialog boxes to fit on a small screen but not all apps do. Another app store More than 30 app stores have launched in the last year and Microsoft isn't the only company copying Apple here; Intel has its own app store for Atom PCs. PC makers like the idea - apparently at the first forum they commented that it "can't happen soon enough". With an app store, Microsoft hopes to attract more of the type of developers who are currently building smartphone apps and it wants them to create apps that make Windows the best place to use web apps (a job advert last October claimed "we will blend the best of the web and the rich client by creating a new model for modern web applications to rock on Windows".) According to the slides, "Currently the indication is that app development will move to the Web. There is significant opportunity for Microsoft if hardware capabilities, and OS services and Web could be integrated into a hobbyist developer toolset." The 'tailored experiences' Microsoft talks about for Windows 8 sound like smartphone apps; the checklist includes fast installation and updates for engaging, social, extensible, ad-supported or 'freemium' apps. If smartphone-style apps sound too simple to be worthwhile on Windows, Microsoft wants apps to be extensible so you can share information between them - perhaps using a mix of simple apps together. It sounds like the 'mashups' that we were all going to be making online until it turned out you'd have to learn to program. The Windows Store will be branded and optimised for each PC manufacturer. Your settings will follow you from PC to PC, as will your apps (although some slides refer to this as a possibility rather than a definite plan) - but you'd need an HP ID to log into the 'HP Store powered by Windows' and get your HP-specific apps. Microsoft doesn't plan to make money from the store; the slides call it "revenue neutral". Windows 8 multimedia Windows 8 will have better media playback and recording, but it will balance using hardware acceleration to save battery life and using the CPU when it gives a better result. Audio will use hardware acceleration more because that does improve battery life. There will be post-processing to take out blur, noise and shakey video filmed on a phone or webcam, and support for more codecs including AVC and as-yet-undetermined 3D video codecs (stereoscopic3D support is coming, for games and for 3D movies in Media Center, but there are format issues). Microsoft talks about sharing 'with nearby devices'; one way that will work is adding the Play To option currently in Windows Media Player to the browser for HTML 5 audio and video content, so you can play it on any device that supports DLNA, another is APIs to let other software do the same. That will work with DRM content, if it's protected with DTCP-IP (digital transmission content protection over IP) or Microsoft's own PlayReady and hardware acceleration will speed up DRM decoding. There's also a new 'remote display' option that will let you send your screen from a laptop to a large monitor (which will use DirectX hardware acceleration and the same multimonitor interface that's already in Windows 7, but for wireless displays as well, which could be an Internet-connected TV - Microsoft refers to 35% of TVs having network connectivity by 2012 and wonders whether to prioritise Internet TV over further improvements to broadcast TV). The 'fundamentals' Microsoft is aiming for with Windows 8 include "a fast on/off experience, responsiveness, and a great level of reliability from the start". The 'big three' are boot time, shutdown time and battery life ("Windows 8 PCs turn on fast, nearly instantly in some cases, and are ready to work without any long or unexpected delays") but Microsoft is also thinking about how long it takes to get things done - how long until you read your first email, see the home page in your browser or start playing media. PCs should feel like an appliance that's ready to use as soon as you turn on the power.
FASTER STARTUP: Windows 8 will show you what slows down startup and if removing an app you don't use improves it Mobile PCs should resume 'instantly' from sleep (in under a second from S3 sleep), and booting up will be faster because of caching, with a boot layout prefetcher and the ReadyBoost cache persisting even when you reboot. As only 9% of people currently use hibernate (which will work more quickly in Windows 8 because system information will be saved and compressed in parallel), Windows 8 will have a new Logoff and Hibernate combination that closes your apps like shutting the PC down does and refreshes your desktop like restarting does, but actually caches drivers, system services, devices and much of the core system the way hibernation does. Turning the PC back on will take about half the time a cold boot needs (and the slides point out that on many PCs the power-on tests take longer than the Windows startup, so BIOS makers need to shape up). It will be the default option but it won't be called Logoff and Hibernate; Microsoft is debating terms like Shutdown, Turn Off, Power Down and thinking through how the other options for turning the PC off will show up in the interface. You'll be able to use an encrypting hard drive to boot Windows 8 and they'll integrate with BitLocker and third-party security apps. Improving battery life will be based on some deep changes to the kernel; removing an interrupt in the kernel scheduler completely and removing more of the timers that interrupt Windows when it's trying to save power. Windows 8 might get the same option for powering down unused areas of memory to save power that's on the cards for Windows Server, it will block disk reads and writes and some CPU access when you're not doing anything on your PC and PCI devices can turn off completely when they're not in use (assuming the drivers for specific devices support it). Windows 7 stopped laptops waking up automatically when they're not plugged in; Windows 8 will get a new 'intelligent alarm' that can wake them up for things like virus scans, but only if they're plugged in. OEMs will get new test tools that check the performance, reliability, security and Windows Logo compatibility of the PC, as well as measuring performance in Outlook and IE. And depending on whether partners have "concerns" about it, Microsoft might give the same tools to journalists, IT pros and users. Help and support is back In Windows XP the Help and Support centre was a branded hub of tools and links; in Windows 7 it's far more minimal. Windows 8 will go back to the branded experience, with integrated search for support forums run by your PC manufacturer but add the Windows 7 troubleshooters. It will also link better with the Action Center, with tools that show more clearly what's happening on your PC; what apps are running, what resources are being used (like Task Manager showing which apps are using the most network bandwidth), how and when things have changed and what they can do about it. It will also include an Application Management tool that will let you find what apps are causing performance problems and adjust or remove them.
