Sponsored
Techradar |
- Firefox 4 Beta 7 arrives, bringing Jagermonkey
- Nintendo to trademark 'It's on like Donkey Kong'
- BT: Infinity has now passed 3 million homes
- 35 hours of video uploaded to YouTube every minute
- Open-source Kinect drivers for PC now available
- FarmVille still tops Facebook apps charts
- Buying Guide: 10 best 24-inch monitors
- ARM's latest Mali GPU announced
- Vodafone adds new handsets to its range
- Digital Economy Act will undergo judicial review
- Digital Economy Act will undergo judicial review
- In Depth: Windows Phone 8: 20 things we want to see
- Hands on: Bang & Olufsen BeoSound 8 review
- YouView formally looking for content providers
- 'Sh*t my dad says' Twitter account hacked
- Gartner: Apple set to dominate 2011 tablet market
- LoveFilm for the PS3 available now
- Android second only to Symbian in smartphone sales
- Buying Guide: Best cheap laptop under £350: 10 to choose from
- Bang & Olufsen enters iPod dock market with BeoSound 8
- MSI N580GTX appears
- EVGA GeForce GTX 580 card unveiled
- Asus shows off GTX580
- Tutorial: 25 tips to make your games run faster and smoother
- Exclusive: AMD Caymen Islands cards definitely delayed
| Firefox 4 Beta 7 arrives, bringing Jagermonkey Posted: 11 Nov 2010 01:21 AM PST  Firefox 4 Beta 7 has arrived from Mozilla, bringing a host of improvements to the popular browser. The latest release's headline arrival is the wonderfully named JägerMonkey JIT which is described as a 'powerful addition'. "The incorporation of the new JägerMonkey JIT to the Firefox SpiderMonkey Javascript engine means you'll notice a faster start-up time, improved page-load speed and the performance of Web apps and games," states Mozilla Hardware acceleration The beta also incorporates the hardware-accelerated graphics that we are beginning to see more and more of in the browser market – tapping into your computer's graphics capabilities. Importantly, Mozilla is now saying that he extension API is stable – meaning that developers can start finalising their wares. Firefox 4 Beta testers will receive automatic updates to the latest release of you can download it from http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/beta/. 
| ||
| Nintendo to trademark 'It's on like Donkey Kong' Posted: 11 Nov 2010 01:07 AM PST  Nintendo has applied to trademark the phrase, "It's on like Donkey Kong," following similar trademarks of other popular Nintendo-related expressions such as, "It's-a-me! Mario!" and marketing phrases such as "Wii would like to play." Nintendo has confirmed that a request has been filed with the United States Patent and Trademark Office. The company also recently applied to trademark the Pokemon phrase, "Gotta Catch 'Em All." It is hard to see anybody questioning Nintendo's trademark applications to own these various phrases, although there is some debate over the actual source of the well-worn DK-related quip. Who said it first? The original source of the saying, "It's on like Donkey Kong," was, according to the Urban Dictionary, incorrectly assumed to be from various movies, "but the term was popularized by rapper Ice Cube when he used the phrase in the song "Now I gotta Wet'cha" off his Predator album in 1992. "It is unknown at this time whether Ice Cube was the person that originally coined the phrase," adds the Urban Dictionary. The latest 2D platformer DK title - Donkey Kong Country Returns - is being developed by Retro Studios, best known for its work on the sublime Metroid Prime series, due for release later this month on November 21. 
| ||
| BT: Infinity has now passed 3 million homes Posted: 11 Nov 2010 12:59 AM PST  BT's chief executive has revealed that the company's fibre roll out has now passed three million homes – and outlined his hopes that changes to BT Vision will boost it past its current level of half a million subscribers. Critics would suggest that a failure to start a full scale fibre roll out, and the damp squib of BT Vision represent two of the communications giant's biggest mistakes in recent times. However, as the company announced an adjusted profit before tax of £496 million for the quarter, chief executive Ian Livingstone picked out both products for the future. Three million "Our fibre roll out has passed three million premises and BT Infinity orders are now running at over 4,000 per week," said Livingstone. "BT Vision customers now stand at more than half a million, with more developments planned to enhance our offering. "Our share of DSL broadband net additions was 45%, one of our highest shares ever." Enhancement The enhancement of BT Vision includes, of course, the looming arrival of the YouView service of which BT is a partner. The IPTV service, which involves all the main terrestrial broadcasters, will hand Vision a major boost, with a hybrid BT service expected to be one of the market's most attractive packages. On the fibre optic front, although Infinity is beginning to get some purchase, BT still lags well behind the cable giant Virgin Media – a company that has benefited hugely from rolling out and buying fibre optic network. It's been a positive week for BT, hitting 2 million WiFi hotspots, and winning the respect of techies everywhere by getting a judicial review into the controversial Digital Economy Act. 
| ||
| 35 hours of video uploaded to YouTube every minute Posted: 11 Nov 2010 12:41 AM PST  Google has revealed that for every minute that goes by, 35 hours of video is uploaded to YouTube – an 11 hour increase in the last eight months. The last time YouTube reported on how many hours of uploads per minute there were was when it broke through the 24 hour mark back in March, but the amount of footage being put onto the video giant has continued its explosive growth. "You continue to amaze us: you've increased the amount of video uploaded to YouTube to 35 hours per minute," said product manager Hunter Walk. 50,400 hours a day "That breaks out to 2,100 hours uploaded every 60 minutes, or 50,400 hours uploaded to YouTube every day. "If we were to measure that in movie terms (assuming the average Hollywood film is around 120 minutes long), 35 hours a minute is the equivalent of over 176,000 full-length Hollywood releases every week. "Another way to think about it is: if three of the major US networks were broadcasting 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year for the last 60 years, they still wouldn't have broadcast as much content as is uploaded to YouTube every 30 days." The oft-criticised take down process –where Google waits for content to be flagged before acting – certainly makes more sense when you consider the sheer weight of footage being uploaded. We wouldn't fancy trying to run a team of people that combed through every second of footage separating the wheat from the chaff. 
