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Techradar |
- Will a Nintendo 3DS phone allow cheap video-calls?
- Review: Triax T2-HD 115
- In Depth: Top 20 fonts for the web
- Review: Technisat SkyStar USB HD
| Will a Nintendo 3DS phone allow cheap video-calls? Posted: 06 Dec 2010 12:19 AM PST Nintendo is always highly secretive about forthcoming new hardware and gaming tech. The Mario factory ranks alongside Apple in terms of the precautions taken to ensure its latest tech developments are kept strictly behind closed doors.
Many games journalists routinely moan about what may, at times, seem to be an extremely clandestine way of organising and promoting a consumer technology business, yet the strategy clearly paid off well with the last two major console launches from Kyoto. Both the Nintendo DS's touchscreen and the Wii's motion control being prime examples of 'distruptive' technology, each successfully shaking up the gaming market. What 'else' will the 3DS do? Hence the secrecy (and strict confidentiality of the 'non disclosure agreements' signed by selected developers and editors) surrounding the new glasses-free 3DS console due to arrive in UK stores at some point next 'spring' – around late March/Easter time, we currently hope. An official announcement regarding the exact details of the launch should arrive soon after Christmas.
Yet while the Japanese gaming giant has already officially announced 73 games for the forthcoming auto-stereoscopic handheld, there is little concrete information in the public domain about what else we might be able to do with this 3D-camera-toting affordable piece of consumer technology. Will it work as an affordable 3D camera, for example? Or, more excitingly for many, might it even work as a rudimentary video-calling device? Could Nintendo market the new 3DS as, effectively, a cheap 'Skype box' for those that cannot afford to get tied-in to the expensive Apple Facetime gadget otherwise known as the iPhone 4? Nintendo rattled by Apple One thing is for sure. Nintendo is certainly rattled by Apple's rapid and successful move into the handheld gaming market with the iPhone. The hardcore may have scoffed for the last year or two at the standard of gaming on the iPhone 3G and 3GS (and previous iterations of Apple's smartphone), yet any gamer worth his or her salt that has upgraded to an iPhone 4 cannot deny that Apple is clearly now taking gaming seriously. (Just check out id Software's sublime Rage HD if you still need convincing).
So despite its continued dominance in the handheld gaming market, Nintendo's defiant silence about the spec of its new handheld and about which component manufacturers it is working with on the 3DS leads many gamers and industry analysts and observers to speculate about other new non-gaming features that might wow that huge casual gaming market that has previously already bought into Wii and/or DS. Online news obsessives and rumour-mongerers in the games media have already published what purports to be the glasses-free 3D handheld's tech specs earlier this autumn. Yet while those details may have come from a pretty reliable source (IGN) there is still no official word from Nintendo, with reps consistently (almost reliably) "refusing to comment on rumour or speculation." Still, for what it's worth right now, IGN alleges that the Nintendo 3DS has not one, but two 266MHz ARM11 CPUs, with a 133MHz GPU, 4MBs of dedicated VRAM, 64MBs of RAM, and 1.5GBs of flash storage. This was perhaps most interesting to tech industry watchers because most consumers will know the ARM 11 range of mobile processors due to their use in Apple's iPhones and the latest Android smartphones. (An ARM11 processor also powers the the Zune HD). The unsung hero of the 3DS The 3DS' GPU is reportedly said to be DMP's PICA200, with a maximum processing speed of around 200MHz, with the handheld also said to feature 1.5GB of flash memory, which can also be expanded using the 3DS' SD card slot. Yet it is the dual-camera function that has most tech and gaming industry observers really excited. "The 3D, dual-camera function of 3DS is one of its real unsung heroes. It's a technology that already exists, but by placing it into a device whose price and marketing will scream 'accessible', Nintendo will no doubt bring this to an audience who would otherwise not have stumbled across it," says Tim Ingham, editor of CVG Ingham continues: "The 3DS takes two images and allows you to 'merge' them into one 3D image via its sliding button. Would that be technically capable for video? I can't see why the principle couldn't carry over into moving imagery. "However, it would represent the first time Nintendo had ever put video capability into one of its handheld devices – so would represent a 'double jump' forward for the firm." One interesting bit of news to consider is the fact that the new Pokemen game, Pokemon Black and White – for many, Nintendo's definitive handheld franchise – will contain video chat. Clearly this will be closely controlled and monitored, as Nintendo has always been keen to maintain its sheen of family-friendly fun and reliability. And, so far, this new video function in the latest Pokemon title is limited to Japan and (weirdly) only works on local area networks (where surely you can see your companions and opponents?!). But it still begs the question, if video chat can be done in the new Pokemon game, why can it not be done as a standalone feature for 3DS users to enjoy outside of playing a first party Nintendo game? And, by extension, if the technical capability is there to allow 3D video chat to happen, yet Nintendo restricts it, might we see a new homebrew/hacking scene making the best out of Nintendo's new 3D camera device? These questions, and many many others regarding the games and functions and capabilities of the new 3DS, will no doubt be answered over the coming months as we approach the UK launch next spring. 
