Techradar

HP was clear number 1 in 2010 PC sales
OCZ quits DRAM business, focuses on SSD
Google Translate update moves it closer to a babelfish
News Corp looking at sale of MySpace
iOS 4.3 beta out to devs, new features abound
T-Mobile backtracks on data allowance cut
T-Mobile backtracks on data allowance cut
Dell Venue Pro now delayed until mid-February
Formula One to be broadcast in HD on BBC
Gary Marshall: T-Mobile's new 'Screw You' data tariff
Carmack backing Nvidia ARM core
iOS 4.3 to bring Personal Hotspot to all iPhones
Updated: PSP2 rumours: what you need to know
PSP2 to be announced on 27 January?
PSP2 to be announced on 27 January?
Solar-powered Apple iPhones on the way?
Google's dropped support for H.264 sparks controversy
Packard Bell reveals EasyNote S Series notebooks
BBC man 'perplexed' by 3D overload
Review: Zotac GeForce GT 430 Zone Edition
Study shows too much screen time can lead to an early grave
Microsoft moves to dismiss Apple's 'App Store' trademark
Review: Gigabyte HD 5770 Silent Cell
In Depth: Can AMD's eight-core Bulldozer crush Intel?
HP doesn't want to be in the smartphone business

HP was clear number 1 in 2010 PC sales

Posted: 13 Jan 2011 01:31 AM PST

Hewlett Packard was the clear leader at the top of the PC sales market in 2010, according to Gartner's latest figures, but Dell and Lenovo put on growth spurts behind second placed Acer.

Hewlett Packard has a massive 7.9 per cent share of the global PC market – with estimates that it shipped a whopping 62.7 million PCs last year, compared to nearest rival Acer – whose 45.2 million shipments put it in second place with a 12.9 per cent share.

However, HP's market share had dropped significantly from its 2009 total of 19.1 per cent – and although Acer's share percentage remained the same, it was Lenovo that put on a major growth spurt to move up to a 9.7 per cent share and fourth place.

Dell up

Former number one Dell was 0.1 per cent up on its 2009 market share, and now has a 12.1 per cent share of the pot to take third place.

It was Tosihba in fifth place – and it moved up to a 5.4 per cent market share, with all other vendors bringing the remaining 42.1 per cent.

HP retained the No.1 position with good performances in the consumer mobile PC market, but less so in the professional mobile market, explained Gartner's report.

"Acer continued to grow its market despite the difficult consumer market conditions. Lenovo increased its consumer business presence in EMEA, which led it to make its debut in the top five PC vendors ranking, and Toshiba moved to the No. 6 position [for the Q4 figures]."

OCZ quits DRAM business, focuses on SSD

Posted: 13 Jan 2011 01:14 AM PST

OCZ has confirmed that it is pulling out of the DRAM memory market entirely as it looks to establish itself as a leading maker of solid state drives.

Citing the weakness of the DRAM market, OCZ confirmed that it would 'accelerate' plans to step away from random access memory units during its third quarter results announcement.

"In August 2010, the Company announced a strategic optimization of its memory products whereby it discontinued certain unprofitable commodity memory module products with the intent to continue only with certain high-performance memory products," said OCZ's announcement.

"However, since that time, there has been well-chronicled, continued weakness in the global DRAM markets."

Balanced

"Having balanced this DRAM market weakness against the capital needs of the Company's growing SSD products, the board has determined that it is in the best interests of the stockholders to accelerate plans to discontinue its remaining DRAM module products by the end of its current fiscal year of February 28, 2011," the statement added

"Accordingly, our DRAM products are now expected to have minimal, if any, sales in the next fiscal year and beyond."

That means that SSD performance is now key for OCZ, and the signs are good, with the results showing a record $41.5 million revenue in Q3 – a 325 per cent rise year on year.

"Revenue generated from our Solid State Drive products for the third fiscal quarter more than doubled on a sequential basis," said Ryan Petersen, Chief Executive Officer of OCZ Technology.

"SSD revenue accounted for 78% of our revenue and just by itself exceeds our historical quarterly revenue totals across all categories, thus reinforcing our decision to discontinue our remaining DRAM products."

Google Translate update moves it closer to a babelfish

Posted: 13 Jan 2011 01:01 AM PST

Google Translate for Android has been given an overhaul, with the latest version altered to make the 'app easier to interact with' and including an alpha version of a live conversation translator.

Google Translate for Android was launched a year ago, allowing feature like voice input and SMS translation.

And a year on, the app has been updated with several changes that should make things easier for users.

"Among other improvements, we've created better dropdown boxes to help select the languages you want to translate from and into, an improved input box, and cleaner icons and layout," explained product manager Awaneesh Verma in a blog post.

Conversation mode

Perhaps more exciting is the inclusion of the beta of Conversation Mode, that should allow you to have stilted and machine imprecise conversations with bemused people near you.

At the moment that conversation will have to use Spanish and English, but it's an exciting look into the future of translation and the potential for near real-time translation, breaking down global language barriers.