| ||
| Open-source Kinect drivers for PC now available Posted: 11 Nov 2010 12:33 AM PST  Enterprising programmers have wasted no time in hacking Microsoft's new Kinect controller for the Xbox 360, with open-source Kinect drivers for PC already available to download online. Programmer Hector Martin has released the drivers online to allow users to get Kinect working on a PC. Kinect homebrew scene? Of course, there are no dedicated games or apps right now to really get a lot of fun out of doing this, but that's not really the point of Martin's hack. The NUI Group of programmers, who created the original unreleased drivers for Kinect on PC, have also claimed that they are creating an SDK platform for Kinect on Windows, which will allow others to create apps and games for Kinect on PC. However, before they do this, they need to get $10,000 in donations. So we may be waiting some time until we see a slew of bedroom coders knocking out homebrew PC Kinect games… 
| ||
| FarmVille still tops Facebook apps charts Posted: 11 Nov 2010 12:18 AM PST  FarmVille still sits astride the top of the Facebook app charts, closely followed by the recently launched Windows Live Messenger app from Microsoft. The latest Facebook app data comes courtesy of AppData's Facebook app top, which shows that over 16 million people are still tending their virtual FarmVille crops every day. Perennial Facebook favourites Other games in the top ten include perennial favourites such as Texas HoldEm Poker, FrontierVille and Café World. Perhaps one of the biggest surprises is the massive popularity of Microsoft's instant messenger app Windows Live Messenger – which is the second most popular app in the Facebook app chart right now, with over 9 million daily active users. This follows Microsoft's latest release of Windows Live Messenger featuring full integration of Facebook chat earlier this autumn. Microsoft claims that only around 20 per cent of Messenger users currently have access the Facebook chat integration feature. Facebook, meet Microsoft Dharmesh Mehta posts more details on the growth of the Facebook-Microsoft partnership over on the Windows Live blog: "In the last few updates, we made a number of changes across Windows Live that made it both more valuable to connect Facebook to Windows Live, and easier for you to do this. "We're still early in the release, but to date, over 10 million people have connected their Facebook accounts with Windows Live. One thing that excites us about this is not only the scale of this adoption but the fact that it is already 6 times more than we saw in all of Wave 3 (our previous set of releases)." You can see more details online relating to the various options for connecting Windows Live to Facebook. "We're excited to see how this is continuing to grow as more people connect their Windows Live accounts to Facebook and as we begin to offer chat integration in more countries," adds Mehta. "On the PC side, many device manufacturers and retailers are choosing to pre-install Windows Live Essentials on their new Windows 7 PCs – helping bring together a complete Windows experience. "We're continuing to work with these partners to make this possible, and we expect over 100 million new consumer PCs to ship with Windows Live Essentials next year." 
| ||
| Buying Guide: 10 best 24-inch monitors Posted: 10 Nov 2010 09:10 AM PST  A big screen for small money. It's what your PC deserves. Happily, you can now give it just that. Prices of flat panel monitors have fallen precipitously over the past two years. Consequently, the best 24-inch monitors are now the sweet spot in terms of value for money. 24-inch budget screens can be often be had on-special for well under £150. Low cost screens tend to use cheapo TN panel technology, of course. But one or two affordable 24-inch monitors based on higher quality LCD panels have recently become available, too. Broaden your horizons a little further and you'll find 24-inch screens to suit every need and budget. Screens purpose built for gaming and movies, screens for editing photos, even screens that support stereoscopic 3D. Here's TechRadar's guide to the ten best 24-inch monitors money can buy. 1. BenQ EW2420 - £158
An affordable 24-inch monitor usually means cheap TN panel technology. But not any more. With the launch of this segment-busting BenQ 24 incher, everyone else is playing catchup. The EW2420's secret weapon is VA LCD technology. VA panels offer better contrast, viewing angles and colours than the TN technology normally found at this price. Admittedly, we have seen better VA panels than this. But only for twice the price. This might just be the best all round monitor on the market. 2. BenQ V2410T - £162
This sleek and slinky looking 24-inch monitor has been slightly undone by the arrival of its VA-powered sibling, the BenQ EW2420. However, despite making do with a relatively dowdy TN LCD panel, the V2410T still has plenty going for it. For starters, the TN tech combined with an LED backlight means this is a great gaming monitor with excellent pixel response. Unusually for such an affordable monitor, it also has a proper stand with full adjustability rather than a cheap tilt-only hinge. 3. Viewsonic VG2427WM - £179
When it comes to sub-£200 24-inch monitors, some specifications are par for the course. A TN panel with a full-HD resolution of 1,920 x 1,080, for instance, is absolutely bog standard. Static contrast around the 1,000:1 mark, brightness of 300cd/m2 and single-digit pixel response are also routine. The fact that Viewsonic's VG2427WM ticks all those boxes is not therefore much of an advantage. What it does have and most others lack, however, is a fully adjustable stand. Read our Viewsonic VG2427WM review 4. Asus 24T1E - £180
Combining a PC monitor and a TV in a single device is hardly rocket science. But Asus's 24T1E might just deserve a place on your desktop launchpad. For starters, it's much cheaper than most other 24-inch monitor-TV combos. In fact, with the likes of Ebuyer now flogging it for as little as £180, it's similarly priced to many standard 24-inch screens. OK, the TV tuner is standard definition rather than HD. But the screen itself is the real HD deal and offers decent visuals for a TN panel. 5. Iiyama ProLite E2472HD - £180
A year ago or so, any 24-inch monitor offering a full-HD resolution of 1,920 x 1,080 pixels for around £180 would have seemed positively bargainous. Today, that price puts Iiyama's 24-inch effort towards the top of the pile. That's a bit of a problem for a monitor with a plain old TN LCD panel. Still, you do get an LED backlight and therefore punchy, vibrant visuals. What's more, the full range of input options that includes HDMI, DVI and VGA ensures compatibility with all kinds of devices. 6. AOC 2434PW - £182
How much are you willing to pay for style? If you're happy to pony up a little extra, the AOC 2434PW might just be for you. In most regards, it's a pretty ordinary 24-inch PC monitor. It has a TN panel and a native resolution of 1,920 x 1,080 pixels. Likewise, there's no funky LED backlight technology here. Instead you get a standard CCFL unit. However, this is one of the most stylish and accurately assembled monitors available at this end of the market. 7. Acer S243HL - £240
When it comes to PC monitors, combining style and substance typically comes at a price. Acer's new 24-inch S243HL is certainly a little more expensive than the competition. In return, you get an avant-garde asymmetric design complete with the screen controls and video inputs neatly integrated into the stand. Acer has also given this upmarket 24 incher and LED backlight, which helps to boost image quality above the norm and just about justifies the price. 8. Acer GD245HQ - £289
Stereoscopic 3D is literally the hottest display technology of the moment. Everything from cinema, to Blu-ray and HDTV is currently being revolutionised by eye-popping 3D visuals. Ensuring the PC doesn't feel left out is Acer's 3D-capable 24-inch monitor. OK, it's a lot more expensive than the non-3D competition. And you'll need some 3D specs to go with it. But with the right games, the results are spectacular. What's more, the high refresh is a boon in 2D mode, too. 9. Samsung SyncMaster FX2490HD - £381
When is a PC monitor more than just a PC monitor? Answer: When it's Samsung's new PC-display-come-HDTV combo. Indeed, in design terms this SyncMaster is dead ringer for a high end Samsung HDTV. It also packs some pretty decent chops as a PC monitor thanks to an LED backlight and 1,920 x 1,080 pixel grid. In that context, it's the HDTV half of the equation that let's the side down. The integrated TV tuner is of standard definition rather than high definition specification. 10. Eizo ColorEdge CG245W - £1,756
Nearly £2,000 for any PC monitor is a big ask. But nigh on two grand foir a 24 incher? Just what is Eizo thinking? Needless to say, this is no proletarian panel. It has a very high quality IPS LCD panel and offers a 98% Adobe RGB colour gamut. But the really fancy bit is the calibration kit integrated into the screen bezel. It operates a little like a windscreen wiper, sweeping across the screen surface. Anywho, the upshot is that if you need outstanding accuracy, the CG245W might just be worth it. Read our Eizo ColorEdge CG245W review 
| ||
| ARM's latest Mali GPU announced Posted: 10 Nov 2010 08:53 AM PST  British tech giant ARM has announced what it is describing as a 'new era' in embedded graphics with the next generation of its Mali GPU. With Korean giant Samsung a lead licensee of the latest graphics chip, ARM believes that Mali-T604 will bring innovative and compelling visual computing to next generation consumer electronics devices. The latest generation of Mali is apparently five times better in performance than its predecessor and should bring much-improved graphics to a whole host of consumer devices, including smartphones, tablets and high-end digital entertainment systems. Visual computing "Visual computing is driving the next generation of consumer electronics, as consumers and developers demand the highest levels of graphics performance," said Lance Howarth, EVP and general manager, Media Processing Division, ARM. "The tri-pipe architecture in the Mali-T604 provides both market-leading compute functionality and high-performance graphics without compromise, enabling unequalled user experiences in energy-efficient consumer electronic devices." ARM's fourth-generation GPU is 'specifically designed' to cope with general purpose computing on the GPU – known as GPGPU and, interestingly supports OpenCL and Microsoft DirectX. Samsung on board ARM's release suggests that the support for GPGPU will be key in the advancement of augmented reality applications and gesture recognition. With Samsung on board, it will be intriguing to see if the Korean company can roll out devices that use Mali-T604 quickly as it takes on Apple in the Tablet market. The company has already had a hit with the Samsung Galaxy S smartphone, and the early numbers indicate that the Galaxy Tab has gone down well. So are we soon going to see mobile phones and tablets that can play powerful games? It certainly seems to be a step in the right direction. 