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| Posted: 05 Dec 2010 02:00 AM PST  With similar dimensions to the average satellite zapper, the Triax T2-HD 115 looks not unlike the Triax TR 105's 'big brother'. Blue indicators accompany channel change and power buttons but if you're hoping for a proper LED display you're out of luck. The rear panel sports an HDMI 1.4 output (which includes an Ethernet channel) while two Scarts make archiving SD shows to a VCR/DVD recorder easier. Separate audio comes via an optical S/PDIF connector that currently outputs stereo only. There's also an aerial loopthrough, an unused Ethernet connector and a USB port for applying software updates. The receiver proves responsive to commands from a small remote whose familiar button arrangement works in its favour. The seemingly sensitive tuner made short work of finding channels including HD. Triax's distinctive red, white and black colour scheme has been incorporated into the interface, which can be hard on the eyes, though we found bumping up the menu transparency helped. The current channel is displayed on the right of the menu screen including the technical reception menu, which is fair stuffed with data (useful for installers, perhaps). Radio and TV channels are accessed from a main channel list or you can create a single favourites. Seven-day DVB data is displayed in a scrollable full-screen timeline programme grid of TV and radio channels. You can skip in two or 24-hour increments and synopses appear at the top. The programme info banner restricts you to browsing now-and-next data including synopses for the current channel and others without needing to switch over. HD pictures are sharp yet natural-looking and both HD and SD broadcasts can be upscaled to 1080p via HDMI with a slight detail boost. The Scart produces decent enough RGB results too, though composite, as expected, is softer. Audio from both TV and radio channels sounds clear, especially via the S/PDIF audio output. The HD 115 covers most bases as a zapper box and delivers decent picture and audio. But it lacks valuable features such as media playback and a CI slot as found on similarly priced products. Related Links
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| In Depth: Top 20 fonts for the web Posted: 05 Dec 2010 02:00 AM PST  To say that right now is an exciting time for web typography is to make something of an understatement. Recent technological leaps and bounds have brought us one step closer to typographical nirvana on the web, and it's a step that's been an awfully long time coming. The freedom to use typefaces beyond the 'web safe' fonts installed on most systems has come about largely thanks to three major and near-simultaneous technological factors: firstly, the widespread support for @font-face in browsers; secondly, the emergence of font delivery services such as Typekit and Fontdeck; and thirdly, the development of a new font format – the humble WOFF file – to address many of the foundries' privacy concerns. But with great power comes great responsibility. Just because we can choose from a vast library of typefaces doesn't mean we have to; there's something to be said for painting with a limited palette. Not only that, but there are a lot of sub-standard fonts out there, and with many of them being free, their usage is often widespread but undeserved. In fact, this is part of a much larger problem: the misconception – particularly within the web design community – that fonts aren't worth paying for. This is damaging for both the worldwide network of talented type designers and the design community as a whole. A typeface, like any form of design, is created by craftsmen over a substantial period of time, using the talent and experience they've been honing for many years. The benefits of a professionally designed font — various weights and styles to form a complete family, carefully considered kerning pairs, multi-language support with international characters, expressive alternate glyphs to add character and variety to type-setting — are very rarely found in a font available for free. It's for this reason that we've focused almost entirely on 20 fonts that require some sort of purchase, although many of the Typekit-served fonts are available within their free package.
