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- Catch up: this week's most popular posts
- 5 awesome 3D things to do this weekend and beyond
- In Depth: Google Nexus S: 11 tips and tricks
- Paramount to stop online movie piracy at the source
- Blu-rays for home cinema nuts: The Expendables
- LG B Android handset to be slimmer than the iPhone 4?
- Bugs 3D! producer reveals plans for 3D Meerkat movie
- Sunderland man claims world's first 3D website
- In Depth: 5 of the best Delicious alternatives
- Opera 11 gets 6.7 million downloads in a day
- Honeycomb to be Android 2.4?
- Pioneer introduces BRD-206MBK writer
- Google Nexus S given teardown treatment
- Facial recognition on its way to Facebook photos
- Video: Word Lens - augmented reality word translator launched
- Video: Google Maps 5 for Android finally lands
- 14.2 million BlackBerrys shipped in Q3, says RIM
- Warner Bros looking to change pirates to consumers
- Updated: Top 40 best free iPad apps
- Updated: Top 40 best free iPad apps
- The 3D world of Tron: Legacy
- Free PlayStation app heading to iPhone and Android
- Updated: HTC Tablet rumours: what you need to know
- In Depth: BlackBerry PlayBook OS up close
- Yahoo flicks kill switch on Delicious and AltaVista
| Catch up: this week's most popular posts Posted: 18 Dec 2010 12:00 AM PST  This week, Sony announced that ITV Player and 4oD were headed to the PS3 and leaked images of an iPad 2 case showed that the new iPad is set to feature a rear-facing camera. And as the year draws to a close, we took a look at what 2011 holds in store for mobile phones and for gadgets, and posted our pick of the 10 best games you should be playing this Christmas. Read on for this week's most popular stories on TechRadar… Top five news stories PS3 to start streaming ITV and Channel 4 Sony has announced that the PlayStation 3 is set to get ITV and Channel 4's video catch-up services - the ITV Player and 4oD - in the UK this week. It is a timely announcement, what with the busy Christmas TV schedules ahead over the coming weeks, with many no doubt glad to hear they will be able to catch up with Coronation Street and other favourites via their PS3. And while hardcore gamers will no doubt mock Sony's video-on-demand strategy for PlayStation, it cannot be denied that the addition of ITV Player and 4oD VOD services makes the PS3 hardware more appealing to the casual gamer looking to purchase a new console. Apple iPad 2 case shows off rear camera and SD card slot Images of a new iPad case have appeared online, prompting much speculation that the Apple iPad 2 is set to get expandable memory and a rear camera. Apple fansite iLounge is reporting that Chinese manufacturer Shenzhen MacTop Electronics has shown off a new case that has space for a rear camera to poke out its head Samsung Galaxy S Android 2.3 Gingerbread update confirmed Samsung has used the medium of Twitter to confirm that its flagship phone, the Samsung Galaxy S, will indeed be getting an Android 2.3 Gingerbread update. Two tweets came from the official Samsung Mobile India Twitter account, which were sent in response to queries by two Galaxy S owners. Apple finally gives jailbroken iPhones green light? Apple might have given in and decided to allow jailbreaking of iPhones after a key API was removed in iOS 4.2. This means that Apple can no longer check to see if you've got a 'good' or 'naughty' phone – this comes after the US government earlier said that jailbreaking an iPhone was entirely legal. Whether this was disabled or removed completely has yet to be confirmed by Apple – it could simply be a temporarymeasure before a minor update rebuilds the garden walls. Android Market gets radical UI overhaul The new and improved Android Market has arrived, in the form of a ripped APK (Android package) released onto the web. Website Android Police has managed to load the new Market on to a number of its handsets and has uploaded some images of the UI. The biggest change is in the look of the interface. Google definitely likes the colour green at the moment, with a green curve taking up most of the screen. This curve now houses a carousel, which means the tabs of old have completely disappeared. Unfortunately it seems that most of the changes are just cosmetic. There's no discovery engine to find new apps, merely a related apps list at the bottom of each app. Top five in-depth articles iPad 2 rumours: what you need to know The internet loves Apple and it loves ill-founded speculation, so it's hardly surprising that iPad 2 rumours were flying before the first iPad even reached the UK. With only weeks to go before its expected unveiling the iPad 2 release date, specs and price are still closely guarded secrets, but that doesn't mean there aren't some juicy rumours, inspired guesses and possibly even Apple leaks to consider. Here's our pick of the latest iPad 2G rumours. 10 gadgets to look forward to in 2011 While many people are waiting until Christmas to receive some of 2010's best gadgets and technology, we're already looking forward to 2011. Around this time we always get more and more excited about the potential for each year to top the last. Of course, 2010 has been pretty damn good for gadget lovers, what with the tablet revolution and 3D, but we have faith next year can top it thanks to these great products. And this is still before all the CES 2011 announcements! Oh, it's going to be good… Top 10 best tablet PC iPad alternatives Apple hasn't just rekindled interest in tablet devices, it has created the kind of hysteria that only Apple can. There's no denying that the iPad is a beautifully crafted device that's a joy to use, but not everyone wants to buy into Apple's design and marketing hype. With that in mind, we've rounded up ten alternatives to the iPad and put them in descending order to prove that Apples are not the only fruit. Mobile phones in 2011: what to expect Without a doubt, the mobile phone is the ultimate consumer electronic device. Why? Because it's an electronic device that is consumed like no other. Honestly, can you think of any other gadget that you will willingly change almost every year? Would you buy a new TV, games console or Blu-ray player every twelve months? Yet with mobile phones, we simply must have the latest model, with the latest features, despite the fact that there's probably nothing whatsoever wrong with our current handset. Top 10 best games you must play this Christmas 2010 has undoubtedly been a golden year for videogames, with a veritable slew of triple-A titles having been released by almost every major gaming publisher throughout the year. And as the Christmas holiday season rapidly approaches, adult gamers across the land with the promise of a week or two of dead time with the family and in-laws ahead look forward to catching up with some of the gaming classics they might have missed (or just not had the time for) over the past twelve months. Whatever your preferred format - and whatever your in-grained fanboy biases – from PC through to home console through to handheld – there are a handful of games that you really should play across all the main gaming formats that were released throughout 2010. Reviews The Google Nexus S is designed to be the device that showcases the power of Android 2.3 and comes without the constraints of network upgrade delays. Finally they've arrived; the HD 6900 series cards from AMD. Right here we've got the very top-end of AMD's latest single-GPU cards, the AMD Radeon HD 6970. In performance terms the Radeon HD 6950 is a rather impressive beast. It's £80 cheaper than the 6970, and you're only losing a couple of frames per second on most of the benchmarks. Sony's 3D capable, edge LED-backlit KDL-40LX903 is, at £2,000, a high-end set by any reckoning. The appeal of the Sony Bravia KDL-37EX403 is obvious. It's a 37-inch TV from one of the world's most reputable AV brands that doesn't cost very much money. Also reviewed this week... Amplifiers Cases and cooling CD players Desktops Graphics cards HIS Radeon HD 6870 Turbo review Sapphire Radeon HD 6850 Toxic review Headphones Headsets Hi-Fi accessories Chord Electronics Chordette Peach review iPhone apps Random HouseThe Good Pub Guide 2011 review EidosChampionship Manager 2011 review GameloftModern Combat 2: Black Pegasus HD review Laptops Mobile phones Motherboard Foxconn FlamingBlade GTI review Printers Software Nuance CommunicationsDragon Dictate for Mac review Corner-A PhotoStyler 4.6 review Literature and LatteScrivener 2.0 review Sound cards CreativeSound Blaster X-Fi HD review Speakers Storage Kingston SSDNow V+100 256GB Upgrade Bundle review TVs 
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| 5 awesome 3D things to do this weekend and beyond Posted: 17 Dec 2010 09:34 AM PST It's been a long time coming for many of us – 28 years to be precise – but Tron: Legacy finally hits cinemas in the UK this week. The movie has been shot in 3D from the ground up, so it is a very good showcase of what the technology is capable of. Couple this with the fact that you get two Jeff Bridges for the price of one (a bearded and younger version) and what you have is a recipe for three-dimensional success Tron: Legacy may be our number one 3D thing to go and watch this week, but there's also four frankly awesome more things 3D-wise that you can see and do. Don't believe us? Then read on… 1 Tron: Legacy
It may have a first time director and no sign of Tron Man, but Tron: Legacy does a decent job of taking up the slack left by the original Tron movie. Yes that does mean an almost incomprehensible plot and the most bizarre Michael Sheen performance you will ever see, but the 3D visuals and soaring Daft Punk soundtrack more than make up for one or two niggles. For the best experience, head down to an IMAX to see the movie. Reasons to watch:
2 Chelsea vs Man Utd
It's arguably the biggest game of the season so far between two teams who have had mixed bag of fortune of late. Man Utd are certainly the favourites to win, given they are top of the league and celebrating the fact they haven't lost this season. Chelsea will be wanting to exorcise the demons, however, and put an end to their worst streak in 10 years. Sky is showing the game in 3D, so get yourself to a pub or switch on your shiny new 3DTV to get close to the action. When's it on: Sunday 19 December, 3.30pm Reasons to watch:
3 Dance, Dance, Dance
So good they had to name it three times, Dance, Dance, Dance is a Sky Arts production that's filled with – you've guessed it – dance choreography. Arlene Philips is the host and folks from the English National Ballet will be dancing for your 3D entertainment. Even if you are not a dance aficionado, the spectacle of seeing it in 3D is more than enough to keep you entertained. Reasons to watch:
4 The Chronicles Of Narnia: Voyage of the Dawn Treader
A big screen adaptation of CS Lewis' classic book hits cinemas this week, offering up a decent slice of fantasy that will get your kids to stop talking about Christmas for at least two hours. Most of the cast from the previous two outings are back and they are joined by animated mouse Reepicheep and cousin Eustace. It's the first 3D outing for Narnia, but don't expect it to be the last. Reasons to watch:
5 Buy a Panasonic 3D TV – get Avatar 3D
Panasonic dropped the bombshell this week that to get yourself a copy of Avatar 3D, then you will have to purchase a Panasonic 3D product. The company has the rights to the movie tied up all the way till 2012, so buying one of its products is the only way to get a Blu-ray 3D copy of the movie – unless of course you want to go to eBay and buy one for a few hundred quid. Our choice of a Panasonic 3D? It's got to be the TX-P65VT20B. Reasons to buy:
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| In Depth: Google Nexus S: 11 tips and tricks Posted: 17 Dec 2010 08:51 AM PST  So you've read TechRadar's in-depth Google Nexus S review, you've reconciled the price and you've ordered the latest smartphone - now it's time to turn into a power user. Here's a round up of the secrets and tips you'll need to know to get the most out of your latest gadget, so read on to go from Android amateur to Nexus know-it-all. 1. Reclaim the comma One of the first irritations you'll encounter with the Google Nexus S is the lack of a comma - the keyboard has a voice search icon where the oft-used symbol should be.
