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• Wii 2 controller to have 6.2-inch touchscreen?
• iTunes cloud streaming coming before Google?
• Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc crowned best mobile phone
• Ongoing PlayStation Network outage could be DDoS attack
• Buying Guide: 20 best mobile phones in the world today
• Verizon reveals that iPhone 5 will be a 'global' phone
• LG Optimus 3D pushed back until June?
• Review: Sony KDL-32EX723
• iPhone 3GS drops to budget price points
• Google Chrome notebooks set for summer release
• Amazon elastic compute cloud snaps, takes down FourSquare
• Speed Week: Intel: 'We could easily have CPUs with hundreds of cores'
• Mio unveils four new Spirit sat navs
• Carphone Warehouse opens Samsung Galaxy S2 pre-order
• Review: Black Gold BGT3620
• Samsung unveils ultra-slim, 16MP ST93
• Review: G.Skill Ripjaws-X 4GB
• Exclusive: 1,000mph car has carbon footprint of 3.5 lactating cows
• Talk Talk and Three named and shamed by Ofcom
• Speed Week: The 1,000mph car that can outrun a bullet
• Review: Roccat Kulo
• Review: Asus GTX 560 Ti DirectCU II
• Exclusive: Sky still expects 3D to go mainstream

Wii 2 controller to have 6.2-inch touchscreen? Posted: 21 Apr 2011 04:29 PM PDT The controller for the expected Nintendo Wii 2 console will boast a giant 6.2-inch touchscreen, along with a camera, according to reports in the gaming press. The peripheral is also rumoured to be packing eight buttons and twin analogue sticks, making it about as far away from the minimalist design of the original Wii Remote as possible. Our sister site CVG revealed earlier this week that the controller is set to have a touchscreen, but only today have we heard of the proposed 6.2-inch scale, which would make the pad an absolute beast. Wii Remote still required While the new controller will possibly make more headlines than the console itself, it won't spell the end for the Wii Remote, according to the Kotaku report. While the touchscreen would be useful to control games like Zelda, displaying maps and the like, the Wii Remote would still be essential for motion control-centric games like Wii Sports. The Wii 2 itself, codenamed Project Cafe, is set to be unveiled at E3 this June with speculation suggesting HD gaming, 3D compatibility and maybe a Blu-ray drive. Earlier this week the price of the original Nintendo Wii was cut to just £100 in the UK, adding more fuel to the speculation that the new model is only a few weeks away from being officially announced. Source: Kotaku

iTunes cloud streaming coming before Google? Posted: 21 Apr 2011 03:53 PM PDT Apple has finished work on its heavily-rumoured iTunes cloud music storage service and will beat Google Music out of the gate, according to sources close to both companies. The service is set to allow subscribers to upload and store their music on Apple's servers for access through connected devices, much like the recently outed Amazon cloud-drive. The report, which Reuters claims as an exclusive, claims that although Apple has completed the project, it is yet to get the backing of its music label partners, who also haven't been told when it will launch. News that the service is scheduled to be a cloud storage service may disappoint folks hoping for an all-you-can eat service like Spotifty, with unlimited music for a set monthly fee. Google Music delay Reuters' sources have also revealed that the launch of its own long-awaited cloud music service might be a little while away still. Word coming out of Silicon Valley is that the hold-up is being caused by Google executives flip-flopping on what the service will actually provide. Recent reports have suggested that the company wants to make Google Music like iTunes - a store to purchase tunes - whereas more stories suggest the company is exploring subscription services. The wait continues. Source: Reuters Related Stories New Apple TV box racks up 2 million sales Apple sells 18.65m iPhones in 2011

Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc crowned best mobile phone Posted: 21 Apr 2011 10:32 AM PDT The Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc has shown itself to be the phone that finally knocks the HTC Desire off the perch of best mobile phone in the world. TechRadar's ranking of the 20 best handsets is our definitive list, helping you work out which phone to pick up, and has had millions of views since its launch last year. The HTC Desire has sat proudly atop that list since its launch last year, but now there's a new smartphone cowboy on the scene in the shape of the Xperia Arc. It was an nigh-on impossible task to choose a winner, with all of the top 20 proving to be quality smartphones - and the HTC Desire S and Desire staging the mobile version of a Greek tragedy at numbers two and three below the Xperia Arc. Still all about HTC HTC was the best represented on the list, nabbing six of the 20 slots, with Samsung stealing four (with the Galaxy S proving its longevity at number five). INQ was a new entry with the Cloud Touch, although the Orange San Francisco nabbed the title of 'best budget phone' at number nine. Predictably, Android was the dominant OS with 16 of the entries running the Google OS - but it's good to see Bada, BlackBerry OS and Symbian in the mix too. We're still waiting to see where the Samsung Galaxy S2 and the HTC Sensation land in our ranking - but right now it's Sony Ericsson proving that it's finally moving in the right direction with the gorgeous Xperia Arc sitting pretty at number one. Related Stories Speed Week: Speed technologies in your phone explained Buying Guide: 20 best mobile phones in the world today

Ongoing PlayStation Network outage could be DDoS attack Posted: 21 Apr 2011 10:14 AM PDT The Sony PlayStation Network is currently suffering some downtime, with all Sony Online Network services unavailable for use. Although Sony has posted a blog post saying that it is not yet sure what has caused the outage, speculation is already rife that Anonymous is behind it. The anonymous collective is the group behind the website attacks in support of Wikileaks some weeks ago, and recently named Sony as its next target. Dramatic Sony's European blog manager, James Gallagher, didn't rule out the possibility of outside interference, writing: "Our support teams are investigating the cause of the problem, including the possibility of targeted behaviour by an outside party. "If the reported Network problems are indeed caused by such acts, we would like to once again thank our customers who have borne the brunt of the attack through interrupted service." Sony invoked Anonymous' ire by legally pursuing PS3 hacker George Hotz and "violat[ing] the privacy of thousands" in the process; the case has since been settled out of court. So, as you head off for your long weekend at half five, spare a thought for the poor Sony engineers working overtime while you enjoy the sun.

