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Techradar |
- Sony PS3 European sales injunction lifted
- AOL sheds 900 jobs
- Google to allow users to block sites from search results
- GarageBand and iMovie for iPad get early release
- Kaz Hirai promoted to VP at Sony
- An Amazon tablet would be iPad 2's only challenge, says Forrester
- Angry Birds developer raises £26 million
- Asus launches NC1 noise cancelling headphones
- Exclusive: Branson: Virgin Media TiVo is a weapon against Sky
- Exclusive: Sir Richard Branson: Apple is my favourite brand
- LG Display to sell Sony passive 3D TV panels?
- LG Display to sell Sony passive 3D TV panels?
- Nintendo may remotely disable hacked 3DS consoles
- Nintendo may remotely disable hacked 3DS consoles
- Buying Guide: Best hard drive: 6 on test between 1.5TB and 3TB
- Buying Guide: Best hard drive: 6 on test between 1.5TB and 3TB
- Windows Phone 7 copy and paste update coming late March
- Windows Phone 7 copy and paste update coming late March
- Review: Skitch Plus
- Review: Skitch Plus
- Review: Skitch Plus
- Review: Plasq Comic Life 2
- Review: Plasq Comic Life 2
| Sony PS3 European sales injunction lifted Posted: 10 Mar 2011 05:45 PM PST  Sony PlayStation 3 consoles are shipping to European retailers once again after an injunction, which saw 300,000 consoles held in EU customs, was finally lifted. Late last month LG had won a legal ruling preventing PS3s entering the EU as part of a long-running patent dispute with Sony over the Blu-ray technology in the console. Now Sony has emerged victorious from the latest round of legal sparring, the confiscated PS3s have been released and LG has been forced to pay €130,000 in costs over the whole episode. Shortages While the ruling avoids the possibility of a PS3 drought on the continent, further delays would have definitely seen shortages of the Blu-ray packing console. Retailers are thought to have a 2-3 week supply of consoles in their locker at any one time and that's what saved them on this occasion. While Sony has emerged on top in this battle, we seriously doubt we've heard the last of this. The patent dispute has not been resolved at this time, only Sony's petition to allow PS3's to cross EU borders. LG and Sony are thought to be embroiled in as many as 7 patent disputes with each other with both legal teams seeking various injunctions. 
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| Posted: 10 Mar 2011 05:17 PM PST  US online titan AOL has cut 900 employees loose after integrating popular website The Huffington Post into its portfolio. The cuts see a 20 per cent cut in AOL's workforce with the aim of streamlining the content following February's near-£200m deal to purchase the online newspaper. 200 jobs will be lost in the content and technology departments, in the US, while 700 back office jobs in India will also be axed. AOL's comeback The buyout of the phenomenally successful Huffington Post is seen by AOL as the perfect means of reviving falling advertising revenues. AOL, which once boasted 20,000 employees as the undisputed king of ISPs in the United States, has endured leaner times in recent years. An unsuccessful merger and subsequent acrimonious split from Time Warner in 2009 has left the company in the wilderness with cable providers like AT&T and Comcast taking a massive market share. 
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| Google to allow users to block sites from search results Posted: 10 Mar 2011 01:10 PM PST  Google has introduced a new tool allowing users to block unwanted web domains from their search results. So, if you can't stand a site that dominates the first Google page for your tech queries, you can tell Google not to feature that site in your search results any longer. Once you've clicked that link on the search page, you'll need to come back to the results page and chose whether you want to block it from future searches. "We're adding this feature because we believe giving you control over the results you find will provide an even more personalised and enjoyable experience on Google," said company engineers in a blog post today. Personalised searches Once you've blocked a site you'll then be notified by your Google account and asked to confirm it. You'll also be able to manage the websites you've blocked in your Google account settings. Google is also considering taking the amount of times a site has been disqualified from users' search results into account when deciding on how websites rank within its algorithms. The update comes on Thursday and Friday to the latest versions within Chrome, Firefox and IE. 
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| GarageBand and iMovie for iPad get early release Posted: 10 Mar 2011 12:02 PM PST  Apple has sprung its second early launch in a week by outing the iPad versions of GarageBand and iMovie a day ahead of schedule. First-gen iPad owners can now download GarageBand for just £2.99, while an updated version of iMovie is available for iPod touch and iPhone 4. Tablet-fanciers will need an iPad 2 to run the iMovie app as the original iPad obviously doesn't have a video camera to record footage. The early release follows Apple's decision to roll out iOS 4.3 yesterday. Both the 4.3 update and the apps were originally scheduled to launch on Friday, the day the iPad 2 arrives in the United States. iLife on iPad The launch sees the two most popular apps from Apple's iLife software package land on the revolutionary "post PC" tablet. iMovie uses the iPad 2's new 720p HD video camera to open up a world of touchscreen editing possibilities. It brings precision fingertip video editing, multiple audio tracks, a host of themes and the ability to share your creations across the web. GarageBand brings an 8-track recorder and real instruments to the touchscreen, with the accelerometer even sensing how firm you hit the keys on the piano. At £2.99, both represent massive value and a big leap forward for iPad apps. 