But there's a way to reclaim it - head into Settings, and choose Language and Keyboard. Tap Android Keyboard and in there you'll see a dropdown menu labelled Voice input. From here you can select whether the voice search icon is on the front screen, the symbol menu or delete it altogether - and more importantly, the comma is back where it belongs. 2. Inbuilt battery graph A massive problem for smartphones is the battery maintenance - so many devices have offered such poor battery life that some have been rendered virtually unusable. The Nexus S isn't that bad in terms of holding its charge, but if you want to see what's happening with your battery, the phone comes with a battery graph built in.
Simply go into Settings, then tap About Phone. Open Battery Use and hit the smaller battery graph at the top - this then opens up into a fully-fledged graph complete with information on how fast your power depleted and what the phone was doing at the time. 3. Get rid of unwanted apps quickly You probably know already how to uninstall applications on the phone in the menu system. But this can take a while, and ultimately frustrate you into leaving some apps that you didn't reach. But if you open up the Android Market, you'll see a Downloads tab that shows you everything you've nabbed from Google's portal.
Choose any of these and the option to Uninstall is present in the bottom right-hand corner - the list is easier to access and quicker to use, and you can give feedback to the developer on why you uninstalled it too. 4. Boost your media experience The media experience on the Android 2.3 platform is unfortunately not that good natively - incompatibility with many file types and basic operation mar the experience. For music, we recommend MixZing - it has all the features of the Android experience but also has Genius-like abilities to mix a playlist based on a single song choice, as well as a decent inbuilt EQ make it a real step up.
For movies, mVideo Player is the one we reach for instantly whenever we pick up an Android phone. The powerful player has a high level of file compatibility, multiple bookmark options and even a slider for brightness management. You can even see the clock when viewing a video if you so wish - an oft-overlooked feature. 5. Unlock the power of voice We mentioned we didn't like the voice input icon on the keyboard, but that doesn't mean we aren't fans of voice search. From calling and navigation to text entry and Google searching, your voice can be activated by simply holding down the search key.
If you're already in an application (say text message editor) you can hit the icon to simply say your text - although you'd have to ask whether a phone call makes more sense at this point. 6. Stop the constant sipping We've mentioned battery management earlier - and there's a way you can stop it plummeting downhill instantly. If you head into the Settings menu and choose Accounts and Sync, there's a large checkbox for background data.
If you only periodically check things like social networks or email, then this is a great way to save some power, as you can get the same functionality by just manually updating when you open the app. It does mean things like push notifications won't work, but if you're after a decent battery saving and don't care about instant updates, give this a go. 7. Go 3D with Google Maps Google Maps 3D is here - well, for Cardiff and Birmingham in the UK. The new Google Maps 5.0 for Android is by far the most powerful offering so far, with the 3D vector view allowing you to zoom in and twist around certain cities from your mobile.
Other additional functions include compass orientation, for easier foot navigation, and offline caching, where the phone cleverly works out the places you frequent the most and downloads the date when you're on Wi-Fi and plugged in (ie on the nightly charge). 8. Unlock your file system Although some phones (like the Samsung Galaxy S) include an inbuilt file management system, the Google Nexus S has no such functionality. This means when you've copied media across to the phone but can't see it in the gallery you're pretty much stuffed - unless you download a file manager.
We're fans of Astro - not only is it ridiculously easy to fly through the folder branches, it can also unzip folders and search for file names - and it's free too. 9. Take a picture of yourself One of the new features of Android 2.3 is a support for video calling, and to that end the Google Nexus S has a front-facing camera to facilitate it. The problem is there's no mainstream application to let you call using the front VGA camera - but you can still use it to take pictures.
Simply fire up the camera and hit the camera switch icon in the bottom right-hand corner - you can take slightly gawpy pictures of your mug as quick as a flash. 10. Easier copy and paste Android 2.3 comes with enhanced copy and paste, making it easy to just hold down a word and see it copied to the keyboard. In text editing, you can cut or copy the word, and on the internet you simply need to long press on a phrase and drag the tabs to choose the selection you're after, with a quick tap auto-copying the text.
The tabs are now much larger and easier to manipulate as well, making it a much more simple experience when trying to move text from one place to another. 11. Check out the downloads This might sound like a simple update, but there's now a dedicated application for items you've downloaded from the internet.
It saves you having to delve into the internet browser to get pictures or applications you've snaffled from the web, and delete them easily too. 
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| Paramount to stop online movie piracy at the source Posted: 17 Dec 2010 08:39 AM PST  Organised crime is behind movie pirates illegally making millions of dollars a year online, says Chris Carey of Paramount Pictures. "I can't compete with free-by-theft," he said, speaking at the Digital Media Summit in Los Angeles. "Suing your customers isn't a winning strategy, you've got to stop it at the source." Sites like MegaUpload.com are making millions of dollars from distributing movies illegally, gathering profit via subscription fees and advertising revenue. Throw them in the brig To tackle the pirates, Paramount is working with PayPal and other payment vendors to shut down payment routes, as well as notifying legitimate companies whose adverts are popping up on the illegal peer-to-peer sites. Paramount recently alerted Netflix, a major online movie rental service in the USA, to the fact that it was paying to advertise on an illegitimate site. Warner Bros is trying a different approach, hoping to use market research to transform those using P2P sites into legitimate customers. 
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| Blu-rays for home cinema nuts: The Expendables Posted: 17 Dec 2010 08:30 AM PST  Home Cinema Choice - part of the TechRadar network - has revived its Blu-ray of the week for home cinema enthusiasts and is recommending that you all go out a purchase a copy of The Expendables. Cut from the same cloth as pretty much any 80s action movie starring, Schwarzenegger and Stalone, the Expendables is a blast on Blu-ray, as Mark Craven, deputy editor of Home Cinema Choice, explains: "Released this week in a sumptuous 'Bullet-Proof' Limited Edition steelbook set, Sylvester Stallone's adrenalin-fuelled 80s action movie throwback is pure popcorn fun. "The Italian Stallion joins forces with a platoon of genre icons (including Jason Statham, Mickey Rourke, Dolph Lundgren, Jet Li, Bruce Willis and Arnold Schwarzenegger) to deliver 103 minutes of stunts, explosions and hammy dialogue. "Lionsgate's Blu-ray may not offer the most striking picture around, as the AVC 2.40:1 1080p encode is hampered by the film's numerous nighttime locations and interior shots, but it's still a vast improvement on the DVD. "The audio, meanwhile, is reference-grade stuff, with a DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 mix that fills your room with zinging bullets and thunderous low-level bass – the kind of soundtrack that deserves to be played loud and proud."
Craven continues: "Another major reason to pick up this steelbook set is that it packs a bonus DVD housing an in-depth 88-minute documentary, called Inferno: The Making of The Expendables, where Stallone takes us behind-the-scenes to see exactly what happens when a group of action movie legends get together to blow things up." To read a full review of The Expendables on Blu-ray, check out hcc.techradar.com. The Expendables is out now, courtesy of Lionsgate Home Entertainment. 
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| LG B Android handset to be slimmer than the iPhone 4? Posted: 17 Dec 2010 07:43 AM PST  Hot on the heels of this week's official LG Optimus 2X reveal, a handset codenamed the LG B has leaked from LG's 2011 Android line-up. Although there's no mention of processing power, memory, connectivity or which Android OS version it will run, the LG B is shown to be slightly slimmer than the iPhone 4. This will no doubt upset Apple, which has been touting its latest iPhone as the world's thinnest smartphone. Bright lights The LG B handset also looks set to offer dazzling screen brightness as a USP, if a rather tenuous table of specs sent to Phandroid by a trusted tipster is to be believed.