"Currently, you can only use Conversation Mode when translating between English and Spanish," added Verma.

" In conversation mode, simply press the microphone for your language and start speaking. Google Translate will translate your speech and read the translation out loud.

"Your conversation partner can then respond in their language, and you'll hear the translation spoken back to you.

"Because this technology is still in alpha, factors like regional accents, background noise or rapid speech may make it difficult to understand what you're saying.

"Even with these caveats, we're excited about the future promise of this technology to be able to help people connect across languages."

The updated app is available for download from the usual places now.

News Corp looking at sale of MySpace

Posted: 13 Jan 2011 12:50 AM PST

Following a recent spate of layoffs at News Corporation-owned MySpace, the media giant has revealed that it is actively looking to sell or spinout the ailing social network.

MySpace has struggled to compete with Facebook in recent years, with News Corp most recently slashing nearly half its staff in a cost-cutting move.

Rupert Murdoch's media conglomerate originally paid $580 million for MySpace back in 2005 and is now looking at strategic options for the future of the site, including a possible sale.

MySpace repositioned

News Corp re-launched MySpace late last year, repositioning the site as an entertainment portal for the 35-year-old-and under demographic that could be used in conjunction with Facebook and other social networks.

MySpace CEO Mike Jones finally confirmed that News Corp was considering its various options for the future of MySpace this week.

"We are looking at a number of strategic options for the business, including a sale, merger or spinout," confirmed a MySpace spokesperson.

It is likely that News Corp will look for a private investor or venture capitalist to invest in and take ownership of MySpace. We'll be sure to bring you updates on this story as they come in.

iOS 4.3 beta out to devs, new features abound

Posted: 13 Jan 2011 12:30 AM PST

Apple's iOS 4.3 beta has arrived for developers, giving us an insight into what the next version of the iPhone and iPad's operating system will bring.

Top of the list is of course the widely touted personal hotspot, allowing you to set up your own Wi-Fi zone for other GSM devices, but there is also a host of other new features that appear to be included.

One of the key additions is live video effects for the video camera, allowing you to mock up, among others, a thermal camera, X-ray, Kaleidoscope or Tunnel of Light. Which should prove fun for the FaceTime calls that we've never seen anybody actually make in public.

Multi-touch

Perhaps more significant is the arrival of multi-touch gesture for the iPad – allowing you to use four or five fingers to pinch, swipe and flick to your heart's content.

There's also a redesigned FaceTime icon, the slide button's use can be configured by the user, bigger adverts (yay!) and AirPlay support for third-party native apps and third-party web apps.

The arrival of a new version of iOS is always greeted with great excitement, and the beta for devs means that we won't have too long to wait before out Apple devices get a shiny new coat of OS paint.

T-Mobile backtracks on data allowance cut

Posted: 12 Jan 2011 09:03 AM PST

T-Mobile has changed its mind and announced that its reduced data limits will now be for new and upgrading customers only.

The network was adamant that the cuts of up to 83 per cent applied to both new and existing customers when we last spoke to their representative on Tuesday.

No doubt hoping to stem the tsunami of customers rushing for their PAC codes, T-Mobile has decided that existing customers can keep the data limits they were originally sold.

Not a good week for T-Mo

Lysa Hardy, VP of T-Mobile UK, released a statement reading, "On Monday 10th January 2011 we announced that, in line with the rest of the industry, T-Mobile would be reducing its Fair Use Policy for data usage to 500MB a month for all mobile phone customers.

"Following a further review of our policy, these changes will now be introduced from 1st February, to new and upgrading customers only - not existing customers. There will be no change to the data packages for existing customers for the duration of their contract and we apologise for any confusion caused."

The old adage that there's no such thing as bad publicity obviously doesn't hold true in this case.

Whoever coined that phrase obviously never tried to tell a hoard of disgruntled internet types that they shouldn't watch online videos on their phones.

T-Mobile backtracks on data allowance cut

Posted: 12 Jan 2011 09:03 AM PST

T-Mobile has changed its mind and announced that its reduced data limits will now be for new and upgrading customers only.

The network was adamant that the cuts of up to 83 per cent applied to both new and existing customers when we last spoke to their representative on Tuesday.

No doubt hoping to stem the tsunami of customers rushing for their PAC codes, T-Mobile has decided that existing customers can keep the data limits they were originally sold.

Not a good week for T-Mo

The old adage that there's no such thing as bad publicity obviously doesn't hold true in this case.

Whoever coined that phrase obviously never tried to tell a hoard of disgruntled internet types that they shouldn't watch online videos on their phones.

Dell Venue Pro now delayed until mid-February

Posted: 12 Jan 2011 08:13 AM PST

Online retailer Clove has revealed that the UK release date of the Dell Venue Pro has been pushed back to mid-February.

The Dell Venue Pro has been long-promised; after being announced in October 2010 the handset was supposed to launch in November, then the date was pushed back to Christmas.

A blog post penned by Clove places the blame on Micosoft: "At the moment it looks like the delay is being caused by a Microsoft issue with the MMS settings."