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| Kaz Hirai promoted to VP at Sony Posted: 10 Mar 2011 09:11 AM PST  Ex-PlayStation boss Kaz Hirai has been promoted to Sony vice president, taking on a much wider role at the consumer electronics giant. As of 1 April, Sony is set to split its business into two main groups, the Consumer Products and Services Group, and the Professional & Device Solutions Group. Sony does the VP shuffle Sony hopes that the forthcoming shift in corporate structure will help to establish the company as the world's top network entertainment and business solutions provider. Hirai will manage all of Sony's consumer products and network services going forward, with many suggesting he is the natural successor to Sony's current CEO Howard Stringer. Hirai will continue to look after games and network services, plus also be in charge of TVs, home video, home audio, digital imaging, PCs and mobile products. Hiroshi Yoshioka will continue to run the firm's components, semiconductors and business services. 
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| An Amazon tablet would be iPad 2's only challenge, says Forrester Posted: 10 Mar 2011 09:07 AM PST  The current generation of Android tablets don't have what it takes to truly challenge the iPad 2, according to market research firm Forrester. Instead, the research bods reckon that only viable iPad 2 challenger is Amazon, should the company decide to develop a tablet. Forrester argues that existing competitors, from Android Honeycomb tablets like the Motorola Xoom to the BlackBerry PlayBook and HP TouchPad, are too pricey and don't offer the level of service that Apple can through its dedicated App Store and physical high street shops. What if… If Amazon came out with an Android or Linux-based tablet, however, it already has a ready-made storefront and an upcoming app store, and could offer Amazon-specific features like recommendations. Could Amazon be considering a tablet? We don't imagine there are many tech brands that aren't considering tablets at this point and with an e-reader (the Amazon Kindle) already under its belt, there is precedent. Forrester concedes that other companies, including Sony and Microsoft, could disrupt the market in a similar way to Amazon, but with Sony's prototypes verging on the insane and Microsoft pushing its tablet software back to next year, we're not convinced. One thing is clear though: the current batch of tablets isn't up to much in Forrester's eyes. 
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| Angry Birds developer raises £26 million Posted: 10 Mar 2011 08:30 AM PST  Angry Birds developer Rovio has raised $42 million (£26 million) in investment this week, raising questions amongst fans about what might be on the way from the leading iPhone dev. Rovio's latest round of $42 million in investments comes from VC firms Accel Partners and Atomico Ventures. Atomico Ventures founder Niklas Zennström now joins the board of the Finnish studio, following the latest cash injection. What this will mean for the way the studio creates and distributes its games in the future remains to be seen. Angry Birds: the franchise The cash will help Rovio "to increase its reach internationally, and across markets including mobile, social media and other platforms, and via merchandising and media production and partnerships," according to Mikael Hed, CEO and co-founder of Rovio. "With Angry Birds, we have successfully launched not only a strong new brand, but also a whole new entertainment franchise. "Angry Birds will continue to grow, and we aim to create more similar success stories. We will strengthen the position of Rovio and continue building our franchises in gaming, merchandising and broadcast media." Angry Birds has so far topped $70 million (£43.6 million) to date – made up from App Store sales, ad revenues (from the free version) and merchandising sales. TechRadar has contacted Rovio to find out more about the studio's future plans, following this latest round of investment. Stay tuned for some Angry Birds news soon and, hopefully, updates on new IP and Rovio's plans for taking its games to Facebook and other networks and mobile platforms. 
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| Asus launches NC1 noise cancelling headphones Posted: 10 Mar 2011 08:24 AM PST  Asus has today unveiled its latest headphones, the Asus NC1, which offer active noise cancellation. They certainly sound impressive when it comes to power consumption, with Asus claiming up to 100 hours of noise-cancelled music playback on just one AAA battery. The ANC technology filters 87 per cent of ambient noise, according to Asus. Like other active noise cancellation products on the market, the headphones work by detecting ambient noise and generating inverse sound waves to cancel it out. Clever stuff The 40mm speaker drivers also have specially-selected neodymium magnets for accurate sound reproduction and dynamic bass performance.
But, of course, these aren't the only noise-cancelling headphones to incorporate these snazzy magnets; your other options include the Sennheiser 500 Series and the five-star Bowers and Wilkins P5s. Weighing in at 130g, the Asus NC1 headphones are light and apparently perfect for transatlantic flights, especially given their fold-flat design. No word yet on UK release date or pricing, so if you have a long-haul flight coming up soon we're afraid you'll probably miss out. 
