Sponsored
Techradar |
- Opinion: 'Software vendors are mere stewards for ideas'
- Review: Olive 03HD
- Tutorial: How to export photos from iPhoto
- Review: Cyrus Mono X 300
| Opinion: 'Software vendors are mere stewards for ideas' Posted: 18 Dec 2010 04:00 AM PST  From the outside, the world of open source software can appear turbulent, disorganised and disparate. But when it comes to the creation of software, these consequences work to its advantage. Open source development is a democracy. These attributes make Linux effective, interesting, diverting and productive. You can do what you want with the source code behind the software. You can add features, remove broken ones, fix problems, bolt on attachments and even copy an entire project verbatim. You can sell the software, use it as part of a commercial endeavour, rebrand it, copy it, redistribute it and charge to support it. You can make it your own. The set of free software licences used by most open source software guarantees these freedoms, and for most of them, your only obligation is to share your changes to the source code. It's still the best reason for using free software, and it's something none of its competitors can touch. This is why there's so much choice and diversity, and it's from this chaos of unstructured development that order eventually coalesces, forming some of the major open source projects we all love, from OpenOffice.org and GIMP to Fedora and Ubuntu. It's a competitive environment, where the low cost of software means features and usability are what bring a project to dominance, rather than a great piece of marketing or an influential sponsor (even if both of these are having an increasing effect). In a world that's become used to six-month release cycles and free updates, it's easy to forget that the random fluctuations of free software development are never far from the surface, and that's definitely a good thing. This fluctuation is the best evidence we've got that the developers still care, and that apathy isn't taking a project to the retirement village of an inactive SourceForge account. Dramatic changes still happen, and two influential free software projects have recently undergone the ultimate metamorphosis – they've been forked. Forks are cataclysmic A fork is the complete duplication of a project from one host to another, usually by a group of developers and users who have become so dispossessed and disenfranchised by the original project that they have no other option. Outwardly, it's a sign that a project's leaders aren't listening to its contributors. Inwardly, it's a sign that nothing is changing and that the project may have lost its purpose. A fork is a cataclysmic event. It's never taken lightly, and usually only as a last resort. It's happened many times in the past, most notably with XFree86, the X Window system used by the vast majority of Linux distributions and many other free operating systems. X is one of the most important components in Linux. It handles screen updates and the way the user interacts with the system. The old guard at XFree86 had become unpopular – in a world where other GUIs were rapidly gaining functionality, such as anti-aliased fonts, shadows and compositing, X was going nowhere with XFree86. It was forked and became X.org. At the time, many of us thought this was a mistake. Why risk a vital OS component with an untested new group? But the results were staggering. X.org implemented almost all the features we'd wanted for years, and went from strength to strength. Mandriva, the Linux distribution, has become Mageia. Some of its core developers and community members have taken the brave decision to go it alone. Like XFree86, it's a fork that's come after many years of apathy, with too little innovation and financial reward. A fork in this case has nothing to lose, because the alternative is nothing. A fork for those people who still care means Mandriva's survival, and that's exactly what can't happen in the world of proprietary software. Even more dramatic is the latest fork of OpenOffice.org, the essential office suite that gives many people the only real alternative to Microsoft Office, and is now owned by Oracle. Under its previous owner, Sun Microsytems, change happened too slowly. There was a particularly draconian grip on what changes were allowed, and even the copyright over those changes. Things haven't improved quickly enough at Oracle either, and this has given the community enough momentum to create the LibreOffice fork. LibreOffice and Mageia are important parts of the continued success of free software, but what's more important – and quite unlike the proprietary world – is that free software vendors need reminding that they're stewards for people's software and ideas. And Linux is the best possible ark for bringing those ideas home. 