| ||
| Vodafone adds new handsets to its range Posted: 10 Nov 2010 07:43 AM PST  Vodafone UK has announced the addition of several new handsets to its range - including the BlackBerry Bold 9780. Vodafone is keen to bolster its range ahead of the Christmas period - and to that end has brought in new phones for people to choose from. "With Christmas fast approaching, Vodafone UK has added a variety of new handsets to its range, giving customers a great choice of devices free from as little as £10 per month on the UK's best network," states Vodafone. "The devices join the recently launched HTC Desire HD, Nokia N8, HTC 7 Trophy, BlackBerry Torch and a host of other fantastic handsets in Vodafone's range, all of which are available to buy now." New additions The new additions start with the BlackBerry Bold 9780 – with the BlackBerry 6 OS – which is available at no extra cost on a 2-year £25 a month contract Then there is the Motorola Defy with Android – again available on a £25 month contract for 24 months for no handset fee. A second Android phone - the Samsung Galaxy Europa – can be yours for no added cost if you sign up for a £20 24-month contract and the Nokia C3 is also available, this time on £10 a month two-year contracts. 
| ||
| Digital Economy Act will undergo judicial review Posted: 10 Nov 2010 06:46 AM PST  The controversial Digital Economy Act will go through judicial review, with ISPs BT and TalkTalk mounting a legal challenge that could see it overturned. The Digital Economy Bill was passed through parliament in the 'wash up period' when many MPs are not present. A meagre two hours of debate did not appease critics of the proposals, which amongst other things, brought in proposals on how to deal with illegal filesharing. Insufficient scrutiny BT and TalkTalk – two of the UK's foremost internet providers mounted a legal challenge, claiming that the bill had received 'insufficient scrutiny' and that has now been upheld. Speaking about the decision, TalkTalk executive director Andrew Heaney told the Guardian: "The provisions to try to reduce illegal filesharing are unfair, won't work and will potentially result in millions of innocent customers who have broken no law suffering and having their privacy invaded." He added that the judicial review process would "properly assess whether the act is legal and justifiable". The Liberal Democrat party was hugely critical of the Act when it was passed, but hopes that the change from the Labour government behind the bill to the current Conservative-Liberal coalition would lead to its end proved optimistic. 
| ||
| Digital Economy Act will undergo judicial review Posted: 10 Nov 2010 06:46 AM PST The controversial Digital Economy Act will go through judicial review, with ISPs BT and TalkTalk mounting a legal challenge that could see it overturned. The Digital Economy Bill was passed through parliament in the 'wash up period' when many MPs are not present. A meagre two hours of debate did not appease critics of the proposals, which amongst other things, brought in proposals on how to deal with illegal filesharing. Insufficient scrutiny BT and TalkTalk – two of the UK's foremost internet providers mounted a legal challenge, claiming that the bill had received 'insufficient scrutiny' and that has now been upheld. Speaking about the decision, TalkTalk executive director Andrew Heaney told the Guardian: "The provisions to try to reduce illegal filesharing are unfair, won't work and will potentially result in millions of innocent customers who have broken no law suffering and having their privacy invaded." He added that the judicial review process would "properly assess whether the act is legal and justifiable". The Liberal Democrat party was hugely critical of the Act when it was passed, but hopes that the change from the Labour government behind the bill to the current Conservative-Liberal coalition would lead to its end proved optimistic. 
