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Friday, October 29, 2010

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Sponsored: Hard drives available from 3.75p per GB

Posted: 28 Oct 2010 11:39 PM PDT

This is a sponsored article in association with Dabs.com

If you missed it then we've reported that Western Digital has already released the world's first staggeringly huge 3TB hard drive.

This makes for another milestone in drive capacities and another breaking of a legacy storage limitation, this time the 2.19TB limit imposed by older drives only supporting a maximum 32-bits worth of blocks, or 4.29 billion in old money.

But just as Moore's law for processors helps constantly drive up speeds while driving down costs, the ever increasing 'areal density' – the technical term for data density – of hard drive platters helps drive up capacities while costs fall. And that only leads to one thing: stunning deals on storage.

Currently Dabs is having a bonanza on all types of storage be it internal, external or solid state. To kick things off it's already listing that spectacular 3TB Western Digital drive for pre-order at just under £190, which works out at an incredible 6.3p per gigabyte. But if you're using that metric to measure value-for-money you should be eyeing up one of the 2TB drives – with many on offer at under £75 these are costing you as little as 3.75p per gigabyte. An absolute bargain.

If raw speed is more your thing rather than out-and-out capacity, this bit's for you. We're finally seeing decent solid state hard drives falling just below the £100 mark. Take the OCZ 60GB Vertex 2 drive, which can be snapped up for just under £98.

Compared to old-style mechanical spinning disk hard drives that's pricey £1.64 per gigabyte, which is forty times more expensive but the performance return is something you can't put a value on. These 2.5-inch drives will put a healthy performance boost into any desktop or laptop system, as they run rings around their spinning brethren.

On the move

You shouldn't miss the external options on offer either.

The one that really tweaked our interest is the well-known and popular Western Digital MyPassport Essential 250GB model, it's currently available for just £34.99. We're not sure how long that bargain is going to last, so if you're after some bus-powered external storage we'd snap one of these good-looking drives up pronto.

Or for just £10 more there's the Iomega 500GB 2.5-inch Select drive, this is again bus-powered so there's no need for an annoying external power supply. Both of these are perfect for when you need to take some serious storage on the move.

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YouView chairman wants US studios to create channels

Posted: 28 Oct 2010 11:30 PM PDT

YouView chairman Kip Meek believes that the major US television and film studios should get involved in the IPTV project, and not just consider the likes of Sky and Virgin Media for their content.

Meeks, speaking at a Broadcast Journalist Guild event, expressed his hope that content providers would view the platform as an opportunity to cut out the middle man.

Currently companies like Sky pay huge fees for the US content – often getting embroiled in bidding wars for high-profile television series or films.

Meek believes that the content providers can make money by creating their own channels or VOD areas on YouView for consumers.

Open opportunity

"We would like to get as many of the international and US content creators involved as we can, but also we want independent producers," said Meek.

"...If you are a US studio, currently you are distributing via Sky or cable. We would like to open up the opportunity for them to affiliate and provide an IP channel and, or an on-demand library.

"They will have to renegotiate the windows and think about whether it's in conflict with whatever their rights deal is with Sky or Virgin.

"If this becomes very successful then it will become very important for Hollywood studios to participate."

Why exclude it?

Meek believes that the studios would be stupid not to at least consider this more direct route to televisions.

"Why would they exclude the possibility of this route to marketplace for their content?" he asked.

"They have to work it out for themselves, but we have to explain it to them, such that they understand what the economics are.

"We would hope that they would find the economics compelling."

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Charing Cross gets BT Wi-Fi in London Underground trial

Posted: 28 Oct 2010 04:01 PM PDT

BT has announced that it is to trial Wi-Fi at Charing Cross Tube station in partnership with London Underground.

Glasgow recently became the first UK subway to get networked up recently, but talk of the London Underground getting phone and device connectivity stretched back for years.

And finally it appears to be happening, albeit at a single station and only through Wi-Fi for the time being

Teamed up

"London Underground has teamed up with BT Openzone, the Wi-Fi provider, to launch a six month trial," said BT's release

"The trial, which will test how the service works and look at customer take up, will include live Transport for London service updates available to all Wi-Fi users including non-BT customers.

"The ticket hall area and Northern and Bakerloo line platforms at Charing Cross Tube station will become the latest addition to the 1.6m BT wireless broadband hotspots in the UK and will allow customers to connect to the web."

Demands

Commuters have long been demanding underground connectivity, and the rise and rise of the connected device has exacerbated the issue.

Security issues and sheer cost have held things back – but the trials could be the harbinger of a real change for people using the underground.

Kulveer Ranger, the Mayor of London's transport adviser, said: "An ever growing commuter populous has been clamouring to be able to check their emails and browse the net whilst on the go.

"This trial at Charing Cross will allow them to do just that whilst on the Tube platform.

"This is an important step towards seeing how this could be achieved and is part of the Mayor's ambition to examine ways in which we can use technology to adapt the city's transport system to meet the needs of those using it."

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Kindle app to launch for Windows Phone 7

Posted: 28 Oct 2010 10:51 AM PDT

Microsoft today announced that an Amazon Kindle app will launch for its new Windows Phone 7 mobile operating system later this year.

The Kindle application, which is already available for iPhone, iPad, Android and BlackBerry will enter the fray for WP7 giving the platform its first dedicated e-book reader app.

It'll bring access to 725,000 titles, personalised recommendations to the app's homescreen, automatic back-up of your purchases and the option of sharing all of your books with other compatible devices.

PDC conference

The app was demonstrated at Microsoft's Professional Developers Conference in Redmond. WP7 users can sign up to download the app when it becomes available at the Kindle for Windows Phone site.

Also unleashed today was a new test version of Internet Explorer 9, while CEO Steve Ballmer spoke of upcoming improvements to the Microsoft Azure cloud computing service.

"The cloud is a backplane on which to program and rapidly deploy applications. These are powerful new platforms," he told the audience.

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Motorola mobile posts first operating profit in years

Posted: 28 Oct 2010 10:18 AM PDT

Motorola's mobile division has posted a $3 million operating profit in its Q3 earnings report, sending its shares way up in the process.