IMPROVED TASK MANAGER: Task manager will make it easier to see why an app might not be performing; here the Zune software is using all the network bandwidth to download podcasts, so video in the browser keeps pausing. We hope the white on black isn't the final design! The Windows pre-boot recovery environment will be simpler, combining the safe mode and 'last known good' options into one interface. It will use what Microsoft calls 'superboot' to remove malware and rootkits If you have to reset your PC, Windows 8 will restore "all the files settings and even the applications" although you'll have to go to the Windows Store to download apps and get a list of apps that didn't come from the store, so it's not clear how automatic this will actually be. Devices matter (almost) as much as PCs One of the reasons that Windows took off in the first place was working more easily with devices - in those days, printers. Support for a wide range of devices is one of the reasons it's hard to other OSes to challenge Windows but Microsoft would like to get hardware manufacturers to do more with the sensor platform and DeviceStage interface it introduced in Windows 7. With Windows 8, Microsoft wants to see "PCs use location and sensors to enhance a rich array of premium experiences. Users are not burdened with cumbersome tasks that Windows can accomplish on its own. Users are neither annoyed or disturbed by the actions the PC takes. Instead, the PC's behaviour becomes integrated into users' routine workflows. Devices connect faster and work better on Windows 8 than on any other operating system." The 'current thinking' is for Windows 8 to include Microsoft's own Wi-Fi location service Orion (which has 50-100m accuracy in North America and Western Europe but falls back to using the location associated with IP addresses elsewhere, which can be as bad as 25km). Orion will be used in Windows Phone 7 (as well as Hawaii, a Microsoft Research project to build cloud-enabled mobile apps which refers to Orion as a 'prototype service'). Microsoft partnered with Navizon in March to use their Wi-Fi and mobile network location database but the slides claim that Orion is buying a bigger database than Navizon's 15 million access points, giving it 40 million compared to Google's 48 million (neither matches the 120 million Skyhook gives the iPhone). Location will be available to the browser as well as to any app that's written to use it (music players as well as mapping tools), and web apps will get access to webcams. Microsoft is emphasising the privacy aspect of location and webcam use, with mockups of how apps can ask for location and users can choose to deny it or only allow it once. And it's also asking PC manufacturers how many devices they plan to put GPS in and offering a Device Stage interface for using a PND like a Garmin nuvi as a GPS source for your PC.
LOCATION PRIVACY: Web apps can see your location and use your webcam – but you get to control that to protect your privacy As we've said before, Device Stage will become the standard way you work with devices; Microsoft previewed the options you'll get with a featurephone and a webcam as well as GPS. Along with GPS, Microsoft is expecting PCs to include infrared sensors as well as the ambient light sensors that are becoming common, and the accelerometers that are in tablets with rotating screens. Put that together and the PC could know which way up it is, whether there's anyone in front of it - or near it and what the lighting is like in the room. So when you walk into the room your PC notices and wakes itself up so by the time you sit down the webcam is ready to recognise you - and no waiting or having to line your face up with a box on screen. If this works, the camera will pick your face out of the room, like Photo Gallery finding a face in a picture (hopefully without thinking the face in a picture on the wall is you). When you walk away it goes back to sleep again. We like the idea of rotation lock buttons on 'Lap PCs' so you can move them around to control a game without flipping he screen repeatedly; again, if you look away from the game, Microsoft envisages it pausing automatically and if you pass a slate to someone it will switch to their account automatically. What's in: USB 3, Bluetooth hands free and headset profiles (mono and stereo audio). What's out: Microsoft has no plans to support Bluetooth 3.0 + High Speed, 1394 might be deprecated and Microsoft seems to expect USB 2 ports to be phased out in favour of USB 3 within the lifetime of Windows 8. What's under consideration: Bluetooth Low Energy (from Bluetooth 4.0). What's not mentioned: Intel LightPeak, although Microsoft does ask if it's missing anything on its list of connectivity. Windows 8 will know who you are With better ways to log in to your PC, like your face, Microsoft is considering giving Windows 8 a way to "securely store usernames and passwords, simplifying the online experience". Your Windows account might connect more directly to the cloud than just having a Windows Live ID, logging into web sites on your behalf; there's very little detail on this but it could revive the CardSpace technology introduced in Vista but not widely adopted.
FACE LOGIN: Forget passwords; Windows 8 will use the webcam to find and recognise your face (probably) Put it all together and you get some welcome improvements. It's impossible to say if Microsoft can come up with a simple enough programming system to appeal to the developers it wants to create Windows apps to rival Apple's App Store. Until we see some code in action it's also hard to say if the 'instant on' and better battery life will transform the PC experience to compete with lightweight systems based on Android (or if Microsoft can deliver them) and make the PC scale from the tablet to the heavyweight systems we have today – which Windows has to do if it's going to stay the dominant PC OS. Everything else here is incremental – as it would have to be if Microsoft really expects to release Windows 8 by 2011, but it's potentially disappointing if it comes in 2012 and there's nothing else exciting in Windows 8. 