| ||
| In Depth: Windows Phone 8: 20 things we want to see Posted: 10 Nov 2010 06:39 AM PST  In computing, even the most amazing products usually have minor defects. Yet, when the product is mobile, each defect somehow becomes even more troubling. One small snafu can mean the difference between arriving on time to a meeting and sending that one hurried text to a colleague, or getting lost on a vacant thoroughfare because the GPS is glitchy and not user-friendly. The recent release of Windows Phone 7 has caused a stir in the smartphone industry, partly because it is highly usable and well-designed, partly because there's still debate about whether it can actually make any headway against Google Android and Apple iOS, and partly because we have learned to take notice when Microsoft does anything new. Yet, there are still some gaping holes. Here are 20 features we like to see in the next Windows Phone release. 1. Copy and paste How is this even possible? No modern smartphone OS is complete without copy and paste. Knowing how the OS works (the interface consists mainly of large squares you click and slide around on screen) and that there are no options for long press (other than being able to delete that square) helps you understand why copy and paste was left out. You can almost picture a Redmond designer saying copy and paste defies interface aesthetics. It also makes it hard to copy an email address. 2. Flash support We've all learned to live without Adobe Flash support on smartphones. Sure, there are workarounds - if you can buy the Skyfire browser for iPhone, good luck. Yet, rich content on sites like GamesRadar.com really benefit greatly from Flash. As we reported recently, the reason Microsoft did not include Flash support is due to the fast 18 month development cycle. 3. Better multitasking Like most smartphones today, Windows Phone 7 has limited multitasking. For example, apps can send a push notification while you are browsing, and they tend to save their state when you switch out of them. (For example, if you log into Gmail using the IE browser, close and start a new app, then go back to IE, you will still be logged in.) However, this limited multi-tasking is not the same as true background processing. For Windows Phone 8, we really want to have the ability to start a massive back-up to the cloud and have that run while we check email. Better, window in window processing: being able to see a split-screen view of a Netflix movie with the browser downloading a movie file. For now, when you quit Netflix, the entire app shuts down and you have to start all over again. 4. Easier app control Speaking of apps that shut down entirely when you quit them, another peculiarity is that the WP7 interface, while fluid enough for flipping through pictures and browsing the web, is not exactly app-centric. In fact, the only way to view apps currently is in a long list when you swipe to the right. (You can also pin apps to the home screen by long-pressing on the one you want and selecting to pin.) However, what we'd like to see in Windows Phone 8 is better categorization. For example, one square for productivity apps where you can drag those icons into that bin, similar to the capability on the iPhone 4. 5. Better indication of interface options Another minor gripe is that Windows Phone 7 tends to play "interface roulette" with you: it is hard to know when you can swipe left or right, when you can long-press, and when an app offers extra options. For example, the email app has plenty of icons below the main screen for creating a new message and syncing. However, the Picture app seems to have no options at all. (Oddly, you can long-press on the main pictures screen to choose a background image, but there is no indication that this is possible.) 6. Internet tethering Is it too much to ask to make your phone work as a modem? This is one feature that would make sense for Windows Phone 8, especially if 4G networks proliferate. While tethering would be handy, we'd also like the ability to use the phone as a Wi-Fi hotspot for other devices (and make it free!). 7. YouTube app Not including a YouTube app is a travesty, especially if you are under 15 years old and have a lot of spare time. What - there is no way to watch some angst-ridden teenage singing Train songs? Actually, there is a way if you fire up the browser and pop open a YouTube vid. You will be promoted to download the YouTube app from the Marketplace. The app is clunky at best: it looks just like IE but plays videos. 8. A true universal search Like the copy/paste omission, the lack of universal search is a glaring problem. Even the Palm Pre had a useful search that returned results from your contacts, apps, and the Web. WP7 only provides Bing search, which is great for the web but not useful when you really need to find that one obscure sales contact and only know the first name, or just want to start an app quickly. 9. Aggregated email WP7 tends to prefer a Windows Live email address. While the email client is useful enough, there is no way to add all of your email accounts and have them grouped in one client. 10. Deliver on the gaming promise During a MIX event prior to launch, Microsoft showed the mech-shooter game The Harvest and hinted at a serious effort to bring the Xbox 360 casual gaming experience to the handheld. That game made our list of the best Windows Phone 7 games, but there are still a few conspicuous no-shows, including Crackdown 2: Project Sunburst and Halo Waypoint, and a few games we really want to see (Limbo, Braid). 11. Tweets from within first-party apps Here's one that is a little tough to explain, and we know that some view Twitter as a 140-character fad. However, Windows Phone 7 seems to almost ignore the service, especially when it comes to integration with other apps. We'd like to see the ability to tweet a favorite song from the Zune player or even post a photo from your photo stream to your Twitter account or directly from the camera app. 12. HTML5 support The IE browser included with Windows Phone 7 seems to be a beefed up version of IE8 for the small screen, and its lack of HTML5 and Silverlight support is another glaring omission. HTML5 has not exactly become the de facto standard for rich content, but the potential with HTML5 is hard to ignore: better designed web pages, faster performance, and video feeds that actually work. 13. Advanced editing in Word Including the Office hub app was a no-brainer, and it's handy to be able to open Word and Excel files and edit them to some extent. (The PowerPoint app is strictly for viewing.) What's missing is the ability to do anything beyond changing the format and editing the text. In Windows Phone 8, we'd like to see more robust word processor and spreadsheet functions, even including such fine details and controlling line spacing and being able to (ahem) copy and paste between Word and Excel. 14. Create PowerPoint from scratch The ability to view a slideshow on your smartphone is nothing new. What would be impressive in Windows Phone 8 is a way to create a PowerPoint show from scratch - grabbing images from Flickr, tapping in your text, setting slide timings, and maybe even streaming the show to the web. 15. Better software support for 4G networks The Windows Phone 7 OS seems designed for the current age of 3G networks, but in Windows Phone 8 we hope that 4G access on the order of 7-10Mbps becomes widely available in the UK and US. If that happens, the OS really needs to follow suit with a powerful HD movie download service and a way to make full back-ups to the web easily. Better yet, we're still waiting for the day when massive mobile storage and 10Mbps access turns your smartphone into a primary media device for all media content. 16. Wallpaper on home screen You can change the background pic - for the Picture app. In WP7, there is no way to change the wallpaper image used for the home screen and the lock screen. That's a strange missing feature since just about every smartphone offers this basic capability. 17. IT feature to push apps Microsoft obviously focused on the lucrative and fast moving consumer market for the first Windows Phone 7 release. In Windows Phone 8, we'd like to see better enterprise support - including a way to push apps to the device, such as those used for remote access and for custom apps that access enterprise software. 18. Ability to segregate social networking contacts We like the way Microsoft added an aggregator for social networks. The People app is clean and refreshes quickly. However, it is an all or nothing approach - we'd like to see separate categories for Facebook and Live Mail, for example. And, it's odd there isn't a way to add a Twitter account. 19. Built-in back-up feature One of the very last additions that Microsoft made to the Windows Mobile 6.5 release was a good one: it added a back-up utility that made a copy of your contacts and media files. Having this built-in to Windows Phone 8 would help make your smartphone the primary device for all media and a good storage choice for documents and spreadsheets. Oddly, there is no way to back-up using a tool in the OS (using a scheduler, adding encryption to files) but you can copy files to the SkyDrive service. 20. Better built-in encryption Phones are not the best encryption devices - for a large file, they might not have the horsepower to add robust encryption like AES. Yet, for most quick archives for contacts and documents, encryption would be a helpful addition. Even better, we'd like to see a way to make back-ups with encryption that are then accessible from the cloud, and a way to lock down a device remotely so the data is safe. 
| ||
| Hands on: Bang & Olufsen BeoSound 8 review Posted: 10 Nov 2010 06:23 AM PST  If there's one market which is saturated at the moment it is the iPod dock one. Not that there is anything wrong with choice, but there are so many cheap and cheerful devices around that a manufacturer needs to do things a little differently for their dock to stand out. One area of the market, though, which is still a little light is the high end. For years, the B&W Zeppelin has dominated the mid-range but there's little around that goes for premium shock and awe. Finally, with the launch of the Bang & Olufsen BeoSound 8, high-end audio manufacturers seemed to have accepted that most of us consume music now on the go and we need a device in the home which caters for our PMPs.