The staggering turnaround for the company, which recorded a $183m loss for the same period last year, appears to be down to the success of its range of Android phones.

The Droid, Droid 2 and Droid X phones have been hugely popular in the U.S., while the Milestone was the first Moto handset to gain traction in the UK since the legendary RAZR phone.

It's the first time Motorola's mobile division has been back in the black since the heady days of the iconic flip phone.

Split

There was even better news across the rest of the brand, with profits soaring to $109m, which was reflected in a stock market jump of 5 per cent on Thursday morning.

The company will split into two parts later this year, with mobile going it alone, so it's fantastic news for the manufacturer that its mobile brand is back in business.

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Rajar figures show drop in DAB listeners

Posted: 28 Oct 2010 07:51 AM PDT

Fans of FM radio are suggesting that the proposed switchover to digital radio, currently slated for 2015, is never likely to happen.

The latest Rajar (Radio Joint Audience Research) figures show that DAB's share of UK radio listening fell from 15.8 per cent in the second quarter of this year to 15.3 per cent in the third quarter.

At the same time the share of listening via AM and FM radios actually increased over the same period, from 67.0 per cent to 67.6 per cent.

If you look at Rajar's own figures on the growth of DAB radio ownership in the UK between the second quarter of 2010 and the third quarter of the year then you will see that it has been a paltry 0.1 per cent increase. Why?

Digital radio blip or crisis?

These latest radio listening figures come at a difficult time for the digital radio industry, as culture minister Ed Vaizey is keen to push the Digital Radio Action Plan.

Ford Ennals, the chief executive of Digital Radio UK, still claims that digital radio listening as a whole – via radio, computers or digital TV - is up at the end of 2010, despite the DAB buying blip.

"We've achieved a step change in digital listening growth in 2010 and we see that sustained in Q3, with 17.5 per cent year on year growth," said Mr Ennals.

"The Digital Radio Action Plan aims to create a further step change in digital listening in 2011, when we should begin to see the benefits of investment in coverage, content, communications and cars."

DAB detractors say public uninterested

Yet the plan has a number of detractors in the radio industry. William Rogers, chief executive of local radio operator UKRD told The Telegraph this week: "What these figures show is just how sluggish the growth - or lack of it - in DAB listenership is.

"It doesn't come as a surprise to me because, as we all know, this whole DAB project is fraught with difficulties and simply does not have the overwhelming support of the listening public in the country. At this rate, there is never likely to be a DAB switchover and with all the problems that exist, I don't think there should be."

Whichever side you might choose to believe, there has clearly been a slight dip in consumer confidence in DAB over the last year. The real question is why?

Digital Radio UK responds

A Digital Radio UK spokesperson, responding to the comments made by the UKRD chief exec, told TechRadar:

"Although DAB share of platform is marginally down this quarter, it has sustained its growth year on year, and digital reach and listening has increased overall. 44 per cent of radio listeners listen to digital radio each week.

"We expect a step change to take place next year as a result of the work currently being undertaken and planned on coverage, content, communication, and cars."

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B&O announces £4,400 32 inch BeoVision 10 TV

Posted: 28 Oct 2010 07:33 AM PDT

High-end television maker Bang & Olufsen has unveiled a 32 inch version of its BeoVision 10 family.

The Beovision 10-32 is the third model in the family this year – which B&O is celebrating as a production record.

"The BeoVision 10 family is characterized by the idea of 'adding life to your wallpaper', and with the new 32" version, this integrated television solution also appeals to an audience that loves great design, but wants a screen size that does not dominate the room," says the German manufacturer's release.

BeoVision 10-32

Same chassis

"BeoVision 10-32 is based on the same chassis as the 40" and the 46" versions, and design-wise it adopts the same principles as its two larger siblings, only on a smaller scale, it continues.

"This includes a removable front fabric loudspeaker grille in a range of colours, and the unique, high-gloss polished aluminium frame that makes the television appear even thinner than it is.

"The rear part is available in either black or white."

Although B&O do not set prices – the 32 inch television will go on sale in its Knightsbridge store for £4,400, but before you gasp, that does include a Beo4 remote.

And, of course, you'll be the owner of a B&O television.

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In Depth: Mobile web design tips: mobile should come first

Posted: 28 Oct 2010 07:08 AM PDT

I'll just come out and say it: websites and web applications should be designed for mobile first.

For years, most teams did the opposite. Mobile, if it happened at all, was a port of the desktop version that was conceived of, designed and built before anyone even considered the mobile experience.

And for a long time, this made perfect sense: browsing the web on mobile phones was painful; carriers controlled access to the web on their devices; and mobile network speeds made everything grind to a halt way too often.

Changing times

But things have changed so dramatically over the past few years that starting with the desktop may be an increasingly backwards way of thinking. Designing for mobile first can open up new opportunities for growth and lead to a better overall user experience.

Let's dig into the three key reasons why: mobile is seeing explosive growth; mobile forces you to focus; and mobile extends your capabilities.

First, growth. In case you haven't been keeping up with the latest stats, I'll give you a quick recap: mobile is growing like crazy. While analysts have long heralded mobile as "the next big thing", their prophecies are finally bearing fruit.

Perhaps the most complete and inspiring set of statistics comes from Morgan Stanley Research's Mobile Internet Report. This treasure trove of data on what's happening in mobile highlights some really shocking figures: mobile internet adoption is outpacing the astounding growth of desktop internet adoption; smartphones are expected to outship the global PC market in 2012; and heavy mobile data users will triple to one billion by 2013. That's a huge audience emerging very fast. So now's the time to seize the mobile opportunity!

But this isn't just an opportunity to create a mobile version of a web product to take advantage of this growth; it's an opportunity to provide a vastly improved experience for your users.

Consider the social networking service Facebook. There are more than 100million active users currently accessing Facebook through their mobile devices. These users are twice as active on Facebook as non-mobile users.

The combination of mobile and desktop experiences results in more engaged users across both sets of devices. That's because Facebook doesn't just think of its mobile experience as a port of the desktop site. It embraces it as a way to make the entire Facebook experience better.