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| Review: G.Skill Phoenix Pro 40GB SSD Posted: 25 Oct 2010 04:00 AM PDT  To RAID or not to RAID. That is the question. At least, it's an increasingly interesting question with the number of smaller, more affordable solid state drives (SSDs) on the rise. The latest example of just such an SSD is the new G.Skill Phoenix Pro 40GB. The key issues here are performance, capacity and cost. SSDs deliver a number of knock-out performance and efficiency advantages compared to conventional drives, which are based on rotating magnetic platters. But they also tend to be much smaller, while costing a bundle more. Consequently, this relatively puny 40GB SSD is priced on a par with magnetic drives offering 1TB or more. In fact, it's debatable whether 40GB is actually big enough to be useful as even a boot drive. With that in mind, one obvious solution is pairing up two 40GB drives in a RAID 0 array and thereby doubling up capacity at the same time as pushing performance to a whole new level. If a single SSD delivers a massive improvement in storage performance against the clock and subjective computing experience, then just imagine what a pair in RAID will do. If that's got your attention, the G.Skill Phoenix Pro 40GB is certainly a promising candidate. It's powered by the SandForce SF-1200, which is arguably the best SSD controller chip currently available and certainly one of the most popular around. On paper, there's little to separate this 40GB 2.5-inch SSD from the likes of Corsair's Force F40. For the most part, that's a good thing. The most significant common component shared by both is the SandForce SF-1200 controller. Our SSD technology lessons have sometimes been painful, but we've come to learn that the most important single component in any SSD is the controller chip, and the SandForce is a good 'un. For the record, the SF-1200 uses an ARM-based Tensilica DC 570T processor core. However, it's not the core itself but rather how it's programmed and supported that counts. Notably, the SF-1200 doesn't use cache memory. That would seem like an obvious disadvantage. After all, SSD cache is used to both reduce the need to access the flash memory cells and to help speed up data mapping and retrieval when accessed. The SandForce controller's trick is to reduce something known as write amplification. Put simply, write amplification is something that SSDs suffer due to the way data is stored and written in blocks. In the bad old days, a stuttering SSD might write as much as 10 or 20 times more data than was actually being stored. SandForce claims that not only does its controller reduce write amplification, it actually takes it into negative territory. In other words, when the operating system sends 1GB of data to a SandForce drive, less 1GB of data is actually written. All SandForce-based drives sport this feature. However, G.Skill says that its version of the controller has been further tuned for what is known as 4k random access. That's tech speak for the itty-bitty data transfers that make up much of the traffic into and out of an SSD during normal usage. Not transferring large chunks of sequential data. Moreover, G.Skill claims this drive is highly optimised for use in RAID configurations. What you really want from a RAID 0 array is double the performance, especially considering the not inconsiderable outlay you'd be spending on twin SSDs. In synthetic terms, things look good – both the read and write speeds get the expected boost. It's the real-world tests that don't bear out doubling your purchase. The application performance in both decompression and application installation times don't really tally with the synthetic scores. However, this is probably down to the old SATA II interface than the drives themselves. Size Synthetic drive performance Synthetic drive performance Synthetic drive performance Synthetic drive performance Application performance
Its sequential read and write throughput of 284MB/s and 271MB/s respectively, and random write performance of 54MB/s make it competitive. It's no slouch in our real-world application tests either, even if it is a little slower in our application install test than we expect from a SandForce-powered drive. Where things get really interesting is in RAID 0 configuration. RAID 0 involves striping data across the two SSDs to create a single, larger data volume. Theoretically, performance also improves because the drives can be written to and read from simultaneously. By contrast, a RAID 1 array mirrors data on the drives, increasing reliability. Going by several of our benchmarks results, these drives do exactly what it says on the RAID 0 tin. Sequential read and write performance effectively doubles to 572MB/s and 534MB/s. As if those numbers weren't staggering enough, the 2,280MB/s result in the HDTach Burst test is simply out of this world. However, these don't accurately reflect real-world performance. But it does confirm that when it comes to RAID 0, one plus one sometimes adds up to more than two. Of course, the maths can work the other way, too. The G.Skill Phoenix Pros in RAID 0 deliver very little additional performance over a single drive in the random write test. But what about the tests that matter most, the real application benchmarks? The answer is mixed. Decompressing a 1GB zip file drops from 35 seconds for the single drive to 30 seconds in RAID 0. Meanwhile, the time taken to install a 1.5GB application tumbles from 42 seconds to just 26 seconds. If that sounds impressive, it's worth noting that the single drive rather underperformed in the application installation test. Performance concerns aside for a moment, it's worth noting that the Phoenix Pros make a good impression thanks to their quality brushed alloy enclosures and bundled 2.5-inch-to-3.5-inch drive bay adapters. We liked SandForce's SF-1200 has been our favourite SSD controller for some six months and G.Skill's new SSD certainly backs up that positive impression. It's a seriously quick little SSD. Strap two of them together and the results, at least some of the time, are stunning. We disliked £90-plus for a 40GB drive is a painful proposition. Buying two of them for double the price doesn't really provide relief, even if the result is a more usable overall data volume and increased performance. Partly that's because you're still left with a pretty puny amount storage. But it's also because the real-world benefits of the RAID 0 configuration are often modest. Verdict Given the mixed real-world benefits of a RAID config, there's better value to be had from larger SSDs. Related Links
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| Virgin Media seals on-demand deal with NBC Universal Posted: 25 Oct 2010 03:55 AM PDT  Virgin Media has announced a key deal with US television giant NBC Universal to use its shows on its on-demand service. With Sky's Anytime+ beginning its long awaited roll-out tomorrow, Virgin Media is keen to remind people of it's own well-established TV Choice on Demand service. Inevitably the battle for the best on-demand content will be a major factor in the services' success, and sealing NBC Universal is a major landmark for Virgin Media. We can see Heroes (and not just for one day) NBC Universal's biggest TV hits include Heroes, House, The Office (US) and 30 Rock – and past seasons will be available on TV Choice from 1 December. The terms of the deal will see NBC Universal titles made available across the Virgin media troika of TV, online and mobile. Cindy Rose, executive director of digital entertainment at Virgin Media said: "Our pioneering TV On Demand service continues to offer the greatest choice for all the family and we're delighted to bring our customers these great shows in HD from NBC Universal. "With more and more consumers enjoying the flexibility of watching TV whenever they want, our new online and mobile services also give our customers a fantastic way to enjoy content wherever they are." 