Buying Guide: 20 best mobile phones in the world today Posted: 21 Apr 2011 09:43 AM PDT Our verdict on the best mobile phones / best smartphones - constantly updated We've all got at least one mobile phone each, right? The trouble is, how do you decide which is the best mobile phone for you when you realise it's time to phone the network and trouble them for an upgrade? If you've read our list of the latest mobile phones, seen the hottest pre-release new mobile phones and are still stumped, well, this is where we make it easy. Because here we have our constantly-updated list of the top 20 best mobile phones you can get. And now, thanks to a glut of top-end mobile phones steaming out from Mobile World Congress 2011, we're bringing you our biggest update ever to our definitive chart. So what's changed? We've lost seven of the 20 from the previous ranking, the top ten has seen a huge shake-up and both high-spec and budget phones have crashed now into the list. Will the HTC Desire stay at the top of the pile? Can the iPhone 4 finally overthrow it now Antennagate is seemingly over? Or have we chosen a new challenger assume the throne, all in a bid to help you decide on your next mobile phone? If that still doesn't help, well, there's always our extensive mobile phone reviews pages as well. And when you've decided what new phone to buy, why not cash in your old one with our phone recycling price comparison service? Here are our rankings for the best mobile phones around, currently available in the UK. 20. HTC Desire Z Keyboards might not be the most fashionable things on a whizzy touchscreen phone these days, but the HTC Desire Z also manages to pack a decent Android OS on top - although we're still waiting for the Gingerbread update. The hinge mechanism on the Desire Z is a little loose and feels like it could snap at times under the heft of the overall chassis - and let's not forget the sub 1500mAh battery, which means it lasts a little less longer than it probably could have done if HTC had chucked a higher-capacity version in there. However, with an advanced version of Sense under the hood (albeit without inbuilt e-book capabilities) this is probably the phone we'd point you to if you're after a landscape keyboard and a decent touchscreen on top. Quick verdict The HTC Desire Z is pretty much just the older HTC Desire with a slightly slower processor and a keyboard bolted underneath. It's understandably heavier and thicker than today's glut of ultra-skinny mobiles, but for those that must have it's tactile keyboard, it warrants a place on our list. HTC Desire Z review Compare HTC Desire Z offers 19. Samsung Wave 2 Samsung's somewhat left-field decision to launch its own Bada smartphone OS alongside its big Android push is still a little confusing - well, at least to us Brits. Over it Korea it's apparently going great guns, stealing swathes of market share from boring old feature phones. If we were to recommend a cheaper smartphone option running Bada, then we'd quickly hold this one up for you to see. From it's lovely lines to premium chassis construction, the Samsung Wave 2 is one of those phones that makes you feel all important pulling it out of your pocket. Despite losing the Super AMOLED screen, the larger 3.7-inch screen is still its equal, with some eye-popping colours and more comfortable feel. It's also using the new Bada 2.1 OS, which might not have the largest range of applications, but offers a slick alternative to Android with some useful widgets. Apps are at a premium on this still-nascent platform, so not one for those that love to customise their phone all over the place. The £25 a month plan isn't the cheapest you'll see either, but does represent good value for those that want a bigger screen and it can be purchased for around £300 SIM free if you don't want to pony up to a network each month. Quick verdict It's a quirky little phone, is the Wave 2. It looks a bit like an Android phone with the same TouchWiz overlay, but then hits you with a lack of homescreen icon customisation. Still, for a premium design and longer battery life than most, you'd do well to check this out if you like your smartphones a little different. Samsung Wave 2 review Compare Samsung Wave 2 offers 18. Blackberry Bold 9780 The BlackBerry Bold 9780 is a worthy upgrade to RIM's flagship range from the Bold 9700. The new operating system is a significant improvement, making the phone more relevant to the wider market than anything that's come before. An improved screen and BlackBerry OS 6 make it feel more premium, and the chassis construction will please many too, along with an upgraded 5MP camera with flash that actually takes passable snaps. The keyboard design has again been tinkered with, and we don't think to the benefit of BlackBerry stalwarts the world over, but it's still a great way to quickly chuck in some text. Quick verdict The Bold 9780 is the only member of the BlackBerry family on our list - some might question the lack of a Torch on here given it's status as RIM's flagship model, but we felt the chunkier design, higher price and poor on-screen keyboard mean its been overshadowed by its slimmer, slicker and more conventional brother. BlackBerry Bold 9780 review Compare BlackBerry Bold 9780 offers 17. LG Optimus 7 Windows Phone 7 made a big impact on our top 20 list back in November 2010, but now it's reduced to a single offering - and we're plumping for the LG Optimus 7. While it lacks the vivid screen of the Samsung Omnia 7 or the large display/kickstand combo of the HTC HD7, the Optimus 7 wins simply because it's got a few more features on offer out of the box, including an awesome augmented reality browser that shows the weather when you point it at the sky. (Yes, we know you could look at it with your eyes. We mean forecasts). The PlayTo DLNA service is ace too, making it a breeze to send content to your big screen TV, and the build quality isn't too shabby either. The sleek packaging and slick operating system still bring a smile to our faces when using it - but Windows Phone 7 badly needs the big Mango update we're hoping to see in the next few months. Quick verdict If you follow the word of Stephen Fry and simply must check out Microsoft's new smartphone OS, this is the phone we'd recommend to do it on. The sweet swishing action will impress you, and the Live Tiles and Xbox integration are nice additions too. It's still far too simplistic to be a cutting-edge phone, but that will all change when the multi-tasking Mango update drops. LG Optimus 7 review Compare LG Optimus 7 offers 16. Samsung Galaxy Ace The Samsung Galaxy Ace is an odd little phone when you first pick it up - plastic mesh back, lower-res touchscreen and a slight lag on the interface aren't what everyone is looking for in a smartphone. However, combined with Samsung's TouchWiz overlay and a sublime £15-£20 a month price point, the Ace suddenly seems like much more attractive package - a tip-top 5MP camera on the back to boot. It might not be the snappiest phone you'll ever use (we found it sometimes stumbled wandering from one home screen to the next) and it's only average for media - but for that price point it deserves to be one of the budget newbies on our list. Quick verdict Compared to the likes of the Samsung Galaxy S2, the Ace looks lightweight - but then you consider that you're getting access to a large amount of the Android Market, a microSD slot and an above-average camera, and the head to head comparison is suddenly looking a lot more even. Samsung Galaxy Ace review Compare Samsung Galaxy Ace offers 15. Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 Mini / Pro Sony Ericsson's time in the doldrums might be coming to an end, and that turnaround was marked by the success of the Xperia Mini and it's keyboarded sidekick, the Mini Pro. We loved its miniature dimensions (although we still don't understand how adding a keyboard only increased the depth by 1mm) and the reskinning of Sony Ericsson's overlay to fit a teeny screen was genius at times. It's great for music playback while sitting secretly in a pocket (although it's never going to be a video-watching marvel) and the internet browser is unbelievably snappy for a 600MHz processor - plus a lower price tag than many handsets around it, at less than £200 on PAYG and running Android 2.1. Quick verdict The clever implementation of Android with customisable corner icons and a simple yet effective keyboard means it's very easy to use this phone, and even the internet is still a good experience for one of the world's smallest smartphones. We can see a refresh for this line coming soon - hopefully with a little bit of a Gingerbread flavour about it - but for now, it's a cool choice if you're after a tidy package. Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 Mini review Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 Mini Pro review Compare Xperia X10 Mini offers Compare Xperia X10 Mini Pro offers 14. Nokia N8 If you've been a Nokia fan for years, then you'll have noticed that the Finnish firm hasn't been competing at the sharp end of the game for a while now. It hoped to change all that with the N8, and on the hardware side at least it triumphed: 12MP camera with Xenon flash, HD video recording, reams of internal storage and a high end media player, as well as the new Symbian^3 OS. It's not an expensive device either, with it available on an 18-month deal at only £25 a month - we're getting back to the days when you could have a high-end smartphone and not be locked in until you start drawing a pension. (Unless you're reading this and 64 years old - those days are gone for you). However, the user interface still needs a lot of work in our opinion - the new Symbian Anna update goes a long way to fixing the laggy issues and poor internet browser, but it still needs a few more updates to even think about rivalling the slickness of the Android brigade. Quick verdict This is hardware at the sharp end of many categories, which is sure to bring a smile to the tech-lovers' heart. It's a phone that polarises opinion though - some people prefer a snazzier user interface, which the Nokia N8 fails to deliver, even with the Anna update. Others love the power of Symbian^3 and can see past the slight lag in the ageing UI - and for them this phone is without compare. Nokia N8 review Compare Nokia N8 offers 13. HTC Wildfire While HTC might not have budget phones right the first time round - remember the HTC Tattoo, forlornly stuck on Android 1.6? - the HTC Wildfire is a much bigger hit, essentially taking the HTC Desire and squishing it down and reducing the cost. We were impressed with the HVGA screen and dinky dimensions - while the camera was only passable, the presence of the flash helped things greatly. Essentially, it's a decent Android smartphone for not much cash - although it's going to be usurped by the new HTC Wildfire S which is smaller, faster and more importantly, cheaper. Our quick verdict: Friendly on the pocket and even nicer on the wallet, the Wildfire is set for a big price drop when the Wildfire S emerges, so perhaps hold fire for a few weeks if you're thinking of upgrading to this HTC Desire mini. HTC Wildfire review Compare HTC Wildfire offers 12. HTC Desire HD The HTC Desire HD was a phone we were so excited about when it launched - the huge 4.3-inch screen, DLNA support in the new version of Sense - this was going to be the new favourite Android phone on the block. However, battery issues got in the way - many people reported that it lasted less than a day on a single charge when used under normal conditions, and the larger screen meant it was dubbed a 'male-oriented' phone. Don't get us wrong, it's a cracking piece of kit: 8MP camera with flash, large screen with surround sound and connection to HDTVs is a decent line up, even before we mention the excellent Sense UI on top, but after the launch of the Incredible S, it's inevitable that the Desire HD would drop significantly on the list. Quick verdict The Desire HD is a behemoth of phone - powerful, hefty yet slim. However, with the 4-inch screen of the HTC Incredible S, the cooler design and same price point (plus updated Sense UI) we have to plump for that one instead if we're recommending a larger HTC phone. HTC Desire HD review Compare HTC Desire HD offers 11. Motorola Atrix When Motorola announced the Atrix at CES 2011, we were blown away by the tech crammed into the tiny package. Dual core Tegra 2 1GHz processors, 1930mAh battery and qHD screen meant the Atrix was far and away the most powerful phone around. It garnered rave reviews from us thanks to the snappy processor speeds, the range of accessories that use the inbuilt WebOS (including an awesome LapDock that turns the phone into a fully-fledged netbook) and above average battery life, even in heavy usage scenarios. The only reason the Motorola Atrix isn't higher up in the list is we're still yet to review the UK edition, and we want to make sure the experience is worthy a place in our top ten list - plus we need