Techradar

Review: Nero Video Premium HD
MSI reveals the R6870 Twin Frozr II
Branson launching new iPad magazine
Apple set to double size of Cupertino HQ
New Wikileaks warnings from US govt
Sony: holographic and full-screen 3D multiplayer gaming incoming
Review: New Flip Video UltraHD
Pulp Fiction and Clerks coming to YouTube?
Sony 3D Gran Turismo 5 tournament announced
Buying Guide: Home cinema projection screens: how to choose
Angry Birds 2 set to debut in 2011
Pure Twilight: dawn-simulating DAB radio launches
Sony Qriocity VOD portal now live in UK
Coke debuts 'first' location-based mobile game
Gary Marshall: Why can no one make an iPad killer?
Hands on: Dell Venue Pro review
SeeSaw to let you choose your own advert
Facebook given greenlight to trademark its 'Face'

Posted: 25 Nov 2010 01:30 AM PST

Nero is best known for its disc-burning tools, but now that most operating systems offer apps for making your own CDs and DVDs, it's branched out into other areas.

With Nero Video Premium HD, the company has set its sights on the home video editing market, with a focus on high-def enthusiasts. While there are several features that put Nero Video Premium HD in a strong position to match its competitors, it's the multicore processor and graphics card optimisation that grab your attention and make a noticeable difference.

Editing HD footage is resource intensive, so the support for CUDA and its use of parallel processing is welcome.

Importing files and adding effects is quick and trouble-free, and the software's interface is superb – you can find the tools you want easily, and view the results in a large preview screen while you edit your movie.

There's a wealth of effects to add to your movie, and they're much more impressive than those offered by most video editing packages. As you drag and drop them onto your video, they're added to the 'Properties' panel, where you can tweak them on the fly.

You can also extract the soundtrack from your footage, which makes fine-tuning the audio a lot easier than normal.

A less welcome feature is the Nero Ask toolbar. During the installation process you'll see a prompt suggesting that you install it, but it's a pretty useless addition that hijacks your browser, home page and default search provider. Free programs might get away with trying to install sponsored toolbars, but it leaves a nasty taste in the mouth when products you've paid for attempt the same trick.

As you'd expect from a Nero product, there's a wide array of export and disc-burning options, enabling you to display videos on almost any medium, from Blu-ray to YouTube.

It might indulge in some less attractive habits, such as trying to install unwanted and unnecessary programs, but Nero Video Premium HD is a decent tool for editing high-def video.

Related Links

MSI reveals the R6870 Twin Frozr II

Posted: 25 Nov 2010 01:29 AM PST

MSI has announced the R6870 Twin Frozr II – with the latest addition to its AMD-toting graphics card range coming soon.

The R6870 features the Twin Frozr II cooler found on MSI's Lightning and Hawk graphics cards.

"The Twin Frozr II cooler found on the R6870 Twin Frozr II consists of a large Nickel-plated copper base heat sink with five SuperPipe equipped heat pipes connection to a high density aluminium fin array for excellent heat dissipation," explains MSI's release.

Better than reference

The DirectX 11 card apparently runs at 19 degrees centigrade cooler and 12.bdB lower sound volume than the reference card.

"The R6870 Twin Frozr II gives you a better computing environment and more headroom to overclock your card with MSI's unique Afterburner version 2 software, adds MSI.

"With the enhanced cooler performance and usage of Japanese solid capacitors MSI's R6870 becomes the best choice for everyone looking for a cool graphics card, low noise environment and expanded overclocking potential."

Branson launching new iPad magazine

Posted: 25 Nov 2010 01:14 AM PST

Richard Branson is set to launch a new iPad magazine called 'Project' following recent news that Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation is planning a daily iPad newspaper.

Branson's latest plans for a digital magazine for iPad are set to be announced at an imminent press conference.

Project on iPad

Branson's plans for "Project" are for an e-magazine that encompasses entertainment, travel, business, design and international culture.

News Corporation is expected to announce its own plans for 'The Daily' iPad newspaper at a press conference scheduled for early December.

Branson said in invitations to the press that "Project" themes will include entertainment, travel, business, design, and international culture.

Following his successes with Virgin Atlantic, Branson's latest travel venture is commercial space travel company Virgin Galactic.