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| Exclusive: Branson: Virgin Media TiVo is a weapon against Sky Posted: 10 Mar 2011 08:11 AM PST  Virgin founder Sir Richard Branson has told TechRadar that he thinks the new TiVo-powered Virgin Media boxes are a weapon that can be used to convert thousands of Sky customers. Virgin Media launched its TiVo box at the very end of 2010, although very few boxes are in the market at the current time. As more and more customers get the next-generation set top box, Virgin Media will begin the push for the new equipment, which has already wowed critics with its feature set, including a backwards EPG, searchable content and, crucially, the famous TiVo suggestion functionality. A weapon against Sky "I think that it is fantastic," Branson told TechRadar and T3 in an exclusive interview. "There's numerous things one can do and I think that we have finally got a weapon that can give Sky a run for their money. "We may well get thousands of people switching over from Sky to Virgin; it's a weapon that we've got that they can never develop which obviously gives us a bit of an advantage." Moving places? The British entrepreneur was getting his first taste of the technology when we met him, and was wondering just how he could take advantage of the service from his normal base of his privately-owned Caribbean paradise Necker Island. "The only problem is whether I have to sell my island to move to a place where I can get TiVo," he joked. "Someone suggested that I swap Necker Island for the Isle of Wight so I'm going to have to work out if I go that far or maybe lay an enormous cable from here to the Caribbean; that would be tremendous." 
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| Exclusive: Sir Richard Branson: Apple is my favourite brand Posted: 10 Mar 2011 07:43 AM PST  Sir Richard Branson has expressed his admiration for Apple and its founder Steve Jobs, joking that he'd consider merging his Virgin empire with the tech giant. Branson, who was in town to check out the new Virgin Media TiVo box, told TechRadar and T3 of his love for Apple as a company, with the iPad 2 already on his wishlist. When asked about the biggest name in technology, Branson needed no time to think. "Steve Jobs," he answered. "I hope he gets through his current illness. He's the entrepreneur in the world I most admire and I think [Apple] is the brand I most admire." Comeback king "[Jobs] is the greatest comeback artist as well. He's twice been down and out and fought his way back and created a brilliant global company. "Everything he does is real class and if he wants to rename his company Virgin Apple I'd be happy to merge! It's a great brand and a great company and may he get well soon. "…it sounds like he may not be coming back [to work], and he really has done incredible things; he's got a great legacy." iPad 2 Branson told us that he is already looking forward to getting hold of the iPad 2, with its predecessor quickly becoming his favourite gadget. "I recently discovered the iPad and I'm looking forward to discovering the new iPad," he said "[The original iPad] is fantastic and we recently launched the magazine 'Project' which is very good. "Whether Apple can stay ahead of the game with all the competition with Google [Android] and putting it on every single bit of electronic equipment I don't know. "There's a possibility that Apple won't reign supreme indefinitely." 
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| LG Display to sell Sony passive 3D TV panels? Posted: 10 Mar 2011 02:54 AM PST  LG Display, the LCD maker backed by LG, is in talks to provide Sony with passive 3D TV screens. This is according to Reuters, which reports that LG Display is currently speaking to Sony about its FPR 3D technology, which was shown off at CES 2011. If a deal is made, then this will give LG a massive boost in promoting its passive 3D technology and put the company at odds against Samsung which currently owns around 60 per cent of the 3D market. Technological drawbacks The two Korean manufacturers aren't exactly playing nice when it comes to each other's 3D technology. Samsung, who is backing active shutter 3D (currently alongside Panasonic and Sony) recently said the 3D FPR technology is the same 3D technology that has been around since 1935 and that it is rife with picture quality problems. Yoon Boo-keun, president of Samsung visual display business, said about LG's passive 3D tech to the Korea Herald: "FPR would give some advantages in cost but that's all. "FPR can't realise Full HD images as it has technological drawbacks, limiting its use to small-sized mobile gadgets." There's no word whether Sony will take on the FPR panels but if the company does then it will spark a 3D format war, which wouldn't be as bad as the HD DVD vs Blu-ray debacle but it would definitely confuse consumers. 
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| LG Display to sell Sony passive 3D TV panels? Posted: 10 Mar 2011 02:54 AM PST LG Display, the LCD maker backed by LG, is in talks to provide Sony with passive 3D TV screens. This is according to Reuters, which reports that LG Display is currently speaking to Sony about its FPR 3D technology, which was shown off at CES 2011. If a deal is made, then this will give LG a massive boost in promoting its passive 3D technology and put the company at odds against Samsung which currently owns around 60 per cent of the 3D market. Technological drawbacks The two Korean manufacturers aren't exactly playing nice when it comes to each other's 3D technology. Samsung, who is backing active shutter 3D (currently alongside Panasonic and Sony) recently said the 3D FPR technology is the same 3D technology that has been around since 1935 and that it is rife with picture quality problems. Yoon Boo-keun, president of Samsung visual display business, said about LG's passive 3D tech to the Korea Herald: "FPR would give some advantages in cost but that's all. "FPR can't realise Full HD images as it has technological drawbacks, limiting its use to small-sized mobile gadgets." There's no word whether Sony will take on the FPR panels but if the company does then it will spark a 3D format war, which wouldn't be as bad as the HD DVD vs Blu-ray debacle but it would definitely confuse consumers.