In the words of Joe Hewitt, lead developer of Facebook's iPhone application: "My goal was initially just to make a mobile companion, but I became convinced it was possible to create a version of Facebook that was actually better than the website." That's really the mobile opportunity in a nutshell.

Now ... how do the constraints and capabilities of mobile devices help get you there?

Forced to focus

Designing for the mobile environment comes with a natural set of constraints. While some might argue these constraints limit mobile design, I believe they are inherently good for user experience and, as a result, business overall.

In particular, the small screens, slow connections and context of use of mobile devices are strong catalysts for great web design.

Perhaps the most impactful of these constraints is screen space. When you're working with a 480x320 pixel screen (found on the first three generations of Apple's iPhone, the first generation of Android phones, and the Palm Pre), 80 per cent of the screen space you had at 1024x768 (common for most websites on the desktop) is gone.

That means 80 per cent of the content, navigation, promotions and interactions you could fit on the desktop needs to go. And that's ... great.

Losing that much screen space forces web teams to focus. You have to make sure that what stays on the screen is the most important set of features for your customers and your business. There simply isn't room for any interface debris or content of questionable value. You need to know what matters most.

In order to do that you need to really know your customers and your business. Which is good design 101. Designing for mobile forces you to get there, like it or not. Consider the difference between Expedia's travel itinerary screen on its desktop website and its iPhone experience.

Expedia desktop

The primary purpose of this page is to let a customer review their travel plans. If you look really closely in the middle of this web page, you may be able to spot this information.

Expedia mobile

In stark contrast, the Expedia iPhone experience puts the same information front and centre and with better visual hierarchy – enabling the user to quickly check arrival and departure times. Gone are all the interface debris, promotions and cruft present on the desktop site. All that's left is what Expedia's users need to accomplish their task. Why couldn't the desktop site do the same?

As another example, consider the difference between the Southwest Airlines website on the desktop and its iPhone experience. Since there are lots of pixels available on the desktop web, they've been filled with lots of promotions, features, options and more – because they can be.

SW airlines

The mobile experience, on the other hand, has a laser-like focus on what customers need and what Southwest does: book travel, check in, check flight status, check miles and get alerts. No room for anything else. Only what matters most.

SW mobile

Focusing on what matters most helps address one of the longest standing issues in web design: the 'everything including the kitchen sink' problem. This problem exists because adding things to a website is relatively easy. Lots of things get added – especially when multiple stakeholders are involved.

Different internal departments, feature owners, businesses and individuals have different requirements for websites. So web teams are often left trying to balance many promotions, interactions, content modules, navigation options and more in a single layout. On a 1024x768 screen there are lots of pixels to fill!

If you design for mobile first, you can create agreement first on what matters most. You can then apply the same rationale to the desktop version of your web product. "We agreed that this was the most important set of features and content for our customers and business" – why should that change with more screen space?

There are of course, differences based on the mobile and desktop contexts. But the core value of a web service remains the same across both formats. When a team designs for mobile first, the end result is an experience focused on the key tasks users want to accomplish without the extraneous detours and general interface debris that litter many of today's websites. There simply isn't room in a 320x480 pixel screen for extraneous elements. You have to prioritise.

On mobile, performance really matters – you can't count on a good connection being present when someone tries to access your site. So it's no surprise that the assets used to develop mobile experiences have to be optimised to perform under less than ideal network connections.

Reducing the number and size of file requests and taking advantage of HTML5 capabilities such as application cache and CSS3 can dramatically improve download speeds. A number of these techniques have been well documented on the Google Code site so you can start using them right now to improve your site's mobile performance.

But speed isn't just important on the go. Testing done by Amazon, Yahoo, Microsoft and others has consistently shown that even small delays on desktop sites can turn users away. In fact long-term studies by Google found that slow performance has lasting effects, reducing people's activity even for weeks after a delay has been repaired.

Designing for mobile first forces teams to put speed front and centre to make up for spotty mobile network performance. The enhancements that make mobile experiences fast go a long way to making desktop experiences fast as well.

Context

While small screens and slow connections may be obvious constraints of the mobile environment, the mobile context is more subtle but no less important. In short, a mobile device is with people all the time and consequently used across many different contexts (locations, times, social settings and so on).

So designing for mobile amounts to designing something that can be used all the time. Research has shown that during a typical day: 84 per cent of people will use their smartphone at home, 80 per cent during miscellaneous times during the day, 74 per cent waiting in lines, and 64 per cent at work. This use comes mostly in short bursts.

People have a few minutes to kill and want to 'check in' on something they like or want to stave off boredom for a bit. So mobile experiences doing the best job of providing small, quick, time-killing tasks are the ones growing the fastest.

Social check-in apps are perhaps the most popular because their content comes directly from people you know. These continually updating products encourage quick 'check-ins' in between meetings, when in line or when bored.

Because they generally provide small-sized updates such as headlines or short messages, the cost of accessing one of these products to checkin is really low. As a result, people use them a lot: access to Facebook via mobile browser grew 112 per cent in 2009 and access to Twitter via mobile browser grew 347 per cent.

Designing for mobile first forces you to consider how your service can deliver quick yet meaningful information as people go through their day. This kind of engagement aligns well with the mobile context but it also drives reuse on the desktop. Products that are designed to be used many times throughout the day encourage repeat usage, no matter what the platform is.

Web products that are focused, fast and frequently used: that's a pretty good outcome from applying mobile constraints to your design process. But what happens when you take mobile's capabilities into consideration as well?

Mobile capabilities

The web has been built on a foundation of rather simple capabilities (page markup, styling and scripting) determined by what web browsers can support. But mobile browsers and application platforms are introducing exciting capabilities that leave many desktop web browsers behind.

Modern mobile devices are rich with new capabilities that open up different ways of thinking about interactions between people, data and their immediate surroundings. Some of these capabilities include: multitouch input from one or more simultaneous gestures; precise location information from GPS/cell towers/Wi-Fi; user orientation from a digital compass; device positioning from an accelerometer; and integrated audio, video and photo input.

Building for mobile first enables teams to utilise this full palette of capabilities to create rich, context-aware applications instead of limiting themselves to an increasingly dated set of development options.