Branson recently said that Virgin Galactic is on track to offer customers access to commercial space travel within 18 months.

The entrepreneur's next plan is to build space hotels. Yes. Really!

Apple set to double size of Cupertino HQ

Posted: 25 Nov 2010 12:46 AM PST

Apple has purchased just under 100 acres of land next-door to its HQ in Cupertino, with the company set to double the size of its home base in the near future.

Apple has bought the Cupertino campus of competing computing firm Hewlett-Packard, with HP moving out of the site in order to consolidate its operations around its Palo Alto headquarters.

Spectacular growth

Apple recently reported a whopping $65 billion in sales and added 12,300 employees to its global work force of 46,600.

Tim Bajarin, president of consultants Creative Strategies said: "They've just had spectacular growth. They are one of the companies in the valley that are hiring, and the bottom line is they need the space."

Cupertino Mayor Kris Wang said of Apple's latest expansion plans: "We're very proud to have Apple's headquarters in our city. It's not just a company. It's the company."

Local estate agents said HP's asking price may have been in the region of $300 million.

"We now occupy 57 buildings in Cupertino and our campus is bursting at the seams," said Apple's Steve Dowling, confirming the latest expansion plans.

"These offices will give us more space for our employees as we continue to grow."

Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak moved Apple's HQ to Cupertino way back in 1977, after starting the company in Jobs' parents' garage in 1976.

New Wikileaks warnings from US govt

Posted: 25 Nov 2010 12:27 AM PST

The US government has issued fresh warnings about the perceived dangers of plans by whistleblowing website Wikileaks to release millions of new classified US military documents.

The US Congress has apparently been warned of further leaks from the whistleblowing site, rumoured to be due within days.

Lives at risk

Wikileaks' latest plans would put further lives at risk and be a threat to national security, according to the US state department.

The Pentagon warns that US military interests could be significantly damaged and that the unofficial release by Wikileaks of diplomatic documents could hard US international relations.

State department spokesman, PJ Crowley, said further confidential info leaks would be "harmful to our national security" and "put lives… and national interests at risk".

"They [Wikileaks] are going to create tension in relationships between our diplomats and our friends around the world.

"When this confidence is betrayed and ends up on the front pages of newspapers or lead stories on television or radio, it has an impact."

Pentagon spokesman, Col David Lapan, said the leaks may include information about military tactics or reveal identities of sources.

Wikileaks said via its Twitter feed: "The Pentagon is hyperventilating again over fears of being held to account."

Sony: holographic and full-screen 3D multiplayer gaming incoming

Posted: 24 Nov 2010 09:09 AM PST

A studio director for Sony has been speaking to Edge magazine about the future of 3D gaming and he believes that there's some interesting scope for the format – including the use of holograms.

In the interview, Mick Hocking reveals that Sony has been working on some future tech that hopes to offer split-screen 3D gaming without the split screen.

"We have some new technology that we've shown to developers that uses 3D techniques," Hocking explains.

"It allows two players to play full screen multi-player games but without each being able to see the other's view, and they have been massively keen on them."

Good signs

Hocking also explains that there are a number of gaming concepts that devs are already working on, saying: "3D on mobile devices, and other forms of 3D, are all possible and many companies are working on them right now.

"We also have techniques like holographics for the PS3 that I think will be very interesting for the future 3D games."

As for the current mood surrounding 3D in the industry, Hocking is pretty adamant that it is here to stay and says there are more than 50 3D titles due for release.

"Some of them are massive names," said Hocking. "That's a really, really good sign that the industry is behind our unique message that 3D is a key element in the future of home consoles."

Review: New Flip Video UltraHD

Posted: 24 Nov 2010 08:53 AM PST

The Flip Video camcorder is all about ease and portability.

The business model that its creators have taken with its development closely mirrors the method of refinement that Apple has long used to evolve its products.

Each year there's a new Flip camera out, and it's always slightly better than last year's model. It's a good way of consistently improving a product, while also sticking to the mantra: if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

This year's new Flip Ultra HD comes again packing 8GB of internal memory and has just a couple of features that distinguish it from last year's model.

flip ultrahd 3rd gen

Firstly, the frame rate has been upped to 50 frames per second. This makes your videos a lot smoother when it comes to filming moving objects, and also when panning.