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| Nintendo may remotely disable hacked 3DS consoles Posted: 10 Mar 2011 02:49 AM PST  Nintendo is not going to let those handy with a screwdriver get away with installing tech that will allow users to run unofficial (usually pirated) games on the Nintendo 3DS. Literally hours after the Nintendo 3DS went on sale in Japan, one YouTube user posted a video showing how he had hacked the device to use an R4 card which allowed his 3DS to play non-Nintendo-approved games. Not cool, says Nintendo. According to one Japanese retailer, the company may send a firmware update to the console to possibly kill it completely if it spots that you've used a flash card. Serious stuff The retailer, Enterking, posted a message on its site addressed to customers looking to resell their consoles: "In case if you use equipment which is illegal or unapproved by Nintendo or if you do customisation which is unapproved by Nintendo, there is a possibility that Nintendo 3DS become non bootable by system update." It's not a given that anyone with an R4 card installed will definitely end up with a bricked handheld and Nintendo's not giving much away – although its official line on the subject does offer hints: "We do not discuss product security details (for obvious reasons), nor can we discuss the details of counter-measures available in the Nintendo 3DS system. "Nintendo 3DS has the most up-to-date technology. The security has been designed to protect both the creative works in the software and to protect the Nintendo 3DS hardware system itself." Doesn't sound like it's worth the risk to us. Plus it's illegal. Steer clear. 
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| Nintendo may remotely disable hacked 3DS consoles Posted: 10 Mar 2011 02:49 AM PST Nintendo is not going to let those handy with a screwdriver get away with installing tech that will allow users to run unofficial (usually pirated) games on the Nintendo 3DS. Literally hours after the Nintendo 3DS went on sale in Japan, one YouTube user posted a video showing how he had hacked the device to use an R4 card which allowed his 3DS to play non-Nintendo-approved games. Not cool, says Nintendo. According to one Japanese retailer, the company may send a firmware update to the console to possibly kill it completely if it spots that you've used a flash card. Serious stuff The retailer, Enterking, posted a message on its site addressed to customers looking to resell their consoles: "In case if you use equipment which is illegal or unapproved by Nintendo or if you do customisation which is unapproved by Nintendo, there is a possibility that Nintendo 3DS become non bootable by system update." It's not a given that anyone with an R4 card installed will definitely end up with a bricked handheld and Nintendo's not giving much away – although its official line on the subject does offer hints: "We do not discuss product security details (for obvious reasons), nor can we discuss the details of counter-measures available in the Nintendo 3DS system. "Nintendo 3DS has the most up-to-date technology. The security has been designed to protect both the creative works in the software and to protect the Nintendo 3DS hardware system itself." Doesn't sound like it's worth the risk to us. Plus it's illegal. Steer clear.
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| Buying Guide: Best hard drive: 6 on test between 1.5TB and 3TB Posted: 10 Mar 2011 02:47 AM PST  What's the best hard drive to buy? Your hard drive is out of date if its capacity is measured in gigabytes. Even a terabyte of space can seem cramped when you're stockpiling your movies, music and photograph collections. Two terabytes isn't a bad starting point unless you're heavily into editing movies, and with prices tumbling, you don't have to pay much to enjoy excellent performance. At the moment, buying a hard drive gives you exactly two choices: a flash-based SSD, or a regular mechanical drive. The key difference is that, while SSD offers far superior performance, it comes with a price to match and you only get a few tens of gigabytes before the cost ceases to be effective. Traditional drives are much slower, but hold far, far more, and in most cases you simply don't need the extra performance. Everything will still work just fine, just not quite as quickly. As long as you're not used to the speed of Windows booting from SSD though, you're unlikely to chafe at even a mid-range drive's performance. There's plenty of life in the traditional style yet, and it remains the best way to handle your electronic life. We've gathered together six of the best hard drives, offering 1.5TB or more at assorted price points, designed for single-desktop use or RAID servers. In practice, the main difference between the two types of drive is the tolerances they're built for, which shouldn't be particularly important for the home. However, these drives and their energy saving features can really come into their own in bulk, especially in an enterprise setting. Samsung SpinPoint EcoGreen F4EG - £66 Western Digital RE4 2TB Enterprise - £184 Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 1.5TB - £57 Seagate Barracuda XT 2TB - £124 Hitachi Deskstar 7K2000 - £98 Western Digital Caviar Green 3TB - £189 Hard drive tests Samsung SpinPoint EcoGreen F4EG
Samsung may not be the first name that springs to mind when you think about hard drives, but it has an extensive range of drives for the desktop market. Not only that, it can also claim a world first with the SpinPoint F4EG, as it was the first to market (a claim that may well be disputed by Western Digital), with the best areal density of any drive in its class (5,400rpm). Read TechRadar's Samsung SpinPoint EcoGreen F4EG review Western Digital RE4 2TB Enterprise