to know the final price to you, dear reader. Quick verdict Dual core phones are the talk of Mobonia at the moment (the land where handsets are conceived and developed) and the Motorola Atrix is leading that charge. It's not the sleekest handset out there at the moment, and in the dual core wars it's likely to be trumped by the likes of the LG Optimus 2X and Samsung Galaxy S2 in terms of looks. But for the power business user, this is highly likely to be the only phone they need look at for a long while. Motorola Atrix review Compare Motorola Atrix offers 10. INQ Cloud Touch When deciding on the top 20 best mobile phones in the world, it's sometimes tempting to only look at the super-skinny, action-packed expensive phones that promise you unlimited power and status just by owning them. But equally, those that serve a purpose and aren't hideously ugly deserve a mention too - and we're big fans of INQ's budget-friendly social networking range. The INQ Cloud Touch is all about social networking, thanks to a deeper than ever integration with the Facebook application allowing users to simply see their favourite people's updates, check in places quickly and see new statuses without entering a new app. It's also got a dedicated Spotify key, which is ace if you're a premium user and want direct access - plus the info key, which has details on alarms, expected battery life and connection control. It's quirky in place of being attractive - and at £18 per month or less than £200 for the handset, it warrants a solid place in our list. Quick verdict The INQ Cloud Touch is a phone that mixes it with the big boys admirably and costs a lot less - the lower power processor might irk some, but we reckon the Facebook integration will win over more fans. INQ Cloud Touch review Compare INQ Cloud Touch offers 9. Orange San Francisco Android is one of the big winners in our top 20 list, and the Orange San Francisco has emerged as the winner of the 'budget league', with a great build, slick operation and clear screen - all for under £80 as well. It's 'only' got Android 2.1, but an upgrade is in the works, and despite that you still get a fast response from the capacitive screen and all the widgets and home screens you've come to expect from Android. There are some trade-offs: don't buy this if you want to take quality pics or are an avid radio listener, for instance, but overall it's a super phone for the price. Quick verdict There was a time when the Orange San Francisco was the only decent budget phone on the market - but now that title is being challenged hard. Despite all that, it's testament to the clever price drops and ahead of the curve tech on board that it still remains our top budget smartphone buy. Orange San Francisco review Compare Orange San Francisco offers 8. LG Optimus 2X The dual-core race is set to hot up, and LG has stolen a march on its Atrix-shaped rival in the UK by dropping the Optimus 2X. The new phone is certainly a slick player - we found the screen it be bright, the operation lightning fast at times and the HDMI mirroring a really neat feature. If it wasn't for some odd 1080p recording issues and slightly juddery internet experience there's no doubt that the Optimus 2X would have been troubling the top of this chart - but you can forgive even those issues when you realise that it costs just £25 a month. That's right. A mid-range price for a top end handset - we're really hoping this is a trend that continues. Quick verdict The idea of dual-core handsets is still better than the reality at the moment, as there still aren't many apps that can take advantage. That said, 1080p video recording and improved graphics performance are still winning features, and the LG Optimus 2X is all over these like a rabbit in a radish field. LG Optimus 2X review Compare LG Optimus 2X offers 7. Google Nexus S The first Android 2.3 phone to land on the market is also one of the first with NFC capabilities and a curved Super AMOLED screen from Samsung. It's a 'Pure Google' experience, which means no messing about waiting for networks to bring you the update; if Google likes it, you'll have it. The price dropped just before launch to a palatable £430, and competes very well indeed with the iPhone 4 and others in the top phone game - although with more Android 2.3 handsets landing seemingly every week, unless you're after a Google-only experience, it's appeal becomes more limited. However, the build quality might feel a little suspect at first, but is robust enough and sits in the hand well, and that screen is just superb for the internet and media. Quick verdict A 'no frills' handset that delivers on the specs - affordable and practical for the developer and early adopter alike, plus offering a more unique design than others on the market. If and when NFC becomes more widespread in the UK, this will probably see a real surge in interest again too. Google Nexus S review Compare Google Nexus S offers 6. HTC Incredible S HTC's ability to make large-screened phones on Android is seemingly never-ending, with more emerging from the woodwork every week. With the HTC Sensation landing soon, and the HTC Desire S already available, there was some worry about this Android 2.2-toting handset becoming lost in the ether. But with a vacuum-packed design and large and bright 4-inch screen, it's quickly become a hot alternative to the Desire HD. The 8MP camera with dual LED flash is a decent option, the interface snaps along nicely and the price is palatable - another top example of HTC Sense that will only improve when the Android 2.3 update lands. Quick verdict If you want a phone that stands out slightly from the rest, the Incredible S at mid-range price point, could be a goer for you. If you're someone that wants the latest and greatest HTC though we suggest holding fire until we bring you our full HTC Sensation review. HTC Incredible S review Compare HTC Incredible S offers 5. Samsung Galaxy S The Samsung Galaxy S is one lucky phone indeed - it was in danger of sliding right down our top 20 list until a last minute Android 2.3 update booted it back up to the front of the pack (so last minute that we're still working on updating the review). We can confirm that some of the niggles that were appearing with the older version of the software are gone - the lagging on certain applications seems to have gone now, and while battery life is still not stellar, it's certainly improved - especially when it comes to offering a correct reading. The Super AMOLED screen is still one of the best around for media, rivalling the likes of the iPhone 4, and Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc and while we can't fix the fact it doesn't have a flash, Flash VIDEO now works a lot better. When the Samsung Galaxy S2 lands you'd imagine this phone will slide down the rankings simply because its big brother is tipped to be a real big-hitter, but if you're after the budget version, this is definitely worth a look. Quick verdict The Samsung Galaxy S is everything that's good about the Wave, but with Android power to back it up. The Super AMOLED screen is awe inspiring, and the 1GHz Hummingbird processor means the phone never misses a beat, even though it's not dual core. This was Samsung's breakout smartphone, and its longevity near the top of our charts is testament to its quality. Samsung Galaxy S review Compare Samsung Galaxy S offers 4. Apple iPhone 4 The iPhone 4 is certainly the most impressive iPhone ever, and a big step up from the iPhone 3GS. The flat body is only 9.3 millimetres thick, 24 per cent thinner than the iPhone 3GS at its thickest. It feels great in the hand, and at the keynote Steve Jobs remarked, "Its closest kin is a beautiful old Leica camera." By far the most in-your-face feature of the iPhone 4 is 960x640 Retina Display. It's got 326 pixels per inch, and we're talking tiny pixels, only 78 micrometers wide. The Retina Display, especially, is hands-down one of the clearest, most enjoyable screens we've seen on a handheld, and the sheer amount of technology packed into the device is surprising. The 3G reception disappearing problem w is gone now with newer builds (although Apple would never admit it) and while we know that many will never condone the phone not being at the top of the list, we still have a problem with the price. How can a phone that's approaching a year old not have a slide in cost? The HTC Desire, which was cheaper than the iPhone 4 already, is now only £15 per month - yet Apple's device still costs a premium on networks. Quick verdict If it wasn't for the reception issue, the iPhone 4 would have probably topped our charts long ago - well, perhaps if it had been a bit cheaper now. It's still a class-leading bit of kit now, and with the iPhone 5 supposedly delayed until September, still worth taking a look at - but Apple die-hards will want to wait to see if the new model is a better proposition or not. Apple iPhone 4 review Compare iPhone 4 offers 3. HTC Desire We all knew it had to happen - the HTC Desire couldn't hang on to top spot forever, and despite a really cheap price tag attached to it these days, plus an Android 2.3 update in the offing, it's time at the summit is now over. The hardware is still as solid as ever - the only niggles we have are a lack of internal storage (meaning apps that can't live on an SD card are at a premium) and the HD video recording is suspect. Users have had some battery life problems with the phone, but that doesn't detract from a phone that simply WORKS - very few crashes, swift internet browsing, a quality on-screen keyboard and a decent design ethic to boot. If you're after a budget phone and don't mind slightly older kit, then this could even be in second place for you. Quick verdict We will always have a soft spot for the HTC Desire in our hearts - it's still a class apart from many other phones out there, and the combination of intuitive overlay and flawless operation showed the world that there was life beyond the iPhone - and it still a decent piece of hardware to boot. HTC Desire review Compare HTC Desire offers 2. HTC Desire S It's hardly a surprise, is it? The sequel to the best phone in the world with updated software is ahead of its predecessor? We agonised about the choice - the first Desire is such good value and the new version is only an evolutionary, rather than revolutionary, handset. But the Desire S is a more compact offering with the latest version of Sense, and going forward is likely get the best updates, so just nips ahead. Excellent call quality, decent camera, strong build and clever-as-ever social networking integration make this a class-leader once more (although whether it will hold onto the title of best HTC phone once the Sensation lands remains to be seen). Quick verdict The HTC Desire is a slick, compact and attractive handset that has edged ahead of its predecessor thanks to simply taking a good formula and improving on it. It may only have a 5MP camera, but it's got a budget-busting £20 price tag on it already, so that should see it stay attractive when the HTC Sensation launches. HTC Desire S review Compare HTC Desire S offers ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc When we talk about a Phoenix Phone, it forever be the Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc. A company that was making phones like the Xperia X10 on outdated software just a year ago has brought out one of the world's thinnest and most attractive handsets that sits atop our 20 best list. And it's earned it place on our list through sheer quality - the things we're impressed with on the Xperia Arc are almost too many to list. From the beautiful Reality Display with Bravia Engine to the powerful-yet-simple 8.1MP camera with Exmor technology, this is one of the phones that people actually want to hold and play with when you show it off. The new Sony Ericsson overlay has cool features like an 'exploded widgets' view, and the integration of YouTube searching for videos of songs currently playing is super cool too. OK, it's not dual-core powered, but until we start seeing some applications that really start to challenge these smartphones, we're happy to recommend a phone that is slick under the finger, slim in the pocket, satisfying in the hand and kinder than many on the wallet to boot. Quick verdict The hardware is extremely impressive, both in terms of looks and performance. Forget the fashionable dual-core phones – when done right, a single-core 1GHz processor can do it all. As it is, we're prepared to overlook the Xperia Arc's minor flaws thanks to its stunning good looks, superb screen and very decent photo performance. You can't help but love it once you've held its magically thin body and gazed adoringly into its dazzling Reality Display. Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc review Compare Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc offers Related Stories Speed Week: Speed technologies in your phone explained Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc crowned best mobile phone