Perhaps the defining capability of today's devices is multitouch support. In 2009, over one million touchscreen phones were sold per day. As these numbers grow, the number of people interacting with content using their fingers instead of a mouse pointer simply can't be ignored. Web teams need to consider not only how their products will work with touch devices but also how they can use touch to deliver innovative interactions.

Designing for touch often requires larger target sizes and visible content and actions – you can't make use of mouseovers and hover interactions on devices without a pointer device such as a mouse!

Touch also enables new forms of interactions that can make common web activities easier or more enjoyable.

Sketch and search 2

Yahoo's Sketch-a-Search mobile experience is an example of using multitouch capabilities to simplify finding somewhere to eat. Just open the app, draw a circle or line using your finger and local results show up instantly. No typing or complex interactions required – just a few gestures with your finger.

Location awareness

Of course, multitouch isn't the only capability at your disposal when you design for mobile first. To illustrate another compelling capability on mobile, let's look at Yelp, a great source of online reviews about local retailers and services.

Finding a good restaurant near you on Yelp usually requires typing in your location then filtering the set of results you get back in order to get down to the specific area you're looking for. That can take some time.

On mobile, though, it's a different story. You simply open the Yelp application and with a single tap you can see the top restaurants near your immediate location. No typing or manipulating maps and filters – the application just uses your current location to deliver the information you need right to you.

Location awareness can do a lot more than serve up nearby restaurants. Local weather, news, traffic, friends and more can come right to you. It's a powerful capability that's available in most mobile devices and is now slowly making its way to the desktop.

Thinking about mobile first gives you the opportunity to determine how location awareness can enhance your product experience upfront. While knowing a user's current location is powerful, lots of mobile devices can do better through the integration of a digital compass.

Digital compass

A digital compass enables software on a mobile device to also access a user's current orientation. In other words, applications on these devices now not only know where you are but which way you're facing as well. This may seem like a small detail but it opens up a set of new interface possibilities that are designed from the user's current perspective.

Digital information can be layered on top of people's immediate view of the world and turn the objects and people around them into interactive elements. Products that deliver this kind of experience are in their infancy but the potential for changing how we interact with the world around us is there.

When you design for mobile first, you can take these capabilities (multitouch, location detection, user orientation and many more) into consideration as you envision your web product. Doing so opens up new ways of thinking about the experience you can deliver to your users. If you started in the limited environment of the desktop web, this kind of thinking would be off-limits. The capabilities just aren't there.

Mobile first lets you work with these compelling technologies to create the best experience you can. Once you get there, simply scale back what the desktop browser can't do to create the right desktop experience for your product. You'll no doubt explore more innovative solutions than if you started with the limited capabilities of the desktop and later ported your solution to mobile.

Designing web applications for mobile platforms before the desktop enables you to take advantage of explosive growth, useful constraints and innovative capabilities. Mobile growth provides opportunities to increase engagement and create a better overall experience for your users.

Mobile constraints force you to design web products that are focused, fast and frequently used. Mobile capabilities open up different ways of thinking about interactions between people, data and their immediate surroundings. So what are you waiting for ... go mobile first!

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Geocities to be released as a torrent

Posted: 28 Oct 2010 06:26 AM PDT

The entire contents of Geocities is to be released as a torrent – granting people access to a database of websites and content that should be considered a huge part of the internet's history.

Geocities was shut down with little fanfare by Yahoo back at the tail end of 2009, but the speed with which it cleared out the data shocked many.

However, the self-styled Archive Team has now gathered up that data and has announced that it will release the whole lot as a torrent.

<1TB

That means anyone can download it and have their very own copy of Geocities – if they have a spare 900GB of memory of course.

"This is going to be one hell of a torrent – the compression is happening as we speak, and it's making a machine or two very unhappy for weeks on end," said the Archive Team post.

"The hope had been to upload it today, but the reality is this is a lot of stuff– probably 900 gigabytes will be in the torrent itself. It's not perfect, it's not all – but it's something."

"While it's quite clear this sort of cavalier attitude to digital history will continue, the hope is that this torrent will bring some attention to both the worth of these archives and the ease at which it can be lost – and found again."

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Viewsonic announces rebate scheme for touchscreen tablets

Posted: 28 Oct 2010 05:58 AM PDT

Viewsonic has announced a rebate scheme designed to make its new touchscreen tablets cheaper.

Viewsonic is launching two touchscreen tablets this month - the ViewPad 7, a 7-incher running Android 2.2, and the dual-booting 10-inch ViewPad 100 running both Windows 7 and Android 1.6.

At an event in London this morning Viewsonic revealed its plans to refund customers who buy these tablets up to £125 if they trade in an old laptop or netbook after purchase.

This isn't a laptop - it's a shoebox

Providing the laptop or netbook you trade in still works (the PSU and battery must be fit for purpose), you will be able to get £125 back on the 10-inch model and £100 back on the 7-inch.

This brings the net prices on the two models down considerably - £385 for the 10-inch, down from £500 and £299 for the 7-inch, down from £399. Viewsonic says it'll also throw in an extra tenner per customer to pay the cost of sending off your old laptop.

These rebates will still work to their maximum value even if you manage to buy the tablets for cheaper than their recommended price.

There is one caveat though, which is that in order to qualify for the scheme you must purchase from a participating retailer. Stores currently on board are Scan, Misco, Wstore and Xpansys.

TechRadar will be bringing ViewPad 100 review and Viewpad 7 review very shortly, so stay tuned.

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Sony responds to PSP Phone rumour

Posted: 28 Oct 2010 05:56 AM PDT

Peter Dille, senior vice president of marketing at Sony Computer Entertainment America, has responded to rumours of a so-called PlayStation phone – following a reveal of pictures on Engadget this week.

Despite some confusion over a SCEE spokesperson apparently claiming the pictures were fake – followed by Sony subsequently backtracking to issuing the usual "don't comment on rumour" line – Engadget is sticking to its guns.

PlayStation Zeus?

The gadget site is claiming that the PlayStation phone is codenamed "Zeus" and will run Google's Android OS.