You may have just glanced a the price for Western Digital's RE4-GP and started wondering if the pricing structure has been caught in a time warp. All is not as it seems though, because the RE4-GP line are unusual hybrids - the Caviar Green series meets an Enterprise drive, with all the power-saving of the first and reliability of the latter. Read TechRadar's Western Digital RE4 2TB Enterprise review Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 1.5TB
Seagate's 11th generation 1.5TB Barracuda 7200.11 hard disk was the first 1.5TB disk to market, and although it's been around for a while, it's still a very capable and popular drive. It's easy to see why, with its combination of performance, capacity, price and fairly low power consumption. Read TechRadar's Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 1.5TB review Seagate Barracuda XT 2TB
Seagate's Barracuda XT was the first drive with a SATA 6Gbps interface. SATA6 - or SATA Rev 3.0 to give it its proper title - hasn't set the world on fire, mainly because mechanical drives have only just reached the 150MB/s transfer rate limit of the original SATA interface, never mind SATA 3Gb/s. Read TechRadar's Seagate Barracuda XT 2TB review Hitachi Deskstar 7K2000
Hitachi was notably absent when the first 2TB drives were introduced, but it has a real trick up its sleeve in the in the shape of the Deskstar 7K2000. It's the first 2TB drive to ship with a 7,200RPM spindle speed, which puts it firmly in the camp of high performance mechanical drives. Read TechRadar's Hitachi Deskstar 7K2000 review Western Digital Caviar Green 3TB
The capacity of three terabytes is what really makes this Western Digital Caviar Green HDD stand out, but there's more to it than size. For instance, alongside the hefty capacity you'll find a 64MB buffer for improved performance across the board. Western Digital has also employed various technologies to keep the drive temperature down and noise to whisper-quiet levels. Read TechRadar's Western Digital Caviar Green 3TB review Hard drive benchmarks
(Click here to view full size)
(Click here to view full size) The best hard drive is... There's no such thing as too much space, but the first time you get your hands on couple of terabytes, you could be forgiven for thinking otherwise. In picking our winners therefore, we didn't simply look at size, but performance and cost too. In most cases, you won't notice a few milliseconds here or there any more than a few extra gigabytes - but over the course of a drive's lifetime, they build up quickly. You also have to be sure that you're buying a reliable enough drive to warrant your trust - it will, after all, be where you put all your most important files. There's little point shelling out for an enterprise level drive though - they're typically very similar in spec, and the build quality differences aren't huge. Here, then, are our choices… Samsung SpinPoint EcoGreen F4EG - Editor's choice A surprisingly powerful performer, at an incredibly low price. We honestly didn't expect this one to do so well, but the tests speak for themselves. Not only does it give you more space than you're likely to need, it's one of the fastest drives you're going to find without spending a small fortune. Whether the green credentials matter to you or not, this is a fine storage boost. Seagate Barracuda XT 2TB - Performance award You'll need a motherboard that supports 6Gb/s SATA or a suitable add-in card, but if you're all set up, you can enjoy a very efficient 7,200rpm hard drive with plenty of space and a 600MB/s transfer rate. Not all of the specs are that powerful, but if you're set up for this drive, you'll be set up for the ones that inevitably give the other parts of the drive the necessary polish. Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 1.5TB - Value award A surprisingly good performer, at an excellent price. It may not give you the full 2TB like some of the other drives, but 1.5TB is nothing at all to be sniffed at. You don't lose out on the all-important performance, with the Barracuda 7200.11's tests all serving up very respectable times and statistics. Install a couple of these and you'll have 3GB for practically nothing. Related Links
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| Buying Guide: Best hard drive: 6 on test between 1.5TB and 3TB Posted: 10 Mar 2011 02:47 AM PST What's the best hard drive to buy? Your hard drive is out of date if its capacity is measured in gigabytes. Even a terabyte of space can seem cramped when you're stockpiling your movies, music and photograph collections. Two terabytes isn't a bad starting point unless you're heavily into editing movies, and with prices tumbling, you don't have to pay much to enjoy excellent performance. At the moment, buying a hard drive gives you exactly two choices: a flash-based SSD, or a regular mechanical drive. The key difference is that, while SSD offers far superior performance, it comes with a price to match and you only get a few tens of gigabytes before the cost ceases to be effective. Traditional drives are much slower, but hold far, far more, and in most cases you simply don't need the extra performance. Everything will still work just fine, just not quite as quickly. As long as you're not used to the speed of Windows booting from SSD though, you're unlikely to chafe at even a mid-range drive's performance. There's plenty of life in the traditional style yet, and it remains the best way to handle your electronic life. We've gathered together six of the best hard drives, offering 1.5TB or more at assorted price points, designed for single-desktop use or RAID servers. In practice, the main difference between the two types of drive is the tolerances they're built for, which shouldn't be particularly important for the home. However, these drives and their energy saving features can really come into their own in bulk, especially in an enterprise setting. Samsung SpinPoint EcoGreen F4EG - £66 Western Digital RE4 2TB Enterprise - £184 Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 1.5TB - £57 Seagate Barracuda XT 2TB - £124 Hitachi Deskstar 7K2000 - £98 Western Digital Caviar Green 3TB - £189 Hard drive tests Samsung SpinPoint EcoGreen F4EG