QWERTY quibbles

Anyone eagerly awaiting a Windows Phone 7 with a physical QWERTY will be disappointed with this news, especially as the handset has been available in the US for some time.

We've contacted both Dell and Microsoft to see what they have to say about the whole debacle but are yet to receive an official statement from either.

Meanwhile Expansys, which was the first retailer to get its pre-order page live in the UK, states that anyone pre-ordering a Dell Venue Pro from the site can expect delivery in 31 days' time.

Formula One to be broadcast in HD on BBC

Posted: 12 Jan 2011 08:00 AM PST

Formula One racing will finally be available in HD, with the BBC confirming that it will be broadcasting high-definition pictures for the 2011 season.

The BBC did not broadcast HD picture last year to widespread dismay from fans of the sport, but Formula One Management (FOM) which deals with the rights (including the HD option) has now given the okay for all broadcasters worldwide to get HD feeds.

Danielle Nagler, Head of BBC HD and 3D, says: "Along with many, many HD viewers, I'm delighted that we'll have a chance next season to see Formula 1 in all its glory on television.

Fantastic news

"It's fantastic news that FOM has decided to green light HD broadcasts, and we're looking forward to sharing with the fans all the races in all their detail on BBC One HD and BBC HD," she added.

The BBC's commitment to HD has been clear for some time, and 2010 saw the long-awaited BBC One HD channel to join the longstanding BBC HD channel on air.

Much of the sports content on the BBC is already available in HD, but Formula One is one of the cornerstones to the broadcaster's sports portfolio and HD pictures will be readily received by fans.

Gary Marshall: T-Mobile's new 'Screw You' data tariff

Posted: 12 Jan 2011 07:33 AM PST

Mobile phone companies tend to give their products memorable names. Orange has Dolphin, Canary and Racoon. Vodafone has its Connect Webpacks. And T-Mobile, of course, has its new Up Yours, Screw You and Na Na Na We're Not Listening plans.

There are three really galling things about T-Mobile's dramatic cuts to its fair use policy. The first is that it's such a big cut, with 3GB of monthly data (the allowance for some Android customers) dropping to just 500MB.

The second is that this cut is being applied retrospectively to people who've taken out long contracts.

And the third thing is the complete and utter balls T-Mobile is trotting out to justify it.

T-Mobile has offered two justifications for the 83% cut in customers' data allowances. The first is that nobody will be affected by it, because most people only use around 200MB a month.

If that's the case, why cut it? If hardly anybody uses more than 200MB, what's the problem? It can't be network congestion, because as T-Mobile points out, everybody's doing the 200-meg-a-month thing.

Which leaves explanation number two, which is that there's a difference between file downloading and browsing. Checking your email is browsing, even though it's actually downloading. Viewing web pages is browsing, even though many web pages include video, which T-Mobile thinks is downloading, and you're not supposed to do that on your mobile phone.

According to T-Mobile, "If you want to download, stream and watch video clips, save that stuff for your home broadband… Browsing means looking at websites and checking email, but not watching videos, downloading files or playing games."

I'm trying very hard to imagine how that statement could be any more patronising, any more wrong or any more annoying. As Charles Arthur puts it in The Guardian: "You want to take us back to the text-only web? To Lynx?"

Malevolent, or just a mess?

There are two possible explanations for this mess. The first is that someone in Everything Everywhere's marketing department - that's the name for the firm created by T-Mobile's merger with Orange - has dropped an almighty bollock and made it seem as if future changes to the fair use policy will apply to current contracts.

I don't think that's it, though, because we'd have had an official "oops" by now. So it seems that without warning, Everything Everywhere has decided to take away the thing that many people signed up for.

This behaviour is contemptible. The monthly allowances were T-Mobile's unique selling point, with people signing up to long-term contracts purely on the basis of those allowances. To turn around a few months later and slash those allowances is appalling. And to then stay quiet while your customers panic beggars belief.

The answer is simple: if T-Mobile can't or won't reverse the policy change, it should agree to terminate the agreements of anyone who wants out.

If those users are placing such unreasonable demands on T-Mobile's network by using the services they're actually paying for, presumably T-Mobile will be glad to see them go.

Carmack backing Nvidia ARM core

Posted: 12 Jan 2011 07:04 AM PST

Gaming legend John Carmack has handed a vote of confidence to Nividia, with the id software man suggesting that the graphics chip giants can "make a good ARM core."

Although Nvidia already uses an ARM-based design for its Tegra chips, the firm announced at CES that it would be using an ARM design to make a GPU/CPU hybrid called Project Denver.

It's an intriguing proposition but a vote of confidence from one of the most respected names in gaming will not go amiss.

Doom and Quake

Carmack is, of course, one of the main men behind classic games Doom and Quake and he tweeted his support for Nvidia.

"I have quite a bit of confidence that Nvidia will be able to make a good ARM core. Probably fun for their engineers."

The collision of GPU and CPU is likely to be one of the major themes in computing in the next decade – with the likes of AMD, Apple and Intel among those competing with Nvidia in this area.