Verizon reveals that iPhone 5 will be a 'global' phone Posted: 21 Apr 2011 09:38 AM PDT Apple will no doubt be firing off a strongly worded email to Verizon this afternoon, after a representative of the US network let slip that the iPhone 5 will be a 'global device'. This means that it will be able to roam on both CDMA networks (like Verizon in America) and GSM ones like those we use in the UK. The revelation came during a conference call in which Verizon discussed its quarterly results. Juicy It's not clear if this means Apple will release just a dual-mode version, or if we'll see some iPhone 5s retain their single-radio status. Still, it's the first concrete leak we've had to play with on the iPhone 5 front; other more tenuously touted spec include a dual-core A5 processor, a larger screen, a metal back and full 1080p output thanks to an improved dual-core GPU. Sadly, no one has left the iPhone 5 lying around in a bar yet – but with all signs pointing to a September launch for the new Apple handset, there's still time. Related Stories Samsung Galaxy S2 gets early UK release date Samsung Galaxy S Android 2.3 update halted Carphone Warehouse opens Samsung Galaxy S2 pre-order iPhone 3GS drops to budget price points LG Optimus 3D pushed back until June?

LG Optimus 3D pushed back until June? Posted: 21 Apr 2011 08:55 AM PDT The LG Optimus 3D UK release date has been newly touted as 6 June by online retailer Clove. That's a whole lot later than other retailers Play.com and Expansys, which have the three dimensional handset listed for release next week, on 25 April. The first 3D-toting handset, first unveiled at this year's Mobile World Congress, will be retailing for around £454.80 SIM-free if bought through Clove. Price wars That's quite a bit cheaper than the prices listed by other retailers: Play.com is selling the Android handset for £515, while Expansys is asking £524.99. We have no doubt that the UK's networks will be offering competitive subsidised contract deals too, especially since Three, Vodafone, Orange and T-Mobile all clamoured to claim it as soon as it was announced. LG is yet to reveal its official LG Optimus 3D UK release date, so we'll just have to wait and see if we can enjoy that glasses-free mobile 3D next week or not – although we're beginning to suspect not… Related Stories Samsung Galaxy S2 gets early UK release date Samsung Galaxy S Android 2.3 update halted Carphone Warehouse opens Samsung Galaxy S2 pre-order iPhone 3GS drops to budget price points Verizon reveals that iPhone 5 will be a 'global' phone

Review: Sony KDL-32EX723 Posted: 21 Apr 2011 08:36 AM PDT It's been a long wait – made longer by production delays caused by Japan's earthquake – but at last the first of Sony's eagerly anticipated 2011 Bravia TVs is here, and comes internet, 3D and full HD-ready. The 32-inch KDL-32EX723 is a great starting point for getting a handle on how Sony's 2011 TV range might shape up in the weeks and months to come, since it sits more or less in the middle in terms of cost. Priced at £750, it's the most affordable Sony TV this year to carry active 3D capability, and far more affordable than the Sony KDL-46NX713. Aside from its headline 3D talents, the 32EX723 features Sony's new, improved Bravia Internet video platform, a full internet browser (the first time we've seen this on a Sony TV), Motionflow XR 200 motion processing and the new X-Reality picture processing engine. The 32EX723 doesn't benefit from one of Sony's striking Monolithic designs, with their ultra-slim profiles and single-layer, glass-like finishes. But this doesn't mean it's an ugly TV by any means – the left, right and top edges of its bezel are slender and glossy, and the bottom edge offers a cute contrast in metallic-looking grey. But it's certainly a lot more ordinary-looking than the Monolithic sets, and its build quality feels a touch plasticky for a mid-range TV. Series It joins the 55-inch KDL-55EX723, 46-inch KDL-46EX723 and 40-inch KDL-40EX723 to form the EX723 series. Above the EX723 in Sony's extensive new TV range is the NX723 series, which delivers Sony's sleek Monolithic design, an ultra-slim LED panel and built-in Wi-Fi on a higher level. Take one step down from the EX723 series and you get to the EX524 models, which crucially don't have 3D capabilities or sport the EX723's MotionFlow XR 200 video processing. The 32EX723 is very well specified indeed for what's ostensibly a mid-range model. Clearly the highlight – especially as it's still quite rare on 32-inch TVs – is its active 3D playback. The transmitter is built-in too; there's no need to purchase an optional £50 external 3D transmitter like there was with some of Sony's 2010 range. However, you don't get any Sony 3D glasses included for free. Sony's new TDG-BR200 models, with their rechargeable batteries and lightweight design, will likely set you back around £100 a pair. This could make the 32EX723 a more expensive proposition than its £750 basic price if you've got a 3D-loving family to cater for, especially with glasses-free 3D technology growing. As you might expect of a TV with online services, the 32EX723 is chock full of connections. There's the LAN port for accessing the online Bravia Internet video service and for file streaming from networked DLNA PCs. You can make the TV Wi-Fi ready by adding an optional extra USB dongle, too. Other USB functionality includes playback of video, photo and music files from USB storage devices, and the ability to record from the integrated Freeview HD tuner to USB HDDs. The increasingly inevitable four HDMI outputs (one on the side, three on the rear) are on hand for HD video duties, alongside a D-Sub PC port and an optical digital audio output. Sony's latest online services available in the 32EX723 boast a new, generally improved interface, discussed in the Ease of use section. Also intriguing are its new video and music search utilities. The first of these searches an online database for any programme name, cast or crew member you type in. The music search tool is even cooler – just press the remote control's TrackID button when a piece of music is playing in a film or TV show, and the engine will find information on the track. It would be easy to be sceptical about this feature. But it works mind-bogglingly well, managing to detect that Homes Under The Hammer was playing a short excerpt of the opening piano section of The Feeling's Rosé while one of the presenters was waffling on over the top of it. Geek heaven! There's also a decently flexible new open internet browser on board the 32EX723, though it doesn't support embedded video playback. The most interesting thing about Sony's Bravia Internet video service is that it hasn't changed that much. Other brands have taken a smartphone-style apps approach lately, but Sony continues to focus on video and music. Sony's approach feels logical. As noted in the Samsung UE46D7000 review, the only online TV service offerings that feel useful are those that fit most closely with what you normally use a TV for – namely, watching video. Many other apps just feel like unnecessary clutter. The on-screen instruction manual on the 32EX723 does mention a Bravia Widgets feature, however, but we couldn't get this to work on our review model. Video content already available features services including BBC iPlayer, Sky News, LoveFilm, Sony Entertainment Television, EuroSport, YouTube and DailyMotion. Non-video online services include Picasa, Moshcam for music concerts and the National Public Radio server for finding podcasts. It will also support Skype if you add a voice control camera and microphone, but again, we couldn't find this during our test. While Bravia Internet video might not have changed much, picture processing in the 32EX723 has. The new X-Reality system adds sharpness and detail – especially to standard definition content – without exaggerating source noise. Another noteworthy feature is MotionFlow XR 200 motion processing (at 100Hz, plus a scanning backlight). You can choose between Standard, Smooth and Clear options for this, with Clear generally being your best bet, as it doesn't make the image look too processed. Further picture adjustments – once you've tracked them down in the hard-to-find Display menu – include a black corrector, gamma adjustment, Sony's Live Colour processing, a white level booster and separate MPEG and dot noise reduction systems. Plus in the White Balance menu you can fine tune the gain and bias settings for red, green and blue, boost detail levels and edge sharpness, use the seemingly ineffectual Skin Naturaliser and manually tweak the TV's interlaced-to-progressive processing. The screen itself is lit via edge LED illumination, and carries a Presence Sensor eco feature which detects if anyone's in the room and turns the picture off if not. The 32EX723 also has the distinction of being the first TV that's arrived with a European Energy consumption sticker. It achieved a B grade, based on a 59W running power and 86kWh/annum consumption. Sony's 32EX723 is massively off the pace with its 3D performance. The main problem is that old issue of crosstalk noise, where the panel's inability to refresh itself fast enough to keep up with the alternating frame rate of the full HD left and right eye images causes double ghosting in the picture. This sort of noise was common to all 2010 LCD TVs, but so far in 2011 it's been substantially reduced on the Samsung UE46D7000's 3D LCD screens and all but completely removed on Panasonic's ground-breaking DT30 LCD series. Plus it's seldom apparent on LG's 55LW650T. Yet on the 32EX723 it's still there, seemingly every bit as severely and distractingly as it was on Sony's 2010 models, such as the KDL-46NX713. This affects the clarity of almost every 3D shot to some extent, and makes some scenes – including the notorious sequence on the Golden Gate Bridge in Monsters vs Aliens – borderline unwatchable. It's especially bad because your eyes already feel strained by watching 3D on a screen as small 32-inches. As with Panasonic's otherwise impressive TX-L32DT30B, the 32EX723 shows again that 32-inches isn't big enough for 3D unless, perhaps, the TV is going to be used in a small bedroom or study, where you'll sit close to it. Turning on Sony's active shutter glasses also causes a heavy drop in brightness and colour saturation compared to the Samsung and LG 3D TVs, plus a little more flickering than you might feel comfortable with, particularly if you've got a very bright room. These two issues wouldn't stop the pictures being enjoyable, though, if it wasn't for the unacceptable amounts of crosstalk as well. As a final blow, the crosstalk seriously reduces the impact of the extra sharpness and HD detail that active 3D was developed to deliver – especially as the impact of this detailing is reduced by the smallness of the screen. For the record, Sony's onboard 2D to 3D conversion is one of the more effective around, in terms of adding depth without causing depth errors. But thanks to all the crosstalk, you still wouldn't really want to watch it. Shifting quickly to 2D, things improved markedly. The fuzzy mess of 3D is replaced by a pleasingly crisp picture in both HD and standard definition mode, the latter immediately proving the worth of the X-Reality engine. The resolution enhancement system is so sophisticated at boosting perceived resolution, without making the picture look noisy, that you might even want to try out the Detail Enhancer system. Sony's MotionFlow system plays a part in clarity too, reducing juddering and blurring without making the picture look artificial, or causing side effects like flickering edges or haloes around moving objects. Just be sure to stick with the lowest power Clear setting. The TV's black level response is good too. It takes a little work; you should try and keep the backlight set as low as you sensibly can, and while the Black Corrector and Advanced Contrast Enhancer can help, only use them on their very lowest settings, unless you want shadow detail to take a massive hit. As long as you follow these basic rules, black colours look surprisingly deep and convincing. Backlight levels are mostly consistent too. Sure, you can make out faint light shooting in for a slim inch or two from the screen's corners, especially the bottom ones, but this is seldom visible under normal viewing conditions, and the amount of screen space affected is relatively minor. When it comes to colour, the 32EX723 lacks the aggression and dynamism found with some rival sets, such as the Samsung UE46D7000. But while they might not explode off the screen at you, they're deftly rendered in terms of subtle colour shifts and blends, and generally look natural in tone. The colour balance is good too, with no particular hues tending to stand out from the others too much. If you're a gamer, you'll feel reasonably pleased with the 32EX723's 40ms input lag time, which, while far from the lowest around, shouldn't cause you too many missed Guitar Hero notes or unnecessary Call of Duty deaths. While viewing angles are inevitably limited versus IPS-Alpha LCD or plasma panels, black levels and contrast aren't affected as severely when viewed from the TV's side as they are with many other PVA panels. Sound The 32EX723 feels pretty average in the sound department. As so often happens with relatively small, flat TVs, there just isn't enough headroom in the mid-range to squeeze in a complex soundstage. The result is a sound that feels rather thin, compressed and indistinct. It can nudge over into harshness, too, if there's an excess of treble sound information to deal with. Value On the one hand, the 32EX723's above-par 2D picture performance and extensive, well-pitched multimedia services look attractive on a £750 TV. However, it's impossible to shake the suspicion that you're paying at least a little for the TV's 3D capabilities, even though these 3D capabilities are hamstrung by crosstalk noise to the extent that they're almost unusable. Ease of use Sony has revamped its on-screen menus, with mostly positive results. Pressing the remote's large, colour-defined Home button shrinks the picture by around a third and moves it into the top left corner, while double-axis menus appear along the bottom and up the right-hand side. The effect is not unlike that seen with the Sharp Quattron LC46LE821E, and is much easier to follow than the cluttered, PS3-like approach used by last year's Sony models. It's great, too, to find that the online services have been moved into a dedicated on-screen space where you can see and access most of the current options without having to scroll down huge lists like you had to with the previous interface. The remote control takes a little getting used to, because its layout feels as if some features have just been retrofitted to an old design where buttons were originally intended for something else. But once you've learned your way around, you appreciate how many features you can access directly from a button. Our two main issues with the operating system concern the iManual and the web browser. The iManual is a standalone on-screen manual, rather than a truly interactive one where you can call up quick explanations of particular features. This makes it quite time-consuming and difficult to find the section of the iManual you want, and makes you wish for a paper manual fairly quickly. The internet browser's text is just too small to be readable unless you've got your face right up against the screen. This is true even if you adjust the text display option to Large. It's quite bizarre that Sony didn't include a simple Magnify button in the browser controls. Couple the painfully small text with the sheer tedium of using the remote control to move around a typical website, and the experience becomes one that only a masochist would want to take on very often. Shame. Sony's 32EX723 looks on paper as if it's generously specified for a TV that only sits around the centre of its price range. Among its headline-grabbing tricks are 3D playback (with the necessary IR transmitter built in), Sony's impressive Bravia Internet video platform, plenty of multimedia playback support, optional Wi-Fi via a USB dongle, and even a brand spanking new X-Reality picture engine. Connectivity is prodigious, and its edge LED lighting system helps it deliver an enviably slender form, as well as playing its part in producing a pleasingly contrast-rich image. Its 2D pictures are generally very likable, with believable and decently punchy colours, only minor motion blur and high detail and clarity levels. However, if you're thinking of getting the 32EX723 for its 3D capabilities, you should think again. As well as its 32-inch screen not being big enough to make the experience come to life, the 32EX723 also suffers quite severely from crosstalk noise, which makes 3D viewing unconvincing and tiring. We liked The TV's 2D pictures are clean and punchy, with sharpness increased by the new X-Reality processing engine, especially where standard definition is concerned. X-Reality also does a good job of keeping a lid on video noise, and black level response is unusually good for such a small LCD model. The new operating system is also a big improvement, the set's multimedia facilities are excellent and the video-centric approach to online features represented by the Bravia Internet video makes a lot of sense. We disliked The amount of crosstalk in the 32EX723's 3D pictures is startlingly excessive, showing little if any improvement from last year. The internet browser feels pointless, thanks to the smallness of its text and the torture of navigating a busy website via the remote control, and the audio is nothing to write home about. Final verdict As a 2D TV, there's much to like about the 32EX723. The new X-Reality processor does a good job of making both HD and standard definition pictures look sharp and detailed, while the Motionflow system stops motion suffering badly with blurring or judder. And it does this without leaving the picture looking artificial. The edge LED illumination is well controlled too, enabling the TV to combine punchy bright elements with deep black levels without suffering any truly distracting levels of backlight inconsistency during dark films. Multimedia fans will appreciate the support the 32EX723 gives there, while the Bravia Internet video system delivers a persuasive argument for focusing on smaller but more relevant content offerings. The problem is that the 32EX723's 3D pictures really don't pass muster at all, making the TV feel slightly expensive for a 32-inch model that's ultimately only recommended for 2D viewing.