Samsung may not be the first name that springs to mind when you think about hard drives, but it has an extensive range of drives for the desktop market. Not only that, it can also claim a world first with the SpinPoint F4EG, as it was the first to market (a claim that may well be disputed by Western Digital), with the best areal density of any drive in its class (5,400rpm). Read TechRadar's Samsung SpinPoint EcoGreen F4EG review Western Digital RE4 2TB Enterprise
You may have just glanced a the price for Western Digital's RE4-GP and started wondering if the pricing structure has been caught in a time warp. All is not as it seems though, because the RE4-GP line are unusual hybrids - the Caviar Green series meets an Enterprise drive, with all the power-saving of the first and reliability of the latter. Read TechRadar's Western Digital RE4 2TB Enterprise review Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 1.5TB
Seagate's 11th generation 1.5TB Barracuda 7200.11 hard disk was the first 1.5TB disk to market, and although it's been around for a while, it's still a very capable and popular drive. It's easy to see why, with its combination of performance, capacity, price and fairly low power consumption. Read TechRadar's Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 1.5TB review Seagate Barracuda XT 2TB
Seagate's Barracuda XT was the first drive with a SATA 6Gbps interface. SATA6 - or SATA Rev 3.0 to give it its proper title - hasn't set the world on fire, mainly because mechanical drives have only just reached the 150MB/s transfer rate limit of the original SATA interface, never mind SATA 3Gb/s. Read TechRadar's Seagate Barracuda XT 2TB review Hitachi Deskstar 7K2000
Hitachi was notably absent when the first 2TB drives were introduced, but it has a real trick up its sleeve in the in the shape of the Deskstar 7K2000. It's the first 2TB drive to ship with a 7,200RPM spindle speed, which puts it firmly in the camp of high performance mechanical drives. Read TechRadar's Hitachi Deskstar 7K2000 review Western Digital Caviar Green 3TB
The capacity of three terabytes is what really makes this Western Digital Caviar Green HDD stand out, but there's more to it than size. For instance, alongside the hefty capacity you'll find a 64MB buffer for improved performance across the board. Western Digital has also employed various technologies to keep the drive temperature down and noise to whisper-quiet levels. Read TechRadar's Western Digital Caviar Green 3TB review Hard drive benchmarks
(Click here to view full size)
(Click here to view full size) The best hard drive is... There's no such thing as too much space, but the first time you get your hands on couple of terabytes, you could be forgiven for thinking otherwise. In picking our winners therefore, we didn't simply look at size, but performance and cost too. In most cases, you won't notice a few milliseconds here or there any more than a few extra gigabytes - but over the course of a drive's lifetime, they build up quickly. You also have to be sure that you're buying a reliable enough drive to warrant your trust - it will, after all, be where you put all your most important files. There's little point shelling out for an enterprise level drive though - they're typically very similar in spec, and the build quality differences aren't huge. Here, then, are our choices… Samsung SpinPoint EcoGreen F4EG - Editor's choice A surprisingly powerful performer, at an incredibly low price. We honestly didn't expect this one to do so well, but the tests speak for themselves. Not only does it give you more space than you're likely to need, it's one of the fastest drives you're going to find without spending a small fortune. Whether the green credentials matter to you or not, this is a fine storage boost. Seagate Barracuda XT 2TB - Performance award You'll need a motherboard that supports 6Gb/s SATA or a suitable add-in card, but if you're all set up, you can enjoy a very efficient 7,200rpm hard drive with plenty of space and a 600MB/s transfer rate. Not all of the specs are that powerful, but if you're set up for this drive, you'll be set up for the ones that inevitably give the other parts of the drive the necessary polish. Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 1.5TB - Value award A surprisingly good performer, at an excellent price. It may not give you the full 2TB like some of the other drives, but 1.5TB is nothing at all to be sniffed at. You don't lose out on the all-important performance, with the Barracuda 7200.11's tests all serving up very respectable times and statistics. Install a couple of these and you'll have 3GB for practically nothing. Related Links
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| Windows Phone 7 copy and paste update coming late March Posted: 10 Mar 2011 02:07 AM PST  Microsoft has said, through its French PR team, that Windows Phone will get its first major update in the second half of March. The update, which should bring copy and paste to Windows handsets, was originally promised for January, then pushed back toearly March. Now the official French Microsoft blog says, "We are delighted to share with you that this update will be available for the second half of March through your Zune software." Meanwhile, noted tech journalist Mary-Jo Foley has said that her Microsoft contacts told her the target rollout date is now 21 March. NoGo Given the strangely appropriate handle of 'NoDo', the update has also been demonstrated in a video by les Français, which shows off selecting, copying and pasting text. The software is also set to become nippier overall, thanks to the delayed update, with application start-up times improved. Microsoft recently released a minor software update to ready Windows Phone handsets for this more exciting software; unfortunately some Samsung owners hit a bit of a snag when installing. Those bugs should all be ironed out now, so come 21 March everyone should have a smooth update ride. 