ARM vs Intel: the next processor war begins

Low power consumption is a key factor in ARM designs, which is crucial for portable and mobile computing.

Carmack has particular interest in this area, with his development company id software pushing into gaming on mobile phones.

iOS 4.3 to bring Personal Hotspot to all iPhones

Posted: 12 Jan 2011 06:43 AM PST

Yesterday's Verizon iPhone launch wasn't particularly exciting for the rest of the world, but one glimmer of interest has emerged: Personal Hotspot functionality may be coming to all iPhones in the iOS 4.3 update.

The Verizon iPhone 4 allows users to make their iPhone a Wi-Fi hotspot for up to five separate devices to use to connect to the internet.

Speculation has since abounded that all iPhones will eventually get this feature, with Boy Genius Report seemingly confirming the rumour via a source who claims that it will be included in the update to iOS 4.3.

So long to jailbreaking

Although the iPhone has long been capable of acting as a Wi-Fi hotspot, a little bit of jailbreaking jiggery pokery has been required to make use of the feature.

Some crucial information on the official feature is yet to be revealed, however.

Will UK users definitely get the Personal Hotspot? Apple is, as usual, remaining tight lipped on future functionality so we can't confirm that we'll definitely see the hotspot feature on UK iPhones.

There's also the question of price. iPhone device tethering costs users around £15 a month on top of a regular contract, but now that iPhone tariffs have caps on data usage - as opposed to the original limitless contracts - networks shouldn't have a problem with multiple devices using the same data connection; it just means you'll be left with less data to play with for the remainder of the month.

Paranoid Android

Many Android handsets have long offered Wi-Fi hotspot functionality without adding anything users' bills.

But when it comes to the iPhone networks tend to squeeze as much cash out of users as possible, so we wouldn't be entirely surprised if some charges did apply.

Word on the street is that the Personal Hotspot feature's technical acceptance to the Wi-Fi standard won't be until March, so we'll be waiting a couple of months for the iOS 4.3 update anyway.

Updated: PSP2 rumours: what you need to know

Posted: 12 Jan 2011 06:33 AM PST

The cat's out of the bag: the much-rumoured PSP2 not only exists, but its official unveiling is a matter of weeks away.

With the PSP Phone expected to turn up at February's Mobile World Congress 2011 it's going to be a big couple of weeks for Sony, and if the PSP2 is as good as rumours suggest then it could wipe the smile off Nintendo's three-dimensional face.

So what do we know about the PSP2? Let's find out.

The PSP2 release date will be announced on 27 January

Games news provider MCV says its sources predict a 27 January unveiling, with Sony holding a special press event in Tokyo.

The PSP2 could be as powerful as an Xbox 360

Based on conversations with multiple sources, Kotaku claims that the PSP2 will follow the PSPgo's lead and dump UMD drives. The PSP2 specs, sources predict, will include an internal 16GB flash drive with Memory Sticks a possibility for additional storage, and the rumoured 1GB of RAM is twice that of an Xbox 360 (the original PSP has just 64MB of RAM).

That fits with unguarded comments by various PSP2 developers who have described it as a "powerful machine".

The PSP2 design looks awfully like the PSPgo

If these renders based on leaked photos are accurate - and they look pretty feasible to us - then the PSP2 design is very similar to the PSPgo. Which is no bad thing.

The PSP2 price should be in the low £200s

Sony was widely criticised for the PSPgo's original £225 price tag, and Nintendo is dropping strong hints that its 3DS won't be too pricey. With PSPgos currently going for around £150, we'll be amazed if the PSP2 price isn't in the low £200s. If it's higher, expect retailers to do what they did with the PSPgo, ignore the RRP and offer deep discounts in the hope of making their money from bundled PSP2 games and accessories.

The PSP2 specs include a touchpad

In December, Sony games chief Kaz Hirai noted that in some PSP2 games "you can play perfectly well with a touch panel".

The PSP2 touch panel isn't a touch screen: it's on the back, not the front

If you've ever played an iPhone or Android game you'll know that your fingers get in the way of the on-screen action and fingerprints easily smear even supposedly oleophobic screens. Sony's solution is to stick the touch-sensitive bit on the back, not the front, of the device. Hirai's comments suggest that while some games will be touch only, others will use a combination of thumbsticks and the touch panel.

The PSP2 won't have a 3D screen

You can take tech firms' denials with a pinch of salt, but when vice-president of Sony Worldwide Studios Scott Rohde was quizzed about the PSP2 last summer he hinted that the PSP2 was real but pooh-poohed rumours of a 3D display: "No, no plans for that… we just chose to focus on the big 3D in the home."

On a similar note, Kaz Hirai told the Sankei Biz website that Sony wasn't interested in glasses-free 3D on portable devices: "Based off internally conducted research, naked-eye 3D for portables does not have high precision, and at present there are limitations," he said.

The PSP2 specs include an HD display and twin thumbsticks

The touchpad isn't the only way to control the PSP2: if leaked dev kits are any indication then the PSP2 specs include twin thumbsticks, an HD screen, a microphone and a front-facing camera.