SCEA marketing chief Dille told CNN that the PSP as its stands cannot allow PSN to be an 'always-on' network, as it is Wi-Fi only.

"I don't think we fully realise that vision with a Wi-Fi device," he said. "If it's not connected [to a cell network] then it does sort of limit people."

Additionally, a Sony spokeswoman confirmed: "We have relationships with Google."

Dille went on to dismiss iPhone games as "time-killers", which PSP gamers weren't that interested in.

Stay tuned for responses from UK developers and analysts on the PlayStation phone rumours shortly.

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Exclusive: Motorola: no Flash equals no internet

Posted: 28 Oct 2010 04:55 AM PDT

Perhaps because apps compiled from Flash are now allowed in the iPhone App Store again, Adobe wasn't openly disparaging Apple at its MAX developer conference this week the way it did last year.

CTO Kevin Lynch made his point more subtly instead. He showed off mobile devices that do have Flash and AIR, both the BlackBerry PlayBook (which uses AIR for its media players and entire user interface) and especially Android devices – like the Droid 2 and Logitech Google TV box given to attendees for trying out the AIR apps they develop.

And Lynch showed tablets from Samsung and Malata running the same digital magazines as the iPad.

But Adobe partner Motorola was happy to chip in with pointed remarks about the iPhone that carefully stopped short of actually naming Apple.

No Flash, no internet

"Anyone who's not giving you Flash on the mobile device is not giving you the internet," said corporate vice president Christy Wyatt, adding that Motorola was the first to ship Flash on a mobile device.

"We realised very early on that in the not too distant future the most important platform is going to be the internet for mobile and if that's true some of the internet technologies have to be fully supported," Wyatt told TechRadar.

"We've been very proactive in coming to Adobe before we launched the first Droid in coming to Adobe and saying 'what do we need to do to make Flash work as an equal citizen on a mobile device?'"

She also promised that Motorola would put Flash on set-top boxes as well as smartphones "and a variety of devices in between," which might suggest a Motorola tablet in the works.

Wyatt also claimed that having Flash and AIR apps isn't enough for a mobile device because users want full power in the browser, referring to her "aha moment" when launching the Droid.

She showed an early model to her daughter and was surprised to find her ignoring the Facebook app Motorola had worked so hard on and just using the Facebook web site. "'It's on the internet,' she told me; 'what do I need an app for?'"

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Nintendo posts first loss in seven years

Posted: 28 Oct 2010 04:13 AM PDT

It looks like the glory days of the Nintendo Wii are coming to an end, with the Japanese gaming giant posting its first financial loss in seven years.

Nintendo fell into the red for the latest fiscal first half year on high yen, with the games company blaming the combination of a rising yen and delayed release of its glasses-free 3-D handheld, the 3DS.

£15.5 million loss

The Kyoto-based Mario factory posted a 2.01 billion yen (£15.5 million) loss for the six months through to September 2010.

Nintendo announced last month that the 3DS would not be available this coming Christmas holiday season, instead releasing next February in Japan and later in March in the UK and US.

Because of the delay of the new 3DS, Nintendo cut its full-year earnings forecast to 90 billion yen ($0.6 billion) profit from 200 billion yen profit, representing a 61 per cent drop in profit from the previous year.

Yuta Sakurai, analyst with Nomura Securities Co. in Tokyo noted: "There were no surprises in today's results. The losses from currency are in a way just on paper."

Nintendo has sold a total of 135.6 million DSes and 75.9 million Wiis worldwide to date.

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YouView 'could slip' beyond first half of 2011

Posted: 28 Oct 2010 04:06 AM PDT

YouView chairman Kip Meeks has admitted that the first set boxes may not actually appear in the first half of 2011.

The arrival of the BBC-backed IPTV proposition is beginning to stir the public interest, with YouView still hoping to arrive in the homes in the first half of next year.

Speaking at a Broadcasting Press Guild event, Meeks confessed that technology projects were never guaranteed to hit their projected start dates, and that YouView was no different.

No targets

"We haven't announced any targets yet," said Meeks.

"I didn't announce a launch date. The line from the venture has been the first half of next year, but it may slip, it's a technology project."

The cost of the box has also been the subject of much discussion – with the likes of Sky already insisting that it will be 'premium' proposition and therefore a long way from the cheap Freeview boxes that have aided that platform's stellar growth.

Projected price point

Meeks admits that cost is a key factor, but is not yet able to talk about the projected price point of the first YouView boxes.

"We are not controlling the cost [of the box] but we are very anxious to make that cost as low as possible," he added.

"We don't know [a ball-park figure] because those are decisions we are not in control of.

"We are very interested in them and there are figures floating around but it would infuriate the set top box manufacturers for me to give them out and infuriate [YouView partners] BT and TalkTalk."

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Gary Marshall: Is Google TV the next Xbox?

Posted: 28 Oct 2010 04:00 AM PDT

Google, it seems, is becoming a games company: its Google TV won't just bring a web browser to the idiot box, but out-of-browser apps and games too. "Games obviously make sense on the big screen in the living room," Google TV lead product manager Rishi Chandra told us.

Should Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo worry? In the short term, no. In the longer term, maybe.

The first generation of Google TV isn't exactly hardware for hardcore gaming: it's essentially a netbook with the screen torn off, its innards containing the familiar Atom processor and a gigabyte of RAM.

That's fine for Flash gaming, but you wouldn't want to try a recent first-person shooter on it.

That doesn't matter, because hardcore gaming is a niche market. Look at the way the Wii outsells the Xbox, the way Wii shovelware outsells the decent, grown-up games or the way Farmville outsells everything.

The internet's most annoying game is so popular that its creator, Zynga, is worth more than gaming powerhouse EA. It's the second biggest games publisher in the world, and its games run quite happily on modest hardware. Hardware like, say, a netbook with the screen torn off.

This much we already know, but in the long term things get even more interesting.

Google TV 2.0

Google TV is just a PC at heart, just like the Xbox 360 is - and that means over time Google can put ever more powerful hardware into a Google TV box without upping the price tag.

A better processor, a bit more RAM and better graphics hardware and Google TV suddenly looks a lot beefier.