The chart suggests that the mysterious LG B will also offer higher visible light intensity than its listed competitors, which we are assuming are the Samsung Galaxy S (S) and the iPhone 4 (R for Retina Display), the two handsets pictured either side of the LG B above. The 4in screen is also said to use the same material as the iPhone 4's impressive display. There's no word on an official release date yet, but an errant tweet from LG's CES team (since deleted) confirms that the handset will make its first official appearance at CES in January 2011. 
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| Bugs 3D! producer reveals plans for 3D Meerkat movie Posted: 17 Dec 2010 07:38 AM PST 3DRadar recently caught up with Phil Streather, CEO at Principal Large Format and the producer of Bugs 3D! - one of the first major 3D IMAX movies back in 2003 that really showed the way forward for 3D entertainment.
We were interested to find out a little bit more about Phil's own background, his thoughts on the developments in 3D since Bugs! first screened seven years ago and what he has in store for the future. 3DRadar: What was 3D technology and 3D filmmaking like back when you produced Bugs 3D! in the early noughties? Phil Streather: Bugs! was produced in 2003 by my company, Principal Large Format (PLF) and released in spring of 2003 by the films executive producers, SK Films of Toronto. The fundamental difference between then and now (aside from the fact that Bugs! was an IMAX movie) is that most 3D films were actually shot on film. Those films appeared mainly in special venues and IMAX theatres. With shooting on film, this makes it very hard to monitor on-set what is going on in terms of 3D. Thus you have to rely on the mathematical skills of the stereographer to get the 3D right. We had a brilliant team comprising Sean Phillips as our stereographer and the vast majority of the 3D in the film is bang-on, even by today's standards! Sean is of course equally happy shooting modern 3D with all the monitors, calculators and stereo image processors available. 3DR: How important was that movie for changing moviegoers perceptions about what was possible with 3D? PS: The main contribution Bugs! has made to the 3D pantheon in terms of its macro and micro photography. Film audiences had seen the world of insects in glorious close-up in microcosmos but never in 3D. It is 3D that really brings you into the world of the tiny and I am delighted to say that the designer of our specialty rigs and lenses for Bugs! was awarded the Gordon E Sawyer Oscar for his work. This is an accolade given each year by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to "an individual in the motion picture industry whose technological contributions have brought credit to the industry." 3DR: What do you think have been the two or three main movies or new technologies that have driven the development of 3D in the last 5-10 years? PS: Three come to mind here. U23D showed us how amazing live action 3D could look. Whilst there are some visual effects during some songs by and large this is a full throttle action film. But, way more than just a concert film. Catherine Owens and Mark Pellington created the film as an experiment with new type of filming technology that was pioneered by film producer and general technology genius, Steve Schklair, CEO of 3ality Digital. Coraline moved stop motion animation into the next dimension by using single cameras on motion control platforms. They also moved the grammar of storytelling forward with the films' contrast between the flat world of the little girls real life and the rounded world of her life through a tunnel. Internationally renowned animation company, Aardman Animations are using the same single camera technique on upcoming 3D projects. And then there is Avatar – no need to add anything here! 3DR: For many general movie-goers, Avatar was the first big movie they saw in 3D? How important do you think Avatar and other major AAA movies from the likes of Disney/Pixar have been to push 3D into the mainstream? PS: 3D was heading into the mainstream before Avatar with films such as Meet the Robinsons and Monsters vs Aliens. Of course, these are full CGI films, but films none the less. Avatar is also 90% CGI but by using advanced motion capture, Director Cameron was able to convince us those digits were real! Avatar's staggering success cemented Hollywood's hunch that 3D is a good idea and is here to stay for a while. 3DR: What about 3D in the home? What are your thoughts on the latest 3D TVs? Do you think PS3 gaming will drive the uptake of 3D tech in the home – in addition to Sky 3D and 3D Blu-ray? PS: 3D in the home is a great idea. Bugs! is playing right now on the Sky 3D platform and one of my next films, Meerkats 3D, produced with Oxford Scientific Films for National Geographic / Sky will be on Sky 3D next spring – watch out for this! One of the TVs I prefer is one that uses passive glasses like the RealD ones in cinemas. I'm not a fan of shutter glasses and find them heavy, flickery and distracting. Rumour has it that there will be 3D TVs using RealD passive glasses which will be available in 2011 and I think that this is a good thing. At the moment there is no universality on glasses and Sony glasses won't work on Samsung TVs and they come with two pairs only. Additional pairs cost around $100 each. There's room for improvement here. I must admit that I've never played computer games. However, this said, my colleague and mate Julian Napier (also director of my other upcoming film, Carmen in 3D for RealD and Royal Opera House) plays loads of games and is a major fan of 3D. Though he does not do 3D games yet! This may drive the market but I would be surprised if he would let his children take over the 46-inch plasma screen in the sitting room to play 3D games – time will tell! ---------- For more on Phil's work in 3D movie and TV production you can check out www.plf.cc 
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| Sunderland man claims world's first 3D website Posted: 17 Dec 2010 07:10 AM PST  A site claiming to be the 'world's first 3d website' has been launched, although you will need active glasses, a 3D ready television and a browser that you run through your screen. Sunderland's Stereografix have devised the offering which can be seen at http://www.stereoscopic-3d.co.uk. Stereografix founder Saif Chaudhry told the nebusiness.co.uk: "I don't think many people are even thinking this far ahead, and we've got a prototype already. It's not every day you can say you're first with something where the internet is concerned.
A lot more "I think there needs to be a lot more 3D TVs and computer monitors out there before it becomes mainstream, but peoplearen'tjust going to go out and buy these things unless they've got something to show on them," he continued. Of course, there are likely to be a few quibbles about whether this qualifies as the first 3D website; 3D videos have been floating around on the likes of YouTube for some time for instance. But it's nice to see a UK company making the claim anyway – and the site is well worth a look (if you have the kit, of course) . There is a version for people with passive 3D televisions planned, although the current version needs the powered active glasses. 
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| In Depth: 5 of the best Delicious alternatives Posted: 17 Dec 2010 06:49 AM PST  Social bookmarking service Delicious is for the chop, it seems: owner Yahoo reckons it's one of its "underperforming or off-strategy products", and that it's not part of the firm's future. So what do you do if you really need to keep track of interesting things you've spotted online? Here are five favourites. 1. Pinboard.in Pinboard is probably the closest equivalent to Delicious - it shares a co-founder - and Pinboard helpfully provides a comparison. It's easy to import bookmarks from other services and there's a nifty option to mirror the bookmarks you save with other things, such as Instapaper, or even archive your Twitter tweets.
It's not free to join, however, and the sign-up price has increased by ten cents to $8.03 since we started writing this. The price depends on the number of users and keeps the site ad-free. An extra $25 per year gives you archiving, which stores not just links but the pages too, banishing the dreaded 404 Page Not Found errors. 2. Zootool Describing itself as "the most awesome way to bookmark", Zootool is a kind of online notepad: where Pinboard is minimalist, Zootool is more like a desktop application.
Zootool wants to be the place you store everything from URLs to images, so when you hit the bookmarklet you've given the choice of what to store. For example, when we added a blog post we had the choice of the whole page, the images from it or its RSS feed. It's quite nice but will probably be too slow for power users. 3. Evernote If you're more interested in storing the interesting bits of pages than their URLs, Evernote may be the service for you.
There's a browser bookmarklet - Evernote calls it the Web Clipper - as well as dedicated OS X, Windows, iOS, Android, BlackBerry, Palm and Windows Mobile devices, and it includes handy features such as geotagging of notes and image recognition to turn scanned documents and business cards into editable, searchable text. 4. Google Bookmarks There are multiple ways to add URLs to Google Bookmarks - there's an iGoogle gadget, you can use the home page, you can do it from the Google Toolbar, you can star a site you see in search results - but the easiest method is probably using the bookmarklet that you drag to your browser toolbar. Beware, though, because batch importing requires the Google Toolbar, which is only available for Firefox and IE.
Don't forget Chrome Sync either - it's not ideal for massive bookmark collections but Chrome will happily sync bookmarks between different machines. What it won't do is take those bookmarks and add them to its own Google Bookmarks: for now, Chrome bookmarks aren't compatible with it. 5. Instapaper If you need to store hundreds of bookmarks it isn't for you, but as a read later service Instapaper is peerless: when you see something you'd like to read later on, just hit the bookmarklet and Instapaper will deliver it to your browser, to your iPhone or to your iPad.
Instapaper even works with the Kindle, although the Kindle option's a manual download. The results are gorgeous, with adverts and other page furniture stripped away. 
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| Opera 11 gets 6.7 million downloads in a day Posted: 17 Dec 2010 06:32 AM PST  Opera 11 has broken the company's first day download records, with 6.7 million people taking a look at the latest browser on its debut. Opera has a reputation for innovation in its browsers, so interest in its full versions is always high. And this has not changed with the latest release, although the company admits that the auto-update feature did help its first day total somewhat. Global "Yesterday, Opera 11 was downloaded a total of 6.7 million timeswith 1,1 millions coming from download partners around the globe," blogged Espen André Øverdahl. "What about auto-update, you say? There's no question that auto-update does help download numbers, as it should. "We want people using the newest version and we want to make it easy for them to get it. Still, not every single person using Opera's desktop version received the auto-update message. "50 million downloads all at once might, at worst, rip a hole in the fabric of space-time, sending our offices hurtling into a parallel universe where toasters fly and everyone uses MS Bob. "Or it might just make the downloads really slow. Either way, we aren't taking chances." The new browser version brings a host of redesigned features and an 'elegant' user interface, and you can check it out at http://www.opera.com. 