The Bang & Olufsen BeoSound 8 is a beautiful piece of kit. Its barbell-like shape makes you think the device should come with its very own strongman and its weight (4.25kg) confirms this. Not that you will be lifting it much as it does need to be connected to the mains for it to work. Wherever you put the BeoSound 8 in your house, though, the conical shape of the speaker means that it can sit nicely against a wall without destroying the sound. And the speakers have been created to adapt the sound to the shape of the room.
Pumping out 70w for base and mid range and 35w on the treble level, the speakers have each been equipped with dual amps for optimum sound. Listening to some Alison Krauss on the system, the audio sound crisp and clear and there was real depth to her voice.
The BeoSound 8 has been created with Apple products in mind. Because of this, the main docking station can house iPods, iPhones and even the iPad. We were shown a demo of the iPad on the system and we have to say that the burly machine looks right at home on the device. Although the BeoSound 8 isn't the first to offer iPad connectivity (the Arcam rCube does so through wireless connectivity) it is the first to look as if the iPad belongs with the device – a major coup.
Although the speakers are what stand out on the BeoSound 8 (literally) there are a number of nice touches on the chassis. There's a little rest on the back of the device which can be used to support the iPad when it is docked and the circular touch panel on the front is a joy to use. You do want to swirl your fingers around it like a click-wheel, however, but the controls work fine apart from this niggle. The aluminium chassis adds a touch of class to proceedings and if you are not a fan of the white look of the speakers, the setup also comes in black. And that's pretty much it for features – the BeoVision is as minimalist as they come, with even the USB and Aux-in hidden from plain view. Interestingly, though, there are also customisable fascias to go with the BeoSound 8, ranging from pink to blue. This is something we would have expected to see from a much cheaper device but the colour options are welcomed.
It seems odd to praise a company that has come to a saturated market late, but the BeoSound 8 is a majestic machine which oozes style. It may well have competition from the Bowers & Wilkins Zeppelin and the Arcam rCube, both of which are retailing for nearly half the £895 price tag of the BeoSound 8, but Bang & Olufsen first stab at this category may well also be the best. The BeoSound 8 has UK release date of 'end of November' and will be priced at £895. 
| ||
| YouView formally looking for content providers Posted: 10 Nov 2010 05:49 AM PST  You View has formally asked for people who want to create channels or offer on demand programming on the forthcoming IPTV platform to make their interest know. YouView represents a push by major UK broadcasters and communications companies to set down a unified platform for IPTV. With the likes of the BBC, ITV, BT and Channel 4 involved, the project is being hailed as potentially one of the biggest IPTV platforms that the UK will see. Content needed And now it is seeking content for the platform, asking for formal expressions of interest from content providers "looking to make their content available on the open internet-connected TV environment" as part of a new 'industry engagement program'. Accprdiong to YouView, the first phase is to identify a 'small number' of auio and video content providers at first – with apps and IP channels brought in at a later date. Richard Halton, CEO, YouView, said: "I'm delighted to launch our industry engagement programme and look forward to seeing the response from across the UK's rich and vibrant content community." Ambition "Our ambition is to open up the TV screen to content providers who until now have been unable to build an audience, bringing viewers a brilliant choice of content," he added "YouView is creating an open environment for content providers to play in and this will take some technical innovation. "To develop the most effective processes for content providers we need to at first work closely with a few that can prove our model and ensure it's scalable. "Our plan is to extend the programme out as we start to build common expertise and get more great content on board." "We're seeing a vibrant ecosystem developing in the IPTV market and are also committed to helping this flourish and grow in the best way to meet the needs of content providers." YouView is scheduled to launch in 2011. 
| ||
| 'Sh*t my dad says' Twitter account hacked Posted: 10 Nov 2010 05:34 AM PST  One of the most famous Twitter accounts has been hacked – with Sh*t My Day Says putting out spam links. The Sh*it my dad says account has become so popular that it has produced a television spin off sitcom starring William Shatner which is currently being broadcast in the US. However, the stream of humour has recently been hacked, leaving writer Justin to tweet "My dad isn't trying to sell you a crappy lap top, I promise. Don't open any links." "Spammers have recently hacked the account of Twitter phenomenon "Sh*tMyDadSays", posting a message to the popular page's 1.8 million followers," said Sophos. "The tweet, which has since been removed, said "wow I just got a free dell laptop LOL" and contained a shortened link to a 'make-money-fast' website." High-profile Many high profile Twitter accounts have found themselves targeted by hackers – and with a potential audience numbering in the millions they will remain high profile potential victims. "Of course it's serious when such a popular Twitter account has its security breached. In theory, malicious hackers could have posted a link to malware or a phishing site - rather than just what appears to be a more traditional spam page," said Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant at Sophos. "It's unclear on this occasion whether the Twitter password was phished, whether it was cracked through a dictionary attack or spyware, or whether the person behind "Sh*tMyDadSays" made the mistake of using the same password on multiple websites. "Computer users should always choose a hard-to-guess non-dictionary word as a Twitter password, and never use the same password on multiple websites." 
| ||
| Gartner: Apple set to dominate 2011 tablet market Posted: 10 Nov 2010 05:15 AM PST  Gartner's latest research suggests that Apple is the best placed to take the lion's share of the tablet market in 2011 because of its dominance in apps, predicting that nearly 55 million devices will be sold next year alone. The success of the iPad has brought a slew of tablets from other manufacturers, many using the Android operating system. But Gartner believes that sales of 54.8 million on 2011 will not change Apple's dominant position, because of the success of the iPhoen and the iPod Touch. Dramatic expansion "Apple's dramatic expansion of iOS with the iPad and the continuing success of the iPod touch are important sales achievements in their own right," said Gartner's Carolina Milanesi "But more importantly they contribute to the strength of Apple's ecosystem and the iPhone in a way that smartphone-only manufacturers cannot compete with," "To a developer, the iPod Touch and iPhone (and to a lesser extent the iPad) are effectively the same device and a single market opportunity. "While Android is increasingly available on media tablets and media players like the Galaxy Player, it lags far behind iOS's multi-device presence. "Apple claims it is activating around 275,000 iOS devices per day on average - that's a compelling market for any developer. And developers' applications in turn attract users." Gartner believes that the iPad and its likely successor will be the big sellers as people look to the biggest and most innovative application markets in the coming year. Of course, the market will be tested by the arrival of lower cost Android devices, as well as premium competitors like the Samsung Galaxy Tab, so it remains to be seen if iOS, Android or even a third option is dominant in tablets this time next year. 
| ||
| LoveFilm for the PS3 available now Posted: 10 Nov 2010 05:13 AM PST  PlayStation users can now get LoveFilm on their PS3s, thanks to a new app for the service appearing on the XMB. Announced originally back in October, the LoveFilm app allows subscribers to watch movies through the PS3, as long as they are on the 5.99 (without games) package or higher. This is a major step for LoveFilm who has been looking to increase its dominance in the movie-streaming market. A LoveFilm app has already appeared on web connected Samsung and Sony TVs, but the PS3 is by far the most popular device the service has landed on. You shouldn't need to download anything for the LoveFilm app to appear. If it is not there on your XMB, then turn your PS3 on and off again (seriously). Streaming limits If you are on a £5.99 package then this is considered 'light use' so there is a limit to the amount of movie watching you can do. Those who have the £9.99 package, though, can watch as many online movies as they like. At launch there is 2,000 movie titles available to stream and they should all work fine on a 2Mbps or more broadband connection. For more information, go to LoveFilm.com. 