iPhone 3GS drops to budget price points Posted: 21 Apr 2011 07:50 AM PDT O2 has announced a new range of tariffs for the iPhone 3GS, offering a free phone from as little as £15.50 per month. Admittedly, this deal comes with no data and only 100 minutes per month, but it still represents a new price low for the older phone. Traditionally, an iPhone price drop coincides with a bid to clear stock ahead of a new model emerging - it's interesting this should happen when the iPhone 5 is set to be delayed. Budget busters The price drops have only affected the two cheapest two-year deals for O2 though, indicating that the bubbly network is perhaps simply trying to appeal to a new market. Apple's iPhone prices have always been strictly regimented across networks in the past, so any kind of price drop is always likely to raise suspicions that something is afoot - especially given a source close to O2 has told TechRadar that the iPhone 3GS is the best-selling handset on the network. We'll be contacting the other networks to see if they'll be following suit with the price drops - if everyone starts trying to drop the prices, you'd have to thinks Jobs is readying a new phone sooner rather than later. Related Stories Samsung Galaxy S2 gets early UK release date Samsung Galaxy S Android 2.3 update halted Carphone Warehouse opens Samsung Galaxy S2 pre-order LG Optimus 3D pushed back until June? Verizon reveals that iPhone 5 will be a 'global' phone

Google Chrome notebooks set for summer release Posted: 21 Apr 2011 07:47 AM PDT Google has plans to release its Chrome OS-running notebooks in summer 2011, if anonymous sources are to be believed. The eponymous search engine has already started touting its CR-48 notebook prototype, which we weren't entirely convinced by due to its reliance on the internet browser and slight operational lag. Google is hopefully taking some time to iron out these niggles, with Neowin reporting that the devices are set to be released for purchase in late June to early July 2011. Another subscription? The same sources told the technology news site that Google will yet again be trying a somewhat experimental distribution model. Remember when it tried to sell the Google Nexus One direct to consumers and the whole scheme fell flat on its face? Well, this time it's trying to lease the Chrome notebooks as part of a subscription model bundled with premium Gmail accounts. The source said that Google is planning to offer the notebooks to users for around $10 to $20 (likely to convert to £10 to £20) per month, with hardware upgrades as part of the package. If you're not up for yet another subscription, it seems that Google will also be offering the notebooks as a standalone purchase, but is unlikely to sell them directly itself.

Amazon elastic compute cloud snaps, takes down FourSquare Posted: 21 Apr 2011 07:32 AM PDT Amazon's EC2 service has suffered a major problem, taking a host of big name companies like Quora and FourSquare down with it. Amazon's Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) is used as a platform by several major companies, and the company's outage has therefore created some major waves. Quora, Hootsuite and FourSquare have all been affected, with Amazon confirming that a datacentre in North Virginia is the hub of the trouble. Latencies "We can confirm connectivity errors impacting EC2 instances and increased latencies impacting EBS volumes in multiple availability zones in the US-EAST-1 region. Increased error rates are affecting EBS CreateVolume API calls," said Amazon's statement. "We continue to work towards resolution." Amazon's EC2 has been a big hit for the company, giving businesses the chance to elastically expand their companies with the demand. This is a major boon to companies that grow rapidly, or who experience big spikes of traffic, but obviously reliability is therefore a key issue. Related Stories Updated: Digital Economy Act challenge fails in High Court Yahoo: Bing collaboration needs more work Virgin Media to trial world's fastest broadband in London