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| Windows Phone 7 copy and paste update coming late March Posted: 10 Mar 2011 02:07 AM PST Microsoft has said, through its French PR team, that Windows Phone will get its first major update in the second half of March. The update, which should bring copy and paste to Windows handsets, was originally promised for January, then pushed back toearly March. Now the official French Microsoft blog says, "We are delighted to share with you that this update will be available for the second half of March through your Zune software." Meanwhile, noted tech journalist Mary-Jo Foley has said that her Microsoft contacts told her the target rollout date is now 21 March. NoGo Given the strangely appropriate handle of 'NoDo', the update has also been demonstrated in a video by les Français, which shows off selecting, copying and pasting text. The software is also set to become nippier overall, thanks to the delayed update, with application start-up times improved. Microsoft recently released a minor software update to ready Windows Phone handsets for this more exciting software; unfortunately some Samsung owners hit a bit of a snag when installing. Those bugs should all be ironed out now, so come 21 March everyone should have a smooth update ride.
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| Posted: 10 Mar 2011 02:00 AM PST  Skitch is an oddball. For a start, the interface doesn't resemble any other Mac app. However, for grabbing content, annotating it and then sharing or saving it, Skitch really does the business. You can capture images from your Mac's camera, drag it over to Skitch, or take a grab of the entire screen or a selection. However, content can only have the most basic of edits (crop and resize), but you can overlay all manner of annotations using Skitch's intuitive and non-destructive tools (which in themselves are also fine for composing quick, simple diagrams). The final output can then be saved or copied to another application (using the 'drag me' tab, which is a great little innovation) or sent to your online Skitch account. These features are all available in the free version of the application, but get dressed up for Skitch Plus and you get some extra bits and bobs, such as more editing tools (rotate and flip, watermarking, custom fonts, resize presets), an extra grab type (full-length web page, rendered to a flat image) and some other goodies. However, note that the price-tag isn't a one-off purchase and you have to unlock Skitch Plus annually. Given that Skitch has survived online through a lengthy beta run, its longevity seems assured, although it's perhaps less robust in that regard than Flickr. However, even if you never use the online component, Skitch is definitely worth downloading as an alternate means of grabbing content, making quick notes and sharing the result with your friends and colleagues. Related Links
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| Posted: 10 Mar 2011 02:00 AM PST Skitch is an oddball. For a start, the interface doesn't resemble any other Mac app. However, for grabbing content, annotating it and then sharing or saving it, Skitch really does the business. You can capture images from your Mac's camera, drag it over to Skitch, or take a grab of the entire screen or a selection. However, content can only have the most basic of edits (crop and resize), but you can overlay all manner of annotations using Skitch's intuitive and non-destructive tools (which in themselves are also fine for composing quick, simple diagrams). The final output can then be saved or copied to another application (using the 'drag me' tab, which is a great little innovation) or sent to your online Skitch account. These features are all available in the free version of the application, but get dressed up for Skitch Plus and you get some extra bits and bobs, such as more editing tools (rotate and flip, watermarking, custom fonts, resize presets), an extra grab type (full-length web page, rendered to a flat image) and some other goodies. However, note that the price-tag isn't a one-off purchase and you have to unlock Skitch Plus annually. Given that Skitch has survived online through a lengthy beta run, its longevity seems assured, although it's perhaps less robust in that regard than Flickr. However, even if you never use the online component, Skitch is definitely worth downloading as an alternate means of grabbing content, making quick notes and sharing the result with your friends and colleagues. Related Links
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| Posted: 10 Mar 2011 02:00 AM PST Skitch is an oddball. For a start, the interface doesn't resemble any other Mac app. However, for grabbing content, annotating it and then sharing or saving it, Skitch really does the business. You can capture images from your Mac's camera, drag it over to Skitch, or take a grab of the entire screen or a selection. However, content can only have the most basic of edits (crop and resize), but you can overlay all manner of annotations using Skitch's intuitive and non-destructive tools (which in themselves are also fine for composing quick, simple diagrams). The final output can then be saved or copied to another application (using the 'drag me' tab, which is a great little innovation) or sent to your online Skitch account. These features are all available in the free version of the application, but get dressed up for Skitch Plus and you get some extra bits and bobs, such as more editing tools (rotate and flip, watermarking, custom fonts, resize presets), an extra grab type (full-length web page, rendered to a flat image) and some other goodies. However, note that the price-tag isn't a one-off purchase and you have to unlock Skitch Plus annually. Given that Skitch has survived online through a lengthy beta run, its longevity seems assured, although it's perhaps less robust in that regard than Flickr. However, even if you never use the online component, Skitch is definitely worth downloading as an alternate means of grabbing content, making quick notes and sharing the result with your friends and colleagues. Related Links
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| Posted: 10 Mar 2011 01:30 AM PST  The original Comic Life arrived with fanfare in 2005, enabling you to create superhero-style adventures with your own photos in minutes. Just drag and drop images from your iPhoto collection, or if you're feeling really adventurous, images shot on your iSight. Then decorate them with speech bubbles, sound effects and caption boxes. It was so popular it would come bundled with Intel Macs and its simple-to-use interface and intuitive design was a real winner. But just like any superhero adventure, it was time for a sequel, and Comic Life 2 has taken the same basic functionality of the original and made it slicker and flashier. On the surface, you'll notice it boasts a shiny-looking new interface with many of its functions now included on a menu bar at the top for easy access. It has also brought in new iLife-style themes, which enable you to make your comic adventures look better than ever. There's an increased number of page-layout designs, new fonts, as well as some fancy-looking gradients and effects for your text boxes, which means it has never been easier to make great-looking comics with your photos. You can share them with your friends via the ubiquitous Facebook uploader, export it to MobileMe as a JPEG or HTML, and send it to your family and friends via email. Creating your masterpiece is still as easy as it was before: just drag and drop your images into the pre-determined grids or create your own from scratch using the fully editable clip art supplied. Then add your speech bubbles and input your desired text to tell your story. Positioning and editing the speech balloons is easier than ever, with over 40 different balloon styles and multiple edit points, which means you can position that speech bubble just where you want it.
