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Techradar |
- Catch up: this week's most popular posts
- Verizon iPhone 4 pre-orders sell-out on day one
- HTC Desire 2 ready for MWC reveal, heading to Vodafone?
- Asus taking on iPad 2 with 'secret weapon', says CEO
- BT Home Hub 3 reduces Wi-Fi interference
- Nokia N8 gets minor Symbian^3 software update and free games
- Updated: Humax Portal downloads begin, but Sky Player is missing
- EA to focus more heavily on Facebook for its games
- LG Optimus Pad gets Mobile World Congress 2011 confirmation
- Filesharers outline digital media manifesto to end piracy
- MTV Games bails out of videogame production
- BT encourages better take-up of parental controls
- Explained: HDMI vs DisplayPort: which is best?
- O2 to launch NFC mobile wallets this year
- Updated: Android 3.0: all the latest updates
- Updated: Android 3.0: all the latest updates
- Sainsbury's breaks £200 barrier for Nintendo 3DS
- Microsoft introduces 'aliases' for Hotmail
- Android Ice Cream to get Honeycomb flavouring?
- Budget Alcatel handsets hit Carphone Warehouse
- Tutorial: How to bring Aero Snap to OS X
- Nokia Windows Phone 7 announcement coming on 11 Feb?
- Weird Tech: Harry Potter and the tiny cloak of invisibility
- Review: Pioneer VSX-520
- Review: AMD Phenom II X6 1100T BE
| Catch up: this week's most popular posts Posted: 05 Feb 2011 12:00 AM PST  This week, an online crime map of the UK went live, and soon crashed under the weight of traffic, while a new PS3 update had some people criticising Sony for building in a backdoor that enables remote control of your console. Also on TechRadar we took a look at how the Motorola Xoom and PlayBook stack up against the iPad and updated our Android 3.0 article with a whole load of new features that are coming to the OS. Read on for this week's most popular stories on TechRadar… Top five news stories Online crime map of the UK launched The Home Office has created a new website that allows you to look up towns in the UK and see what the crime is like in that area. The website, found at www.police.uk, is currently overburdened with worried folk who want to scare themselves even more by seeing just how many criminals operate in their borough, but when it is fully operational it gives you a breakdown of local crime statistics. Can Sony remotely bork your PS3? Sony may well have put a so-called 'backdoor' on its latest PlayStation 3 firmware, allowing the console maker to remotely control your PSN account, according to reports from the homebrew community. Despite releasing a PS3 firmware update to foil hackers recently Sony is now being accused of planting a backdoor in its latest PlayStation firmware update to allow remote control of your gaming console. Facebook launches Facebook Deals in the UK Facebook has announced the arrival of Facebook Deals in the UK, a new mobile phone discounting system that rewards those who regularly check-in to shops and restaurants, through Facebook Places, in the UK. The location-based application is stepping on the toes of other services in the mobile world, most notably discount site Groupon. There are a number of retail partners who have signed up to offer discounts if you use the service in their shop. Netgear CEO: Steve Jobs' death will open up Apple The CEO of Netgear has apparently told journalists that Apple will need to abandon its walled garden approach if Steve Jobs 'goes away'. Steve Jobs has again taken a leave of absence due to ill-health, but Patrick Lo – the Netgear CEO – has courted controversy by apparently stating his belief that the only way Apple will abandon its principles and open up will be if Jobs dies. "It's critical for Apple to make a decision how to go forward," Lo is quoted as saying by Gizmodo Australia. Epic's Duty Calls spoof puts boot into CoD franchise Epic Games has started a promotional campaign for its upcoming videogame Bulletstorm by putting the boot into the rather successful Call Of Duty franchise. Epic has created a fully playable game that roundly mocks CoD, which is aptly called Duty Calls. The game isn't the biggest ever; someone has uploaded footage of themselves playing it and it clocks it at just under five minutes - but it is chock-full of parody for a franchise that some think takes itself way too seriously. Top five in-depth articles Motorola Xoom vs iPad vs PlayBook When the Motorola Xoom and BlackBerry PlayBook hit the market, we'll have two serious challengers to the iPad. And, perhaps most interestingly, all three will be running different operating systems. So let's compare how the two newcomers stack up against the hottest tablet yet released. In terms of releases, Motorola won't say anything about the Xoom's UK release date, though it is pencilled in for the first quarter of 2011 in the US. However, it depends on when Google is planning on getting Honeycomb out the door. Android 3.0 rumours and latest updates Now that Android 2.3 features are official, information about its successor, Android 3.0 – Android Honeycomb – is starting to emerge. Here's what we know about Android 3.0 so far. On 20 October, we reported that Android 3.0 Honeycomb tablets are rumoured to be heading out to engineers in time for Christmas. This has resulted in a huge range of tablets arriving at CES 2011, with UK release dates later in the year. iOS vs Android vs WebOS vs MeeGo Pitting iOS vs Android vs WebOS vs MeeGo doesn't seem like a fair fight. It's akin to putting a couple of our TechRadar writers in a boxing ring with the Klitschko brothers. With Apple's iPhone/iPod/iPad OS, Google's Android, plus the Symbian, Microsoft and Blackberry platforms, do we really need any more pretenders to the mobile OS throne? Yes - because 'competition drives innovation' (or so the saying goes). Android improvements will make iOS better and vice-versa. While lower-league operating systems will have to work harder to stand out, they'll help to ensure that the big two don't get complacent. The hidden places where Linux dominates While the fight for desktop dominance is still raging somewhere in the distance, Linux has quietly succeeded in the places no one thinks to look. It's being used in mobile phones, set-top boxes, media streamers and routers. It's being used to fuel the London Stock Exchange and to provide in-flight entertainment for thousands of travellers. And it does this without ceremony and, mostly, without anyone noticing. 40 best iPhone games - paid apps There are now tens of thousands of games on the App Store, covering every genre. Huge studios battle it out with bedroom coders, providing iOS gamers with a mix of blockbuster titles and novel creations full of innovation and personality. Below we list our 40 favourite paid-for games for iPhone and iPod touch; if we've missed your top game, let us know what it is in the comments! Don't forget that universal apps also work natively on the iPad. Top five reviews Sony Ericsson Xperia Play review Sony Ericsson Xperia Play has a lot of pressure on its shoulder buttons - does it live up to the hype? We managed to nab one to play with for a few hours… Step up from Sony's mainstream EX TV range and you'll find the first of its 3D designer models. The NX Network sets combine advanced multimedia capability with premium picture performance and Sony's trademark Monolithic Design. The Nokia C6-01 is the cheapest Symbian^3 handset to date - it's a definite update to the likes of the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic, and also comes with a good list of features AMD Phenom II X6 1100T BE review This new hex-core chip is symptomatic of AMD's current predicament: that its most expensive PC processors sell for barely one-third the price of Intel's. Sony Ericsson Xperia Neo review The phone shares very few similarities with the original Vivaz - only the form factor and key arrangement remain to help you see any evolution in the line. Also reviewed this week: Amplifiers Resolution Audio Cantata 50 Amplifier review AV Receivers CD players Advance Acoustic MCD-204 review Cooling Graphics cards Zotac GeForce GTX 580 AMP! review Hard disk drives Samsung 470 Series SSD 256GB review Hi-fi Accessories Laptops Acer Aspire One D255-N55QDrr review Modem routers Asus RT-N56U Dual Band Wireless-N Router review TP-Link TD-W8961N 300Mbps Wireless N ADSL2+ Modem Router review Monitors Motherboards Printers Processors AMD Phenom II X6 1100T BE review Projectors Speakers BK Electronics XXLS400DF review Monitor Audio Bronze BX Series review Televisions Turntables Michell Gyro SEducation review 
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| Verizon iPhone 4 pre-orders sell-out on day one Posted: 04 Feb 2011 10:34 AM PST  US mobile carrier Verizon says it has halted iPhone 4 pre-orders five days before launch having already shifted its quota for the pre-sale period. The virtually identical Verizon incarnation of the Apple smartphone will go on sale across the pond next Wednesday (online) and reach retail stores a day later. The network claims it was forced to stop pre-orders after making more more first day sales than on any other phone in its history. CEO Dan Mead said: "In just our first two hours, we had already sold more phones than any first day launch in our history. When you consider these initial orders were placed between the hours of 3am and 5am, it is an incredible success story." Demand Of course, this is likely to be a PR stunt to get punters rushing to the stores next Thursday, which is available on Verizon after bitter rival AT&T lost exclusive rights to carry the phone. The timing is also strange for a mass rush to grab an iPhone 4. Anyone familiar with Apple's business model knows a brand new device is highly likely in around four months. Verizon buyers will be locked into a two year contract if they sign-up now and will have to wait beyond the sixth iteration of the iPhone to upgrade, if Apple continues its yearly release schedule. 