This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now | ||
| Posted: 17 Dec 2010 06:01 AM PST  The upcoming launch of Android Honeycomb looks set to be Android version 2.4, rather than Android 3.0 as previously thought. According to the source, a developer that has worked on multiple versions of the OS, Google wants to keep the 3.0 tag for a bigger, more exciting update. Following the launch of Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) last week, Honeycomb is set to be officially revealed as early as February 2011. Sweeter and sweeter The tablet-centric Honeycomb OS was first shown off by Google's Andy Rubin earlier this month, on an as yet unnamed Motorola tablet. Google is continuing the sugary theme with its next Android versions. After Honeycomb will come Ice Cream but, at this point, there's no indication of whether this will be the illusive 3.0 update. Meanwhile, existing Android users eagerly await the update to Android 2.3 Gingerbread OS that is currently only available on the Google Nexus S. 
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| Pioneer introduces BRD-206MBK writer Posted: 17 Dec 2010 05:06 AM PST  Pioneer has brought out its new BDR-206MBK high-definition BDXL internal Blu-ray disc drive. With a 128GB BD storage capacity, it offers more than twice the BD storage of anything currently available, the company claims. It's also the first BDXL drive made for Windows PCs that can both read and write in the new recordable BD format. Pioneer states that "BDXL more than doubles the current maximum Blu-ray disc storage capacity and is ideal for various commercial uses such as video and broadcast archiving and storage, capturing and playback of high-definition programming, or data archiving needs.'' Heavy On Features With the BDR-206MBK, there's support for recording and playback of most disc formats, and users will be able to not use normal only BD-R XL discs, but also the triple and quadruple layers discs. Equipped with a SATA interface, the drive also has Cyberlink software to support BDXL. For a limited a Pioneer will also be including a piece of BD-R XL 100GB media with each purchase. 
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| Google Nexus S given teardown treatment Posted: 17 Dec 2010 04:41 AM PST  The Google Nexus S handset has been given its customary teardown by iFixit who have admitted they are impressed by the contour display and the inclusion of NFC technology. The NFC sensor is described as 'straight out of Tron' but the rest of the phone's innards are a little more as you would expect. Those parts include the 1 GHz ARM Cortex-A8 Hummingbird Multimedia Applications Processor based on the ARMv7 architecture, the 16GB of internet memory and the 512MB of RAM. Peculiar iFixit professed that the phone's motherboard was 'peculiar to us' because it has a giant hole in the middle to enclose the battery. And, a word of warning: "If you shatter the front panel glass, the SAMOLED [Super AMOLED] has to be replaced as well -- they're fused together." The site gives the phone a seven out of ten on its repair scale (ten being the easiest), which it can proudly display along with the four stars it won in TechRadar's very own Google Nexus S review. 
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| Facial recognition on its way to Facebook photos Posted: 17 Dec 2010 04:21 AM PST  Facebook is rolling out a facial recognition tool in order to make tagging your photos a little bit easier. By grouping similar faces together, the new feature will offer you a list of possible posers when you go to tag a photo, saving you the hassle of typing (or remembering) friends' names yourself. Facebook claims that over 100 million photographs are uploaded to the social network every day, so there's not shortage of face-types to draw on. Sister/Gran How effective facial recognition will be on the more unusual poses remains to be seen; and no doubt there are some comedy moments waiting to be had when Facebook suggests that your sister be tagged as your gran. The incorporation of facial recognition comes as part of an ongoing effort to improve photo-sharing on the social network. As Facebook's vice president of product Chris Cox told cnet, "We wanted to make our photos product not suck." Just days after founder Mark Zuckerberg was named Time magazine's Person of 2010, Facebook is planning a gradual rollout for the facial recognition tool with 5% of users set to receive it next week. 
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| Video: Word Lens - augmented reality word translator launched Posted: 17 Dec 2010 04:20 AM PST  Word Lens, a new augmented reality app, has just landed on the app store that visually translates written words on signs in real-time. The app is a meld of Google Translate and Google Goggles and we have to say that after being initially dubious of the promo video, the app actually works. It's not quite perfect, but the signs we tried it on (including a Christmas card) were translated pretty quickly. Found in translation Word Lens has been created by Visual Quest. While it is free, there is a $4.99 (£3.20) in-app store purchase for the language packs. Currently there is only the option to change Spanish to English or English to Spanish. So if you want to learn your 'por favour' from your 'buenos dÃas' then this is the app for you. 
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| Video: Google Maps 5 for Android finally lands Posted: 17 Dec 2010 04:10 AM PST  Those of you waiting for the next level of mobile mapping will be pleased to know Google Maps 5.0 is now available in the Android Market. The new application version features 3D vector maps for certain cities, meaning at a close enough zoom level translucent buildings are drawn in, and gesture spinning and panning is offered up too. However, the UK only has two cities: Birmingham and Dublin, so we're hoping London gets the vector treatment too soon. Oh, I'm over there Other improvements include a compass mode, where the map will automatically orientate to your direction, and offline caching of certain areas. The latter is actually pretty clever, as Google outlines in its blog: "Dynamically drawing maps requires 100 times less data to get maps across all zoom levels, so now we're able to proactively cache (or store) large areas on your device based on where you use Maps the most. This way, you can rely on having fast, robust maps available to you where you're most likely to need them. "Rather than having a static set of maps when installed, Maps will automatically start caching the areas you visit the most when your device is plugged in and connected to WiFi (e.g., the nightly charge)." Google Maps 5.0 is available for all Android devices running version 1.6 and above, although if you want 3D and offline features you'll need to be packing Android 2.0 and above - and even then only the fancier phones, like the Google Nexus S, will be up to the graphical challenge. 
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| 14.2 million BlackBerrys shipped in Q3, says RIM Posted: 17 Dec 2010 03:57 AM PST  BlackBerry maker RIM has announced record revenue and earnings for the third quarter of 2011, as well as record shipments of handsets. RIM has been mounting a challenge to the smartphone consumer market with its BlackBerry range of late after becoming a dominant figure in business, and will feel that the latest figures represents a significant step. With the BlackBerry PlayBook Tablet poised to arrive next year, RIM's growth was fuelled by the BlackBerry Style 9670 (although not in Europe) and the BlackBerry Bold 9780, along with the continued roll out of the BlackBerry Torch and Blackberry Curve 3G. 14.2 million That boosted the all-important shipments figure from 14.2 million from last year's Q3 total of 10.1 million. Revenue was $5.49 billion (c£3.51bn), up 40 per cent year on year – compared to $3.92 billion in Q3 2009. The company also revealed it is expecting to sell 14.5 to 15 billion devices in the current quarter which ends in February. 
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| Warner Bros looking to change pirates to consumers Posted: 17 Dec 2010 03:53 AM PST  Warner Bros is trying to put a positive spin on the movie industry's piracy problems, by tracking pirates in the hope that it can change them into consumers. At the Content Protection Summit in Los Angeles, Ben Karakunnel from Warner Bros noted that Warner has been tracking P2P piracy over the last 18 months and have come up with some interesting stats. Pirate pointers It's found that pirates do make purchases, but it is still figuring out how to make them buy Warner products. "One of the main things we're doing is looking at why they do things legitimately on certain products and not on others," said Ben Karakunnel. Other information WB has procured is that woman are more inclined to pirate TV shows and overseas piracy is on the up, with some opportune pirates creating whole subtitle tracks for ripped movies. Back in March, Warner was actively recruiting for a P2P snoop, so it looks as if this data gathering was linked to this role. While the results from Warner Bros aren't exactly scientific, it does show that the distributor is trying to figure out just how it can stem piracy and get people buying movies again before it hits crisis point like the music world. Spotify for movies, anyone? 
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| Updated: Top 40 best free iPad apps Posted: 17 Dec 2010 03:42 AM PST  On comparing iPad apps with iPhone equivalents, one thing rapidly becomes clear: apps for Apple's tablet are pricier. Many of the best free iPhone apps cost 59p or more in their iPad incarnations, and the quality level of what's still free is often ropey. But among the dross lie rare gems - iPad apps that are so good you can't believe they're still free. Of those we unearthed, here is our pick of the best free iPhone apps. (Note that apps marked 'universal' will run on your iPad and iPhone, optimising themselves accordingly.) 1. AccuWeather.com Free for iPad Annoyingly, most free iPad weather apps refuse to believe that the UK has any weather (or that the country exists), and so AccuWeather gets props for merely working. Happily, AccuWeather also proves to be a decent - if quirky - weather app. The interface is odd (but fun) and there's a 'lifestyle' page that determines how your current local conditions might affect over 20 activities, including dog-walking and stargazing.
2. Adobe Ideas 1.0 for iPad Adobe Ideas 1.0 for iPad is a digital sketchpad which offers simple vector-based drawing tools and works nicely as a standalone app for jotting down creative ideas or as a companion to Adobe Illustrator. Usefully, you can trace over photos, email drawings as PDFs, and avoid worrying about mistakes, since there's a 50-level undo.
3. Air Video Free (universal) Despite naysayers whining about the iPad screen's 4:3 aspect ratio, it's a decent device for watching video, but it lacks storage for housing large video collections. Air Video enables you to stream video (converting it on-the-fly, if necessary) from your Mac or PC. The main limitation of the free version is that it only shows a few items(randomly selected) from each folder or playlist.