| ||
| Android second only to Symbian in smartphone sales Posted: 10 Nov 2010 05:05 AM PST  The rise and rise of Android has seen it become the second biggest operating system in the world, according to the latest figures. Gartner's research suggests that, with worldwide smartphone sales up by a whopping 96 per cent and hitting 19.3 per cent of the total market, Apple and Android handsets are changing the market. "This is the third consecutive double-digit increase in sales year-on-year, indicating that consumer demand is healthy," said Carolina Milanesi, research vice president at Gartner. Record sales "This quarter saw Apple and Android drive record smartphone sales," she added. "Apple's share of the smartphone market surpassed Research In Motion (RIM) in North America to put it second behind Android while Android volumes also grew rapidly making it the No. 2 operating system worldwide." Nokia, Samsung and LG – in that order – have clung on to the market leader manufacturer spots, although Apple has now leapfrogged over RIM into fourth spot. According to Gartner's figures, 25.5 per cent of all smartphones sold carried the Android OS, still some way behind Symbian on 36.6 per cent. But, the same quarter last year saw Symbian take a 44.6 per cent share of the market, compared to just 3.5 per cent for Google's Android. Selling well Apple's iOS lost a little in terms of percentage, but with the total market doubling, the iPhone manufacturer shifted almost twice as many handsets. RIM – the makers of BlackBerry phones – moved from a 20.7 per cent share to 14.8 per cent share, whilst Microsoft will be keen that its newly introduced Windows Phone 7 can arrest a slide from 7.9 per cent of sales to just 2.8 in the past quarter's figure. 
| ||
| Buying Guide: Best cheap laptop under £350: 10 to choose from Posted: 10 Nov 2010 04:59 AM PST  Sub-£350 laptops are never going to be capable of high end computing. They won't run the 3D latest games, or edit high-definition video. But, for stuff like word processing or web browsing they're absolutely ideal. All the laptops we've featured in this round-up include screens of 15.4-inches or above, so they're great for home use. Best of all, though, is the price: for around the same cost as a netbook, you're getting what is pretty much a full-blown PC. Here our our 10 favourite sub-£350 notebooks. 1. Fujitsu Siemens Esprimo V6535 - £276
An ideal machine for families, Fujitsu Siemens' Esprimo V6535 features a matt 15.4-inch screen, which eliminates reflections, and an Intel GMA 4500M graphics chip, which is actually surprisingly capable for 3D application Build quality is impressive, too, and it won't attract too many scratches and marks. We were also impressed with the large comfortable keyboard, which is very suited to long-term use. Overall, this is a great machine for home use, but with 164 minutes of battery life it'll enjoy trips outside, too. Read our Fujitsu Siemens Esprimo V6535 review 2. Dell Vostro 1015 - £279
Dell's Vostro is built to the same high standards of all the big D's machines, but it also costs less than £300. Bearing in mind Dell's netbooks are about the same price, it's a complete bargain. For the price, the specifications are - understandably - a bit feeble: you get a 160GB hard drive and a mere 1GB of RAM. But it's also got a nice 15.6-inch screen, a dual-layer DVD rewriter and Windows 7 Home Premium. 3. eMachines G420 - £299
17.3-inches is a whopping screen size, and one you don't often seen on laptops in this price range. It's all backed up amicably by the its components, such as Nvidia's 9100M graphics chip, which is capable of basic photo editing, and a surprisingly powerful AMD Sempron processor. The sheer size of the beast means it's not the most portable of PCs, but as a clutter-free desktop replacement it's ideal. Read our eMachines G420 review 4. Asus X58L - £299
Asus' bargailicious laptop doesn't really stand out from the crowd apart from in one area: its vibrant 15.4-inch screen. Its glossy Super- TFT coating means colours pop off the screen, and contrast and black levels are also impressive. Performance isn't great, but added extras like a dual-layer DVD rewriter and a 4-in-1 card reader make it nice and practical. It's hard-wearing, too, and features a smooth keyboard and large touchpad. Certainly not a bad option, especially given the low price. 5. Asus X5DC-SX025V - £299
Not the greatest laptop in the world by any stretch of the imagination, but we found Asus' venture into the world of cheap portable PCs pleasing enough. Although it let us down in the performance stakes, its usability more than made up for it, with a lovely keyboard and comfortable 15.6-inch screen making it ideal for internet browsing and word processing. It's also ruggedly made, and its matt-black plastics mean that it's not a magnet for dirt and fingerprints. Read our Asus X5DC-SX025V review 6. Toshiba Satellite Pro L300-2CH - £299
Toshiba's laptop is incredibly well made, thanks to its bulky, but not-too-heavy chassis. It also includes a lovely 15.4-inch screen perfectly suited for entertainment, and an impressive 194-minute battery life. The included internet security and DVD authoring tools make it ideal for first-time laptop buyers, but it's let down slightly in terms of performance and the awkward arrangement of its USB ports. Nevertheless, it's a portable and competent machine, and feature-packed for the price. Read our Toshiba Satellite Pro L300-2CH review 7. Lenovo G550 - £330
Lenovo - it of ThinkPad fame - knows how to build a decent laptop, and the G550 is no exception. Usability is the big selling point here, with a solid keyboard with a dedicated numeric keypad, as well as a 15.6-inch display capable of stunning brightness, colour and contrast. Lenovo hasn't skimped on innards, either, and you'll find a capacious 320GB drive within a machine that happily multitasks, too. The only slight let-down is graphics performance, but at this price-point it's a given. 8. HP Compaq Presario CQ61-402SA - £347
Performance is actually rather good in HP Compaq Presario. You won't be editing high-definition videos or playing intense 3D games, but in terms of multitasking it's actually rather capable. HP's also bundled CyberLink MediaShow for editing videos and CyberLink PowerDVD for watching movies. Add to this the HDMI output and you've got a multimedia machine ideal for usage in the home. Admittedly, battery life could be a little better, but it's certainly worth the extra £50 over a other laptops in our round-up. Read our HP Compaq Presario CQ61-402SA review 9. Toshiba Satellite L450-136 - £350