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| HTC Desire 2 ready for MWC reveal, heading to Vodafone? Posted: 04 Feb 2011 08:22 AM PST  The HTC Desire 2 should be en route to Mobile World Congress 2011 after showing up in Vodafone Germany's internal inventory. We've already seen the handset make an appearance on the Taiwanese subway (where else?) so it comes as no great surprise that a single line of text pertaining to the Desire 2 has shown up in a computer system somewhere. But as this is Vodafone Germany's computer system, we could be forgiven for thinking that perhaps this means Vodafone might release the HTC Desire HD in the UK as well. That's basically all the news The spy shots of the handset revealed a few tidbits of information, including the fact that it will have a front-mounted camera but no trackpad. It also looks quite nice, although it's not exactly a revolution in handset design. With MWC just days away, it won't be long before we bring you all the official news and our hands on HTC Desire 2 review, complete with real details based on more than just 10 characters on a computer screen in Germany. 
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| Asus taking on iPad 2 with 'secret weapon', says CEO Posted: 04 Feb 2011 07:58 AM PST  Asus CEO Jonney Shih claims that the Taiwanese company has a secret weapon waiting in the wings, ready to take on Apple's iPad 2 when it launches. Well, it's almost ready. It's kind of on its way. And we can't tell you what it is because we don't know. We're not sure even Asus knows. Speaking to Computerworld, Shih talked about how Asus will take on the iPad 2, saying, "Also we will try to provide a 'secret weapon', something we have not shown at this time but closer to the launch time we will show." So, that's concrete When pressed for more detail as to whether the weapon is a tablet or component or what, Shih refused to elaborate. He said, "I think it's best not to say now. You will have to wait until the launch." Spoilsport. This could just be a case of Asus saying Asus is great simply because they're Asus, but let's choose to believe the company has an ace up its sleeve because we're a bit Hollywood like that. 
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| BT Home Hub 3 reduces Wi-Fi interference Posted: 04 Feb 2011 07:20 AM PST  BT has announced its new BT Home Hub 3 broadband router, which is available now on all BT Broadband packages, including the super-speedy BT Infinity option. The new router features what BT calls Smart Wireless. Unlike other routers which can just detect channels without other Wi-Fi networks, the Home Hub 3 can detect unclean wireless signals – such as from kit like TV senders, baby monitors and other radio devices – and the router's firmware will auto-adjust the current wireless channel to move away from the interference. "We believe it's unique to our routers at the moment," said Mayuresh Thavapalan, General Manager of Consumer Broadband at BT, to TechRadar. "We've worked hard with the wireless radio suppliers to enable this. "[The technology] allows us to scan the spectrum for interference. We know there's a profusion of wireless devices and some of these are quite unfriendly in what they do to wireless networks. The [Home Hub 3] allows customers to have a worry-free existence…with less wireless problems."
During a demo at the BT Tower, TechRadar was shown how this would work in action as BT engineers pitted the video streaming from the Home Hub 3 against streaming from a Virgin Media box. A Wi-Fi scanner clearly showed the Virgin box was unable to recover from the interference caused by a wireless TV sender, while the BT box took a while to scan, adjust channel and begin the stream again. It took a minute or so to do this, but as was pointed out, it's likely the Home Hub 3 would do the adjustment when it is first set up rather than in the middle of a video stream you are watching. The 350g Home Hub 3 is half the size of its predecessors (107 x 185 x 62mm) and uses "around 25 per cent less plastic and consumers would [probably] save around a third" of energy consumption versus the older model. The unit has four Ethernet ports, one of which is a Gigabit Ethernet port, but the router can power off those ports not in use. Wi-Fi Encryption is turned on by default – with one-touch WPS push-button if you prefer – while there's a handy plastic pop-pout piece of plastic with your wireless key written on, rather than you having to write it down elsewhere.
The antenna technology is produced by Atheros and Broadcom in different units. Existing customers with an older Home Hub can upgrade theirs for £46, but it's free for anybody taking out a new BT Broadband or BT Infinity contract.
The Home Hub 3 UK release date is March. 
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| Nokia N8 gets minor Symbian^3 software update and free games Posted: 04 Feb 2011 06:41 AM PST  Nokia has released software update 1.1 for the Nokia N8, Nokia C7 and Nokia C6-01. The Finnish company says that there are numerous tweaks and fixes to the Symbian^3 OS, but not many of these will be "directly visible to end users." Email has had a bit of update love, with map integration for viewing locations of addresses mentioned in the body text, and the option to accept meeting requests directly from email invitations. What exciting times these are for Symbian email fans. Such major news The Nokia N8 will have some additional benefits that the other handsets won't see. There's a new edition of Quick Office for new "editing possibilities" and also the ability to zoom in and out of Word documents. The N8 will also come with three new games; Need for Speed Shift, Real Golf and Galaxy on Fire, while existing N8 owners can download all three from the Ovi Store for free. The Nokia C7 can enjoy the update from today, while the N8 and C6-01 will get it early next week, although country and operator-specific variants will come later. 
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| Updated: Humax Portal downloads begin, but Sky Player is missing Posted: 04 Feb 2011 06:01 AM PST  Humax has begun rolling out its OTA update bringing the internet-connected Humax Portal to its set top boxes; but Sky Player seems to be missing. When we tested the service for our hands on Humax Portal review Sky Player was present and correct, but users are reporting that the Sky on demand player is not available after the software update. Some channels were mysteriously absent from the Sky Player EPG on our beta version of the software, which Humax told us was due to rights clearance. Update: Humax sent us the following statement to explain the absence of Sky Player: "Humax is still in the process of completing Sky Player tests, but didn't want to delay the launch of the Portal. Sky Player is expected to launch in a matter of weeks." Rights negotiations to blame? It seems that the these could have hit a bit of a snag and Sky Player has been completely pulled from the portal for the time being, although Humax would not comment on whether rights clearance is the issue. Humax insists that Sky Player is expected to launch on the TV Portal within a matter of weeks, at which point the Portal will also be made available on Humax HD-FOX T2 set-top boxes. The update that brings the Portal is available to Humax HDR-FOX T2 Freeview+ HD boxes this weekend, with the Humax HD-Fox T2 set top box update to follow. 
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| EA to focus more heavily on Facebook for its games Posted: 04 Feb 2011 05:56 AM PST  Gaming megalith Electonic Arts has told investors that it will focus much more heavily on Facebook as a platform for its games in 2011. The rise and rise of the likes of FarmVille and Bejewelled have given EA pause for thought, and Develop reports that the company's third quarter results came with an insistence that new focus on social networks was key. "Last year we saw a drop off in games related to changes on the Facebook platform, but we are encouraged by the recent turnaround," said COO John Schappert. Increase in traffic "We're seeing an increase in game traffic on Facebook and believe the site has stabilised, with a current estimate of 290 million gamers playing an average of 3.5 hours per month," he added "Our leadership on mobile and smart phones taught us a great deal about how these new platforms evolve. "We know that consumers are attracted to new experiences, but quickly aggregate behind high quality and the brands and franchises they recognize from other media. "In 2011, you'll see more of EA's big franchises come to Facebook as well new, original offerings." EA bought Playfish for this very reason in 2009, and the company has invested heavily in looking beyond the traditional mainstays of gaming, like consoles and the PC. 