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| Virgin Media seals on-demand deal with NBC Universal Posted: 25 Oct 2010 03:55 AM PDT Virgin Media has announced a key deal with US television giant NBC Universal to use its shows on its on-demand service. With Sky's Anytime+ beginning its long awaited roll-out tomorrow, Virgin Media is keen to remind people of it's own well-established TV Choice on Demand service. Inevitably the battle for the best on-demand content will be a major factor in the services' success, and sealing NBC Universal is a major landmark for Virgin Media. We can see Heroes (and not just for one day) NBC Universal's biggest TV hits include Heroes, House, The Office (US) and 30 Rock – and past seasons will be available on TV Choice from 1 December. The terms of the deal will see NBC Universal titles made available across the Virgin media troika of TV, online and mobile. Cindy Rose, executive director of digital entertainment at Virgin Media said: "Our pioneering TV On Demand service continues to offer the greatest choice for all the family and we're delighted to bring our customers these great shows in HD from NBC Universal. "With more and more consumers enjoying the flexibility of watching TV whenever they want, our new online and mobile services also give our customers a fantastic way to enjoy content wherever they are." 
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| Posted: 25 Oct 2010 03:47 AM PDT  There has been a battle brewing in the motherboard world, and predictably it's been between the Taiwanese motherboard giants Gigabyte and Asus. And the battle has been fought on the LGA 1366 battlefield. So Gigabyte hits back with the X58-USB3 motherboard, the cheapest full Core i7 board on the market. Performance of the full Nehalem Core i7s has never been an issue, but the cost of the platform as a whole has. With prices of DDR3 remaining high, the fact you needed three sticks of RAM to properly populate the X58's triple channel memory configuration, the price of the frankly awesome LGA 1366 CPUs and all bound with the cost of the motherboards meant that it was incredibly expensive as a platform. While chip prices haven't dropped that much, DDR3 prices have. And with Gigabyte and Asus battling it out for the volume segment of the X58 motherboard market, the price of the base boards has come down, too. This latest X58 from Gigabyte is by far the cheapest, though. In pure performance terms, the cheaper Gigabyte board manages to hold its own against pricier Asus mobos, coming out slightly ahead at the same clockspeeds, in fact. Where it falls down a little is in the overclocking stakes. The X58-USB3 hits a limit of 4.2GHz, while the Asus P6X58D-E was able to push that to 4.32GHz. Still, bargain boards aren't usually bought for their overclocking potential… CPU rendering performance Video encoding performance Gaming performance With the impending Sandy Bridge platform set to replace the Lynnfield LGA 1156 range in the coming months, and considering the Nehalem platform's relatively elderly status, you'd be forgiven for thinking its days were numbered. And that's true – but we wouldn't be that pessimistic about the setup just yet. After all, the X58 chipset is still overpowered for what the day-to-day user needs, being based on a server setup in the first place. The fact that now it's not that pricey a platform either, with boards like this arriving for just over a ton, you're getting a frankly insane amount of performance for a relatively small outlay. And the performance you can get out of this budget board is incredible. We loved the P6X58D-E from Asus, but this board manages to just about outperform it when the clocks are identical. The performance increase is infinitesimal mind, but it's there. You're not really sacrificing too much going for this 'budget' X58 board either. You've still got both CrossFire and SLI certification on the PCIe x16 lanes, and you're also getting full USB 3.0 support. What you are missing, though, is the advanced SATA 6Gbps interface. Having said that, we prefer it this way round – the USB 3.0 interface offers an incredible advantage over the preceding USB version, and new devices using that tech, such as Kingston's DataTraveler Ultimate, are hitting the shops without a massive price premium. SATA 6Gbps devices, though, aren't as prevalent, and don't offer as much of an advantage yet. Until there are more SATA 6Gbps SSD drives around for a decent price, it's not going to be a must-have interface. The only place where the competing Asus P6X58D-E mobo beats this Gigabyte board is in the overclocking stakes. Still, the X58-USB3 does break the 4GHz mark without any voltage tweakery necessary, but the Asus board goes a little further. But that's not why you buy a cheaper X58 board, and chances are most people picking up either board aren't looking to cook the chip at all. Stock performance is more than satisfactory for most of us. So Gigabyte wins this round with a feature-packed and incredibly cheap X58 board. There's little sacrifice to hit this price-point, and a lot to gain. We liked At £124 it's an incredible price for the performance you can get out of it. While the Asus board beats it in the overclocking states it still managed over 4GHz with the cheapest Core i7. We disliked There's very little to dislike about the X58-USB3, the lack of SATA 6Gbps connections may become an issue once relevant SSDs become more prevalent and cheaper, but right now it's not that important. Related Links