4. Beatwave (universal) Beatwave is a simplified Tenori-On-style synth which enables you to rapidly build pleasing melodies by prodding a grid. Multiple layers and various instruments provide scope for complex compositions, and you can save sessions or, handily, store and share compositions via email. You can also buy more instruments via in-app purchases.
5. Bloomberg for iPad With an eye-searing white-and-orange-on-black colour scheme that's a little like being repeatedly punched in the eyes, Bloomberg isn't an app you'll want to spend all day staring at. However, for business news, stocks, and major currency rates, it's a usable and efficient app.
6. Comics (universal) On the iPhone, Comics is innovative, but zooming each panel and constantly rotating your device gets old fast. By contrast, the iPad's screen is big enough to display an entire page without the need to zoom or scroll. And with dozens of free comics available via the bundled store, comic-book fans should lap this app up.
7. Dictionary.com - Dictionary & Thesaurus - For iPad We approached Dictionary with scepticism, since most free dictionary apps are sluggish interfaces to websites. That's certainly what this looks like, but it works offline, providing speedy access to over a million words and 90,000 thesaurus entries. The app's search is also reassuringly fast.
8. Dropbox (universal) Dropbox is a great service for syncing documents across multiple devices. The iPad client works like the iPhone one (hardly surprising, since this is a universal app), enabling you to preview many file types and store locally those marked as favourites.
9. Evernote (universal) Like Dropbox, Evernote (a free online service for saving ideas—text documents, images, web clips—that you can then access from multiple devices) works like the iPhone version, and benefits from the iPad's larger screen, which enables you to see and navigate your stored snippets more easily.
10. Feeddler RSS Reader for iPad Feeddler RSS Reader for iPad is fairly basic as RSS readers go, but once you've pointed it at your Google Reader account it's efficient, stores text offline, enables you to browse by feed, and has a built-in browser so you're not booted to Safari when you want to visit a link. As with many iPad apps, you get a full-screen view in portrait mode.
11. The Guardian Eyewitness A showcase for engaging photography, The Guardian Eyewitness provides a daily, visual reflection of global events. You get access to the most recent 100 photos, which can be viewed full-screen or with a caption and 'pro tip'. You can also save photos to your iPad or share them via email.
12. iBooks Going head-to-head with Kindle, iBooks is a decent ebook reader, backed by the iBookstore. As you'd expect from Apple the interface is polished (if not quite up to the standards of iPhone app Eucalyptus), and on downloading the app you get a free copy of Winnie the Pooh.
13. IM+ Lite (universal) Although third-party multi-tasking is coming to iPad this autumn, it's not here yet, making things tough for instant-messaging fans. However, IM+ Lite enables you to run a number of IM services (including Twitter and Facebook) in a single app, and there's also a built-in web browser for checking out links.
14. Kindle (universal) Amazon's Kindle iPad app for reading over 500,000 books available at the Kindle Store is a little workmanlike, and doesn't match the coherence of iBooks (you buy titles in Safari and 'sync' purchases via Kindle). However, Kindle's fine for reading, and you get options to optimise your experience (including the ability to kill the naff page-turn animation and amend the page background to a pleasant sepia tone).
15. Movies by Flixter (universal) One for film buffs, Movies figures out where you are and tells you what's showing in your local cinemas - or you can pick a film and it'll tell you where and when it's on. The app is functionally identical on iPad and iPhone, but again the extra screen space improves the experience.
16. PaperDesk Lite for iPad Effectively a souped-up digital notepad, PaperDesk Lite for iPad enables you to combine typed words, scribbles and audio recordings in user-defined notebooks. Pages can be emailed (typed text is sent along with a copy of the entire page as a PDF), although be mindful that this free version restricts you to three pages per notebook.
17. PCalc Lite (universal) PCalc Lite's existence means the lack of a built-in iPad calculator doesn't bother us (in fact, we'd love to replace the iPhone Calculator app with PCalc Lite as well). This app is usable and feature-rich - and if you end up wanting more, in-app purchases enable you to bolt on extras from the full PCalc.
18. Reuters News Pro for iPad Annoyingly, spurious 'anti competition' complaints meant the BBC News app took a while to come to the UK; in the meantime, Reuters offered the next best free news app for iPad with its Reuters News Pro for iPad. It's a little US-centric, but can be skewed towards UK coverage via the Settings app, and it's worth downloading for a more international take on news coverage than BBC News provides.
19. Twitterrific for iPad The iPad version of Twitterrific reportedly marks a new beginning for the app, which the developers think has become too complicated on iPhone. On iPad, things are more bare-bones, but this ensures Twitterrific is a simple, good-looking and usable Twitter client.
20. Wikipanion for iPad The Wikipedia website works fine in Safari for iPad, but dedicated apps make navigating the site simpler and faster. We went back and forth between Simplepedia and Wikipanion, eventually plumping for the latter, largely due to its efficient two-pane landscape view with excellent bookmarking and history access.
21. eBay for iPad Use eBay for iPad and you'll never touch eBay in a web browser again. It's fast and efficient, beautifully showcasing important details and images in its main results view; the app also enables quickfire sorting and drag-based definition of price-ranges. It's a little feature-light (no notifications), but eBay promises aspects of eBay Mobile will be integrated soon.
22. Soundrop (universal) Soundrop is a minimal generative sound toy which offers an endless stream of balls, which make noises when they collide with and bounce off of user-drawn lines. The overall result is surprisingly fun and hypnotic. For more advanced features - save, multiple instruments, gravity adjustment - there's a £1.19 in-app 'pro' purchase option.
23. Granimator Wallpaper apps litter the App Store, but are mostly dull, offering photos of brick walls or bored animals. Granimator is a bonkers art tool, enabling you to choose a background and spray all manner of shapes around. Compositions can be fine-tuned by dragging objects, and then shared to Flickr, Twitter or your device's Photos app.
24. Google Earth (universal) It's not the smoothest app in the world, and it lacks some elements from the desktop (such as street view), but Google Earth is nonetheless a joy on the iPad. Touch gestures are an intuitive means of swooping around the planet, and the optional layers enable you to display as much or as little ancillary information as you wish.
25. Explore Flickr (universal) Explore Flickr provides an engaging way to discover new photography. On launch, your iPad screen fills with a grid of thumbnails, drawn from flickr.com's top daily images. Tap one to view (and, if rights permit, download to your device), or just leave the app lazily updating (every now and again, a thumbnail spins to reveal a new image) while your iPad charges in its dock.
26. Rj Voyager One for budding iPad DJs, Rj Voyager enables you to choose from a selection of bundled tracks, turn parts on and off, and edit parameters in real-time via an intuitive, futuristic interface. Play through headphones or a decent sound system, and the result is infectious.
27. BBC News (universal) With the BBC's website still reliant on Flash video, this BBC News app - now finally available in the UK - provides access to latest stories, including video elements. Categories can be rearranged, stories can be shared, and the app's layout adjusts to portrait and landscape orientations.
28. Epicurious (universal) Tens of thousands of recipes at your fingertips (assuming you have a web connection) ensure Epicurious is worth a download for the culinary-inclined. The app even composes a shopping list for recipes; it's just a pity the app doesn't include measurements for those of us who use that new-fangled 'metric' system.
29. WordPress (universal) This official, open-source WordPress app is perhaps a bit basic for composing anything but text-based blog posts from scratch, since the editor is HTML-only (sorry, WordPress Visual editor fans—both of you). However, it's great to have installed for making quick edits to existing content and for managing comments.
30. TV Guide for iPad It's crazy that TV Guide for iPad omits the website's search and the iPhone version's ability to flag upcoming shows with alarms, but otherwise this is a first-rate TV guide for UK viewers. The interface is silky smooth, and you can easily omit channels you don't watch.
31. Adobe Photoshop Express
With people regularly moaning about bloat in Adobe's desktop applications, it's great to see the giant create something as focussed and usable as Adobe Photoshop Express. Its toolset is strictly for basic edits (crop, straighten, rotate, flip), levels and lighting adjustments, and applying a few effects, but the app is fast, stable and extremely useable. Top marks. 32. AppShopper
Prices on the App Store go up and down like a yo-yo and Apple's own wish-list mechanics leave a lot to be desired. You're better off using AppShopper, which lists bargain apps and also enables you to compile a wish-list and be notified when an item drops in price. 33. Find my iPhone
Surprisingly freed by Apple from the shackles of the paid version of MobileMe, many users rapidly discovered they needed a 2010 device to sign up to Find my iPhone. Luckily, the iPad is a 2010 device, so it can be used to create an account; you can then add older iOS devices to keep an eye on where they are. 34. Flipboard
Initially, Flipboard looked like a gimmick, trying desperately to make online content resemble a magazine. But now it can integrate Google Reader, Flickr and other networks, beautifully laying out their articles, Flipboard's muscled into the 'essential' category - and it's still free. 35. Friendly for Facebook
Since Facebook doesn't seem to be in a hurry to update its great iPhone app for the iPad, download Friendly instead. Its main advantage is speed - despite some oddball interface elements here and there, Friendly's mostly, well, friendly. It also supports multiple accounts, offers customisable colours, and while it's ad-supported, the ads aren't obtrusive. 36. IMDB
IMDB might be a wee bit US-focussed at times (much like the movie industry), but the app is a great way to browse more movie-related info than you could ever hope to consume in a single lifetime. Settings enable you to define which sites IMDB and Amazon info is taken from, and the showtimes finder works pretty well. 37. Read It Later Free
Read It Later and Instapaper battle it out for 'article scraper' king, but Read It Later trumps its rival in appealing to iPad-owning cheapskates. Instapaper requires a 'pro' purchase for iPad goodness, but Read It Later Free is, suitably, free. It's also very fast and has a great original article/plain-text toggle. 38. TED
TED describes itself as "riveting talks by remarkable people, free to the world". The app pretty much does as you'd expect - you get quick access to dozens of inspiring videos. However, it goes the extra mile in enabling you to save any talk for offline viewing, and also for providing hints on what to watch next if you've enjoyed a particular talk. 39. Twitter
It's a bit of a love-it-or-hate-it app, but Twitter showcases some breathtaking UI innovation; if you can deal with its unique way of presenting timelines and associated content, you'll find it an efficient and intuitive means of using Twitter. 40. Virtuoso Piano Free 2 HD
There's not a great deal to piano app Virtuoso Piano Free 2 HD, but it's not bad for a freebie. You get a dual-keyboard set-up, with optional key labels, and you can shift octaves and notes by prodding arrows. A really nice touch is the 'duette' [sic] button, which flips a keyboard so that two people can play at once.