| ||
| Posted: 18 Dec 2010 02:00 AM PST  The Olive 03HD has a sharply focused band of customers in its sights. It wants to appeal to those people who realise that music stored on hard disk is definitely the way forward, but who have no inclination to become computer network aficionados and who simply do not want to mess about with computers. In short, it is a plug and play solution for those who have no idea what plug and play technology is, nor how it works. And the design could fairly be described as barebones. In fact, even an ardent technophobe ought to find it the simplest introduction they've ever come across to computer audio. CD ripper The simplicity is evident the moment you unbox the 03HD. There's nothing to do, bar connecting the mains cable; fitting a pair of analogue interconnects between it and your amplifier and then connecting a Cat5 network patch cable, in order to give the unit access to your network and the internet. Power-up the Olive and it discovers the network automatically. There is no wireless connection with the 03HD, so that does away with one set-up complication for those who are not comfortable with networking. It also conveniently does away with problems that novice users might encounter with Wi-Fi , if they opted for it... but let us not get involved with the potential pitfalls of Wi-Fi, which is another story entirely. Those who do not enjoy using their laptops to poke around in a server's innards will simply use the integral CD ripper to copy CDs to the 500GB hard disk inside the 03HD. Choices of how you rip CDs can be made through the display, with uncompressed WAV for anyone who wants a smallish collection of pristine-quality files (around 1,500 CDs), or default-rate FLAC for those who are content with compressed (although not lossily compressed) archive-standard files. For those who are not unduly concerned about audio quality, the 03HD will also rip to 128-bit AAC, or 128/320-bit MP3. The internal DAC is a Cirrus Logic design, that will handle signals up to 24-bit/192kHz, even though CD rips on the 03HD will only be16-bit/44.1kHz. The unit can access shared network storage, where you might well have high-resolution downloads stored. Externally, there is little to distinguish the 03HD from the 4HD. The rake-fronted styling is the same, but the assembly of the 03HD is more cost-effective and the casework is steel rather than the aluminium used on the 4HD. There are also fewer connections and no digital or HDMI sockets. Olive felt that neither facility was appropriate for its target market. The 03HD has the same polished Maestro user interface as its more expensive big brother... but it feels slightly more responsive.
There is also a free iPhone/iPad app for those who regard laziness as a full-time occupation. As seems to be the way with such apps, it is by far the easiest way to control players and servers. Heath Robinson This unit is built down to a price, so one should not expect too much in the way of fantastic looks. In fact, a not-especially-close inspection reveals a host of screws (secure fastenings, is probably a better description) holding it together. As a result, two words spring to mind: Heath and Robinson. And donning an aesthete's cap we would certainly question the choice of gaudy Day-Glo yellow as the colour for the plastic surround to the CD loading slot. Internally, however, things look a lot better. There is a quality TEAC CD-RW mechanism for importing and exporting CDs and an ultra-quiet Western Digital AV hard disk for storing ripped CDs – up to 1,500 uncompressed albums. The CD-RW unit is also exceedingly quiet in operation: even when it's ripping a disc, the noise level barely reached 45dB at the mouth of the phlegm-coloured slot. By comparison, the fan in a laptop produces 55dB! Because there is an iPhone app to control the 03HD, you only really need access it to rip discs, so you could easily park it on the bottom shelf of your equipment rack if you want to hide it from view. Or you could simply buy the black version, where the fixings are not quite as obvious as they are on the silver version. Big brother The Olive 03HD (like its bigger brother, the 04HD) is a musically persuasive player, following in the British tradition of pace, rhythm and timing. However, it is also highly detailed in an American high-end fashion. All round, it is remarkably capable when you consider what it offers at its bargain-basement price. We were keen to test its performance with 24-bit/192kHz material stored on a NAS, which would show up any failings in the UPnP transport and DAC side of things. To do this, we played the William Carter album, Fernando Sor Early Works and found nothing about which to complain. The music played flawlessly with no glitches, stuttering or interruptions. It also displayed all its expected chiaroscuro and subtle drama and Carter's guitar technique was magnificently documented – his mastery of dynamics, was vividly portrayed. The distinctive timbre of his baroque instrument was beautifully rendered: even the sound of his fingers sliding along the neck and the harmonics he picks had their own characteristic and individual signatures. Bringing out the individual character of particular voices and instruments seems to be a strongpoint of the 03HD, something that was demonstrated by the 24-bit/96kHz recording of singer/songwriter Dawn Langstroth, Highwire. There was nothing forced or 'uncomfortable' about this detailing, because the voicing of the 03HD seemed ideally judged to let it all integrate perfectly: the highs, while being expressive and revealing were not too hot or oppressive, while the LF had a