We've also focused primarily on typefaces that work well for the relatively small body type we use regularly on the web, rather than display faces more suited to very large headings. So turn over and discover 20 typefaces you'll want to use again and again… 20. Avenir Avenir's design is based upon the ubiquitous Futura (which was designed as 'Die Schrift für die Neue Zeit' – 'the typeface for the New Time'), but Avenir is described by designer Adrian Frutiger as having a more human touch. Despite its popularity as a corporate typeface, it's a well-rounded geometric sans with a subtle personality that adds a friendly smile to serious content. Several years later, Akira Kobayashi completed Avenir Next, which refined the original and added italics and small caps. 19. FF Kava When Kaffeesatz was released for free around the time browser support for @font-face became more prevalent, it found popularity among many web designers and brought designer Yanone to the attention of FontShop FSI, who commissioned him to produce a professional version of the typeface. Rather than simply adding extra glyphs to the font, it was completely redrawn from the ground up, keeping much of its character but including features such as a black weight, small caps and international language support. The result is FF Kava. 18. Times New Roman As strange as it may seem to list a system font associated with the world of Word documents and suits who can't be bothered to change the defaults, Times New Roman is a surprisingly robust typeface when given a little TLC. The 2008 Seed Conference website made particularly good use of Times by giving it the feel of a display face. Simon Collison, a designer known for his appreciation of Times's flexibility and use of it on his personal site, says that "it actually feels quite good to be taking a tired old typeface and trying to squeeze every possible ounce from it". 17. Bree Full of personality and unashamedly casual, Bree might seem suited only to headings rather than body type, especially as it was born from TypeTogether's logo. However, a closer look reveals that, while headings are certainly its forté, Bree performs surprisingly well at smaller sizes. It's also just one of the many beautiful typefaces to be born of the collective brains of José Scaglione and Veronika Burian, two type designers who met while completing the MA in Typeface Design at the University of Reading, a course widely considered to be one of the best in the world for aspiring type designers. 16. FF Trixie Trixie was one of the first true typewriter fonts and is an excellent choice if you're going for distressed headings. Simulating the aesthetics of ink being misprinted by a typewriter is no mean feat when the text also needs to remain totally legible, yet Trixie manages to succeed on both counts. 15. Centro Sans Pro Many super-families or 'type systems' enable designers to mix serifs and sans-serifs to achieve simultaneous consistency and contrast, and Centro is one such super-family. It has been described as an 'invisible' typeface, where its single greatest attribute is its impressive legibility. The sans is strong and sturdy, with a large x-height and, quite simply, it looks absolutely great in use on screen. 14. Fedra Sans At the heart of Typotheque's font library, Fedra is a super-family that was designed to work just as well on screen as in print, and actually started life as a corporate typeface for German insurance company Bayerische Rück. The design faced disaster when the client first acquired and then cancelled the project, then faltered again when Typotheque's office equipment was stolen. But, with designer Peter Bil'ak being forced to go back and re-examine the typeface, the final design was all the better for the set-backs, and the eventual result was a set of extremely versatile fonts. 13. Museo Slab The original version of Museo has become extremely popular among web designers and is one of the few semi-free fonts (several of its weights are free) to make it onto this list. Its newer slab variant is a little less playful than standard Museo, and so offers a slightly more authoritative tone, along with a welcome element of variety, given how widely spread the original version has become. 12. Clarendon URW This classic British slab serif is a must-have on any 'top typefaces' list. Redrawn by Hermann Eidenbenz to include several weights and widths, Clarendon is offered as a web font by Fontdeck. Also of note is Sentinel by Jonathan Hoefler and Tobias Frere-Jones. Their Clarendon-based typeface added true italics, although sadly there's currently no web font version, so any web designer desperate to use this typeface must resort to font replacement methods such as sIFR, Cufon, or – dare we say it – image replacement. Certainly not ideal, and perhaps not truly a font for the web (yet), but one too beautiful, too robust, and just too damn popular to omit entirely. 11. Proxima Nova Described as a design that straddles the gap between typefaces like Futura and Akzidenz-Grotesk, Proxima Nova is remarkably versatile, and the family includes several weights and widths, bringing the total font count to an impressive 42. Extremely readable thanks to its geometric clarity and humanist feel, it's a hybrid that works in a variety of scenarios. 