The second new feature is the inclusion of image stabilisation.

Because these candybar-style camcorders are designed to be held like mobile phones, footage can often be quite shaky depending on how steady your hand is, how much wind there is and so on.

Digital image stabilisation smooths over shakes and wobbles during recording by using pixels outside of the frame as a buffer. So it can ignore those slight wobbles and instead insert the frames that it knows are supposed to come next.

flip ultrahd 3rd gen

It can lead to footage looking a bit unnatural and robotic, but it certainly produces better results than if it weren't included.

We found the image stabilisation to be quite effective with the Flip UltraHD, and combined with the 50fps frame rate, the quality of outdoor footage is impressive. The stabilisation is much less effective in low light conditions, though. And even in our brightly lit office, there wasn't enough light to sustain the effect.

flip ultrahd 3rd gen

Little niggles

It wasn't just indoor conditions where the performance of the UltraHD waned slightly, either.

The camera struggles with areas of contrast, so in shots with a bright sky and a darker foreground, the iris closes slightly and the darker area ends up too dark. It's the same the with all Flips, and there's not much you can do about it. That said, it's not a massive issue if you're only going to be shooting casual holiday footage.

flips comparison

Of course, it's still no match for a proper camcorder, but Flip cameras have always appealed to those people who want to record HD video without forking out £500 for a fully fledged model. It's about filling a hole in the market rather than competing on features.

youtube

That said, the new Flip UltraHD can hardly be labelled as a cheap product. At £159.99 it'll still take a fairly large bite out of your bank account. But on the upside, at least it's not as expensive as its slimmer, sexier sister, the new Flip MinoHD (review is incoming!) – which sports all the same features and costs £179.99.

Software

The Flip comes with built-in software for uploading straight to YouTube, Twitter or Facebook. Using the side-mounted flip-out USB connection you can plug it straight into a PC or Mac to either copy your files over or upload them directly from the device.

And, as ever, it's easy as pie to operate. It really is a point and shoot device, with a big red button on the front.

Connections

The Flip comes with a propriatary HDMI connection on the base for if you want to plug it directly into a TV. The catch here is that you must buy the cable from Cisco separately. But of a shame that, as other products from the likes of Creative bundle an HDMI cable in the box.

Verdict

The Flip UltraHD is a decent pocket-friendly camcorder, then. And with the higher frame rate and image stabilisation added since last year, it's definitely the best Flip yet.

We still struggle to see the value there, though, especially when there are other handheld HD cameras available for a lot less.

Related Links

Pulp Fiction and Clerks coming to YouTube?

Posted: 24 Nov 2010 08:41 AM PST

Miramax, distributor of over 700 movies, is looking to do a deal with Google that would see select movies streamed for free on YouTube.

Miramax is in the midst of being taken over by Filmyard, after Disney decided to sell the company for $664 million.

And it seems that Filmyard is already in talks with Google over Miramax's digital catalogue.

The deal would see Miramax movies come to YouTube, with revenue from these films shared between Google and Filmyard.

Google gold

Miramax's back catalogue is impressive. When the company was owned by movie moguls the Weinsteins – Miramax is a portmanteau of the brother's parents' names – it was synonymous with '90s indie movies, including Pulp Fiction and Clerks.

Since then its popularity has waned slightly.

Although there may be some issues with digital rights, it does seem that a strategy is being mapped out by Google and Miramax to offer what would definitely be a Big Kahuna of a deal for the streaming site.

Sony 3D Gran Turismo 5 tournament announced

Posted: 24 Nov 2010 07:39 AM PST

Sony has announced it has linked up with HMV for a massive gaming tournament to celebrate the release of Gran Turismo 5.

The tournament will take place in HMV stores up and down the country and will pit gamers against each other to see who is the best Gran Turismo player in the country.

The tournament begins 27 November and lasts for 10 days. The final will take place 15 December at HMV's flagship store in Oxford Street and will be compared [sic] by Formula One personality Jake Humphreys.

What he will be comparing it to, we just don't know.

GT5's alive

Editor of Official PlayStation magazine, Ben Wilson, said about GT5: "3D is massive news in the world of gaming – it's helping an active pastime to become even more immersive.