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| LG Optimus Pad gets Mobile World Congress 2011 confirmation Posted: 04 Feb 2011 05:18 AM PST  It's official: the LG Optimus Pad will make an appearance and Mobile World Congress 2011, with LG confirming its existence in a press release. With the arrival of the T-Mobile G-Slate in the US, questions were raised if the UK was also going to get the G-Slate or the much-rumoured LG Optimus Pad. While it is still unclear whether these devices are one of the same, a Korean press release does reveal that the LG Optimus Pad will be unveiled at MWC 2011. The news was added to the end of a statement about the G-Slate which also confirmed the US-bound tablet's specs, including that it will be using a 6,400 mAh battery. Optimus primed Details on the LG Optimus Pad are sketchy at best, but ascreenshot of the device shows that it will definitely be running Android 3.0 – which is Honeycomb to the sweet-toothed of you. As rumours of the LG Optimus Pad have been round for a while, some leaked specs have revealed that the tablet will have an 8.9" display capable of glasses-free 3D, 3D recording, a Tegra 2 dual-core CPU, a USB port and an HDMI connector. If this is the case, then it trumps the G-Slate in 3D, as you will have to wear 3D glasses to view that device's stereoscopic content. It is likely, however, that both devices – if they are not just rebrands of each other – will be using the same technology. TechRadar will bring you the full skinny when it gets its hands on the LG Optimus Pad at MWC 2011, and hopefully we'll be able to nab a UK release date while we are out there too. 
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| Filesharers outline digital media manifesto to end piracy Posted: 04 Feb 2011 04:51 AM PST  A group of filesharers have put together a document outlining how film studios and download services can put an end to piracy by meeting their demands. With pricing, choice and digital rights addressed, the comprehensive manifesto was put together by 20 web professionals at a digital technology conference in Geneva. Hand on heart "I promise never to illegally download a movie if there was a legal alternative following the criteria on this page…" begins the site. It goes on to require clear and fair pricing, wide-ranging language options, instant ad-free availability, global release dates and DRM-free files. Driven by a love for movies, the manifesto is a bit of a utopian dream. Media moguls and rights holders from competing studios and content distribution companies are unlikely to put such a flat process in place. Deep-rooted issues Regardless of viability, the manifesto serves as a fair assessment of the problems in the digital media industry driving people to piracy and proves that many are willing to pay for digital media. So far, 1,607 people have signed the manifesto. Pierre Spring, one of the leaders of the movement, said: "I hope 'Don't Make Me Steal' will show the movie industry that people who love movies are just waiting for them to leave their legacy business models and embrace the digital distribution." 
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| MTV Games bails out of videogame production Posted: 04 Feb 2011 04:27 AM PST  MTV Games has ceased all its operations, with owner Viacom confirming that the game development company is no more. MTV Games, alongside Harmonix, was the developer behind the rather successful Rock Band and Dance Central franchises. The death knell for MTV Games was sounded in December 2010, however, when Viacom decided to sell off Harmonix to an investment firm. Not playing games This meant that MTV Games was left with no clients - there was hope that it could become publisher of the Rock Band series in Europe but a deal wasn't agreed. It is something of a fall from grace for MTV Games. Back in 2009, with Harmonix the company managed to bag one of the biggest exclusives in gaming by linking up with Apple Corps for The Beatles: Rock Band. Considering it took Apple another year to get digital distribution of The Beatles songs, this was something of a coup for MTV Games. Unfortunately this legacy is now marred with legal wranglings, as Harmonix and MTV Games are currently bickering over missed performance-based payments. If only they'd just let it be… 
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| BT encourages better take-up of parental controls Posted: 04 Feb 2011 04:21 AM PST  In a move designed to better inform parents and protect children online, BT is now offering parental controls automatically as part of its broadband set-up process. The service was already free with all BT Total Broadband packages and is part of a range of security options including firewall and anti-virus protection. However, BT will now encourage better take-up by making it an integral step of setting up your new broadband package. The move is part of a BT 'Family Protection' drive in partnership with McAfee. The phone giant is also launching a new range of printed and online safety advice in March to help parents make the right choices with regard to online safety. BT has also said it will spam, sorry, remind customers at least once a year about the availability of Family Protection software. BT says the parental controls settings mean that parents can "match the maturity of each of their children to what they can do on the web". As you'd expect, parents can also block entire programs or inappropriate websites, either by age, category or by blocking an individual site. Time limits can also be set and parents can request instant alerts if children attempt to access blocked sites or post personal information that they shouldn't. 
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| Explained: HDMI vs DisplayPort: which is best? Posted: 04 Feb 2011 04:09 AM PST  Look on the back of a top-flight AMD Radeon such as the HD 6870 and you'll find, along with the now-familiar DVI ports, HDMI and DisplayPort connectors. That's three distinct digital connectors on one card. Why so many? Well, DVI is the current champion but is on the way out. It's been fun, but its reaching the end of the line. However, it won't vanish just yet, because it can carry analogue VGA signals and there are still an awful lot of analogue monitors out there. This leaves us two new contenders for high-definition video. The two all-digital standards are not in direct competition either. They 'complement' each other, at least that's the semi-official line. However, two new standards on one card means there is competition at some level, especially when you need to drop one for budget editions. This isn't exactly a format war where only one will be left standing, though – both formats are here to stay. So what's up then? Both offer high-speed all-digital connection for video and audio with allowance for copy protection and 3D images. What are the strengths of each and why do the card people put both onboard to entice us? The basic specifications and capabilities are similar and while the two ports essentially do the same job they do it in different ways which reflect their origins. HDMI hails from the world of TVs, DVD players and consumer electronics. It takes as its starting point S-VHS and composite signals. DisplayPort hails from the computer chaps and uses a more sophisticated and flexible data transmission method. HDMI explained The High Definition Multimedia Interface first appeared in 2003 and was designed as a digital replacement for the multitude of analogue formats used in consumer AV standards (RF, SCART, Composite, S-VHS, RGB and so forth), in a compact single cable. It can carry any uncompressed TV signal with 48-bit colour and up to eight channels of audio as well as control connections for the rare instances where one bit of kit can control another. A DVI signal is fully compatible, so you can use a DVI to HDMI converter no probs (although not for the analogue signals on DVI-A obviously). The standard was put together by a consortium of big names, including Panasonic, Sony, Philips and Toshiba. The specification has now reached version 1.4. The big gain in the later versions is the maximum clock speed, which governs bandwidth. The original specification called for a maximum of 165MHz, which is just enough to handle 1080p. Version 1.3 upped this to 340MHz, in order to comfortably handle 1600p (technically known as Wide Quad Extended Graphics Array). The maximum data rate is 10.4GB/s. It comes in single-link or double-link types (the 19-pin Type A and 29-pin Type B respectively), Type B equates to dual-link DVI, although we haven't seen one yet. HDMI 1.4 launched in March 2010 and adds an Ethernet connection, an audio return channel, more control protocols and is ready for 3D signals. It can cope with a 4096 x 2160 display, enough for a very beefy home cinema setup. Cables come in two main types: Standard or Category 1 cables can cope with the lower capacities of version 1.0 to 1.2, while High-Speed or Category 2 cables are certified for versions 1.3 to 1.4. There's no standard set for the maximum cable length, its essentially down to the cable company to get it working properly. The signal drops off and the longer the cable, the thicker the wire and therefore the better the quality required.