It's a tight match between Toshiba's Satellite L450-136, and Lenovo's G550, above. The Lenovo just about pips the Toshiba in terms of graphical performance, and both offer similar levels of comfort and usability. However, in terms of connectivity, the Toshiba's the winner, including a speedy 802.11n WiFi connection, and an HDMI output for connecting it to a big-screen TV. Combine this with its excellent battery life and strong performance, and it's an extremely versatile laptop. Read our Toshiba Satellite L450-136 review 10. Advent Modena - £350
The ample storage provided by the 320GB hard drive and 2GB of DDR3 memory make Advent's Modena stand out from the crowd. As with most laptops of this price, it's not a hugely powerful machine, but it will handle internet browsing and watching the occasional DVD. It also includes a 15.6-inch TFT screen, which is glossy enough to show colours nicely, but not so glossy that you'll be constantly staring at your own face. At 33mm, it's fairly slim, too, but the low battery life means you can't stray too far from the mains. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 
| ||
| Bang & Olufsen enters iPod dock market with BeoSound 8 Posted: 10 Nov 2010 04:13 AM PST  Bang & Olufsen has created a new category for itself this week, with the arrival of the £900 BeoSound 8. The brilliant-looking, great-sounding iPod dock is the first from B&O who claim that it is "the best of its kind in the market". The BeoSound 8 certainly has the looks. It packs two 70w active speakers (both come with two amps inside), which give the dock its barbell-like design, and the device has also been given an aluminium centrepiece that houses the touch controls. The dock can be customised, too, with a number of coloured speaker fascias available. The speaker cones come in either white or black. Sound choice The BeoSound 8 has been created with Apple products in mind. The dock is catered for iPods and iPhones and there is even a small backrest which can be used when you plug an iPad into the dock. That's right, it will take the might of the iPad without looking ridiculous. If you fancy networking the system, then it is compatible with Apple Airport Express. There is a USB slot and Aux-in, so even if you are not praying at the Apple alter you can use the dock to play your portable music, plug it into a PC and so on. B&O told TechRadar that the dock is transportable, rather than portable. This is because it is packing so much speaker power it needs to be plugged to the mains. As it is a B&O device, you can also control the BeoSound 8 with other Bang & Olufsen kit. So if you have one of its phones, then you can change the volume with this. The system also comes with a nifty round remote. The BeoSound 8 has UK release date of 'end of November' and will be priced at £895. TechRadar was one of the first in the world to get its hands on the BeoSound 8, so expect our initial verdict shortly. 
| ||
| Posted: 10 Nov 2010 04:07 AM PST  MSI has unveiled its latest graphics card, with the N580GTX-M2D15D% bringing the latest GPU from Nvidia. The arrival of Nvidia's GTX 580 has lead to a slew of new cards, and MSI is hoping that the inclusion of things like its Vapor Chmaber cooler will help it stand out from the masses. "After the award winning N400 series, world class graphics card and mainboard manufacturer MSI officially launches the N580GTX-M2D15D5, the fastest single chip graphics card in the world," said MSI. 40nm GF110 GPU "The N580GTX houses the new 40nm GF110 GPU with 512 CUDA cores, supporting DirectX 11 and NVIDIA 3DVision Surround technology," it continues "1536MB on-board high GDDR5 ensures you never run out of video memory playing the latest games at ultra-high resolution. "An advanced vapour chamber cooler ensures a silent and cool running graphics card. "With real-time monitoring, fan control, overvoltage and overclocking available through MSI's exclusive Afterburner technology, the N580GTX delivers everything you need to be the fastest in the latest games and benchmarks." 
| ||
| EVGA GeForce GTX 580 card unveiled Posted: 10 Nov 2010 03:58 AM PST  EVGA has shown off its latest graphics card, with the EVGA GeForce GTX 580 sporting the 'worlds fastest CPU' from Nvidia. The EVGA GeForce GTX 580 sports the latest tech from Nvidia, unveiled this week, and the company's enthusiasm is clear. "The world's fastest GPU has arrived with the EVGA GeForce GTX 580," said EVGA. "Experience blockbuster games like Call of Duty: Black Ops and Tom Clancy's H.A.W.X 2 in their full glory with everything cranked to the max." Rip through "Not only does the EVGA GeForce GTX 580 rip through the latest games, it also runs quieter than the previous generation," it added "And as you have come to expect from the GeForce GTX GPU, the GTX 580 packs support for all the premium GTX gaming technologies such as NVIDIA Surround, 3D Vision, PhysX and SLI. "With all these features and more, it is easy to see how the EVGA GeForce GTX 580 obliterates the competition." The GTX580 brings full support for Nvidia's 3D Vision Surround gaming, 1536MB GDDR5 memory at 4GHz and support for PhysX. 
| ||
| Posted: 10 Nov 2010 03:25 AM PST -200-200.jpg) The Asus GTX580 has been revealed – bringing the latest DirectX Nvidia graphics technology. With Nvidia's GTX 580 finally making their official arrival on Monday, the manufacturers have reacted by rolling out their latest cards. Asus' GTX580 brings support for Full HD Nvidia 3D Vision Surround gaming – it can support three screens and is factory overclocked at 782MHz with 512 CUDA cores. That, Asus insists, means that this is the most powerful graphics card available with the Nvidia technology. 1536MB GDDR5 "It features a large 1536MB GDDR5 video memory, rated at over 4GHz," adds Asus. "The massive 384-bit memory interface opens up performance by removing data transmission bottlenecks for better hardware utilisation." Asus has also added in its popular proprietary Voltage Tweak tech which gives users a "quick and accessible way to overvolt the graphics card to its limit at 1157MHz". 