Google isn't the only firm with a TV doohickey that could easily do games, of course: Apple has one too in the form of the Apple TV. iPhone and iPad owners know that the A4 chip is quite happy with games, and while its quarter-gig of RAM isn't massive it's still enough for Angry Birds, Cut The Rope and countless other casual games.

Once again we're not looking at Medal of Honor-style shooters, but the iPod and iPhone seem to be doing just fine with less demanding titles and Apple has its own Xbox LIVE-style games service in the form of Game Center.

There's no question that Apple and Google can make their TV hardware into games hardware. Will they do it? My guess is yes.

I'll be amazed if apps don't make their way to Apple TV in the near future - I was surprised when the new Apple TV didn't have them - and given that Google has been investing in Farmville creator Zynga, it'll be a surprise if Farmville and other social gaming successes don't turn up on the Googlebox. Apple and Google like money, and there's plenty of money in casual gaming: $1 billion per year by 2013, we're told.

So where does that leave the Xbox and the PS3? For now Google TV isn't even an irritant, because the hardcore aren't going to be dumping their souped-up shooter machines for Flash games on a thinly disguised netbook any time soon.

But Microsoft and Sony know that hardcore gamers are in the minority, which is why Move and Kinect have been developed: they want a slice of the much bigger casual market that Nintendo has targeted so effectively.

However, they're both targeting the casual market with pricey hardware, pricey peripherals and pricey games. Game-friendly Google TVs or Apple TVs are much cheaper, much cheaper and a much easier sell.

Spotify: 'We are not for sale'

Posted: 28 Oct 2010 03:53 AM PDT

Spotify has vehemently denied that it is up for sale, dismissing reports that it was recently discussing a possible acquisition by Apple.

Originally launched back in early 2008, rumours that Spotify was looking to be acquired by tech giants such as Google or Apple have been swirling around the internet in recent weeks.

'We are in it for the long haul'

A Spotify spokesman told TechRadar this week: "We're working hard to build the best music service we can and are in this for the long haul.

"We wouldn't normally comment on this kind of speculation, but we want to make it clear that we have absolutely no intention of selling Spotify."

As Spotify develops its social networking aspects and features, allowing users to share their favourite old and new tunes in ever-easier ways, the service is also claiming to be moving closer to signing a number of vitally important deals with major US record labels.

What the labels want

"If there is one thing the major labels want above all else in the digital music market it is competition," adds Paul Brindley, CEO of Music Ally Ltd

"So while the labels as shareholders would benefit from a short term windfall from a Spotify purchase, the long term prospects of Apple buying the company would seem to be far less attractive as this would concentrate the market even more in one player's hands.

"Equally while Apple may be seriously concerned about a possible Spotify US launch and undoubtedly has deep enough pockets to be able to afford such a purchase, even they may well likely baulk at the likely price tag which Spotify would seek at a time when its value is still being seriously hyped."

Spotify has, according to unnamed US music industry sources, never been closer to finalising deals with US major record labels than now.

Spotify is reportedly offering US labels big money advances, the sources added.

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HTML5 and Flash are best buddies says Adobe

Posted: 28 Oct 2010 03:30 AM PDT

HTML5 is a baby and Flash is an old dog that can't learn new tricks.

No they're not, said Adobe's Ben Forta at its MAX developer conference this week.

He poked fun at articles that talk up controversy with a Sesame Street-inspired skit showing HTML5 and Flash as puppets hurling insults and competing for the attention of a tiara-wearing Android puppet then becoming friends after being hounded by a celebrity gossip channel .

"HTML, you're the magic that makes the web work," claimed Forta in an effort to make peace. "And Flash, you make the most amazing creative things that make the web more magic."

Or as Adobe CTO Kevin Lynch told TechRadar more seriously (and without a hand puppet), "the combination of Flash and HTML is the best way forward. Flash is very complementary; it does things HMTL does not. Flash adds capabilities HTML hasn't yet added inside the browser."

Adobe thinks of Flash as the blueprint for where HTML can go. "Flash basically adds capabilities HTML hasn't yet added inside the browser, or is going to do with HTML5 and we're going to keep moving forward with Flash," Lynch claims, pointing out the announcement of the Molehill 3D API for Flash.

"3D graphics is not something HTML is able to do and Flash is going to deliver like it did for video; a really consistent beautiful experience for 3D and I think it will be as much of a revolution as we saw for video but now with 3D graphics."

Flash vs HTML

But why is it better to add features like 3D to the web via Flash than putting them straight into HTML?

"We're able to innovate and explore areas with Flash very quickly and we're able to deploy Flash very quickly. Flash 10.1, in its first three months, reached 74% of the PCs on the web," says Lynch.

"That's faster than any other technology I know; we're going to be able to get to about a billion people in less than six months. That means when we add something like 3D or peer-assisted video, we're going to be able to turn on 3D on the web in less than a year."

Lynch argues that adding features in Flash first actually benefits HTML. "We learn from that and keep iterating on that and over time HTML may adopt some of these technologies and codify that through standards bodies - and that's great. We think that's a perfect model for the co-existence of Flash and HTML."

But Lynch also pointed out a big advantage of Flash: it's consistent - unlike web browsers. "To try to make things work consistently across the browsers is challenging. That's part of the world of HTML. We've got multiple implementations of each browser that are variants of each other; some are further along than others... So there's pros and cons with each of these technologies.

Balanced approach

"With HTML, you do get complexity but you also get some new capabilities that are coming with HTML5. So it's really a balance of how you can approach these things.

"If you look at what we're doing with Flash we're delivering some great expressiveness that does work consistently across browsers and operating systems. If you did a carousel interface in Flash it would work incredibly smoothly across all the OSes that have Flash on it."

Even so, Adobe is in favour of HTML. It's even contributing techniques to Webkit. "We're totally working on both HTML and Flash," Lynch repeated. We think they're complementary; we think they're both good for the web."

After all, HTML is hardly a new idea for Adobe. "We've been doing HTML for a long time; I worked on Dreamweaver more than twelve years ago."

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HTC Mecha set to be next Android superstar?