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| Posted: 25 Oct 2010 03:40 AM PDT  Samsung insists it will continue to sell plasma TVs for as long as anyone wants to buy them, but the brand's heart seems to lie elsewhere. The South Korean firm has been busy trumpeting and showing off its undeniably impressive edge LED TVs whenever and wherever it gets the chance, but has had precious little to say about its plasmas, even those equipped with 3D playback. So it is that Samsung's new 50in, 3D capable PS50C6900 plasma TV has arrived almost unnoticed. In fact, it even seems to have crept up on its manufacturer; it couldn't even be found on its UK website at time of writing. With its £1,300 price tag and an extensive secondary feature count that includes access to Samsung's impressive Internet@TV platform, it has the potential to become the first bona fide 3D bargain. Samsung does have a more highly specified 3D plasma range: the C7000 series. Available in 63in and 50in sizes, the C7000 models add to the C6900's spec a Real Black Filter, designed to improve contrast and reduce reflectivity from your room. There is also an expansive range of LCD 3D TVs, headed up by the extraordinarily thin, metallic-finished and edge-lit C9000 series. Down from those are the slightly chunkier C8000 models and beneath these you'll find the C7000 sets, which ditch the fancy design and use a less sophisticated picture processing engine. Samsung's cheapest 3D option prior to today was its only CCFL LCD model, the 46in LE46C750. There's a problem with all Samsung's LCD 3D options though: crosstalk noise, where you see double ghosting around some objects in a 3D picture. Hopefully, this is an issue the PS50C6900 will avoid.
The PS50C6900's surprisingly svelte design is given added panache by a high-gloss finish, an appealing deep grey colour and attractive transparent edging. Inevitably, the screen lacks the extreme glamour of Samsung's extraordinarily thin edge LED 3D TVs, but does make Panasonic's 3D plasmas look like they've gone a few rounds with the ugly stick. The PS50C6900's slightly greater thickness makes the screen's connectivity more straightforward than it is on Samsung's edge LED models, but only in the sense that there's less need to use 'shrinking' adaptors. There are still plenty of connections on hand to satisfy even the most sophisticated home cinema setup. These include four HDMI inputs, a couple of USB ports, a LAN interface and a D-Sub PC input. What's more, perhaps surprisingly for the PS50C6900's price point, both the USB and LAN ports have multiple functions. The USBs triple up as players of a wide variety of photo, music and video multimedia file formats, as a means of making the TV Wi-Fi ready via an optional extra dongle, or most surprising of all, as a way to timeshift programmes to USB hard-disk drives from the built-in Freeview HD tuner. The presence of such a tuner immediately explains the Ethernet port. But again that's not it's only use: it also functions both as a wired means of accessing Samsung's Internet@TV platform and files stored on a networked PC. Samsung's Internet@TV platform is one of the finest online TV engines around. The stars of its show, so far as we're concerned, are the BBC iPlayer (Samsung was the first brand to offer this on a TV) and LoveFilm, whereby you can sync your account to the TV and downstream rented films. The system also includes the inevitable YouTube, plus rovi TV listings, a simple History Channel app, both Twitter and Facebook access to keep social networkers happy, Googlemaps, and Getty Images. Turning to the PS50C6900's picture technology, the screen delivers a full HD resolution, a so-called 'Mega' contrast ratio, and the increasingly common '600Hz' sub-field drive technology, which pulses the plasma cells faster to reduce motion blur and increase the image's general stability. Setting up the TV uncovers a number of interesting features amid the PS50C6900's attractive onscreen menus. For a start, you can adjust the Cell Light level – a different approach from the normal brightness adjustment (which is also present) that could be considered the plasma equivalent of the backlight adjustments common on LCD TVs. The set also carries a couple of potential contrast aids: a Dynamic Contrast system that adjusts the image's brightness and contrast settings based on an analysis of the incoming video source, and a black level booster with three different darkness settings. More useful to serious calibrators are the gamma presets, the facility to adjust the offset and gain levels of the red, green and blue components of the TV's white balance, and –even better – user-friendly white balance adjustment where you can tweak the red, green and blue levels of the white balance at any of 10 different intervals. Also worth a little careful experimentation is a flesh tone adjustment, while potentially interesting to some people with different image tastes are noise reduction and edge enhancement systems. Finally, tucked away within a Picture Options sub-menu are a selection of tools to aid that old plasma issue of image retention and four different settings for the TV's motion processing, including, sceptics of such systems will be pleased to note, the option to deactivate it entirely. The most notable feature of the PS50C6900 is, of course, its 3D capability. Naturally, it goes for the full HD, alternate frame approach, with the necessary transmitter built into the TV. What's really pleasing, though, is that you also get one pair of 3D glasses free with the PS50C6900. And this is now Samsung's official policy with all of its 3D TVs, apparently, replacing the clumsy old system where you only got sent a single pair if you first registered your set with Samsung. The PS50C6900 handles Sky's side by side 3D images as well as Blu-ray's alternate frame ones and carries a 2D to 3D conversion system.