| ||
| Tutorial: 25 tips to make your games run faster and smoother Posted: 10 Nov 2010 02:30 AM PST  All computers eventually start to creak in their old age, but with a few quick tweaks and techniques, you can prolong their life for years – especially if you're willing to lose a bit of modern glitz to play the games that work them the hardest. Here's our guide to enjoying the best entertainment, without necessarily spending a fortune on new hardware. 1. Clean your PC Like all applications, games benefit from a clean system. Before you even think about buying new hardware, do some spring cleaning. Even Windows 7 benefits from a slash-and-burn reinstall every few months to get rid of the cobwebs, memory-resident apps and other shackles that so easily accumulate over time. If games are running slower than they used to, it's a very good first step to take. 2. Install more memory Any major component of your PC can be a drag on your system if it isn't powerful enough. Memory is one of the cheapest to upgrade, and the easiest – you simply pop in new sticks and you're done. If you have 4GB RAM and a 64-bit version of Windows installed, you should be good for anything on the market. If you're not sure what you should buy, you can visit www.crucial.com and run its System Scanner tool. This will tell you both what memory to buy, and how much you need. 3. Change your video card If you didn't buy a dedicated gaming PC, or your PC is a couple of years old, the graphics card in it is likely to be mediocre to terrible. Any 3D game relies on having a powerful graphics card to crunch the numbers, but buying one isn't necessarily as easy as just plugging one in. Graphics cards can be incredibly big, and your case needs both the space and the cooling to handle that. They also need to be connected to your PC's power supply, and if that's not powerful enough, the card won't work even after you fit it. Be sure to check all the specifications before ordering. Given a choice between ATI and Nvidia cards, we currently recommend Nvidia. 4. Update your drivers It's easy to forget, but the best video card in the world will struggle without the most up-to-date drivers. If you have trouble with a game, updating the drivers should always be the first step – it'll expect you to have everything ready for it. This can be a pain, but a necessary one. 5. Boost your CPU If you don't have a decent video card, there's little that any CPU will do for you on its own. However, it still plays a key role in determining how fast your system performs. Dual-core is fine for the overwhelming majority of modern games, but quad-core is obviously better if you can afford it. You don't realistically need anything more than that at the moment, though. 6. Forget about overclocking It may sound like heresy, but overclocking your CPU is unlikely to make any real appreciable difference to most games – a difference, yes, but generally one that will be measured in a few extra frames. If you plan to try it anyway, make sure your cooling can stretch that far. Generally, though, overclocking has become something you do because you enjoy overclocking, and it can safely be avoided if you're not comfortable getting your hands that dirty. 7. Clean up On the other hand, if you don't mind a little dirt, this is a great time to check the state of your case. If it's full of dust and the airways are blocked, it won't be getting cooled properly, which can seriously affect the performance of your components. To clean it out, switch the power off and use a can of compressed air to clear away the dust. This is especially important if your PC is on the floor. 8. Consider solid state drives With all the pieces in place, it's time to look at your hard drive. This is the perfect time to look at a solid state drive for both Windows and your game files. They're smaller than regular drives, but the performance more than makes up for that. We recommend having two drives, the second one a nice, big, traditional terabyte model to hold things like videos and photos, leaving the main drive entirely for the applications it does so well. You'll want a large one though – modern games are incredibly big, and they're only going to get larger as the graphics improve. 9. Cut back If your games are still running slowly, it's time to start switching things off . Be aware that when you do this, you're going to notice the effect of it much more. A lack of something like anti-aliasing is incredibly obvious when you're intentionally staring at a jaggy object. When the bullets are flying, you're unlikely to notice as much. As a case in point, many console games don't bother with it at all. 10. Check your PC's v-sync settings Now for the mysterious v-sync. This is vertical-synchronisation, and when it's switched off , you can encounter problems if your graphics card is churning out data faster than the monitor can display it. This gives an effect called 'tearing', which can make it look as though the game is stuttering or lagging when it's actually performing above and beyond. Leave v-sync alone. 11. Turn off filtering Anisotropic filtering is similar. It looks good, but it's the kind of looking good that you don't really notice in the middle of a game. It does slow down rendering, though. Switch it off for an immediate performance boost.
12. Remove reflections Real-time reflections are one of the most intensive graphical effects around, but you won't lose much by switching them off. We're all so used to water being just a coloured plane that you're more likely to notice an effective reflection for being good than to chafe at its absence. 13. Tone down shadows Shadows are a fundamental part of many games' atmospheres, and it's a shame to lose them. Instead, you normally get to tone them down to something easier for the game to render – for instance, switching off soft edges, or replacing the carefully rendered shadow with something simpler, like a blended circle. 14. Turn down your effects Before you start switching things off, try turning them down. We don't actually recommend losing all anti-aliasing if you can avoid it, but you probably don't need it at 8x power. Try dropping down to just 2x and seeing if that makes any difference. 15. Tinker with your graphics card settings If the game itself doesn't give you any options that you can tweak to improve its performance, your graphics card might. The ATI Catalyst Control Center, for instance, offers an option called Overdrive, which lets you do basic graphics card overclocking on the fly, without you having to open up your computer's case. 16. Tweak the resolution This is the easiest thing to turn down if you need a performance boost, but also one of the most problematic. LCD screens are designed to work with a specific resolution, and setting it lower will make your game smeary. If you do crank it down, don't go too far. 17. Turn it down Other options vary from game to game, but the standard advice is easy – if it can be lowered, try lowering it. Games aim for a mid-range system by default. Turning down texture quality is a great way of speeding up games with lots of close-up action. 18. Shut down other apps Before launching your game, press [CTRL]+[ALT]+[DELETE] to bring up the Task Manager and shut down any memory-hungry applications. Web browsers, mail clients and office apps are a particular drain. Leave your antivirus and firewall applications, though! 19. Software solutions There's a diverse range of applications out there that claim to be able to speed up your PC, but most of them can safely be ignored. If you have the basics covered, your performance will be fine. If you don't, software tweaks won't make much difference. 20. Check for malware Malware could be getting in your way, without being as obvious as the viruses of old. You should be running antivirus software, but if nothing else, get something like Windows Security Essentials. 21. Online issues In online games, the best PC in the world will struggle if it doesn't have a good network connection. If you're wireless, make sure the signal strength is solid, or look into upgrading your router/receiver. If you still have Wireless G (or worse, B), it's time for Wireless N. 22. Wire it up Look into getting a wired internet connection. Depending on how your house's electricity is wired up, you may be able to use a pair of HomePlugs to create a wired network using the power lines, getting faster performance and removing wireless interference issues. 23. Check your PC's ping When online, the easiest way to check your performance is to look at your 'ping'. The lower it is, the better. Under 100 is essential for fast action games. If it's higher than that, you need to play on better/closer servers, or check what else you have running. 24. Get a gaming router Look for a dedicated gaming router, or one capable of prioritising certain types of traffic. This will give the lion's share of the connection to any games, where every packet counts, while letting more laid-back applications do their jobs as well. 25. Choose games carefully If you can't get games running smoothly, look for titles that are more friendly. Casual games have low system specs and can still look and play well. Check out PopCap's range or the indie Diablo clone Torchlight. 
| ||
| Exclusive: AMD Caymen Islands cards definitely delayed Posted: 10 Nov 2010 02:26 AM PST  Top industry-insiders tell TechRadar.com there will be no Caymen GPU launch in November. When we first got our hands on AMD's new Radeon HD 6870 and HD 6850 we were pretty nonplussed, but there was always the spectre of the radically re-designed Caymen GPU-powered cards coming straight on their heels. But according to a top source from within the graphics card industry, AMD looks to be cooling those heels. We have been told that the delayed AMD boards will be arriving "sometime" in December, not this month after all. Rumours have been floating around from sources in Taiwan, but this is the first we've heard from industry bods in the know in this country. We know that none of the board manufacturers have had their allocation of cards shipped yet. And with an end of November deadline, it looked tight as to whether they would turn up at all. Indeed, it looks like we wont be seeing them until Santa's revving up his reindeers next month. This is all looking very much like the AMD version of Nvidia's GTX 480 yield-based delays, as another industry bod said yesterday. And if it does match Nvidia's problems last year are we then looking at a 2011 release instead? With yesterday's release of the GeForce GTX 580, is AMD holding onto its top-end card to squeeze every last drop of performance out of it? Or is there something drastically wrong with the chip or manufacturing process? Only time will tell... 
|
| You are subscribed to email updates from techradar To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
| Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610 | |
No comments:
Post a Comment