HDMI: The standard 19-pin Type A HDMI connector, capable of 10.4GB/s in its latest iteration HDMI benefits Fully compatible with DVI, just add a converter. This only offers single-link DVI however, which means that high-end cards will still need to carry a DVI dual-link for high resolutions. A nice bit of backward compatibility, though. HDMI includes CEC: Consumer Electronics Control. The idea is that one bit of AV kit can pass across instructions to another, such as turn on, change channel, and so forth. Nice when it works, which isn't as often as you might like. No big loss on a PC. HDMI has native support for the xvYCC colour space. This offers a gamut 1.8 times bigger than plain-old RGB models, by effectively using negative numbers for primaries. It was developed because modern panels are more capable than CRTs of displaying richer colours. Support for xvYCC colour space is found in many graphics cards, but the main target is digital camcorders. You won't find it in Blu-Ray though and its absence on DisplayPort is no great loss. If you've a respectably new television then it will have an HDMI port, making connecting a PC really easy, at last. This is the big bonus, games coming at you with real screen acreage (albeit not at super-high resolutions). HDMI kit is currently a bit cheaper, especially for compatible monitors. Three years after HDMI first made its way into homes, DisplayPort was unleashed into the world. The standard was hammered out by VESA and was designed principally to go betwixt graphics card and monitor. Importantly, it also happens to be royalty-free (as opposed to the four cent per device royalty charged to HDMI devices). DisplayPort was adopted after the United Display Interface (UDI) standard, principally developed by Intel as a DVI replacement, was canned. Unlike the aforementioned HDMI, DisplayPort is a completely new standard. This means that it isn't possible to produce an easy connection converter in the same way it was for HDMI. Having said that, there is a special DP++ port, which offers multi-mode connections (including single-link HDMI and DVI signals) and can be used with a suitable converter cable. It is all a bit of a fudge, though, and requires a non-standard physical port. DisplayPort uses a packet-based transmission system, enabling flexible use of bandwidths. It comes in one-, two- and four-link versions with increasing data capacities. Theoriginal version could transfer a maximum of 8.64GB/s, while the 1.2 specification (which has been around since December 2009) doubles this to a delectable 17.28GB/s – considerably more than HDMI. DisplayPort specifies a maximum cable length of three metres for copper and fifteen meters or more for fibre optic. If you are serious about putting space between box and monitor, then this is clearly the display interface of choice. DisplayPort was designed from the outset with direct graphics card/monitor connection in mind, including the internal one. It can run a monitor directly from the DisplayPort signal, with no Low Voltage Differential Signalling (LVDS) circuitry required on the panel.
DISPLAYPORT: The full-size 20-pin DisplayPort plug, destined to be the connection of choice for monitors at a distance DisplayPort benefits DisplayPort is royalty-free. HDMI costs currently only four cents a pop, mind. DisplayPort has fewer rules over implementation too and is not so highly regulated, so manufacturers can have more fun with it. Technically more accomplished, flexible and capable of carrying much more than just video and audio. At top-spec it has much more bandwidth too (10.2GB/s vs 17.28GB/s). Supports multiple monitors on one cable, so you can daisy-chain two or more together. Thus, full DisplayPort 1.2 can drive four 1920 x 1200 monitors, one on each link, yowza. Offers three metre copper cable at full resolution, its also been designed for fibre optics too, enabling much longer cables. HDMI has no maximum cable length and the signal can degrade. It can run Direct Drive Monitors. This is of most significance internally in laptops, but we should see external DD monitors, which can be thinner, and one would hope, cheaper. There's a bi-directional auxiliary channel, which can be used for input from a microphone or USB device. This can carry 1Mb/s on the first versions and 720Mb/s for version 1.2. A proper cable retention system, a small point perhaps, but a possibly very annoying if your HDMI cable keeps falling out. The other option: Wireless Display Wired kit is pass̩. Where's our wireless connection? Well, Intel has WiDi, Wireless Display, which sends an HD signal across the room. You need a wireless router box wired-up to your telly's HDMI port. Itimpressed the crowd at the Consumer Electronic Show in 2010, but don't you get too excited Рthese were suits. It's perfect for getting PowerPoint from your laptop to a wall-mounted screen, but it's not fast enough for exciting stuff, such as games. It's laggy and testing has revealed that a lot of games freeze. Plus, it only runs on certain Intel processors: 'M' models with integrated graphics Рlaptops basically. WiDi is aimed squarely at business apps, nothing to get excited about, then. WHDI, Wireless Home Digital Interface, is more exciting. This is designed as a full AV wireless standard. The basic spec is for 3Gbps, enabling 1080p, and a range of a 100 feet. The aim is to broadcast Blu-ray from a player to screens around the house. The players behind the standard include Sony, LG, Sharp, Hitachi and Motorola. It's all based around a special transmission system invented by Amimon, which assigns importance to individual bits, enabling error correction to be applied selectively.
WHDI: Plugs into your HDMI port and punts the signal off to a telly or receiver plugged into another HDMI port. We likey In your video data, its the first value for a pixel element that's most important. Get this wrong and you'll get a completely whack colour, however get the last bit of a colour value wrong and you only get a very slight change in colour. Thus the system squeezes Full HD video out of the 5GHz wireless signals licensed for domestic use by not being too fussy about dropped bits where you won't notice the difference. All well and good for home entertainment systems, but the relatively low bandwidth means it'll be a nice extra for a PC rig, being able to send a movie or game to another screen, but it won't replace the primary display. WHDI is due to be updated to cope with 3D and version 2.0 should bring higher bandwidths in the future. However, given the legal limits on the frequency and power levels of an unlicensed domestic wireless system, wireless will always struggle to offer the high resolutions of wired systems. 
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| O2 to launch NFC mobile wallets this year Posted: 04 Feb 2011 04:03 AM PST  O2 has revealed its plans to launch a mobile wallet service using NFC technology in the second half of 2011. The network operator has trailed NFC payment services using a Nokia handset, but no doubt hopes to take advantage of the NFC capabilities of the latest Android smartphones like the Google Nexus S, as well as its rumoured inclusion of a chip in the iPhone 5. London 2012 O2 has said that it will apply for an e-money operating licence from the FSA, which will allow the network to offer money transfers between customers, as well as contactless payments at 60,000 venues around the UK. The e-money operating licence will allow uses to 'bank' money with the network, which can then be spent or transferred using the NFC chip. The network operator is keen to get the mobile payments service up and running before the onslaught of the 2012 Olympics hits London next year. The news comes hot on the heels of Everything Everywhere's announcement that it plans to roll out NFC-enabled SIM cards in Q2 2011 in partnership with Barclaycard. 
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| Updated: Android 3.0: all the latest updates Posted: 04 Feb 2011 03:54 AM PST  Now that Android 2.3 features are official, information about its successor, Android 3.0 – Android Honeycomb – is starting to emerge. Here's what we know about Android 3.0 so far. On 20 October, we reported that Android 3.0 Honeycomb tablets are rumoured to be heading out to engineers in time for Christmas. This has resulted in a huge range of tablets arriving at CES 2011, with UK release dates later in the year. Android 3.0 release date Android 3.0 release date is looking like early 2011. UPDATE: In a video on All Things Digital posted on 7 December Google's Andy Rubin showed off a prototype Motorola Android 3.0 tablet and confirmed that the Android 3.0 release date will be "some time next year". Android 3.0 features and specifications As we reported earlier in July, a Russian podcast details how Android 3.0 Honeycomb will be restricted to high-end handsets and tablets. The podcast explained that Android 3.0 phones will require at least a 1GHz processor, 512MB of RAM and 3.5-inch or larger displays. UPDATE: A Korean electronics firm is claiming that Android 3.0 will actually require a dual-core processor to run. According to the Google Mobile Blog, Android 3.0 has had a huge amount of user interface refinement, and is designed specifically for large-screen devices (so, tablets). Widgets have been made more interactive, and the Home screen has received a snazzy 3D makeover. The new Chrome browser in particular has received some major polish, with the addition of tabbed browsing, auto-fill, syncing with desktop versions of Chrome and private browsing all bringing it closer to the browsing features of a PC. Android Market is now also web based and it's designed for the tablet - you can purchase directly from here and finally search more comprehensively for applications. 'Bubbled' widgets are also being introduced - they can present multiple stories, videos, emails or books without you having to enter the application, giving easy access to your important information without entering any apps. Also, all applications will be able to use the fragmentation mode, meaning that, like Gmail, things like Twitter will be able to have side by side information in the same app. Support for in-app purchases is coming too. Google has detailed more of the new features in this video:
Android 3.0 is also set to offer music syncing, as we reported on 18 January 2011.The 'sync music' option could enable Android 3.0 devices to sync local music with cloud-based services. Android 3.0 phones One of the first Android 3.0 phones could be the Samsung Galaxy S2 if another rumour is to be believed. The leaked details of the Galaxy S I9200 claim a 4.3-inch screen with a resolution of 1280x720. On 27 October 2010, reports appeared that Google was planning to release an Android 3.0 powered Nexus Two with Carphone Warehouse, although we now know that the next Nexus – called the Nexus S and available through Carphone Warehouse and Best Buy – is running Android 2.3. It's also possible that the PSP Phone will be running Android 3.0. However, after a chat TechRadar had with Google in January, it seems quite possible that Android 3.0 is a tablet-only OS and will never be coming to mobile phones. Android 3.0 tablets Acer has announced 7- and 10-inch Android tablets which are slated for release in April 2011. This means they'll almost certainly be running Android 3.0. Asus has announced a range of tablets at CES, including the 7-inch Eee Pad MeMO, which comes with a capacitive stylus for use with a dedicated note-taking app. Pansonic has announced the Viera Tablet for use with the company's connected TVs, though it's unclear whether it will use Android 3.0 or an earlier version. The Motorola Android 3.0 prototype that Andy Rubin showed off last year has surfaced as the Motorola Xoom, now confirmed to be sporting a dual-core processor 10.1-inch screen, front- and rear-facing cameras and HD video recording. We've been able to get some time with it at CES. LG also got in on the Android 3.0 game at CES, launching the T-Mobile G-Slate, and the LG Optimus Pad is on its way too.