"GT5 is leading the way in that regard: you no longer just control the car, now you're actually in it. I'm sure everyone playing in the Bravia 3D tournament will delight in the technology - but only one can win it, and we're looking forward to racing against the UK's 3D GT5 champion!"

For a limited time (until 5 December) Sony will be giving Gran Turismo 5 away with its Bravia TVs (when sold at Sony Centres).

Although you will obviously need a PS3 to run the game – failing that, you will just have to use your imagination and spin the disc on your finger.

Buying Guide: Home cinema projection screens: how to choose

Posted: 24 Nov 2010 06:10 AM PST

At Home Cinema Choice magazine, we talk a lot about projectors, and not much about projector screens.

But this doesn't mean we don't find screens as interesting, or consider them less important to the home cinema experience.

Far from it. One reason we don't review more screens is a practical one; installing and handling such large and cumbersome items can be a nightmare. But the other reason is that the screen market is so diverse, and associated so closely with the specific needs and room conditions of each user, that reviewing individual screens would seem too specific to be worthwhile.

The fact is, though, that if you get the screen wrong, then you will be selling your projector short, no matter how expensive it might have been.

Which type should I choose?

Start off by looking at the different types of mounting options available. There are two main approaches: fixed frame, where the screen is placed in a rigid frame and attached permanently to the wall, or 'roll-away', where it can be rolled up when not in use.

Within the latter category there are also various sub-options we'll consider in a moment. For people lucky enough to have dedicated home cinema rooms, the fixed frame approach will often be the simplest, since the screen doesn't need to be hidden when not in use. It's widely considered, too, that permanent screens stay more tautly stretched and thus produce more accurate pictures.

Roll-away screens are obviously a great solution for people trying to accommodate a home cinema setup in a room that also gets used for other activities, such as a living room. The most basic of these screens sit on a roller attached to, or hidden in, the ceiling and the user has to manually pull the screen down when needed.

pull down screen

Also very popular is the motorised roll-down variety, where motors drive the screen down into position at the touch of a remote control button. Some projectors carry 12V trigger outputs, in fact, so that they can activate motorised screens automatically when the projector is switched on.

If even having a slim roll-out screen housed on your ceiling feels too intrusive, a further, portable option is the pull-up projection panel. these come fixed inside carry cases that you stand on the floor, so that the screen pulls out of the top and is held upright by a collapsible support frame.

We've found that the more affordable floor-mounted types may not always stand completely upright or even flat. But the fact that you can put them in a cupboard when you're not using them is a practical benefit that will justify the performance compromises for some. rigidity and perfect flatness, so crucial to a good picture, are often one of the main reasons some projector screens cost vastly more than others, especially in the roll-away department.

Projection screen aspect ratios

Another key decision is which shape and size of screen you should go for. In terms of shape, there are three aspect ratio options: 4:3, 16:9, and 21:9. For home cinema enthusiasts, the old 'square' 4:3 screen approach is almost certainly a nonstarter these days. Which leaves us with 16:9 or 21:9.

If you intend to watch a lot of HD, you will probably be best off with a 16:9 screen that matches the ratio of HDTV material. If you're a die-hard movie fan, though, you might consider a 21:9/2.35:1 CinemaScope screen. After all, most big films now are shot in 2.35:1, and so the majority of Blu-rays are produced with that aspect ratio.

However, the situation isn't totally cut and dried. Blu-rays don't currently hold 'true' 21:9 masters (instead adding black bars within the picture data), and projectors don't have true 21:9 pixel ratios. So if you want a full 21:9 experience, you need a projector with a CinemaScope lens attachment – something which can add considerable cost to your projector setup.

If you really want the ultimate in Cinemascope clarity you could consider a curved screen like Stewart's CineCurve (below). These give a more immersive effect, focus light at your viewing position and compensate for the lens distortion you get with anamorphic lenses.

curved screen

It's curtains for you

The existence of multiple aspect ratios explains another popular option: masking, where absorbent material can cover parts of the screen to change the shape of the visible section.

On a basic level, this can be done manually using curtains, although it is quite a faff. You can also install a motorised curtaining system external to the screen. But by far the most elegant solutions are high-end fixed screens that have motorised masking, where black borders of absorbent material can be electronically moved out from all four edges of the screen.