pleasant warmth and sense of power without being overwhelming, along with fine articulation. The 03HD maintains its balanced tonality and revealing, empathetic nature playing CD-resolution rips from its local hard disk. It easily discriminated between decent-quality and less well-recorded discs. Even so, it always does its best to reveal all the musical information and performance that it could scavenge. Finally, we appear to have neglected the internet radio facility, which is always a useful feature and one that sounds rather fine, if not truly audiophile quality, on the 03HD. Twonky media manager It would be churlish to pick fault with the Olive 03HD. For not a great deal of money, you get a fine CD-ripper, very respectable playback quality and very decent sounding internet radio – at the higher data rates – thrown in for good measure. The CD storage will be adequate for most folks, but the 03HD will access network storage and play back from it – provided you can install Twonky media manager on the NAS, which is not difficult – so you have the facility for adding huge amounts of extra storage, if you need it. Related Links
| ||
| Tutorial: How to export photos from iPhoto Posted: 18 Dec 2010 02:00 AM PST  Using photos from your iPhoto library in other applications is fairly straightforward. Just drag them from the iPhoto window onto the app, into a document window or onto the Desktop. What you'll get is a copy of the file in its original format – unless, that is, it's a raw file, in which case iPhoto will produce a JPEG conversion. To get at the raw file itself, you either need to right-click on its thumbnail and choose Show File to display its location in the Finder (which is a bit of a pain), or choose the Export option from the File menu and select Original from the File Export tab. There are a number of other flexible file export options here too. Dragging thumbnails from the iPhoto window creates same-sized images with the same filenames, but in this dialog it's possible to specify different sizes, formats and file types. You could create a folder of images for a web page, for example. Need to send low-res samples to a customer, friend or colleague? This is the place to do it. And if you've used Places to add geotagging details to photos, exporting them via this dialog will embedd the location information in the metadata. This Export Photos dialog has four tabs, though, and File Export is just the first. Using the others, you can generate web albums and movies from your photos, and while there's some crossover with iPhoto's other web and slideshow tools, they're still worth a look as useful alternatives. The Web Page export tools are basic, but could be useful if you need to prepare an interactive gallery for anyone to use. The two remaining tabs, QuickTime and Slideshow, both create standalone movie files from sets of photos, but go about it in a different way. The Slideshow tab works alongside iPhoto's own slideshow features. The QuickTime tab generates a much simpler slideshow in the QuickTime format, dispensing with fancy transitions and effects, and substituting a simple fade between photos. The Export Photos dialog is useful for exporting batches of photos with custom filenames and settings, but its other export options, particularly the QuickTime export, could prove just as handy. Let's take a look. How to use the Export Photos dialog 1. Export file format
When you use iPhoto's File Export tab, you can choose the file format, the quality (for JPEGs) and the file size – useful if you want to export pictures for web pages or email. If you want the original photo, you should choose Original from the Kind menu. 2. Export file size
If you need to change the size, choose from iPhoto's Small, Medium or Large settings, but you'll probably find it more useful to specify the dimensions using the Custom setting. This enables you to set the maximum size for width or height – 1,000 pixels, for example. 3. Web Page export
The Web Page tab generates a basic web album, exporting it as a set of HTML files to a disk folder, rather than uploading it to a remote server. Select the size of the thumbnails and the grid layout, and the size of the photos you see when you click on a thumbnail. 4. Exported web pages
For slick-looking web albums, send your photos to iWeb, or MobileMe galleries (if you have an account). The pages produced by this option are very basic. But it is a quick way to produce clickable galleries for your own use or distribution to others. 5. QuickTime export
The QuickTime export option generates a movie where each slide is displayed for a fixed period (the Display image for: box) using a simple 'fade' transition. You can set the size of the QuickTime window/movie using the Width and Height boxes; photos are scaled to fit. 6. QuickTime playback
Doing this is a lot quicker than setting up a custom iPhoto slideshow, both in terms of setup time and how long it takes iPhoto to generate the movie. The movie that's produced can be controlled using simple play/pause and forward wind/rewind buttons. 7. Slideshow export
If you select the Slideshow tab, iPhoto will create a more sophisticated movie based on the last-used Slideshow settings, including any themes, transitions and music. The Custom Export button opens up more options, but they quickly get complicated, so try out the presets. 8. Slideshow movies
The Slideshow option generates an MPEG4 movie rather than a QuickTime file; this will open in iTunes by default, but you can also open it with the QuickTime Player. The results are slick, thanks to iPhoto's slideshow features, but the movies take a while to generate. 