We'll also going to see a Honeycomb tablet in the form of the as-yet unnamed HTC tablet, while we are also expecting Android 3.0 tablets in the form of the MSI WindPad. We'll bring you more Android 3.0 details as they emerge. Android Honeycomb: 10 things you need to knowGoogle unveiled its tablet-specific Android 3.0 OS at CES to a flurry of excitement thanks to some pretty exciting new tablet-focused additions to the already impressive OS. But, with a preview of the SDK only just released to developers, we won't be seeing Honeycomb on our Android tablets for a little while; in the meantime, whet your appetite with our round-up of the key new features. 1. There'll be 3D-effect graphics You can't swing a cat without hitting something 3D (literally) in the tech world these days, and Google knows it. Honeycomb offers developers the opportunity to use high-performance 3D graphics which should offer no noticeable lag, even with the extra rendering required. This means we'll see 3D creeping into our apps, wallpapers and carousels as the developers get to grips with the extra dimension. 2. The Android UI has been redesigned especially for tablets The Android user interface had always been intended for smartphones with screens no bigger than around 4-inches – with the advent of tablet devices, displays have shot up in the size stakes. Lucky for us, they're not short of a brain cell or two over at Google and have re-designed the Android UI taking the larger screen into account. The updated UI isn't a million miles away from what we're used to on Android handsets – there are still multiple, customisable homescreens, universal search box and widgets galore – but the small tweaks will make it so much better to use on the larger scale.
An ever-present menu bar at the bottom of the screen will hold notifications, system status updates and on-screen navigation as well as a handy clock, with a "lights out" mode to dim the bar when you're watching a film and want the full screen. Meanwhile, the action bar at the top of the screen is dependent on the app you're in; its look and feel are dictated by each individual app, as are the options available to compensate for the lack of dedicated menu button. 3. Recent apps will make multi-tasking a breeze Multi-tasking is where we expect the dual-core Android tablets to shine, and Honeycomb gives it the tools to do so. The 'recent apps' launcher lays out the last apps you used and the state you left them in, so you can quickly nip from one to another and straight into work. The tool lives in the system bar which is always onscreen, so there'll be no tedious navigation through menus.
4. The keyboard will be tablet-friendly Of course you could buy an external keyboard for your tablet but lugging a million accessories around defeats the object of having a sleek and handy tablet. To save you the hassle, Google has put a bit of thought into the onscreen keyboard; the keys have been reshaped and repositioned to make typing more comfortable and the targeting more natural for the larger screen, instead of simply scaling up the keyboard. We love the inclusion of a tab key, which makes the typing experience more akin to that of a desktop or notebook than that of a phone. 5. Better copy and paste than ever before Ah, copy and paste. Such a small function and yet so universally adored. While regular Android does allow text selection, copying and pasting, the Honeycomb system has had a few tweaks. Tapping a single word will select it while the bounding arrows either end make expanding the selection super simple - simpler even than the one used in Gingerbread.
A menu in the action bar at the top of the screen then allows you to either cut, copy, copy to clipboard, share, paste, search the web for or find. 6. Connectivity upgrades include improved Wi-Fi and Bluetooth tethering Google has improved Android's Wi-Fi connectivity with a new scanning system; it reduces scanning time across bands and filters, so you should be up, running and connected in shorter times. Bluetooth connectivity has been updated too; more devices can now tether to the tablet and share its connectivity, while simple devices with no user interface (think sensors and the like) are also supported. 7. There'll be anonymous tabbed web browsing If you fancy a spot of private web browsing on your Android tablet, then you're in luck; the new "incognito" mode lends an air of Poirot-era respectability to your secretive searching. Google has also done away with the multiple-window browser, instead going for a tabbed browser system with your open web pages displayed in the action bar at the top of the screen.
Google Chrome users can easily sync their bookmarks to the tablet browser too, thanks to Honeycomb's option to automatically sign in to all Google sites with one supplied account. 8. Legacy apps will work seamlessly Worried that you won't be able to make use of the thousands of Android apps already in the marketplace? Never fear, even though they were designed for a much smaller-screened device, Honeycomb is still compatible with apps developed for earlier Android iterations as long as devs add in a simple spot of code. The menu key functions from Android phones are migrated to the Action Bar menu in Honeycomb, and there's the option for developers to create dedicated layouts for larger screens and add them to existing apps. 9. Two-pane email should mean easy inbox oraganisation Two-paned email sounds a little familiar – oh yes, that's right. We've seen it before on the iPad where it works brilliantly. If it ain't broke, and all that. The ability to select multiple messages in the inbox and move or delete them mean there's no excuse for a messy, disorganised inbox, while attachments can be synced to the tablet for you to view later. 10. Widgets are going to get interactive Widgets saved to the home screen on Honeycomb tablets are going to have a whole new level of functionality available. Rather than passively relaying information to the user, they'll be interactive. Gestures can be used to scroll through 3D stacks or lists of content, while touch gestures can also flip and move the widget's innards like never before.
If you're still crazy for more, then check out the video Google has kicked out about the new Android 3.0 OS - it's like looking at pictures but a lot faster. 