10. FF Unit Slab The slab style of the Unit super-family – which is often referred to as the grown-up sister of Meta – is a personal favourite of many, including me, and I chose it as the official typeface of my print magazine 8 Faces. It comes across as powerful and almost brutish at its heaviest 'Ultra' weight, yet can be seen as deceptively subtle at its thinnest 'Thin' weight – the typeface is a great all-rounder that's just overbrimming with personality. A variation of Unit Slab – Espi – is used as Edenspiekermann's corporate typeface. 09. Calluna Born as the result of an experiment designer Jos Buivenga was performing with an early version of Museo Slab, Calluna is actually his first serious text face. Much like Meta Serif, it manages to exude no small amount of personality even when used at smaller, body type sizes. Like many of Jos's latterday fonts, there are plenty of OpenType features included, and the regular weight is available completely free. 08. Ronnia Condensed Condensed faces are often used for attention grabbing headlines, and often we reach for hard, industrial faces such as Alternate Gothic and its ilk. Sometimes something a little softer is required, though, and that's where Ronnia's condensed flavour comes in. Its gentle, playful form plays well with Bree, although it comes across as a little more authoritative: a friendly face with some gravitas. 07. Droid Sans A truly modern type super-family, Droid was designed by Ascender's type director Steve Matteson for use on mobile devices; its name is derived from the Android platform. The sans is a highly legible, friendly typeface with upright stress, open forms and a neutral appearance. To make the most of type appearing on small screens, the letterforms are very slightly condensed. The entire family features multilanguage support so is well-suited to far-reaching websites and applications. 06. FF Tisa Although initially designed for use in magazines, Tisa has become popular on the web, perhaps because – like the majority of typefaces here – its large x-height makes it highly legible as on-screen body type. Taking slab serifs as an influence and then offering a softer, low-contrast end product, the typeface was originally designed by Miklavcic to fulfil the requirements for the aforementioned MA in Typeface Design at Reading. 05. FF DIN DIN embodies the spirit of German efficiency (DIN stands for 'Deutsche Industrie-Norm' or 'German Industrial Standard') and has its roots in signage – everything from road signs on the Autobahn to house numbers. It was celebrated for its no-nonsense geometric style and adorned German design for years in the form of DIN 1451: DIN-Mittelschrift and DIN-Engschrift, its condensed companion. It was updated and expanded into a family of five weights by Albert-Jan Pool in 1995 and has recently been given more stylistic variants, including DIN Rounded. 04. Helvetica It seems almost impossible to discuss the subject of typography without mentioning Helvetica. Thanks to its generous usage by what seems like every designer in existence, the typeface has achieved legendary status; its name and style known to the general public as well as type aficionados, partly due to the 2007 film by Gary Hustwit. Originally named Die Neue Haas Grotesk and created to compete with Akzidenz-Grotesk, it represents the Swiss style of graphic design from the 1950s, but its widespread appearance in virtually every design context has resulted in the typeface becoming somewhat homogenised, and it has been re-imagined in various (inferior) forms such as Arial. Nevertheless, it remains a modern classic. 03. Alternate Gothic No. 1 A fantastic typeface for headlines, Alternate Gothic and its variants remain a hugely popular choice for those in need of a hard-hitting, almost brazen typeface. Legible at relatively small sizes despite being condensed, it's a bold and formidable face; a slice of American industrialism performing magnificently in the digital age. An open source re-drawing, League Gothic, was released by The League of Moveable Type and has since become widely popular on the web, thanks in no small part to it being freely available to download from www.theleagueofmoveabletype.com. 02. FF Meta Serif Erik Spiekermann describes his Meta family as, "the nearest thing I'll ever have to a classic," and he's being modest, because Meta really is a classic; especially its serif. It's an authoritative typeface that works well in a variety of scenarios and offers a logical upgrade to designers who have previously been using Times New Roman. It works well with the other flavours of Meta and also with the Unit super-family. Support for international characters and a wide variety of glyphs for numerals, fractions and so on mark it out as a high-level professional font. More details can be found at metaserif.com. 01. Georgia What? A system font at pole position? As hard as it may be to believe, Georgia comes up again and again as the people's favourite when talking about type that works well on the web. Perhaps it's because it was designed for screen rather than print; perhaps it's because it manages to offer timeless beauty in its simple, understated design; perhaps it's because it has Old Style Figures as default! Extremely legible at small sizes and somewhat majestic in its italic form, Georgia proves its worth despite the new wealth of alternatives, and reminds us that sometimes the best tools are sitting right in front of us. 