If this all sounds too complicated, you could always go for the Auto Fill option and let the app do all the hard work, but it's not like using Comic Life is particularly taxing – it's designed to get great results as quickly as possible. If you're after something a bit more advanced though, you won't be left wanting. As well as editing the shape of your picture boxes using multiple edit points to make all kinds of crazy shapes, you can edit your type with the kind of finesse that would make a DTP package jealous, adjusting spacing, leading and type size with ease. You can also refine gradients to your heart's content, define shadows and even edit your photos when they're in your comic with an iPhotostyle image editor that enables you to turn your images black and white or apply filters like halftone patterns to make them look even more comic-like. Unfortunately, by adding all these new functions, it takes away from the simplicity of the original. Whereas Comic life 1 had everything on screen and you flipped between functions listed under either Library or Details, Comic Life 2 puts this all into an Inspector palette, which clutters up an already packed desktop. Although filled to the gunwales with features, it has painfully small icons and its design resembles a word processor rather than a fun comics app. Many options are hidden away in menus, and it can take some of the excitement out of making your comic. Despite these complaints, Comic Life 2 is still an immensely fun app and creates superb results in minutes at an absolutely bargain price. Related Links
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| Posted: 10 Mar 2011 01:30 AM PST The original Comic Life arrived with fanfare in 2005, enabling you to create superhero-style adventures with your own photos in minutes. Just drag and drop images from your iPhoto collection, or if you're feeling really adventurous, images shot on your iSight. Then decorate them with speech bubbles, sound effects and caption boxes. It was so popular it would come bundled with Intel Macs and its simple-to-use interface and intuitive design was a real winner. But just like any superhero adventure, it was time for a sequel, and Comic Life 2 has taken the same basic functionality of the original and made it slicker and flashier. On the surface, you'll notice it boasts a shiny-looking new interface with many of its functions now included on a menu bar at the top for easy access. It has also brought in new iLife-style themes, which enable you to make your comic adventures look better than ever. There's an increased number of page-layout designs, new fonts, as well as some fancy-looking gradients and effects for your text boxes, which means it has never been easier to make great-looking comics with your photos. You can share them with your friends via the ubiquitous Facebook uploader, export it to MobileMe as a JPEG or HTML, and send it to your family and friends via email. Creating your masterpiece is still as easy as it was before: just drag and drop your images into the pre-determined grids or create your own from scratch using the fully editable clip art supplied. Then add your speech bubbles and input your desired text to tell your story. Positioning and editing the speech balloons is easier than ever, with over 40 different balloon styles and multiple edit points, which means you can position that speech bubble just where you want it.
If this all sounds too complicated, you could always go for the Auto Fill option and let the app do all the hard work, but it's not like using Comic Life is particularly taxing – it's designed to get great results as quickly as possible. If you're after something a bit more advanced though, you won't be left wanting. As well as editing the shape of your picture boxes using multiple edit points to make all kinds of crazy shapes, you can edit your type with the kind of finesse that would make a DTP package jealous, adjusting spacing, leading and type size with ease. You can also refine gradients to your heart's content, define shadows and even edit your photos when they're in your comic with an iPhotostyle image editor that enables you to turn your images black and white or apply filters like halftone patterns to make them look even more comic-like. Unfortunately, by adding all these new functions, it takes away from the simplicity of the original. Whereas Comic life 1 had everything on screen and you flipped between functions listed under either Library or Details, Comic Life 2 puts this all into an Inspector palette, which clutters up an already packed desktop. Although filled to the gunwales with features, it has painfully small icons and its design resembles a word processor rather than a fun comics app. Many options are hidden away in menus, and it can take some of the excitement out of making your comic. Despite these complaints, Comic Life 2 is still an immensely fun app and creates superb results in minutes at an absolutely bargain price. Related Links
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