Speed Week: Intel: 'We could easily have CPUs with hundreds of cores' Posted: 21 Apr 2011 06:00 AM PDT This article is brought to you in association with LG Optimus 2X It's almost 40 years since Intel released its first CPU, the 4004, a ground-breaking processor that crammed all the computing power of ENIAC - the first general purpose computer - into a tiny silicon chip. Of course, what was impressive in 1971 looks, well, rather less spectacular today. And now the Intel 4004 is most useful as an example of just how far CPU technology has come in recent years. Take the clock rate, for instance: the 4004 ran at only 108KHz. In a mere eight years, the Intel 8088 (the power behind the first IBM PC) would run at 5MHz, something like a 50x speed boost. And a modern 3GHz CPU has a clock rate around 30,000 faster than the humble 4004. And the increase in the transistor count, probably a more accurate indicator of CPU power, has been even more spectacular. The Intel 4004 contained a mere 2,300; the 8088 increased this to more than 29,000; and if we jump to a modern high-end Intel Xeon chip, then the transistor count is now more than 2 billion: a million times more than that first CPU. WHERE IT BEGAN: Intel's first CPU, the 4004 The CPU world has generated plenty of other amazing statistics over the past few years, but of course this isn't just about the figures: what's more important are the technologies that they've made available. Intelligent cameras with face recognition; spreadsheets with analytical powers that even governments couldn't achieve just a few years ago; cars that are beginning to be able to drive themselves; incredibly cheap and versatile tablets, and smartphones with more power than a 1970's mainframe are all becoming commonplace. That's all great, but it does leave us with a couple of questions. Can the CPU industry really maintain this level of performance increase? And if so, what new technologies might it deliver in the next few years? Moore's Law In 1965, Intel co-founder Gordon Moore predicted that the number of transistors on a chip would double, every two years, an observation so accurate and important that it became known as "Moore's Law". And it's this rapidly increasing complexity and power that has driven the amazing gains in CPU performance that we've seen in recent years. ON THE MONEY: In 1965 Gordon Moore predicted exponential growth in CPU power that would lead to "home computers", "automatic controls for automobiles" and "personal, portable communications equipment" Can this continue? Antonio Gonzalez, director of Intel Labs Barcelona is confident, at least for the near term: "The trend in CPU performance has been spectacular in all the key parameters: every year more power, more speed, transistors are smaller, energy consumption is down. There are always new challenges to be faced, but I'm sure the trend will continue. We are in good shape to keep evolving the technology for at least a decade, and perhaps much more." It isn't going to be easy, however. Transistor sizes are already tiny, as Gonzalez explains: "Currently we're working to a 32nm process [structures that are 32 billionths of a metre in size], and this will be down to 22nm very soon. That's less than the size of the influenza virus, and 10,000 times smaller than the diameter of the human hair." It's also approaching the size of an atom (around 0.1nm), though, and that's going to present us with a fundamental barrier before too long. And Nandan Nayampally, director of product marketing at ARM, sees another problem. "Starting from around 40nm, the problem isn't really the transistors, it's the wire delay [the time it takes to send signals around the chip]. We are beginning to hit that limit, and it's a major issue for speed." New approaches will be required to maintain the growth in CPU performance, then, and fortunately the industry is already working on a number of promising projects. IBM has been researching 3D chip stacking, for instance, which sees CPU cores no longer placed next to each other, but stacked vertically. The cores can be linked by connections covering their entire surface, greatly improving transfer speeds, and they're more easily cooled so heat is less of an issue. BUILDING UP: Stacking CPU cores on top of each other is a promising idea that could deliver significant speed increases And Intel reports that it is investigating "the user of compound semiconductors (rather than silicon)... [which] show promise of greatly improving transistor performance while reducing power" (while many other researchers are looking at possible replacements for silicon). Moore's law will be running into some rather fundamental roadblocks in the 2020s, then, but there are plenty of new technologies on the horizon, and these may enable it to continue for some time yet. Multi-core There's more to processor performance than simply packing transistors onto a die, of course, as John Moore, vice president of design and innovation at UK semiconductor trade association NMI, points out. "There's only so far we can go before heat density begins to cause problems", he says: that is, the more transistors on a chip, the hotter it gets, and that causes all kinds of reliability issues. "The days of the big, powerful single-core beasts are ending: the future is more about distributed processing; multi-core." Intel's Antonio Gonzalez agrees. "We could use all these extra transistors to create a single big core," he says, "however, placing multiple cores on a single die delivers a much better solution in terms of performance and energy efficiency." We've seen some of the results of this approach today, where even budget systems may come with quad-core CPUs, essentially delivering four processors for the price of one. But Gonzalez believes this is just the start. Intel has already produced an 80-core "Teraflops Research Chip", he points out, and even this isn't an exceptional number: "We could easily have CPUs with hundreds of cores. There are still challenges to meet before this will be practical, but I'm optimistic that we are heading in the right direction, this is a very valuable trend." HARDCORE: An Intel research project has already produced a chip with 80 cores - and we might see CPUs with hundreds more in the future Not everyone is quite so enthusiastic about such high numbers of cores. Alex Katouzian, VP of product management at Qualcomm CDMA, comments: "Our systems can go up to at least four cores, 2.5GHz, and I'm sure we'll be able to push these up even more, but from a software perspective there's only so much extra performance this will buy. Because while some applications are truly multi-threaded - web browsing, gaming - most remain single-threaded. And so in the mobile space at least, there will quickly come a time when you stop adding more cores, and instead concentrate on power efficiency." ALL IN ONE: Some CPUs are about pure performance. Qualcomm's Snapdragon aims to be a complete system, including a GPU, 3G/LTE modem wifi, GPS, Bluetooth, FM and more on one chip John Moore also believes the move to multi-threaded applications is key. "The real challenge now isn't the hardware, as much as in creating the software that can take advantage of it. We have generations of software engineers that have been raised to think sequentially, and breaking a problem down into parallel threads instead - and then understanding how to test and debug that code - is no easy task." However, Intel recognises these issues, says Gonzalez: "We're investigating new programming paradigms for the future," he points out, "as well as working on new tools that will help to parallelise these apps, much more easily than is possible right now." But, crucially, multicore doesn't just mean adding more regular CPU cores to a die, as ARM's Nayampally points out. "ARM started this multi-processing push back in 2003", he said, "but these extra cores could be DSPs, a GPU, modem, GPS unit, whatever best suits your application." And this approach, common in the mobile space, is now being taken up by Intel, says Gonzalez: "We're also looking to add more specialised components to the processor, like the GPU and multimedia support in the Sandy Bridge CPUs. This kind of integration cuts latencies, delivers a much better solution in terms of performance and energy efficiency, and delivers these benefits right now - even on single-threaded apps." Future developments So what new technologies will these future CPU improvements enable? For the next few years it looks like business as usual. Transistors will continue to shrink; the number of cores will go up; and our desktops will increase in speed just as they always have. Applications will become increasingly multi-threaded, and take advantage of other performance-boosting technologies, like GPU acceleration. And a strong focus on energy efficiency means that portable devices should see improvements in both CPU power and battery life. After that, though, the availability and low price of fast, low-power CPUs will mean that they'll increasingly be used all around us, suggests Intel's Antonio Gonzalez: "In the near future we are going to see a much wider range of computing devices that we have today. There will be more powerful systems in our car, in the house, security systems, even simple robots that may help in domestic activities [that's cleaning the carpet, rather than preparing lunch, probably]. Just a host of devices that in some way analyse the environment around them and provide real world responses." This isn't science fiction, either: it's happening now. So, for instance, accelerometer chips are being developed at the University of Southampton that will monitor how a section of track behaves when a train passes over it. It can then detect variations in response that might indicate a loss in structural integrity, and warn engineers before this becomes serious enough to cause an accident. NEXT-GEN: A new generation of chips is being developed that will sense the world, and respond to it - for example, monitoring rail tracks and alerting engineers to imminent structural failure The Royal Veterinary College is developing another accelerometer-based chip that, when attached to the leg of a horse, can analyse its gait pattern. Detecting small changes in these could help to quickly detect and rest injuries that might otherwise go unnoticed, at least initially, and the same technique may also be applicable to professional athletes. Elsewhere, Qualcomm believes that our homes will become filled with new smart devices that will help us out in a host of interesting ways. And they won't be boring, static boxes: rather, just like your mobile, they'll have internet connectivity and you'll be able to customise them in a host of useful ways: "In many instances, consumers will be able to download applications to products such as home energy management systems, security systems and connected home products to add new features and functionalities," writes Qualcomm. Intelligence everywhere This extra intelligence will be everywhere, presenting all kinds of new opportunities. We may see alarm clocks that have the connectivity and intelligence to detect traffic problems, for instance, and know to wake you a little earlier. NEC is currently testing smart advertising billboards which can identify the age and gender of passers-by, and tailor its display to offer something appropriate to their demographic. And many similar ideas will see smart devices everywhere adapt their functions to suit our presence and needs. Qualcomm's Alex Katouzian suggested that augmented reality technologies will also become more important. "You might see a sign on a bus, advertising a newly released record," he says. "You point your mobile at it, and a view a piece of concert footage for that artist, a video, or whatever." The system is smart enough to provide instant context to what you're viewing in many different situations. LIFE-CHANGING: Future CPUs will power smart devices that will change our lives in a host of interesting ways And this is just the start. The University of Washington has, since 2009, been producing contact lenses with built-in electronics, including a small heads up display. These are early days, but link this with a sufficiently powerful CPU, and, as Microsoft's Steve Clayton points out, there are all kinds of amazing possibilities: Heads up displays of all types could be imagined. You could walk in to a room and instantly be reminded of everyone's name, their kids' birthdays and their latest status updates on Facebook or Twitter - all without them seeing what you see. When navigating a strange city, you could be directed without ever having to look down at a map. As an article on TechNet notes, there are other uses such as assisting diabetic wearers keep tabs on blood-sugar levels without needing to pierce a finger. Amazing. But again, not just science fiction - all these ideas have a basis in solid projects that have delivered very real results. There remains a long way to go, but as we've seen, there's also plenty of scope for CPU improvements to make these kind of things happen. So while the huge growth in processor performance over the past few years has undoubtedly delivered a host of interesting new technologies, there are many more just around the corner, some that we can barely imagine. 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Mio unveils four new Spirit sat navs Posted: 21 Apr 2011 05:21 AM PDT Mio has unveiled four new sat navs for its Spirit range, with the 480, 485, 685 and 687 all claiming to meet every need of today's traveller. The latest sat navs from Mio include the headlining 687 which has a choice of routes feature, AV-in port for connecting up a rear-view camera, voice entry and Bluetooth. With the exception of the 480, the devices bring built in traffic information with no need for a subscription. Model features "All models are fitted with the practical 'Parking Assistance', 'Pedestrian Mode' functionality, 'IQ Routes', 'LearnMe Pro', '3D Junction Views' and 'Lane Guidance': a combination of features that make every journey easier, faster and more comfortable," adds Mio's release. "The Spirit 480, 485, 685 and 687 combine state of the art features with quality navigation, ease of use and stylish design, creating a range that meets every need of today's traveller," says the company. "The new range comes in two different screen sizes: the 4.3-inch Spirit 480 and 485 and the super-large 5-inch Spirit 685 and 687." The devices have a UK release date of May and the pricing is as follows - 480: £79.99, 485: £89.99, 685: £99.99, 687: £149.99

Carphone Warehouse opens Samsung Galaxy S2 pre-order Posted: 21 Apr 2011 04:00 AM PDT Carphone Warehouse has opened pre-orders for the Samsung Galaxy S2 and HTC Wildfire S. The Samsung Galaxy S2 is the first handset to rock a 1.2GHz processor, so you can be guaranteed some pretty nippy operations – and the Super AMOLED screen is one of the best we've ever seen. You can nab the Android 2.3 phone from Carphone Warehouse for free on a £35 a month contract, or pay £499.95 upfront. Those impatiently awaiting the Samsung Galaxy S2 will probably want to head over to Carphone's arch nemesis Phones4U, though – the retailer has an exclusive early release date. Wild things The strapped-for-cash might prefer the HTC Wildfire S; still with Android 2.3, it offers smartphone-style functionality on a shoestring. It might not have the headline grabbing specs, but the HTC Wildfire UK pricing is pretty impressive; it's yours for free on a £13.50 a month contract, although the retailer hasn't specified what else that nets you. The other option is to shell out £349.95 for the handset on pay as you go. Related Stories Samsung Galaxy S2 gets early UK release date Samsung Galaxy S Android 2.3 update halted iPhone 3GS drops to budget price points LG Optimus 3D pushed back until June? Verizon reveals that iPhone 5 will be a 'global' phone