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| Review: Technisat SkyStar USB HD Posted: 05 Dec 2010 01:30 AM PST  Although some PC TV tuners are designed to be fitted internally, the Windows-compatible SkyStar USB HD featured here is a USB 2.0 device. Not only does this ease installation, but also it ensures that the advantages of such an idea are available to notebook users. The SkyStar USB HD is designed for use with FTA channels, and has no conditional access hardware support. However, you can buy external card readers that plug into a PC via USB. DiSEqC 1.0 is supported, for selection of up to four satellites. Build and connectivity The hardware takes the form of a compact black lozenge containing a DVB-S/S2 tuner, which sits neatly on its desk stand. On the rear are a standard F-connector for your dish/LNB, a 12V inlet (the necessary mains adapter is supplied) and the USB connection that provides the umbilical link between PC and receiver. A remote control unit is included. Annoyingly, this takes CR2032 lithium cells, which are more expensive and trickier to find than the usual AAAs. Also supplied is a CD-ROM containing drivers and application software. Among the latter is a cut-down TE ('Technisat Edition') version of the very capable DVBViewer desktop TV software – and a simple 'Eve' editing program that allows you to, for example, remove the ads from recordings.
TE's transport-stream (.TS) files are supported here, although HD isn't. An advantage is that the drivers are BDA-compliant. In plain English, this means that the SkyStar USB HD can be used with a wider range of desktop TV software including the full version of DVBViewer. Setup The SkyStar USB HD is easy to set up. Plug it in and, after Windows recognises the device, insert the CD-ROM for driver and application installation. It's then a case of running DVBViewer TE. A database covering a number of popular satellites (including Astra 1x/2x and Hot Bird) is pre-installed, meaning that you can be watching TV within minutes. Scanning a satellite for new channels is easy, although you don't get any of the more flexible search options of enthusiast-grade gear.
You can specify a frequency/transponder, polarity and symbol rate – and whether all channels, or just FTA ones, should be found and stored – but that's about it. With DVBViewer TE no provision has been made for features like PID entry/modification (a feature of the full DVBViewer) or blind search. You can specify step size, but this seems to have little effect as scanning ignores your input and works through the preset transponder lists as usual. Basic use The software, of course, provides much of the functionality. DVBViewer TE lacks some of the full software's features, such as DVD support, screenshot capture and third-party plug-in compatibility. The lack of compatibility with various brands of PC remote isn't really an issue, given that Technisat supplies a handset. Nevertheless, DVBViewer TE gives you all of the basics – the selection, viewing/auditioning and recording of TV and radio channels. Channels are grouped by satellite and provider in the channel list – one or more can be added to a single favourites list. You can home in on a channel by typing all or part of its name. PVR and multimedia As with all other PVRs, a timeshift mode allows you to pause the current channel and then resume viewing at your convenience. Teletext is supported too, as are an EPG and windowed/full-screen viewing.
Playback of existing recordings (or compatible multimedia files) while new programmes are being captured is allowed. Engage 'multicast' and you can record and view different programmes if they're carried by the same transponder. A patch for DVBViewer can be downloaded from Technisat's website. This converts 'side-by-side' 3D broadcasts, like the FTA test-transmissions on the Astra 3A satellite (the box is not Sky-compatible), into anaglyphs that can be viewed on any monitor or TV set connected to your PC. Glasses are not included but we were supplied with a robust pair with the requisite red and green lenses. These are, alas, difficult to wear if you already wear spectacles. Performance Ultimately, this will be restricted by the performance of your PC and ancillary componentry. With our regularly updated Yoyotech PC, which is equipped with a quad-core Intel processor and decent ATi graphics card, pictures from FTA SD and HD channels looked superb. They're crisp, dynamic and accurately coloured. But there are caveats. On occasions, you could view a channel yet it would refuse to record. And even with our fast PC, HD channels would frequently 'glitch'. In addition we sometimes got a 'hardware not available' message. 3D is quite interesting. Yes, this Technisat system does give you some depth, albeit in a 'cardboard cut-out' sort of way. Coloured outlines spoil sharply defined objects and viewing can be quite fatiguing after a while.
Sound quality is also good, but if you have a home cinema receiver we recommend using the digital audio output should your PC have one; doing so opens up the world of multichannel Dolby Digital, from channels that broadcast it. Satellite scans are at a snail's pace so it's just as well you don't have to do this very often. Switching between channels is also on the unresponsive side compared with today's stand-alone receivers. Related Links
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