The PS50C6900 suffers far less from crosstalk noise than any of Samsung's LCD/LED 3D sets. So much so, in fact, that on the rare occasions where it's visible at all, it comes as quite a shock, despite the fact that even when it appears, it's generally on a much more subtle level than with the LCD TVs. Three-dimensional pictures are so much more believable, engaging and crisp where there's precious little crosstalk to worry about and, despite one or two perhaps inevitable flaws, the PS50C6900's 3D pictures are the most watchable ones Samsung has yet achieved. Which is mildly ironic, given the brand's emphasis on its far more expensive LED 3D models. The sharpness of 3D images is another pleasant surprise, despite levels of brightness and colour vividness reducing markedly more in 3D mode than you get with the ultra-bright LED 3D screens. Panasonic's 3D dark scenes are a little, well, darker, though and its screens still have the edge when it comes to crosstalk, suffering even less from it than the PS50C6900 (result, perhaps, of Panasonic's 3D-focussed 'fast decay' plasma cell technology). While this extra immunity to crosstalk keeps Panasonic at the top of the 3D performance pile, however, it's worth stressing just how watchable the PS50C6900's 3D pictures are and the fact that the Samsung model is many hundreds of pounds cheaper than Panasonic's P50VT20 50in 3D plasma model. What this all adds up to is that in many respects the PS50C6900 is already precisely that 3D bargain it always promised to be. The PS50C6900 saves most of its compromises for 2D playback. For instance, it's immediately clear that the screen can't deliver blacks nearly as profound as Panasonic's VT20 models. It gets closer in this respect to the Japanese brand's new smaller and more affordable GT20 sets, but still doesn't quite match up. There's a little less vibrancy and naturalism to the Samsung's portrayal of rich reds and deep greens than you get with Panasonic's latest NeoPDP TVs too and a slightly patchier, stripier appearance to colour blends. There is a little more short-term image retention than is ideal, but this doesn't last long, is only seen for the most part over very dark shots and is considerably reduced if you're sensible with the Cell light level and brightness settings. Plus – in theory at least – it should disappear over time. Finally in the negative column, the PS50C6900 can suffer from a little judder and softness when watching standard-def, 50Hz sources. The motion processing reduces the judder problem, of course, but can cause artefacts if set any higher than its lowest operating level. As is often the case with plasma TVs, the PS50C6900 is much more at home with HD material. The picture suddenly kicks up a whole bunch of sharpness and clarity gears, and colours look both subtler and more natural. Motion looks better too, and even the set's contrast range looks slightly better. One little area in which the PS50C6900 noticeably improves on Panasonic's plasmas (the cheaper ones, at least) is in the eradication of dotting noise over skin tones during horizontal camera pans. Black levels still look a little less profound with HD than you might prefer, which is something the extra Real Black Filter on the C7000 plasma models might fix. But black levels are pretty respectable overall, especially in the context of a 3D-capable 50in TV costing less than £1,300. One final point is that, as with all plasma TVs, the PS50C6900 can be watched from a much wider angle than any LCD screen without losing contrast or colour.
Samsung's previous range of TVs were pretty legendary for falling short in the sound department while over-achieving in most other areas. So it is a pleasant surprise to find the PS50C6900's speakers doing a respectable job, with an open and powerful mid range that's strong enough to prevent the thin, feeble sensation that was Samsung's audio trademark last year. As with so many flat TVs, a little more extension into both the treble and especially bass frequencies would be much appreciated. But at least the PS50C6900 sees Samsung raising its audio game to the point where it's at least on a par sonically with the majority of its flat TV rivals this year. Value It's here that the PS50C6900 makes its biggest impact. Getting a 50in plasma TV with decent performance for £1,300 would be a compelling proposition, even if it was only a 2D set. Add in Samsung's most engaging 3D performance yet, plus excellent multimedia support, and you've got a bargain of quite colossal proportions. Ease of use Although the PS50C6900's main onscreen menus are easy on the eye and look suitably slick, there are one or two oddities about the way they're structured. The arrangement of the Advanced Settings and Picture Options submenus is particularly peculiar, with some pretty important adjustment features divided along apparently arbitrary grounds. There's room for improvement with the Internet@TV interface, too. It looks rather clunky by Samsung's usual standards, doesn't structure content particularly helpfully or intuitively, and generally feels a bit like an interface that's been outgrown by the amount of content it needs to support. On the upside, while the remote control isn't particularly pleasing on the eye and initially looks rather overwhelming with the number of buttons it carries, it doesn't take long to feel comfortable with the layout. There is also, happily, a dedicated 3D button for quick access to 3D features: something conspicuously, frustratingly absent from the remotes of numerous other 3D TVs.