Such screens usually ship with preset aspect ratios and are selectable using single remote control buttons, but you can usually manually tweak the border locations yourself too.

To be really effective, the movable borders on these sorts of projection panels need to absorb light extremely well. And such screens are generally hugely expensive because of both the motors and tracking mechanisms involved. But they're generally an excellent proposition when built well enough, especially if you regularly watch 21:9 material, but don't want a CinemaScope lens or 21:9 screen.

Choosing the correct size is more complicated than you might think. Aside from the size of your wall you need to consider at what distance from the screen your audience will sit, which is down to personal preference.

When people go to the movies some like to be relatively near the front, others prefer the back, while some will only sit the middle. And so it is at home, where people like to have different screen sizes relative to their preferred viewing position.

Screen size also depends to some extent on the quality of your projector and screen. If neither is particularly good, sitting too close will only make you more aware of the shortcomings.

Finally, it's a simple fact that how large a screen your projector can drive is dependent on the amount of brightness its lamp can produce. So while 'light cannons' such as Sim2's spectacular C3X Lumis can drive screens many hundreds of inches across, you might find relatively low brightness projectors struggling to keep images looking punchy over 80-100in.

We mentioned screen material earlier and it's this aspect of screen selection that's the most bewildering yet, potentially, crucial.

The first decision you need to make is quite simple: do you want to mount any speakers behind the screen? If so, you'll need an acoustically transparent, perforated fabric that enables sound to pass through without becoming muffled or blocked. Such fabric can cause problems with reduced brightness and back wall light reflections, as light passes through the acoustic holes.

No pain, no gain

After this basic decision, though, life gets more complicated. For a start, you have to get grips with the concept of gain. Some screens are high gain, while others are low, with all sorts of ratings in between, and each gain value has its place.

Many white home cinema screens tend to be low gain, with values written as 1.0-1.3. these gain figures, rather archaically, describe the ratio of light a screen reflects in relation to the amount of light that gets reflected by an untreated magnesium oxide board. so a 1.3 gain screen will reflect around 30 per cent more light than our lovely magnesium oxide white board.

The growing interest in black-level boosting screens that use a grey material rather than white is resulting in gain figures below 1.0 appearing, too. The question of whether you should get a high or low-gain screen, again boils down to matters of taste and, more importantly, room setup.

For instance, high-gain screens have reduced viewing angles versus low-gain ones, which could be an issue if viewers will have to sit to the side of the screen. High-gain screens can suffer from hot spots too, where the centre of the image looks brighter than the rest. And finally, high-gain projection panels can damage colour balance, since they don't reflect red, green and blue equally from all viewing angles.

But before you discount them, if there's often a degree of ambient light in your movie room, the high-gain variety could be essential. In fact, a few have been developed now with extreme gain properties, specifically to try and emulate (for a fraction of the cost) the performance of, say, a massive (80in plus) plasma screen in a normal living room environment.

A particularly outstanding example of this is the screen Innovations Black Diamond II we tested in issue 183.

Dedicated, blacked out home cinema rooms might be better with more standard-gain screens, though, and possibly even a grey sub-1.0 gain screen. Grey screens were extremely worthwhile a few years ago before projectors started to produce impressive contrasts, but they arguably still have a place even if you've got a good high-contrast projector.

screen mask

If your viewing room is either decorated in light coloured finishes or else houses numerous light furnishings, the way grey screens stop light bouncing around a room could prove very useful.

One final consideration is the issue of the quality, finish and weave of the screen you buy. We've heard various cynics suggest that expensive screen materials don't really make a difference. But this is just plain wrong. We've seen first-hand how some screens really can produce sharper, more detailed images with HD than others.

Also, some screens can cause a slight moiré effect over areas of fine detail while others don't. Some screens, as previously discussed, are brighter and more reflective than others, and some are better at reproducing a convincing black colour. Some diffuse light right around your room for wide viewing angles, while others focus it right back at you. Some reproduce colours completely neutrally (and thus accurately), others can introduce an underlying tinge of their own or favour certain tones over others, leading to an unbalanced colour palette.

We're even starting to see screens appearing now that claim to be better for 3D than others. This might seem spurious at first glance, but actually stereoscopic pictures need utter clarity for high levels of detail and really accurate colour toning to become convincing, so we can understand some screens working better with the technology than others.