Posted: 28 Oct 2010 03:21 AM PDT

HTC looks like it's readying a new Android handset, codenamed the HTC Mecha.

The phone is showing up in the 'Choose your phone' section of the account creation screen for HTCSense.com, the company's new phone portal to keep track of your phone's content and location.

Listed under the Desire HD and Desire Z is the Mecha - with a picture showing an HTC Hero next to it.

Leaking all over the mobile floor

We're used to HTC accidentally leaking phones all over the place, but this is a pretty high profile place to do it - and we can't think of any phone currently announced that it's going to be representing.

It's unlikely to be the HTC Gratia as we're pretty sure that won't be coming with the upgraded version of the Sense UI when it lands next month.

It's also unlikely to be the HTC Hero with a facelift, as the struggles HTC had with upgrading that to Android 2.1 mean we can't see it going through the same process again for the new UI.

So it looks like we're getting a new phone from the HTC brigade soon - unless it's just a US variant of an already released one, in which case this whole thing will be a massive anti-climax. Let's just pretend that's not a possibility.

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James Cameron planning Avatar 2 for 2014

Posted: 28 Oct 2010 02:35 AM PDT

In a wide-ranging conversation with Google's chief exec Eric Schmidt, filmmaker James Cameron has announced plans for the next two Avatar movies, criticised the current state of 3D television and reiterated his belief that technology can save the planet from ecological apocalypse.

Cameron says stereoscopic 3D TV's day will come, but stressed that it requires far better tech and content before going truly mass market.

"Well, we see the world in 3D," Cameron told the audience at a Churchill Club dinner this week in California. "To me, there are no barriers to 3D TV in homes in five to ten years."

3D TV five years away

In Cameron's opinion auto-stereoscopic (glasses-free) 3D technology is the way forward for 3D in the home.

"The sweet spots subdivide the total resolution of the screen so breakthroughs have to happen in display manufacturing," said Cameron, predicting that Moore's Law would mean we will have such TVs within four or five years.

"I'm sure you're the only person in Hollywood that actually understands Moore's Law," Google's Eric Schmidt told Cameron, somewhat obsequiously.

The availability of decent 3D content is also a sticking problem for the Avatar director, who admitted that sports and video-gaming will drive 3D TV uptake in the home.

Avatar 2 not till 2014

Cameron revealed that it will likely by 2014 before we get to see Avatar 2 followed soon after in 2015 by the third movie in the series.

"Silicon Valley is about making things, and James is our analogue in Hollywood," said Google's Eric Schmidt.

Cameron revealed he is currently developing ways of filming underwater scenes in 3D.

"You will see computer-generated water and the optics of bringing light through water. It's all doable. Those are just plug-ins."

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James Cameron planning Avatar 2 for 2014

Posted: 28 Oct 2010 02:35 AM PDT

In a wide-ranging conversation with Google's chief exec Eric Schmidt, filmmaker James Cameron has announced plans for the next two Avatar movies, criticised the current state of 3D television and reiterated his belief that technology can save the planet from ecological apocalypse.

Cameron says stereoscopic 3D TV's day will come, but stressed that it requires far better tech and content before going truly mass market.

"Well, we see the world in 3D," Cameron told the audience at a Churchill Club dinner this week in California. "To me, there are no barriers to 3D TV in homes in five to ten years."

3D TV five years away

In Cameron's opinion auto-stereoscopic (glasses-free) 3D technology is the way forward for 3D in the home.

"The sweet spots subdivide the total resolution of the screen so breakthroughs have to happen in display manufacturing," said Cameron, predicting that Moore's Law would mean we will have such TVs within four or five years.

"I'm sure you're the only person in Hollywood that actually understands Moore's Law," Google's Eric Schmidt told Cameron, somewhat obsequiously.

The availability of decent 3D content is also a sticking problem for the Avatar director, who admitted that sports and video-gaming will drive 3D TV uptake in the home.

Avatar 2 not till 2014

Cameron revealed that it will likely by 2014 before we get to see Avatar 2 followed soon after in 2015 by the third movie in the series.

"Silicon Valley is about making things, and James is our analogue in Hollywood," said Google's Eric Schmidt.

Cameron revealed he is currently developing ways of filming underwater scenes in 3D.

"You will see computer-generated water and the optics of bringing light through water. It's all doable. Those are just plug-ins."

Signing off on one of his favourite themes, environmentalist Cameron said that humans need to evolve into "techno indigenous people, not of the state, not of the nation, but of the planet."

"Maybe it's one of the tipping point things in a good way. You notice now that solar energy is slowly starting to accelerate. I have to think that people of good conscience have to prevail. Education is important. We have to challenge our leaders to be leaders. Getting public to buy into it. Right now, they are in denial mode because of the economy. That is natural. People have to pay their mortgages."

"This is probably the toughest problem the human race has ever faced," Cameron warned.

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Exclusive: Is Google TV gunning for games consoles?

Posted: 28 Oct 2010 02:29 AM PDT

Google TV already includes Flash Player 10.1 as part of the platform - it needs that to play everything on YouTube as well as many of the other video sites it turns into TV channels (and for the full experience when you're browsing web pages)

That means if there's a Flash game on a web page, you'll be able to play it on the first version of Google TV.

But an update to Google TV will let you download and run apps that don't run inside the built-in Chrome browser, Adobe CTO Kevin Lynch told TechRadar.

"Google TV is taking an approach initially that's very browser centric; you're viewing web pages. You go to URLs and you can see apps that have been put on the website.

"Those apps can be built with HTML and Flash together because we worked with the Google TV team to really create an excellent experience for Flash and HTML on these boxes.

"It's really well integrated with the TV experience, so you can browse not only web sites but you can go to TV channels - it's all interleaved really well. Over time we're also looking at applications that you could put on your box and the installation will be different for those. There will be applications as well as browsing; right now it's browsing and the Flash player."

Google TV performance

Part of the issue is making sure the performance is good enough, Danny Winokur of Adobe's Flash Client Platform told TechRadar.

"The architecture of Google TV is a very interesting combination of things. You've got the new Intel hardware plus an Android Éclair derivative – it's not pure Éclair– and then you've got Chrome instead of the Android browser.