PSM3 magazine predicts a four-core Cell processor (the PS3 has an eight-core Cell) and possibly 3G connectivity as well as the obligatory Wi-Fi. The Cell processor isn't a given, though, as it's a powerful chip - and powerful chips have a tendency to drain batteries.

PSP2 games will be "intense"

"The games being played on Android and Apple platforms are fundamentally different from the world of immersive games that Sony Computer Entertainment, and PlayStation, aims for," Mr Hirai told the New York Times, which said that "the kinds of gamers who enjoy more intense games… would remain Sony's fan base."

EA has access to the PSP2, Square Enix and Mortal Kombat dev Netherrealm has too and rumours suggest that a PSP2 version of Uncharted is in the works.

The PSP2 release date could be in late 2011

A 2011 release date is a given, but it might be well into the year: as PSM3 magazine editor Dan Dawkins told TechRadar last year, Sony tends to use Gamescom/TGS in August and September for its hardware announcements. An autumn release would be ideal timing for the important and extremely lucrative Christmas shopping period.

PSP2 to be announced on 27 January?

Posted: 12 Jan 2011 04:37 AM PST

The Sony PSP2 will be announced on 27 January, according to a leading games news provider.

MCV has suggested that its sources have confirmed that the next generation handheld under the PlayStation brand will be unveiled by the end of the month at a press event in Tokyo.

It has become clear that the PSP2 is close, with major gaming developers all but spilling the beans as they prepare for the handheld's arrival.

Rivals

Nintendo's 3DS – its latest handheld console – has its launch event this month, and a Sony Ericsson PSP Phone is expected to be shown at Mobile World Congress 2011 in February.

But the arrival of the PSP2 could conceivably top trump all of these – if Sony can avoid the mistakes it made with the original PSP and the launch of the PS3 console.

The original PSP and its later updates like the PSP Go have performed credibly but remained in the shadow of Nintendo's megalithic DS.

Selling well

Interestingly, the PSP outsold all other consoles in Japan in December, so the desire for an alternative to Nintendo is clear.

With phones now approaching the level of technology shown in the original PSP, a new piece of hardware seems long overdue.

It remains to be seen if PlayStation fans' patience will be rewarded on 27 January.

Via MCV

PSP2 to be announced on 27 January?

Posted: 12 Jan 2011 04:37 AM PST

The Sony PSP2 will be announced on 27 January, according to a leading games news provider.

MCV has suggested that its sources have confirmed that the next generation handheld under the PlayStation brand will be unveiled by the end of the month at a press event in Tokyo.

It has become clear that the PSP2 is close, with major gaming developers all but spilling the beans as they prepare for the handheld's arrival.

Rivals

Nintendo's 3DS – its latest handheld console – has its launch event this month, and a Sony Ericsson PSP Phone is expected to be shown at Mobile World Congress 2011 in February.

But the arrival of the PSP2 could conceivably top trump all of these – if Sony can avoid the mistakes it made with the original PSP and the launch of the PS3 console.

The original PSP and its later updates like the PSP Go have performed credibly but remained in the shadow of Nintendo's megalithic DS.

Selling well

Interestingly, the PSP outsold all other consoles in Japan in December, so the desire for an alternative to Nintendo is clear.

With phones now approaching the level of technology shown in the original PSP, a new piece of hardware seems long overdue.

It remains to be seen if PlayStation fans' patience will be rewarded on 27 January.

Via MCV

Solar-powered Apple iPhones on the way?

Posted: 12 Jan 2011 04:27 AM PST

Apple has patented a system for a new technology that is able to provide power to portable devices using energy from the sun.

While solar-powered iPhones may be some years off, it's certainly an interesting idea and the fact that Apple has patented the portable solar tech shows that it is developing alternative ways of powering our phones and iPads in the future.

Apple's new patent for solar-powered portable devices hopefully suggests that we will no longer be tied to wired charging of our mobile devices in a few years time.

The future is bright

Apple's patent details ways of recharging the rechargeable batteries in a portable phone, laptop or tablet.

The key aspect of the new Apple patent is the power control circuit which sits between the solar cell and the device's battery.

This monitors the level of power being generated by the solar cell – which is dependent on the fickle nature of the sun (particularly fickle for British Apple fans!) – and converts it into a steady charge to power up your portable computer or phone.

It's early days and, of course, there is no official comment on the tech from Apple, but if this patent can be successfully developed into a commercial charging unit for your future iPhone or iPad, then it may well indicate a major step forward in eco-friendly charging tech.

Google's dropped support for H.264 sparks controversy

Posted: 12 Jan 2011 04:18 AM PST

Google's decision to drop support for the H.264 video codec for its Chrome browsers to focus on open source solutions has been met with calls of hypocrisy.

Google has decided to support its WebM and the Theora codecs for its < video > tag, insisting that it wants to support open source codecs instead of the likes of H.264.

"…We are supporting the WebM (VP8) and Theora video codecs, and will consider adding support for other high-quality open codecs in the future," explained Mike Jazayeri on the Chromium blog.