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| Updated: Android 3.0: all the latest updates Posted: 04 Feb 2011 03:54 AM PST Now that Android 2.3 features are official, information about its successor, Android 3.0 – Android Honeycomb – is starting to emerge. Here's what we know about Android 3.0 so far. On 20 October, we reported that Android 3.0 Honeycomb tablets are rumoured to be heading out to engineers in time for Christmas. This has resulted in a huge range of tablets arriving at CES 2011, with UK release dates later in the year. Android 3.0 release date Android 3.0 release date is looking like early 2011. UPDATE: In a video on All Things Digital posted on 7 December Google's Andy Rubin showed off a prototype Motorola Android 3.0 tablet and confirmed that the Android 3.0 release date will be "some time next year". Android 3.0 features and specifications As we reported earlier in July, a Russian podcast details how Android 3.0 Honeycomb will be restricted to high-end handsets and tablets. The podcast explained that Android 3.0 phones will require at least a 1GHz processor, 512MB of RAM and 3.5-inch or larger displays. UPDATE: A Korean electronics firm is claiming that Android 3.0 will actually require a dual-core processor to run. According to the Google Mobile Blog, Android 3.0 has had a huge amount of user interface refinement, and is designed specifically for large-screen devices (so, tablets). Widgets have been made more interactive, and the Home screen has received a snazzy 3D makeover. The new Chrome browser in particular has received some major polish, with the addition of tabbed browsing, auto-fill, syncing with desktop versions of Chrome and private browsing all bringing it closer to the browsing features of a PC. Android Market is now also web based and it's designed for the tablet - you can purchase directly from here and finally search more comprehensively for applications. 'Bubbled' widgets are also being introduced - they can present multiple stories, videos, emails or books without you having to enter the application, giving easy access to your important information without entering any apps. Also, all applications will be able to use the fragmentation mode, meaning that, like Gmail, things like Twitter will be able to have side by side information in the same app. Support for in-app purchases is coming too. Google has detailed more of the new features in this video:
Android 3.0 is also set to offer music syncing, as we reported on 18 January 2011.The 'sync music' option could enable Android 3.0 devices to sync local music with cloud-based services. Android 3.0 phones One of the first Android 3.0 phones could be the Samsung Galaxy S2 if another rumour is to be believed. The leaked details of the Galaxy S I9200 claim a 4.3-inch screen with a resolution of 1280x720. On 27 October 2010, reports appeared that Google was planning to release an Android 3.0 powered Nexus Two with Carphone Warehouse, although we now know that the next Nexus – called the Nexus S and available through Carphone Warehouse and Best Buy – is running Android 2.3. It's also possible that the PSP Phone will be running Android 3.0. However, after a chat TechRadar had with Google in January, it seems quite possible that Android 3.0 is a tablet-only OS and will never be coming to mobile phones. Android 3.0 tablets Acer has announced 7- and 10-inch Android tablets which are slated for release in April 2011. This means they'll almost certainly be running Android 3.0. Asus has announced a range of tablets at CES, including the 7-inch Eee Pad MeMO, which comes with a capacitive stylus for use with a dedicated note-taking app. Pansonic has announced the Viera Tablet for use with the company's connected TVs, though it's unclear whether it will use Android 3.0 or an earlier version. The Motorola Android 3.0 prototype that Andy Rubin showed off last year has surfaced as the Motorola Xoom, now confirmed to be sporting a dual-core processor 10.1-inch screen, front- and rear-facing cameras and HD video recording. We've been able to get some time with it at CES. LG also got in on the Android 3.0 game at CES, launching the T-Mobile G-Slate, and the LG Optimus Pad is on its way too.
We'll also going to see a Honeycomb tablet in the form of the as-yet unnamed HTC tablet, while we are also expecting Android 3.0 tablets in the form of the MSI WindPad. We'll bring you more Android 3.0 details as they emerge. Android Honeycomb: 10 things you need to knowGoogle unveiled its tablet-specific Android 3.0 OS at CES to a flurry of excitement thanks to some pretty exciting new tablet-focused additions to the already impressive OS. But, with a preview of the SDK only just released to developers, we won't be seeing Honeycomb on our Android tablets for a little while; in the meantime, whet your appetite with our round-up of the key new features. 1. There'll be 3D-effect graphics You can't swing a cat without hitting something 3D (literally) in the tech world these days, and Google knows it. Honeycomb offers developers the opportunity to use high-performance 3D graphics which should offer no noticeable lag, even with the extra rendering required. This means we'll see 3D creeping into our apps, wallpapers and carousels as the developers get to grips with the extra dimension. 2. The Android UI has been redesigned especially for tablets The Android user interface had always been intended for smartphones with screens no bigger than around 4-inches – with the advent of tablet devices, displays have shot up in the size stakes. Lucky for us, they're not short of a brain cell or two over at Google and have re-designed the Android UI taking the larger screen into account. The updated UI isn't a million miles away from what we're used to on Android handsets – there are still multiple, customisable homescreens, universal search box and widgets galore – but the small tweaks will make it so much better to use on the larger scale.
An ever-present menu bar at the bottom of the screen will hold notifications, system status updates and on-screen navigation as well as a handy clock, with a "lights out" mode to dim the bar when you're watching a film and want the full screen. Meanwhile, the action bar at the top of the screen is dependent on the app you're in; its look and feel are dictated by each individual app, as are the options available to compensate for the lack of dedicated menu button. 3. Recent apps will make multi-tasking a breeze Multi-tasking is where we expect the dual-core Android tablets to shine, and Honeycomb gives it the tools to do so. The 'recent apps' launcher lays out the last apps you used and the state you left them in, so you can quickly nip from one to another and straight into work. The tool lives in the system bar which is always onscreen, so there'll be no tedious navigation through menus.
4. The keyboard will be tablet-friendly Of course you could buy an external keyboard for your tablet but lugging a million accessories around defeats the object of having a sleek and handy tablet. To save you the hassle, Google has put a bit of thought into the onscreen keyboard; the keys have been reshaped and repositioned to make typing more comfortable and the targeting more natural for the larger screen, instead of simply scaling up the keyboard. We love the inclusion of a tab key, which makes the typing experience more akin to that of a desktop or notebook than that of a phone. 5. Better copy and paste than ever before Ah, copy and paste. Such a small function and yet so universally adored. While regular Android does allow text selection, copying and pasting, the Honeycomb system has had a few tweaks. Tapping a single word will select it while the bounding arrows either end make expanding the selection super simple - simpler even than the one used in Gingerbread.
A menu in the action bar at the top of the screen then allows you to either cut, copy, copy to clipboard, share, paste, search the web for or find. 6. Connectivity upgrades include improved Wi-Fi and Bluetooth tethering Google has improved Android's Wi-Fi connectivity with a new scanning system; it reduces scanning time across bands and filters, so you should be up, running and connected in shorter times. Bluetooth connectivity has been updated too; more devices can now tether to the tablet and share its connectivity, while simple devices with no user interface (think sensors and the like) are also supported. 7. There'll be anonymous tabbed web browsing If you fancy a spot of private web browsing on your Android tablet, then you're in luck; the new "incognito" mode lends an air of Poirot-era respectability to your secretive searching. Google has also done away with the multiple-window browser, instead going for a tabbed browser system with your open web pages displayed in the action bar at the top of the screen.
Google Chrome users can easily sync their bookmarks to the tablet browser too, thanks to Honeycomb's option to automatically sign in to all Google sites with one supplied account. 8. Legacy apps will work seamlessly Worried that you won't be able to make use of the thousands of Android apps already in the marketplace? Never fear, even though they were designed for a much smaller-screened device, Honeycomb is still compatible with apps developed for earlier Android iterations as long as devs add in a simple spot of code. The menu key functions from Android phones are migrated to the Action Bar menu in Honeycomb, and there's the option for developers to create dedicated layouts for larger screens and add them to existing apps. 9. Two-pane email should mean easy inbox oraganisation Two-paned email sounds a little familiar – oh yes, that's right. We've seen it before on the iPad where it works brilliantly. If it ain't broke, and all that. The ability to select multiple messages in the inbox and move or delete them mean there's no excuse for a messy, disorganised inbox, while attachments can be synced to the tablet for you to view later. 10. Widgets are going to get interactive Widgets saved to the home screen on Honeycomb tablets are going to have a whole new level of functionality available. Rather than passively relaying information to the user, they'll be interactive. Gestures can be used to scroll through 3D stacks or lists of content, while touch gestures can also flip and move the widget's innards like never before.
If you're still crazy for more, then check out the video Google has kicked out about the new Android 3.0 OS - it's like looking at pictures but a lot faster. 
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| Sainsbury's breaks £200 barrier for Nintendo 3DS Posted: 04 Feb 2011 03:53 AM PST  Supermarket giant Sainsbury's has weighed in with its very own Nintendo 3DS pre-order offer, and you'll be able to get the gaming hand and a fistful of Nectar points for £199.99. That's £3 cheaper than rival Asda – for now at least – and Sainsbury's will also throw in 1000 bonus Nectar points. Gurdeep Hunjan, Sainsbury's games buyer, comments: "If you're looking for a Nintendo 3DS, this is a great way to secure one now and save some cash." Allocation Sainsbury's pre-ordering launches in over 300 larger stores today and is also available online from http://www.sainsburys.co.uk/entertainment. The offer will run "until allocated stocks last". The 3DS is scheduled to arrive on 25 March and brings a much-vaunted autostereoscopic 3D screen. The mobile console is expected to be a major hit for Nintendo, despite a price tag that pitched it squarely against some of the major players in home consoles like Xbox and PlayStation. 