One of the first screens designed and tested with 3D in mind is Image screen's Cadre 3D.

Finally, the basic quality of the fabric in terms of wear and tear, hanging weight and resilience to rolling, with roll-away projectors, can have a massive impact on long-term viewing. You would be well advised to get help from custom installation experts before finally settling on a screen.

And try to partner your projector with a screen of as much quality as you can afford. After all, unlike a TV, a high quality screen should last you a lifetime.

Angry Birds 2 set to debut in 2011

Posted: 24 Nov 2010 06:07 AM PST

Rovio, the creator of the ridiculously popular Angry Birds, doesn't look like it's resting on its laurels, because a new version is on the way.

Peter Vesterbacka, the chief executive of Rovio, told BBC Newsbeat that another version was in the works for the smartphone platforms, but that it wouldn't be a sequel:

"Let's say that you will see a lot more of the pigs. [They] will be a lot more active than just being slingshotted at by birds."

The pigs bite back

The new game won't be a direct sequel though, meaning it will be a whole new kind of game – something that may please users who have grown slightly weary of throwing birds at pigs in an endless cycle closing in on the very definition of insanity.

(You might be able to tell TechRadar has been stuck on a few levels in our quest for three stars across the board).

Vesterbacka also said that console versions of the game are on course for release in 2011 as well, with the Wii, PS3 and Xbox 360 all up for a dose of foul-tempered fowls.

Pure Twilight: dawn-simulating DAB radio launches

Posted: 24 Nov 2010 05:05 AM PST

Radio maker Pure has announced that it has come up with a world's first with its Pure Twilight device – a radio that comes equipped with a dawn simulator lamp.

Now, we know what you're thinking: why would you want to simulate dawn?

But the reason is for a little bit of light therapy. Simulating dawn is meant to enhance your night's sleep and the radio allows users to "wake up naturally from light on a timer that increases gradually to mimic the rising sun".

We must admit that it sounds better than having your partner turn on the lights and scream at you because your iPhone made you oversleep.

Light fantastic

Pure Twilight isn't just for adults, either – it has a number of features fit for kids. These include built-in lullabies ('Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star' and 'Rock-a-bye Baby' are name-checked) and thanks to the LED lights inside there's also some mood lighting.

Ever wanted to pretend you are in wheat field? Of course you have and now you can thanks to the colours gold and green.

Want to pretend you are drowning in an ocean of despair – well, the colour blue will help you with this.

Apart from fancy lighting, Pure Twilight also comes with a digital and FM radio, auxiliary input and an LCD screen.

The Pure Twilight costs £129.99 and is available now.

Sony Qriocity VOD portal now live in UK

Posted: 24 Nov 2010 04:45 AM PST

Sony has announced that its Qriocity VOD service is now available in the UK.

The portal not only has a name that would get you 66 in Scrabble if you land on a triple word score, it also offers hundreds of Hollywood blockbusters from all the big movie distributors.

Fox, Lionsgate, MGM, Paramount, Sony Pictures, Starz, Disney, Universal and Warner have all signed on the dotted line and will offer movies via connected Sony Bravia TVs or Blu-rays for the reasonable price of £2.49 - £3.49 if you want a new title.

The good news is that there will also be HD content available. This will set you back £3.49 and £4.49 respectively.

Qriocity was introduced by Sony back in September and it will eventually become an umbrella for most of Sony's on-demand content – from movies, to ebooks, to music.

LG netcast

Not to be outdone, Samsung and LG also announced new VoD content for their connected devices this week.

LG is bringing the BBC iPlayer to its connected TV service NetCast and has updated its Facebook and Twitter apps.

It is also offering movie service Acetrax, Google Maps and a number of online radio applications.

Samsung has announced that Acetrax has also arrived on its connected setups. The movie service was announced for its and Panasonic's TVs back in August but now the service has gone live in the UK.

It seems that the demand for on-demand is starting to pick up pace.

Coke debuts 'first' location-based mobile game

Posted: 24 Nov 2010 03:43 AM PST

Coke is teaming up with Disney to help you 'become' a TRON LightCycle via the power of your mobile phone.