Important role

"Though H.264 plays an important role in video, as our goal is to enable open innovation, support for the codec will be removed and our resources directed towards completely open codec technologies," he added.

"These changes will occur in the next couple months but we are announcing them now to give content publishers and developers using HTML < video > an opportunity to make any necessary changes to their sites."

However, the news has been met with calls of hypocrisy over support for Flash within Chrome.

Adobe-owned Flash is not, of course, open source and the H.264 statement has left critics suggesting that Google is being hypocritical in its reasoning to drop support of one closed source plugin but not a more commercially crucial one.

It's an argument that is likely to rumble on and on, but Google may find that it needs to act consistently if it is to quell suggestions that it is acting in its own interests but pretending to do the right thing.

Packard Bell reveals EasyNote S Series notebooks

Posted: 12 Jan 2011 03:51 AM PST

The EasyNote S series from Packard Bell that was promised at CES has been officially revealed.

The company's focus on the "lifestyle segment" apparently includes a range of colour varients, a rounded shape and a social networking button which takes you to "the coolest application ever" – PB's social networks aggregator.

It's pretty clear that this range is not intended for the Dade Murphies among us, but instead for the not-so-tech-obsessed like families and the design-orientated.

Not exactly spec-tacular

The EasyNote S series notebooks have the obligatory focus on HD; not only can the 1.3-megapixel webcam record HD, but there's also an HDMI port and a Blu-ray disc writer for saving HD videos to a disc.

There are three sizes available (14-inch, 15.6-inch and 17-inch), all of which have LED backlit TFT LCD displays and multi-gesture touchpads.

For connecting to the internet and other devices, the notebooks offer Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and a super-speedy USB 3.0 connector.

Backing all this up are various second-gen Intel Core processors depending on model, up to 8GB of memory and the 17-inch models come with AMD graphics processors.

The range has a UK release date of February 2011, with UK pricing ranging from £449.99 to £799.99 depending on the model.

BBC man 'perplexed' by 3D overload

Posted: 12 Jan 2011 03:36 AM PST

A senior BBC figure has admitted he has been left perplexed by the focus on 3D televisions at this year's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

Although it was heavily featured last year, 3D had an even bigger role in CES 2011 - something that the Roland Allen, the BBC's head of technology liaison in the broadcaster's future media and technology department, believes is worrying.

"3D TV is again increasing its profile on the consumer technology agenda this year, being the dominant technology being exhibited by the big Korean and Japanese manufacturers," blogged Allen.

"From my perspective working for a broadcaster like the BBC this is somewhat perplexing to see given the relative complexity and cost involved in producing 3D content."

Concerned

Allen underlined his concern that content is not being created at a rate fast enough to feed the 3D interest.

"Sony in particular has a significantly revamped and much larger presence than in previous years, emphatically promoting 3D as the core of its product line up.

"In Sony's case the focus on 3D is lent credibility by the fact that they own a significant slice of the content business in terms of 3D film production; this is not a position enjoyed by most of the other 3D TV manufacturers however and there is little evidence at CES that volume 3D content is a reality."

3D content makers

Sky has already launched Sky 3D, a dedicated 3D channel for the UK market, but Allen's fears about the amount of content are founded in reality.

Major films have become the subject of bidding wars from broadcaster keen to get their hands on the key 3D releases, although Sky is producing its own sports, entertainment and arts content.

However, the BBC has not yet joined the 3D revolution and Allen's comments suggest that Auntie is not steaming into the latest TV technology without lengthy pause for thought.

Review: Zotac GeForce GT 430 Zone Edition

Posted: 12 Jan 2011 03:00 AM PST

Now this is a little more what we'd like to see from a passively-cooled card. The GT 430 is a far lower-spec beast than the relatively pacey Gigabyte HD 5770 Silent Cell, but what I'm talking about here is not being penalised in the wallet department for wanting something a bit quieter.

This is the same price as the Asus GeForce GT 430 and with the same basic specs. What's different, however, is the fact that it doesn't come with any moving parts (and hence no dustproof fan…) and sits on a more normal-sized PCB.

This last part is strangely at odds with its raison d'etre. The GT 430 is a GPU to slot into a media centre machine, just like AMD's HD 5570 before it. The first versions we saw came on half-height PCBs for this reason.

Now we've got a card that won't fit into a media centre chassis, but comes with the sort of passive cooling you'd want in one.

It needs a fair bit of airflow across those passive cooling fans too: in our test-rig it was quite capable of hitting over 90°C when it was stressed at all. So them wee cases are right out.

As for performance, you're talking near-identical scores to the Asus GT 430. But this isn't about performance, it's about delivering Nvidia's DX11 goodness and its GPU extras, like CUDA, into the low-end market.

Personally though I think for this sort of card, the half-height PCB makes more sense: after all, the dustproof fan on the Asus card isn't exactly going to sound like a turbine, is it?

Putting it onto a larger board means Zotac can offer this passive-cooling array, but is going to seriously limit where the card is able to be installed. I'd want the GT 430 for a small form factor machine.