Review: Black Gold BGT3620 Posted: 21 Apr 2011 04:00 AM PDT Recently we reviewed the PCTV nanoStick T2 – the UK's first external DVB-T/T2 tuner. Now comes the BGT3620 twin-tunered internal card from Black Gold Technology (BGT) which slots into a PCI Express x1 slot in a desktop PC. Only fairly recent PCs offer such an interface but, then again, the decoding of HD channels is quite a punishing task that – as a minimum – requires a dual-core processor. On the whole, we're impressed with BGT's design. The card is supplied with two mounting brackets that allow it to be fitted to half-or full-height slots. BGT even supplies the screwdriver. There may not be a loopthrough aerial output, but a multi-pin socket accepts a variety of different SD analogue video inputs via a proprietary cable that's terminated with a series of connectors. With the right software, these will allow you to view (or record) composite, S-video and component sources. Beautiful build The BGT3620 is beautifully made. The tuners lie beneath a screened can; upstream of these are pairs of chips from Sony and NXP that demodulate the DVB-T, DVB-T2 and – as an added bonus – DVB-C (digital cable) signals, allow the streams (or digitised analogue video to be injected into the motherboard's PCIe bus. A third socket is the gateway to another potentially useful feature – remote control – but this feature was not included in our 'OEM' package – it's down to resellers to decide what customers will get. Sensibly, BGT does not supply drivers with the BGT3620. Instead, you have to download them from the BGT website – thereby ensuring that you're up to date come installation time. These Microsoft WHQL-tested drivers are BDA-compliant, meaning that they should work with any Windows digital TV application. They're claimed to be compatible with Windows XP, Vista and 7 – Microsoft's Media Center is also supported. For digital TV duties, we used the excellent DVBViewer software. You have to decide between cable (though Virgin Media's channels are encrypted) and terrestrial – owing to that single input you can't connect both simultaneously. Searching and use is very much dependent on the specific software that you're using. DVBViewer allows you to search a full band, or a specific channel or range. The entire UK UHF spectrum (channels 21-69) was searched in around three-and-a-half minutes. The sting in the tail is that of HD performance on our quad core Yoyotech PC with powerful ATI graphics card. When HD channels were selected we were initially treated to random blocks of colour and squeaky blips of sound. Updated drivers improved matters (we got a picture) but not the fact that the PC would lock up if we left the software tuned to an HD channel – either that, or subsequently selected SD channels were juddery. Either way, the PC had to be restarted. The drivers are said to be compatible with the 64-bit Windows installed on our PC. We hope that BGT can fix this.

Samsung unveils ultra-slim, 16MP ST93 Posted: 21 Apr 2011 03:43 AM PDT Samsung has bolstered its slim-line ST range of compact cameras with the 16-megapixel ST93, the company has announced. Key among the Samsung ST93's features is what Samsung claims is enhanced optical performance via the compact camera's Dual Image Stabilisation, which combines both digital and optical image stabilisation technology. Samsung claims its Dual IS functionality provides clearer images in any environment and prevents distorted photos. In addition, the Samsung ST93 features a 26mm 5x optical zoom lens, and a Smart Filter feature to apply different effects to your photos. Other Samsung ST93 specs include 720p HD video recording capability and a new Magic Frame feature that Samsung claims enables users to create poster-quality visuals from a set of templates, including Wall Art, Retro Film, Ripple, Full Moon, Retro Record and Classic TV, you can create an innovative and unique-looking image every time. The Samsung ST93 is available from June, priced £129.99. Related Stories Fuji unveils 30x zoom FinePix HS20 Best DSLR: top cameras by price and brand Review: Nikon D5100

Review: G.Skill Ripjaws-X 4GB Posted: 21 Apr 2011 03:30 AM PDT When you're talking about memory, do you want low latency, high-speed or low voltage? Well, with G.Skill's latest P67-oriented kit, the Ripjaws-X 4GB, you get the lot. And all for a rather reasonable price too. This 4GB Ripjaws-X kit is running with super-low CAS 7 latencies, the now-standard P67 1.50v power setup and nominally runs at 1,600MHz. With the way things are these days that's probably about as much as you're going to be able to get out of it. Right? Memory overclocking has changed a lot since the inception of the second generation Core CPUs from Intel. We calls them Sandy Bridge, but I'm sure the RAM manufacturers have far more choice names for this new setup. Before this new setup, CPU overclocking was inexorably linked with how fast your RAM could go, meaning that if you wanted decent speeds from your RAM sticks with a decent CPU overclock you needed some tasty ol' RAM in there to cope. Now it's all separate so as long as your memory runs as rated you can do whatever you like to the CPU and its multiplier without a worry. So no more overclocking memory then? Well, not if G.Skill has anything to say about it. This kit runs nice and quick when you get it going at 1,600MHz, but we were able to push it right up to 2,133MHz stable. That's a huge overclock and for the £50 price tag that's amazing. Especially considering Corsair's Dominator GT kit running at 2,133MHz is available for almost double that. The Ripjaws-X is an excellent Sandy Bridge kit and proves you can have your memory cake and nom it too.

Exclusive: 1,000mph car has carbon footprint of 3.5 lactating cows Posted: 21 Apr 2011 03:28 AM PDT The Bloodhound SSC's attempt to shatter the world land speed record will apparently have the same carbon footprint as three and a half lactating cows, according to the projects engineering lead. Interest has been high in the Bloodhound land speed record, with the team behind the famous Thrust SSC – which twice broke the record in 1997 – hoping that their efforts can inspire a new generation of engineers. TechRadar took a look at the 1,000mph car's progress as part of Speed Week, in association with LG Optimus 2X, and found that one 10-mile Bloodhound run uses the same amount of energy required to light the Singapore Grand Prix night-event for 20 minutes. Read the feature: The 1,000mph car that can outrun a bullet "That sounds like we're burning an awful lot of fuel," said Bloodhound SSC's engineering lead, James Painter. "But we're not doing that many runs in total, and as a complete project the calculations are that we are the equivalent of three and a half lactating cows, in terms of the amount of greenhouse gasses that we'll be releasing." The project hopes to inspire, as well as hit the magic 1,000mph mark and break the land speed record. "We're aiming to hit 1,000mph," concluded Painter. "But to be honest, if we hit 950 we'd be happy, as long as we hit all of our educational objectives as well. "That side of things is just as important to us as breaking the record, because we want the next generation of kids to be inspired by Bloodhound SSC, rather than be intimidated by it." Read

Talk Talk and Three named and shamed by Ofcom Posted: 21 Apr 2011 03:26 AM PDT Ofcom has released its list of most-complained about telecoms providers, revealing that TalkTalk and Three are the most complained about companies. For landline and broadband services, the report examines BT Retail, BSkyB, TalkTalk Group and Virgin Media. TalkTalk in particular came out of the report badly; from October 2010 to February 2011, 1.7 customers per 1,000 complained about its landline services, while 1.27 complained about their broadband; far more complaints than the other companies received. However, it was a bad period for TalkTalk; the complaints peaked in November last year when it emerged that the company had been billing some customers for services that were already cancelled. Not so talktalkative now We're hoping that TalkTalk will respond to our request for a reaction, but so far the company has been tight-lipped on the matter. Virgin Media takes the prize for being the least complained about provider on both the landline and broadband side. Unsurprisingly, the company was a little more forthcoming than TalkTalk. Neil Berkett, CEO at Virgin Media, said: "Delivering outstanding customer service has been our highest priority and we're pleased to see Ofcom's report demonstrates our approach is generating the right results. "However we are still on an ongoing journey; building an impeccable customer-centric organisation takes time and dedication and we're committed to making Virgin Media the only choice for customers looking for the best products, coupled with the best customer service of any digital entertainment provider in the UK." On the mobile side, O2 customers proved the most contented, while Three received the most complaints; but it's worth noting that, as you can see from the graph below, all mobile phone networks received less than half a complaint per 1,000 customers. Good work, mobile networks.