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| Updated: Top 40 best free iPad apps Posted: 17 Dec 2010 03:42 AM PST On comparing iPad apps with iPhone equivalents, one thing rapidly becomes clear: apps for Apple's tablet are pricier. Many of the best free iPhone apps cost 59p or more in their iPad incarnations, and the quality level of what's still free is often ropey. But among the dross lie rare gems - iPad apps that are so good you can't believe they're still free. Of those we unearthed, here is our pick of the best free iPhone apps. (Note that apps marked 'universal' will run on your iPad and iPhone, optimising themselves accordingly.) 1. AccuWeather.com Free for iPad Annoyingly, most free iPad weather apps refuse to believe that the UK has any weather (or that the country exists), and so AccuWeather gets props for merely working. Happily, AccuWeather also proves to be a decent - if quirky - weather app. The interface is odd (but fun) and there's a 'lifestyle' page that determines how your current local conditions might affect over 20 activities, including dog-walking and stargazing.
2. Adobe Ideas 1.0 for iPad Adobe Ideas 1.0 for iPad is a digital sketchpad which offers simple vector-based drawing tools and works nicely as a standalone app for jotting down creative ideas or as a companion to Adobe Illustrator. Usefully, you can trace over photos, email drawings as PDFs, and avoid worrying about mistakes, since there's a 50-level undo.
3. Air Video Free (universal) Despite naysayers whining about the iPad screen's 4:3 aspect ratio, it's a decent device for watching video, but it lacks storage for housing large video collections. Air Video enables you to stream video (converting it on-the-fly, if necessary) from your Mac or PC. The main limitation of the free version is that it only shows a few items(randomly selected) from each folder or playlist.
4. Beatwave (universal) Beatwave is a simplified Tenori-On-style synth which enables you to rapidly build pleasing melodies by prodding a grid. Multiple layers and various instruments provide scope for complex compositions, and you can save sessions or, handily, store and share compositions via email. You can also buy more instruments via in-app purchases.
5. Bloomberg for iPad With an eye-searing white-and-orange-on-black colour scheme that's a little like being repeatedly punched in the eyes, Bloomberg isn't an app you'll want to spend all day staring at. However, for business news, stocks, and major currency rates, it's a usable and efficient app.
6. Comics (universal) On the iPhone, Comics is innovative, but zooming each panel and constantly rotating your device gets old fast. By contrast, the iPad's screen is big enough to display an entire page without the need to zoom or scroll. And with dozens of free comics available via the bundled store, comic-book fans should lap this app up.
7. Dictionary.com - Dictionary & Thesaurus - For iPad We approached Dictionary with scepticism, since most free dictionary apps are sluggish interfaces to websites. That's certainly what this looks like, but it works offline, providing speedy access to over a million words and 90,000 thesaurus entries. The app's search is also reassuringly fast.
8. Dropbox (universal) Dropbox is a great service for syncing documents across multiple devices. The iPad client works like the iPhone one (hardly surprising, since this is a universal app), enabling you to preview many file types and store locally those marked as favourites.
9. Evernote (universal) Like Dropbox, Evernote (a free online service for saving ideas—text documents, images, web clips—that you can then access from multiple devices) works like the iPhone version, and benefits from the iPad's larger screen, which enables you to see and navigate your stored snippets more easily.
10. Feeddler RSS Reader for iPad Feeddler RSS Reader for iPad is fairly basic as RSS readers go, but once you've pointed it at your Google Reader account it's efficient, stores text offline, enables you to browse by feed, and has a built-in browser so you're not booted to Safari when you want to visit a link. As with many iPad apps, you get a full-screen view in portrait mode.
11. The Guardian Eyewitness A showcase for engaging photography, The Guardian Eyewitness provides a daily, visual reflection of global events. You get access to the most recent 100 photos, which can be viewed full-screen or with a caption and 'pro tip'. You can also save photos to your iPad or share them via email.
12. iBooks Going head-to-head with Kindle, iBooks is a decent ebook reader, backed by the iBookstore. As you'd expect from Apple the interface is polished (if not quite up to the standards of iPhone app Eucalyptus), and on downloading the app you get a free copy of Winnie the Pooh.
13. IM+ Lite (universal) Although third-party multi-tasking is coming to iPad this autumn, it's not here yet, making things tough for instant-messaging fans. However, IM+ Lite enables you to run a number of IM services (including Twitter and Facebook) in a single app, and there's also a built-in web browser for checking out links.
14. Kindle (universal) Amazon's Kindle iPad app for reading over 500,000 books available at the Kindle Store is a little workmanlike, and doesn't match the coherence of iBooks (you buy titles in Safari and 'sync' purchases via Kindle). However, Kindle's fine for reading, and you get options to optimise your experience (including the ability to kill the naff page-turn animation and amend the page background to a pleasant sepia tone).
15. Movies by Flixter (universal) One for film buffs, Movies figures out where you are and tells you what's showing in your local cinemas - or you can pick a film and it'll tell you where and when it's on. The app is functionally identical on iPad and iPhone, but again the extra screen space improves the experience.
16. PaperDesk Lite for iPad Effectively a souped-up digital notepad, PaperDesk Lite for iPad enables you to combine typed words, scribbles and audio recordings in user-defined notebooks. Pages can be emailed (typed text is sent along with a copy of the entire page as a PDF), although be mindful that this free version restricts you to three pages per notebook.
17. PCalc Lite (universal) PCalc Lite's existence means the lack of a built-in iPad calculator doesn't bother us (in fact, we'd love to replace the iPhone Calculator app with PCalc Lite as well). This app is usable and feature-rich - and if you end up wanting more, in-app purchases enable you to bolt on extras from the full PCalc.
18. Reuters News Pro for iPad Annoyingly, spurious 'anti competition' complaints meant the BBC News app took a while to come to the UK; in the meantime, Reuters offered the next best free news app for iPad with its Reuters News Pro for iPad. It's a little US-centric, but can be skewed towards UK coverage via the Settings app, and it's worth downloading for a more international take on news coverage than BBC News provides.
19. Twitterrific for iPad The iPad version of Twitterrific reportedly marks a new beginning for the app, which the developers think has become too complicated on iPhone. On iPad, things are more bare-bones, but this ensures Twitterrific is a simple, good-looking and usable Twitter client.
20. Wikipanion for iPad The Wikipedia website works fine in Safari for iPad, but dedicated apps make navigating the site simpler and faster. We went back and forth between Simplepedia and Wikipanion, eventually plumping for the latter, largely due to its efficient two-pane landscape view with excellent bookmarking and history access.
21. eBay for iPad Use eBay for iPad and you'll never touch eBay in a web browser again. It's fast and efficient, beautifully showcasing important details and images in its main results view; the app also enables quickfire sorting and drag-based definition of price-ranges. It's a little feature-light (no notifications), but eBay promises aspects of eBay Mobile will be integrated soon.
22. Soundrop (universal) Soundrop is a minimal generative sound toy which offers an endless stream of balls, which make noises when they collide with and bounce off of user-drawn lines. The overall result is surprisingly fun and hypnotic. For more advanced features - save, multiple instruments, gravity adjustment - there's a £1.19 in-app 'pro' purchase option.
23. Granimator Wallpaper apps litter the App Store, but are mostly dull, offering photos of brick walls or bored animals. Granimator is a bonkers art tool, enabling you to choose a background and spray all manner of shapes around. Compositions can be fine-tuned by dragging objects, and then shared to Flickr, Twitter or your device's Photos app.
24. Google Earth (universal) It's not the smoothest app in the world, and it lacks some elements from the desktop (such as street view), but Google Earth is nonetheless a joy on the iPad. Touch gestures are an intuitive means of swooping around the planet, and the optional layers enable you to display as much or as little ancillary information as you wish.
25. Explore Flickr (universal) Explore Flickr provides an engaging way to discover new photography. On launch, your iPad screen fills with a grid of thumbnails, drawn from flickr.com's top daily images. Tap one to view (and, if rights permit, download to your device), or just leave the app lazily updating (every now and again, a thumbnail spins to reveal a new image) while your iPad charges in its dock.
26. Rj Voyager One for budding iPad DJs, Rj Voyager enables you to choose from a selection of bundled tracks, turn parts on and off, and edit parameters in real-time via an intuitive, futuristic interface. Play through headphones or a decent sound system, and the result is infectious.