The fizzy vegetable-based pop provider's new app, LiveCycle, tracks you by GPS and creates a light trail on a virtual TRON map based on where you move.

The idea is to 'trap' other people and force them to crash into your wall, garnering points as you go.

It has a speed limit involved, where the light cycle on your phone will 'discharge' if you're going to fast, meaning you can't eat up acres of game space by jumping in a car or using an actual motorcycle.

Quicker than a ray of light

We're not sure on the exact abilities of the game, seeing as you could theoretically stop to avoid a crash if you're just walking around - something that would probably ruin the light cycle scene in TRON.

You'll also automatically create a virtual light path if you shut down the application and then open it up again in a new location linked between the two places, which could also mean you crash as well. It sounds like it could be a little confusing.

You can check it out now on the iPhone, and an Android version is coming soon too, with Coke promising to "continue to push out new versions of the game both before and after the release of Disney's TRON: Legacy", which will include new single player and multi-player modes.

Check out a video of the game in action... but we're not playing unless someone gives us genuine TRON suits to run around London in.

Gary Marshall: Why can no one make an iPad killer?

Posted: 24 Nov 2010 03:31 AM PST

If you've ever seen a tribute band you'll know that no matter how accurate the impression, there's something missing.

You can buy the same guitars as your idols, wear the same skinny jeans and get your hair cut just so, but that doesn't make you Led Zeppelin, or U2, or even Dumpy's Rusty Nuts.

It's a bit like that with so-called iPad killers.

The Galaxy Tab looked like a contender, but it turned out to be clunky, laggy and unsure whether it wanted to be a phone, a tablet or both.

Next's cheapo tablet turned out to be – surprise! – a pile of crap.

PC World dropped the Toshiba Folio because there were so many returns customers appeared to be renting, not buying.

JooJoo? Boo-hoo, more like.

And no matter how brilliant the Iconia turns out to be, you'll be able to buy three iPads (and by the time it comes out, that could mean three iPad 2s) for the same money.

Why is it so hard to make a credible iPad alternative?

You're doing it wrong

The short answer is that the manufacturers appear to be looking at the wrong things. They're like musicians who think buying a Gibson Les Paul will turn them into Jimmy Page, or that being a big gobby pain in the arse makes them Bono.

What makes the iPad special isn't the hardware. It's the software.

We've been through this already with the iPhone. Early attempts to copy it were disastrous, because the approach wasn't "let's sit down with a blank sheet of paper and work out what a touch-based operating system should do". It was "let's make our phone look like an iPhone".

That's exactly what's happening with tablets. Apple has spent years thinking about what tablets should do, and it's built an operating system from scratch to make the tablet experience as pleasant as possible. That's a lot of work – so why not just cobble something together instead?

The Next tablet is an extreme example of the problem. Do you think anyone at Next really believes that their 10" tablet is the "great alternative to your home computer" the blurb says it is? It's not even a great alternative to a bit of paper with 'TEH INTARNET' written on it.

Not up to scratch

But even the big-name kit isn't up to scratch. Google has said that Android isn't ready for tablets yet, but firms are chucking Android tablets out the door anyway.

Even Windows 7's biggest fans have to admit that stuffing a desktop operating system into an iPad-style form factor is just silly, but Windows 7 tablets are incoming. Toshiba's Folio disaster suggests that at least some tablets are being rushed to market with unseemly haste.

That's great news for Apple. If iPad killers are nothing of the sort, if we're being asked to believe that writing 'Seabiscuit' on the side of a donkey makes it a racehorse, then Windows and Android tablets' reputation will suffer.

It's better to keep your powder dry and build something awesome than ship something sub-standard. If rivals can learn anything from Apple, that's it.

Put it this way. Who would you rather see live – Led Zeppelin, or Lets Zeppelin?

Hands on: Dell Venue Pro review

Posted: 24 Nov 2010 03:30 AM PST

Dell would hardly have been top of everybody's wish list when potential Windows Phone 7 handset manufacturers were first touted, but the oddly-named Venue Pro will nevertheless get a UK release date before Christmas.

The handset is already being offered for pre order through Expansys for £439.99 and expect it to be available from Dell as well as a handset partner. The handset seen here (snatched directly from the claws of a Dell representative) has T-Mobile branding.