| ||
| Posted: 18 Dec 2010 01:30 AM PST  Cyrus is not a brand that we associate with high power amplifiers. It made its name with compact integrated designs that were renowned for their agility and musicality rather than muscle. But times clearly change and, while Cyrus still uses half-width magnesium casework, what it puts inside them is completely different. The Mono X 300 is a total refinement of the Mono X that preceded it. We would be impressed if anyone could fit a 300-watt class D switching amplifier into a Cyrus case, let alone one with a linear power supply. So what gives? High achievement This amp is not merely about power either, the avoidance of global feedback in the circuitry marks it out as a rarity in the transistor amp universe. Others utilise this mode of operation (Ayre and Vitus Audio among them) and if you were to check the prices charged by these brands it will be apparent that the Mono X 300 looks like good value. The zero-feedback circuit allows the front and rear stages of the amplifier to work independently, so the corrections required in the high-powered output stage do not influence what's going on at the input stage. Cyrus cites the main benefit to be very low noise, especially through the midband where we are naturally most sensitive to distortion. This is not the first zero-feedback power amp from the company. The first one appeared seven years ago and has been modified and upgraded in production. For the Mono X 300 and the more affordable X 200, Cyrus has completely redone the circuit board layout and earthing, while replacing the transformers with examples that run more efficiently at standby. Confusingly, the X 300 is not strictly a 300-watt amplifier, but rather achieves that output into loads between eight and four ohms, which tallies with the dynamic impedance of most loudspeakers. As well as the usual on/off switch there is an input button to toggle between RCA and XLR inputs, you can also power up using the Cyrus MC BUS system or a 'music sense' mode that does what it says on the tin.
The amp has two small fans that operate if it's pushed hard for an extended period, but they were not audible while we were giving the amps a good thrashing. Boxing clever The build quality is consistent with that seen across the Cyrus range, a line-up which starts out at just over £500 for the 6 Power, the least expensive power amp. This means that it lacks the bling of other amps at the price, but its worth considering that you pay a high price for the casework on most high-end products. By amortising the cost of its die-cast magnesium casework across so many products, Cyrus is able to offer considerably better value than most in this sector. There aren't many high-powered monoblocks available at this price, but there are quite a few more powerful stereo amps to beat, not least Bryston's 4B SST2 (£4,500) and the slightly dearer Krell S275 (£5,795). Of course, power is no indication of quality and Naim's NAP 300 (£6,100) would probably give the Cyrus a musical run for its money. Jumping jive The Mono X 300 does not sound like a high-power amplifier – it doesn't have the grip and muscularity of a Bryston or a Krell, what it has instead is quite an astonishing degree of transparency. We heard things on discs that have been reference points for years that have not been apparent before, it's quite uncanny really that this can be achieved with 'just' a power amp. The new Townshend Glastonbury Pre preamp we had on loan had more than a little to do with this, but it was in use with our reference power amp before the X 300s turned up. In some respects these amps can sound soft, but this is because they deliver all the harmonics of the instrument or voice along with the fundamentals. All this finesse would not be so engaging if the timing did not hit the mark, but put on a punctual track like Fit Song by Cornelius and you know that speed is not an issue. Muscular amps are never able to deliver the degree of nimbleness on offer here and do not have the ability to make the music come alive. Thug Angels by Wyclef Jean is a bombastic track that needs both power and speed and these amps jump both those hurdles. Music thrills In all honesty, we thought that Cyrus had gone too far by making a power amp at this price, but we have been pleasantly surprised at how well the job has been done. The Mono X 300 maintains the company's characteristic musicality and adds a degree of definition that is higher than most we have heard. This is an extraordinary amplifier in a case that we have come to think of as ordinary, but which clearly does not hamper results. It will give you both the minutiae and the thrill of the music and puts Cyrus into the top league in no uncertain terms. Related Links
|
| You are subscribed to email updates from techradar To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
| Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610 | |
No comments:
Post a Comment