27. BBC News (universal) With the BBC's website still reliant on Flash video, this BBC News app - now finally available in the UK - provides access to latest stories, including video elements. Categories can be rearranged, stories can be shared, and the app's layout adjusts to portrait and landscape orientations.
28. Epicurious (universal) Tens of thousands of recipes at your fingertips (assuming you have a web connection) ensure Epicurious is worth a download for the culinary-inclined. The app even composes a shopping list for recipes; it's just a pity the app doesn't include measurements for those of us who use that new-fangled 'metric' system.
29. WordPress (universal) This official, open-source WordPress app is perhaps a bit basic for composing anything but text-based blog posts from scratch, since the editor is HTML-only (sorry, WordPress Visual editor fans—both of you). However, it's great to have installed for making quick edits to existing content and for managing comments.
30. TV Guide for iPad It's crazy that TV Guide for iPad omits the website's search and the iPhone version's ability to flag upcoming shows with alarms, but otherwise this is a first-rate TV guide for UK viewers. The interface is silky smooth, and you can easily omit channels you don't watch.
31. Adobe Photoshop Express
With people regularly moaning about bloat in Adobe's desktop applications, it's great to see the giant create something as focussed and usable as Adobe Photoshop Express. Its toolset is strictly for basic edits (crop, straighten, rotate, flip), levels and lighting adjustments, and applying a few effects, but the app is fast, stable and extremely useable. Top marks. 32. AppShopper
Prices on the App Store go up and down like a yo-yo and Apple's own wish-list mechanics leave a lot to be desired. You're better off using AppShopper, which lists bargain apps and also enables you to compile a wish-list and be notified when an item drops in price. 33. Find my iPhone
Surprisingly freed by Apple from the shackles of the paid version of MobileMe, many users rapidly discovered they needed a 2010 device to sign up to Find my iPhone. Luckily, the iPad is a 2010 device, so it can be used to create an account; you can then add older iOS devices to keep an eye on where they are. 34. Flipboard
Initially, Flipboard looked like a gimmick, trying desperately to make online content resemble a magazine. But now it can integrate Google Reader, Flickr and other networks, beautifully laying out their articles, Flipboard's muscled into the 'essential' category - and it's still free. 35. Friendly for Facebook
Since Facebook doesn't seem to be in a hurry to update its great iPhone app for the iPad, download Friendly instead. Its main advantage is speed - despite some oddball interface elements here and there, Friendly's mostly, well, friendly. It also supports multiple accounts, offers customisable colours, and while it's ad-supported, the ads aren't obtrusive. 36. IMDB
IMDB might be a wee bit US-focussed at times (much like the movie industry), but the app is a great way to browse more movie-related info than you could ever hope to consume in a single lifetime. Settings enable you to define which sites IMDB and Amazon info is taken from, and the showtimes finder works pretty well. 37. Read It Later Free
Read It Later and Instapaper battle it out for 'article scraper' king, but Read It Later trumps its rival in appealing to iPad-owning cheapskates. Instapaper requires a 'pro' purchase for iPad goodness, but Read It Later Free is, suitably, free. It's also very fast and has a great original article/plain-text toggle. 38. TED
TED describes itself as "riveting talks by remarkable people, free to the world". The app pretty much does as you'd expect - you get quick access to dozens of inspiring videos. However, it goes the extra mile in enabling you to save any talk for offline viewing, and also for providing hints on what to watch next if you've enjoyed a particular talk. 39. Twitter
It's a bit of a love-it-or-hate-it app, but Twitter showcases some breathtaking UI innovation; if you can deal with its unique way of presenting timelines and associated content, you'll find it an efficient and intuitive means of using Twitter. 40. Virtuoso Piano Free 2 HD
There's not a great deal to piano app Virtuoso Piano Free 2 HD, but it's not bad for a freebie. You get a dual-keyboard set-up, with optional key labels, and you can shift octaves and notes by prodding arrows. A really nice touch is the 'duette' [sic] button, which flips a keyboard so that two people can play at once.
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| Posted: 17 Dec 2010 03:40 AM PST  The original Tron, released back in 1982, was famously prophetic. Not only did it foreshadow a vision of the internet as a (badly dressed, game obsessed) community, back when the term broadband hadn't even been coined, it also ushered in a bold new era of visual effects. Now decades later, the Tron universe has been rebooted with the spectacular Tron Legacy, a dizzying audiovisual techno-mash of a movie. To learn more Tech Radar caught up with director Joe Kosinski on the London leg of Tron Legacy's European launch tour.
Lightcycle not bandwagon Tron Legacy is a film infused with pioneering technology. It's the first 3D movie to integrate a photorealistic digital head and body into the cast, the first to partner with a videogame company (Electronic Arts) for motion capture and the first to utilise self-illuminating suits, powered by batteries hidden in the character's backpack LED Light discs. But for most movie-goers, the headline technology for the bigscreen blockbuster will be its use of 3D. In many respects, the film picks up where Avatar left off, both in terms of vision and technology. Joe Kosinski says that the Tron sequel is not another movie jumping the 3D bandwagon. He says it was always conceived as a cutting-edge 3D movie: "Yes, from the very beginning, three years ago; two years before Avatar was even released, we were committed to making a fully 3D movie, shot with the Cameron Fusion system."
Discipline 3D film-making was a discipline Kosinski was keen to explore, despite the technical challenges it posed. "3D cameras are big and heavy and when you're shooting in 3D there are a lot of extra variables to take into account," says Kosinski, "but it it's a really nice option to have with this kind of movie, because it allows you to immerse your audience in a very different way." Although the audience is required to wear 3D glasses throughout, the movie only shifts into 3D when Garrett Hedlund, the son of missing computer genius Jeff Bridges, is transported to the digital world of the Grid. "We've gone for a Wizard of Oz approach, the 3D really starts when we get into the Grid," he says. Consequently, its use of 3D doesn't feel like marketing hype. It serves the story. While viewers have become familiar with the tricks and conceits of digital movie-making over the past few years, Tron Legacy still manages to surprise. The reappearance of CLU, in the form of a younger digital version of Jeff Bridges, is one scene-stealer. The first photorealistic 3D digital character based on a living actor, CLU is a remarkable step up from the digital renders of Tom Hanks (Polar Express) and Jim Carrey (A Christmas Carol). The director says he hope the majority of popcorn munchers won't even realise that CLU is a digital character. "I hope they consider him real," he says. "It's hard to keep secrets with the way the internet works; everyone knows everything or they're trying to find out about all the behind the scenes stuff."
A different kind of 3D Tron Legacy is far from another cookie-cutter 3D yarn. Kosinski, who cut his teeth on videogame TV commercials for Gears of War and Halo, has clearly endeavoured to do something rather fresh with his 3D lens. Rather than keep everything sharp to infinity, the director has mixed parallax effects with conventional compositions using selective focus. Not only is this technique eye-catching when used in the third dimension, it'll doubtless serve the film well when it's viewed in conventional 2D. Also distinctive is a striking use of top-downward looking shots, which mix height and depth to create an unsettling POV. "Predominantly, most of the movie occurs behind the scene (in positive parallax). The 3D is meant to be an immersive experience, to pull you into it. But isn't it weird how those vertical shots have that much more effect?" says Kosinski."For some reason, I figured out really early that if you're looking out across a landscape in 3D it's one thing, but as soon as you get the camera up and look down - even if you have the same 3D settings - it triggers a sense of . . . vertigo. The top down shots have so much more depth to them. So once I realised this, it was fun to look for moments when it made sense to shoot like that."
Keeping it real The director says that for all Tron Legacy's CG elements, if the 3D was going to work it had to be grounded within actual sets made of glass, concrete and steel, and shot on real cameras. This hyper-reality philosophy extended to the creation of the movie's futuristic vehicles. "We actually built all the cockpits for the car and the jets," lead Vehicle designer Daniel Simon told Tech Radar, "so that the actors could perfectly interact with everything. They could sit in the cockpit of the Light Runner (a Grid racer which morphs into an off-roader when needs must), turn the ignition key and have everything light up beautifully; they could turn the wheel and even click the gear shifter. All the rest is 3D graphics. It's so important for the actors to hold onto something; otherwise the onscreen world is just not believable."
2D to 3D conversions Despite the complexity of the project, director Joe Kiniski says he never considered shooting Tron Legacy flat and dimensionalising it in post production. 'I'm not a big fan of converted movies, it's just a cheap way out" he tells us, making a clear reference to Clash Of The Titans. "Converted movies often aren't even meant to be done in 3D, they try and convert them after the fact for marketing reasons. Tron Legacy was shot and conceived in 3D, every step of the way." Audiences are getting savvy; they can tell the difference between a 2D-to-3D conversion and a real 3D movie. This is why I'm trying to get the word out that this film was shot in, and meant to be seen in, 3D." However, the director concedes that the format doesn't "make sense for every movie. It does take more time and money to do it right."
The IMAX cut Perhaps the ultimate 3D Tron Legacy experience is to be had at Imax cinemas. A larger-than-life special edition of the movie has been produced for these theatres, which combine 3D projection system with the IMAX's larger-than-decent screen size. "There are seven sequences in this film that have been digitally re-worked for IMAX," reveals Joe. "When you see the movie in an IMAX theatre you're going to get extra image area at the top and bottom of the frame, so that it really fills your vision." The director reveals that the re-rendered IMAX sequences total 43 minutes of the movie's running time. "We're now talking with Disney about doing an IMAX version on the Blu-ray," confides Kosinski. "If you pick that version, those seven sequences will expand from 2.35:1 to fill your entire television. It should be pretty cool."