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| Microsoft introduces 'aliases' for Hotmail Posted: 04 Feb 2011 03:36 AM PST  Microsoft has introduced aliases to for Hotmail email – allowing you to manage multiple email aliases from a single Hotmail account. Microsoft has been making key changes to Hotmail as it looks to stave off competition from the likes of Google's Gmail, and that now includes the ability to use a different email address within the webmail service. "The email address a person uses is a big part of their online identity," blogged Microsoft's Dharmesh Mehta. "The average person maintains three different email addresses in order to organize different types of email, maintain different personas, or keep junk mail away from a primary email address. "So there are many good reasons that people want multiple email addresses, but maintaining multiple accounts, with different user names and passwords that require you to check multiple inboxes, is inefficient. "With today's update, Hotmail helps you save time by making it easier to manage your current and future email addresses in one place." 15 total Hotmail will now let you add up to link up five email aliases a year that are completely different from your main hotmail address (so, not just the now familiar address+keyword addition). "You might also be concerned that your address could be sold to other companies or could result in a large amount of new email that you don't want or doesn't belong in the same place as your regular email, adds Mehta. "Or maybe you want an address that's better suited to your hard-core gaming persona rather than your normal, professional one. "Starting today, you can add up to five aliases per year to your Hotmail account, up to fifteen aliases in total, all designed to make it a lot easier to organize different types of email and personas in one Hotmail inbox without having to give out your primary email address if you don't want to." 
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| Android Ice Cream to get Honeycomb flavouring? Posted: 04 Feb 2011 03:28 AM PST The confusion over what will happen with the next iteration of Android continues with news that Ice Cream Sandwich, to give the OS its full name, will come with some Honeycomb features embedded. Which means it's looking more and more likely that Honeycomb will be ported on to tablets only and not come to smartphones. Everything about the OS seems to be built around tablet architecture, but this doesn't necessarily mean that none of the features will be coming to mobile phones. The word on the Google street is that Ice Cream Sandwich will be the next flavoursome OS for smartphones after Gingerbread, but will have bits of Honeycomb within it. Honey monster According to Phandroid there's a new code being built called GRI17 which will implement some parts of Honeycomb but it's not known which bits will make the cut. What this does mean is that Ice Cream will probably become Android 2.4, with Android 3.0 Honeycomb solely used for tablets. Confusing? You betcha - but it is something that we have been expecting. We'll be hoping that the Google I/O conference scheduled for 10 May will shed some light on Google's operating system plans for both tablets and smartphones. 
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| Budget Alcatel handsets hit Carphone Warehouse Posted: 04 Feb 2011 03:13 AM PST  Carphone Warehouse has announced that it will be stocking two Alcatel handsets, costing no more than £30 each plus £10 of credit. The touchscreen option, the Alcatel OT710, also comes with additional covers which are exclusive to the retailer. You'd be right not to expect too much for £30; Bluetooth, GPRS, Opera Mini, a music player and a 2MP camera is pretty much your lot, but you can expand storage with a microSD card up to 8GB. Girl's best friend If touchscreens aren't your bag, the Alcatel OT799 comes with a full physical QWERTY keypad in candybar form. Other than the abundance of buttons, the OT799 is very similar to the touchscreen handset with a 2MP camera and conference call-ability. It is even described in the press release as "a girl's best friend," which is a serious downgrade from diamonds, to be honest. The two handsets are not quite as cheap as Carphone's 1p Alcatel OT-209, but you do get a little bit more bang for your buck. 
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| Tutorial: How to bring Aero Snap to OS X Posted: 04 Feb 2011 02:45 AM PST  Mac users like to play the superiority card when it comes to Windows, sniggering behind the backs of people 'dumb' enough to use Microsoft's operating system, perhaps going so far as to point fingers and yell something about photocopiers in Redmond. But drink some reality juice and it's clear that Cupertino isn't the only place where innovation happens Рoften enough, Microsoft has some pretty good ideas of its own. The taskbar introduced with Windows 95 was one such feature, providing a centralised switcher/launcher long before the Mac OS X Dock arrived. Windows 7 also has plenty of interesting interface ideas, largely centred around its taskbar and window management. We don't see Apple warming up its photocopier, but enterprising indie developer Christian Baumgart has taken on the task. His HyperDock add-on enables you to bring a bunch of Windows 7 features to the Mac, and, despite what you might think, they may well improve your productivity. One of the best features in Windows 7 is Aero Snap, which enables you to drag a window to a screen edge to resize it to full- or half-screen, without having to manually line things up. HyperDock includes the same feature, and it works with the majority of Mac apps. Another feature of Windows 7 is the ability to hover over a taskbar icon to preview an app's windows. On the Mac, Dock Expos̩ does much the same thing, but HyperDock's implementation is useful if you're not enamoured with Dock Expos̩, and also if you'd like a few extra features. Below, we show you how to use these and other features; for more details about HyperDock, visit http://hyperdock.bahoom.de. How to: Bring Aero Snap to your Mac 1. Snap to split-screen After installing HyperDock, launch Safariand open two windows. Drag one to the left screen edge; when the semi-transparent box appears, release the mouse button and the window will resize to fill the left half of the screen. Drag the other window to the right.
2. Full-screen windows Split-screen is great for comparing two windows, but sometimes you'll have a single document you want to fill the screen. Mac OS X lacks an actual 'full-screen' button, but with HyperDock you can just drag a window to the top screen edge and it'll fill the entire screen.
3. Move windows easily Open System Preferences and select HyperDock. Select the Window Management tab. Under Window Dragging, you'll see modifiers for moving and resizing windows. Move your cursor over a window, hold Crtrl+Option and then move the cursor for window control.
4. View Dock previews HyperDock's Dock previews are less of a 'jolt' when activated than Dock Exposé. Hover the mouse cursor over a Dock icon and you'll see the app's windows. Minimised windows show a '–' symbol. Hover over a preview to view it at full size; hover over one and click '×' to close.
5. iCal and iTunes previews iTunes and iCalby default provide information-based previews. Hold your cursor over iCal's icon to see upcoming events. Hold your cursor over theiTunes icon to see the currently playing track; hover over the artwork to access controls and clickable rating stars.
6. Preview behaviour Back in HyperDock's preferences, click the General tab. Here, you can disable the iCal and iTunes previews and also amend preview behaviour. Next, click Appearance. Experiment with the settings to change the size and appearance of the preview bubbles.
7. View Dock shortcuts Still in preferences, click Shortcuts. On the left, select Any Dock Icon. On the right are actions and events. As per the events shown, hold Option and click Safari in the Dock. Dock Expos̩ will be invoked. Hit Escape then hold Command and click Safari's Dock icon Рa new window opens.
8. Edit Dock shortcuts To edit an existing Dock shortcut, click the up/down arrow icon at the right of the event, select Other Button/Keys and define a new shortcut. You can also use the '+' icons to add new apps to the left-hand pane or new action/event pairs to the right-hand pane.
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| Nokia Windows Phone 7 announcement coming on 11 Feb? Posted: 04 Feb 2011 02:23 AM PST  Nokia could be about to reveal plans to get behind Windows Phone 7 on 11 Feb. New CEO Stephen Elop is set to talk to investors in London and is planning a major announcement for the speech ahead of Mobile World Congress 2011. Describing the announcement as 'strategic', we're crossing our fingers and toes and hoping Nokia is going to take a punt on Windows Phone 7. Symbian issues Nokia's OS of choice is Symbian and, while not without its charms, the software has struggled to compete against the likes of Android and iOS. After Elop's comments that Nokia must "build, capitalise and/or join a competitive ecosystem" last week, speculation that the company will get behind Android or Windows Phone has been rife. The New York Times reports that Nokia's shares have seen a gentle increase thanks to the rumours of a Microsoft software alliance. Elop himself joined Nokia from Microsoft – maybe he's missing the old gang. Either way, building hardware for a proven OS could be the answer to Nokia's problems; we'll bring you the news as it breaks. 