If you've got anything larger, save up and spend an extra £25 to £30 on a GTS 450 instead.

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Study shows too much screen time can lead to an early grave

Posted: 12 Jan 2011 02:59 AM PST

Oh dear, internet readers. We could be in some serious trouble if new research from the Journal of the American College of Cardiology is to be believed.

A study has found that spending four extra-curricular hours or more in front of a screen per day increases the risk of heart attack and stroke by 113 per cent, with the risk of death from either condition upped by almost 50 per cent.

This could be bad news for anyone who flops in front of the TV, games or surfs the web for fun after work.

Och aye the noo

The four-year study analysed 4,500 Scottish adults, who – call us cynical – aren't necessarily the healthiest of possible participants (deep-fried Mars Bar anyone? Haggis? A wee dram o' whisky?).

The applicants were questioned about how much time they spent in front of a TV, computer or gaming screen when not at work, then researchers analysed their medical records for four years.

Too much sitting about

The report's lead author, Emmanuel Stamatakis of the Department, in fact suggests that the problems actually arise from doing too much sitting, which isn't really a screen-specific activity.

"Assuming that leisure-time screen time is a representative indicator of overall sitting, our results lend support to the idea that prolonged sitting is linked to an increased risk for cardiovascular disease and premature mortality."

Surely we can just pop to the gym at lunchtime and all will be well? Sadly not, as Stamatakis puts paid to that particular plan:

"Doing some exercise every day may not compensate for the damage done during very long periods of screen time."

Bother. Looks like we might be in the market for one of those stand-up desks, then – if it's not already too late...

Microsoft moves to dismiss Apple's 'App Store' trademark

Posted: 12 Jan 2011 02:52 AM PST

Microsoft is taking legal action to challenge Apple's App Store patent, claiming that 'app store' is a generic term and thus not trademark-able.

Rivals have shied away from using the term 'app store' because of Apple's claim to own the words, using terms such as 'marketplace' instead.

Windows Phone 7 Marketplace

For example, Microsoft currently uses the term Windows Phone 7 Marketplace for its own mobile application store.

Microsoft said in its filing: "The undisputed evidence shows that 'app store' is a generic name for a store offering apps.

"The combined term 'app store' is commonly used in the trade, by the general press, by consumers, by Apple's competitors and even by Apple's founder and CEO Steve Jobs, as the generic name for online stores featuring apps."

"App store is a generic name that Apple should not be permitted to usurp for its exclusive use. Competitors should be free to use 'app store' to identify their own stores and the services offered in connection with those stores."

The trademark board now has to make a decision on whether or not to grant the patent to Apple for exclusive use of 'app store' or not.

Review: Gigabyte HD 5770 Silent Cell

Posted: 12 Jan 2011 02:30 AM PST

The graphics card space is not a fun place to operate in. The two competing GPU makers take a huge cut of each card sold while the manufacturer has to make do with dwindling margins. So each graphics card vendor will find new ways of trying to squeeze a bit of extra cash out of their customers by coming up with something a bit different.

The passively-cooled Gigabyte Radeon HD 5770 SiIent Cell is a prime example. The standard, stock-clocked, vanilla HD 5770 now comes in around £100, but find a niche, sling a custom cooler on it and Gigabyte can ask an extra £45 for the privilege.

To be fair, having such a well-performing card operating without the need for active cooling is impressive, as is the (necessary) scale of said cooler. The damned thing is huge, with more fins than you'll find in an aquarium in Helsinki. On a busy bank holiday.

As to whether it's effective enough to reasonably run the HD 5770 is up for debate. It's true we were running the card in an open test-bench where the airflow across the card isn't as great as in a well-cooled, closed chassis, but still the card regularly hit the horrific 100C mark.

Still, it didn't throttle back at all and managed to garner the same benchmark scores as its actively cooled brethren.

The question remains though: why do you specifically need a passively-cooled graphics card? I understand the need in media centre machines, but this is anything but designed for those small form factor rigs.

With the size of the thing and the amount of airflow required to keep it honest, you'll need a full-sized case for sure. You've got to really want a silent graphics card to fork out an extra £45 over the standard HD 5770, especially when, for the same price, you could pick up an actively-cooled, though still pretty quiet, GTX 460 in 1GB trim. It's going to have to be a very good reason to trade off the performance gains from the Nvidia card.

Unfortunately then, it's got a very niche market to aim at and, in my opinion, an unnecessary one.

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In Depth: Can AMD's eight-core Bulldozer crush Intel?

Posted: 12 Jan 2011 02:07 AM PST

Can AMD's upcoming Bulldozer processors possibly compete with the latest second-generation Intel Core chips, the bonkers-quick CPU otherwise known as Sandy Bridge?

Bulldozer isn't due out until later this year but we can now give you the beginnings of an answer: yes, no and maybe.

If that sounds like a non-answer, bear with us. Bulldozer promises to be the most revolutionary CPU architecture in living memory. Its design fundamentally challenges the very concept of a CPU core. Even with full architectural disclosure, estimating performance is tricky, bordering on impossible. However, intentionally or otherwise, AMD has let slip a few metrics which can help piece together a picture of performance.