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| Free PlayStation app heading to iPhone and Android Posted: 17 Dec 2010 03:26 AM PST  While the world awaits official news of the PSP phone, Sony has announced the imminent release of a free PlayStation app for iPhone and Android users. The app will be available on Apple iOS 4 or above and any Android version 1.6 (Donut) or higher. In version 1.0, users can check their achievements and keep an eye on friends' online statuses, as well as receive news of updates to PlayStation hardware and a feed from the PlayStation Europe blog. No games to play Unlike Windows Phone 7's Xbox Live hub, however, the PlayStation app won't offer any PlayStation games to play on your handset in version 1.0. With a release date no more accurate than "soon", the PlayStation app will be available to iPhone and Android users in the UK, France, Germany, Spain, Italy, and The Netherlands. Sony is already hard at work on the next version of the app, promising "tons more features" to come in the next few months. 
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| Updated: HTC Tablet rumours: what you need to know Posted: 17 Dec 2010 02:52 AM PST  Once upon a time, Apple made a phone. Rivals tried to copy it, but the iPhone was too good and their efforts too bad. And then HTC appeared. "Look!" it said. "A smartphone!" And the HTC phones were good, and lots of people bought them. Now, though, Apple has seen similar success with its iPad – so does HTC have a tablet of its own to take on the iPad? If anyone can make a real iPad rival it's HTC, and while the HTC Tablet and specs haven't been acknowledged by HTC, the rumour mill says it's real. Here's what we know and what we'd like to see in the HTC Tablet. UPDATE: On 17 December we reported on an interview with HTC CEO Peter Chou, which some news outlets took to be confirmation of an incoming HTC Tablet. HTC Tablet: Chrome OS no more? We expected the first Chrome-powered tablet to come from HTC last month, but it didn't turn up. That's apparently because HTC has shifted its efforts to Android; the change of tack has put the HTC Tablet release date back, too. HTC Tablet: Android 3.0 Pocket Lint says Taiwanese component manufacturers are gossiping like fishwives, claiming that the HTC Tablet OS will be Android 3.0. The HTC Tablet features look pretty nifty If DigiTimes' sources are correct, the HTC Tablet and specs are in the capable hands of Taiwanese notebook maker Pegatron, whose name sounds fantastic if you shout it in your best Movie Trailer Man voice. Pegatron - PEGATRON! - has declined to comment, but DigiTimes says the tablet it's building runs a Tegra 2 processor, has a 1280 x 720 multi-touch panel, a 32GB solid state drive, 2GB of RAM and the usual Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and GPS. The HTC Tablet features include "multimedia performance… stronger than that of iPad", Chrome Web Apps and the Android Market. Imagine an HTC Desire HD scaled up a bit and you get the idea. Sounds good to us. The HTC Tablet release date could be in early 2011 Taiwanese gossips predict a Q1 2011 release, says Pocket Lint. The HTC Tablet release date might be in Q2, not Q1 According to DigiTimes, Apple Daily says that a JP Morgan analyst says that Google is messing around with its Android support. Motorola is Google's priority for 3.0, LG will be priority for 3.5 and HTC follows on, which means the HTC Tablet won't ship before the second quarter of 2011. UPDATE: ON 2 December 2010, DigiTimes reported vice president for HTC Asia Jack Tong as saying that HTC was currently evaluating the tablet market and had yet to make a decision as to whether it would launch a tablet. We're not sure we're convinced by that statement... HTC Tablet features include something "really compelling", like a free horse or a time machine Speaking to Pocket Lint, HTC's global PR boss Eric Lin said the firm wasn't interested in me-too devices. "If we just release an Android tablet we're one of 81… whereas if we have a compelling feature, a really compelling use, anything like that, then it'll help us to stand out. It's going to take a lot of work searching for that." What could it be? A free horse? A time machine? We'll be gutted if it's just a slightly tweaked Sense UI. The HTC Tablet may be called the HTC Evo Shift 4G Engadget spotted some trademark filings where HTC was attempting to trademark the term HTC Evo Shift 4G. Another smartphone, or something even bigger? Slashgear hopes it's "a 7-inch HTC tablet with integrated 4G to take on Samsung's Galaxy Tab". Any evidence for that? Of course not. This is the internet! The HTC Tablet price may be $790 The DigiTimes report we mentioned earlier took a stab at the HTC Tablet price, and it predicts that without subsidy it'll be $789.75. The HTC Tablet price might be zero Download Squad says the HTC Tablet will launch on Verizon in the US with a price tag of zero depending on the tariff you choose. Similar deals are likely here: we've already seen Three, T-Mobile and Orange offer subsidised iPads. The HTC Tablet is being made by Pegatron PEGATRON! 
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| In Depth: BlackBerry PlayBook OS up close Posted: 17 Dec 2010 02:48 AM PST  We've still only had a few glimpses of the BlackBerry PlayBook in action but RIM is telling developers a little more about how the operating system and interface will look and the way you'll be able to work with it. It has also confirmed that the PlayBook will be available with 16GB, 32GB or 64GB and unlike some cheaper Android tablets it will definitely have a 1GHz processor. The first PlayBook will have a 7" screen, with a 1024 by 600 resolution but reminders to developers to design their UI for 'different screen sizes' and to use percentages rather than absolute sizes hint again at the multiple screen sizes we've predicted in the past. To make sure the interface makes sense at different screen sizes, apps don't have to fit just in the current screen size or split functionality into different dialogs: it's just fine to scroll off screen. RIM talks about a 'limitless' screen that users can tap and swipe their way through.
BIG APPS: Apps run full screen but they don't have to fit inside the screen size; you can scroll down for more The style of apps is going to be more like the flat look of Windows Phone than the buttons you see in iPhone apps; RIM is encouraging developers to make the content work as the navigation. So in a list of headlines you won't pick one and click on an 'Open' button; you'll just tap on the headline. Extra features that don't fit with that flow should go on the menu, which you open with a BlackBerry Storm-style gesture, swiping your finger down from the top of the screen.
TOUCH TYPE: The PlayBook on-screen keyboard Some apps will also have popup menus that appear when you press and hold your finger on the screen the way you can on the Torch and Storm. We haven't spotted a physical menu button on the PlayBook prototypes we've seen either, so get used to gestures; dragging your finger up from the bottom of the screen shows the horizontal strip of running applications RIM calls the navigator.
BUSINESS AS USUAL: Familiar BlackBerry styles for buttons and lists
MEDIA PLAYER: Use your finger for gestures and on-screen controls Dragging in from either side of the screen will switch you straight to the next or previous application that's running. We're hoping that doesn't get confusing; if you're swiping to scroll through the content in the current app, you don't want to accidentally trigger the menu or even switch to the next app. If you want to pick some text or one item in a list (like an email or a photo), use press-and-hold; if you want to select a long section of text, touch the beginning of the text with one finger and the end with another (at the same time). And as with almost every touch screen device now, you can use two fingers to pinch and zoom.
KEEPING TIDY: Tabs organise your apps so it's not just one overwhleming list You can also use your fingers to drag the progress bar in a song or video to move forward or back and to change the volume, if you don't want to use the physical media buttons on the side of the PlayBook. Apps can still have buttons and check boxes, including 'toggle' buttons that you can tap or drag to change the setting on. Buttons, lists and text all have the familiar BlackBerry look and they'll switch with the style of the theme in use. The PlayBook will come with two themes; the default is black text on a grey and white background but you can switch to white text on black.
SWITCH THEME: PlayBook will have a standard white theme and an optional black theme We haven't seen tools for creating new themes, but there are ways for developers to 'skin' their buttons with their own design style. Unlike the home screen on BlackBerry OS 6 which mixes system and application notifications in wherever they fit above and below the date and time, the home and navigator screen on the PlayBook is much tidier – it puts notifications from apps on the top left and all the status icons for the system on the top right. You can tap the notification to see the details. You won't see the notification bar in third-party apps at all (just like on the BlackBerry today) and when you do see it in RIM apps like the official media player it seems to be more consistent (even in BlackBerry OS 6, you see the signal strength in all the RIM apps but others appear and disappear - the battery icon shows up in Messages but not in Contacts).
TO THE LEFT: App notifications go on the left side of the screen
TO THE RIGHT: System status notifications go on the right side of the screen All in all, the new user interface looks like it's going to tidy up the look of BlackBerry even more than OS 6 has and make it a bit more fun and colourful. 
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| Yahoo flicks kill switch on Delicious and AltaVista Posted: 17 Dec 2010 02:35 AM PST  Yahoo has decided to slim down its organisation and kill off some of its best-known web properties. Both Delicious, the bookmarking service, and AltaVista are set for the chop, after some internal slides were leaked. Delicious was bought back in 2005 by Yahoo and did have around 5 million users. Alta Vista is from the web of old – a search engine that was once the most popular, until Google arrived to dominate this area. Streamlining products The leaked slides were confirmed by Yahoo as being real. The company released a statement saying: "Part of our organisational streamlining involves cutting our investment in underperforming or off-strategy products to put better focus on our core strengths and fund new innovation in the next year and beyond." "We continuously evaluate and prioritise our portfolio of products and services, and do plan to shut down some products in the coming months." 
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