Speed Week: The 1,000mph car that can outrun a bullet Posted: 21 Apr 2011 03:00 AM PDT This article is brought to you in association with LG Optimus 2X It's difficult to imagine exactly how fast 1,000mph is. But try this; if you were up in the stand at Wembley Stadium, and an object flew into the arena at 1,000mph before exiting at the other end, if you blinked at the wrong moment, in the 300 milliseconds it would take you to close and reopen your eyes, you would completely miss it. The air is actually so dense at ground level that no supersonic jet fighter in the world is capable of flying as fast as 1,000mph in low altitude. If you were to fire a Magnum 357 handgun after an object travelling at this speed - 232mph faster than the speed of sound - the object would actually accelerate away from the speeding bullet. The object we're talking about is Bloodhound SSC, the new super sonic car from the British team who back in 1997 twice broke the land speed record with the jet-powered Thrust SSC. In the shadow of Brunel's SS Great Britain in Bristol, we visited the Bloodhound Technical Centre to find out more about the car, the tech inside it and the incredible record attempt to come. The car In October 1997, Thrust SSC became the first car to break the sound barrier, and achieved a record ground speed of 763mph. It increased the world land speed record by 130mph - a 20 per cent bump - the biggest step forward in land speed history. In 2013, the same team intends to extend the record they set by a further 31 per cent all the way up to a barely-conceivable 1,000mph. So how is this going to be achieved? The Bloodhound SSC car itself has to be seen up close to be fully appreciated. It's 12.8 metres long, 2.8 metres tall, weighs nearly 6.5 tonnes when fully fuelled and has a turning circle of 120 metres. Image credit: Curventa and Siemens The 900mm-diameter wheels weigh 100Kg each, and at maximum speed will be turning 167 times per second, while undergoing forces in excess of 50,000g - or 50,000 times the force of gravity. Image credit: Curventa and Siemens So how exactly is this car going to reach speeds of over 1,000mph? One of Bloodhound SSC's engineering leads, James Painter, explains: "We've essentially got two main propulsion devices on board and three engines in total. There's a rocket which is a bespoke piece of kit which was developed for this specific purpose, and we've got an EJ200 jet engine which basically comes out the back of a Eurofighter Typhoon and those two together produce something in the order of 180 F1 engines worth of power - about 133,000 horse power. "There's also a Cosworth F1 engine in the back of the car which we use to supply the rocket with fuel at a rate of 50Kg per second. So essentially we've got a Formula One engine as a fuel pump!" COSWORTH: The F1 engine is used only to pump rocket fuel Together, the jet engine and the rocket provide 45,000lbs of thrust, enough to propel the car from a standing start, up to 1,000mph - possibly beyond - and back to zero again in just 100 seconds. It will take the car just 40 seconds to reach 1,000Mph, burning 1.5 tonnes of fuel in the process. One 10-mile run of Bloodhound uses the same amount of energy as required to light the Singapore Grand Prix night-event for 20 minutes. EJ200: The jet engine comes from a Eurofighter Typhoon "That sounds like we're burning an awful lot of fuel," quips Painter, "but we're not doing that many runs in total, and as a complete project the calculations are that we are the equivalent of three and a half lactating cows, in terms of the amount of greenhouse gasses that we'll be releasing." Yes, that's three and a half lactating cows. At this point, it's unclear whether Bloodhound's project managers are considering euthanising three and a half lactating cows in order to offset the project's carbon footprint, but we reckon it might be worth a punt. In terms of raw computing power, the most processor-intensive process during the design stage is in coming up with a stable aerodynamic shape for the car's bodywork. The team is using computational fluid dynamics - or CFD - to try to model the best aerodynamic shape to be stable both at low and supersonic speeds. While most F1 teams use scaled-down wind tunnels to correlate their CFD computation models, the Bloodhound team has no such luxury and won't know exactly how effective their car is until they start testing at some point next year. "We're into the detailed design at the moment," says Painter. "Now that we've got this stable shape, we can start doing more work on the internal packaging and the detailed design of all the systems in the car. So you take an F1 car that maybe does 210Mph at Monza on the straight, that's pretty much as fast as a Formula One car goes during a season. We've got a speed range that's almost five times that so trying to get a shape that wasn't just stable at lower speeds but also once you go past mach 1, is quite tricky. "We don't want to generate too much downforce or you end up pushing the car down into the desert. Too little and the car would take off, so it's all about using CFD to get that stable aerodynamic shape." It sounds easier than it is. The main problems facing the team in this area are calculating the physics involved with travelling at such high speeds. The dynamic air pressure at 1,000mph is in the region of 12 tonnes per square metre, so the car has to be strong enough to withstand that load, while being light enough to reach those speeds in the first place. One of the main reasons why it's taking such a long time to design Bloodhound is that the team is flying fairly close to the wind when it comes to what is and what isn't possible to achieve with current technology and the space available. Everything on the car is state of the art, including the propulsion systems, wheel designs, carbon fibre bodywork and the available locations. In fact, the team's research suggests that while punching through the sound barrier is now relatively straight forward, the technology barrier is now their main nemesis. "There are several limiting factors," says Painter. "The rocket we're using is up there with the best in the world, so in terms of the amount of thrust available, we're pretty much maxed out. What's more, as speed and acceleration increases, aerodynamic loads also increase, meaning the car has to be stronger and heavier, making speeds yet harder to achieve." The team is then severely limited in terms of the amount of space they have to play with. The attempt will take place on a track already 10 miles long - there simply isn't any more space to be had, making higher speeds very tricky to reach. The driver Driving Bloodhound SSC will be Wing Commander Andy Green, Royal Air Force pilot and the man who drove Thrust SSC up to 763Mph back in 1997. LEADERS: Project lead Richard Noble and Bloodhound SSC driver Wing Commander Andy Green pose at the car's launch During acceleration he will experience forces in the region of 2.5G, and because his cockpit is reclined, this will result in a lot of blood rushing up into his head. When he deploys the air breaks after the measured mile is completed, the reverse will be true - blood will drain to his legs. Only fighter pilots are trained to deal with these forces; any normal person would simply black out, which would be catastrophic were it to happen at high speed. The air brakes are expected to be sufficient to slow the car down after the runs, but Bloodhound is equipped with dual parachutes - a main and a backup - which can be deployed if the air brakes fail. The location Almost as important as the design of the car is the choice of location for the record attempt itself. It needs to have a very hard, flat surface while still providing plenty of grip. It needs to be big enough for a 10 mile track to be plotted, and it needs to have as little cross wind as possible so as not to upset the aerodynamics of the car. Bloodhound SSC will make its bid to reach 1,000mph at Hakskeen Pan in the Northern Cape region of South Africa. Its surface is so flat, the only deviation in elevation is down to the curvature of the Earth itself. The team has secured exclusive access to the site, with the local government providing a lot of assistance in order to get the track ready, including clearing dangerous debris from the area. The competition The Bloodhound SSC team is not the only team aiming to break the world land speed record in the next few years. There are two teams from the USA and one from Australia currently building cars to do just that. And you might think that a team aiming to build a car of this speed and size would have an enormous budget, but in actual fact the budget for the entire Bloodhound project is about the same as an F1 team would spend on one single race weekend. Because of this, the team relies heavily on its principle sponsors, namely Intel and Siemens. Rather than providing financial assistance, Intel is Bloodhound's Official IT Partner, and provides the Bloodhound engineers with computing equipment including servers and laptops. Intel also provided the team with access to its supercomputing clusters at a time when they were struggling to make all of their CFD calculations. As a result of Intel's involvement in this side of things, it took those computations down from taking a working week to just a single day. The Bloodhound SSC itself uses a total of eight Intel Atom CPUs to control the engine and in-car control systems, and an SSD for onboard data capture. The record attempt In order to prove that wind has nothing to do with the speed of the car, Bloodhound SSC must refuel and repeat it's 1000mph run in the opposite direction within a very short space of time. The speed will be measured by timing the car through two speed gates one mile apart. If all goes to plan, Bloodhound will cover that measured mile in just 3.4 seconds. The team doesn't yet know exactly when this attempt will be made, but if testing goes to plan it will take place within the next 18 months. The testing phase begins later this year. It's not all just about the prestige of hitting 1,000mph though. The team is putting a lot of work into educating school children in the UK, in order to get them interested in engineering. "We're aiming to hit 1,000mph," concluded Painter. "But to be honest, if we hit 950 we'd be happy, as long as we hit all of our educational objectives as well. That side of things is just as important to us as breaking the record, because we want the next generation of kids to be inspired by Bloodhound SSC, rather than be intimidated by it."

Review: Roccat Kulo Posted: 21 Apr 2011 03:00 AM PDT We're paying too much for gaming headsets. Anything over £50 in the studio headphone market gets you industry standard sound quality and comfort. Anything over £100 in the audio enthusiast market (think umlaut-heavy German manufacturers) buys you crystalline sound and luxurious comfort. Anywhere between these two price points usually affords a set of acceptable cans offering decent sound quality and a functional mic. Roccat's Kulo headset looks and feels cheap and flimsy. Worse, it's another graduate of the 'crown of thorns' school of headset comfort, cutting into your cranium and making your ears sweat against each speaker's faux leather exterior. The volume control is a clumsy plastic lump. Oh, and the sound quality is great. Hold on, what? It just doesn't fit with the package: excellent bass response, surprising clarity, from soft jazz and empty shells dropping to the floor to death metal and RPG fire, the Kulo has nuances beyond its sad, feeble physical form. They seem derivative of Boses' QuietComfort noise cancelling cans, and while their much cheaper build produces a slight seashell effect, it does filter out a good deal of ambient noise. It's a strange compromise of sound quality over comfort and gaming application. Given the length of time gamers wear their cans per session, comfort has to be a design priority. We'd expect more for £50. Related Stories Review: Hanns.G HS233

Review: Asus GTX 560 Ti DirectCU II Posted: 21 Apr 2011 02:30 AM PDT You know how it goes: Nvidia releases a new GPU, everybody signs up to re-badge the reference design and throws it out at launch. Li'l while later, and for a bit of a premium, you'll find new spins of the card that have new coolers, higher clocks and sometimes a bit of extra graphics memory for giggles. But you are nearly always paying that premium. I say nearly because the Asus GeForce GTX 560 Ti Direct CU II, as well as being a bit of a mouthful, is also bizarrely cheaper than a lot of the competition. Unfortunately when the board is pushed to the 950MHz mark that the Zotac GTX 560 Ti AMP! sits at, it starts to become as flaky as Alicia Silverstone. It's nothing to do with the cooling, but I think this GPU, essentially a slightly re-worked GeForce GTX 460 processor, has gone as far as it can go. We were unable to get at the voltage controls to pump a bit more juice into the chip to steady the ship. Asus' bundled SmartDoctor OC utility is far from our favourite, but with an Asus card it ought to offer access to the voltage. We couldn't even get it to recognise that our board had in fact come from Asus though, even if GPU-Z hapily proved it really was. Despite all that, in performance terms though there really is precious little difference between a GeForce GTX 560 Ti running at 900MHz and one running at 950MHz. Typically the Asus Direct CU II cooling array is quite magnificent. When idling away the temperature sits incredibly low, and the same goes for its loaded performance. In essence then you're not really losing out opting for this cheaper, sub-£200 alternative. And it really is mighty cool.

Exclusive: Sky still expects 3D to go mainstream Posted: 21 Apr 2011 02:03 AM PDT Sky's director of product development has told TechRadar that the company remains happy with the uptake in its 3D channel, and that it expects the technology to quickly move from niche to mass market. Sky's backing of 3D has been a key factor in the adoption of the technology in the UK, with Sky 3D offering a made-to-measure channel for people with the right kit and the top level package from the satellite giant. Director of product development Brian Lenz may have handed over the reigns of the 3D now that it has been successfully launched, but he told TechRadar that the company's satisfaction at attracting 70,000 viewers is based around the assumption that 3D will go mainstream. Much bigger "It's one thing to sit with something like 3D where we are going out and saying that we're happy with 70,000 subscribersin the first quarter, but that's because we believe that it will grow to a much bigger number for us. "We tend to be a more mass market company which means we have to hit very high volumes with our products. "Features for the sake of features are dangerous for us, if we're not clear on where the value will come through." Trusted innovator Lenz believes that Sky is "trusted" by the British public to bring the latest innovations to television. "If it's going to be done in the living room than I like to think that Sky is trusted to do it well," added Lenz. "We have innovated and historically we have done it well, although we don't get it 100 per cent right all the time we are willing to be bold and try new things. "We just don't feel comfortable if we aren't trying to innovate."

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