For anyone very keen on 3D but less so on the high price demanded by most suitably equipped TVs, the Samsung PS50C6900 could be a dream come true. It offers 50in of full HD 3D pictures for a mere £1,300 - or quite a bit less, if you look around online. What's more, this budget 3D offering is no one-trick pony, for as well as that headline-grabbing 3D capability, it's also very easy on the eye, crammed with handy connections and multimedia features, and even enables you to go online with Samsung's impressive Internet@TV platform. Yet more good news comes with the PS50C6900's 3D performance, which mercifully suffers far, far less from crosstalk noise than any of Samsung's LED/LCD 3D TVs. The TV doesn't have the best black levels we've seen in the plasma world (we're hoping Samsung's step-up C7000 models might improve this) and nor is it a particularly good standard-definition performer, with evident colour and judder issues. But with its sound performance proving rather better than expected, it still delivers an awful lot of bang for not very much buck. We liked Although not as stylish as some of Samsung's previous TVs, the PS50C6900's has a simple elegance. Also impressive is how far the TV goes to jack into today's multimedia world and the fact that its 3D pictures aren't spoiled by oppressive amounts of crosstalk noise and even look punchier than you'd expect from a plasma. It's also a good HD performer, though it's standout feature is its stunningly low price. We disliked The PS50C6900 doesn't hit the sort of black level depths we would hope for from a plasma TV these days, and its standard-definition pictures are a little rough around the edges. There's also a touch more crosstalk during 3D viewing than you get with Panasonic's 3D TVs, but its 3D pictures are eminently watchable and crisp. Final verdict While it's certainly possible to find fault with the PS50C6900, it's also got plenty going for it, including pretty looks, tons of connections, copious quantities of multimedia support and, of course, full HD 3D support, all built in with a free pair of glasses to boot. All of which turns out to be merely an appetiser for that exceptionally affordable price, which makes it easily one of the biggest TV bargains of the year. Related Links
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| Posted: 25 Oct 2010 03:38 AM PDT  Spare a thought for memory makers. In this age of integrated controllers and copious BIOS options, the need for high-end RAM is increasingly questionable. Then again, the G.Skill Eco 1.35V CL7 memory kit doesn't suffer from too many high falutin' performance pretensions. Instead, the emphasis here is on sustainable, efficient performance. That's right, this is a memory kit for tree huggers. That's not to say the specifications are poor. On the contrary, the G.Skill Eco 1.35V CL7 is a dual-channel DDR3 memory kit suitable for Core i3, i5 and i7 systems based on the LGA1,156 socket and comes with some speedy specs. The official frequency of 1,600MHz qualifies as quick, if not warp speed, while the 7-8-7-24 timings are hardly tardy. However, it's the supported operating voltage of 1.35V that really sets this kit apart. It's significantly lower than the 1.65V specification of most DDR3 kits and translates into what G.Skill claims can be improved efficiency and environmental friendliness. Note the use of the conditional here – it will be interesting to see whether G.Skill can really deliver. Modern CPUs with integrated memory controllers are increasingly insensitive to memory performance. Put simply, when you have bandwidth to burn, a gigabyte here or there isn't going to hurt. Nevertheless, fast memory can help you get the most out of your CPU when overclocking. Moreover, stable memory makes for a happier system when performing all manner of tweaks. Bandwidth Latency 3D rendering Gaming Peak power consumption Overclocking
Unfortunately, the jury is out. We ran this kit at both the lower 1.35V and default 1.65V settings and found overall peak power consumption is unchanged at 200W. That's on a par with other 4GB dual-channel DDR3 kits running at 1.65V. Given that power consumption can go up markedly when using higher memory voltages during overclocking, that's surprising. Ultimately, we're not entirely confident that our test motherboard was correctly applying the voltages, so we'll give G.Skill the benefit of the doubt other than to note that running low voltages may cause compatibility problems. Moreover, we doubt the lower voltage will deliver more than 10W of power savings under full load. During idle or low load scenarios, it'll be more like one or two Watts. Not exactly planet-saving proportions. As for conventional metrics of performance, the G.Skill kit didn't blow our doors off. But again, minor platform variations in our testing compared to other kits can skew the results, especially when the margins are this tight. What we can say with confidence is that this kit clocks up very nicely indeed. A maximum overclock of 2,000MHz is good enough for starters. But it's the total absence of nasties in the performance numbers, including everything from bandwidth to latency and application performance, that most impresses. We liked They say every little helps and, with our planet on an apparent precipice, the promise of reduced power consumption is always welcome. That said, performance enthusiasts will appreciate this kit's ability to hit high clocks while maintaining decent latencies and delivering nice, clean performance. Few people will need more than this kit can deliver. We disliked We have a nose for gimmicks and we're not entirely convinced by the eco-friendly sales pitch. Our testing was inconclusive, but we doubt the upside in terms of low voltages are terribly spectacular. The G.Skill Eco 1.35V CL7 kit was also a little underwhelming in terms of performance at the default 1,333MHz setting. Verdict A solid 4GB kit at this price point, but we're not convinced by the eco credentials. Related Links