Before we come to that, it's worth putting Bulldozer into context. If you've seen the ludicrous performance numbers cranked out by the first Sandy Bridge chips, you'll know just how massive the task is for Bulldozer.

Intel's new CPU architecture is monster quick and débuts a number of game changing technologies, including the Quick Sync Video transcoder engine.

Make or break in 2011

Bulldozer, of course, is just one part of a massive product refresh for AMD in 2011. The first salvo will be a number of new APUs or accelerated processing units. Also known as Fusion chips, the basic idea is combining graphics and CPU functionality in a single chip.

There's been debate whether Intel's Westmere processors, launched early in 2010, were true fusion chips. But there's no doubt about the new Intel Sandy Bridge family. It's the real fusion deal.

However, while it has a super-strong track record in CPUs, graphics has been a bit of a nightmare for Intel. Sandy Bridge admittedly has a massively improved 3D, but Intel still has work to do to earn full credibility in graphics. Currently, AMD's strengths are precisely the opposite. Great graphics, weak CPUs.

Anyway, AMD has already announced Brazos, a dual-core Fusion chip based on its new low-power Bobcat architecture. It's designed to take on Intel's Atom in netbooks and cheap notebooks and should deliver much improved video performance to the budget end of the market.

Mobile masterpiece

Next up is Llano. Based on AMD's existing full-power Stars core as seen in current Phenom II processors, Llano's party trick will be uber-powerful integrated graphics in a quad-core package. It's actually a mobile rather than desktop processor and could form the basis of a very desirable thin and light machine.

But the real excitement comes with the arrival of the long, long awaited Bulldozer architecture. Back in early 2008, AMD said 45nm Bulldozer processors would begin sampling in 2009. Two years on and we still don't have a firm launch date. AMD will only confirm it's coming to desktop PCs this year and laptops in 2012.

What we can say for sure is that the original 45nm Bulldozer design is toast. The first Bulldozers you can buy will be built on 32nm silicon. We also know that the first desktop Bulldozer model, known as Zambezi, will have four of what AMD calls "Bulldozer modules" while the mobile version will come in one and two-module trim.

More cores, less cash

It's important at this point to appreciate that the Bulldozer module is a totally new concept in CPU architecture. In simple terms, each module has a pair of integer engines and a shared floating point resource. Really roughly, the idea is to squeeze dual-core performance out of a module that's nearer in size to a single core.

For the record, AMD says that a single Bulldozer module has around 80 per cent of the performance of two conventional CPU cores. In other words, a four-module Bulldozer core should be at least as quick as a six-core processor.

But which six-core processor? Intel's six-core Gulftown chip is much, much more powerful than AMD's existing six-core Thuban chip. Well, it's known that the first retail version of Bulldozer will be a server that is estimated to deliver a 50 per cent performance boost over AMD's existing enterprise-class processors.

To take a very crude example, AMD's fastest six-core chip, the Phenom II X6 1090T currently crunches our x264 HD encode test at 29 frames per second. The similarly six-core Intel Core i7 980X does it at 43 frames per second. Guess what? 43 frames per second just so happens to be precisely 50 per cent faster.

Assuming that's how it works out, it won't put AMD level pegging with Intel for long. Later this year, a a six-core desktop processor based on the new Sandy Bridge architecture arrives will an eight-core chip to follow. But it will put AMD in much more direct competition with Intel. That can only be a good thing for value and prices. It's about time AMD and Intel had a proper bust up and 2011 looks odds on to deliver.

HP doesn't want to be in the smartphone business

Posted: 12 Jan 2011 02:06 AM PST

When HP bought Palm for a cool $1.2 billion last year, Palm fans rejoiced that their smartphone manufacturer of choice had been saved from certain doom.

However, speaking at the Bank of America Merrill Lynch technology conference, HP CEO Mark Hurd told attendees that the company "didn't buy Palm to be in the smartphone business."

As hearts broke, Hurd hammered the point home. He said, HP aren't going to "spend billions of dollars trying to go into the smartphone business; that doesn't in any way make any sense."

WebOS was worth $1.2 billion?

HP was more interested in Palm's intellectual property, specifically the WebOS operating system found on Palm handsets.

The company hopes to transpose WebOS to its host of small web-connected appliances.

Hurt explained, "We have tens of millions of HP small form factor web-connected devices…Now imagine that being a web-connected environment where now you can get a common look and feel and a common set of services laid against that environment. That is a very value proposition."

Concerned that the wrong impression had been given, HP's spokeswoman later clarified the comments:

"When we look at the market, we see an array of interconnected devices, including tablets, printers, and of course, smartphones.

"We believe WebOS can become the backbone for many of HP's small form factor devices, and we expect to expand webOS's footprint beyond just the smartphone market, all while leveraging our financial strength, scale, and global reach to grow in smartphones."

While all hope for future Palm handsets is not lost, it's pretty clear where HP's focus lies.

Via ZDNet and Engadget

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