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| Weird Tech: Harry Potter and the tiny cloak of invisibility Posted: 04 Feb 2011 02:00 AM PST  Israel's Ben-Gurion International Airport hit the news this week after security staff discovered 44 iPhones concealed in the stockings of a 60-something year-old woman. Security staff were tipped off by her gait, which resembled that of somebody trying to walk with 44 iPhones in their stockings. As reporter Suzzie Christodulu notes, "Putting 44 iPhones in your stockings would make walking difficult". Etch-a-tech If you've ever wished your computer worked like an Etch-A-Sketch, Msraynsford has the device for you: inspired by the computer controlled Etch-A-Sketches he'd seen online, he decided to take the opposite approach and add rotational controls to a PC.
MDFFED: A computer that you control like an Etch-A-Sketch. How great is that? Brilliantly, the spec includes MDF, the guts of an old mouse and the caps from a pair of water bottles. Full-fat VR Ever wondered what it's like to be fat? Simply strap on some VR specs, look at a portly avatar and poke yourself in the stomach with sticks. Bizarre as it sounds, we're describing proper science here: computer scientist Mel Slater of University College London, whose team previously explored ways of making virtual arms feel real and ways to "make men feel as if their bodies were female", hopes that the research could ultimately help people with body image-related disorders. Speaking to Inside Science News, Slater described how such technology might be useful: "People who are unhappy with being overweight could experience how eating healthily can alter [their] virtual appearance, which could serve as a strong motivator to change future behaviour in reality." Invisibility cloak "good for paperclips" We have good news and bad news. The good news is that scientists have invented a cloak of invisibility. The bad news is that it's so small, it only works on things that were pretty much invisible already. According to The Guardian, "the cloak – a lump of crystal rather than a flowing cape – can hide only small objects, such as pins and paperclips".
HIDE IT: To be honest, we thought a Cloak of Invisibility might be more ambitious than a stick of concealer That's great should owning pins and paperclips ever become punishable by death, but does the tech have any more practical uses? "If you had a mole on your face, you could potentially cloak it so it won't be seen," lead researcher Shuang Zhang from the University of Birmingham says. So there you go. One day technology might be able to mimic an eight-quid cover-up stick. Be a bot for business Which would you rather do: fly around the world on business, or control a robot that can zoom around other people's offices, causing chaos? Us too, which is why we love the idea of Anybots so much.
WANT WANT: This is the best thing we've seen for ages, and really makes us want to buy an Anybot Anybots are "your personal avatar", controlled via your browser and enabling you to conduct a reign of robot terror without leaving the house. The website includes the best diagram we've seen for months. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 
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| Posted: 04 Feb 2011 01:46 AM PST  Pioneer's 2010 receivers are the best looking on the market, and that applies even to the bottom-end of the range, represented in our roundup by the VSX-520. The build quality is up to Pioneer's usual impeccable standards, too. Cleverly, most of the front panel buttons are tucked into the cracks and crevices, which makes this AVR look clean and uncluttered despite its fairly high button count. Sadly, there are no AV connections on the front, just a headphone jack and a port for the setup mic. The Pioneer's budget credentials are further confirmed by the disappointing presence of springclip terminals for the surround and centre channels, which means only the front ones are connected to binding posts. Otherwise, the feature list is pretty solid. Aside from a healthy amount of audio and video inputs (including three HDMI v1.4 inputs ), there's an adaptor port for a Pioneer Bluetooth wireless adapter that lets you stream music from mobile phones, laptops and so forth (although there's no iPod support via USB), and Dolby Pro-Logic IIz processing, which uses dedicated pre-outs. The VSX-520 also decodes HD audio (unlike the Yamaha RX-V367) and there's a wealth of DSPs and other sound options, including Pioneer's Front Stage Surround and Phase Control. Tweaking the sound is easy thanks to the Multi-Channel Acoustic Calibration feature, but the lack of onscreen menus makes further adjustment via the front panel display feel laborious. The remote is also fiddly to use due to its tiny keys and cluttered layout. You even have to use a shift key for certain functions, which feels too much like work for me.
Audio steerage Thankfully, the VSX-520 atones for its operational faux pas with solid audio performance. Avatar's DTS-HD MA track is conveyed expansively, firing effects to the far-flung reaches of the room and steering them from speaker to speaker like Lewis Hamilton around Silverstone. Meanwhile, burly bass tones lend authority to pounding footsteps and explosions, while the elegant high-frequency reproduction ensures that sounds such as tinkling glass and metal on metal sound crisp, but not grating. There's a level of control and cohesion during action scenes that's a joy to behold, and it also displays a deftness of touch that makes quiet scenes absorbing. The Pioneer does, however, lack a little punch and dynamism. Related Links
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| Review: AMD Phenom II X6 1100T BE Posted: 04 Feb 2011 01:26 AM PST  This new hex-core chip is symptomatic of AMD's current predicament: that its most expensive PC processors sell for barely one-third the price of Intel's. And that's not a situation the new AMD Phenom II X6 1100T Black Edition is going to change – despite the fact that it's officially AMD's fastest and most expensive chip. With a retail sticker around £215, the AMD Phenom II X6 1100T Black Edition is priced on a par with the very cheapest of Intel's Core i7 processors such as the Intel Core i7 870. Nevertheless, it serves up six execution cores to the 870's four. Six-core Intel CPUs are far more expensive, starting around £700. Then again, Intel's cores do much more work per cycle. Until it releases the long awaited Bulldozer CPU architecture, AMD needs to sell more cores for less cash. In the meantime, this revised six-core Phenom II X6 raises AMD's game incrementally with an increase in clockspeed from 3.2GHz to 3.3GHz. For the most part, the AMD Phenom II X6 1100T Black Edition is not a new processor. It's based on AMD's increasingly familiar six-core Thuban die, a chip that can trace its roots directly back to the AMD Hammer CPU architecture first seen in 2003. Thus, it's a 45nm CPU with 512k cache per core and a further 6MB of shared cache memory. As with all existing desktop AMD chips, it drops into the AM3 socket and supports DDR3 memory. In fact, the only significant difference compared to AMD's previous range topper, the Phenom II X6 1090T, is operating frequency. The new chip runs at 3.3GHz, just 100MHz more than the old 1090T. Courtesy of AMD's Intel-aping Turbo feature, up to three cores can run at 3.7GHz. If that seems disappointing, it's worth remembering that small increases in operating frequency can also come with a big boost in overclocking headroom. Here's hoping A brief glance at stock clock performance brings no surprises. AMD has finessed the new 1100T's pricing carefully and it matches up well with the Intel Core i7 870 in multithreaded benchmarks such as video encoding and professional 3D rendering. There's really nothing to choose between them. However, the World in Conflict game benchmark exposes the Phenom's weak per-core performance. Gamers looking for the best frame rates still need to look to Intel at this price point. As for overclocking, the new 1100T is slightly disappointing and fails to match the 4GHz maximum frequency we managed with the older 1090T model. Mileages inevitably vary from chip to chip, but the 3.8GHz result suggests the 1100T is more a rebadge than a respin. Like all of AMD's six-core Thuban chips, the Phenom II X6 1100T Black Edition gives you a lot of cores for not much cash. The result is excellent multithreaded throughput, with slightly ropey comparative gaming performance. AMD's CPU architecture really is getting ancient and it certainly shows in some benchmarks. An Intel chip with lower clocks and fewer cores is often faster, and sadly for AMD, that's still where the smart money's going. Benchmarks Professional rendering performance AMD Phenom II X6 1100T BE: 47s Video encoding performance AMD Phenom II X6 1100T BE: 27fps Gaming performance AMD Phenom II X6 1100T BE: 61fps 
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