"The way that stack lines up means there are some particular challenges in getting [the] performance [you want]. It turns out there's a lot of buffering going on… As we get to subsequent updates that will help to give us a lift in performance. Video is doing really well right now, rendering is a bit of a problem, as you'd expect on a TV."

We asked Rishi Chandra, lead product manager for Google TV, what kinds of apps to expect.

"TV is an entertainment device and there are plenty of web apps out there, web content - whatever might be [relevant]. Games obviously make sense on the big screen in the living room. But I think there's going to be plenty of opportunities for a whole bunch of different applications that can make sense on the platform."

He still couldn't give a Google TV UK release date, apart from to say that "next year you should expect us to roll out in multiple countries."

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Google Place Search arrives from internet giant

Posted: 28 Oct 2010 02:10 AM PDT

Google has introduced Google Place Search – which is supposed to 'organise the world's information around places'.

Google believes that its latest tool will help people make informed decisions when they go to a specific locations – grouping searches together logically.

"Today we're introducing Place Search, a new kind of local search result that organizes the world's information around places," blogged product manager Jackie Bavaro.

"We've clustered search results around specific locations so you can more easily make comparisons and decide where to go."

Dynamic

The results will appear when Google predicts that you are looking for results from a specific location – but will also offers a specific 'places' link in the left hand panel of the search results page.

"We've made results like this possible by developing technology to better understand places. With Place Search, we're dynamically connecting hundreds of millions of websites with more than 50 million real-world locations," added Bavaro

"We automatically identify when sites are talking about physical places and cluster links even when they don't provide addresses and use different names."

Place Search is rolling out right away, and Google says it will be available in more than 40 languages in the 'next few days'.

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Review: Toshiba Camileo SX900

Posted: 28 Oct 2010 02:00 AM PDT

Although the Toshiba Camileo SX900 looks like a regular camcorder and has a perfectly decent specification, it feels more like a toy than a serious piece of consumer electronics. It's rather small and the casing uses a lot of shiny black plastic and chrome.

Small gadgets can be very cool, but in this case the design seems to be flawed somewhat, as the hand strap and lens cap look like an afterthought. This wouldn't generally be considered a terrible sin, but we're talking about a £250 purchase.

Furthermore, the tiny size of the SX900 means that you effectively need to hold the camcorder between finger and thumb as the strap isn't much help. This becomes even more of an issue when you're making changes in the set-up menu as the fold-out 2.7-inch screen sits at 90 degrees to the navigation pad on the side of the camcorder.

Another aggravation was the USB connection. We plugged in the proprietary USB cable, pressed the transfer button and then had to answer the question of whether the USB connection was for a printer or a PC, and then whether the connection was for YouTube, Card Reader or MTP.

The Toshiba doesn't have any built-in memory, so the best move is to simply plug your SD/SDHC/SDXC card into a card reader and forget about the Toshiba USB connection.

The white LED shooting light is pointless, unless you are looking for some lost car keys in a darkened room.

Toshiba camileo sx900

Toshiba has included a mini HDMI cable and an AV cable with RCA audio and Composite video connections, as well as ArcSoft and MAGIX Video Deluxe software.

Overall, there's a long list of relatively minor complaints that we had hoped to counter with talk of high-quality 1080p video and 9x optical zoom.

Instead we were disappointed to find that the Toshiba has similar performance to the much cheaper Kodak Zi8 and the quality of the video fails to live up to expectations.

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Kinect predicted to rule Christmas in UK

Posted: 28 Oct 2010 01:52 AM PDT

Microsoft Kinect is predicted to be this Christmas' most-wanted tech toy, according to a new industry report.

Market research outfit Ipsos says that Kinect will be the most popular gaming hardware in the UK in the run-up to Xmas 2010.

Ipsos claims that 13 per cent of Brits intend to buy a Kinect this Christmas, compared with only 11 per cent who are planning on investing in a PlayStation Move controller.

That said, Ipsos' research also adds that Kinect is perceived to have more "uniqueness" and "believability."

Kinect more believable than Move?

"Given a new usage experience, one might expect some level of scepticism among respondents for Kinect," reads Ipsos' report.

"Surprisingly, though, Kinect excels on both uniqueness and believability... PS Move is rather weak on both dimensions."

"While there are a lot of factors other than consumer appeal that influence demand, the underlying potential for Xbox Kinect looks very good."

Kinect is finally out in the UK on November 10. Not long now!

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Review: Samsung HMX-H200

Posted: 28 Oct 2010 01:30 AM PDT

At first glance the Samsung HMX-H200 looks like a conventional DV tape camcorder, but there's a stack of features lurking beneath the shiny black surface.

The Samsung is indeed a solid state camcorder that records to an SD/SDHC card. It has no built-in memory, but other members of the range have 8GB (HMX-H203) to 32GB (HMX-H205), which can raise the price as high as £360.

The HMX-H200 records video at 1080p, with options for 720p and DVD quality, but we were surprised to see the Samsung sporting a 20x optical zoom and touchscreen controls, as well as being able to take 4.7-megapixel photos.

The HMX-H200 sells for £300, but we found it at Dixons for £252 and, frankly, we smelled a rat. A camcorder with that sort of specification and such a low price must be flawed.

If you look hard enough you will indeed find one or two minor issues. For instance, you have to flick a switch to open the sliding lens cover. The supplied AV cable is simply enormous, and Samsung supplies a USB cable, but not a Mini HDMI cable.

Video quality is good, but not great, and doesn't quite match the Canon; however, the Samsung is superbly usable and has excellent controls. Press the hardware menu button on the fold-out screen and you have icons for iScene profiles, resolution, white balance, EV (light intensity) and focus (auto, manual and touch point).

Samsung hmx-h200

Alternatively, use the software menu button and you have two vertical tabs: one for video settings and the other for system settings. Plug in a USB cable and the Intelli Studio software launches.

The software checks the Samsung website for updates and installs the latest version on your laptop and then imports photos and video from the camcorder.

All in all the Samsung HMX-H200 is an excellent camcorder with some great features.

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