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| Posted: 25 Oct 2010 03:35 AM PDT  Whenever we plug in a new headset to review here on TechRadar, we inevitably end up using Sennheiser's PC 350 or PC 161 as one of the key comparisons for what a high-end set of headphones designed for gaming should sound like. This much-loved pair are getting on a bit now, though, and a complete range refresh from Sennheiser just arrived in the office. Will our well-used reference kit finally get put to one side? The PC 333D isn't a direct replacement for the PC 350 – for that you'll want the more costly PC 360s – but it is priced more or less identically to the outgoing favourites. It's a lighter-weight kit, with smaller drivers and a more plasticky feel. While the build quality may not feel quite like a £100 headset, it's tough and there are a few features designed specifically for gaming. The volume control is built into the right-hand earpiece for quick access, for example, and the mic mutes itself when you push the boom up. The most impressive part of the whole package is, as it should be, the audio characteristics of the speakers themselves. A massive 14 – 22,000Hz frequency range suggests that this is no ordinary set of cans. The PC 333D is a stereo headset with standard 3.5mm jacks at the end of its 2-metre cables, but it comes with an inline USB sound card that can be fitted if you need it. It's useful if you don't already have a decent internal sound card, or game on a laptop, because the USB adaptor mixes in 7.1 surround effects and has a switch for activating Dolby Headphone support. We'd hope, however, that anyone spending this much on a headset has looked at the ASUS Xonar DG with its on-board headphone amp and support for Creative's EAX. Turning on the Dolby booster here simply seemed to add an unacceptable amount of reverb in most games. Instead of giving environmental effects depth, it just makes them sound like you're in a tunnel. As a straight stereo headset, though, the sound quality lives up to the price. There's a carefully balanced tone that puts just the right amount of emphasis across the whole range. Bass tones are rich and chunky, but never overwhelming, while in the mid- to high-end voices aren't drowned out by background explosions. They aren't just tuned well for games either. In favourite arias or clanging folk rock, guitars and vocals have a powerful edge, but you'll still be able to pinpoint the triangle player in the background. For all that, though, the PC 333Ds are going back in their box and we'll be sticking with Sennheiser's older models (until we've had chance to review the PC 360s, at least). The acoustic engineering that packs such a powerful sound into so compact a headset is admirable, but the PC 333D isn't comfortable enough to wear on a man-sized head for long gaming sessions. The clamp pinches the skull and the small earcuffs sit almost painfully on the pinnae. If we had this amount of money to spend on a headset, we'd go for something more comfortable, such as the Logitech G35s or Steelseries 7H. Or just stick with the PC 350s we already have, of course. We liked The Sennheiser PC 333D is capable of exceptionally good sound quality considering the size, and comes with a useful, but far from essential, USB sound card. The silver flashes on the sides are from the cheesier end of the design spectrum, but although its lightweight, it feels well built, too. We disliked The small ear cuffs just didn't sit well on our jug-eared skulls, and at this price we'd want over-the-ear noise reduction too. Definitely a case of try before you buy, or long gaming sessions will leave you sore. Related Links
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| Posted: 25 Oct 2010 03:30 AM PDT  The Sharp LC-22DV200E is certainly big on up-front appeal. It features a built-in DVD player as well as a 22in LCD screen and also delivers a surprisingly svelte profile despite its double function, avoiding the dated, chunky appearance of so many combis. It wears its slimness well, thanks to a high-gloss black fascia with subtle curves in all the right places. The 22DV200E's connections, however, are really pretty basic, with only a single HDMI and a PC port catching the eye. It's worth reflecting, though, that the integrated DVD player relieves the TV of the need to cater for one very notable external source. Furthermore, the latter can play JPEGs, audio files and even DivX video, making the lack of a multimedia-capable USB port easier to accept.
In action, the 22DV200E uses its HD ready (1,366 x 768-pixel) screen and CCFL backlighting to reasonable effect. Particularly striking is how bright its pictures look compared with most small-screen LCD TVs. This boosts colours, ensuring good levels of vibrancy and fewer rogue-looking tones than we might have expected. Fed an HD source through its solitary HDMI, the 22DV200E manages to reveal the 'HD difference', with obvious extra clarity and detail and more convincing and consistent colours. It doesn't harm the clarity, either, that the 22DV200E is better than many small TVs at suppressing motion noise.
Once you've wrestled a DVD into the stubborn slot, meanwhile, you are again presented with an enjoyable picture. The set upscales the standard-def source well, without emphasising noise or creating jagged curved edges and there's minimal DVD MPEG decoding noise. More good news is that colour and contrast tend not to fall away too badly when the screen is viewed from an angle.
The 22DV200E has notable flaws, though. The sound quality from the set's speakers is very flimsy indeed, with practically no power or range. The electronic programme guide used to browse Freeview listings is ugly, hard to use and glitchy. Finally, while the 22DV200E's contrast range and black level response are generally OK, there is both brightness inconsistency along the screen's edges and general clouding over dark scenes. While these issues stop the 22DV200E from being a classic small TV, it's still an affordable combi that should appeal to many. Related Links
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